Thunderbolts #159 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin (colors) & Albert Deschesne (letters)

Moonstone story by: Joe Caramagna (writer), Valentine de Landro (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Deschesne (letters)

Ghost/John Walker story by: Jen Van Meter (writer), Eric Canete (art), Fabio D’Auria (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

Crossbones story by: Frank Tieri (writer), Matthew Southworth (art) & Sharpe (letters)

The Story: A medley of stories detailing events on the Raft after it is destroyed by Juggernaut’s Fear Itself Hammer.

What’s Good: For one thing, this is a pretty fat issue.  Checking in at 40 pages for its $4.99 price, you’re getting a double-sized comic for less than double-price.  And none of the 40 pages is junky crap like an old reprinted Thunderbolts story.  Nice one…

This is effectively a Thunderbolts anthology.  I love anthologies, but it isn’t uncommon to get some crummy stories that you just need to skip.  That’s not a problem in this issue as all of the stories are between “solid” and “quite good”.  And, because these four stories are both bulky and from widely different parts of the Raft, it really drives home the enormity of the crisis.  It also continues the general strength of the Fear Itself tie-ins.  This issue adds a lot of local flavor to Marvel’s summer event.

For regular T-bolts readers, the star of the issue will be the Parker/Shalvey Underbolts story.  When we last left these characters, they were contemplating just running for it instead of continuing to serve as “heroes”.  Here we see them helping out with rescue efforts but also building in their own little insurance policy for the future.  This is just classic T-bolts storytelling since these characters are villains and you never want them to feel “safe”.

The other stories all have their moments such as Marvel letterer Joe Caramagna showing us what happens when the female and male prisoners come into contact without any chaperones present or how effectively the anarchist Ghost and the former US Agent, John Walker team-up (and build a grudging respect).

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Invincible Iron Man #505 – Well, there were only two comics for me this week, and while neither of them were at all bad, I’m going with Matt Fraction’s Iron Man.  This issue showed what I wish a lot more event tie-in arcs would do: tie in to the event in question without forgetting or putting aside dangling plot elements and characters.  A fun read all around and that showed that an event tie-in arc doesn’t have to be something to groan about.

Most Anticipated: Captain America #619 – I’ve been absolutely loving everything about Ed Brubaker’s latest arc in its tone, story, voice, and unique structure.  Not only am I excited to see how he ties it all up, but I also want to see how he deals with Bucky’s death and Steve’s return to the shield.  Big things are afoot this month for Cap and Brubaker’s been in prime shape as of late.

Other Picks: Batman: Gates of Gotham #2, DMZ #66, Mighty Thor #3, Wolverine #11

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: 28 Days Later #24 – Endings are hard, so the degree of difficulty on this final issue of the series was pretty high.  The creators really nailed it and gave us a heartfelt finale that bridges the gap between the two films and does some interesting things with two characters that I’ve grown quite fond of.  Now that the series has wrapped, be sure to check out the trades.  Runner-up: Graveyard of Empires #1

Most Anticipated: Dark Horse Presents #2 – It’s a pretty light week for my pull list, so I’ll go with this second issue of Dark Horse’s revived anthology series.  I have no idea what will be between the covers, but chances are pretty high that there will be something good on the menu.

Other Picks: All Nighter #1, Hack/Slash #5, Thunderbolts #159, Wolverine #11, Incredible Hulks #631