Bring the Thunder #1

An unnamed armored superhero thinks back to how his spectacular transformation began in the Afghanistan War, when his unit came across alien weaponry. 

The Good

The fact that this comic features highly-trained and battle-hardened commandos waxing nostalgic about the finer details of David Bowie, Omar Sharif and the game of Bridge… that alone earns high points for me. These aren’t cookie-cutter hard cases, but three-dimensional men with their own take on the world. I appreciated the diversity of action Nitz was able to fit in here, from an outrageous superhero duel to a finely-tuned special ops ambush to an enigmatic rebirth stateside at the end.

The Bad

While I enjoyed the seeming-contradiction of these roughnecks being so cultured, you can’t help but wonder how this hero can have his head together enough to go through such an articulate monologue about David Bowie’s body work during an intense, six-page-long brawl with a supervillain. And it’s a nitpick, but I wasn’t sure about the hatching style in the art, especially in the barracks scenes.

The Verdict – 4/5

This is an interesting counterpoint to the Stan Lee superhero books that Boom’s doing right now because it very much feels like a Silver Age superhero transplanted to a modern setting. We haven’t advanced too far into the story, but if it continues to have characterizations this unorthodox, then I’m going to be very intrigued to see how this unnamed hero rises to glory in this series.