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Thunderbolts (2006) (Collected Editions) #11
Shadowland: Thunderbolts
Luke Cage heads into Hell's Kitchen to pull his old friend back from the brink of madness. And if swarming ninjas aren't enough, he's become aware of other forces that will make his task even harder. Going against the Warden and the government itself, Cage sends the T-Bolts in to level the playing field. But without his direct guidance, will this squad of killers and criminals make the situation even worse? Find out in the book IGN.com calls "Impressive...not to be missed."
Collecting: Thunderbolts 148-153
Collecting: Thunderbolts 148-153
186 pages, Hardcover
First published April 27, 2011
3 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Parker
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 5, 2025
Alright, so Thunderbolts gets dragged kicking and screaming into that goddamn Shadowland crossover. Surprisingly, it doesn't completely blow dick. Mostly, it's just the Thunderbolts slicing and dicing a whole lotta ninjas, which, I gotta admit, is pretty damn entertaining. Especially when you've got a piece of racist garbage like Crossbones suddenly getting some new freaky mouth power.
The other half of this volume sends our crew to some mystical Neverland, but it's really just a bunch of navel-gazing so they can all figure out their precious feelings and what they want out of life. It wasn't half bad, though, I'll give it that. But I was hoping more from a avengers/thunderbolt crossover.
The final issue focuses on Ghost, and while his backstory is a real kick in the feels, the way they told it felt kinda...meh, you know? Standard tragic fare.
Honestly, I think the last volume was stronger, but this one still had its moments and kept me entertained. I'd give a 3 or maybe even a 3.5 out of 5 on this one.
The other half of this volume sends our crew to some mystical Neverland, but it's really just a bunch of navel-gazing so they can all figure out their precious feelings and what they want out of life. It wasn't half bad, though, I'll give it that. But I was hoping more from a avengers/thunderbolt crossover.
The final issue focuses on Ghost, and while his backstory is a real kick in the feels, the way they told it felt kinda...meh, you know? Standard tragic fare.
Honestly, I think the last volume was stronger, but this one still had its moments and kept me entertained. I'd give a 3 or maybe even a 3.5 out of 5 on this one.
April 8, 2015
Still kind of waiting on this series to pick up and fulfill the expectations I've had for it based on hype. It's not bad by any means, but each storyline has the distinct feel of a book hindered by the larger plots in the Marvel Universe. Nothing too substantial has happened in any of these storylines, most likely to prevent ruffling the feathers of the "bigger" books, and no story has had grounded enough character work to really set it apart from the myriad of other Marvel side-books.
In this one, we get a very brief tie-in to Shadowland that barely warrants titling the book after that event. I assume that was a cash-based decision. The Thunderbolts basically just kill a bunch of ninjas and Crossbones gets a temporary superpower that doesn't seem to matter in the long run. The banter and action were fine, but I didn't leave impressed.
The remaining issues explain the fairly hacky backstory of Ghost, as well as see a few of the Thunderbolts wander into another dimension for a brief adventure with the Avengers. Again, the writing itself is fine. It's just the ideas that are lacking. I'm hoping this picks up with the next volume, but if it doesn't, I think I'm done with Parker's Thunderbolts.
In this one, we get a very brief tie-in to Shadowland that barely warrants titling the book after that event. I assume that was a cash-based decision. The Thunderbolts basically just kill a bunch of ninjas and Crossbones gets a temporary superpower that doesn't seem to matter in the long run. The banter and action were fine, but I didn't leave impressed.
The remaining issues explain the fairly hacky backstory of Ghost, as well as see a few of the Thunderbolts wander into another dimension for a brief adventure with the Avengers. Again, the writing itself is fine. It's just the ideas that are lacking. I'm hoping this picks up with the next volume, but if it doesn't, I think I'm done with Parker's Thunderbolts.
December 31, 2020
Regular readers of these witterings will almost certainly be aware that I'm a big fan of the Thunderbolts series.
