deceit

I was drawn to this book due to the tag team of Kurt Busiek and especially Mark Bagley, i loved his art in New Warriors. I was desperate for comics, nothing was good out there, Heroes Reborn, just about put me off comics for good, but i hung in there, and i am glad. I hadn't seen the previous appearance of the team in Hulk 449 and was glad i went into the book unaware and the books final pages threw me for a huge loop, i never saw it coming. I can usually tell an ending before the first few pages are read, but not with tbolts, this brought back the excitement i felt back when i first started reading comics 20 plus years ago. I knew this book was a keeper!

The book begins with a report about Onslaught who had ravaged the world we know, and that the heroes we knew were gone, presumed dead. We needed heroes, the Avengers, FF gone, the Xmen, were thought to be some way responsible, the world needed heroes, and out of the ashes of Onslaught sprang a new team, the Thunderbolts. We see the destruction the Sentinals made and we see a girl, Hallie Takahama, grabbed, drugged and carried off. The Rat Pack, a bunch of organized looters are looting left right and center when suddenly a purple figure appears, Citizen V, and behind him...the Thunderbolts! They take on the armed Pack and a news crew catches the action, the mayors office is notified and Dallas Riordan is sent to bring the Tbolts "home" to make them the new heroes of the day. Atlas, Meteorite, Songbird, Techno, and Mach 1 show off their stuff, , the Rat Pack do manage to escape, but it is a good outing for the team. They set up in a brokendown building, much to Techno annoyance and we see Songbird and Mach 1 starting to flirt and begin a relationship. A press conference is called and Citizen V announces the team. As they are asked questions the Rat Pack is seen again and off to battle they go, this leads the team to face the Wreking Crew at the Statue of Liberty.

During the battle the Statue is seriously damaged, and so is Atlas, he gets a wrecking ball to the chin which sends him into the drink, when he comes out he is "slightly" ticked, grows to an enormous size and implants Bulldozer big time. Dallas approaches the team and welcomes them and offers any assistance the mayors office can to them. The Tbolts then go and repair the Statue, earning major brownie points. Back in their humble HQ Citizen V unmasks to show he is Zemo, and that Atlas is Goliath, Techno is Fixer, Mach 1 is Beetle, Songbird is Screaming Mimi and Meteorite is Moonstone...THE MASTERS OF EVIL!!!!. A final panel of Hallie in a dark cell closes the issue.

Our "heroes" are seen taking on the Circus of crime, the scene shifts then to the tbolt HQ and Citizen V and Atlas, and we see how Zemo hatched this plot in light of Onslaught in his never ending quest to rule the world. We then see a news report about a ceremony that Franklin Richards will be attending to honor the slain heroes. The Thinker smiles from his cell and a plan is thought out... Mach and Songbird are working on some moves, both fighting and then the famous lip lock, Songbird then freaks out and sound blasts Mach(abe) away.

Again a scene change(can you see how much is stuffed in each issue, thought you could!) and Cit V and Atlas are doing some repairs, Techno comes in whinning about the poor conditions. Then we see Moonstone, err Meteorites, role in this team, she is second in command and is responsible for keeping the troops in line. She tries to calm Techno down with calm talk, but then not happy with that Techno starts pointing fingers...tsk tsk, she will break it off you know, and then physically grabs him by the throat and "encourages" him to stay with the plan. They need the humble surroundings so the city will give them access to files, equiptment, etc and get them closer to making their takeover plan come true. Bang flash!! to the ceremony and a robothinker and Primus attempt to kidnap Franklin,

Scene change again and Hallie is being dragged by some mishapen monsters away...scene change again. Tbolts to the rescue(of Franklin)! Meteorite is the first to get a hit in on Primus, who them splits into 6 so each tbolt has a "partner". Franklin is grabbed and taken away. Meteorite jumps in and tells Songbird and Mach to pursue the boy she will try to take care of the Primus's. Songbird then encases Frnklin in a sound bubble and gets him away from Primus while Mach 1 engages him directly, the rest of the Primus twins catch up and the tbolts are forced into FF Plaza to take refuge. Thinker then decides to join the action and he and Cit. V square off in battle. Cit V chops off robothinkers head, seems the plan was to pull the thoughts from Franklin's mind of the projects etc his dad had done and that way the Thinker could use that vast ammount of knowledge for his own gain, but the tbolts stopped him and the Mayor comes to congradulate them and offers them, with Franklins permission, the use of FF plaza as an HQ.

