"Wanted Dead or Alive!" Thunderbolts 15 (June 1998)
"Thunder & Lightning" Thunderbolts 16 (July 1998)
"Matters of Gravity" Thunderbolts 17 (August 1998)
(1998/06/01)

Reader Rating: Above Average

Roll Call: Atlas, Jolt, MACH-1, Moonstone, Songbird

Summary: The Thunderbolts’ return to Earth is a hectic one as the team comes under pursuit by SHIELD and the Lightning Rods (aka The Great Lakes Avengers) and Atlas leaves to mend fences with his family. Meanwhile Baron Zemo and Techno plot to destroy the team by throwing a robot Hulk lookalike at them. And Zemo himself comes under attack from a mysterious new Citizen V. Oh, and then there’s Graviton…

The Lightning Rods are Big Bertha, Dinah Soar, Doorman, Flatman, and Mr. Immortal.

Continuity: Erik discovers that his criminal reputation has ruined his family. His parents have died in poverty and his brother Conrad has run off. Brother Carl dies in the course of this story.

Techno considers using a clone of Zemo as a new human body for himself and, when Zemo blasts that plan, idly considers using Kevin Costner's body. Believe it or not, we'll hear of this again in "The Nefaria Protocols" ( 2000/09/01) and "Didn't See That Coming" ( 2003/02/01).

A gap of at least many hours and, more practically, several days, must exist in Thunderbolts 15, between Dallas Riordan's scene with Warbeck on page 12 and the scene at Zemo's castle that begins on page 13, in which Dallas makes her debut as Citizen V.

Comments: At the time of publication some critics complained that the 'Bolts seemed to be wandering rather aimlessly. But taken as an arc, these three issues form a clever little web. The return of Zemo and Techno makes things much more interesting, and the Lightning Rods are a hoot.

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This page was revised on February 1, 2003