Fear Itself: Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts (2006) (Collected Editions) #13

by Jeff Parker, Kevin Walker, Declan Shalvey (Illustrator)

When the Fear Itself hammer falls, the raft is destroyed by one of its most powerful prisoners with a newfound weapon of the gods! Hundreds of the most powerful criminals in the world are now on the loose. But their threat is nothing compared to that of the one man who was already unstoppable, and now wields godlike power. Now the Thunderbolts will begin to learn the true meaning of Fear Itself!

Collecting: Thunderbolts 158-162

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

186 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

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Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Fear Itself tie in that fails to really capture any of the scope implied (but not portrayed) by the central series. Having now read several Fear Itself tie-ins, I think it's safe to conclude that this crossover sucks. It oddly feels like every single FI storyline avoids dealing with any of the premise, including the central event itself. There does not appear to be a single one of these things (besides the Iron Man tie-in, which is the only one that really works at all) that address the fact that fear is apparently spreading across the world. We never find out how or why exactly that's happening. We're just told that it is and are expected to take it at face value. We also never really find out what the deal with the Chosen are, even in the series that purport to deal with them (such as this one, which supposedly deals with Juggernaut). It's just a big mess, and I feel like Jeff Parker's Thunderbolts run suffered a little bit for it.

I will say, this volume starts off fairly strong, dealing with the immediate aftermath of the Juggernaut becoming a Chosen and utterly destroying the Raft, essentially causing a major disaster and prison break all at the same time. Watching the Thunderbolts, both the A team and the newly-introduced B team, deal with this disaster really displays Parker's penchant for writing these teams that simultaneously work together and doubt one another. It's a very complicated dynamic, and he pulls it off admirably.

However, once the first half or so of the book is over and we move past the Raft disaster, we're left with a pretty mediocre and ultimately meaningless, anticlimactic battle between the Thunderbolts and the Juggernaut Chosen. The art in this battle is very cool, but it just doesn't really lead anywhere. Everything ties up in the main Fear Itself storyline (well, it doesn't really, but it at least wants us to think it does), so the battle here kind of just... ends.

After this battle ends, some super random stuff goes down with Baron Zemo, which further dragged this volume down for me. Zemo has not been around for ANY of this, then all of a sudden he shows up with zero justification. I guess they were out of people to fight, so why not bring him into the fray? I'm hoping the wild, borderline awful plotting of the latter half of this book is just "crossover woes," because if Thunderbolts is going to start failing so hugely on those fronts I'm going to have to stop reading it.

Anyway, this is worth a read if you're following all of Parker's Thunderbolts, as I am, but as a tie in, it's not much to look at.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

While "Fear Itself" wasn't my favorite event, this volume managed to be a decent tie-in. The opening Raft escape provided some excitement, and the escalating situation with Man-Thing and the Thunderbolts' betrayal offered a compelling conclusion. Not amazing, but definitely readable

[Richard Guion · Rating 3 out of 5]

These issues tie-in with the Marvel Fear Itself event, where Juggernaut gets a mystical Asgardian weapon, goes berserk, and destroys the Raft (home of the Thunderbolts). Good solid Marvel tales with Man-Thing and Satana on the team. Kev Walker continues to grow as an artist and gets better with each issue. There is a great Man-Thing joke in here, a play on words from his defunct series. Man-Thing also appears to be undergoing a metamorphosis, initiated by Satana, but we won't find out what he becomes until a later volume

[Alex Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading comics but I'm not a big collector or reader of stuff like Marvel and DC, so the only real time I read that kind of comic book, is when I get a graphic novel. But they are not usually graphic novels; they are not a full story. They are trade paperbacks; a collection of stories from a characters/teams run, so you can enter a story at any point, you can get the start with no end, a middle, or the end with only a short paragraph at the at the start on what the previous issues covered. This is what I got here with Fear Itself.

While the Thunderbolts B team is fighting zombies in the Iraq desert, the Juggernaut is suspended from duty and left behind at the Raft (a supervillain prison). Then a mysterious hammer (not Thor’s) crashes into the Raft, potentially causing the mass escape of the supervillains incarcerated there. Not only has this hammer destroyed the prison; Juggernaut has bonded with the entity from the hammer, that is Kuurth, the Asgardian God of Fear, and left on a path of destruction. So, the Thunderbolts have multiple threats to face, as potential prison break of the world’s supervillains and an evil godlike force possessing one of the most powerful X-Men.

This was... Ok. Essentially with this story you're jumping in after the beginning and leaving before the end and only getting a piece of the middle. There are multiple plots going on; the Iraqi zombie plot, the Hammer of Kuurth destroying the Raft and merging with Juggernaut, super criminals contemplating escaping and the remaining Thunderbolts fighting to stop them, Juggernaut/Kuurth going on a destruction spree in the US and at the end a plot where Baron Zemo launches an attack using an army of rapid growing monsters. It just seemed a bit too much going on.

