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Here WHO comes to save the day?!?

I have to admit that Thunderbolts was originally one of the greatest concepts of the last several years of comics: Take a team of new superheroes who become instant successes, and on the final page are revealed to be the Masters of Evil! All in the very first issue! That’s just sick in how cool that idea was. Over time, however, it started going in weird directions and I tuned out. When Civil War happened and Warren Ellis took over the writing duties, it really got back on track by taking some of the worst supervillains in existence and made them a unit that would track down unregistered superhumans and take them into custody. It was another wonderful idea in its simplicity. The Green Goblin, Venom, Moonstone and Bullseye all on the side of the ‘angels’. It’s something that never should have happened, but it did, and much to my delight. In recent issues, they’ve been pursuing low-rent Z-grade superheroes and taking them to Thunderbolts Mountain, or in some cases, especially when Bullseye is on the scene, to the hospital. And their most recent recruit Penance (aka Robbie Baldwin aka Speedball, the only surviving member of The New Warriors incident that kicked off Civil War) has been deemed so mentally disturbed (talk about the pots and the kettle!), they’ve called for Doc Samson for therapeutic sessions with Robbie. But the T-Bolts most recent captives, Bluestreak, Mindwave, Caprice and Mirage allowed themselves to be captured so they could link minds and pool their collective telepathic abilities to take the Thunderbolts apart from the inside. And all this upheaval comes to a shocking conclusion in Thunderbolts #121.

So far, this telepathic quartet has had Swordsman blow up their big transport craft, killing many; Venom is eating people; Radioactive Man threatens to give everyone cancer; Norman Osborn is taking on his Green Goblin persona, also killing many; Moonstone is planning on killing Samson and Robbie, and basically everyone is going bat-poop nuts. But Samson and Robbie have been unaffected, and are more than ready for when Moonstone tries to take them out. Robbie, through Samson’s help, has rediscovered some of his Speedball powers also, and those are used to help take Moonstone down for the count… almost permanently. Meanwhile, Osborn, in his Goblin threads, is out to kill just about everyone until a very pissed Songbird, who already hates Osborn, have a battle royale and pretty much take each other down. But when a certain someone wakes up after some nano-surgery, he grabs as many X-Acto Knives as he can, and kills the four prisoners that have been causing all this insanity. 48 hours later, the dust has settled, and Doc wants Robbie to get out of the T-Bolts, but he refuses, believing this is the best place he can do his ‘penance’. Also, Osborn tries to put a typically slimy spin on this incident, but Songbird and the good Doc have laid a trap for him so that she can get what she wants from him: Total command of the Thunderbolts.

Sadly, this is the end of Ellis and artist extraordinare Mike Deodado Jr.’s run on this title, but they sure went out with a bang. “Caged Angels” was a terrific arc, and I’m almost sad that it’s over. Obviously, this is the team you love to hate, but Ellis just made it even more so. And the dialogue in this issue… some of it is just priceless. My favorite moments belong to Doc Samson, particularly his line after Moonstone announces she’s going to kill him, and after she delivers an ineffective kick to his crotch. Deodado’s art is also great, as per usual. But what kept me coming back to this issue is the question of Bullseye and his dispatching of the offenders. Was he actually trying to stop all the insanity, or did he just kill them, as he says, “Because I’m Bullseye and you’re a breathing target.”?

We may never know.

Thunderbolts #121
“Caged Angels Part Six”
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Mike Deodado, Jr.
Colors by Rain Beredo
Letters by RS and Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne

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