Entry tags:

char: lionheart/kelsey leigh, char: she-hulk/jennifer walters, char: thunderball/eliot franklin, creator: chuck austen, publisher: marvel comics, title: avengers

So, since the subject of Thunderball's characterization came up yesterday...
Maybe I need to kick-start a "When The Wrecking Crew Was Awesome" week.


Since the discussion yesterday of Thunderball's characterization in Jeff Parker's Dark Reign: The Hood #1 mentioned that Thunderball's characterization has varied over the years, I thought that I'd post a few pages that illustrate a nice counterpoint to the way that Parker is writing him.

Although it causes me profound and pervasive spiritual agony to say this, the last time I recall Eliot Franklin being written as clearly articulate was by none other than Chuck Austen in Austen's Avengers vol. 3 stint. (This happened to be in the same storyline where Kelsey Leigh eventually became the new Captain Britain in a plot so rife with gleeful abandonment of consistency vis a vis the Captain Britain mythos that I don't think that I've ever met anyone who doesn't gleefully mock it.)

But to his credit, despite the absurd contrivance of Morgan Le Fey deciding to recruit the Wrecking Crew as the best choice to help her achieve dominion over England, Austen wrote a damn fine Thunderball (although, as someone has pointed out, it turns out to not be Eliot at all).

I like this Eliot Franklin; it references old school depictions of Eliot when his genius intellect was in evidence. He utters a literary reference and immediately expresses profound appreciation when Kelsey responds in kind -- to the point that he expresses regret when she refuses to step aside -- but he's not swayed from his stated mission one bit when she does refuse his request to move. It's a nice little character moment for both of them; they're both resolute, smart, and unyielding. I wish more writers would do this with Thunderball because it's just plain enjoyable to read him as a clearly educated and cultured man.