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Taking over a title that was created and made famous by an award-winning writer on a hot streak is not an enviable task. The readership has come to expect a certain writing style and a certain level of quality from the book, and if you don't manage to meet those expectations, the fans will skewer you. Since this happens more often than not, it's truly refreshing to see a new writer come on to an already venerable book and actually raise the bar, kicking the story into high gear while leaving his own unique stamp on the material.

Fabian Nicieza's run to date on Thunderbolts has certainly not been perfect, but he has managed to heighten my already strong interest in the book, and his efforts consistently make Thunderbolts one of the best books Marvel publishes each month. I don't mean to downplay Mark Bagley's contributions to the book - he has clearly played a central role in its creation and continued success. But my main interest lies with the stories themselves, so they are the subjects of my critique.

#34: "Making Your Mark"

Hawkeye bites off more than he can chew when he proclaims on national television that the Thunderbolts are going to take down the Hulk. Though his plan is solid and well-executed, it doesn't cover every contingency - and that leads to the downfall of everyone involved.

Fabian hits the ground running. After snaring the reader's attention with a stark flash-forward opening and a quick recap of the series to date, Nicieza weaves a gripping, multi-layered tale of arrogance, desperation, and defeat. While some of the dialogue feels a little bit "off", Fabian's first stab at these characters is thoughtful and surprisingly funny. His characterizations of Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, and Clay Brickford are all excellent (ROM continuity be damned!), and the dark twists at the end of the story give a hint of things to come. This is a great first issue, and it offers surprising depth for a single-issue story. Grade: A-.

(I wonder - did Atlas ever collect his $10 from Hawkeye?)

#35: "The Inheritance"
#36: "How Is Justice Best Served?"
#37: "The Bug Bites Back!"

The team mourns the loss of Jolt. The new Beetle makes an appearance soon afterward, drawing the Thunderbolts into a complicated plot involving Roxxon, Justin Hammer, the Commission on Superhuman Activities, and the mysterious substance Omega-32. Gayle Rogers and an informant are killed while investigating the connections between Omega-32 and Jolt's murder, and Hawkeye decides to break the law so Abe can be "free at last, free at last."

It takes guts to kill off a main character just two issues into your run on a book, and it takes even more guts when the victim is a sunny, innocent teenage girl who has been a central part of the book since day one. Still, Fabian manages to rise above mere shock value and give Hallie a strong, heartfelt send-off when her tragic life comes to an appropriately tragic end. Personally, I've always been annoyed by Jolt; and since Hawkeye's arrival had made many aspects of her role in the book redundant, I was glad to see her go. Given the resonance of her exit, I hoped she would join Bucky Barnes and Uncle Ben on the "permanently dead" list...but I wasn't that lucky.

The identity of the new Beetle is handled strangely here. Instead of consistently presenting it as an open-ended mystery, Fabian gives us strong indications that it's Abe inside the armor...but then he tries to weakly tease us with the idea that it might be someone else, or no one at all. As a result, the "mystery" just seems drawn out and anti-climactic. The plot also gets bogged down in the excessive minutia of the Roxxon / Hammer / CSA / Omega-32 business, and the abundance of lettering errors in #37 doesn't help matters. That being said, Nicieza's writing is still quite good overall, and the story remains entertaining. Grade: B.

(In retrospect, it's interesting to see Hawkeye tying up Gyrich just two issues after Hallie was killed. If Clint had only known what Petey was up to...)

2000 Annual: "Under The Surface"

Hawkeye goes to Hell to save the soul of his ex-wife Mockingbird, and Atlas cuts a deal with the Enchantress so the Thunderbolts can follow him. After a compulsory battle with their inner demons, the team escapes...but the bundled-up person they bring back with them isn't Mockingbird - it's Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat.

I've always felt that certain characters work best in certain environments, and to me the Thunderbolts work best when they're grounded in the "real world" (or the Marvel Universe equivalent). Supernatural and/or cosmic themes don't really fit the book. On top of that, this story was yet another cliched "go to Hell and face your inner demons" affair that was only done to tie up a dangling Avengers subplot and bring Hellcat back to life so Kurt Busiek and Steve Englehart could use her elsewhere. This really should have been done in a different book.

