Thunderbolts #66
Thunderbolts #66
Title: "Becoming Villains 1: Empyrean Blues”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Chris Batista
Inker: Rich Perotta
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Editor: Tom Brevoort
As Jolt flies overhead the people of Attilan cheer her. She guesses that she understands why they feel this way, in that they gave them hope, but that she doesn’t feel the same way about herself. She thinks how Charcoal would smack her in the head right now and that she was the one that was always telling them that they could be heroes. She thinks about how the Thunderbolts formed, how she joined the team, and how some of the villains wanted to become heroes for real. She thinks how they went on the run and gained Hawkeye as a leader. She thinks about Scourge and how Hawkeye made a deal to gain them their freedom. She thinks about fighting Graviton and how they wound up on Counter-Earth. She thinks of the irony of being on the planet where all the heroes were sent when the Thunderbolts first formed.
Jolt thinks about Atlas and how Erik Josten’s body is gone. She recalls how he shares a body with Dallas Riordan now. Jolt arrives at Dallas’ house and says that they are on work detail together. Dallas offers her something to drink, but Jolt declines. She notices Dallas drawing and says that she didn’t know that she could do that. Dallas says that she always has, but that her father thought it was useless. She says that she took a classes as a police sketch artist just to shut him up. Jolt asks who the woman she is drawing is. Dallas says that it is no one important, at least not now. Jolt asks if Dallas is ready. Dallas turns into Atlas and says that they are ready and rarin’. He says that it is a two hour flight to Africa. Jolt says that it is still freaky to be talking to Dallas one second and Erik the next. Erik says that they are both there and that they are just different hands on a steering wheel. Jolt says that they seem so cool about it. Erik says that he has never felt better. He says that Dallas gives him the confidence that he never had, and that he gives her the insecurities, guilt, and longing for love that she never had. Jolt says that it sounds like perfect balance. In Africa, the two of them fly up to a dam. Jolt says that Atlas is supposed to repair the support brace and that she has to jump start the hydroelectric generators. Jolt wonders if it can really be this easy. She says that instead of wasting their time fighting other superhumans that they spend their days fixing, building, and actually helping. She says that this feels right, but that she keeps thinking that it should be harder.
Jolt thinks about Fixer and that he makes everything seem easy. Fixer is reading a nudie magazine titles “Smut” as he organizes the daily work schedule, keeps Attilan afloat , and irrigates the Serengeti. Jolt says that the generator is fixed. Fixer asks Jolt if she is an A or a B. Jolt ignores him and says that she is “Type A” anyway. Fixer asks what she is still doing there. Jolt asks for her next job. Fixer says that he will run a work order in the next hour. He tells her to feel free to leave. Jolt wonders if you have to care about the human race in order to save it.
Jolt thinks about MACH-3 and how he was the one most reluctant to stay on this Earth. She thinks about how he has been staying in the armor 24/7 and that he even sleeps in it. Karla says that saving people one at a time is a good way to win them over, but that Zemo says that if you win their trust that you win their souls. Jolt realizes that Abe’s heart is not in it as his heart is still with the woman he loves. Jolt contacts Abe and asks if he wants any company. Abe says that he is over London right now. She says that she guesses she will see him later. She wonders what is making him hide inside his shell.
Jolt thinks that maybe it is the return of Zemo. She says that ever since he returned that he just took control of the team. She says that the worst part about it is that every decision he has made so far has been the right one. She says that “totally sucks, considering the decision he just made…” Jolt says that they are not doing this. Zemo asks, “We’re not?” Fixer replies that they are. Zemo says that Jolt says that they aren’t. Fixer says that Jolt is just upset because she is only an A. Dallas says that she knows that it’s hard, but that they have no choice. Jolt says to go ahead and nuke Tokyo then. Fixer says that they stopped the cosmic storms from spreading beyond Japan, but that it was only temporary. He says that if they don’t shut down the null space that the entire planet has ten months at most. Jolt brings up all the people below, but Dallas says that they have been given time to evacuate or join them there. She says that she learned as a cop that you can’t save everyone. As Jolt walks out she tells the masked Zemo not to look so smug about it. Zemo turns to Fixer and asks if he looked smug just then. As Dallas leaves, she says that Zemo can’t help it. Zemo pulls his mask off and asks Fixer how many warheads they have. Fixer says that they have thirty. Zemo asks how many it will take. Fixer says that it will take about fourteen. Zemo tells him to drop twenty. Fixer asks, “Just to make sure the job gets done?” Zemo says that sounds better. Fixer asks what it sounds better than. Zemo says, “Than me saying I never liked the Japanese much.”
Jolt sits outside watching Tokyo being destroyed. She thinks about her dead mother and wonders about all the others down there like her mother that left things undone and unsaid. She wonders how many of them think of them as heroes as the bombs explode. Zemo walks out behind her. She wipes a tear from her face and turns to look at Zemo. Zemo turns and leaves. Jolt wonders how a man that has failed so many times can be so sure of himself. She wonders if it is fueled by arrogance and conceit, or if there is a spark of greatness in him.
Jolt thinks about Karla and how she thinks
that she is better than everyone. Jolt admits that maybe she is.
She says that she is smarter and stronger, but that she is
flawed. She says that, while ego keeps Zemo from succeeding, fear
is what holds Karla back. Fear of intimacy, of responsibility, of
letting herself be hurt. Lloyd Bloch watches Moonstone speak to
the crowd as Jolt flies overhead. Jolt lands and says that it is
interesting to watch her open up to thousands of people.
Moonstone has gathered together the teachers and professionals
together to present to them her “utopia plan”. Jolt
says that it is ambitious thinking, but that it would have to be
to make a new civilization. Jolt worries if this is just a game
to Moonstone, the ultimate head game, the ultimate challenge to
change the way that a world thinks. Jolt wonders if it will make
the world a better place. She says that she came there to watch,
but also to talk to Karla about her concerns and about Zemo. Zemo
walks out with Karla on stage. The people all begin to cheer. 
Jolt says that
seeing the way that the crowd reacts to them, the way they react
back, and the way they react to each other makes her wonder. She
says that she doesn’t know what to think of these people
anymore.
Jolt sits at her computer typing a letter to Charcoal. She wonders if they have changed for the better, or if it is her that has changed. She says that perhaps she has outgrown her optimism and idealism. She says that maybe she is less trusting. She says that they are doing everything that she ever wanted them to do and wonders why she can’t be happy about it. Jolt looks over at a drawing of Charcoal that she had Dallas draws for her. She says that she misses him and wonders what he would say to her. She says, “I think I put the Thunderbolts on a road paved with good intentions… leading them straight to Hell”.
Traitor’s rating: 7 out of 10
I guess it’s no shock that I’m enjoying the half of the Thunderbolts called “becoming villains” as opposed to “becoming heroes”. I love the way Fabian is writing Zemo in this book. I love the underlying ominous tones. I love the way that Karla is trying to change the way a world thinks. Justifying genocide would also seem to be a corrupting influence on the way the Thunderbolts would think. 4 out of 5 for the writing. Batista does a decent job of penciling this issue. He has some good storytelling, but his style still isn’t growing on me yet.