"Heroic Tendencies (Part 2)" (2001/02/01)
"Heart and Soul" Thunderbolts 46 (January 2001)
"Big Problems!" Thunderbolts 47 (February 2001)

Reader Rating: Excellent

Roll Call: Atlas, Charcoal, Hawkeye, Jolt, MACH-2, Moonstone, Songbird, Techno/Ogre

Summary: The Thunderbolts are Captain Marvel’s guests on Titan, moon of Saturn, where Mentor and ISAAC the computer tell Karla the history of her Moonstone – then demand that she give it up! Meanwhile, following Scourge’s attack, Techno must choose between saving himself or reviving Jolt – and Scourge must save the day when Atlas’s out-of-control powers threaten an ionic explosion.

Scourge brandishes Zemo’s head; Songbird manifests unexpected powers; Abe catches Melissa and Genis making eyes; Dallas Riordan watches from a hospital bed in Latveria; the comatose man in the London hospital is revealed to be John Watkins, gets a visit from Roger Aubrey and Elizabeth Barstow, and takes on the Citizen V mantle; Andrea Sterman realizes that revealing what she has learned may start a "superhuman world war"; Warton takes possession of the Beetle’s armor and connects with Citizen V; and Aubrey (as the Destroyer) and Barstow have a scare in the V-Battalion’s version of the danger room.

Goliath, the Enchantress, and a man who will later be identified as Conrad Josten, the Smuggler, appear briefly.

Continuity: Techno and Atlas apparently die, while Jolt, transformed, comes back into action. Seeing Zemo’s head, Techno wonders about the gel residue footprint he saw in Zemo’s stronghold. Flashbacks show how Techno recovered Jolt’s body prior to "The Bug Bites Back!" ( 2000/02/01). Karla is disconnected from the moonstone’s native memories, and picks up Captain Marvel as a guardian angel.

Comments: Fabian Nicieza’s best work to date, as he juggles an extraordinary number of plot threads. Catch the two page scene in the final installment where Atlas’ sacrifice is underlined through cutaways to seven different significant sets of supporting characters. Techno’s prolonged death scene is startling and moving. The Moonstone sequence is a bit rushed, but offers lots of needed information and some intriguing character moments. While, technically, this story interlinks with "Maximum Security," it is the much stronger of the two and best read by itself.

Previous Thunderbolts Next
Previous Barton Next
Previous Burlingame Next
Previous Ebersol Next
Previous Genis-Vell Next
Previous Gold Next
Previous Jenkins Next
Previous Conrad Josten Next
Previous Erik Josten Next
Previous Ogre Next
Previous Riordan Next
Previous Sofen Next
Previous Takahama Next
Previous Watkins Next
Previous Zemo Next
TOC * Home

This page was revised on January 14, 2002