The bad guys doing good stuff (ish)? What's not to like? I mean, sure, it was better when Osborne was in charge, but hey ho. Move with the times or get left behind, eh?
Then there's the Shadowland event. Another attempt by Marvel to bring the whole universe together, with perhaps less effect than previously, but yer man DD and the Hell's Kitchen crew are front and centre, so what it lacks in scope and story it makes up for with DD. And Hell's Kitchen.
So a Thunderbolts adventure in Shadowland? How could this fail.
Well, glad you asked.
In essence, it doesn't.
And yet...
First off, putting the Shadowland banner on this is a smidge misleading, as only the first story is actually a Shadowlands event.
The other stories are good (or in the case of Ghost's back story, fine), but they're not fighting the Hand.
Then there's events in the actual Shadowland sphere. Cross Bones does a thing. It would appear to be a very bad thing. And yet Luke Cage doesn't seem arsed. Which somehow doesn't ring true.
Finally there's the frog.
No.
Just no.
Such quibbles aside, this is a perfectly fine book. Artwork is great, stories are good (mostly, obvs), and everything is fun and violence. It's all pretty much what you'd want.
Unless you're a frog.
The bad guys doing good stuff (ish)? What's not to like? I mean, sure, it was better when Osborne was in charge, but hey ho. Move with the times or get left behind, eh?
Then there's the Shadowland event. Another attempt by Marvel to bring the whole universe together, with perhaps less effect than previously, but yer man DD and the Hell's Kitchen crew are front and centre, so what it lacks in scope and story it makes up for with DD. And Hell's Kitchen.
So a Thunderbolts adventure in Shadowland? How could this fail.
Well, glad you asked.
In essence, it doesn't.
And yet...
First off, putting the Shadowland banner on this is a smidge misleading, as only the first story is actually a Shadowlands event.
The other stories are good (or in the case of Ghost's back story, fine), but they're not fighting the Hand.
Then there's events in the actual Shadowland sphere. Cross Bones does a thing. It would appear to be a very bad thing. And yet Luke Cage doesn't seem arsed. Which somehow doesn't ring true.
Finally there's the frog.
No.
Just no.
Such quibbles aside, this is a perfectly fine book. Artwork is great, stories are good (mostly, obvs), and everything is fun and violence. It's all pretty much what you'd want.
Unless you're a frog.
December 9, 2023
This book was a fun read - Jeff Parker is an excellent writer who seldom disappoints. And the art is still great - although Declan Shelvey's two issues weren't as strong as Kev Walker's.
I do feel it loses the momentum of the first volume and struggles to find its groove - in the sense I wasn't sure what the point of the Thunderbolts was by the end of this volume. Their first mission is a tie into Shadowlands (a Daredevil event I never go into) and they fight some ninjas and actually kill the guy they were supposed to rescue. Kind of a let down.
Then the Thunderbolts try to escape and are in a weird land where there is a magic frog...I thought I might be missing something with the frog but it never gets explained. It is okay but as I said - it hurts the momentum for the Thunderbolts. What is the point of this program? They aren't being sent out successfully to do any missions.
Then there is actually a great origin story for one of their members Ghost.
Overall - fun read and I will keep reading Parker's run on the book but I hope it regains the purpose and intent from the first volume.
I do feel it loses the momentum of the first volume and struggles to find its groove - in the sense I wasn't sure what the point of the Thunderbolts was by the end of this volume. Their first mission is a tie into Shadowlands (a Daredevil event I never go into) and they fight some ninjas and actually kill the guy they were supposed to rescue. Kind of a let down.
Then the Thunderbolts try to escape and are in a weird land where there is a magic frog...I thought I might be missing something with the frog but it never gets explained. It is okay but as I said - it hurts the momentum for the Thunderbolts. What is the point of this program? They aren't being sent out successfully to do any missions.
Then there is actually a great origin story for one of their members Ghost.
Overall - fun read and I will keep reading Parker's run on the book but I hope it regains the purpose and intent from the first volume.
