Honestly the entire ‘Thunderbolts’ Infinity crossover started off rather slow. It didn’t mesh well between The Punisher’s turn at a mission and fitting in the overall global impact of ‘Infinity’.
That’s changed.
While the last issue was still kind of weak, Charles Soule has really been able to blend the title’s plot and the crossover references together rather well in this issue. We see the issue split in two with part of the team dealing with Infinity and part of the team dealing with the mission that The Punisher, who doesn’t even care that the world is coming to the end as long as someone else can take care of fixing that problem, had laid out for them.
We see Red Hulk tearing through Thanos’s forces though he is being used as a distraction as Supergiant (I hate that name) appears to be obsessed with Leader. When she goes to take him, she’s stopped by Mercy who we still have no idea what she’s up to. Prior to this, we seem him apparently manipulating Red Hulk in what looks to be another hint that he’s starting to regain his memories. It’s only a matter of time before he ends up being a real issue for the team.
After Mercy takes out Supergiant, she is drawn to New York to wallow in all the death that she senses there. She can’t resist its call and Red Hulk ends up following her with Leader in hand. Past that, we won’t know what happens to them until the next issue.
Before we get to what The Punisher, Electra, and Venom are up too, let me just say that there are some great moments with Deadpool in this issue. He is still out on his own from the previous book. Who am I kidding? He’s looking for a slice of pizza, however, aliens keep getting in his way. Another bonus is that everyone kept confusing him with Spider-Man, again. It doesn’t pay to dress how he does while in New York. There was some great dialogue from him that was extremely fitting and written perfectly in his voice in these panels.
Really though, this issue is about The Punisher. Sure, Electra has a few great lines and Venom is helping out, but they do is seem to take far too long in casing and breaking into the secret hideout of the Paguros crime organization. Apparently most of New York’s underworld is still here.
So not much happened though they are setting up for the next issue to hopefully bring a close to this arc. Now the main problem I have in this book is the art. Jefte Palo is not doing this book justice. It’s a style that would fit with the ‘FF’ title but does not work at all with what should be a darker one. It just turned out too cartoony. The issue was well written but the art just takes away too much from this book to make it a great read.
THUNDERBOLTS #16
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Jefte Palo
