The Avengers and The Thunderbolts

Marvel Berkley/Byron Preiss Productions Prose Novels

by Pierce Askegren, Mark Bagley (Illustrator), Jeff Albrecht (Illustrator)

One of the Avengers' greatest foes, Baron Zemo, formed the Thunderbolts as a team of ostensible heroes who were truly super-villains in disguise. When the team's true motives were exposed, some of the Thunderbolts remained together to try to make it as heroes.Now Zemo has a new plot that teams him with the hordes of Hydra -- and the Avengers and the Thunderbolts must put aside their differences and work together to stop the greater threat of Zemo!

Genres: Marvel, Superheroes, Fiction, Comics, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction

259 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

As a young man, Mr. Askegren took part in his parents high-wire circus act until an accident stopped that career for him at age 11. He acquired a love of comic books and of writing in general, which he turned into a profession. In addition to the Alias book, he wrote several books based on comic book series such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. He died of a heart attack at age 51.

Reviews

[clumsyplankton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty good prose team-up novel with The Avengers and the new kids on the block, the Thunderbolts, facing Hydra, Strucker, and Baron Zemo. There's a little too much introductory and background material, but I suppose they felt that not as many readers would be familiar with the Thunderbolts. (They didn't really last too long as headliners in the Marvel scheme of things, particularly after the MCU took over the world.) Cap is Cap (always a good thing), Hawkeye has some good bits, and the tension between Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and Vision is intriguing. And just what is Moonstone up to? The book takes off with some good action scenes (why do heroes always have to fight one another before the bad guys?), and a satisfactory conclusion is reached. 'Nuff said, True Believers.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Baron Zemo forge a temporary alliance to...accomplish something. I didn't really follow along very well. Something about Hydra (Strucker's folks) gaining power and Zemo gaining access to research Strucker had acquired that's based on work originally carried out by Zemo's father.

The Avengers first become aware that something's up when the Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man's date is interrupted by an apparently indestructible Dreadnought. Wonder Man is kidnapped. At approximately the same time (I think), the Vault, which used to be a maximum security prison intended for supervillains and is now being modified to house broken/inactive supervillain technology instead, is broken into by Hydra. The Thunderbolts just happen to be in the area, for reasons I can't recall.

Strucker, Zemo, and Techno manage to produce a mindless and obedient super-powered army of creepy golden people. The Avengers and the Thunderbolts have to work together and somehow figure out how to defeat them and foil whatever it is they're planning.

This was published back in 1999 and begins with an editor's note stating that it takes place shortly after the Marvel comic Avengers (Vol. 3) #12. I haven't read an Avengers or Thunderbolts comics in at least 10-15 years, so this information didn't really mean anything to me. What I can say is that it seemed to take place after the Thunderbolts comics I vaguely remembered reading. In the ones I read, the Thunderbolts were still villains under the direction of Baron Zemo, pretending to be superheroes. In this book, the Thunderbolts have been found out and are trying to figure out how to clean up their image, regain people's trust, and become true superheroes, with Hawkeye as their new leader. As far as the Avengers chronology went, the Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man were dating, and there was a bit of tension between them and the Vision.

I've owned this book for ages. Every time I thought about getting rid of it, I felt a burst of vaguely remembered fond feelings for the Thunderbolts and just couldn't do it. Now I've finally read it and...meh.

There was so. Much. Exposition. So much. I don't know if Askegren thought it was a good idea or if Marvel required him to include it, but it bogged things down and still didn't provide me with quite enough information to get a good handle on all the characters, their relationships, and any other relevant background info. I spent a lot of time browsing Wikipedia pages.

There were hints of character relationship info that interested me a lot more than anything Strucker and Zemo were doing: MACH-1's worries about going to prison and leaving Songbird; Moonstone's shadowy motivations; Jolt and Atlas's sibling-like relationship; Hawkeye's empathy for the Thunderbolts; and the tension between Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, and the Vision. But the book wanted to focus on the Avengers and the Thunderbolts vs. Strucker, Zemo, and Techno, so that's what I got.

Even if the things that most interested me had gotten more page-time, I'm not sure how enjoyable they would have been, due to the limited page count and many, many characters. A few people got a little more page-time than others, but I don't think that anyone in particular stood out. Iron Man battled a Dreadnought. Thor stepped in and provided assistance multiple times. Techno and the Vision fought one-on-one. Askegren occasionally reminded readers that Firestar and Justice existed. Jolt worked undercover at a fast food place (it was the only place where they figured a teenager wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb). Captain America spent some time tied up, and Moonstone enjoyed it more than someone who wanted to be seen as a superhero probably should have. Wanda (Scarlet Witch) and Simon (Wonder Man) went on a date at a monster truck rally. As soon as I got my bearings with someone, the narrative switched to someone else.

All in all, this really wasn't for me, and I'm not sure it would have been that much more appealing if I had read it back when I was plowing through my uncle's boxes of comics.

Extras:

Each chapter begins with a black-and-white illustration. The book ends with a chronological list of Marvel novels and anthologies published by Byron Preiss Multimedia Company and Berkley Boulevard Books between October 1994 and May 1999.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Christopher Dodds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good to read, it's nice just to read an adaptation of a original story from the comic book universe instead of a one from the MCU. That also features characters that haven't been used in the marvel film universe or are completely different from them, like for example Wonder Man is featured and the hulk isn't, Vision is also a different character from the one played by Paul Bettany. I also loved the villains of the story who's plan was pretty well thought out.
Overall great characters and story with intense fight scenes that the author did really well with to show each of the Avengers and ThunderBolts's strengths and weaknesses.

[Steve Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acceptable Junk Food.

Being someone who read comics way back when they were ten cents a pop, my palate was stimulated more by the Avengers main course than by the menu's new side helpings of Atlas, Jolt, Moonstone & the like.

[Brittany J. Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick moving plot. Some unfamiliar characters. Better if one has some idea of the comic line from the early to mid 90s.

[Michael P.]

Despite a strong interest in adaptation, I find most comic book novels unreadable. If this one exemplifies anything, it exemplifies the reason. It seems as if a good third of the first 50 pages fills in those who do not read the comics on the backstories of the heroes, the villains, and their conflicts. There is so little forward narrative momentum that not all of the protagonists have been introduced, though the book was one-fifth read. This is terrible storytelling, however much an editor may want it that way. I had too much self-respect to turn another page, yet had so little that I read this far.

[Steven Simmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty standard comic book to novel adaptation. I can't see people getting into this if they aren't fans of the characters or source material but if you are I think you'll enjoy it. I'm a sucker for anything with both Baron Zemo and Strucker in it and this didn't disappoint. The start is very slow, so much so that I struggled getting through it at first. Other than that its decent.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a very good read. one of the best openning chapters I have read ever! This is a real novel, not cheap or fan pandoring.

[Stephen Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any Avengers and or Thunderbolts fan. The terrific team-up of these two super hero teams is equally matched by the unholy alliance of Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker. Bravo!