Thunderbolt Jaxon (An Albion Story) [Paperback]

I am all in favor of resurrecting classic comic characters for modern readers, and the more obscure the better. Any comic character, no matter how odd or seemingly worn-out, has potential in the correct hands: Alan Moore turned Marvelman/Miracleman into a god on Earth, Grant Morrison made Animal Man one of the most interesting DC superheroes ever, and Neil Gaiman united DC's various Sandman characters into one of the greatest works in the medium of comics. There are many more examples, such as James Robinson's Starman and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. What was great about these various series is that they didn't ignore the past, but successfully integrated the old stories into the new, providing explanations for what was and how it relates to what is. In a way, the resurrection of a character is the ultimate test for a writer: to transform an also-ran into a relevant character, while avoiding the easy way out of simply "reimagining". If the DC/Wildstorm trade paperback THUNDERBOLT JAXON is the best that writer Dave Gibbons can do, he failed the test.

Thunderbolt Jaxon is a relatively unknown British comic character from the late `40s - early `60s. The belt of Thor transforms young Jack Jaxon into a godlike being with the powers of strength and flight. The original version of this character was a blonde musclebound pretty-boy in a skirt who righted wrongs with a punch and a smile. The only way I know this is because Gibbons provides an introduction with some welcome information about this classic character, none of which is referenced in the actual story. Sadly, the intro is more interesting than what follows: Gibbons and artist John Higgins proceed to throw the character's past out the window and construct an almost entirely new Thunderbolt Jaxon from scratch. This TJ is much darker and closer to his Asgardian roots, resulting in Jack now using the belt to transform into a long-haired, bare-chested, tattooed, hammer-wielding barbarian who calls himself Thor and awakens other barbarian dudes named Heimdall and Odin. In short, it's barely the same Golden Age character and more a copy of Marvel Comics' Thor, and this is the book's biggest flaw. Gibbons has broken Babytoxies' rule number one for resurrecting comic characters, which I referenced above: the story MUST tie the new version to the old! Flashbacks, retellings, ANYTHING! There is no reason at all to use the Thunderbolt Jaxon name and belt of Thor if the story ignores the past. TJ predates Marvel's Thor by about 14 years, but from what's presented in this story, you'd never know it. By creating an entirely new version of TJ, instead of incorporating the old version, Gibbons has excised all historical perspective from this character, giving us two separate characters who just happen to share a name and a magic belt. These two halves are certainly weaker than the whole.

Anyway, on to the story: a trio of kids stumble upon a lost treasure, containing a magic torc, belt, and cross. The belt enables one of the boys, Jack, to become what appears to be Thor, god of thunder. As his memory clears, other characters enter the picture... and by then, I was struggling just to stay awake. It's yet another drawn-out origin story for yet another uninspired character. The story concludes with "The End... for now." No thanks DC, let's end it here. DC really got my attention a year ago when they announced that they'd be producing stories based on the classic British IPC characters, but after the surprising mediocrity of Alan and Leah Moore's ALBION, and now Dave Gibbons' appalling THUNDERBOLT JAXON, I have given up on DC's ability to do anything interesting with them. Feh.