Here’s the great thing about this series now a days. It’s that even with a somewhat okay story, it can still be better than most books Marvel publishes. I don’t put that as a slight on Jeff Parker, cause he does write some pretty damn good stories for this series. But even when it’s not the most interesting story to read he can still make it entertaining enough to read. Plus when you have wonderful artists like Kev Walker and Declan Shalvey doing the comic for you, that’s a plus too.

This is somewhat of an origin refresher for Man-Thing and while it’s not bad, it certainly not the most memorible issue Parker has done. It’s pretty good enough with the military getting involved with wondering if Man-Thing is safe enough to use. Plus we have Kale come back to make us remember that they did have a history together as members of the Midnight Sons. But really other then that there isn’t much to grasp about the story. Well except for the final page reveal of an apparent new team member for the Thunderbolts. Let’s just say that if it’s true that he is going to be in the series now I am all for it.

What I really loved about this issue is the art by Declan Shalvey. He is quickly becoming a favorite artist of mine and I hope he gets a lot more work for Marvel soon. (Like ongoing stuff and not just one-shot appearances) Him doing a Man-Thing issue seems to be the perfect thing for him to draw. He is great at drawing moody settings and with this mostly talking place in a Swamp this is perfect territory for him. He draws one hell of a good Man-Thing too and you can really sense the muck and flora around him. He also handles action pretty well to and the chase sequence involving a boat and a big ass lizard was paced well. There’s a panel where Man-Thing just tears apart the lizard by breaking it’s jaw and that is my panel of the week right there. It makes me realize that Shalvey is really perfect for this book and while I do love Kev Walker, I’m shocked he isn’t asked to do more issues periodically. There is also great coloring in this by Frank Martin and he keeps the tone really moody and also sunsets are beautiful to look at too.

While the story wasn’t the best ever here, I think this issue shows just how sustainable this series is. Jeff Parker puts enough on the table wanting you to keep reading this series and Man-Thing has definitely become a great character for the book. But the art really is the highlight of this issue with Declan Shalvey proving to us yet again why he needs a full time job on an ongoing book. This is definitely the best team book Marvel has going right now and if you don’t think that then you’re obviously not reading this fantastic run by Parker, Walker, and Shalvey.