THUNDERBOLTS #76

[MattBrady]

from Marvel

<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBolts076_cvr_FINAL_t.jpg" width="175" height="254" border="0" alt="Thunderbolts #76" hspace="2" align="right">Comics readers have been buzzing since the radical new "Fight Club"-style direction of the Thunderbolts was revealed. And now after the <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000080" target="_blank"> interviews</a> with the new creative team, the preview images, and the message board debates, it's finally time for fans to read for themselves what the hoopla is all about.

A special DOTCOMIC 12-page preview of February's THUNDERBOLTS#76, the debut of the new direction and the new creative team of writer John Arcudi and artist Francisco Ruiz Velasco, is available right now at Marvel.com.

"This is a bad-ass comic that looks and feels like Hoboken and smells like desperation," explains editor Andrew Lis of the brand-new THUNBERBOLTS. "When a guy gets punched, we didn't do our job if you don't imagine your head snapping back in the same situation.

"We tell a story about that desperate reach for validation and redemption, and explore how desperation inevitably leads to worse choices."

Readers can check out the following three preview pages and them head over
to the dotComic to read the rest at <a href="http://dotcomics.marvel.com/lib/launchissue.php?issue=145?wsid=88642A" target="_blank">http://dotcomics.marvel.com/lib/launchissue.php?issue=145?wsid=88642A</a>

This voyeuristic series focuses on super-powered thugs who faced with a hopeless, bleak future, take to a world of sadistic, bloody brawls in abandoned warehouses. THUNDERBOLTS asks if you're trying to do the right thing, do you stick with a go-nowhere day job, or do you make one last grab for fame and easy money by busting heads?

"And we go along for every miserable second, begging them to just stop and think it through," continues Lis. "But that's not the way life works. Life doesn't allow do-overs, and you have to live with your own consequences and stand up and be a man ... as long as you're not knocked so goofy that you're lying on your back."

Retailers are reminded THUNDERBOLTS #76 goes on sale 2/19 and its Initial Order Cut-off Date is 1/3.

<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076001_400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076001_400_t.jpg" width="140" height="210" border="0" alt="page 1" hspace="2"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076002_400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076002_400_t.jpg" width="140" height="210" border="0" alt="page 2" hspace="2"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076003_400.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Marvel/TBOLTS076003_400_t.jpg" width="140" height="210" border="0" alt="page 3" hspace="2"></a></center>

[saiyanspider]

I can't wait for this book, I love Francisco Ruiz Velasco work from lone wolf 2002 and I can't wait to see him on a monthly basis. I'll miss the p;d thunder bolts but this will be good aswell. I like fight manga and this will be along those lines. I mean who doesn't like a few good fights? there seems to be so few of them these days (new x-men as an example)

[saiyanspider]

ohh btw way...


YAY FIRST POST WOOOHOOOOO!!!!

[pmpknface]

I'm buying it... but I'm skeptical. I will give it a shot and hope for the best, but my kneejerk reaction has me missing the old T-bolts already.

[Chris]

Not gonna get it. I had to to look at it like it was a new book (Because it IS), so I read the preview material and for the first time in years, Thunderbolts was not on my pull list. Best of luck to the creators, but it's just not my cup o' tea.


Chris (strange how X-Force had the opposite effect... it brought me BACK the the title)

[Hdefined]

WHY is it still called "Thunderbolts" again?

It looked ok, if it was a new maybe MAX book, but lots of blood, lots of censored cursing, and being issue #76 of a completely unrelated title, I won't put my money towards this idiocracy

[MickeyScouse]

Gotta say this looks like a total piece of garbage to me! If Marvel are so confident about 'New Direction' with their books, then why don't they have the stones to totaly break with the past and start with a #1? Instead of trying to hang on to established readership for a title!

Want to bet this heads down the same road as Cable/Soldier X or Deadpool/Agent X.

Flush and put the lid down on this one!!!!!

[spid3y]

Way to go, saiyanspider.

You made the list!

[Stratus]

I am a die-hard Thunderbolts reader - thick or thin, I'll read the book. Which means I will continue reading it after the new direction.