We then close with seeing Meteorite using her skills in analyzing things.The plan is going real well, real quick, but Songbird and Mach 1 seem to like the positive attention from the authorities, the feeling of being a hero, feelings she has had in trying to protect the boy, and then there is Atlas and Dallas getting chummy... then the next issue we see the MASTERS OF EVIL???? HUH?

We begin with Hallie who has somehow managed to escape from the tests and torture she endured. We then zip over to see Mach 1 arriving at police HQ. He drops off a robber but in so doing stole the robbers loot for himself,leaving the robber to take the fall. On the next page we see Freedom Four Plaza getting a spiffy tbolt sybmbol placed on it and Zemo,err Citizen V ripping into Abe for his foolish weakness. Moonstone watches silently, then after Zemo's rant throws in a comment "okay enough, let's look forward not back".

Speaking of looking forward, we see Altas wanting his relationship with Dallas to go forward as they chat over the new telecommunications set up in tbolts new HQ. Then an emergency alert comes on. The Black Widow is in battle with...THE MASTERS OF EVIL!!!? HUH?? Techno is less than impressed with someone infringing on THEIR name and soon the Tbolts zoom into action. They arrive and then the mysterious Crimson Cowl appears, blinds everyone with a flash and transports her team out of there. Widow gives some attitude about tracking down all left over avengers villians and bringing them down. Zemo then orders the Tbolts to destroy the illegal cartel of good the Masters were trying to seize.

Now for some romance, Abe tells Mel of his feelings for her and they kiss, it is interupted by another alarm, another MoE sighting, the Tbolts rush there and the fight is on. Mankiller punches Techno into a pile of weapons, his tech pac reconfigures and Techno has a weapon on every villian The Cowl flashes and teleports away, then we see the Widow staring down at the Tbolts, then leaves silently. Another alarm!! this time at Tbolt HQ, they arrive to see Hallie, charger up and ready to fight! She wants the FF and wants them now, but they are dead(or so the world beleived re Onslaught ) so what is next? Well, next issue of course!!!

Introducing JOLT!!! We see the team heading off to Doctor Dooms castle, the place where Hallie was experimented on. We then get flashbacks of how she was captured during Onslaught and experimented on,her and other kids. Atlas is seen ,back in present time, playing big,supportive brother as that relationship starts already. Moonstone, steps back and observes how the team is jumping in ,playing the role of heroes, playing it too well, and that could be a grave danger to the overall plan. Later she mentions this to Zemo, but his ego says, "I can run a tight ship, I can lead this team, MY plan will work" ...

The team disembarks and descends on the castle, Hallie jumps out with the team, Citizen V is NOT impressed! Learn to live with it bub, teens are like that!. They are then greeted by a bunch of mutated monsters and engage in battle, then they come face to face with...Arim Zola, the man behind the mutations. Meanwhile this battle is being broadcast,due to Zemos wanting it to be and Techno's expertise. A battle ensues and then Arim morphs the monsters into one huge form. Hallie then realizes these monsters are her fellow cell mates. The monster realizes who she is and struggles, then blows apart. America is enraptured by this young girl with her fighting spirit. Zola is to go off to jail and Jolt, with Moonstone's subtle urging to Zemo joins the team. Moonstone plots how she can use this to her advantage, that advantage will play out... in the future!!!