Fabian manages to fit in a few interesting moments, such as Charlie's disturbing "survival of the fittest" comment about Hallie, and the joke about Marvel's offices being a gateway to Hell - but the story ultimately feels hollow and pointless. Grade: C-.

#38: "Targeted For Death!"

Hawkeye's trying to wrap his head around recent events when Citizen V shows up with the V Battalion hot on her trail. Her refusal to assassinate an unnamed target after already refusing to take down the Thunderbolts has put her on the V Battalion's bad side, and they're not about to let her get away. The Thunderbolts defend her, and she reveals herself to be...(yawn)...Dallas Riordan. Also, the mystery killer shows up at Baron Zemo's hideout and reveals himself to be "Scourge".

To be fair, Fabian inherited the not-so-secret identity of Citizen V from Kurt Busiek, so the anticlimax of this "revelation" isn't his fault. Everything else about the story works well, and Clint and Karla have some nice character bits. Grade: B+.

#39: "Black Hearts"

Zemo and Scourge size each other up as they battle to the death, and Dallas makes an unusual exit from her battle with the V Battalion.

Once again, Fabian manages to take an action-centered plot and turn it into an illuminating character study. This issue is a window into the thoughts and motivations of Helmut Zemo and the mysterious Scourge, set against the backdrop of their physical confrontation...and the result is riveting. Nicieza's Zemo is thoughtful and surprisingly self-aware. His time as Citizen V has caused him to grow as a character, and he knows it. He can admit that trying to take over the world was a bad idea. He can entertain the thought of retreat. He even appears to have rethought his position on cloning (lucky for him!). The insights into Scourge's thoughts are also interesting, and the suggestion that he might be Bucky Barnes is tantalizing (though ultimately not true). And how can you go wrong with a brutal decapitation...?

Great work all around. Grade: A.

#40: "V For Vexation!"
#41: "Tug Of War!"

Atlas stows away on the V Battalion's mothership in an attempt to find Dallas, and MACH-2 recruits the Sandman to help the T-Bolts track them down in Symkaria. The Thunderbolts and the Penance Council clash, Moonstone barfs and flies off to parts unknown, and both groups eventually team up to take down the Sandman, who's trying to find and kill Silver Sable.

This story fleshes out more details about the V Battalion and provides a substantive guest appearance for the re-villainized Sandman. Some of the dialogue seems stilted and overly expository, but the overall quality of the writing remains high. Grade: B+.

(I have to wonder how Sandman could ever recover from being fused into a glass sphere...?)

#42: "Two Ships"
#43: "Chasing Your Own Tail!"
#44: "Keeping An Ion The Crowd!"

Dallas battles the Crimson Cowl while reflecting on the path her life has taken. A drunken Atlas gets attacked by Wonder Man, ditched by Man-Killer, and ultimately kidnapped. The Black Widow and the rest of the Thunderbolts visit Zemo's Central American base in search of Heinrich's ion generator and find more than they bargained for. And ultimately, the Thunderbolts and the Avengers team up to take on Count Nefaria and bring back Atlas and Wonder Man.

After a strong first issue that resolves some ongoing questions regarding Dallas, the Crimson Cowl, Atlas, and Man-Killer, this story unfortunately devolves into a rushed crossover affair that ultimately serves the Avengers' storyline more than the Thunderbolts'. While there are some nice inter-team character bits, a number of scenes are crushed under the weight of excessive exposition...and I can't help but think that most Avengers readers who picked up Thunderbolts during the crossover wouldn't see a reason to keep buying the title based on these issues alone. I understand the constraints Fabian was under, but in the end this still feels like a missed opportunity. Grade: B-.

#45: "Heroic Tendencies Part 1: The Inside Job"
#46: "Heroic Tendencies Part 2: Heart And Soul"
#47: "Heroic Tendencies Part 3: Big Problems!"

The Thunderbolts follow Moonstone to the moon, where she's gone to confront the Kree Supreme Intelligence about her psychological problems. Captain Marvel arrives and escorts the team to Titan for more answers. Meanwhile, Scourge disables Techno, Atlas starts growing uncontrollably, and Techno makes an uncharacteristically heroic sacrifice. Scourge does his best to help Atlas die without injuring others, while deflecting the attacks of a newly revived Jolt. Back on Titan, the supercomputer Isaac explains Karla's situation, deems her unworthy, and starts to forcibly remove her moonstone. Captain Marvel and the Thunderbolts resist, and Isaac ultimately agrees to free Karla's mind and let Captain Marvel keep tabs on the team instead. And in the end, Atlas explodes on international television.

