After a surprisingly strong first issue, New Thunderbolts disappointed me with issue two, but it regains a bit of strength with issue three. Nicieza still shows a worrying tendency to overcomplicate, and I really could have used an explanation for the big cliffhanger of issue one rather than getting the sense in this issue that it was mostly done for the shock value, but there are some spectacular action sequences and good heroic moments in this issue. In addition, the newest member of the team comes due to an interesting plot contrivance and has an interesting motivation thus far that is mostly consistent with his past portrayals but provides room for redemption as well.
There's a definite old school vibe to this book, and that's both good and bad. Even with my affection for '80s classic superhero comics, I had to groan a bit at the obvious and over-the-top exposition in the opening sequence where Nicieza introduces Fathom Five, and I cringe to see so much panel time spent on Code: Blue or Joystick, characters who remind me of Marvel's largely forgettable '90s continuity. On the other hand, it's nice to see a title that looks more at the Marvel Universe as a context and features characters from different "worlds" interacting. I was especially pleased to see Spider-Man making an appearance, and especially happy to see it addressed that he has trust issues with Mach IV, who was much more a Spider-Man foe than an Avengers one in his day.
This issue brings a stronger focus to the plot than the previous issue, which seemed to be about setting up as many simultaneous subplots as possible. There's still an unrelated story thread that crops up at the end, and I honestly can't work up a lot of enthusiasm for this mystery character, but the pacing and structure isn't quite as chaotic as that of issue two. Certainly there are some strong moments in this issue, including treating Radioactive Man as a political dissident rather than a cliched supervillain in his motivations and all of the interaction between Mach IV and a skeptical Spidey. There are also some clunky moments, including Atlas and Songbird going way into the melodrama in their desire to keep the building up, but it's such a flat-out heroic thing to do that I'm willing to forgive some of the cheesiness of their dialogue.
Grummett has always been at the very least a solid artist on his work on books like Superboy, Robin and Teen Titans, but he really elevated his game for The Power Company and seems to have kept it at that level for New Thunderbolts. Together with Gary Erskine, his work here looks terrific, with especially nice moments of Radioactive Man's arrival, Spider-Man's arrival or the two-page splash of Fathom Five in action. The style is also reminiscent of Bagley at this best, which as I noted in my review of the first issue is appropriate, given that Bagley was the original Thunderbolts artist.
The first issue of the New Thunderbolts had me singing its praises as the second coming of a really good '90s superhero book. Having now seen the book develop a little further, I'm not as enthralled by it, wishing for a slightly better balance between the modern slick dialogue and decompression and old school action heavy, heroic morality than we're getting. Still, while not every subplot resonates with me, I find that I'm much more interested in the adventures of the Thunderbolts than I expected to be, and this issue provided a number of classic superhero thrills. 7/10
