Writer: John Arcudi
Daniel Axum comes home from work to meet his mother that reminds him about his past with an old paper that shows him defeated as the Battler when he fought Spider-man. Daniel says he's done with that life.
Elsewhere in an underground fighting area, the Armadillo fights another man while a crowd watches the fight. The fight ends as the Armadillo kills the man.
Outside the manager and another man discuss the armadillo's performance and when he's going to fight next.
Wednesday on the job while eating lunch Daniel is asked to drag out a tractor that has become stuck. Daniel says he will after his lunch but he is reminded that the contractors went out on a limb to get him a job to help his parole so he goes and drags out the tractor and then finishes his lunch after.
Elsewhere in a locker room coach Cady talks to the armadillo about his performance. Thru the conversation with the coach Armadillo reveals he's tired and wants to get some time off. The armadillo has another fight and defeats his opponent. The guy ends up on the street the next day in a small pool of blood. Some kids poke at him and try to steal his money that's when he wakes up again.
After a day at work Daniel goes to a tavern to have a drink but finds that his tab is full. He argues with the bartender and eventually catches the attention of Coach Cady who pours a glass of beer on his head. Daniel tries to avoid an argument with Cady as he goes to leave the tavern. Cady calls him a jailbird among other things and Daniel turns around to face him again. The manager from the underground fighting area is also there and tells Daniel to hit Cady since "Everyone likes to see a good fight."
Comments: First issue of the new direction of Thunderbolts is certainly…different. Since the title needed a revamp and that I wasn't really angry when I heard about the new direction I thought I could give it more of a fair shot then other Thunderbolts readers. With no connections to the Thunderbolts that came before I was looking for at least a good story unfortunately the story is isn't that interesting and I would have rather taken another poor Thunderbolts story over this.
The cover seems set up to anger some hardcore Thunderbolts fans and I found it funny that there was a quote by Kurt Busiek on the cover since I would imagine some fans would hope that Busiek would be in their 'corner' and wouldn't give the new direction any that would seem like praise.
None of the characters in the book where particularly interesting, a different version of the armadillo was probably the most interesting out of this lacklustre group. There's also a factor of getting to know new characters that doesn't made me fond of them like an established character would. The lead character this issue Daniel Axum I don't particularly care for, he yells at his mother and complains about dragging out a tractor that has got stuck when he's eating his lunch. I can see that one of the workers might be giving him a hard time but it hardly seemed like much of a hassle when with all his strength he drags out the tractor rather easily. He seemed a bit lazy and having the contractors go out on a limb to get him a job to help his parole is good fortune. I suppose if character is not that likable it might a good place for him to go fight underground against others like him.
The story being not that good I expected the same of the art but I found the art inside to be not all that bad considering the cover looks rather terrible. The art inside is rather unique there's nothing I'm reading currently that looks the same way. Except for a few scenes here and there I'm not bothered by the art, which is good.
Why is this title still called the Thunderbolts? I expected the underground fighting area to be called the Thunderbolts or some little detail to mention the name but there's nothing that I can see. With the X-force revamp there was a reason to have that name still but with this title now it seems like there is no reason. This title could have been launched under any other name and it wouldn't have made a difference and might have done better because it would have a number one issue.
I'm not really looking forward to next issue since this issue didn't interest me that much. I expect more of the same and more fighting. At least with the X-force revamp the title turned into something I could enjoy, this revamp seems to have failed. If the title doesn't improve I don't expect it to be around much longer.
Thunderbolts and all associated characters are the property of MARVEL COMICS TM&©2003.