What I Got and Why 28/06/10

Valhallahan
There were a lot of things that weren't at the shop I went to, so hopefully I'll pick up the stragglers over the weekend.

Thunderbolts #144 - I'm not a follower of The Thunderbolts, but the new status quo has me intrigued. Atlas' Jeff Parker on words, and ABC Warriors' Kev Walker on pictures doesn't hurt either.
Secret Avengers #1 - In Brubaker we trust.
Detective Comics #865 - It's not that the main story is bad, it's just not something I'm that into right now. I bought this for the Question back up strip, which finishes this issue. Review to come.
Scalped #38 - I can't rave about this series enough, so I won't bother. Suffice it to say, it blows my head off month in, month out.
Thanos Imperative: Ignition - I'm not up on current events, but I do love Cosmic Marvel, the mentalest Marvel by far. Also, who can not love The Mad Titan?
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 - I wasn't particularly impressed by #1, but this issue has fucking beautiful art by Frazer Irving.

Thunderbolts #144

Thunderbolts #144
The Boss
Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Kev Walker


Action Ash
With the siege of Asgard over and the Heroic age beginning, the Thunderbolts programme has been taken over by Steve Rogers and he has big plans for it. He has assigned Luke Cage to recruit a motley crew of scoundrels and blaggards to fight on the side of good.

The line up is quite the interesting mix of characters: Luke Cage as leader, Songbird as what appears to be second in command, Mach IV, Crossbones, Ghost, Moonstone, Man-Thing, and the Juggernaut, bitch.

The story starts quite nicely with Cage jumping out of a huge transport plane and crashing down into the courtyard of the prison for superhuman criminals known as the Raft. He then talks to each recruit individually, in a way that gives you information about each character in case you don't know their backgrounds. Then, before they get to start their training, it ends with a cool little surprise and cliffhanger.

Kev Walker provides inspiring illustration, and sets the tone for the series which I hope he will keep up in the issues to come.

Nice book, you should try it.

3 and a half repenting criminals out of 5