Thunderbolts #127

Overall- I don't even know what to write. Anyone who has been reading my blog with any regularity knows how much I've hated what Warren Ellis did to this series a bunch of issues back. The Thunderbolts used to be about former villains who really did want to reform. Hell, at one time, back in the day, Clint Barton(Hawkeye)was the leader of the team, since he was at one time a villain himself. When Warren took over the book, he removed many of my favorite characters, some who were there from the very first issue(Mach-V, Baron Zemo, Fixer, etc.)and replaced them with characters who never wanted to reform themselves, such as Norman Osborn, Venom and Bullseye. Warren took the T-Bolts and twisted what they were originally meant to be... Since that point, I've wanted to stop collecting this comic book. The problem is that Christos Gage, who followed up Warren's run and now Andy Diggle, the current writer, have been consistently putting out pretty good stories. This issue was good. It was very good. Which means that once again, I'll have to pick up the next issue to see what the future holds for the T-Bolts. However, before moving on, let's look back at this issue.

Songbird escapes Bullseye, who has been sent to kill her by Norman Osborn, and tries to warn the rest of the facility that Bullseye is running wild, not realizing that the rest of the facility is well aware of that fact. Songbird slips into the air ducts and tries to contact someone on the team to tell them that Bullseye is trying to kill her. While this is occurring, Moonstone tells Venom to hunt down Songbird and kill her, since Bullseye has failed thus far. Venom tries to find Songbird in the air ducts, but can't figure out where she went. Songbird finally manages to tell Moonstone that Bullseye is on the loose, and Moonstone tells Songbird to meet her in the hanger bay.

Moonstone tells Bullseye that he can ambush Songbird in the hanger, and the two of them report to the hanger and wait for Songbird. Unbeknown to Bullseye and Moonstone, Songbird had arrived in the hanger before them, and was hiding in the T-Bolt's aircraft. Realizing that Moonstone was also in on trying to kill her, Songbird starts the plane and tries to escape Thunderbolts Mountain. By this time, Venom arrives on the scene as well, and tears open the top of the airplane like a can on sardines. Songbird flies the damaged plane out of the hanger bay, but fires two missiles first, destroying the hanger. Moonstone turns intangible to escape any harm from the missiles and basically seems like she's had enough, saying, "to hell with this team" before storming away. Bullseye managed to latch on to the back of the plane as it left the hanger and sneaks inside.

Songbird doesn't get very far, and crashes the plane, which sends Venom flying into a bunch of trees, knocking him out. Songbird climbs out of the wreckage happy to be alive, but feels Bullseye press a knife to her throat from behind, since he also survived the crash. Out of nowhere, Swordsman blasts Bullseye from behind, which knocks him out. Swordsman tells Songbird that if she values her life, she'll get the hell away from the T-Bolts, and lie low for a while. Swordsman then vaporizes the plane wreckage with an energy blast, and tells Songbird that he'll inform Norman Osborn that Songbird must have died in the crash, and her body was burned to cinders. Songbird thanks Swordsman, and flies away from the team she helped form so many years ago...

Dammit, I enjoyed that comic. The whole comic had an air of suspense, since I really didn't know if Songbird was going to make it out of T-Bolt Mountain alive. Ultimately, I'm glad that she survived and got away, but with Songbird's departure, there is no longer a link to the original Thunderbolts. Sure there's still Moonstone, but it seems like she's also done with the T-Bolts. I'll miss Songbird and her constant optimism that the T-Bolts COULD reform and COULD become a force for good. As for Swordsman, we see his grisly end at the hands of Norman Osborn during Secret Invasion:Dark Reign #1...

So, all that seems to be left on this team is... Well no one. Venom seems to be moving over to Dark Avengers, and it seems that Bullseye will be going with him, probably in the guise of Hawkeye. So, basically, the Thunderbolts series is now a comic book without a team... This put me in the funny situation of being able to stop collecting this comic and spending the money I normally spend on T-Bolts on another book. However, since I have enjoyed Andy Diggle's work on this book, I think I'll give the next issue of Thunderbolts a try, just to see who the new team is comprised of. After that, all bets are off. For a score, I'll give this comic a 8 out of 10. This comic book was good enough to force me to buy the next issue, even though I originally had no plans to. That just shows this was a high quality story.