Thunderbolts #174

CRITIC REVIEWS

• 9.4

  Outer Realm Comics - Kieran_Frost

  May 18, 2012

  This was a wonderful "end" to Parker's Thunderbolts run (I use the quotation marks because the comic is continuing, with the same creative team/concept/time-travelling, but under the banner "Dark Avengers"... as of next issue). To have Thunderbolts vs. Thunderbolts, to re-visit the founding team, to explore great time-travel issues; it was a joy. A true joy! Even though we knew the ending, I felt Parker did a great job of building upon the inevitable; creating a very tense, fast-paced (yet also very wordy -- and I mean that as a compliment; we got our money's worth and then some) issue. I wasn't "as moved" with Fixer's sacrifice as I had hoped. Oddly I found Karla's "final goodbye" to him to be the most emotional moment of the arc. Overall, Jeff Parker continues to make this Thunderbolts fan a very, VERY happy boy! BRING ON THE DARK AVENGERS!!!! Read Full Review

• 8.5

  Crave Online - Andy Hunsaker

  May 17, 2012

  Hopefully, the actual Thunderbolts won't be lost for long, and the Dark Avengers stint will bring in some new eyes who will then be schooled in compelling moral ambiguity that doesn't need 'Dark' tacked onto it like this was 1993 or something. In the meantime, Thunderbolts #174 is a great send-off to the Fixer, a character who absolutely encapsulates that ambiguity and goes out chock full of it. Read Full Review

• 8.0

  Major Spoilers - Matthew Peterson

  May 16, 2012

  I've always had a problem with people who complain about "third-stringers" and "d-listers", as this issue proves that you can get amazing depth out of characters like minor-league Nick Fury villain The Fixer. This issue acts as a fitting tribute to the anniversary of the original T-bolts (a concept that was very appropriately named back in those dark Youngblood days) and it's nice to see the spiffy Mark Bagley cover to round out the nod to what has gone before. Thunderbolts #174 does several cool things all at once, on both the art and story front, serving as a nice capstone to what has gone before, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. Read Full Review

• 7.0

  Population Go - Population Go Staff

  May 21, 2012

  Thunderbolts may be over in name, but their story is by no means coming to an end. This final issue wraps up the arc, but leaves the team in limbo throughout the timestream with further problems to tackle. It's fair to say that this issue doesn't feel like the end at all, but merely a new beginning, as it should be. Read Full Review

• 6.0

  Comic Book Resources - Greg McElhatton

  May 18, 2012

  Hopefully, "Dark Avengers" will be little more than a name change for a book that's been a lot of fun to read the last couple of years. Right now, though, it feels like we're missing a bit of an epilogue to the time-travel story, and with any luck we'll get that next month. Still, overall, not a bad end to a particularly entertaining story. Read Full Review

• 6.0

  Weekly Comic Book Review - Minhquan Nguyen

  May 23, 2012

  Amusing and thoughtful in places, but so simple in plot and barren of character development that you don't really get much more out of it than a diverting use of ten minutes reading time. Read Full Review

USER REVIEWS

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