Thunderbolts

Looting!

Fun issue. I'm still on the fence about switching to trades once Siege is over. We'll see.

This one was great. There is deffinately decission in the ranks and Norman doesn't even know because they are still recieving recorded orders. At least Scourge didn't blow someones brains out this time. He does however declair both Ghost (who is back from his adventures with Tony Stark) and Headsman AWOL... Paladin points out that he did kill the man though.

Good issue, Mr. X Godkiller.

Thunderbolts #141

Norman Osborn's now totem pole-flailing minions are an interesting bunch. No longer are they going to be the impact players they were in the days of Venom, Swordsman, Songbird and recently passed away Headsman. Even so, Norman stills know just how to use them to get what he wants, and often how to stick it to them. Leaving a schizophrenic ex-army psychopath in charge actually makes Norm's job easier; it leaves little chance that the rest of the 'Bolts will doublecross him.

The premise of Parker's plot is simple, yet entirely believable: the T-Bolts need to find Odin's spear for Norman's (impending) use. The issue still leaves me befuddled with questions, however: I don't understand why there are no Asgardians inside...well...Asgard? Has this reason already taken place? Is Ghost finished with Tony Stark? Regrettably, I forget.

In all, #141's an effective ploy in getting these C-list bandits proactive with Siege; just don't expect anything more. Yet, the last page's exciting interruption could prove this notion wrong... Guess we'll just have to see next month.

3/5 Bags&Boards - Good

LOOSECANNON wrote:Thunderbolts #141

Norman Osborn's now totem pole-flailing minions are an interesting bunch. No longer are they going to be the impact players they were in the days of Venom, Swordsman, Songbird and recently passed away Headsman. Even so, Norman stills know just how to use them to get what he wants, and often how to stick it to them. Leaving a schizophrenic ex-army psychopath in charge actually makes Norm's job easier; it leaves little chance that the rest of the 'Bolts will doublecross him.

The premise of Parker's plot is simple, yet entirely believable: the T-Bolts need to find Odin's spear for Norman's (impending) use. The issue still leaves me befuddled with questions, however: I don't understand why there are no Asgardians inside...well...Asgard? Has this reason already taken place? Is Ghost finished with Tony Stark? Regrettably, I forget.

In all, #141's an effective ploy in getting these C-list bandits proactive with Siege; just don't expect anything more. Yet, the last page's exciting interruption could prove this notion wrong... Guess we'll just have to see next month.

3/5 Bags&Boards - Good

Something's irking me about Parker's work on this book. I like the concepts and I like the plot but I'm just not liking his delivery of it and his dialogue. Really hard to put my finger on what it is. Perhaps part of it is the complete lack of wit to the dialogue between these guys whereas previously that was a real strength of the book (under Ellis and then Diggle). I'm afraid the art for me also is dull and pretty average. I'm close to dropping the book now but I think I'll give it an issue or two with the new team before I do that.

No point in dropping it now...see how Luke's team does before saying byebye.

LOOSECANNON wrote:No point in dropping it now...see how Luke's team does before saying byebye.

Yeah my thinking will be that that will truly be Parker's team so it will be better to see how he does with that before making the call.

#142 was okay. Not great, not bad. Kinda weird to not see any Asgardians, though. I know they're busy, but still...

T-Bolts #142

Is this series any longer relevant? Does this brawl between Mighty Avengers and Thunderbolts solve anything? Now that Osborne is taken down, does gathering the Spear of Odin matter?

No.

But the issue is still a heckuva lot of fun.

And it might just be one of Jeff Parker's finest takes on the Thunderbolts yet. It may have taken several issues, but now with one left to go, Parker's got all the voices of Marvel's favorite C-listers down a science. The brawls all go together like wine and cheese, meaning they happen to be tastier than you'd imagine. Mr. X vs. Amadeus, Ant-Man vs. Stature, US Agent vs. Skourge. Those battles only make sense, as supposedly they didn't 'til now.

Yes, there are no Asgardians appearing in this issue. Strange, considering the epic scramble takes place within the country's residing walls. My only guess is that with Siege down to the brink, all of Asgard's forces were pushed to take part of the battle out front. Uhhh....yeah!

Better yet, I'm a bigger fan of the artwork in this issue. The realism of the facial expressions, movements (aside from some of US Agent's kicks that come out of left field), and colorful dynamism prove to be a "god"-send. It's too bad the Thunderbolts haven't had this type of quality in the panels since early on in Diggle's run. Although a lot happened, and then unsurprisingly didn't, with one issue left, let's hope something does that leaves this title with a bang. Like some more deaths. Fanboys love deaths.

