Marvel's Thunderbolts was one of the best ideas for a series ever. The concept of members of the Masters of Evil disguising themselves as a new hero team was pulled off very well by writer Kurt Busiek, with each member reacting differently in their new roles. Some would maintain their villainous ways, just more secretively. Others came to embrace the heroic side and truly made a change of heart. Screaming Mimi/Songbird was one of those characters, and it made for an engaging story arc.
The buzz on Thunderbolts was incredible. I remember reading about it. I was reading the OTHER book Busiek was writing at the time, which I think was The Avengers. Ha! ;)
ReplyDeleteVery nice, as every other pairing you do is nice - but I miss the special "every 25th cover" treat for this one. WTH - I'll live, and I keep on digging these!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize I was doing a treat avery 25th cover, what do you mean?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Ross. That was an engaging story arc. But, you know what's even better? You're use of Black Canary's Old School uniform on this cover! :-D
ReplyDeleteBless you, dear sir.
Another reminder of the New Amalgam Comics project. In the bios for Black Bird (Black Canary/Mockingbird) and Songstress (Enchantress June Moone/Songbird), it's mentioned that the two shared a rivalry when they both competed in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, when Songstress went by the stage name 'Screaming Missy' Moone.
ReplyDeleteWhat made Thunderbolts memorable back in the day was that it was pretty damn rare -- outside of Mark Gruenwald's work -- to have any insight in the mind of the villains. The whole project worked because after a while the character changed from being punching bags for the hero of the week (Mimi, Bettle and Goliath in particular) to being people the reader actually cared about.
ReplyDeleteI remember having to pick my jaw up off the table when I reached the end of Thunderbolts #1. :D
ReplyDeleteForget pulling a surprise like that these days, when most of the readers use the Web.
"I didn't realize I was doing a treat avery 25th cover, what do you mean?"
ReplyDeleteRoss - I may well be wrong, but it seemed that you were doing something extra special every 25th cover, e.g., #1125, 1150, 1175, etc. Multiple stories, two teams, something that seemed... well, extra. Of course, every cover is always a ton of fun, so please accept that as a question and not a criticism. I was just curious - and apparently, I was mistaken.
Ah - well every 100th cover I try to make an oversized one, but other than that it's pretty random. I try to have a Team Cover instead of team-up every 40 days or so. There will be more multiple story covers, multiple part stories and two team covers in the future - just not necessarily on issues that are multiples of 25.
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