Atlas versus Growing man, this out of the blue battle ends up having long range ramifications on the whole team, especially Moonstone! The tale begins with Baron Strucker ranting over the Tbolts mucking up everything and calls for X-F3 to be released. We then see the Tbolts in civvies enjoying a day in New York. Norbert decides to play some poker with some fellow criminals, Erik decides to do lunch with Dallas, Abe and Mel are off to do sightseeing, leaving Karla and Hallie to do some bonding.

As they talk Hallie's powers flare up and to keep their identities secret Moonstone changes instantly and orders Hallie to change. They then do the hero sign autograph thing as Moonstone uses the situation to help her get closer to Hallie. then X-F3 is released...the Growing Man. Moonstone socks him a good one before Jolt can tell her not to. The other Tbolts lovely day is interupted as they are called to help out Jolt and Moonie. Zemo, hearing this going on tries to further his plan by getting into Avengers files.

He calls Dallas and tells her he needs them to help the team beat their foe. Meanwhile, Techno has a plan, he instructs Atlas to make the Growing Man grow big. Atlas reaches his ?max height, but he needs to be bigger. Moonie starts insulting him, getting him mad so he will grow past his usual limits, it works and Atlas starts unloading on the Growing Man. Meanwhile Techno is inside and ends up setting off a signal, this signal would become bigger to the Tbolts later on. We close with Zemo calling Baron Strucker's personal line and telling him to back off, this too would have far reaching effects on the team.

.Love is in the air!But before the mushy stuff we see GW Bridge intensely wondering where, O where old Baron Zemo went. How could he have just disappeared? The answer...FF HQ err now the tbolt headquarters where we zip to, to see Techno doing some final tests on Atlas, some of the results? Well it seems the pym particles were washed from Erik's system while he was trapped in Kosmos and that his growth is purely ionic now, but that his body's cells are practically human. Erik then expresses the thought of perhaps one day having kids, which prompts Techno to ask how thing are with him and Dallas.

All this goes unseen expcept for Zemo, err, Citizen V monitoring those proceedings...he is not happy...we then see Abe and Mel going through TONS of fan mail and basking in the glory of their new found favor...Zemo is NOT impressed--- they are getting too comfy as "heroes". Well at least Moonstone isn't getting soft...and as he checks in on her...We see her and Hallie decorating Hallies room and getting "sisterly" That is the straw that broke the Baron's back...he pages for Karla to come see him and accuses her of trying to undermine his leadership. She replies back, words ae exchanged, and then the discussion turns to getting rid of Jolt...permenantly(and Rev Meteor jumps for joy). Karla has no worries about the killing, but is concerned how that would affect how the team is perceived if they let this happen. Zemo tells her to work something out.

He then plans on getting the crew back into their baddie costumes "just to help them remember who they are..." but Dallas calls them with an emergency and they are off. Zemo splits the team keeping Mel and Abe apart and they zip off to Madison Square Garden to encounter the ELEMENTS OF DOOM. Mach 1, Techno and Moonie head off into the air to stop a hijacking of a plane, Abe gets Techno to use his tech pack to take over the flight controls of the damaged plane. All is safe there and then the team comes together and saves a big group of hostages that were being gassed to death in MSG. Citizen V in the mean time asked for access to the Avengers files to help his team "defeat" the EOD, but was denied. After the battle he calls Dallas up and tries agian, showing fustration that the access is denied and stating that until he gets that access the Tbolts won't help...Jolt protests that innocents will be in danger from the EOD, but Cit V says "that is an order!" Moonstone smirks and whispers,"Fun and games!"

The Revolt within is the title, and we start to see that the team is starting to change, that this hero thing is catchy...and the excitement continues.
The art was so so in this issue, too bad as it is a key one in early tbolt life...as we will see...

Zemo\Cit V said the team was to stay put, but Jolt wants to pursue them, Moonie sees this as a chance to drive a wedge between the team and Zemo and suggests they track the EOD. Mel and Abe are quick to jump on, Atlas is concerned, but Moonie twists his arm and he follows. Techno is about to mouth off when Moonie uses that manipulation "power" and subtlely suggests he come on board or he will end up looking like Zemos boot licking lacky...with his pride potentially hurt Techno joins! So they are off to tackle the EOD. Zemo sees this and follows in the distance.