3.5/5 Bags&Boards - All of the Siege tie-in's this week have been rock solid to excellent.

I can't say I cared for the art much myself (thought it was pretty mediocre and I've seen Alves's art look much better elsewhere) and I have to say (yet again) I'm not a fan of Parker's old school style of writing where characters explain what they're doing as they do it. Bit of a shock seeing USAgent's arm and leg cut off - not sure if that will be the end of him though. It seems loss of limbs is the trend at the moment!

Thunderbolts #142

I'm liking this book less and less each issue. I love the actual team, but the book has become mediocre at best. God I miss Diggle.

I'm thinking that I'm going to drop the book after this arc/once The Heroic Age starts. I'm a big fan of Luke Cage, and I also love Ghost and Crossbones, but I HATE Man-Thing. Seriously, I. HATE. HIM. Also, as much as I love Crossbones, I hat that he's going to be a "hero". He's a great Cap villain, and I think it sucks we are losing him as a villain (at least for now).

Parker's writing is another reason I think I'll drop it. It just isn't good enough for me to HAVE to buy the book.

I'm going to miss the current T-Bolts team. They had a fun dynamic.

Oh, and what the hell happened with Black Widow II? At the end of Diggle's run it's revealed that Osborn has her, but nothing was ever done with it.

Thunderbolts #142
This was an outstanding issue and a great compliment to the ongoing Siege story. The book picks up where the last issue left off and pits Norman’s Thunderbolts against the Mighty Avengers. To tell you how awesome this is just one battle could be highlighted: All American apple pie US Agent vs. The twisted pill popping Scourge/Nuke.
But I’m going to give you yet another reason to pick this book up: the ruthless Mr. X vs. the hyperbrain, quantum mind, Amadeus Cho.

Readers are rewarded with some more character depth as well in regards to the Irredeemable Ant Man and Paladin. The next issue should tie up what will happen with the Spear of Odin as this great story comes to an end.

I’m sure we will be seeing an all new T-bolts roster after Siege. I expect to see some old faces to pop up as well as some of the darker villains on this squad getting dropped off.
The art was good, the action was almost non-stop. The issue had great one-liners and good story telling.

4 out of 5 Mythical Norse Weapons

An interview with the new creative team for Thunderbolts

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25706

I normally don't hate Kev Walker's stuff, but the man's a damn idiot on this one.

On Juggernaut:
Personally I have this idea in my head that he doesn't just draw on an infinite supply of kinetic energy, I get the impression he has the compulsion to charge at stuff even in his sleep, that the compulsion is so great he'll ram stuff even when he's not armoured, so I've covered his face in scars (they're not visible in the sketch).

WAT

On Mach V
"[With Mach V] I wanted to strip all the humanity out of this guy. I think he's actually given himself over to being the machine, he's obsessed by it. This is his fifth iteration after all. By losing any of the humanoid shapes, making him more robotic, he's acknowledging the fact that actually it's probably the machine that's in control. Maybe he's schitzophrenic with the 'machine' personality dominating.

*punches computer with never-ending rage*

And worst of all,

On Moonstone and Songbird
I was just really conscious of making Moonstone and Songbird different, perhaps even opposites. Moonstone is flighty and excitable, fiery even, self confident, perhaps even arrogant. When I looked at the existing designs for these two women, it was hard to tell them apart, the hair was the same, the suit was almost the same, the way the walked was almost the same. These two women are like fire and ice, light and dark. Moonstone is the Light, so I guess Songbird is the Dark.

"I just had the feeling that [Songbird] was more menacing, more brooding. I read the TPB where she had the big run in with Bullseye, and they seemed pretty evenly matched. That struck a chord, as if she's the female version Bullseye. Moonstone might stab you in the back, but Songbird would twist the blade. The haircut reflects that. Perhaps she's in some kind of character shift, heading towards some kind of break down? I don't know. But I wanted her to look as if she inhabited a darker space than she used to.



Take it away Norman:


So.....much...rage! I'm not picking this up. Parker writing this makes me wary, the cast of characters I simply don't care for, but seriously this, this...I don't even.

Dr. Wade Fucking McNasty wrote:
On Moonstone and Songbird
I was just really conscious of making Moonstone and Songbird different, perhaps even opposites. Moonstone is flighty and excitable, fiery even, self confident, perhaps even arrogant. When I looked at the existing designs for these two women, it was hard to tell them apart, the hair was the same, the suit was almost the same, the way the walked was almost the same. These two women are like fire and ice, light and dark. Moonstone is the Light, so I guess Songbird is the Dark.

