World Comic Book Review

26th March 2024

Thunderbolts #1: A Childlike Evil

Thunderbolts #1 (review)
(Marvel Comics, July 2016)
Writer: Jim Zub

In William Gibson’s groundbreaking science fiction novel “Neuromancer” (Ace, 1984), a psychopathic character, the charming and perverted Peter Riviera, is described as being a product of the radioactive ruins of Bonn, one of a group of feral children who engaged in cannibalism to survive. The equally significant science fixtion novel by Robert Harris, “Fatherland” (Hutchinson, 1992), concerned with a parallel universe where Nazi Germany won the war in Europe, sees the cunning betrayal of the lead character to the SS, leading to certain torture and death, by his young son. And Grant Morrison’s graphic novel “Kid Eternity” (Vertigo Comics, 1991) describes a screeching bridge as constructed of the souls of “bad babies”.

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