Thunderbolts #13 – Review

Charles Soule (Writer), Phil Noto (Artist), Guru eFX (Colorist)

The Story: General Ross explains to Venom just how he got Mercy to be on his team.

The Review: While he had a less than stellar introduction to the Marvel universe, the Red Hulk soon became, under the pen of some talented writers, a character that has evolved to a point where he could be called a fan-favourite. As we followed his adventures, we soon saw that this man was one who had to pay for his past mistakes as he went on to make new ones, being part of a cycle that was almost unending, much to the satisfaction of the readers. With his solo title being given away to his daughter, it made sense to put him in a title consisted of other fan favourites with similar mindsets and even similar backgrounds to continue his adventures, thus a new and very different volume of Thunderbolts was born.

However, I have to admit that this title really did not sink me when it started, as it never went really far beyond the concept and the general tone of putting such characters on the same team. While it had the potential to be somewhat akin to Uncanny X-Force, it never reached that level. It could, however, see a boost in its quality as we now have a new writer, Charles Soule, who you may have heard of from the Distinguished Competition. Does he have the capability to make this title reach the level it could very well have?

As we have seen in the last issue, which had also been written by Soule, he is not only able to play with the characters and plot points that Daniel Way had set before, but he can also use them as his to propel for further conflict and stories in his own tenure on the title. Here, we get a tale that is about two characters: Red Hulk, also known as General ”Thunderbolt” Ross and Mercy, a character created by Peter David in the end of the 80’s. What he does here not only explain to us how Ross got such a powerhouse on his team, but what it could also mean to have her around them in the long run.