Best of the Rest! May 15th edition.

Hey all, X here to kick off what looks to be a pretty slim Best of the Rest post.  Both JT and I had lighter than usual comic weeks, meaning we really don't have a load of books to look at.  So yeah.  But hey, JT(whose reviews will be in blue text) will probably grace us with more than the measly one review he gave us last week...  Probably...

Nightwing #20: After some digging around, Nightwing manages to find the Prankster, who he suspects will be able to help him find Tony "The Man Who Killed Dick Grayson's Parents!" Zucco.  However, the two get off on the wrong foot when Nightwing interrupts Prankster trying to kill a corrupt businessman.  After a bit of a tussle, Nightwing ends up getting trapped in a glass box(really), with Prankster telling him the only way he'd escape was to remove his mask, thus revealing his identity.  This comic was okay, I guess.  I still think Prankster has some potential as a vigilante, even though he was coming dangerously close to becoming just another run of the mill villain.  On the positive side, Tony "The Man Who Killed Dick Grayson's Parents!" Zucco only appeared on two pages, and that makes me happy.  Score: 6 out of 10.

X-Factor #256: The team heads after Mephisto in an attempt to send him back to Hell.  Meanwhile, Tier kills all the Hell-Lords Mephisto had locked up.  Mephisto kills Shatterstar and Rictor before he is attacked by Tier.  Before Tier can kill Mephisto, Guido kills Tier, which makes Guido the new king of Hell.  Guido brings Monet back to life and then banishes her from his sight.  So yeah, wow...  This was a big miss for me...  Guido as the devil?  Tier, Shatterstar and Rictor dead?  Mephisto unable to figure out to teleport away from Tier when he was attacked?  Tier killing like 6 Hell-Lords in a small room?  Yeah, bad, bad stuff here. Score: 4 out of 10.

FF #7: Wizard and his newest incarnation of the Frightful Four(himself, Blastaar, a brainwashed Medusa, and Bentley-23, who doesn't want to be there) attack the FF.  Bentley-23 predictably betrays Wizard, which frees Medusa from Wizard's mind-control, leaving Wizard and Blastaar as the Not-So Terrible Two.  After Wizard is defeated, Black Bolt takes him into custody for brainwashing his wife(AGAIN!) and decides to have words with him...  Meh.  The story didn't really do much for me, but dammit do I LOVE Mike Allred's artwork!  Seriously, it's like the perfect art for a comic book, and you all know I don't usually care about art in a comic!  So yeah, oddly enough, if not for the artwork, I'd probably have scored this comic lower.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #9: Hey, check it out, I'm still getting this comic!  Weird...  A mystery man is constructing gamma powered Crimson Dynamo units to be used in terrorist activities.  The T-Bolts manage to take down a few of the units and are able to trace the units back to the man behind them, Elektra's brother.  So yeah, I don't get why exactly I'm still collecting this series...  I don't think I've given any issue a score over a 6!  Methinks I'll be rectifying that when I get to the comic shop on Wednesday...  Score: 5 out of 10.

Avengers: The Enemy Within #1: Yon-Rogg sends Captain Marvel and her teammates after various menaces to keep them distracted so he could steal the piece of the Psyche-Magnetron that CM had stored at her apartment.  After saving her elderly neighbor from dinosaurs(way cooler than I just made it sound, actually), CM returns to her place with Spider-Woman and realizes that she had been burgled.  Spider-Woman promises revenge.  Finally, a good comic!  Huzzah!!!!!  Man this week has been brutal comic-wise for me... I enjoyed this one, and think it set-up the upcoming Avengers Assemble/Captain Marvel crossover nicely.  This feels like an Avengers story should feel, which is a nice change of pace from Bendis and Age of Ultron...  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Iron Man #10: 451 tells Tony a story about how he first met Tony's father before Tony was born.  Basically Tony's dad went searching for 451 after learning that he and his wife were unable to procreate.  451 then makes vague comments about Tony having more parents than he knew of...  UGH!!!  What the hell is happening here!?  THIS is the story they think are going to grab movie-goers who just saw Iron Man 3?!?  Really?!  Come on, Marvel, this is a DC-esque bungle!  You're better than this!  Yeah, in case I haven't made it clear, I think this entire storyline is idiotic.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  All I know is that we better discover that 451 was lying the whole time to be an ass or something.  Anything else will be horrible.  Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

Or, maybe JT won't review anything at all...  Huh, go figure!  I'm sure he'd blame his lack of reviews on me taking Nova #4, but don't buy JT's lame excuses!  He's a slacker!!  Slacker!!!  On the plus side, unless he somehow manages to do -1 reviews next week, he'll definitely have more reviews next week than he did this one.  But enough about that guy.  Check back tomorrow for a Throwback post by yours truly.  Until then?  X out.

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/27/13.

Hey all, X here to finish this week off with a BotR post!  Last week I was joined by my king, the illustrious JT.  This week?  This week I'm not sure if JT is here or not...  So yeah...  If he does decide to add a few comics, you'll know it's him by the blue text.  If he doesn't decide to join in?  Then just ignore everything I just typed...  Okay, with that taken care of, let's get into it.

Fantastic Four #6AU: This was the obligatory Age of Ultron tie-in issue.  Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "But X, aren't the F4 doing the whole Swiss Family Robinson thing?  How are they involved in this event?!"  To that I respond, "Marvel wants money!!!  And event crossovers equal cash!"  Basically, Black Panther somehow contacts Reed through space and time and tells him that Ultron had attacked the Earth.  The F4 leave the kids behind and return to Earth, where they are killed one by one by Ultron's droids.  Only Sue survives, and she ends up with the resistance.  I actually enjoyed this issue.  But I think it was the Ultron fan in me who enjoyed this and not really the F4 fan.  I can't help but enjoy a comic that sees Ultron masquerade as Dr. Doom, and then proceed to kill the Thing.  Yeah, there were some holes and the F4 being a part of this event felt a bit forced, but still, I liked it.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Teen Titans #18: Ah Scott Lobdell...  This issue opens with five pages of Tim Drake crying over Damian Wayne's death.  He literally cried for FIVE straight pages!  I don't know when Tim and Damian became so close, but there ya go.  From there, Tim heads to the Titans and complains about them not doing enough to protect teenage heroes.  To that end, Tim and the Titans attack the Suicide Squad since Amanda Waller had captured a teenager with powers.  But wait, it turns out Waller did no such thing, and that Tim only went after the Squad to make a mysterious deal with Waller.  And then Trigon flew through the sky on a three-headed horse.  Really!  I don't even know what to make of this series anymore...  Last issue Tim was possessed by Raven and making out with his female teammates left and right.  This issue Tim wasn't possessed by Raven...  Maybe...  Unless he was when he was with Waller...  Possibly...  So by this point, I have NO clue as to whether Tim is possessed or not...  But Trigon DID fly around on a three headed horse. Of that I am sure.  Score: 6 out of 10.

