This is a weird issue of Thunderbolts. Instead of just telling a standard story of the breakout at The Raft, Marvel has decided to tell an anthology of sorts of this massive escape. We get a story with the regular contributors with Jeff Parker and Declan Shalvey but then we have three other stories with other creators putting their spin on the Thunderbolts. So it’s an anthology and we all know what that means:

PELLET REVIEWS! (Patient Pending)

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‘Underbolts’ (Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Declan Shalvey): Right off the back this is the strongest story in the entire issue. Mostly because I’m used to these two on the book, but also because I am interesting in the Beta team. Once again Parker doesn’t go for the obvious with giving us a strong story on why the Beta team has to stay with the program if they ever want to escape in the first place. This team can be a bit more interesting then the regular ‘T-Bolts’ sometimes (and it doesn’t hurt that my favorite Spidey villain, Shocker is apart of it). Then you have Shalvey art which, even though at times it looks a bit rushed, is very beautiful to look at. The page where Shocker causes a collapse in the cave and then Centurius putting on a force field is a great page. Basically Shalvey has always been perfect for this series and with more coming with this Fear Itself tie-in, it’s a good thing. (Story: 5/5, Art: 4.5/5)

‘Group Therapy’ (Written by Joe Caramagna, Art by Valentine de Landro): While this wasn’t a bad story per say, it was pretty predictable. How many times have we seen ‘I don’t like you, but I gotta trust you to survive’ story’? Hell we’re gonna see it again in a few pages. I don’t think Caramagna did anything here to really show why Moonstone is a great character. She’s taken out of her element quickly and then we rush to get into a ‘man vs woman’ fight towards the end. The art by De Landro is pretty good though, and it fits in the same vein as Walker and Shalvey. Maybe if it ever happens I’d like to see a full issue by de Landro to show just what he can do. (Story: 2/5, Art: 4/5)

‘The Ghost & Mr. Walker’ (Written by Jen Van Meter, Art by Eric Canete): Let me get this out of the way, I love Canete’s sketches but I hate his finished work. I don’t know why, but anytime I see Canete’s pencils in a comic it looks really bad. It gets muddy with the coloring, the action in a lot of panels don’t flow very well, and quite frankly some of his designs are just ugly to look at. He does a good job with Ghost in this story but that’s about it. Also, the story just bored me and it was pretty predictable and not worth talking about. (Story: 2/5, Art: 2/5)

‘Double Cross’ (Written by Frank Tieri, Art by Matthew Southworth): I really hope this story brings back Crossbones in a big way in the future. Tieri can be a bit hit or miss with me sometimes, but here he shows he’s great at writing a character like Crossbones. He’s not sensitive with his opinions and he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Although like I said earlier, this is yet another story about trusting who you don’t want which we already got two stories ago. Southworth’s art is also not really that impressive with inconsistant anatomy and some bizarre positions in certain panels. Not a bad story, but certainly not a good looking one. (Story: 3/5, Art: 2/5)

So there ya go, a pretty iffy issue as is always the case with anthologies. If this issue was just the Parker/Shalvey story then this could be a solid issue as always. In the end though, it’s an idea that just didn’t work out in the end.