Category Archives: Other Speedsters

Quick Review: THUNDER Agents #2 Runs a Speedster Ragged

I haven’t read the first issue of the new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series, but when I read that issue #2 was going to feature the origin of their speedster, Lightning, I decided to take a look. The concept: An international team of covert operatives use suits that give them super-powers…knowing that the powers will kill them.

Despite being the middle of a bigger story, the issue reads quite well. It’s structured with a framing sequence in which the team is on its first mission. It’s not entirely clear what they’re doing, except they need Lightning to get inside the perimeter. To do so, he’ll need to run faster than he has ever run in training…and he’ll learn the true cost of super-speed.

This is wrapped around the story of Kenyan athlete Henry Cosgei, two-time Olympic winner and three-time world champion, a man who loves life, but most of all loves running…and the brutal way in which T.H.U.N.D.E.R. manipulates him into joining the team. By the end of the issue, he sees all too well what he’s given up in order to regain what he’d previously lost.

There’s good character work, not only with Lightning himself, but with the two handlers. There’s some depth here beyond the mindless slugfests, continuity strip-mining, and roster shuffling (though there is a bit of the latter here, since it’s an origin story) that seems to make up so much of the super-hero landscape these days.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2: “Live Fast, Die Young”
Writer: Nick Spencer
Penciller (main sequence): Cafu
Inker (main sequence): Bit
Artist (Lightning sequence): ChrisCross

Velocity #1 Now Online…FREE!

With issue #3 coming out in a couple of weeks (December 8, the same week as the next issue of The Flash), Top Cow has released the first issue of the Velocity miniseries online…free!

Cyberforce’s speedster has one hour to find a cure for a deadly virus before it kills her teammates — and herself. It’s engaging, has fantastic artwork, and is surprisingly new-reader-friendly. (Here are my reviews of the first two issues.)

You can read the full issue at Newsarama. UPDATE: CBR’s copy of the issue is larger, making it easier to read the yellow-on-green text.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and Lightning

The Source has a new article on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, focusing on the team’s speedster Lightning. Joining regular artist Cafu, ChrisCross steps in to illustrate Lightning’s backstory…and the “crazy-scary toll his new power takes on him.”

ChrisCross is no stranger to speedsters. Two years ago, he was all set to draw the scrapped Velocity series that would have spun out of Top Cow’s first Pilot Season. He completed at least one issue and several covers. The interior art hasn’t seen the light of day, but Top Cow has been using the covers as variants on the current Ron Marz/Kenneth Rocafort Velocity miniseries.

THUNDER Agents #2 goes on sale December 8.

Shortpacked! Robin Statue Finalized

Shortpacked! cartoonist David Willis posted these photos of the completed Robin DeSanto statue from Patch Together. I’ve got to say, it looks great. I’m not usually one for buying statues and such (though I do make an effort to buy print collections of webcomics that I really like), but I am tempted by this one.

If you missed the earlier post about the prototype, you can read up on the webcomic’s sugar-powered speedster.

The statue is available for preorder.

Shortpacked! Speedster Robin Gets Her Own Statue

Last week, web cartoonist David Willis posted the final design for a statue of Robin DeSanto, the sugar-powered hyperactive speedster from It’s Walky! and Shortpacked!

Robin initially used her super-powers in a top-secret alien-fighting squad (the main story of It’s Walky!). In the years since the alien invasion was thwarted, she has become a simple retail clerk at a toy store (Shortpacked!)…when she’s not moonlighting as a United States Congresswoman.

The statue is available for pre-order now.