I, Vampire #18: This was the penultimate issue of this series.  All I can really say about this is that it looks like Tig finally died(YAY!!!) and Mary came back from the dead.  Again.  This issue just flat-out didn't click for me.  Of course it didn't help that Constantine-lite was hanging around.  So yeah, sadly, I didn't enjoy this one.  Still, I'll miss this series when it's gone, because the early issues were great.  Score: 4 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #7: The "team"(and I use that term as loosely as possible) are now on-board a submarine.  Flash wants to mutiny against Rulk because Rulk hasn't been forthcoming with information...  Or something.  Rulk beats everybody up, and then tells them that he had been using them to clean up areas where there were gamma bombs.  But wait!  It turns out Rulk was wrong and that somebody has been creating gamma batteries instead of bombs.  Meh.  I'm giving this series two more issues, if it doesn't improve?  I'm done.  Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

A+X #6: Two stories in this comic, as usual.  The first one stars Wolverine and Captain Marvel.  They're playing poker, they argue a bit, a villain attacks, but ends up joining the game.  The second story gives us Thing and Gambit beating the Yancy Street gang in poker...  Yup, two stories, two tales about poker...  And yes, that is indeed very weird.  I enjoyed the Wolvie/Marvel story more out of the two, but I can't say I'd recommend either story unless you're a hardcore fan of the four characters here.  Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

FF #5: Hey look, it's another FF comic!  In the same post!  Madness!!  This comic has nothing to do with the Age of Ultron storyline, which is especially weird, since it would make more sense for this team to deal with Ultron since they're still on Earth and all...  Anyway, Old Torch goes crazy after some guy touches his coat and tries to torch a neighborhood.  Scott and the gang end up defeating him and let Herbie watch over him.  Alex heads to Latveria to seemingly warn Doom of Scott's plans.  The reveal at the end shows us that Medusa is secretly working with Wizard...  Damn it!  This is a series that I would drop without a second thought...  If it would get bad!  Instead, I find myself enjoying this series, when I know I shouldn't!  If I'm being honest, I can see myself dropping F4 before I drop this title...  How weird is that!  Score: 8 out of 10.

Hey crew, JT  here with two reviews for the BOTR post so we can end things on a good note. So here are my reviews for Scarlet Spidey and Morbius, The Living Vampire. 

 Scarlet Spider #15: This issue featured Aracely running from Los Lobos, but she's eventually caught by the sibling Werewolves. Before they can do anything, a blood thirsty, six eyed, freaky looking Kaine shows up and engages Los Lobos. Kaine manages to rip out the brother's eye, and stabs him through the chest with his... spider...leg or whatever their called. He then pulls a Superboy Prime and rips the Werewolves arm off, causing the sister to pick up her brother and run. Kaine goes to attack Aracely but she somehow connects with him, through her powers and I guess Kaine's memories, and he sheds his horrible skin and is himself again, with a long beard and shaggy hair. From there, Aracely helps Kaine get back to his normal self by cutting his hair, going to get his tattoos redone since they've been removed due to his full body healing, and he gets back to his life, but now he knows he doesn't have to wonder if he's a monster, he definitely is. From there we see Julia Carpenter, still in her coma, whisper Kaine's name, as well as see someone else saying The Culling will soon began. No one tell Marvel that DC did a story called The Culling like a year ago. The issue comes to a close with Aracely being possessed and the Male Werewolf being killed by some old dude with a beard. (This review was way longer than I expected.) So basically, this entire story was pointless, everything is how it was before except now Kaine has given into The Other, knows he's a monster...for now, and Aracely is possessed. Score: 4/10

Morbius The Living Vampire #3: In the last issue we saw Morbius bite a chunk out of Noah the gangster's neck. He's immediately shot at but dodges the bullets until Noah's hideous girlfriend shoots Morbius in the neck. Once Morbius wakes up from...being shot in the neck, she tells Morbius to use his doctor skills to save her boyfriend or she's going to torture Morbius and kill his friends, a girl by the name of Becky, and the kid she babysits, Henry. Morbius agrees to help and fights his blood lust to do so, but Noah wakes up halfway through and attacks, so Morbius slams him down and kills him in the process. Oops! The issue ends with Noah's ugly girlfriend entering the room to see Noah dead then yelling that Morbius and his friends are dead!!!! Well...this issue was not as strong as the first two. Nothing happened in this issue either really, it was kind of filler. Morbius bit a chunk out of a dude's neck in the last issue, he tried to save him and he died in this one. So you literally could've skipped this issue if issue two ends with Morbius biting Noah and issue four starts with Noah being dead. So... yeah. Score: 3/10

And that's it for us, thanks for dropping by the check out the best of the rest post for this week, and be sure to check out my review tomorrow for Injustice: Gods Among Us #3. On behalf of my buddy X, and myself of course, this is JT, signing off!

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.

Hey there X-Maniacs, X here with some explaining to do...  So I've become horribly obsessed with Civilization 5, and have been spending entirely too much time playing that game.  At the expense of the blog. Yeah, I know, bad X...  Truth be told though, it's not completely my fault, as the past two weeks have seen me bring home a ton of mediocre books...  I've been giving out 7 out of 10's like there's no tomorrow!  To rectify things(and to make sure I post more than JT!), I'm gonna dust off that old tried and true blog post, The Best of the Rest!  Basically, I'll take a quick look at everything I've read(and haven't reviewed), and throw some thoughts out there.  Don't expect in depth reviews(or competent work, but if you're reading this, you probably don't expect anything competent to begin with!), just some thoughts, and a score.  Okay, we set?  Great.  Let's get this polished off.

Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger...  Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are.  Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side.  I enjoyed this issue, as always.  Kirkman is always strong here.  Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go.  He's a fantastic villain...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series...  I really do...  But so far I'm just not feeling it...  This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...).  But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent.  I mean, I should like everything going on here...  Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet.  I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing.  Score: 4 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!!  And it was pretty good, as expected.  We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens).  Like I said, this was a good issue.  Would I have liked to see some Thor?  Yes, of course.  Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues...  It's been SIX issues now!  And the team is STILL doing their first mission!!  Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already!  Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?!  Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle...  Weird...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Superboy #18:  This series continues to be oddly readable.  Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage.  Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind.  Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason...  To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs.  A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus).  Simple.  Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic!  From DC!  Go figure.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria?  I have?  Good, because this issue did nothing to change that.  Those two are so annoying.  Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster.  On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition.  But on the negative side?  Everything else.  Score: 3 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series...  It's really not bad...  If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde...  How is she the leader of mutantkind...  I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE!  But yeah, back to the story.  Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that.  It's really not bad.  I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto.  But Kitty...  Grrr...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Huzzah, I'm done!  Seven comics, one post.  I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday.  That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday.  But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change.  Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.

Thunderbolts #5

As promised, one more review for the evening, this time we'll head back to Marvel and check out Thunderbolts.  This series should be SO GOOD.  Instead, it's been the opposite.  For me anyway.  Well, let's dig in...

Thunderbolts #5:

Summary: Punisher and Elektra get together and shoot up a few bad guys.  Meanwhile, Venom does the same to different bad guys wearing similar uniforms.  Gen. Ross passes out after giving most of his gamma radiation to the Leader to fix him due to the Leader having been shot in the head by the Punisher.  While Ross is out cold, a woman named Mercy approaches Leader and seems as if she wants to fix his addled mind.  As for Deadpool, he seems to have suddenly become smitten with Elektra, which has caused him to take a depowered Madman and hand him over to the rebels forces.  This issue ends with Deadpool happening across Punisher and Elektra making out and Venom telling the rebels he was taking Madman now.

Thoughts: UGH!!  Why is this comic so bad?!  Why?!?  I don't want it to be bad...  Quite the contrary, I really, really want it to be good!  I like most of the characters, I like the writer, but man, this series just isn't doing anything for me...  I'm going to give this series three more issues.  Maybe once this initial storyline wraps up things will improve...  If not?  I get to save $2.99!

Score: 3 out of 10.

Awww, how romantic.

Thunderbolts #4

Second review of this Thursday evening is the latest issue of Thunderbolts.  This series hasn't really hit it out of the park yet for me...  Here's hoping this is the issue that changes that.

Thunderbolts #4:

Summary: This issue gets underway with a furious Red Hulk spiriting off with the body of the Leader, who was shot in the head by the Punisher last issue.  With that, Venom states the obvious(that this "mission" was a mess), and that once he sprung Elektra the group should go their separate ways.  However, Punisher overhears that Madman was also on the island and heads off with Deadpool(Punisher and Deadpool...  The ultimate odd couple...) to deal with him, while Venom rescued Elektra.  From there we learn a bit about the leader of the country the Thunderbolts were invading(don't care...) before heading back to the present where we see that man shoot himself in the head in front of Elektra(still don't care...).  This issue ends with Punisher strapping a landmine to himself and exploding it on Madman, Venom finding Elektra, and Rulk trying to bring Leader back to life with tons of gamma radiation.

Thoughts: Eh.  Once again, this comic just didn't do it for me...  I mean I WANT to like it, but it's just not happening...  Maybe it's the setting, I don't know...  Anyway, there's really not much I can say here.  I didn't love this comic, I didn't hate this comic.  I just read it and moved on.

Score: 6 out of 10.

I would SO watch a Deadpool/Punisher sitcom!

Thunderbolts #3

First of two X reviews for tonight is Thunderbolts.  This series has been good, but not really great yet.  Here's hoping this is the issue the greatness begins.

Thunderbolts #3

Summary: Rulk and Deadpool are resuscitating the Leader, which Deadpool thinks is a bad idea since Punisher wasn't going to take kindly to working with a villain like the Leader.  Meanwhile, in Kata Jaya, Punisher is training a some rebel forces and Venom is... um, driving a truck...  As for Elektra, she's randomly been captured by Madman.  Huh.  Back with Rulk and Pool, Rulk manages to wake Leader up, but has kept him very sedated so he wouldn't be any trouble.  Rulk and Pool rendezvous with Venom, who is angry to see the two traveling with the Leader.  While Venom and Rulk argue, Punisher walks over and shoots Leader in the head, exactly like Pool predicted, ending this issue.

Thoughts: What the hell was THIS!?  I swear, as I started reading this issue I thought I missed an issue somewhere along the line...  I mean, last I remember, Deadpool had been shot in the head while working with Elektra.  Now he was suddenly with Rulk, with no mention of Elektra at all...  And nobody even mentioned Pool getting shot!  I mean, I KNOW it happened!  But here Pool was just randomly working with Rulk...  Weird.  And then there was Leader, who was drugged up and vomiting.  What purpose did that serve!?  Or Punisher shooting monkeys...  Or Venom driving in trucks...  I have no clue what this was all about.  And I didn't like it one bit.  I trust Dan Way, so I'll give this title a longer leash than most other series, but if things don't pick way up, this series may find itself in the scrapheap.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.

Not yet, but I'm well on my way!

Thunderbolts #1

Unlike Avengers #1, this is a book I'm actually looking forward to.  Dan Way as the writer, and an interesting bunch of characters here.  I'm not sure how a character like the Punisher will work in this book, but removing character logic, this line-up looks sweet!  Let's delve into things and see what we've got.

