Summary
In an unknown location some soldiers are slaughtered by a monster.
Elsewhere Black Superhero Luke Cage and Ant man enter Man-Thing’s swamp to try and locate the time lost thunderbolts as he considers quitting the program. They locate the team and return to meet with the Thunderbolt program runners. Here they run into the Dark Avengers and a fight erupts. As things get heated the Dark Avengers are incapacitated by Nanites much the same way Thunderbolts normally are. The heads introduce the new thunderbolts and don’t expect Luke to lead them since they recently were his enemies.
Luke decides to accept anyway and brings Skaar son of Hulk along for the ride as backup while he leads the Dark Avengers!
The Good
Art-Declan Shalvey’s art fits the general tone and mood of the book.
Dark Avengers- Skaar son of Hulk, Toxic Doxie, Trick Shot and Ragnaroc quite the formidable crew of villains. They recently helped Norman Osborn in his attempt at taking down the Avengers unfortunately they failed because Skaar betrayed the team, turns out he was a double agent working for Captain America. Bringing them all back together is going to be interesting, especially with Cage at the helm XD
Action- For those who haven’t seen the previews this issue has a cool yet brief skirmish.
Black Superhero Luke Cage- Here is a character that has benefited immensely from being liked and then substantially being reworked in the modern age by Bendis. Luke is now arguably one of my favorite leaders in the marvel universe having lead the new avengers for a long time and being in charge of the reformed Thunderbolts program. Honestly without these modern revisions, marriage, fatherhood and the new Avengers his character could not work in the modern marvel landscape. We salute Bendis for keeping Cage alive! While current writer Jeff Parker has not done any substantial work on Cage’s personality and motivation he has taken the Bendis characterization and made it his own.
Cover- I dare anyone to tell me this cover doesn’t just scream badass!
The Bad
Spoilers- Thanks to the preview from last month the more riveting parts of the issue were already seen by anyone interested. This made the book predictable and boring.
The Ugly
Another book spoiled by early solicits and previews, ate when that happens 2.5/5