Kurt Busiek concluded his run on Thunderbolts with issue 33, the T'Bolts having put a dent into one of the Secret Empire's plans. Things were going pretty well for them since Hawkeye assumed command, but no winning streak lasts forever. The Thunderbolts' ended pretty much the moment Nicieza took over as writer.
First issue out of the gate, Hawkeye makes a public announcement they're gonna catch the Hulk. I don't know what ol' Jade Jaws was wanted for this time, but either way, the plan flopped. A town was destroyed and Banner got away. Whoops.
Things continued downhill from there. A team member is killed in their civilian identity, shot by a bullet that left no trace. Moonstone's having weird dreams about Kree warriors and feels like she's changing, without being sure why. Their old police liaison, who seemed to be revealed as the Crimson Cowl leading the Masters of Evil, returns as a new Citizen V. Atlas gets ambushed by Wonder Man, the both of them put under Count Nefaria's control for a crossover with Avengers.
The team is back on the verge of disintegration between the disappearances, deaths and everything else. Which is when the team finds out Hawkeye lied about the deal he had set up when he first approached them. The Commission on Superhuman Activites never agreed to pardon the T'Bolts if Hawkeye got them to clean up their act. Oooops.
Basically Nicieza puts them through the ringer, see how they handle it. Hawkeye did real well when he could show up playing savior for people with no plan. Can he lead them when they realize he's fed them a line of bull all this time? Can he keep his promises anyway, make the 'impossible shot', as Nicieza describes it in issue 50. Well, it's Hawkeye, what do you think?
A couple of characters come back from the dead, one killed by Nicieza, one by Busiek. Hawkeye gets to shoot Gyrich, always a pleasure. Nicieza even works a little fallout from Avengers Forever into the book, having Genis-Vell run into Songbird, who is probably the member of the team on the most even keel through this stretch.
This is also the stretch where Nicieza makes Abner Jenkins a black man as part of the team's attempt to disguise him after they get him out of the villain muscle gig he was press-ganged into by Justin Hammer. I don't think that was one of his better ideas, nor did it feel like he did much with it, so what was the point?
Bagley's art is as it usually is. Not inventive with panel or page layouts, but all the information you need is there on the page. I like his work, others don't, this is definitely not the run that is going to change minds on either side of that line. I like the hulking Beetle armor Abner gets while working for Hammer, and the look for the new Scourge is ridiculous in a way that almost fits the concept.
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