Thunderbolts #1

Summary: We kick off with Punisher, having been captured in a warehouse, being met by Thunderbolt Ross(the Red Hulk).  Ross wants the Punisher to join a team he was putting together, a team that understood that you couldn't simply lock criminals away, you had to cut them out of society.  From there, we see Ross approaching Venom, Deadpool(who does have a history of enlisting in government projects), and Elektra.  Back with Punisher, Ross tells him that there were about 400 mobsters heading to his location and that he had to decide quickly.  Ross offers Punisher an escape route, but since it's Punisher, he wants to confront and kill the mass of mobsters heading his way.  With that, Ross Hulks out and the two decimate the mobsters, ending this issue.

Thoughts:  Now this?  This was SO much better than Avengers!  The story made sense, it was a fast, easy read, in other words, it was everything Avengers wasn't.  I really don't have a huge attachment to Hulk, or the Hulk-related characters(with the exception of She-Hulk), and as such have never had a problem with Ross as the Red Hulk.  My one complaint would have been that he wasn't Avengers material(which is kind of a moot point now since EVERYBODY is Avengers material nowadays apparently), but this?  Ross leading a group of soldiers and mercenaries against villains?  This is the perfect spot for him.  Even Punisher joining made sense...  Or at least as much sense as Punisher on any team COULD make sense.  I still don't see Punisher working with the likes of Elektra and Deadpool, but the soldier in him may be willing to listen to Ross...  For a time.  Anyway, I think this book could be a HUGE sleeper title, and I look forward to seeing how long it takes before Punisher is trying to kill his teammates.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Gah!  Mimes...

Thunderbolts #174

This is the last issue of the Thunderbolts... Kind of... The series title switches over to Dark Avengers starting next issue, but as is Marvel's bizarre way, the new Dark Avengers series is getting the Thunderbolts numbering... Go figure...

Thunderbolts #174:

Story Points:
-Thanks to Fixer killing his younger self in the past, all of reality is falling apart.
-The Evil T-Bolts from the future(current) time and the original T-Bolts figure out a way to prevent the end of everything by trying to make the world turn out exactly as it was supposed to...
-That entails making corpses disappear...
-Erasing the past 6 hours from the minds of the original T-Bolts...
-And finally cosmetically making Fixer look like his younger self, AND erasing ALL of his memories of the future.
-That actually works, and the Bad Bolts leave Fixer behind, realizing he'd always be trapped in a never-ending loop where he'd kill himself and then become his younger self... Trippy!

Thoughts: This was another in a nice, long line of comics that I enjoyed reading. While things could have gotten REALLY confusing, Jeff Parker did a good job of dumbing down the whole “reality collapsing onto itself” thing, and as such I understood and enjoyed most of what I read here... Could you IMAGINE what this issue would have been like if Grant Morrison had written it?!? Anyway, I am sad to see Fixer go(presumably for good, since he theoretically couldn't exist past this issue), but I am curious to see where this series is going with this Dark Avengers business...

Score: 8 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #173

One more review for tonight, three more for tomorrow and I'm all caught up and ready for some new comic books on Wednesday! Without any further ado, let's get this issue taken care of!

Thunderbolts #173:

Summary: After stalemating against the original Thunderbolts, Satana manages to bust out an uber-powerful magic spell that knocks out both the original T-Bolts as well as her own team of Bad Bolts(except for Fixer, who was standing next to her). Satana and Fixer take the Bad Bolts back to their tower, but are soon met by Baron Zemo and the other original T-Bolts. Zemo had overheard Fixer and Satana talking about the fact that they were from the future, and offers to assist them in getting back to their proper time... You see, Zemo knows all about Dr. Doom's time machinery at Castle Doom, and since Doom(as well as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk and others) was gone due to the Onslaught event(which is the time period this issue is taking place in), Zemo offers to help the Bad Bolts break into Castle Doom to swipe the equipment. In exchange? Zemo wants all of the other weapons Doom almost definitely had stocked there. Fixer agrees to those terms and after both teams wake up, they hang out together... Or at least most of them do... Techno, Fixer's younger, T-Bolt self, being consumed by curiosity, sneaks off and gets into Fixer's personal files at the Tower while the rest of the Bolts(both T and Bad) are partying. Fixer realizes what was happening and rushes out of the room, slowly followed by the other Bolts. By the time Fixer arrives, Techno has learned everything and is horrified with the way things turn out for the Thunderbolts in general, and Fixer/Techno in particular. Techno then goes on a tirade, tearing into Fixer for allowing everything to fall to pieces... Fixer listens for as long as he can, but eventually his younger self pushes him too far, and this issue ends with the other Bolts arriving in Fixer's lab just in time to see Fixer murder his younger self(!!!) by making Techno's weaponry self-destruct.

Thoughts: Wooo, that was a VERY good comic! Everybody was written so perfectly! From Fixer, to the Moonstones, to Baron Zemo. Jeff Parker knows his Thunderbolts! Zemo's alliance suggestion was brilliant, not just because it ended a battle that wasn't doing Zemo any favors(remember, the early T-Bolts only cared about currying the public's favor so they could stab everybody in the back eventually), but because it benefited Zemo as well! Sure, getting a time machine from Castle Doom would send the Bad Bolts home, but it would also allow Zemo to take credit for ridding Central Park of Bad Bolts Tower(which accidentally killed some civilians upon it's arrival), as well as give Zemo access to Doom's advanced weaponry. It's that kind of scheming that made me into a Baron Zemo fan to begin with, and Parker hit the nail right on the head when it comes to Zemo, his character and his motivations. Besides that, you have a great cliffhanger, with Fixer killing his younger self, and the ramification that would surely come from that... All in all, really good stuff that has me eagerly anticipating the next issue.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

To the Thunderbolts!!!!!

Thunderbolts #172

First review on tap for the night is Thunderbolts... This series is actually getting the Marvel Special in a few issues. What is the “Marvel Special” you ask? That's when you take a pre-existing title, change it's name, but leave the numbering the same. In the case of the Thunderbolts, the name is getting switched over to Dark Avengers, probably in an attempt to trick new fans who saw the Avengers movie into thinking Thunderbolts → Dark Avengers was a real Avengers title... Good old Marvel...

