Thunderbolts #137

I wish I could bring myself to enjoy Thunderbolts #137, but I just couldn't. This is a real shame, since it had so many ingredients to be killer: It had a Power Man/Iron Fist team up (which is the equivalent of a Green Lantern/Green Arrow team up), a cast of misfit characters who I've grown fond of, and Rick Remender on writing duties (not familiar with his work, but others seem to really like him). Nothing seemed to click here, though, as everything seemed very mediocre.

I didn't mind the cheap gimmick employed on the cover, which announced that Luke Cage and Iron Fist were joining the Thunderbolts, as being a long time comic reader, I've grown used to those gimmicks. What I do mind, though, is how lazy Remender's script seems to be. There are two major examples of this: First off, Ant Man, who is usually a very fun character, is written horribly and is given some really shitty dialog. His constant use of the word bro and his long diatribe about the pseudo Jon & Kate left me rolling my eyes whenever he spoke. Additionally, if you're including these dumb references and have another character say "Don't say that, it's stupid to make these pop culture references" like in this issue, that's just as stupid and not witty. You've devoted an entire 2 panels to some stupid Jon and Kate reference, so the damage is already done.

Secondly, the resolution of the main conflict is horiffically weak. This main conflict was that Norman Osborn was trying to use a brainwashed Iron Fist to kill Luke Cage, thinking that their friendship will cause Cage to lower his defenses. The plot plays out how you expect it to, with Iron Fist under mind control while bashing Cage. But then out of nowhere, Iron Fist stops, goes back to normal and says "It's OK, I used my chi to fix everything", and that's it! We get nothing showing that Danny is stuggling against the mind power, just one line of script, and that's it. It's horribly lame and lazy storytelling, and it makes me higly suspicious of Remender's other scripts.

Like I said, this issue of Thunderbolts had all the good makings for an enjoyable one-shot romp. Everything fell apart, though, as the script just couldn't cut it, which made me really loathe it. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it, I guess my chi isn't as powerful as Iron Fist's.