The Good

Charles Soule really does deserve credit for taking floundering titles and doing something truly great and even unique with them. I wanted to like the last Thunderbolts roster, with their time-travel shenanigans, but that storyline overstayed its welcome by a LARGE margin, so a complete roster restructuring seemed to be the way to go. Having the oddly appropriately named Thunderbolt Ross take over the team seemed like one of those “Oh yeah…” moments, but here we are. Having him recruit some of the most willing to kill heroes in the Marvel Universe was another excellent wrinkle as it allowed them to, much like X-Force, take on threats that superheroes wouldn’t normally think to take on, for better or worse. This is also one of the most standalone tie-ins with Infinity, moreso in many ways than even than the two Avengers titles. This feels like an arc that could have happened independent of Infinity, for the most part. There’s definitely a moment in this book that wouldn’t have happened on its own, but it’s not necessary to be reading the big title to understand what happens here. As always, Soule writes the characters absolutely true to their sources, while still keeping tongue firmly in cheek. This remains a title that’s actually very subtly funny and I think with personalities like these, that’s the best route to go. Otherwise we wind up with more 90s XTREEEEEEEEME tones, and NOBODY wants that, least of all me.

Jefte Palo continues to be an unusual, but welcome, choice on linework. His exaggerated, jagged characters highlight the comedic moments brilliantly as well as giving the entire book a tone of strange surrealism that fits with the writing perfectly. The characters are also rendered amazingly, everyone standing out as they should, even compared to ordinary people. Guru eFX provides the beautiful, dynamic colors that compliment Palo’s lines perfectly. The colors tend toward being somewhat dark and even moody at times, but it contrasts hilariously to the writing and the general design of the characters.

The Bad

There’s really not much to dislike in this book. Some of the characters are still a little strange or underdeveloped (I get that Mercy is a character that existed before this title, but a little explanation wouldn’t hurt. And don’t even get me started on Sterns) but the main cast is absolutely fantastic, and the two lesser-knowns are growing on me by and by.

The Verdict

Just when I was ready to get a little bored with the mobster subplot, Soule goes and makes it interesting by adding a twist from the Infinity storyline itself and I’m back to being interested. There’s definitely a lot to this book, and I can understand why it’s not necessarily for everyone, but for my money, it’s tough to find a better melding of comedy and action in Marvel’s pantheon, and very few books in comics in general can accomplish it. If you’re ready to not take some very serious characters very seriously, it’s an easy recommend.

I'm enjoying the series right now, but a lot of people still bash this title sooo much especially the art.

Since Charles Soule tookover this bok has become great-

I always avoided this book because of everyone seemed to have a bad opinion about it. Luckily since last issue was tied into Infinity so I picked it up. I really enjoy this series.

Having been enjoying this book since #1.

i tried this book barely lasted the first arc, was really boring and uninteresting imo

I like the new writers. The art however was horrible in issue 16.

Soule's actually made this book very enjoyable.

lol

I trust them

Dillon or Noto needs to come back. Palo is GARBAGE!

Definitely my favorite of the Infinity tie-ins. The art doesn't bother me whatsoever because it matches the tone of the book. This team is great and incredibly hilarious to watch work together. Will definitely be going back to grab issue #13 and the first 2 trades.

I think so too.. i thought the issue was very ordinary to say the least.

But meh!!

Strongly agree. This might be the worst art I've seen in a comic ever. I opened the first page, looked at that panel with red hulk on the bottom and immediately closed the book, and went to comicvine to see if anyone was horrified and disgusted by what they saw. sloppy pencils, composition, awful inking, check out the anatomy of that red hulk on page one... more blob-like than alex maleev's clayface from batman tdk this week.

@scumdestroy: Not a fan of Dillon. When he draws everyone has the exact same face. The Punisher and Red Hulk looked identical! Noto's art is beautiful.