Thunderbolts #172:

Summary: This issue takes us back to the main story after... whatever the hell last issue was... The Bad Thunderbolts have arrived in the not so distant past, and are confronted by the original Thunderbolts. Centurius really doesn't like this since he fears a meeting between the two groups, especially since Fixer and Moonstone are on both squads, could do untold damage to the timestream. Unfortunately for Centurius, he is unable to prevent a Thunderbolts vs Thunderbolts battle, which naturally leads to Fixer squaring off against his past self, as well as Moonstone flying away from the battle, followed by her earlier self. While the two bands of Bolts are battling(heh), Moonstone stops outside the battle scene and tells her past self that she was actually a future version of Moonstone...

Thoughts: Yeah, leave it to Moonstone to pull something like that... I'm sure she's going to warn her past self of all the hardship Moonstone ends up suffering, but come on, doesn't she understand the possible ramifications of mucking around with time? Sure, the Bad Bolts may have ended up in a divergent, slightly alternate dimension, but what if Moonstone really IS in HER past? Talking to herself could do all sorts of chronological damage. As for the non-Moonstone portions of this one? They were good as well. Overall, this was a good, solid read. I'm definitely going to be looking forward to this one to see what Moonstone(and the rest of the Bad Bolts) has wrought.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Mere words can't express just how much I love Baron Zemo's Citizen V attire...

Thunderbolts #171

Last review of the night will see me sticking with Marvel and checking out the latest issue of the soon to be canceled Thunderbolts. After last issues awesome cliffhanger, I can't wait to see what happens between the Evil Thunderbolts and the original T-Bolts.

Thunderbolts #171:

Summary: Songbird winds up going on vacation in Tahiti and is naturally kidnapped by a mad scientist named Dr. Dorcas, who was apparently an old foe of Namor... I have to say, I consider myself VERY well-versed in all things Marvel, and even I have no idea who Dorcas is... Anyway, Dorcas reveals that he had fixed Songbird's powers so she wouldn't need her sound harness anymore... As for why he did it, I'm a bit foggy on that... Anyway, Dorcas heads off to sleep with some(presumably) brainwashed woman, while one of Dorcas's sea creatures licks Songbird's feet... Yes, really. Trust me, I couldn't make shit like that up if I tried... Songbird uses her voice to slightly hypnotize the sea creature and gets free, sending some other sea creatures after Dorcas. And that's pretty much that.

Thoughts: What in the blue hell was THAT?! Seriously, these last few comics I've read have been SO disappointing... Here I was, all happy and expecting an awesome issue featuring a battle between the Evil Thunderbolts and the original Thunderbolts and what do I get? A sea creature licking a woman's feet... Seriously, what more is there to say?

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

I've died and gone to comic book hell...

Thunderbolts #170

Hey all, X with a duo of reviews to start off the weekend... I KNOW I need to get three reviews up and posted soon, but I just got myself a new job, and it's getting a bit tough to find the time to review comics... But fear not, I SHOULD have two reviews up today, tomorrow, and three up for Monday and Tuesday... Hopefully.

Thunderbolts #170:

Summary: Ghost finally reveals that he was secretly spying on the evil Thunderbolts and frees them from the dungeon Merlin had tossed them in to. The T-Bolts make their way up to Merlin's personal tower and take back their equipment, while Satana checks out some of Merlin's more powerful magical items. Fixer spots the Black Knight preparing to slice open the T-Bolt's time traveling tower, and fearing that they'd be stranded in the past if Black Knight was successful, he tells Moonstone to stop him... At which point Moonstone is attacked by Merlin's pet dragon. With that, the rest of the T-Bolts rush outside and take advantage of the chaos that was ensuing due to them releasing the other magical captives in Merlin's prison. The T-Bolts make it back to their tower, and are met by Merlin, who tells them that by releasing the magical beasts from the dungeon, they had pretty much damned Camelot to fall in a few years time... Whoops! Since Merlin knew the event was destined to happen, he isn't angry with the T-Bolts and offers to assist them in returning to their own time... How magnanimous of him! Merlin tells them they needed a timeless object that could tether them to their proper time period, and points out the moonstone that grants... um, Moonstone her powers. Using magic, science and the moonstone as a tether, the T-Bolts are transported forward in time, but wind up a few years away from their destination, and look out their window to see Citizen V(Baron Zemo!) and the original Thunderbolts heading to T-Bolts tower to investigate(!!).

Thoughts: I have to admit, most of this comic did nothing for me... I've never been a fan of Merlin, Arther or the Camelot stuff, so yeah, most of this issue left me unimpressed... However, the cliffhanger? Awesome! That cliffhanger probably added a full point to the score of this one! Seriously, that one page, with Zemo as Citizen V, and the original T-Bolts(/the Masters of Evil) approaching T-Bolts tower was fantastic! Those early Thunderbolts comics are among my ALL time favorites, so getting to relive them should be incredible. So while I wasn't in love with THIS issue, the next issue should be great.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Next issue should be AWESOME!

A Quick Look At... Thunderbolts #169

It looks like we're back to the evil Thunderbolts here based on the cover.

Thunderbolts #169:

What Happened: FYI, the evil T-Bolts are now trapped in 537 Britain... Troll leaves the evil T-Bolt tower to hunt for some food, but runs afoul the Black Knight. The Knight and Troll battle(since Knight thought Troll was a real troll), at least until Knight realizes he was fighting a female and ceases battling. Boomerang, who was sent out to retrieve Troll before she got into trouble(too late!), knocks Knight out with a boomerang, steals the Ebony Blade from Knight and leaves with Troll. Naturally, this leads to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table approaching T-Bolts tower demanding satisfaction. The T-Bolts, dress in period costumes, try to convince Arthur that they had been shanghaied there due to an evil sorcerer and meant Arthur and his knights no harm. Arthur wants the Ebony Blade returned, Boomerang doesn't want to return it, and after some hostile words are exchanged, the two sides battle. Eventually Satana decides to cast a sleeping spell on the knights to end the battle, but has the spell reversed by Merlin. When the T-Bolts awaken, they find themselves locked in Merlin's personal dungeon along with several other fanciful creatures.

