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Robbie Baldwin being Penance is retarded.

Does that make the Thunderbolts the Pirates of Penance?

Sounds like a paradox. A most ingenious paradox.

Frankly I don’t care if Robbie is Penance but something has to be done with that Image-like costume. It screams “90s Image drawn crap!” I thought big shoulder pads, spikes and faceless masks went the way of the Chromium cover and Pogs?

Oh well, old is new again. I’m looking forward to Ellis written Penance.

It’s not a big deal. It’s certainly not worth getting all riled up about.

It’s still pretty dumb, though.

Oh yeah, the idea is totally silly.

In what has become a trademark of Frontline thus far, Jenkins has taken this super serious approach to stuff that, when given a super serious approach, just looks super silly.

Reading the scenes of Robbie becoming Penance, it was like Jenkins was trying to do a “What if Bertolt Brecht wrote a comic about that dude who used to be Speedball?”

Which is pretty dumb.

Lieber’s art was great, though!

Perhaps my “child of 90′s comics” is showing, but I’m fine with Penance’s visual (which I believe a few enterprising souls on the internet have pegged as being mostly ripped off from Soul Calibur III) and even his ludicrously angsty and somewhat improbable powerset. It’s something that could end up quite interesting in the hands of just the right writer. The character only starts seeming stupid to me when I remember that he’s [i]the guy who used to be Speedball[/i]. Then I start laughing internally, and basically can’t stop.

It is, however, fucking hilarious.

It isn’t a big deal, but it is pretty dumb!

I’m mainly wondering how the hell he sees out of that mask.

His costume is designed so that he can see through the blood of innocents!

So, is Penance’s secret hideout in the basement of a bondage club?

And where Bruce Wayne has a comfy leather chair to do his computing in, does Penance have one of those large leather chairs that just never get comfortable?

Does the Penancemobile have no A/C at all?

(I’ve got a million of ‘em)

One of the few fun characters from the eighties becomes angsty and obsessed with redemption?

You’re right, that’s not a big deal, actually– near as I can tell, it’s what the big two were doing with all their fun characters throughout the nineties.

::sigh::

==Tom

Maybe not a big deal, but man, I can’t get over how silly all those internal spikes are. Wouldn’t he be dead pretty quickly?

That’s some serious suspension of disbelief to be hurdling there.

Any character from any company, in any age, from any country named ‘Penance’ is a bad idea.

I’ve been wondering how they’re going to explain the internal spikes, either. I mean, even if you use the explanation that they don’t cut his skin (which I’ve seen on some forums), there’s still the basic problem of how you’d be able to function at all with full-body bruises after awhile. One thing Robbie doesn’t have is any sort of rapid healing power, which you think would be necessary Maybe the T-bolts will have some kind of turbo-healing thingy for him…?

Not to mention the whole “body reflexively reacts negatively to pain” element- how well could you fight if every single move put you in agony?

There is some level beyond which you can’t look too closely at the plausibility of super powers, but somehow this isn’t it.

As utterly silly as it is to debate on how exactly Penance’s spikes work, I feel compelled to throw in my two cents.

Cent one is that the Voldo outfit acts like a full-body cilice (google it), causing constant pain without cutting the skin. Face it, if any comic writer has a strong knowledge of corporal mortification, it’s Warren Ellis.

Cent two, the more comic-booky solution, is that doesn’t suffer any real physical damage, sort of like Holden Carver from Sleeper. This would let Deodato draw lots of angsty dripping blood, so it’s the most likely.

Cent three is that he dies from blood loss in two issues. This would be hilarious.

Since I seem to have written a small essay, I have to note that 3 is right. I have fond memories of the original Warriors series, but I haven’t cared much for most of them since Jay Faerber’s terrible reboot. My big hope at the moment is that Ellis will depict this version of Robbie Baldwin not as a noble messiah, but a laughable idiot.

I did not care what happened to Speedball before Civil War. I do not care what happens to Speedball after Civil War.

I did briefly care about what was happening to Speedball for about five minutes during Civil War #1, which I think is a new record to anyone caring at all about Speedball…

–yo
also doesn’t give two shakes about the New New Thunderbolts

I’ve never heard of Robbie Baldwin or Penance

I’d agree with what has been said: No, it’s not a big deal, but it is very very stupid. (In fact, I read it wondering if it was some sort of cunning parody of 90s “grim and gritty” character revamps.)

I also love the last page, where Robbie is delivering his big line, “Now it’s time for Penance.” Look at the inventor in the background. Doesn’t he have a look on his face like, “I can’t believe my agent put me in this comic”?

After using Waid and Wieringo Dr. Doom’s armor, I’m sure
that Leather Boy (see the hilarious GLA mini by Dan
Slott) will next appear using Penance’s costume.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

I’ve said this on a couple of forums but what about Niels, Speedballs similarly empowered cat? Will we have a tiny feline Penance emo-ing about in the future?

Purrnance?

Back in the 90s, I thought it was bad when Speedball grew his hair all long, greasy and “grungy” and started wearing a black leather trenchcoat.

This whole Penance thing is just pathetic.

It’s like the Big Two comic companies are determined to destroy all their fun and/or fun-loving characters. Speedball is an inherently silly character, but shouldn’t there be room for those types in the big ol’ Marvel Universe, right? Does everybody have to be angsty, gloomy and haunted? Why did spunky kid sidekick Bucky have to come back to life as a morose killing machine? Why did the jovial Ralph Dibney have to become a near-suicidal widower? Such extreme character shifts don’t make a character more “realistic,” they just make them depressing.

I enjoyed the character in Fabian’s New Warriors. I don’t mind what they’re doing with him. It’s not like anyone’s made much use of him in the interim.

I really, really love the idea of Penance-cat though.

I’ve said this on a couple of forums but what about Niels, Speedballs similarly empowered cat? Will we have a tiny feline Penance emo-ing about in the future?
Purrnance?

I changed my mind. Penance is now the best thing ever.

Worrying about what costume Speedball wears is kind of like worrying about what color your belly button lint is.

Better than worrying that other people are worrying about their belly button lint, I suppose.

I agree. He was an irrelevant character from a dead franchise, but now he’s a cool bondage lobster.

Who? What? I have no idea what this declarative statement is supposed to be about.

Okay, I read some other comments. And my verdict is: whatever. I’d probably be bummed if I was a Speedball fan. But then I’d be mythological. ZING!

Oh, and all this talk about Penance made me think they had brought back the character from Generation X. I have no idea what eventually happened with her, since I stopped reading that book around #30 (and should have stopped earlier). Does that Penance still exist, or did she die or something? Does Speedball-Penance have anything to do with her? I haven’t seen any pictures, but the description of his outfit sounds like bondage gear, which is kind of like GenX-Penance.

Okay, I’ve spent way too much time on this. I’ll have to try to read something more serious to take my mind off it. Like Onslaught Reborn. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Kind of head scratchingly dumb, but not a big deal, because it’s in such bad taste that I’m going to totally ignore it.

Hey, remember how cool it was that they guest starred Speedball in that Amazing Spider-Man annual, so we had Steve Ditko art in a Spider-Man book again (albeit without him actually drawing Spider-Man, but still . ..

Here’s a question for Curious Cat: Why do Steve Ditko characters get chosen so frequently for out of character revamps?

Because Steverino isn’t likely to find a public forum to complain about it.

Does that Penance still exist, or did she die or something?

Both, kind of. Turned out she was the real M…

Sure it’s a big deal. It’s wasteful and asinine and crass, isn’t it? Isn’t that as big a deal as it gets in superhero comics?

Yes, it’s a big deal. It’s stupid. And Speedball was cool.