September 23, 2020
Shadowland: Thunderbolts is an enjoyable if not very unified collection of issues. It seems that the logic of this collection was to have the two Shadowland tie-in issues among the Shadowland trade paperbacks, but the Thunderbolts needed an extra couple issues for padding. What it lacks in unity it makes up for in solid art and storytelling. Both Declan Shalvey and Kev Walker's clean art is easy on the eyes, and the friction between the characters was believable and entertaining. This served as my introduction to the Thunderbolts concept: a team of supervillains trying to play the part of superheroes. It sold me, and I really liked the angle of incarcerated supervillians led by ex-con Luke Cage. I probably would have picked up the series had I gotten this trade when it came out.
August 22, 2021
I'm confused, was I reading Suicide Squad lol. Anyway, the Shadowland tie-in, while completely inessential to the main event (and rather ridiculous in how it isn't mentioned even once in other books, seeing as how, y'know, crazy amounts of ninjas and a freaking dragon are involved), is a decent read. And the rest of it is pretty readable too; better than most of Shadowland anyway.
July 9, 2018
Somewhat formulaic but still enjoyable. This iteration of the Thunderbolts wasn't around very long but it was fun while it lasted.
Not sure why the frog thing had to happen the way it did...
Not sure why the frog thing had to happen the way it did...
July 19, 2021
better than the last volume but still not great
May 19, 2013
Finally, the last collection in the Shadowland crossover. I was actually pretty fatigued with the whole deal by the time I got to this one. Fortunately, it's pretty good.
Over on the DC side of things I've been enjoying Adam Glass's Suicide Squad, but over the year and a half it's been going, I've come to feel that everything I liked abou it, has become familiar and kind of stale. Shadowland: Thunderbolts is so similar to Suicide Squad, I felt like I was reading a collection of that book with all the same strengths and weaknesses. Sure there are some pretty big differences, yet those differences feel arbitrary.
If you don't know, Thunderbolts, at least this incarnation, is the Marvel super-villain version of a Dirty Dozen. Convicted felons offered shorter sentences in exchange for doing dangerous missions for the state. Obviously, they are expendable.
The good things are the desperation of the anti-heroes, unpredictability of their mortality, moral ambivalence and violence. Something abruptly unexpected happens on a mission and it's implied that this is the result of an event that took place in a previous storyline. I don't really minad as such is the way of superhero comics. Also, curiously there are actually three story arcs in this collection, but only the first is tied to Shadowland. All three stories are strong, but the last one, which chronicles the origin of the character Ghost feels a little over confident in a fairly mundane sympathetic villain origin.
Over on the DC side of things I've been enjoying Adam Glass's Suicide Squad, but over the year and a half it's been going, I've come to feel that everything I liked abou it, has become familiar and kind of stale. Shadowland: Thunderbolts is so similar to Suicide Squad, I felt like I was reading a collection of that book with all the same strengths and weaknesses. Sure there are some pretty big differences, yet those differences feel arbitrary.
If you don't know, Thunderbolts, at least this incarnation, is the Marvel super-villain version of a Dirty Dozen. Convicted felons offered shorter sentences in exchange for doing dangerous missions for the state. Obviously, they are expendable.
The good things are the desperation of the anti-heroes, unpredictability of their mortality, moral ambivalence and violence. Something abruptly unexpected happens on a mission and it's implied that this is the result of an event that took place in a previous storyline. I don't really minad as such is the way of superhero comics. Also, curiously there are actually three story arcs in this collection, but only the first is tied to Shadowland. All three stories are strong, but the last one, which chronicles the origin of the character Ghost feels a little over confident in a fairly mundane sympathetic villain origin.
March 25, 2012
This volume is a bit uneven. The first two issues are a tie-in with Shadowland, one of my least favorite Marvel events over the past decade, and I breezed over that tale. The 150th anniversary issue included a meeting/throw down with the Avengers, which was fun. The best issue was 151, with the backstory of the Ghost, an Iron Man villain who has been around a long time but lacked an origin. The Ghost's story is a tragic tale of a Silicon Valley worker betrayed by his company, easy to relate for many of us! He emerges a more sympathetic character than before. The last 2 stories feature an invasion of Japan by monsters and an evil variation on the character Hyperion, which I didn't care for that much.