Thoughts: I really don't have much more to add to this post... This comic was perfectly acceptable. Sure, I didn't like the idea of Merlin besting Satana with magic, but it was explained in a way that made it palatable for me. Other than that though, I have nothing really good nor bad to say, so let's move on.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Sure, steal the Ebony Blade... Nothing bad can come of that I'm sure!

Thunderbolts #168

We head back to Marvel for tonight's reviews, starting off with Thunderbolts, starring Luke Cage! I don't really know why that's important, but I guess Luke Cage = sales in the eyes of somebody at Marvel... Oooookay...

Thunderbolts #168:

What Happened: While Songbird and Mach-V are stuck at the Raft doing clean up and talking to the Federal Advisory Committee to the Thunderbolts(or FACT), Luke Cage is rounding up the villains that escaped the Raft during the events of Fear Itself. Luke manages to take down the two remaining living members of the Enforcers, and gets a tip that Soundwave was hiding out at a condemned church in Washington DC. Luke outfits himself with equipment that would handle Soundwave, but is surprised to find Mr. Fear there instead. Fear blasts Luke with some of his fear gas, and Luke is forced to live through his various fears(he's an incompetent leader, the T-Bolts are a mess, he's still a prisoner, he's failed his wife and daughter, etc) while Fear makes good his escape... But not before leaving behind a dead body, causing Luke to fear that he had killed the woman while in the throes of the fear gas. Luke soon realizes that he wasn't responsible for the woman's death, and swears revenge on Mr. Fear. Meanwhile, while meeting with FACT, Songbird and Mach-V get a message from Ghost from 1888. It seems Ghost had written a letter and then locked it in a box to be opened by either Mach-V, Songbird or Luke in the present. Songbird and Mach-V inform Luke that Ghost and the evil Thunderbolts were still alive, which sooths one of his fears.

The Good: It's been a while since we actually got a Luke Cage heavy issue of the Thunderbolts. I liked that FACT took Songbird and Mach-V to task for Luke hardly ever being with the T-Bolts, because it's true. Since I'm not looking forward to the evil Thunderbolts hanging out in Camelot, this issue was a welcome reprieve. I liked the way Ghost sent the T-Bolts a message from the past.

The Bad: I wasn't really enamored by the Luke Cage/Mr. Fear face-off. Luke has been away from this team for so long, I just don't see him fitting in here anymore... Since he has his responsibilities as the leader of the New Avengers, maybe either Mach-V or Songbird should be named as the leaders here.

The Verdict: Meh. This comic just did nothing for me. Considering the fact that Luke Cage has been little more than an afterthought in this series for a while now, it was odd, and a bit jarring that this issue focused so heavily on him. If nothing else, it made me realize that maybe Luke just doesn't belong here anymore... I mean, in a perfect world, I'd take him off the New Avengers and have him exclusively in this title, since he fits here WAY more than as a leader for the Avengers(I still don't see Luke as Avengers material!), but alas, Marvel seems determined to keep Luke on both teams, thus making him totally ineffective here since we all know that anything major that's going to happen to Luke will be happening in the pages of the (New) Avengers, not here.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Damn, Mr. Fear looks pretty badass...

Thunderbolts #167

First review for this Monday? The Thunderbolts. I've been enjoying the evil Thunderbolts trip through time, and I'm hoping this issue will be as good as the prior few have been.

Thunderbolts #167:

What Happened: We discover right away that Satana had been trapped by some evil spirits that had taken to hiding in the bodies of London's streetwalkers back in the 1880's. That is the reason Hyde has been killing prostitutes, to free Satana from the spirits. The evil T-Bolts attack the spirits, allowing Satana to break free of their spell, which results in Satana eating the souls of all but three of the spirits in retribution. The following night, Boomerang and Satana dress up as locals and manage to hire the still possessed hookers, taking them to a room where Satana eats the souls of all but one of the spirits, telling Boomerang that he had to kill the final woman Jack the Ripper style in order to keep the past intact. Boomerang reluctantly and angrily does as he's told, and Centurius reveals that the Thunderbolts must have actually been Jack the Ripper, thus explaining why he was never caught. With that, the evil T-Bolts fire up their base and end up catapulting even further back in time, winding up during the days of Camelot. Besides that, Luke Cage, Songbird and Valkyrie manage to open up a connection to Troll's battle ax just long enough for Ghost to secretly teleport to the evil Thunderbolts.

The Good: Satana eating the spirits souls was fun. It was nice to see that the good Thunderbolts in the present were still trying to track down their evil counterparts.

The Bad: The Thunderbolts were Jack the Ripper? Lame. The way this story turned out really bugged me... I'm not sure what it was, but the evil T-Bolts being Jack the Ripper just sort of bothered me... I'm not looking forward to the evil T-Bolts going further back in English history... Couldn't they have gone to Greece or Rome or hell, the Ottoman Empire or something instead of England again?

The Verdict: Eh, I didn't like this one. The Thunderbolts as Jack the Ripper reveal really annoyed me, to the point where I didn't enjoy this story in the least. Claiming the Ripper's victims were possessed by evil spirits, thus explaining their fate just seemed... wrong to me...

Score: 4 out of 10.Damned zombie heads!

Thunderbolts #166

First review for the night? The latest issue of Thunderbolts. This is probably one of the most solid comic book series I read, so I'm pretty much expecting an 8 to an 8 1/2 score for this one. Here's hoping I'm not let down.

Thunderbolts #166:

Summary: Combining Centurius and Fixer's technology with Satana's magic hasn't helped the evil Thunderbolts get any closer to their proper place in the timestream, in fact, it's done the opposite and drawn them further into the past, 1880's England to be exact. Mr. Hyde, upon realizing where he was, is delighted and quickly abandons the rest of his teammates, and is soon followed by Satana. Neither Hyde nor Satana return to the Bolts, and several gruesome murders begin to take place, murders the English newspapers are calling the work of the Ripper... Fixer and Centurius realize the truth, that it was actually Hyde committing the murders, with Satana, completely under the thrall of her evil side, following Hyde for the fun of it. The Bolts are unable to track the duo due to Satana's magic blocking them, and as such decide to ask assistance from the local authorities since they really had no other choice, even though their actions could have dire ramifications on the timestream. The understandably surprised authorities lead the Bolts around London until the Bolts reach an area where they feel is the wrong way to go. Realizing this was Satana's magic influencing them, the Bolts decide to ignore their instincts and follow the cops, soon running into Hyde(who had just murdered another woman) and Satana, who declares that with the Bolts here, the endgame was nigh. We also get a glimpse of the T-Bolts from the present using some Asgardian magic(thanks to Valkyrie) to trace Troll's axe, learning that it, and as such the Bad Bolts, were in the past.