"I just had the feeling that [Songbird] was more menacing, more brooding. I read the TPB where she had the big run in with Bullseye, and they seemed pretty evenly matched. That struck a chord, as if she's the female version Bullseye. Moonstone might stab you in the back, but Songbird would twist the blade. The haircut reflects that. Perhaps she's in some kind of character shift, heading towards some kind of break down? I don't know. But I wanted her to look as if she inhabited a darker space than she used to.

Songbird is my favourite Thunderbolts character and I've read enough here to see that this guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about and that Jeff Parker's Thunderbolts is a Suicide Squad rip off. I don't believe that it makes sense that Luke Cage would give a chance to some of these characters - Crossbones tried to assassinate Cap! I'd been thinking of dropping it and now it's confirmed. This being dropped can make up for Brightest Day coming out twice a month.

Aussiemandias wrote:
Songbird is my favourite Thunderbolts character and I've read enough here to see that this guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about...

Yeah, I've only read a handful of stories with her, but even I know that's way off base.

#143 was a good epilogue to the H.A.M.M.E.R. team. I'm dropping the series for the time being, though. I'll pick up trades if I hear good things.

Thunderbolts #143

After such an unexpectedly pleasing skirmish with the Mighty Avengers last month, this epilogue to Osborn’s secret-ops edition of Thunderbolts lacks a proper sendoff. Sure, the issue recoils Swordsman’s stunning death and inspiration to his brother Cody; finishes the battle over Odin’s cherished spear; heck, there are even panels recapturing Paladin’s inner-hero. This fall-out was unavoidable, and had been inching its way towards a blowout for numerous months. The problem is, Luke Cage is slapped onto the end and we’re all supposed to be excited for a new team. It’s a low down dirty shame if solicits featuring Crossbones, Man-Thing and Juggernaut joining the team excite more than the transition issue itself.

This Siege tie-in thankfully isn’t without its redeeming moments. Artist Miguel Sepulveda should remind fans of the edgy, indistinct feel De La Torre had towards the end of Ellis/beginning of Diggle’s run. This style sends off more an espionage feel than one would have with too much detail and too much color. Frank Martin doesn’t always elaborate on the hushed hues he shoots for; yet, the sandy earth tones of Broxton’s devastation work with the spear-piercing and gun-blazing actions midway through the issue.

Character-speaking, Ant-Man hasn’t been written this well since Robert Kirkman’s take on him—and boy do I miss that all-too abbreviated series—and his future with the Secret Avengers should be enticing. Nothing hints at that notion in this issue, but it’s impossible not to see Grady’s heroic qualities seeping through. Also, it’s impossible not to feel like Parker’s run has been as much about the guests as the Thunderbolts themselves. First it was the battle with the group most close to his heart, Atlas, and now this embattled motley crew’s shift change came off more a Mighty Avengers ish than Thunderbolts. I suppose with the fact that group’s own swansong (issue #36) was more about Hank Pym than the team itself having the Mighty Avengers steal the Thunderbolts shine was the only way to go.

3/5 Grizzly Bear Hugz - Decent

Thunderbolts #143

This was actually the Siege tie-in that I was looking most forward to reading. The last issue was full of battles that we didn’t even know we wanted to see and this one continues with some characterization that we were waiting for. We all knew that there was a certain morality that sat on this team. The one thing we didn’t know was exactly where things were going to be left when all the cards fell.

We see an awesome image of a battle damaged Nuke/Scourge/whatever you want to call him wielding the spear of Odin. He doesn’t have it for long and the entire issue is basically the Mighty Avengers battling with split factions of the Thunderbolts over possession of the spear. It changes hands multiple times before it makes its exit. The panels bring us a ton of action and another match-up you wouldn’t expect to see.

Amadeus Cho has outsmarted Mister X for a second time bringing in the fastest man on the planet. (Debatable I know.) We find out that there is a third person that Mister X can’t beat, because it doesn’t matter if you can see a move before it happens if 30 of them come in a second.

This issue concludes with a man with no name walking into the sunset and a discussion between Luke Cage and his wife about the role he is gong to be playing in the future with the Thunderbolts. At least with this book we know what side of the line each member of the team is really on.

That is my main gripe about the Siege books. This story seemed to happen out of order and we are given yet another spoiler into the future well before the even was over. I could have waited 4 weeks to read this book maybe. Again I wish that they had done the chapter style story that they are doing with Second Coming. Hopefully everything will be coming in line within the MU before the next major cross-over.

4 out of 5 Lines Drawn in the Sand

Marvel has really coughed up this whole season's continuity with Siege and Reborn.

