Review: Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt by Roy & Dann Thomas, Dick Giordano, et al.

Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt reinvents the character of Johnny Thunder for the 1980s, though really it takes the name of the character and basically nothing else. Jonni is a private investigator, formerly in partnership with her father until he recently died; a man dies in her office, thrusting her into the middle of a complex situation with multiple participants jockeying for possession of a small statuette she's had since she was a child... only she's somehow gained possession of superpowers?

I read Jonni Thunder because I believed it took place on Earth-Two (and I understand that Jonni ends up appearing in Infinity, Inc. during Crisis on Infinite Earths), but within this four-issue miniseries, it's not really connected at all. When Jonni gains superpowers, her referents are tv shows, not real superheroes buzzing around, and the one reference to Wonder Woman could easily be construed to WW as a fictional character. Though it has some of the trappings of it, it's not really a superhero story, but something else entirely.

This is very much the hard-boiled detective genre, one I don't have a ton of experience with, but I have enough to identify how it slots in. It's kind of like Chinatown, if Jack Nicholson suddenly manifested the ability to mentally fuse with a thunderbolt and leave his body behind. Jonni has to figure out who she can trust (no one) and has to compromise her morality in order to accomplish her goal of solving the murder. Things richochet back and forth between Los Angeles and San Francisco as she fights gangsters, movie stars, technical geniuses, good cops, lazy cops, sleazy P.I.s, and the starter on her 1957 Thunderbird.

from Jonni Thunder #3
(plot & script by Roy & Dann Thomas, art by Dick Giordano)

I enjoyed it. Like I said, I don't know hard-boiled well, but I'm always up for a good pastiche, and this is a great one. Roy and Dann Thomas have a good knack for the genre, and the supernatural elements don't feel too grafted on. Jonni is a great protagonist, in slightly over her head, but quick-witted and always planning her next move. Dick Giordano is one of comics's most reliable artists, and he does good work here, though I found myself wishing it had been printed on nicer, Baxter paper-- the inks would have held up better, but also more interesting things could have been done with the coloring. Ernie Colón (originally slated to be the artist but it didn't work out) gives Jonni great style, men's suits in black and white, but they don't really pop with the primitive coloring technology of the mid-1980s. Imagine a moodier, atmospheric version of this comic!

I've read a lot of Roy Thomas comics by now (all of All-Star Squadron, America vs. the Justice Society, and the first seventeen issues of Infinity, Inc.), and this is the first one where his wife Dann gets a full co-writer credit, not just co-plot. Surely not coincidentally, it has the best dialogue and other prose of any Roy Thomas comic I've read. The banter is fun, and first-person narration is characterful and insightful. Apparently the plotted the issues together, than Dann wrote the scripts, then Roy did a little polish-- but, he says in the lettercol, not much was needed. On the strength of this, I look forward to reading the Infinity, Inc. issues where she graduates to full co-writer.

Jonni Thunder is in some ways a simple comic, but simple pleasures are still pleasures. This is a delightful mash-up of superhero and P.I., and I wish there had been more of it. In the lettercols, Roy suggests that thought he and Giordano didn't have time to write an ongoing, they could do a succession of miniseries and/or graphic novels. Alas, they never came to pass. But I am curious to see how Jonni will integrate into the very different style of full-color superheroics in Infinity, Inc.!

Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt originally appeared in issues #1-4 of Jonni Thunder (Feb.-Aug. 1985). The series was created by Roy & Dann Thomas, Dick Giordano, and Gerry Conway, with special thanks to Ernie Colón; scripted by Roy & Dann Thomas; illustrated by Dick Giordano (#1-4), with an assist by Mike Esposito (#2); co-plotted by Gerry Conway (#1); colored by A. Tollin (#1) and Adrienne Roy (#2-4); and lettered by L. Lois Buhalis & Orzechowski.

This post is the eighth in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)