Hot Off The Comics Press: Picks Of The Week 21 April

Blog by Thom Atkinson | 21 Apr 2011

“Works well individually, or as part of a team.”

As a résumé cliché, this jobseeker’s motto is one applied with caution, but when talking about your comic book protagonists, those second string stars, then it becomes something of note. Not all characters can hold a title, but throw an unlikely squadron together and the results can be daring and dynamic. And with that in mind, this week’s picks are all team titles: 3 teams, 2 X-titles and all Marvel.

Starting off in the naughty corner, we have Thunderbolts #156 by Jeff Parker which continues the escapades of the parole-scheme villains fighting crime instead of doing kitchen duty. After the success of recent missions, the program is being expanded and this week sees a new arc, ‘Proving Ground’, as the call goes out to the newly repentant to join Thunderbolts’ Beta Team.

The spectrum is reversed for Uncanny X-Force #8 written by Tim Bradstreet, as here we see the good guys go dark as Wolverine leads his X-Men Black Ops team to a nuclear facility taken over by the Shadow King. With a succinct 5-man team and some mature content, this title can be both vicious and questioning (i.e. it’s ok to kill as long as you brood over it later).

You may wonder how many quality X-Men titles there can be, and it’s a searching question with New X-Men also providing great stories and vibrant art. But it is Peter David’s X-Factor (not that bloody one) that is the best ongoing X title. Intelligent and articulate, the plot and artwork make for a conflicting page-turner and a multiple re-read. Smart, sassy and sometimes sensitive, this week’s X-Factor #218 sees Multiple Man’s X-Factor investigation team suffer a tear jerking casualty.

Wednesday is comic book new release day.