Thunderbolts #13

Thunderbolts #13 where we finally learn the backstory to Mercy.  She once fought the Hulk and was left for dead in a coma.  General Ross the Red Hulk had freed her in the past and then tracked her down now.  We learn all this in a flashback that covers almost the entire comic book.  It is a rather wimpy story thread and it actually makes the reason for this team lame.  At first the comic seemed to be a way for Ross to fix things that were wrong in the world.  Some of the problems he caused and other problems were caused by other people / heroes or whatever.  But instead all this random death and destruction is to keep some vampire powered villainess fed is not that great a plot point.  While the story itself was good I am disappointed in the overall plot.

Thunderbolts #11

Thunderbolts #11 continues the story with the Leader getting his mind back.  For some reason the team has gone to London to meet Electra’s brother who is using the Gamma Powered remote controlled robots.   The brother is trying to get himself killed to become a martyr at the hands of super powered people.  Fights happen and things go boom, the leader is being comforted by Mercy foreshadowing his return as a super genius smart person perhaps.

Thunderbolts #9

Thunderbolts #9 was the aftermath of the bomb going boom in last issue.  We had a little retelling of the bomb from the other group of players.  The team ends up fighting a squad of Crimson Dynamos which is an interesting fight.  There is for some reason a flash to a C.I.A. outpost in Afghanistan where the agents worry for their lives because they ID people above their pay grade AKA the Thunderbolts team.  The plot continues to move along and at least this issue was less whiny.

Thunderbolts #8

Thunderbolts #8 continues the story of the search for special weapons or armor that might be very dangerous.  The team heads to stake out and capture the arms dealer of interest and for some reason that makes no sense to me they kill Deadpool (for what that is worth he will be back).  The Thunderbolts then attack and kill everyone at the meeting but the arms dealer.  They question the guy and he answers a phone given to him by the seller of special items and then a big boom happens to end this issue on a cliff hanger.  Considering the team is the Red Hulk, Venom, Elektra and Punisher I am not truly concerned that they would not survive the explosion.  In fact I will be highly disappointed if the next issue does not begin with a Deadpool quip.  But I suspect that any normal that had survived to this point including the arms deal would not survive the bomb blast.

Thunderbolts #7 !!!

Thunderbolts #7 was interesting with a lot of plot advancement.  There was very little action this issue was almost all dialog with most of the fighting happening off page.  Somehow Deadpool has a crush on Elektra who for some reason appears to be sleeping with the Punisher.  There is some plotting against the Red Hulk that is foiled.  But Ross still tells the team what he knows about the secret stuff they are chasing by using the submarine.  After some of the weirdness of the first story arc I should be happier with what is happening now.  But there was something lacking in the story telling.

Thunderbolts #6!

Thunderbolts #6 started out slow but became more and more interesting as the pages passed.  It turns out that the Leaders brother is trying to learn all the Leaders secrets.  At some point the Leader had uploaded his knowledge to the internet and the brother was trying to find and download that data.  There is a lot of talking things over in this comic and very few people die visibly in this issue.  It looks as if the team is heading off on a chase in a submarine. At some point I am going to have to read up on when Red Hulk became the new trend over green.  We have in the Marvel Universe Red Hulks, Red She-Hulks and now the Red Leader.  It leaves me a bit confused.  Otherwise I found this comic very interesting.

Thunderbolts #5 !!!!

Thunderbolts #5 was interesting but just filled a gap in the story.  It is weird to see or should I say hear Deadpool sound so sane and thoughtful.  I do not really believe the Punisher should still be going at this point considering his wounds.  It is strange not hearing the Leader rant and rave about how smart he is, the Leader is even helping Thunderbolt Ross who has come down a step and is not the Red Hulk at the moment.   I have no idea what is up with Venom (is that Flash Thompson?).  One of my big complaints about this comic is there are too many characters to follow and some did not have their story told as well as some.  I fear this is a sign there will be a “surprise” in the story that should shock the reader unless we knew what was going on.

Thunderbolts!

Thunderbolts #3 advances the story from issue number two in a move traditional and less confusing manner.  Good guys / bad guys they are the ones with the powers and the guns.  I will give this story at least one more issue.  Even if Deadpool is a bit I don’t know sane in this story and if Deadpool is the sane one there could be an issue with your mission.

Thunderbolts!

Thunderbolts #2: This issue was entertaining as normal, but Deadpool seems a little restrained and that is disappointing.  There is also the issue that the story is told out of order and now that might be fine when reading the trade paperback version of the comic in a few years.  But right now that kind of story telling is just annoying.

Catching up...

All-New X-men #3 – So weeks after the “Big Event” none of these super mutants (including Cyclops or Magneto) noticed that their power had changed?  Yeah at least the new and old X-men finally meet.

Avengers #1 – A long boring story off Earth.  So now I believe Captain America is currently in another dimension in his main comic, in another different dimension with several Black Widows and now he is (spoiler) on Mars.  It may be time for them to just fight villains I was not expecting or hoping for grand space opera.  The teaser for future episodes says there will be more weird extra dimensional travel and back stabbing intrigue.  I will be dropping this comic.

Thunderbolts #1 was entertaining, but I am not sure I recognize all the suspects.  This issue was a bit wordy, hopefully the story will move along.

The G.I. Combat featuring the Haunted Tank and Unknown Soldier #7 was really good.  Well the Haunted Tank portion of the comic was really really good.  The first two issues with the Haunted Tank were silly, but this issue was really good.  No not going to give away the story.  The Unknown Soldier story is not good and I have been un-happy that this is the character the book spends so much time following.  This incarnation lacks the spirit of the character unlike how well the Haunted Tank turned out.

The comic Legends of the Dark Knight continue to deliver good stories with issue number three.  This issue tells the story of the people Batman helped.  The Batman is having doubts and he is his normal driven self.  But thanks to the Gotham PD clearing out the files Batman gets letters like his was Santa.  Actually my only complaint about this issue is that the font used to show the text is from a letter is hard to read for my old eyes.  I had to break out the magnifying glasses to read that part of the story getting old sucks sometimes.