They find the HQ of the elements of Doom and a battle begins. Atlas takes some major hits, Jolt gets tangled up, Even Moonie gets gassed and hurt and theam starts to fall and fall hard. They are captured and restrained, but as Songbird is being manicled Jolt whispers something to her and we see her put a sound bubble around one of her hands. Then the EOD's creator shows up talking about how he will hold the world for ransom. Scene changes and Zemo is still trying to get files from Dallas. We then see that the Elements of doom are not as cooperative to their creator as he would like, and he gives in to Cadmium, a rather assertive element in this case, that the Elements are the ones in control. Techno then radios into tbolt HQ asking for help. Zemo tells them to stay there and "Attack" from within. Songbird gets loose but is scared to do this "hero" thing alone, she desperately wants Abe there to help her. But Jolt jumps into cheerleader role and encourages her. Using Techno's experience and communicating with him he tries to direct Songbird to the place she needs to go in order to get a jump on the EOD. However Techno is discovered and his neck is snapped(an event that is still having ramification past issue 63!!!)...and Songbird is ALONE!!!

We get a nice Songbird solo issue cover(Moonstone didn't get one until issue 35's Maximum security crossover)And speaking of crossovers....this issue opens up like it is one with all the NY heroes taking on the EOD. Spidey, H4H,DD, New Warriors,Darkhawk, and others.

Scene change to Cit V, Dallas and GW Bridge(then the director of SHIELD) And Bridge begrudgingly sends the files over to Cit V, they are encoded and SHIELD hasn't broken them, but Cit V smiles...No worries...his plan is working.We then switch over to Songbird, who gets bushwacked by one of the Elements of Doom and is close to losing when an anger builds up inside her and she busts loose.

Meanwhile the Tech pac is doing some intersting stuff to the body of Techno trying to save him from death. We then see those mean old Elements meanacing their creator when suddenly Songbird busts thru and takes a few of them out.She has found the Doc who created the elements and convinces him to work with them to STOP the EOD. We are all then surprised as Techno appears on the bases monitor screen as his tech pac has taken over and now Techo is no longer flesh but is now in a totally technical body!. He then interfaces with the EOD computers and frees the Tbolts. That done the team stalks and takes out various elements so the Doc can create something to stop them. The Tbolts then take it to the 109 EOD and defeat them until there is only some silver and gold foil left of them.

Songbird then offers some to the Doc, but a last gasp of action from a couple of the Elements gets them blown away with a final Scream form Songbird and we see a new Songbird emerge, one with a lot more confidence.The tbolts emerge from the EOD base polish off the last few EOD and them socialize a bit with the heroes that had assembled. Cit V arrives and whisks them back to HQ where he reveals that the plan is nearly ready to spring on the world and this nonsense of being a hero will soon be done.

This issue was a filler issue with a twist. It reprinted an old avengers tale of when Hawkeye and quicksilver and Scarlet Witch first joined and were seen as criminals and having to prove themselves, that they had reformed and reddemed themselves.

But it was told in a cool way, it started with Mach 1 and Songbird taking out a monster and obviously enjoying being heroes. Then the Black Widow comes by and STRONGLY insinuates that she has an idea that they aren't who they come across as. She then tells them this old avengers story. She then goes on to make her point that just like those new avengers who went on to prove themselves, that they had changed, that there was opportunity for THEM to do that also. This issue really helped set the stage for the challenge they would face in a couple of issues.

The issues ends with Zemo gleaming at the thought that his plan is coming together and that it won't be long before it will all be revealed!

This issue...the secret is out!!!!! Is it only a 12 issue limited series? What will happen after? But that is jumping ahead...

