Thunderbolts: Widowmaker

Thunderbolts (2006) (Collected Editions) #8

by Andy Diggle, Roberto De La Torre (Artist)

A new killer joins the Norman Osborn's terrifying team! Our crazed covert ops squad sets out to recruit one of the world's deadliest fighters: the ruthless Wolverine foe known only as Mr. X! But first they must defeat him in single combat, and that's easier said than done - especially when one of the Thunderbolts is hiding a deadly secret that could spell death for them all! Don't miss the next volume of the book that Ain't It Cool News says: "[C]ontinues to impress... Diggle's first issue back at Marvel is an excellent benchmark of things to come."

Collecting: Thunderbolts 133-136

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 2009

About the author

Andy Diggle is a British comic book writer and former editor of 2000 AD. He is best known for his work on The Losers,Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Adam Strange and Silent Dragon at DC Comics and for his run on Thunderbolts and Daredevil after his move to Marvel.

In 2013 Diggle left writing DC's Action Comics and began working with Dynamite Entertainment, writing a paranormal crime series Uncanny. He is also working on another crime series with his wife titled Control that is set to begin publishing in 2014.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Thunderbolts team gets even more... inept?

Basically, Ant-Man becomes the voice of reason, which is kind of freaking insane because this isn't Scott. This is just that disreputable dude who's a horny pervert, so it's actually kind of cool to see him be a decent person. And even Marksman is trying to be somewhat honorable. But of course, the contrast is that there are still totally crazy people on the team as well. So, things start to get messy.

What I actually liked here was Songbird finally breaking out of her shell and going after the Thunderbolts again. Especially Norman, always love her for taking action. And there were some really gripping scenes in this arc.

The ending foreshadows the final Siege arc that will cover this Thunderbolts era, and I'm curious to see who lives and who dies. A three out of five.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit of an impulse buy from my local used book shop (Title Wave for the win!) where I always make sure to check their comics/graphic novel section. The pickings are usually pretty sparse, which I assume is a combination of low intake and very quick purchase rate for what does make it to the shelf.

Anyways, I first found out about the Thunderbolts through playing the "ultimate Alliance 2" video game and eventually reading the Civil War book (the first half of the video game features the story from civil war). The character Songbird is featured prominently in the video game and fleetingly in the comic, but upon first seeing her I had a bit of a fan boy crush on her. She's stunningly gorgeous, with amazing pink hair, And I adore the pink sonic booms she makes. And the fact she is a criminal trying to redeem herself makes her even more attractive: she's both a "bad-girl" and a super heroine in the saving business, the best of both worlds!

going into this I really didn't know anything the history of the Thunderbolts (this collects issues 133-137 so this is pretty far into it). All I knew was it was a super hero team made of ex villains and Norman Osborn was in charge. Even though characters I knew that appeared within (Norman, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Luke Cage and Iron Fist) I really didn't know much about since most of what I've read Marvel wise only brings me up to the late 70's at the most.

Regardless this was a VERY good read. The art work in the first half was REALLY good and the story arc that filled the second half of the book was incredible. Seeing Iron Fist and Luke cage go at it like that was intense.

I definitely make a good choice on this impulse buy and intend on getting my hands on other Thunderbolts volumes as soon as I have a chance!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how Diggle deepened the motivations of the current Thunderbolts team, and left some juicy plot ideas for the future. There could've been more humour for my taste tho. Like the art, don't love it. This felt like the kind of Thunderbolts that Ellis set up, but not quite as razor-sharp on the sociopathic scale. Still a fan of Diggle.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art in this was great, and the plotline was a lot of fun - villains hating on villains and doing bad things is kind of fun. This is an older one, from when H.A.M.M.E.R. was in the place of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Norman Osborn was in charge of shit, but it involves a lot of lesser-known side characters, and like I said - fun.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Diggle story is more Thunderbolts at its best [8]. Sadly, that's Diggle's last Thunderbolts work, and it's followed by a tepid double-sized issue that's little better than a fill-in [5].

[Alex Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here I am, reading another trade paperback instead of a graphic novel, starting from the middle without any real end. However, I think this was better than other trade paperbacks I've read, as the storyline here, while part of a larger story, was more self-contained and perhaps just simply better paced and told. Written by Andy Diggle, whose comics I've read and enjoyed before (The Losers Omnibus, Vol. 1) maybe was just able to write a better-quality story.

Norman Osborne now heads H.A.M.M.E.R, supplanting SHIELD after its demise, with the Thunderbolts under his own personal control. Led by the new Black Widow, Yelena Belova, she leads a mix bag in the Thunderbolts, a group comprised of psychopaths, brain washed members and those who think they are on the right side carrying out Osborne’s own twisted agenda. However, there is a hidden group of former Thunderbolts working against the schemes and conspiracies that Norman Osborne is putting into action. One of these being using a brainwashed Danny Rand Iron Fist to become his own personal superhero assassin. But one thing keeps getting in the way. Danny’s weakness, or strength. His friendship with Luke Cage.