To be honest, I think the Thunderbolts concept was stretched out a bit over 75 issues - Busiek and Nicieza did an amazing job bringing new twists to the story, but there's only so many times you can watch heroes turn into villains turn into heroes (and vice versa, seen in the last story arc) without getting a little tired of the whole thing.

I care a lot about the characters from Thunderbolts - Songbird, Mach-3, Hawkeye, Jolt, Atlas... and I care about the name of Thunderbolts, since it has meant so many different things throughout the title's history. I look forward to seeing how that definition will continue to evolve with this "new direction."

It does seem a little silly, however, to not just launch the new concept as a new series. It's what they ended up doing with X-Force anyway, recreating it as X-Statix.

My biggest hope is that issue #75 will be able to bring the saga of "our" Thunderbolts to a satisfying finale. Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything about issues #74 and #75? They still haven't arrived, and it's been months since #73.

BTW - Agent X actually gained a few thousand regular readers after the relaunch, yes? Deadpool sat in the 60's of the Top 100 prior, and now is in the 50's, I believe.

Regards,
Stratus

[Dave Phelps]

[quote]Originally posted by Stratus:
<strong>I am a die-hard Thunderbolts reader - thick or thin, I'll read the book. Which means I will continue reading it after the new direction.

To be honest, I think the Thunderbolts concept was stretched out a bit over 75 issues - Busiek and Nicieza did an amazing job bringing new twists to the story, but there's only so many times you can watch heroes turn into villains turn into heroes (and vice versa, seen in the last story arc) without getting a little tired of the whole thing.

I care a lot about the characters from Thunderbolts - Songbird, Mach-3, Hawkeye, Jolt, Atlas... and I care about the name of Thunderbolts, since it has meant so many different things throughout the title's history. I look forward to seeing how that definition will continue to evolve with this "new direction."

It does seem a little silly, however, to not just launch the new concept as a new series. It's what they ended up doing with X-Force anyway, recreating it as X-Statix.

My biggest hope is that issue #75 will be able to bring the saga of "our" Thunderbolts to a satisfying finale. Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything about issues #74 and #75? They still haven't arrived, and it's been months since #73.

BTW - Agent X actually gained a few thousand regular readers after the relaunch, yes? Deadpool sat in the 60's of the Top 100 prior, and now is in the 50's, I believe.

Regards,
Stratus</strong><hr></blockquote>

#74 came out a few weeks ago. The last I heard, #75 will be out in two weeks.

Didn't think the preview was horrible, but I still don't see the point of all of this. Lis is supposes to "save the book" so he dumps the entire cast and creative team and replaces it with something completely different that in no way lends itself to the previous 75 issues?

If they were concerned about sales, I wish they would have just raised the price by a quarter and be done with it. The book would have been gone by #100 anyway, but at least this way Fabe could have finished everything he was doing first. Ah well. :-(

Of course, I was also confused by the solicitation for Soldier X #9, since I thought the book was supposed to be cancelled with #8... :-)

Dave

[CaptianAmerica]

74 is already out...
any word on whats up with 75...???

[Dylan]

I'm looking forward to these new Thunderbolts, I really like John Arcudi's work on the new Doom Patrol and I loved Francisco Ruiz Velasco's Battle Gods and I'm also enjoying his work on Lone Wolf 2100. I checked out the 12-Page preview and liked what I read and saw, and I'm looking forward to reading and seeing the rest.

For me the first 12 issues of Thunderbolts were the best, I read up to issue 25, came back for issues 35 to 40, then came back again for issues 57 through 64, and have to admit 57 through 60 were actually quite good. Although I have to say the book really hasn't done much since those first 12 issues, and this new change in direction may be the best thing for the book.

The thing that has me most intrigued is why this new team will be called the Thunderbolts? Will they clash with the old team, like X-Force and X-Statix (while called X-Force) did? And will Hawkeye and Songbird join the Avengers? I hope my questions are answered and I wish the new creative team the best of luck.

[rjjb7]

Have been with T- since Bolts for first issue. Hate the fight-club concept. Would rename this book as it has nothing to do with the Busiek/Niecza creation. The loss of the chararters developed in these pages is a loss to Marvel and us all. Alas, the last of the books from the Heroes Reborn days falls.