By: Too many to list—check out the review.
The Story: For taphophobes, consider this immersion therapy; you’ll feel better if you don’t die.
The Review: I must say, I was rather amused by the tagline inscribed on this issue’s cover: “NoMan’s dark secret revealed!” For one thing, the tease is horribly melodramatic—italics have that effect on anything you write. For another, it sets some very high expectations for the story, as any use of the word “dark” tends to do. Your instinct is to wade in with some good-natured skepticism, unsure if the issue can succeed, but willing to see it through anyway.
But if anyone can actually live up to the “dark” standard, Nick Spencer can, and NoMan’s secret turns out grim indeed, in both substance and style. From previous issues, we know experimental detonations of atomic weapons in the Subterranean land wreaked havoc on their country, and we know war between them and us surface-dwellers ensued. What we didn’t know until this issue is how that conflict ended, and unsurprisingly, the end involved an atrocity of the grossest kind.
I mentioned last time how Spencer likes to add some clear real-world reflections in what he writes, and the use of a Doomsday weapon—make that several Doomsday weapons—against the Subterraneans to coerce their surrender is all that. Very telling is how even now, presumably decades after the war, the Subterraneans have left open a mass grave, exposing the remains of all those who perished from the Higher United Nations’ deadly attack. “Six million,” by NoMan’s calculation. For perspective, the combined bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in somewhere between 150,000 and 246,000 deaths.
What makes these revelations all the more powerful is that we see them through the eyes of a man responsible for all this mess. It’s NoMan’s pensive brooding that forms the spine of tension throughout this issue. He reminds us that he was a scientist before a soldier, but under both guises, he was persuaded to do things he’s not proud of. Yet for all the impressions he gives of cynicism and regret, it’s not lost on you that he continues his mission as he broods, leading you to believe he may not be capable of truly feeling those emotions anymore.
Meanwhile, we can’t forget the action happening with the other Agents. Predictably, Raven’s hopes to see a new world are both fulfilled and dashed as she witnesses the chaos raging across the Subterranean lands, but she seem to adapt well to the situation. More worrying is Toby’s increasingly overt resentment against the people barking orders at him: “‘Put the helmet on, Toby,’ ‘Get in the chair, Toby’—everybody always telling me what to—” The Menthor helmet may keep him in line for a while, but he can’t wear it all the time, and when it’s off, what then?
While Walter Simonson’s style is endearingly simple, a reflection of the simpler times in which it arose, it has aged very well. Clean lines and sharp detail never go out of style, whatever decade you’re in, and in many parts, his work (as inked by Bob Wiacek and colored by Lee Loughridge) looks not unlike something an artist like Jock would draw. In many ways, Simonson’s pages are more pleasing to the eye than Wes Craig’s, whose habit of putting pouty lips on the characters gets a bit annoying. Still, he draws a mean action scene, and with Hi-Fi’s gorgeous colors, some of the dramatic sequences are quite affecting.
Conclusion: As always, Spencer delivers a lot of food for thought in addition to the fun stuff, and always in perfect measure. It’s a shame the series isn’t an ongoing—hint, hint, DC.
Grade: B+
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: - Oof—nothing says old-man nerd than the diamond-patterned sweater-vest.
- Kinda makes you wonder, though: where’s the Higher United Nations putting those Doomsday weapons to use now?
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | bob wiacek, Colleen Franklin, DC, DC Comics, Hi-Fi, Lee Loughridge, Menthor, Nick Spencer, NoMan, Subterraneans, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3 review, Toby Henston, Walter Simonson, Wes Craig
