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THUNDERBOLTS #55
"Does Anyone Remember -- Humus Sapien!?"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Pencils: Patrick Zircher
Inks: Al Vey
Colors: VLM
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
So, this issue features the "Winner of the 1973 F.O.O.M. Create A Villain Contest." By my estimation, at this point, there are about six people who care. I am not one of them. While I can point to The Defenders and Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine as wallowing in nostalgia, that's sort of their raison d'être and it doesn't seem as out of place there as it does in the Thunderbolts, which has always had an element of continuity but has been more about interesting characters and ethical choices. Humus Sapien and his story fit the latter, but he misses the former by a considerable margin, at least for me, and since this issue is centered on his story, it was pretty much a wash for this Thunderbolts fan.
I have great respect for everyone involved
in this book. Nicieza is a very good and sometimes great writer, Zircher is a
terrific penciller whose style has melded nicely with Vey's inks and Brevoort is
of course one of the best editors in the business, judging by the titles under
his care. But with the interesting characters of Citizen V (now revealed to the
reader as Zemo once again), Fixer (now revealed as not Techno), Jolt (struggling
with the after-effects of her "death") and the relative blank slates of the
other Redeemers, to spend an entire issue developing a villain who I hope to God
we never see again seems a bit ludicrous. Humus Sapien was born in the 1970s,
and he hasn't aged well. He's a mixture of clumsy ecological preaching,
over-the-top powers worthy of Jim Starlin and a fairly dull visual.
Give Zircher and Vey credit for doing what
they can with a fairly dull subject. Their point-of-view shots of Humus as he
watches himself being placed in suspended animation or flashes back on the
deaths he caused early on are fairly creepy and effective, and the carnage left
in Humus's wake is depicted well also. More interesting visually is their subtle
redesign of Graviton and his unusual sense of home decor involving anti-gravity,
and I'm anxious to see them really get to show off with his powers next issue.
Because for me, that's where the interesting
parts of the story lie. Graviton's newly-found confidence and his source for
counseling promises to lead to an interesting story next issue, and the villain
has found new life as a member of the Thunderbolts' rogues' gallery. Hawkeye's
moral compromise to try and get himself out of prison, and how exactly his jail
break will manifest itself, fits nicely into the outlaw status that the team has
had, and I look forward to seeing where that goes. But these last two issues,
solving the mystery of who was in the tube with a revelation that didn't really
do much for me, have felt like a pit stop along the way to a more interesting
tale or two down the road.
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