Thunderbolts #110
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.

Norman Osborn recruits a deadly team of supervillains to hunt down unregistered superheroes.

The first half of Ellis’s first issue to feature the new, slightly Suicide Squad-ish Thunderbolts (a group that now features Venom and Bullseye among others) is disappointingly humorless and obvious, which I guess isn’t surprising considering it’s a Civil War tie-in. But there are some nice touches in the second half — a Paul Verhoeven-esque TV commercial, references to Thunderbirds — that loosen the introductory proceedings up a bit. And Deodato’s stuff is basically solid as usual…although I seem to like his art more than most people. It’s a series probably worth monitoring for a couple issues to see where Ellis takes it.

Pirates vs. Ninjas #1
Writers: Fred Perry, Robby Bevard, Wes Hartman
Artist: Craig Babiar

Harmless, jovial, nicely drawn in an anime/manga style, and predictable in that it’s more simple-minded than it should be — meaning it doesn’t delve much deeper than the basic title concept or make much of any sense.

The Goon Volume 5: Wicked Inclinations
Writer/Artist: Eric Powell

Insane and great as usual.

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