Thoughts: As usual, this was a very good, very strong comic book. The Jack The Ripper twist was a bit of a surprise, but after the Bad Bolts were hanging out in Nazi occupied Austria last issue, it kind of fits. I like that Hyde and Satana separated from the team, as it shows that while all of the Bad Bolts(except for Troll) are evil, some of them(HYDE!!!) are more evil than others. I was also happy to finally see the modern day T-Bolts trying to hunt down their evil counterparts. All in all, no complaints with this one.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Oh Satana... What have you gotten yourself into this time...

Thunderbolts #165

Here's a series I dropped during the Osborn/HAMMER days and picked up on a whim after the end of Siege. And boy am I glad I did! This series is always solid, and rarely a letdown. Will that continue? Here's hoping.

Thunderbolts #165:

What Happened: The evil Thunderbolts, still stuck in Austria, 1943, decide to assist Captain America and Namor against the Human Torch clones Baron Zemo had managed to cobble together. The T-Bolts are still a bit unsure as to what they should do as to not alter their own history, but figure killing the Torch clones would be acceptable. To that end, Satana takes Namor back to T-Bolt Tower to heal him(as well as have sex with him), Centurius, Fixer and Moonstone head to Baron Zemo's lab to rescue the Human Torch(as well as locate the power source they had scanned from Zemo's base strong enough to send them forward through time), while the rest of the team stays with Captain America to deal with the Torch clones. Eventually Zemo evacuates his base in a rocket, with some samples from the Torch, but is confronted by Moonstone. Moonstone pulls Zemo out of the rocket and takes the sample, telling him she'd allow him to leave unmolested provided he sires a son and named him Helmut... HA!!! Zemo agrees to those terms so Moonstone lets him leave. From there, the Torch clones get mopped up while the Torch himself is reunited with Cap, as is Namor, who had undergone his sexual healing. The T-Bolts tell Cap and his weakened Invader teammates to stay back while they destroyed Zemo's castle(in actuality set up their machinery to make the jump in time). This issue ends with some German bombers destroying the laboratory to make sure none of Zemo's secrets were retrieved by the allies, leaving the fate of the T-Bolts unknown.

The Good: What's not to like here? As I stated in an earlier review for this series, this series is the rare case where I actually like every character appearing here... Usually in a team book there are a few characters I wish weren't there, but that's not the case here. I loved Moonstone telling Zemo to have a son and name him Helmut, since she was worried that if time were altered and Zemo never had his son, her life would be totally different. Satana having sex with Namor was totally unexpected, but not out of character for Satana(or Namor I guess) seeing as that she's currently under the sway of her darker side... It would be awesome if some sort of repercussions came from that fling.

The Bad: The heroes were never really in trouble... I mean Cap and the Thunderbolts against a few deformed Torch clones isn't exactly a fair battle. While Zemo lost the samples he gained from the Torch, I don't get why he'd never try to replicate what he did here... I get that he made his clones directly from the Torch's cells, but you'd think if he was smart enough to do that he'd be able to create the cells from scratch in time. The cliffhanger wasn't that exciting since we know the T-Bolts didn't simply explode in Zemo's castle. While I'm enjoying the bad Thunderbolt's adventures in the past, I'm curious to see what the good Thunderbolts of the present are up to.

The Verdict: And the parade of above average comics continues! Once again, this was another solid issue of this series, which has been solid for the longest time now. This series is now to the point where before I read it I know to expect a good, strong story. That's about the best compliment I can give a series. Sure, I don't recall giving this series many 9 1/2 or 10's, but I'd be more than happy reading a series where almost every issue is an 8 or 8 1/2 with little fluctuation either way.

Score: 8 out of 10.HA! Can you imagine what Zemo had to be thinking here!?

Thunderbolts #164

Thunderbolts has been a series I'm quite glad I picked up again after Siege ended. It's been very solid under the steady writing of Jeff Parker, and even the Fear Itself tie-in junk couldn't derail things too much. Case in point this issue, which spun out of the Fear Itself issues while continuing the storyline that was going on prior to Fear Itself... Most writers simply stop everything, do a crossover issue, and then go back to their regular storyline like nothing ever happened. Now watch, I'll have thrown out all these compliments and this issue won't be any good!

Thunderbolts #164:

Summary: Stuck in 1943, the evil Thunderbolts manage to convince Captain America and Namor that they were actually a secret group of allied heroes sent by the US to assist the Invaders in freeing the captive Human Torch. Fixer, Moonstone and Centurius manage to convince Cap and Namor that the “American Thunderbolts” weren't Nazi spies, so the two groups decide to hook up to track down Baron Heinrich Zemo, the father of the current Baron Zemo, as well as uber-evil Nazi scientist. Cap and Namor leave to prepare to assault Zemo's stronghold to free their teammate, while the T-Bolts debate what the hell they should do with the whole time paradox dilemma they find themselves in... Fixer is afraid that their actions could possibly lead to the death of the WWII version of Baron Zemo before he had his son Helmut, one of the founders of the T-Bolts. With no Helmut Zemo, Fixer feared the timeline could be horribly damaged and the T-Bolts dead. Centurius feels that it was more likely that the T-Bolts created a divergent reality when they went back in time, meaning their actions didn't matter one way or the other. Ultimately Fixer decides they had to go after Zemo since he had a large power source in his castle which may be able to help the T-Bolts get back to their proper time period. As for Cap and Namor, they radio to the T-Bolts for assistance when they are attacked by Zemo, who had managed to create an army of flaming Nazi monsters from the Human Torch's android body.

