Thunderbolts #163 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (artist), Frank Martin, Jr. (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer), Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor) & Tom Brennan (editor)

The Story: The Underbolts have escaped.  Now what?

What’s Good: This series continues discovering ways to keep it fresh.  Jeff Parker and company have found a nice way to run this comic by keeping the action churning.  So far I (personally) have enjoyed almost everything he’s tossed out since this title began anew after Siege, but even if I didn’t enjoy something, it wouldn’t really matter because that odorous idea would probably be gone in about an issue.  Everything is in a constant state of flux with Parker.

The way he’s flinging ideas around also gives lots of confidence to the reader because you feel like the comic won’t get stale.  I honestly think there are some guys writing for the Big 2 who don’t have that many good ideas.  They might have 3 ideas that need to carry them though 2 years on the title.  Parker has about 3 ideas in each issue and because he’s churning through them so quickly, the ideas have a non-preciousness to them and he isn’t afraid to move on.

This issue shows the aftermath of the Underbolts big escape.  When these guys first showed up 6-7 issues ago, I wasn’t too sure I liked them, but Parker has built them up to the point where they’re just as fun as his team of Thunderbolts-proper.  We also saw at the end of the last issue that Fixer has betrayed the team and ran off with the Underbolts.  That’s the beauty of picking your characters from the scratch-and-dent bin: It is doubtful that there are any HUGE Fixer fans out there in internetland who are going to scream at Parker for this “totally out of character” moment.  These guys and gals are blank canvases onto which he can paint whatever character traits he wants.

WCBR’s Picks Of The Week

Best From The Past Week: Secret Avengers #16 – This series hadn’t sucked or anything like that, but it hadn’t been awesome very often (probably not since that stand alone issue ~#5 where we met Max Fury).  Mix in some Warren Ellis and don’t bind him too strongly to Fear Itself or whatever else is transpiring in the Marvel U. and you get something pretty magical.  This read like Global Frequency starring Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Beast and Moon Knight as they checked out a Secret Empire facility under Cincinnati.  Great art by Jamie McKelvie too!  Runner-up: Amazing Spider-Man #668

Most Anticipated This Week: Swamp Thing #1 – A LOT of good looking comics coming out this week (see below), but I just know that Swamp Thing is going to have me seeking the weak Wi-Fi signal in our office suite to I can download Swamp Thing to my iPad.  Can’t say I’m an expert on Swamp Thing although I’ve read a little bit of the old Alan Moore stuff, but Scott Snyder hasn’t written a poor issue yet and Yannick Paquette’s style seems very suited to drawing a swamp monster.

Other Picks: Action Comics #1, Animal Man #1, Men of War #1, Sweet Tooth #25, 50 Girls 50 #4, Hack/Slash #7, Morning Glories #12, Hulk #40, Thunderbolts #163, X-Men #17, Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #1, Cavewoman Snow #3, Critter #2, Irredeemable #29 (and these are just the one’s I’m “excited” about on my pull list)