T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2

The new recruits are gathered together and commence their first mission, rescue Raven or die (a bit earlier than advertised) trying. There's also a concurrently running backup feature that reveals the background of Henry Cosegi, the new Lightning. 
 
The Good 
Last issue focused on the demise of the former Agents and Toby, the new "Salesman", and his introduction to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. initiative. This issue's very light on action, BUT we do get some great characterization for Lightning. We also get some humorous interaction between Toby and Colleen. The slacker and the straight man partnership is certainly more than a wee bit played. However, Spencer's strong writing manages to keep things from feeling stale and hackneyed. I can see some Moonlighting style sexual tension developing between these two in the future. Spencer really gives them an organic back and forth, that's fun to read. Early in the issue they have a very interesting, albeit brief, conversation about the morality of their work that I found very striking.  
 
I want to especially applaud Spencer for showing us a bit of Colleen's human side this issue. her conversation with Lightning really elevated her character for me. She's taken a big step from being a generic, mission focused handler to a 3Dimensional individual. Toby appealed to me from jump street, I just loved this guy the moment I opened issue one. His lighthearted and wisecracking nature really appealed to me. It's like this guy is almost aware that he's in a comic book, but manages not to be hammy about it. Colleen on the other hand left me kind of cold, but after this issue I can see her really growing on me in the future.   
 
The main appeal of this issue is the origin story of Lighting. Spencer's manages to give us an in depth look into Henry Cosegi's life before he signed it away for one last shot at glory. We see his upbringing in his small Kenyan village, his meteoric rise to athletic success and his fall from grace into the depths of depression and hopelessness. Here we see a man who has it all lose it in the blink of an eye, and the way it's handled is very believable. Despite him having little actual dialog, I felt like I knew this man. I identified with his plight and felt genuine sympathy for him. I also came to wonder if T.H.U.N.D.E.R. itself had a hand in tipping the scales of fate in their favor and out of Henry's. I look very forward to seeing how that plays out in the future.  
 
All the agents devices have side effects that will eventually kill them, while we've yet to see the other's, I'm of the opinion that Henry's just may end up  being the most disturbing of them all. Every time he uses his super speed he's bombarded with images of his future deaths. Each vision revealing a more disturbing, earlier approaching demise as his powers erode his body. I have to give props to CAFU and Chriscross on their excellent pencil work on these panels.  
 
CAFU's work on this title continues to be superb and  has put him on my short list of artists to watch. The panel when Lightning stops running, overwhelmed by his dismal visions of nightmarish futures says it all. Likewise guest artists Chriscross shines with his illustrations of Lightnings future deaths. They were definitely the artistic highlight of  this issue and if all the other guest artists can bring this caliber of work than I'll be one throughly satisfied reader. Both Santiago Arcas and Brad Anderson do a bang up job on the colors for the main and backup features respectively. There's just something about that dusky African skyline on the first page of the Lightning backup feature that gets to me.          

The Bad 
Whenever there's more than one cook in the kitchen there exist the potential for things to get burnt. As great as the lightning backup feature is, there were some very noticeable problems with Chriscross' artwork. The most  obvious fault in his style is the way he occasionally draws faces. Sometimes the faces looked awkwardly proportioned especially when people are smiling or yelling. There are also too many lines on characters faces during close ups.  
 
I also have to note that it's understandable for two artists to have varying takes on a character's appearance, but when these two depictions occur in the same issue it can be highly distracting and unsettling. CAFU's design for Lighting looks nothing like Cross' take on the character, I mean aside from the fact that their both black guys. CAFU's Lightning has significantly lighter pigmentation (that's likely Anderson's fault on that discrepancy), and a generally younger appearance with softer facial features. 
He appears to be in his early 20s while Cross' appears to be in his mid to late 30's. 
 
While I absolutely adored the Lightning backup feature I've gotta say it felt more like the main plot than the actual main plot. In the main story we see some talking at the office, arrival in Sri Lanka and then Lighting runs...that's it. No one else does anything. This issue could've definitely used some of that action on the cover. I mean they arrive onsite to rescue Raven, but we only get to see them preparing to do something.

The Verdict  
BUY THIS COMIC (And Series) NOW!!!!
Nick Spencer's quickly becoming one of my favorite new kids on the block. If he keeps turning out high quality work of this caliber I can see myself contently reading his titles for years to come. I admit this series has gotten off to slow start, but this issue made me feel like the build up is going to be worth it in the very near future. If Spencer balances detailed revelations of the team's pasts with action packed exploits in the future then I can definitely see this title taking off.  
 
The original T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was one of my first exposures to comic books. I still remember walking into that dusty comic shop in downtown, Junction City, Kansas and randomly grabbing an issue because Dynamo looked cool on the cover. So when I saw the ad for this series in another comic, naturally a bit of nostalgic glee overcame me. I'm very pleased to say that I wasn't the least bit disappointed with this relaunch of this book and feel that it's in very talented, very capable hands. This book was worth the 3.99 price tag, but with it dropping to 2.99 this month there's really no reason not to give it a chance. It's still early on and in a very good jumping on place. So yeah, get on board!