The major narrative novelty of the Thunderbolts had been revealed and primarily put to bed in its first 12 issues: the team was made up of super criminals under fresh, heroic guises. Baron Zemo – née Citizen V – had been ousted, the Avengers (who the Thunderbolts had ostensibly replaced during the Heroes Reborn ordeal) had come into conflict with (and then worked alongside) the team.
It was a bold, surprising book, an earnest new take on both the villain-makes-good story and the heroes-as-baddies subgenre. The problem was this: where does a book go after its novelty has been concluded?
Marvel Comics
In Thunderbolts Epic Collection: Wanted Dead or Alive, we see the book grapple with that question. While the first year had an episodic, Saturday morning cartoon vibe, what followed needed to more fully embrace a Marvel Universe that, with the return of the Avengers and Fantastic Four, was reconnecting with its 40-year collection of melodramas. A new, more consistent narrative had to be built from the ashes of a major reveal, but very little could sustain the hype that reveal had garnered.
The only narrative path wasn’t by starting something new, but by following through on its optimistic premise: freed of their evil mastermind (who was, just remember, a Nazi mastermind), the team needed to seek redemption and become the very heroes they were purported to be.
The hardened supervillains found themselves struggling to move forward; though Atlas and Mach-1 seem genuinely committed to becoming heroes, Songbird began tending toward violence. Moonstone unsuccessfully continued her quiet manipulation of the group, still seeking some ultimate, self-serving score. The only voice of reason was the teenaged, untested Jolt, who spends more time thinking about the team’s likelihood to turn villainous than she does being heroic in her own right.
The book needed a stronger influence of good; writer Kurt Busiek found it in Hawkeye, who saw his own journey from heel to hero in the group. It’s a messy transition, undercut by the team’s somewhat unbelievable acceptance of a one-time foe as their new leadership, but it’s serviceable to the cause: after several wayward issues in which the team fights in an alternate-dimensional civil war, the book doubles down on its original intent.
Marvel Comics
The election of an ex-Avenger to team leader stirs the dramatic fabric of the book as Hawkeye pushes Mach-1 to turn himself in for a murder committed as the Beetle. Blackmailed by the new Masters of Evil, the team turns this conflict into a proving ground for their heroism.
Marvel Comics
Though a bit muddled in direction, Wanted Dead or Alive pushes toward a promising future. Baron Zemo lurks in a disconnected subplot, foreshadowing a new driving conflict to come, and the introduction of a new Citizen V implies a coming resolution. The initial impact of the book cannot be matched, however, and the book feels watery despite incredible art by two comic greats (Mark Bagley and, in a crossover with The Avengers, George Perez). The volume is a lull between major moments as it redirects itself.
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