We start with Atlas thinking about his sister Lindy, and how she wanted to hang out with him and the tough crowd he was with. She wouldn't listen and secretly tried to follow them on her bike, where she was tragically killed... Erik went on to tell Jolt that he just doesn't want people to look up to him, or be responsible for that. Techno then arrives and makes some cryptic comments to Cit V that all is ready to go. Dallas then enters and gets them ready for the press conference where the mayor recaps what happened at Onslaught and that now the heroes have suddnely returned but that the Tbolts have risen up and the country has given them Paragon level clearance. Cit V then tells everyone that the FF are free to take their HQ back. Suddenly GW Bridge breaks in seeking to arrest them as the MASTERS of EVIL. Jolt stands totally shocked as chaos erupts. The tbolts then make their escape. As they scatter, to later regroup,Moonstone runs across Hawkeye. She then blasts him off the roof he is perched on. Hawkeye recovers, but in the mean time Moonie has landed and changed to civies. She considers just disappearing and letting the others deal with whatever comes from their deception...Mach 1 and Songbird run from some angry people who feel betrayed. Jolt had jolted and is coming to realize that they really were the MOE and that she was duped, yet she made relationships with them...they can't really all be bad...

Atlas then is brought into the scene and we see him trying to figure out how to get back into HQ as it is now surrounded by real heroes. Suddenly Moonie grabs him and flies him into the HQ where they wonder who let the cat out of the bag on them. Zemo them enters in full Zemo attire and confesses HE was the one who revealed the truth.

Zemo goes on to say they can follow him as he attepmts to take over the world or go back to that world and see if it will accept them, however he knows that he has them over a barrel, there is NO way the world will ever trust them. They then escape in a flying machine...Zemo then BLOWS UP FF Plaza. Meanwhile Jolt has smuggled herself on board as ...the plan starts!!!!

The cover on this issue is AMAZING. Very striking, as is the near conclusion to this first chapter in the lives of the Tbolts.
Weeks have past and the world is in chaos, Zemo has a LOT of military doing hostile takeovers as the tbolts are in space. Heroes are trying to come together to stop this, but are still trying to get organized after just returning to this world from counter earth.

Zemo is gloating ,with a VERY pleased Techno, over this plan. The Biomodem has taken control of a lot of minds and given them access to military control and is spreading its influence all the time. The team, meanwhile, is musing over their situation. Beetle is upset, he liked the repsect and role of hero. Moonstone is coy as always --walking the line, never letting you know exactly what side she is on.

Suddenly the mayors office gets a call from the Tbolts...actually just Atlas, tryiing to apologize for hurting Dallas with his deception. Zemo them catches the call and brings Atlas back in line...Techno continues to gloat over how his new body is controlling everything and even keeping the message from getting traced...Meanwhile Jolt is watching all this and formulating a plan.

She then comes out of hiding and approaches the team. An impassioned plea rings forth urging them to turn on Zemo, to show that they are heores. Before they can decide(but not before Jolt turns and gives Moonie a lecture and glare that was strong enough to take out an army!) Zemo and Techno catch them. Zemo orders Atlas to come to his side and Atlas obeys. Zemo then triggers a device he had Fixer secretly rig that turns the powers of the "good" team against themselves crippling them in pain. However Moonie rises and shines and defuses the "agonizer" with a device she had Mach 1 rig up.

THE BATTLE IS ON!!!Zemo, Atlas, and Fixer then attack Moonie, Abe and Mel and Jolt with Zemo's words "KILL THEM"...A GREAT battle(it is beyond words to describe) takes place, It is hit and slam action, a team divided and they all take their shots against each other.Finally it is Moonstone against Zemos side and she flies straight into (and just about thru) Techno's power blasts. It rips away at her but she still advances, slowly, but surely" Techno says,"Trust me Zemo she's toast" Moonie replies,"How's this for toast Techno...you miserable little puke...ever had toast that wrapped its hands around your scrawny neck and popped your head off like a bottle cap..." Techno steps back...then KABOOM the ship wall explodes and the Avengers are there! The "good" team is glad to see help, help that arrived as Jolt disappered in the battle and broke the encoding device Techno had made so the signal could get thru...

