Thunderbolts #121

This story arc has had something of a slow burn to it.  Four telepaths have been captured but are actually trying to manipulate events in Thunderbolts Mountain with the aim of discrediting the organisation that they see as oppressive.  And, you know what, they're right.  And yet they're the bad guys here and the Thunderbolts are the good guys.  No.  Wait.  The Thunderbolts are the bad guys and the 'caged angels' are the good...  Wow, this is confusing.  In this mire of amorality, Ellis, unsuprisingly excels and this issue is some conclusion.  First off we have some really brutal battles between Moonstone and Doc Samson and then Songbird and Norman 'Green Goblin' Osborne.  Whilst the latter battle is probably the more satisfying, Samson's glee in being able to let his gamma irradiated psychotic side loose in his battle with Karla, is pretty disturbing.  Especially for a psycho-analyst.  You can imagine Ellis grinning with glee as he wrote it.  However, all this pales into insignificance with the ruthless way in which the telepaths receive their comeuppance (hey, after all they are the baddies... er, well, maybe).  There's a brilliant postscript with Osborne finding a neat loophole to retain the status quo and a nice piece of one upmanship on Songbird.  But don't take my word for all this.  Read it.  One of the best issues of the year, people.