Thunderbolts #144 Review

Summary

Luke cage has been appointed the head of the new thunderbolts program by Steve Rogers and he’s now here at the raft, maximum security prisons for super villains to recruit his team; Songbird, Moonstone, Juggernaut, Crossbones, Mach V and Ghost. Each team member showcases there unique personalities. Some in particular don’t sit well with Luke. After all the introductions are made Luke is taken down by Baron Zemo while giving his team a pep talk.

The Good

While I can’t say the art by Kev Walker is my favorite, he does strive to give each individual character a unique look and “interpretation”. Even if there was no color all the important characters of the team have specific dimensions and mannerisms in just this one issue that I must tip my hat to Walker.

The story was all set up, but I found myself liking the various ties that the series has in terms of throwback members such as Moonstone, Songbird, Mach V and Fixer who were part of the 90’s team. New members such as Juggernaut who’s shifts over the last few years from hero to villain multiple times is explained away as “maybe” being influenced by the God Cytorak which is a tongue in cheek way of saying writers don’t know what to do with him 😛 His interactions with Luke worked well from both their pasts and especially since Juggy loves to show other strong guys he’s the best. Him and Luke will most certainly have problems. Also of note Juggy  has a problem with authority figures so good luck to Luke on that one.

His teammate Moonstone is a strange pick since she’s pretty much always been a villain. She’s tried the straight and narrow but she is all about herself. She was even one of Osborn’s “dark avengers” so why i she given a spot besides drama? Here she comes off lofty and cocky,  Luke will have to deal with her  throwing herself at him at some point since she shagged two of her last teammates just for the hell of it 🙂 and Hawkeye when he lead her T=bolt team.

Songbird gets a redesign which at first I didn’t like but it’s in keeping with an individual look so lets see if this is a reflection of a darker “songbird”.

Everyone else is relatively new to me, Never was fond of Fixer and I know Jack about Ghost except he may be schizophrenic allot like Scarface from batman where him out of the costume is different than the person in the suit.

Luke’s new look also bears mentioning. It’s a throwback to his original costume except this time he’s in normal clothes with two Big gauntlets and boots. From the flow of the story this is not just aesthetic but serves another purpose. Since the team will be operating from the raft his new ‘accessories’ will enable him to gain access to and pass through the various shields and force fields keeping the prisoners in place. The art and story do a great job of showing this.

This issue also had a fair share of humor especially when the very attractive Luke made his way into the female prison. He was beefcake on a stick 😛

The Bad

No action at all, if you read comics for the fight scenes and great big ole explosions stay clear this issue was about establishing why these people were on a team and their first mission.

The Ugly

3/5 a good jumping on point for new readers with good character work