Baron Zemo has reformed the Thunderbolts and is on a mission to rid the world of nukes and other abnormal energy sources that he fears will result in the ultimate destruction of mankind. Of course, Captain America and the Avengers do not trust the goosestepping hero. For Capt., it's once a Nazi, always a Nazi. But for Hawkeye, one-time leader of the Thunderbolts and a former baddie himself, he sees a opportunity for good in his former teammates.
Hence one of the most action-packed and thrilling stories I have ever read, whilst doubling as an almost to-dull-for-words morality play. There's just so much poetic waxing about human goodness with an unclear debate over nature vs. nurture and self-reform in this book. It's the type of Marvel story that could have only been thanks to the influence of Stan Lee. Too bad, The Man didn't write it...
While I was pleased with the story by Thunderbolts creator Kurt Busiek*, I thought the art was kinda weird. Baron Zemo looks like he's wearing Uggs. Anybody not wearing a mask appears to be turning into a Klingon with odd looking winkles on their head. And what's with everyone looking puffy in this book? It's like George Perez did the art and then all of the characters put on about 20lbs of water weight. Who is to blame on this- Barry Kitson or Tom Grummett?
Another thing I took issue with was the character design for a character known as Blackheath, AKA Plant Man. This character is tapped into the Earth's mystical growing powers known as THE GREEN (I thought that was Swamp Thing's thing). Formerly a costumed villain, Blackheath is now comprised of organic plant-based material. With an afro made of a shrub and fu-manchu moss, there's no other way around it- Marvel stole Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, and made him a Thunderbolt! How did that one escape DC's law department?
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I'm very intrigued to not only collect the original Thunderbolts series but to learn more of Hawkeye's tenure as team leader. However, I don't think that I need to hold on to this volume in order to feel like one day, my collection will be complete. But this was a good starting place for someone trying to decide if the Thunderbolts is worth pursing. If you've read the very first issue of Thunderbolts, there's a great moment that acts as an Easter egg to the team's first adventure. And you see a decent progression of how many of the characters have evolved,
For me, Avengers/Thunderbolts Volume 2 is Worth Consuming, I just don't feel that it's worth keeping. This one's going to the used book store for trade credit.
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
*Fabian Nicieza (New Warriors) was also a writer on this book.
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