There's a wide mix of characters, many of them from the more obscure parts of Marvel, like Mach V, Mr Hyde, Centurius, Moonstone, Songbird and Troll. I’ve only ever really heard of Juggernaut, Zemo and Ghost. You don't get too lost with all these characters, you can pick up mostly on what each characters' powers and allegiances are, just that if your not a big Marvel reader like me you can be going 'who's that guy’ every few pages.
Each one of the plots that are going on are decent, but without focusing on just the one or at least two it’s just constantly jumping from one story to another or one story just starts and then vanishes, presumably to be continued in the next issues (this happens a lot with Juggernaut’s story) It just seems a bit much.

Overall, the art in this book is good and at times the plot is very good and has decent dialogue. The whole story of the destruction of the Raft and the prisoners contemplating escape and the warden and the more 'heroic’ Thunderbolts trying to hold it together I’d say is the strongest story here and my favourite. While the others have good moments and action, you are just left hanging to see where they go.
It's an ok read, but if you aren't up to date and just reading this book as a standalone (like I did, I mean this is book 3 in a series of 16 for the Fear Itself story) you might feel a bit lost on where things are going and how stuff will end.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to fill in the gap before Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Men, where Juggernaut begins his unstoppable march to destroy San Francisco and sow discord between humans and mutants. This volume does go into the situation that lead him to accept this fate -- at one point there is even a trippy visit inside his mind -- but there's a lot of other things going on here that muddle the focus. Juggernaut's escape leads to a supervillain prison-break scenario, which creates some interesting dilemmas for the inmates. This volume shines when it focuses on a character or group at a time, their motivation and their schemes, but sometimes the story gets muddled in a fight or ritual or other plot point that doesn't resonate as much.

[Daniel Ramirez · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm a huge fan of the Juggernaut, so I had been tempted for a long time to purchase and read this book. Finally got around to it, and well, I was a little disappointed. The entire collection focused on those around him instead of him. But still, overall, the book was not bad. One issue I did have was the art, too many artists used on those issues, hard to get a feel on who was who, with all the different "takes" on the characters.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thunderbolts never seem to disappoint! I have very mixed feelings on how Marvel handles it's big crossover events, but I always feel they are handled fairly well in Thunderbolt titles. You get to see how the big event effects them, but the scope is always very much on the Thunderbolts and what they are up to, not the big picture.

As I've said in past reviews I'm a big fan of the theme of redemption, and failed or even faked redemption is often the case in these books. Having the Thunderbolts closer to the super villain community on the raft really helped keep the story centered there. My favorite parts of this volume were definitely those centered around the Raft and the mass escape from it.

I've been reading these way out of order and I feel I really need to go back and re-read them in order, making sure I'm not missing any volumes and rewriting all my reviews. Summer project maybe?

[Davy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main issue in this comic is Juggernaut becoming one of the Worthy (the Breaker of Stone) once he pickes up the hammer. It's a good storyline, some Thunderbolts try to deal with Juggernaut (great graphics), others need to take control back on the demolished Raft-prison. Only problem that the comic ends with a big cliffhanger (Man-Thing going out of control). The Man-thing issue is dealt with in another tie-in (see Fear Itself/Fearsome Four) and the Raft will probably have a follow-up in the regular Thunderbolt issues.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having never read a Thunderbolts comic I found this interesting. I especially liked Ghost. This was mostly about the raft immediately after the hammer touchdown. Juggernaut was in it for a while and there was some really cool abstract art panels representing what was going on in his head.

Unfortunately it kind of ended on a cliffhanger. Sometimes I get mad when that happens and refuse to read more but I'm thinking about picking up the next graphic novel to find out what happens.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as good as any other Fear Itself title. I'm repeating myself, but the main event was really short and a bore. This was ok, gave a look into the different personalities of the Thunderbolt teams and who is trying to turn a new leaf vs. who is trying to find a way to break out (not literal vs., but in comparison).

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Thunderbolts go up against Marko (superpowered by a hammer) and contain a prison breakout. The B team get to do more, and its goo seeing some new characters enter the fray. It feels more like a regular Thunderbolts book rather than a tie-in, and that is a stregth. A good read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this volume is quite strong, with massive trauma at the Raft and lots going on. Unfortunately as Juggernaut exits the picture (for Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Men, I presume), the plot gets more simplistic and thus not quite as exciting.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how this series is much broader than six issue but too many cliffhangers leave it wanting. The Fear Itself story was silly but the bits before and after were fun. I really like the art in the beginning, more cartoony and hectic but still with a bit of grit.

[Gary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 119

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

it started out good and then all down-hill from there.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

We follow the gang during the Fear Itself event when the raft is destroyed and some prisoners escaped and others thinking of trying to escape.