By Jacob Cordas — I just finished reading King in Black Thunderbolts #1, and there’s no more denying it: we are in the Metal Age of comics. The biggest events of the last few years are now excuses for seven-minute guitar solos, apocalyptic badassery, and van art variant covers.* At Marvel, the House of Ideas, they have embraced this completely. Conan the Barbarian is running around with his own Avengers team fighting evil cannibal wizards. X-Men just had a sword-based tournament with evil alternate dimensional mutants so that two islands can get back to being married. Even post-apocalyptic Hulk has been getting mini-series after mini-series so we can see the world being conquered properly. But right now, this trend has graced us with King In Black Thunderbolt #1, an amazing experience that involves Thunderbolts vs Demons**, and goddamn am I here for it.

I mean, I don’t know what I expected going into this comic, but it definitely wasn’t watching Belroc the Leaper double electric kicking some symbiote ass. It also most certainly wasn’t a dragon one-shotting a character I’ve never met before, and it absolutely wasn’t an opening that involved a monologue from a mayor. There lies the beauty of King In Black Thunderbolts #1 — it is ridiculous and over the top and always satisfying.

The book’s writer, Matthew Rosenberg (Uncanny X-Men, The Punisher) hasn’t been this good since his time-traveling epic miniseries, Multiple Man. Here, Rosenberg’s plot assembles an assortment of b-listers at best, characters that might as well have the word “expendable” tattooed across their foreheads. Wilson Fisk has brought this sad excuse for a Suicide Squad together to save one man. This could easily fall into trite comics storytelling. But Rosenberg’s script makes it such a delight the whole way through — a road trip through a short-term apocalypse, following characters I never thought I’d give a fuck about.

Put simply, this is peak modern comics, a tie-in comic that actually maximizes the potential of a linewide event.

Even with this amazing script, however, this could all still have fallen flat. Instead, it rises to shocking heights with outstanding art by Juan Ferreyra (Spider-Man: Noir, Green Arrow). Ferreyra’s style here could maybe be described as 2000AD meets Darick Robertson. It’s dark, grimey, and imminently fun. Each character design shines on every page without ever taking away any of the overarching tone. Page layouts are cleverly set up, highlighting the most important moments while never getting in the way of the story.

Most importantly though, this comic book is funny. The art has a bleak humor to it throughout. Ferreyra is able to make multiple murders hilarious without hesitation, evoking his similarly madcap action cartooning in Punisher Kill Krew. A facial expression in the middle of a moment of cowardice is a perfect joke. Hell, there is a simple visual gag with the Rhino that I’ve seen multiple times before, but here is executed flawlessly.

It’s the Metal Age. I suppose I should just get used to all of it, but right now I still can’t believe how much I liked this comic. It’s so well made every step of the way. It’s over the top like a spiked leather jacket being worn in a strip mall. But — and I know this might sound crazy — I don’t want to tell anyone to stop wearing that jacket. I want to help them buy matching spiked boots with a shirt for a band with a name like The Abominable Iron Sloth, which they can rip up and put back together with safety pins. But I digress.

Basically, I want this comic to continue well past its three issues. I want it to be an album, not an EP. But what an EP this is — a miniseries that shows exactly what an event tie-in can and should be.

Overall: A textbook example of how great an event tie-in comic can be, King In Black Thunderbolts #1 is phenomenally told, fantastically drawn, and just so goddamn good. 9.8/10

*I cannot stress how cool the van art variants were for War of the Realms. I bought issues of that series, not because I was interested in the series but purely because I needed to own those Greg Horn covers.

**Yes, I know they are symbiotes. In this context, they function most similarly to demons (or maybe deadites) being led by a clear devil analog. This is not a complaint. I love this. But I’m not going to mince words about what this is.

REVIEW: King in Black Thunderbolts #1

King in Black Thunderbolts #1
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Letterer and Designer: VC's Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
KINGPIN’S KILLERS VERSUS AN ARMY OF UNKILLABLE DRAGONS!
An army of evil space dragons have come to attack Earth and are starting with New York. MAYOR FISK has a plan for that. Assembling a group of killers, mercenaries, and just generally pretty horrible people like TASKMASTER, RHINO, STAR, MR. FEAR, and BATROC THE LEAPER, Mayor Fisk tasks them with saving the city or die trying…or die right then and there. The fate of the entire world may rest in the hands of the absolute worst people in the Marvel Universe. What could go wrong?
Release Date: January 13, 2021
Read It Digitally: King in Black Thunderbolts #1