Wednesday's Finest, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (DC)

By Don M. Ventura

How do you test the quality of a quality writer? Give that writer a property that nobody cares about and see what is done with it. If I put down a book with characters that aspire to one day ascend to C-List status and my first thought is “wow”, I know I’ve read something by a quality writer.

Nick Spencer is this guy who seems to have come out of nowhere over the last year and is producing work that is so absolutely pleasing that you just want to give it someone and dare them not to enjoy it. If you can get your hands on his new creator-owned work Morning Glories from Image, give the book a try (I believe each issue has gone through at least a second printing apiece).

So this week DC has released Spencer’s first issue of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a book about a covert team of heroes whose powers are granted to them, but those powers will eventually kill them. That sounds like a good hook, but it’s Spencer’s ability to tell a story that causes the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to transcend ordinary storytelling.

The book introduces us to Toby Henston a salesman hired to recruit men and women into the Higher United Nations effort (that’s the T.H.U.N. in T.H.U.N.D.E.R.) and Colleen Franklin, the field agent who accompanies Toby in his recruiting efforts. The current T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents are squarely in the background of this issue as the story revolves around the recruitment of a new team.

Spencer is joined by artist CAFU on this book and here we have another star on the rise. CAFU’s work is really wonderful. It seems like a hybrid of Salvador Larroca and John Cassaday’s work. His drawings are very cinematic. This is especially so during a scene when the Raven is being rescued. We know something has gone wrong but we don’t understand what. CAFU draws a suspenseful escape sequence that culminates with a gorgeous two page spread of the Raven with his enormous wings spread wide against the sun.

The story continues to move back and forth between the past, a little less in the past, and the future. This is done so adeptly and confidently, the storytelling is clear and straightforward regardless of the shifts in time.

Another gift of Spencer’s is his ability to write strong dialogue and find a unique voice for his characters. The book opens with Toby talking to the camera and it is crystal clear that the guy is a salesman without coming off like a smug jerk. In key scenes Spencer nicely uses dialogue to ensure the reader is understanding fully what might have otherwise been a complex scene.

Compare T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to Morning Glories or to Spencer’s Jimmy Olsen follow-up stories in Action Comics. These are wildly different types of stories yet there is one constant: the writing is good.

Wow.