As I said before, I think Thunderbolts works best when it stays grounded in the M.U. equivalent of the "real world", and a significant part of this story takes place outside that environment. In an effort to bring closure to Kurt Busiek's flaccid "warrior woman dreams" subplot, Fabian devotes page after page to goofy-looking cosmic characters giving long-winded explanations of the history of Karla's moonstone and her resulting psychological problems. The connections that are drawn between the stone-powered superhumans of Earth are mildly interesting, but for the most part the Hellfire Helix / Alpha & Omega stones / Guardians of the Galaxy thing bores me to tears. I'm just glad that Karla has control of herself again, and this whole sorry mess can be left behind.

On the other hand, Fabian's handling of "Techno's last stand" is excellent. We finally get some real insight into the motivations of the robotic Techno, and get some idea of the emotional journey he's taken since he and Zemo parted ways with the team...all while he's lying in an incapacitated heap on the floor! And his surprising heroic epiphany almost makes up for the fact that he brought that annoying brat Jolt back to life. :)

One great storyline, one weak storyline. Grade: B.

#48: "Revelations!"
#49: "Explanations!"

The Thunderbolts return home to find Atlas dead, Jolt alive, and S.H.I.E.L.D. rummaging through the remains of Mt. Charteris. The team goes after Scourge, who is eventually taken down and revealed to be Jack Monroe (a.k.a. Nomad), who was acting under the influence of mind-altering nanoprobes. Jolt exposes Hawkeye's lie about the team earning pardons, and Nomad reveals the big conspiracy: Henry Peter Gyrich is going to use the nanoprobes to kill every superhuman on Earth. Meanwhile, Andie Sterman is saved from assassination by Roger Aubrey, who uses her to convince Valerie Cooper that Gyrich's plans are real. In response, the CSA helps the V Battalion put together the Redeemers, a group of presumed felons who will be led by Citizen V to take down Gyrich in exchange for governmental pardons.

Plots that have been percolating for over a year finally come to a head - and while the revelations seem a bit rushed, the explanations are well worth the wait. Almost every element of the Roxxon / Justin Hammer / CSA / Scourge / Omega-32 conspiracy is finally explained in a clear, straightforward way, and the setup for the confrontation between the T-Bolts, Gyrich, and the Redeemers is excellent. We even get the human P. Norbert Ebersol back! On the other hand, the initial unmasking of Scourge to reveal Captain America was a really weak "Scooby-Doo" moment. With the avalanche of clues Fabian had been dropping about Scourge being Nomad, how could anyone take this red herring seriously? It was also a bit disappointing to have the Thunderbolts find out about Scourge and take him down all in one issue, when the guy had been able to run around killing people with impunity since the beginning of Nicieza's run.

Even with some rushed sequences and a couple of minor letdowns, this is still a great story. Grade: A-.

#50: "Redemption?"

The Thunderbolts and the Redeemers launch separate assaults on CSA headquarters in an attempt to shut down Gyrich's plan. The Redeemers are unwittingly suffused with nanoprobes, then used by Gyrich to attack the Thunderbolts. The full extent of Gyrich's plan is eventually revealed, and he is finally stopped - but Jolt discovers that even Gyrich was being manipulated by nanoprobes the entire time. To ensure the team's silence, the CSA is willing to make a deal: the criminal Thunderbolts will get pardons if they give up their costumes and powers and Hawkeye goes to jail for the crimes he committed as their leader. The team resists, but Clint agrees. Citizen V leaves to go after the people who were controlling Gyrich. The Redeemers (plus Jolt and Charcoal) return to Mt. Charteris to be trained by Captain America under the direction of the CSA and S.H.I.E.L.D. And Abe, Melissa, and Karla make an uncomfortable return to civilian life.

Everything about this issue is excellent. The story is great, the pacing is great, and the dialogue is great (especially some of the Fixer's lines)! The new status quo should provide all sorts of interesting story possibilities, and I can't wait to see how the team eventually comes back together. Bravo, Fabian. Grade: A.

Mysteries:

Thunderbolts and all associated characters are the property of MARVEL COMICS TM&©2003.