A Nearly Perfect First Issue
Thunderbolts #1 (April 1997)
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Superhero comic books promise "an ending that will shock you!" all the time, but rarely do they deliver. Just over a quarter of a century ago, Thunderbolts #1 presented readers with a twist that still stands as one of the most genuinely surprising final pages in all of comic book history. It was a surprise that wasn't just a clever bit of plotting, it was a bait-and-switch of the entire concept of the book.
Thunderbolts was presented in the pre-release hype as a team of brand-new heroes who would be stepping in to fill the void filled by the apparent deaths of the Avengers and Fantastic Four at the hands of a villain called Onslaught.
(At the risk of curtailing my momentum, I'll pause her to share that Onslaught was the in-story explanation for the awful one-year "reboot" of the Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man titles under the guidance of Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee).
Forgive me for giving it away, but afterall this spoiler is nearly 30 years old. The Thunderbolts were not new heroes at all. They were the Masters of Evil masquerading as heroes in order to gain power and prestige on their way to - what else? - world domination.
The success of such a twist was contingent on a couple of conditions. One was that readers have some sense of Avengers history (the major Masters of Evil storyline, "Under Siege," was published in 1987). This one writer Kurt Busiek and artsist Mark Bagley had some control of, as they could remind readers in the issue itself. The other was that the surpise wasn't widely spoiled before the issue's release. This proved trickier to control.
There was a nascent comic fan community on the Internet in 1997, but nothing like what exists now. Instead, the biggest concern was the printed media. In interviews promoting the book, Busiek and editor Tom Brevoort walked a very fine line in giving enough information about the book and its concept to generate enthusism while also keeping their cards close to the vest. But both gave some tantalizing hints that there was more than meets the eye to the book. Talking to Craig Schutt at Wizard, Busiek let slip that there was a twist in the first issue. In Marvel Vision, the company's in-house promotional magazine, Brevoort was even bolder: "Some of the T-Bolts may be characters that have been seen before, under different names and costumes..." he revealed.
That same month, February 1997, the Thunderbolts made their first appearance in Incredible Hulk #449. In the midst of a scrap, the jade giant thinks he recognizes Meteorite's voice. To readers at the time it might have seen like an odd throwaway line, but Hulk was right. Meteorite is Karla Sofen, formerly known as Moonstone, and Hulk fought her all the way back in 1978 in issue #228.
With these clues, it seems very likely that had the Internet been at full strength back then, that someone would have sleuthed out the truth based on these clues. As it was, the secret almost got out when Marvel editors on other books let it slip to some journalists, and Brevoort and Busiek had to buy their silence with exclusive interviews. And so the twist suvived largely unspoiled.
And comics fans went nuts. Thunderbolts #1 sold out multiple printings and was a certified hit.
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The first issue of a superhero team book has a lot of heavy lifting to do. It has to introduce all of its main characters, set up group dynamics, establish motivations, provide a challenge for the team to overcome, and give a good impression of the themes that will be explored.
Thunderbolts #1 does nearly each one of these things perfectly. It starts with a five-page intro establishing that the Avengers and Fantastic Four are presumed dead and that the Earth is in need of protectors, especially from threats such as the Masters of Evil (this is the first and only clue to the book's shock ending). Then our team comes onto the scene, thwarting a looting attempt by high tech thieves called The Rat Pack.
This gave Bagley the chance to indulge in some great shots showcasing the team in action.
After the first battle Busiek takes a breather to give the reader some idea of the characters' personalities and motivations. We see that Fixer is impatient and impertinent. Songbird lacks confidence. Mach-1 is supportive of Songbird, and maybe sweet on her. Atlas and Meteorite are concerned about how the team will work together, but for different reasons.
Then it's on to the next battle, this time with the super-powered construction worker themed Wrecking Crew. From a the standpoint of plot structure, it's a bit unusual to have a second battle with a completely different set of foes, but I can see why Busiek did it. The cumulutative effect of the 'Bolts winning both fights is that cementing their status as wunderkinds. The government is insterested in officially sanctioning them, the public loves them, and other superheroes (Spider-Man, New Warriors, and Black Widow) give their approval.
The final page reveal, with each member pictured beneath their previous identity and Zemo calling out their names one-by-one, is an iconic jaw-dropping moment.
The issue checks off a lot of boxes, but there's a reason I have labeled it as nearly perfect. The the book has two nagging flaws. First, the two-scene subplot with a young woman being kidnapped and held captive is a set-up for a major future storyline, but it feels like too much in an already packed issue, and it's especially awkward because the issue ends on it, undemining the shock of the reveal of the 'Bolts true identities and intentions. If I were Busiek, I would have saved this for issue #2 and kept the first issue self-contained.
The other flaw comes in lack of establishment of a major theme, which is the effect that "playing hero" has on these villains and criminals. As the series goes on, it really explores the value of positive reinforcement and the question of how long you can play a role before the role becomes a part of who you are. As Busiek put it in Wizard, "the fame and public approval [the Thunderbolts] receive will have a strong psycological effect on them."
There was no real hint of this in the first issue, and that's a shame because redemption is such a big part of the book's idenitity. To that point, when Zemo finally enacts his plan, four of the team's original six members decide to remain heroes, with Hawkeye taking over as team wrangler. This was a nice bit of thematic continuity, as Marvel has a long history of rehabbing its villains into heroes (Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Wonder Man, Magneto, and, yes, Hawkeye).
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While enjoyable, the Thunderbolts series was somewhat of a letdown. The Thunderbolts' deception was revealed by issue #12, and even though Busiek and Bagley continued their run for two more years , the book felt a rudderless, like it wasn't built to be an ongoing. In 2000, Fabian Nicieza took over and steered the team for nearly six years before Warren Ellis came on and turned the concept on its ear.
Ellis turned the team into a group of bad guys grudgingly being doing heroic acts, a sort of Marvel version of the Suicide Squad. Yet another new iteration debuted in 2013, wherein the team was reimagined as a group of anti-heroes under the direction of General "Thunderbolt" Ross (this is the version that will inform the upcoming MCU film).
Though it never quite lived up to its promise Thunderbolts #1 still stands as a magic trick of a book that appeared at the exact right time to be both unprecedented and unpredictable.
Sources
Busiek, Kurt and Mark Bagley. "Thunderbolts: Justice, Like Lightning." Marvel. 2001.
Greenberg, Glen. "Thunderbolts Strike!" Marvel Vision #14 (February 1997)-
Shutt, Craig. "First Look: Thunderbolts." Wizard #64 (December 1996)
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