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Still cooling their heels in Colorado, the 'Bolts are drawn into conflict with the Imperial Forces, a new terrorist cabal, and Charcoal, a new villain (culled from the Wizard Create-A-Villain contest).  

  
This issue was such an abrupt departure from the last nine, both in content and in quality, that I was completely shocked.  Shocked in a bad way.  The plot Busiek & Co. had going was fantastic and to interrupt it for this crap is inexcusable.  

Did the Marvel Universe really need another cabal of deadly terrorists with advanced technology ?!  Couldn't HYDRA, AIM, or Ultimatum (among others) have been plugged into this role just fine, and without adding to glut of pointless characters in the Marvel Universe ?  Why yes, they *could* have.  Cripes, *I* could write this ... But I digress ...  

I will admit, however, that Charcoal is a rather interesting villain.  I couldn't guess what his powers were from the image on the cover, and his powers (when revealed) were quite interesting.  He does have some potential, I'll concede.  Besides, it's nice to see some fan interaction in comics.  

As for the Thunderbolts themselves, three out of the five characters annoyed me in this issue.  Jolt, Meteorite and Songbird all seemed poorly written.  I liked Meteorite much better when were manipulations were more subtle, rather than being blatantly revealed in thought balloons.  And Songbird has become downright aggravating.  If Busiek's intention was to create one of most annoying characters in comics, he's succeeded.  In spades.  Every time Melissa opens her mouth to speak, I cringe.  Ugh.  And Jolt ?  Well, frankly, her breakdown doesn't interest me all that much.  I prefer her as a strong woman; as the heart of the Thunderbolts (a role Atlas seems to have taken over; and if that's the case-why is Jolt on the team ?).  

Thank God for the last sequence with the Masters of Evil.  That was *not* expected and almost turned around my opinion of this issue . . . almost.  But it was very cool to see the Masters attacking and letting Charcoal and the Imperial Forces go.  Completely unexpected.  Unfortunately, the rest of the issue was crap.  

And Bagley's art wasn't much better, either.  Hanna's inks have somehow gotten horrendously thick, making the art appear tremendously flat and lifeless.  Not good.  Neither were Rosas's colours, normally a very nice addition to the book. Here they just seemed ... off, somehow.  I can't say how, but they just didn't seem right.  

Come to think of it, that's as good a line as any to describe this issue, "(It) just didn't seem right."  It sure didn't.  

Score:  C    
  

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