Well paced, with loads of action set pieces, double and triple crosses and especially the Ironfist and Luke Cage story, exciting and fun. There's a whole mix of marvel heroes, anti-heroes and villains in this book; Black widow (2 of them), Nick Fury, Norman Osborne, Ghost, Songbird, Paladin, Scourge/Nuke and that's not even half, but you don't feel overloaded with too many faces, even if many aren't from even the B list of Marvel characters and enough is done to explain what powers and allegiances the more obscure characters have.

With decent art, I enjoyed reading this and didn't feel too left out with missing out the beginning and not seeing it through to the very end, and felt there was enough of its own story to carry this one book that's probably in a series of at least 5 other books.
Reading this just as a standalone in my opinion works well and won't leave you too lost.

[Maigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has occurred to me several times over in my reading through of the 'Siege' event from 2009-2010 just how evil Norman Osborn can be... but I never connected just how smart he actually was until this portion of his Thunderbolts run.

I appreciate the fleshing out of the Thunderbolts characters through this arc as well, instead of them just feeling like hired guns with no personalities previously. I have a soft spot for the Thunderbolts, and the promise of redemption their stories always end as.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A muddle of a crosspver with the mainline Dark Reign storyline.

What makes Diggle's writing so much more meh-morable is that his story crosses over with the considerably better writing of Hickman's.

Every time I found myself genuinely impressed with a story beat, I then found it nestled in the parallel story written by Hickman, which makes Diggle's work here that much more cringe-inducing.

Not terrible...but not great either. No need to slow down and pick this one up.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this graphic novel during a sale, and I sure hope it was a good one, because this was pretty disappointing. Thunderbolts: Widowmaker, contains two partial storylines and doesn't really wrap up either all that well. Three quarters of the way through, you switch from one plot to another and it's rather jarring. Perhaps if I had read the 100+ issues before hand it would make more sense, but unfortunately this was a disappointment.

[Tym · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m enjoying this iteration of the Thunderbolts more than I thought I would

[matt murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Sonic · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was maybe a candidate for two and a half stars, but with better art it could have maybe been a three. A cool and surprising premise (from Marvel) to have a book devoted to super-villains masquerading as heroes under lunatic Norman Osborn, it just did not go nearly as far in any direction as it could have. I loved Andy Diggles writing in the espionage thriller series "The Losers" but this was not as strong or interesting. The characters seemed only half-developed (like the art) and the story had the choppy unbelievable feel of comics from the eighties. Even some of the dialogue was a touch ridiculous. Unlike most of the graphic novels that I read and review I actually bought this one, and what is more, it being hard-cover (which made it more expensive) I assumed that it must be of a high quality, well, I will not make THAT assumption again!

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was very lacking. It felt like something big was going to happen and the story was trying to set it up but it never did. I don't know if I missed something while I was reading but I felt confused most of the time. It was pretty much "Hey, here are some new Thunderbolts that kind of suck. They are going to kill Songbird. Oh, jk. Pumpkin bombs in an airvent. Hey, it's Nick Fury versus Norman Osbourn! Oh, jk. And it's over." The only character that was enjoyable at all for me was Ghost. At least he's interesting. I must have missed something before this volume because I have no idea where half of the members are that were from the first few volumes. Hopefully this volume is setting something up for a later one. The only reason I gave it two stars is because seeing Ghost do his thing was pretty cool.

[Lissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

After really enjoying several trades of this title, Thunderbolts has gone downhill and fast. While Ellis did a great job at exploring the team dynamics, there is no team dynamic here to speak of in this trade. I don't even remember who half of these characters are after a few pages. The only character on the team who is remotely interesting is Ghost, and that is just because no one seems to know his motivations. Other than that, the team members are just cardboard cut-out killers who can't seem to get the job done. It's disappointing to see how far the title has fallen since Ellis' masterful run.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was fine and interesting enough to read. The interconnectedness is evident here but with that comes a level of familiarity that will cause some elements to go over new readers’ heads (not that I expect many, if any, new readers to come on board just for or because of this volume). There was enough to enjoy here.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Black Widow, and the Songbird storyline was good. It just could have been better, not really that keen on these new thunderbolts yet.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall nothing special but the single issue story by Rick Remender at the end (#137) was amazing. so, on average, 4stars.

[Partha Chowdhury · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first introduction to the new Marvel superheros was interesting.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could've been a five star but Remender's last story really drags down the movement. Melissa Gold is a badass bitch and she kicks ass with Black Widow.

[Alasondro Alegré · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½