Thursday, March 02, 2023

Could've used this a month or two ago.

The cover makes it seem like it's going to be a very Moonstone issue; but there was a bunch of other stuff going down, too. From 2007, Thunderbolts #109, "Beyond Redemption" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Gary Erskine. (Weirdly, there was another Thunderbolts issue with the same title, from the same writer; #56 from 2001!)
This was the post-game for the Zemo vs. Grandmaster storyline, which left Zemo MIA and several Thunderbolts in bad shape. Songbird was trapped in the "archival records" of the shattered moonstone, fighting past users of the weapon, and forced to work with her long-time teammate/frenemy Moonstone to get them both out. "Frenemy" isn't quite right; they really don't like each other, as they confront each other and visions of Zemo and Hawkeye: they all were huge influences on each other, but maybe not in the best ways. The Radioactive Man also appears in this plotline, although he's more interested in saving Songbird, and seems to dislike Moonstone.
Original T-Bolts Abe "M.A.C.H. whatever" Jenkins and Erik "Atlas" Josten were on the way out: the M.A.C.H. suit had been trashed, leaving Abe powerless; while Erik had grown extra-huge to save the earth last time, and was stuck at that size and unconscious. Blizzard and Smuggler were also out, their respective suits also destroyed; while Speed Demon was injured in an earlier issue and might've run off, and Joystick was sent back to the Negative Zone prison for siding with Zemo. Fixer might have been offered a different government job, so the Thunderbolts appear to be down to Songbird, Moonstone, Radioactive Man, and Swordsman; in time for new writer Warren Ellis next issue. I've had a hard time reading Ellis the last few years, but can't recall if I dug his run on this book: Norman Osborn, Bullseye, and the Mac Gargan Venom were coming, for better or worse.

1 comment:

  1. Have Songbird and Moonstone ever really fought it out to clear up their issues? Seems like it's been long overdue.

    Not sure if it's aged well, but the Ellis stuff did in turn lead to the Dark Avengers, that whole period of Osborn running everything, Siege, etc. I guess there's that?

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