Thunderbolts #116 Review

THUNDERBOLTS #116
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Mike Deodato

I have a love/hate relationship with Thunderbolts. I was one of the avid and loyal readers of the Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza version of the Thunderbolts and find myself upset that they were kicked to the curb so Millar could have something that "impacts" and "changes" the Marvel Universe with his Civil War title.

This makes me quite jaded and biased towards the current interpretation of the team, but I do give credit where it is due, as Ellis and Deodato have done an excellent job with the book since taking over.

However, it is not my Thunderbolts and I really wish they had changed the name or at least restarted with a new volume to show that they have nothing to do with the old version.

That said, Ellis and co have their first arc under their belts and are ready to really kick things into gear. It looks like they are building Penance up to be their scape goat and are touting him as their Hulk-like menace to go chasing after if they need any public favour. We also see the fallout of last month's arm-eating incident by Venom. It appears most people are just giving up on sight as they do not want to be eaten.

Also, prison 42 is mentioned as being overcrowded already and talks of storing people at the Thunderbolts' base are being discussed. This strikes me as odd as 42 was designed for super powered non-registrants or villains. I do not think they have captured that many people that it would be filled already.

The end of this book introduces a new character by the name of Mindwave that uses telekinetic powers to beat up several police officers in a police station before promptly surrendering to the last cop standing so that he can be taken away by the Thunderbolts when they show up. I wonder if this character is someone we know posing to get close to the Thunderbolts or infiltrate them somehow. Also, that makes two people this issue that surrender and are captured by the Thunderbolts, which almost seems to me to be building up to some kind of inside job or subtle plot point that might mean something later.

Either way, this was a decent issue, but still sticking to the highly decompressed template of previous Ellis Thunderbolts issues. Pick it up if you are interested or currently reading Thunderbolts. Otherwise, it is more of the same from Ellis' version of the team and it honestly reads much better in trade format if you want to wait a few months for it.

Verdict - Check It

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