Kate is in the office surrounded by mounds of twine, nuts, bolts, and scraps of metal.
Dan: ::yelling up from the garage:: Have you seen the tin snips? I have some tin that needs snipping.
Kate: ::looks around:: NO. YES. MAYBE. I can’t say for sure. ::mutters to self:: Where ARE the tin snips, anyway?
D: ::walks into office:: Either you have it or you don’t, Red. So do you have it?
K: ::trying to hide the mess in the office and failing miserably:: I dunno. I might have it, or I may have lost it. Don’t pay any attention to the mess behind me that may be concealing the tin snips. Carry on about your own project.
D: I can’t until I get the snips that you may or may not have. What gives with the construction site behind you? And what do you have rigged around your waist?
K: ::quickly pulls off belt made of a purloined home plate from the city ballpark and jumper cables:: I may have been trying to make my own Thunderbelt. You know, like the one from the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS comic book.
D: And how’s that project going? From the mess you’ve made, I’d say not well. Besides, the Little League game has been going on for 2 days now with no scoring, due to the fact they can’t cross home plate now.
K: Hey, man. Rome wasn’t built in a day and one doesn’t simply make a Thunderbelt on the first try. Things like this take time. Just like the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS comic book.
D: I think I understand your crazy train logic. This comic book actually dates back to the Silver Age of comics. Everyone published this book at one time or another: Tower Comics, Deluxe Comics, eventually DC Comics purchased it, and now IDW has the rights. IDW has brought back the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS series with the ever-capable Phil Hester writing and art by Andrea Di Vito.
K: Right. The Agents have been around. Long-time comics fans may recognize the name and know that industry legends like Wally Wood and Gil Kane worked on the title. But there just hasn’t been a lot of recent success for the property. The T.H.U.N.D.E.R AGENTS (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves) call IDW home now, and judging from issue #1, it’s clear IDW is fielding a playoff caliber lineup. They’re playing for the postseason here, with a stacked line-up and a slugger batting cleanup.
::mumbles:: Need to lay off the Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN…
D: This time around the evil Iron Maiden has thoroughly defeated two of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents who were manning Field Station 123. Well, only one agent. The other was an android and his consciousness reverts to his prototype body at home base. It’s a robot-y thing. So there’s really only one Agent in peril, but the team needs to save him.
K: ::looks at issue #1 on the desk:: Hold up. The Flash-guy on the cover you picked up is only in this issue in one panel? After getting his butt handed to him by the Iron Maiden? Way to pick the winning cover, genius!
D: His name is Lighting, thankyouverymuch. And like you could do better against the Maiden. She’s a major super-villain! And there were five awesome covers, including a sweet team shot by Jerry Ordway. I still may go back for that one.
K: So our Agents need to go back on the offensive against the Iron Maiden. Pinning their hopes on Professor Jennings’ miraculous Thunderbelt, they think they may have a chance against the Maiden. However, the Thunderbelt requires the ability to withstand a massive amount of pain, of punishment, of incredible endurance. The only person who can do it is…
D: …A HOCKEY PLAYER! I frigging love this part. Len Brown is a hockey enforcer who has fallen on hard times: working for a local crime boss, working on collections.
K: I don’t know if the hockey parts were in the old Silver Age versions, but the nods to Old Time hockey, the Fighting Saints especially, were really cool.
D: So Len Brown gets recruited into the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. The attack is launched against the Iron Maiden, and the issue ends up in the air. REALLY. UP IN THE AIR!
K: Dude, this was a super fun, nonstop comic book. It’s four-color fun, told in a straight-ahead manner. I really dug it.
D: I’m with you. I think this is the perfect comic to give someone new to comics. Hester writes the team dynamic so well, and Di Vito showcases bold super-hero action.
K: This is totally a superhero team I want to join! Then I could ditch this sad excuse for a Thuderbelt. ::kicks home plate/jumper cable belt:: Think if I join the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents they would let me wear their Thunderbelt?
D: Let’s hope so, because the city Little League team is gathered outside our door, and they look pissed!