Thoughts: I know I've said it before, but I love alternate dimensional stories, such as the one taking place in this comic. I enjoyed the interactions between the T-Bolts two resident geniuses(Fixer and Centurius) as they each argued the pros and cons to helping Cap and Namor, as well as the possible effects on the timeline. On top of that, we had Red Skull and Baron Zemo in all of their evil Nazi glory, dissecting the Human Torch and plotting against Hitler. That's the thing about Zemo 1 and Skull, they are the perfect villains, because they are completely evil/unlikable. They make the traitorous T-Bolts in this issue look like good guys. Bottom line here was that this was another great issue of this series.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Now THAT is about as evil a comic character as you'll ever find.

Thunderbolts #163.1

Hey look, it's another one of those Marvel.1 issues! Every time I see a new one of these I'm kind of surprised... I never thought these Marvel.1 issues would last as long as they have. Oh well, here's the review for the latest issue of Thunderbolts.

Thunderbolts #163.1:

Summary: Ghost, Luke Cage, Songbird and Mach-V(the last remaining T-Bolts) are hunting down the other Thunderbolts, the ones who turned traitor during the Fear Itself tie-in issues. In order to find the Bad Bolts, Luke and company decide to try to find Satana, since they figured it was Satana's magic that was hiding the Bad Bolts, while Mach-V tried to track down any piece of the Thunderbolts headquarters. Eventually the T-Bolts find a magical river and after Songbird wonders aloud where Satana was, the boat begins to move. How convenient! During the ride, Songbird falls asleep and relives many moments in T-Bolt history, from the formation of the team onward. Her dream ends with Baron Zemo proclaiming his love for her. Songbird wakes up with a start, and finds herself being carried away from Satana's magical river since Luke didn't trust it or it's funky magic. The three T-Bolts head back into their airplane just in time to get a message from Mach-V, who tells them he discovered a piece of the T-Bolt's base in Austria, but that it was much older then it should have been. The T-Bolt's all head to Avengers Mansion where Ghost and Mach-V realize that the Bad Bolts had somehow transported themselves to the past, thus explaining the old piece of the base they located. Valkyrie arrives at the Mansion to inquire about Gunna, and the T-Bolts tell Valkyrie that it seemed that Gunna had become lost in time. Valkyrie doesn't seem that troubled by this news since Gunna's axe apparently gives off magic that can be located anywhere in space, or yes, time.

Thoughts: Meh. This issue was okay, but it definitely didn't wow me or anything. It also didn't seem like a great jumping on point for new fans, since it basically continued the story that's been going on in this series for the past few issues. I guess Songbird's flashback was supposed to be for newbies, but it wasn't all that helpful, and the stuff at the end of the flashback/dream with Zemo just added confusion to it all. This issue basically can be summed up like this: Thanks to Valkyrie, the T-Bolts can hunt down their rogue teammates by latching onto the energy signature of Gunna's axe. And all of that information came out in the last two pages, making the rest of this comic a waste of time for me...

Score: 6 out of 10.The original Thunderbolts idea is still one of my all time favorite super-villain plans in comic book history.

Thunderbolts #163

Well this is interesting... The last issue of this series was under the Fear Itself banner and as far as I remember, the T-Bolts were still in the midst of the Fear Itself event. I wonder what changes that...

Thunderbolts #163:

Summary: This issue takes place in two different settings(REALLY different settings, but I'll get to that later). As always, I'll tackle this issue one setting at a time. First up we head to Luke Cage, Songbird and Mack-V discussing how and why the T-Bolts fell apart so dramatically during the Fear Itself tie-in issues. Luke pretty much blames himself for not sticking with the T-Bolts and instead battling against Sin on the side of the Avengers. Looking back Luke also blames himself for being so hard on the Juggernaut, which is what probably led to Juggy falling into the Serpent's grasp. Mach-V and Songbird realize that they aren't blameless either though, as they basically kept ignoring Fixer, leaving him an easy target for a master manipulator like Baron Zemo. Meanwhile, Fixer and the renegade T-Bolts have transported the T-Bolt's tower to somewhere in Austria. Fixer and Centurius, the resident geniuses on the renegade T-Bolts, begin scanning the nearby area to see if Mach-V, the Avengers or anybody else was looking for them, but discover the area to be devoid of any satellite chatter. As the two begin to dig further, they realize that they can't get a GPS signal, can't get online and can only find radio broadcasts from many years ago. While the renegade T-Bolts are trying to figure out what had happened to the world to cause this type of damage, they are suddenly attacked by an army of Nazis! And I'm not talking about Sin's mechanized Nazis, but the real deal. It's at this point Fixer realizes that something went VERY wrong and besides teleporting through space to get away from the T-Bolts, the team also seems to have teleported through time. The renegade T-Bolts charge out and attack the Nazis(against the wishes of Centurius, who feared they may inadvertently alter the past), and are soon joined by Captain America and Namor from the Invaders(!!). Cap is surprised to see another super-powered team battling the Nazis, and Moonstone, quick thinker that she is, tells Cap that they were America's newest power squadron, the American Thunderbolts.

Thoughts: Yeah, I really enjoyed this one. First off, I have to commend Jeff Parker on two things here... The first is that he writes the best Luke Cage I've read in years. This isn't Bendis's SUPER-Luke, this is more the Heroes for Hire Luke Cage, a guy with some flaws who makes mistakes. I was always a fan of Luke's during whatever H4H series he used to appear in because he wasn't the strongest, smartest or most powerful, but he was always one of the bravest. Bendis's SUPER-Luke can do no wrong, can stand up against any threat and is a natural leader, even over characters such as Tony Stark and Clint Barton. So yeah, I wish Luke was exclusive to this comic and was away from Bendis. The other thing I really liked that Parker did here was move the renegade T-Bolts away from the present for the time being, thus not having to reveal anything about the way Fear Itself ends. Setting the main story in the past is just genius. Now I will admit that it all wasn't perfect... We never find out what the hell happened to the flaming Man-Thing from last issue or how Luke came to the side of Mach-V and Songbird after being absent for most of the T-Bolts Fear Itself tie-ins, but that's not that big a deal all things considered. The bottom line here was that this was an exceptional comic that I enjoyed reading.

Score: 9 out of 10.How can't you love Satana?