T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: All storms must end sometime, and with them go the thunder.

The Review: After my review of last issue, reader Don asked me what titles I could recommend to satisfy his craving for Nick Spencer material, once this series wrapped up.  I had to admit I knew nothing that blended superheroics and political thriller so seamlessly and with such sophistication, wit, and craft.  It reminded me of how much I’ve enjoyed Spencer’s work here since it debuted, and how sorry I am to see it go.

If you like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents as much as I do, then you’ll also be particularly dismayed to see how quietly this issue pulls the curtain on the series.  Spencer obviously has a lot of affection for all these characters, however brief their working lives are, and he attempts to give each of them as neat a resolution as possible under the circumstances.  Even so, you can clearly tell he had a much longer endgame in mind, and things were never intended to end this way.

Basically, everyone who’s not already dead gets their happy ending, some more pleasant than others, and all of them unearned.  One of the most cloying yet least satisfying is Henry Cosgei’s reunion with his overjoyed family.  Under most circumstances, this would be an appropriate finish to his story, but within the context Spencer’s established, it feels utterly bogus.  The whole reason Henry left to join the Agents in the first place is to redeem his name, and while freeing the Subterraneans was certainly a victory, it certainly doesn’t feel like the major triumph that makes one a hero (especially since that plot itself felt underdeveloped and hastily executed anyway).

In a similar vein, while it’s nice to see the villains get their comeuppance, it also feels rather underwhelming, since Spider never made much of a mark as antagonists and Raven was a villain for all of four of five pages total between two issues.  You also have to view Colleen’s appearing out of nowhere, sniping everyone in three panels, then wordlessly leaving, with a mixture of amusement and disgust for how sudden, rushed, and unemotional it all is.

I suppose it’s only fitting that all those qualities pop up again at the end of the (main) story, only with greater emphasis.  The “death message” is probably the most overused plot device in the last half-century of fiction.  No matter the genre or context, it always functions the same: the deceased leaves behind a note/letter bearing the exact words the recipient needs to hear to move on/gain hope/do what’s needed.  Toby’s letter allows Colleen to do all three, but every word rings with so much artifice and hollowness that you can only roll your eyes.

If there’s one thing to be grateful for in this issue, it’s the brief return of Cafu, who originally drew the Spencer-penned series.  He, inker Bit, and colorist Santiago Arcas sell the heck out of the talking heads they get to draw, bringing back the cinematic scope that gave this title such an A-list quality when it first came out.  Wes Craig ends his run on the mini as competently as he began, though Hi-Fi’s colors bring out whatever sentimental value could be mined from it.

I will still never understand the decision-making process which allowed “Undersea Agent” to exist.  Not only does it have zero connection to the primary feature’s events, and so short that the story was doomed to shallowness, but it also involves a lot of confusing science, unconvincing emotions, and groundless action.  Credit to writer Michael Uslan, artist Trevor McCarthy, and colorist Dave McCaig for trying, but they had very little to work with, and it shows.

Conclusion: A thoroughly inadequate, undeserving conclusion to Spencer’s biggest contribution to DC Comics (not to mention Cafu, Bit, and other great collaborators on this series), which now seems like evidence he’s been treated very ill in the wake of all this relaunch business.

Grade: C-

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Considering the lack of substance in the story, it’s no wonder so much of it is spent commenting on Colleen’s changing hairstyles.