Hmmm....I thought #143 was terrible. I've really come to the conclusion that I don't like Jeff Parker's writing style at all. I think he needs to jump into a time machine to the 80s (find that Hot Tub, Jeff) where he'd be right at home. Unfortunately his work just does not engage me. I've tried and given it plenty of chances but next issue will be my last (and the articles about what they're going to do to characters in this book haven't helped with my interest either - Songbird's a favourite character of mine and I have no interest in reading work by a writer and artist that don't appear to get her).

I absolutely loved Warren Ellis's run (and still believe Bendis has basically ridden on his coat tails as far as Dark Avengers and Osborn goes) and enjoyed Diggle's run also but as for everyone else, I thought they've been pretty sub par.

My other down side with this one was the art. Just my opinion but I thought it was awful and I'm now concerned about Sepulveda being the artist on the Thanos mini series that I've been looking forward to.

Guess I was spoiled by the earlier runs of some good writers and therein lies my disappointment with the current writer.

If you are a fan of Warren Ellis Aussie check out his creator owned stuff published by Avatar Press. If you look in the indy section I did a review on his newer book Wolfskin Hundreth Dream #1. It was awesome and I also am still pissed he never got to finish Astonishing X-Men. I still want to know why the celestial was standing over the F-ng blood sample.

hrdwrkngXsoldier wrote:If you are a fan of Warren Ellis Aussie check out his creator owned stuff published by Avatar Press. If you look in the indy section I did a review on his newer book Wolfskin Hundreth Dream #1. It was awesome and I also am still pissed he never got to finish Astonishing X-Men. I still want to know why the celestial was standing over the F-ng blood sample.

I've been getting his Avatar stuff for years. Especially over at WUMB I seemed to be the only one pushing that stuff but I tried. Freakangels is absolutely beautiful and his work like No Hero, Black Summer, etc has been fantastic.

#143 was a decent conclusion. I liked how some of the Thunderbolts helped the good guys in this, sets up Ant-Man's transition into a Secret Avenger, which should be awesome. And I'm really looking forward to Luke Cage's Thunderbolts. Luke was on the wrong side of the law once so it's fitting that he wants to try and rehabilitate some of these guys. It's an interesting premise with a lot of potential.

Thunderbolts #144

I was kinda scared to see what was gong to happen with a new team taking over the Thunderbolts. I had predicted that some of the former T-bolts would be rejoining the ranks, but some of the selections for this team just astounded me.

Luke Cage: Yeah, he’s the warden. Steve asked him to help rehabilitate prisoners because of his own past experiences on the other side of the law. Sure he could have asked Clint Barton to do it, but he’d been a T-bolt before Luke gets tapped to serve as team leader.

Songbird: Someone that I thought would be back on the team and was glad to see her back. She throws a bit of an attitude about team selection and Luke does a good job of putting her back in her place by reading her own file to her as if it was someone else. She passed judgement on the person…he let her know what being real means.

Mach IV...wait…Mach V: He got a tech upgrade and has been working on upgrading the security at the raft. (May not have been too successful if you read Deadpool last week you already know Grizzly “busted out.”)

Moonstone: We saw chances for her to have redemption after he big battle with Ms. Marvel during Dark Reign. It will be interesting to see if she finally truly embraces it.

Ghost: This is one Nuke’s team that I actually thought would be back, along with Palidin (don’t know where he went with the spear still) and Ant Man (he found a home with the Secret Avengers it seems.) I think that he has a shot as well. Other than his hatred for all things Tony Stark, he showed a couple of times that he had potential to do good.

Juggernaut: Charles Xavier’s half brother. He’s been a “face” before. Prof X is willing to vouch for the guy. We will just have to see how much influence Cytorak has over him.

Crossbones: Yeah, the guy that shot Steve Rodgers. They have their reasons for putting him on the team, but like Luke, I’m not happy about this pick.

Manthing: This is probably the least likely (other than Crossbones) character I would have imagined on this team. He is basically going to function as the team’s transport with the help of some Pym technology and tweaking. This was all done to save the creature from being destroyed. Can this beast really be managed? At least Hank Pym issued an official warning about the handling of the creature…the main one being he hates fear.

Pretty impressive roster, I liked it and thought this newfound team was handled well in the book and they pretty much explain everything. Then someone comes back to claim what he believes is his.

4 out of 5 Unorthodox rehab cases.

^I decided to drop this book after Siege. I just didn't like the looks of the new team. I hate, HATE Man-Thing. And I'm very upset that Crossbones is on the team. I love him, and I don't think that Captain America has an extensive enough rogue's gallery that he can afford to lose a villain.

The book was actually pretty impressive. This is the only one of the books out of Siege I will keep getting, but Fresh03 is picking up Secret Avengers and Thor, but I didn't care much for Avengers and the Acadamy roster looks pretty lame.