April 2, 2012
While I miss the old gang from when I started this series, this new take is fun. Jeff Parker writes fast stories, full of action and humor. The characters, even though they're all villains, are completely likable, even sympathetic. The Shadowland story is okay, but not great, especially since I've yet to read the Daredevil story. The story with the Avengers, though, was completely enjoyable and had some great interactions between hero and villain. Ghost is definitely a breakout star and his back story at the end is well told. All in all, with great art, great humor, and great action, this is a pretty great read.
June 25, 2011
That Jeff Parker - getting better at this writing thing. I'm glad to see he's not just about maudlin emotional anchors, but can also come up with some weird and wild enemies, conflicts and twists to the story.
These Thunderbolts aren't the sick freaks of Diggle or the twisted sociopaths of Ellis, but are nonetheless interesting, nuanced and unpredictably human.
The art is a bit campy and exaggerated but acceptable for the crazy stories we're being subjected to.
These Thunderbolts aren't the sick freaks of Diggle or the twisted sociopaths of Ellis, but are nonetheless interesting, nuanced and unpredictably human.
The art is a bit campy and exaggerated but acceptable for the crazy stories we're being subjected to.
July 8, 2016
This one is hard for me to write about. I really did not like this part of the Shadowland story originally but seeing it here is a different thing altogether. It brings together some of the best bits of the original run that I just did not see as being part of what was needed or even related to part of the story in the original run and here it makes more sense and even has a sense of fun to it. Mind you it is not the best part of the run but is is by far not the worst.
March 1, 2012
New Thunderbolts team (Juggernaut, Crossbones, Moonstone, Songbird, Ghost, Mach V, Fixer and Man-Thing) with Luke Cage "supervising" in a very macro-managerial style, amidst the chaos of Shadowland, fight with Avengers, and Crossbones being...Crossbones.
Thunderbolts is always entertaining and Jeff Parker keeps you involved. Art was alright but inconsistent.
Thunderbolts is always entertaining and Jeff Parker keeps you involved. Art was alright but inconsistent.
November 23, 2012
A bunch of super villains are drafted into a government run strike team end up fighting an army of ninjas.
There are a lot of sub-plots and the whole Shadowlands story was dumb, but any story involving an army of ninjas can't be all bad.
Not horrible, but I can't help but compare this to the superior 'Suicide Squad' series from DC.
There are a lot of sub-plots and the whole Shadowlands story was dumb, but any story involving an army of ninjas can't be all bad.
Not horrible, but I can't help but compare this to the superior 'Suicide Squad' series from DC.
July 3, 2015
Worth reading for the Ghost story alone.
The comics move fast and keep the tone relatively light. There are ninjas and assassinations and stuff blowing up. This isn't going to go down in history as a great comic but it's worth reading.
The art is super stylized but it works. I don't think I cared for it the first time, but reading it again I find that I like it.
The comics move fast and keep the tone relatively light. There are ninjas and assassinations and stuff blowing up. This isn't going to go down in history as a great comic but it's worth reading.
The art is super stylized but it works. I don't think I cared for it the first time, but reading it again I find that I like it.
October 14, 2012
The Shadowland crossover offers some interesting team dynamics but not a lot of depth beyond that [6/10]. Fortunately, the Avengers crossover is good [7/10] with a lot of depth for all the featured characters and "Ghost Story" offers an interesting and insightful background for the Ghost [8/10].
August 1, 2012
The Thunderbolts go up against ninjas and meet up with the Avengers. There's some good character development here, the Ghost origin story is very well done. A good read.
August 3, 2012
Enjoyable read, although again I feel like I'm only understanding 60% of the story being I'm not reading the Thunderbolts stuff in order AND I'm not fully up on my more modern Marvel comics.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews