I should not be a fan of this book. I tend not to like bad guy hero books and was never that intrigued by Thunderbolts. Maybe it's the Bendis magic (which is quite fleeting these days), and maybe it's just a good story about a superhero team getting things done, but this was a great book.

Perhaps the best aspect of this story was the effective use of the Sentry. When Bob's head is reasonably straight, he so outclasses his enemies that he creates an instant mismatch. Here, the Sentry is so dominant over a few Atlanteans that we are not even shown the details of the fight. All we know is that Bob easily achieves his directive - to bring back only one survivor to be used as a living lesson (although that doesn't last long either).

Osborn is handled well here, and his imminent flame-out is forestalled for just a moment by his effective assistant.

The art is sharp, and the story merits further reading. Well done.