Review by Frank Plowright

Rather than go back for even more printings of Civil War tie-ins, in 2016 Marvel began issuing bulkier packages combining two of the old graphic novels. In this case it’s a good match.

The Civil War was about whether superheroes should register their personal details with the government, and therefore about control. Many heroes felt this to be an unreasonable imposition, among them Captain America, who features in both stories here. It didn’t bother the Thunderbolts greatly because as former criminals their identities were already public knowledge, and most members of this iteration of Heroes for Hire never bothered with secret identities in the first place. The exceptions are the skin-crawling Humbug, and mercenary for hire Paladin.

It’s felt the optics would be poor on former villains hunting down now wanted heroes, so the Thunderbolts are confined to capturing villains, while there’s no such problem with the Heroes for Hire, who’re sent straight after Captain America. In both cases the writers have background plots running, and in the case of Fabian Nicieza’s Thunderbolts it’s particularly frustrating that the story isn’t completed as Civil War involvement is but one part of a bigger plan for Baron Zemo. He’s a master of manipulation, and considers the Civil War a side issue to the major threat of the Grandmaster’s plans for Earth.

Both stories offer considerable surprises and engaging superhero plots featuring interesting characters most of whom are far from Marvel’s first rank, which is an attraction. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti drop surprises throughout, while Nicieza tends to plot toward cliffhanger chapter endings, but both shock as intended. The respective team leaders are a study in contrasts, both strong personalities, although unlike Zemo there’s no doubts about Misty Knight’s integrity.

The artistic star turn is Billy Tucci on the Heroes for Hire. His technique and approach are a cut above everyone else here, although he’s too fond of cheesecake poses. However, after drawing the whole of the opening chapter his contribution continually diminishes until Francis Portela is drawing everything by the end. Portela’s talented, but not Tucci. There’s a reason Tom Grummett has a long career in superhero comics, and he supplies his strong action layouts for most of the Thunderbolts chapters, with David Ross handling the opener.

You can pick up used copies of these stories as Heroes for Hire: Civil War and Thunderbolts: Civil War, but this combination package is more easily found.