Aug 17
House to Astonish Presents: The Lightning Round Episode 32
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2026 by Al in Podcast
New volume, new team, new episode, as Paul and I look at 2005’s New Thunderbolts issues 1-3, and Mach IV assembles a wonky squad of screw-ups to take on one of Marvel’s classic Barons (so what else is new?). There’s also the clunk of victory, the burger van outside TBolts HQ and the hitherto-unsung villainy of Portugal.
The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.
That ’70s Everett/Gerber Namor book was really excellent. I wouldn’t have believed the king of the sea could be a counterculture hero, and yet.
It wasn’t exactly my favourite Steve Gerber work, and I am one of Gerber’s biggest fans. It felt like Gerber was stretching his wings, trying to figure out what he could get away with (even though I realize he had been writing Man-Thing by that point). Gerber and more straight superheroes rarely were able to mesh. We had Zephyrland with The (pacifist) Four and their Golden Submarine, which would all fit well with where Gerber took the medium, but it felt underdeveloped in the Sub-Mariner comic. Still, it was one of the better Sub-Mariner solo series.
I thought the Tales of Atlantis back-up strips were better than the Namor stories. Kamuu and Zartra ruling Atlantis. heh
Talking about 70s Namor made me realize that the fellas follow up pod to the Lightning Round should be Super Villain Team Up.
On the subject of how writing works in Atlantis, over at DC the Atlantis Chronicles that were a major feature of Peter David’s Aquaman were an actual book. We saw the chroniclers writing in it with what looked very much like a dip pen. At least it wasn’t a quill.
It always weirds me out when writers decide order=good, chaos=bad and therefore Nazis, Darkseid, and other evil authoritarians are pro-chaos. I suppose it could just be one step: “Agents of order, with which to forment sweet chaos… from which to build a new order.”
@Daibhid C- The X-Men: True Friends series had the opposite problem. Claremont decided order=bad. chaos=good, and therefore he had Kitty declare that the Shadow King was a creature of order, despite there being no evidence in the story of that.
There was evidence because it said that the Shadow King wanted a clockwork universe where everything was under his control and no one had free will. He was also working with the Nazis in an attempt to eliminate difference, another aspect of “chaos” or randomness in the universe.
Although, this clashed with Claremont’s earlier portrayal of Shadow King as a being of decadence and hedonism (in the modern definition, not the original philosophy).
Listening to the recap of these three issues made me remember just how much I love this period of Thunderbolts.
@Chris V- The only evidence that he wanted a clockwork universe was Kitty’s dialogue.
It wasn’t clear why he was working with the Nazis, although since in an earlier story Claremont mentioned that he worked with the Russians/ Soviets, so we presume he had his own agenda. Dormammu, Daimon Hellstrom’s father and Sinister also aided the Nazis. It seems like every ancient evil in the Marvel Universe aided the Nazis.
That story where Claremont mentioned that the Shadow King had imbedded himself with the Soviets also mentioned that he had been involved with all the major powerbrokers in every major power across the globe (which, presumably would point to this occurring after the fall of Nazi Germany), seeming to play them off against each other. Which would seem more to put him into a position as an agent of chaos or, perhaps, entropy. My guess would be that he planned to create a massive World War or start a nuclear war which could cull the planet, making it easier for him to mind-control the victims. I guess I am doing some fan fiction to fill in the blanks left by Claremont when his original plans for SK were aborted.
Didn’t much like the art in these issues, the male faces look just weird. Like someone trying to do Al Capp but lacking the talent to make it work.
As more of an Avengers-head (compared to Paul’s incredible X-Men knowledge), some pedantic Swordsman/Avengers corrections:
– the first new member to join was Captain America (somehow retroactively considered a founder) followed by Wonder Man as a villain/trick – before Swordy himself did the same thing
– Swordsman first join in the 60s, not the 70s (maybe around issue 21 or something?, but you’re correct that he was considered a member despite the deceit, even appearing in issue 100.
– the rest of what you say about the 70s stuff is spot-on, rejoining around 114, I think
In fairness, the Portuguese Wikipedia entry for “Portuguese man o’ war” says that the name of the creature is “Caravela-portuguesa” and that it was named after caravels used as warships.
Also, I’m willing to believe that Strucker was funding the news channel off-panel and told them to report on the Thunderbolts.
@Scott: If I remember right, Busiek addressed the Captain America retcon after the Morgan la Fey storyline at the start of volume 3. One of the Avengers (Wasp, I think?) pointed out that they considered Cap to be a founder because the Hulk wanted nothing to do with the team, creating a vacancy.