But SURPRIZE, the Biomodem has taken over the heros so it is the Tbolts against a Zemo controlled Avengers\FF Combo

The year of Deceit ends with this double sized issue. Zemo is gloating that FINALLY his plan to rule the world has worked...he has done it, even the heroes are under his thumb, surrounding the Tbolts. Zemo decides he will kill them and will begin with Jolt, Then Zemo is struck from behind as Atlas reacts, he can't bear to see Jolt die, not after what happened in his past with his sister, not after seeing Jolt like that sister...and now all hell breaks loose. The mind controlled FF\Avengers attack the tbolts and varoius battles occur(again it is WELL worth getting this issue if you don't have it, the action is incredible!!!) The Tbolts then realize that Techno is controlling the entire ship, so they find a quinjet and escape...only to see tha tthe ship they were on is shaped like Techno' s head...it IS Techno.

Where can they go? The world is taken over by Zemo and they are trapped in a quinjet with only so much air and supplies? Suddnely Mach 1 steps up and remembers something he read in the Avengers files about a flying space station they could hide in. The interspersed dialogue of how he loved reading those files because there was one report where he beat Cap A etc is really great stuff. These so called Masters of Evil have become real people, real characters, they are relatable, you are cheering or jeering them...I am SOOOOOO glad this wasn't just a 12 issue deal...Tbolts is THE BEST book out there, then and now...GO BUY IT!!!!!!!(okay sermon over...for now :) ).

Once they get on the space station SAMAROBRYN Jolt is quick to try to rally the troops to go stop Zemo, the team doesn't take all that much convincing despite the craziness of it all. . Then IRON MAN appears. The team attacks and gets ol' Shellhead reeling. but then Moonstone jumps in and stops the fight, realizing that IM is not under mind control. A partnership is formed and it is IM and the Tbolts against Zemo!!!. Mach 1 mentions he has a signal blocker in his helemt that maybe could be used to protect the team agaisnt the Biomodem, but still doesn't know how they will shield the world from it, but he and iron man go off and start tinkering. The rest of the team is left with their thoughts.

The scene shifts over to Zemo gloating(I say that a lot don't I?) over having Cap A under control and musing over how he should kill him. Zemo then see the quinjet racing toward them and crashing into the ship. The team triggers the Biomodem jammer which wakes the heroes up. Iron Man then yells to them to take out the Tbolts\err Masters of Evil as their insane plan goes into play. Jolt is in the process of escaping when confronted by Cap A ,but a "stray" repulsor blast, shakes Cap and allows Jolt to escape. But Moonstone escaped too as the Tbolts start to get overwhelemed by the numbers against them...and Moonie is hunting Zemos and finds a bad one and then preceeds to beat the crap out of him, busted jaws, ribs, face,...NASTY TIME. Techno then comes to the aid of Zemo and Moonie uses her female charm to twist Techno's mind in the attempt to distract him so Jolt can find the Biomodem and destroy it. , but the Biomodem has moved so Moonie starts improvising and their conversation gets broadcast to the heroes where Reed Richards sees it, figures out the true plan and with Scarlet Witch's help takes out the Biomodem as Moonie distracts Techno. This is classic Moonie playing iwth Technos pride and accomplsihments by saying he is seen as Zemo's lackey etc.... WAY TO GO GIRL!!!.

Meanwhile Zemo has crawled away and encounters Atlas who, out of a guilty conscience, helps Zemo escape in an emergency pod. Then the Tbolts haul out of there as the Biomodem starts to explode. However the FF\Avengers are caught out in spaceReed Richards has them all in his stretched out body, but the pressure is incredible and he is ready to collapse and then the heroes would likely die in space...However Mach 1 to the rescue as he brings the space staion to them and saves the heroes. The Tbolts then agree to go back to earth with the heroes and face trial...then a weird glow engulps the Tbolts and they disappear...to everone's surprise.

The deceit year is done, but the story is just getting started... Stay tuned for TBOLTS YEAR 2