scans_daily

After the events of Thunderbolts #150 and before the events of #152, there's #151.

The events of #150 and what #152's leading into are and seem to be based on the existing history of characters; #151 focuses on the Ghost, who hasn't had much of one beyond being a fervent destroyer of corporations (and, recently, a conspiracy nut.)

It's a pretty good origin story as these things go, even if it does make you think about just how necessary an origin really is for certain characters.

Bored, manipulative Moonstone:

Flight lets you navigate personal space in interesting ways, I see.

And so does the Ghost, who takes time off from his surely-secret-message-laden crossword to tell the transparent player of head games his story:

It's always interesting to see the life of any character, years before they do what you know them for; there's usually such a divide between then and now, like the idea that once upon a time, the Ghost carpooled to work with people he was vaguely friendly with.

So what're his obviously manipulative bosses plying him for, you ask?

To put him on a vaguely defined project which, it turns out, he's more than capable of doing:

(Shifting electric signals into another dimension to increase your cache/register size; I'm just gonna take that as the effect of a technological community laden with super-science.)

So there's the makings of his future abilities, sliding timescale-tastic that they are; it makes sense that the Ghost's one of those self-made villains, anyway.

Things proceed as expected in an origin, with our nameless friend's romantic and work life on a meteoric rise.

Omnisapient has their new toy to go public with, and the not-yet-Ghost has a relationship going..

..which is prematurely terminated by a gas explosion, leaving the protagonist's too solid self to find an outlet for his depression.

Literally, thanks to some inventive body modding, he retreats into:

And, thanks to what is presumably someone's plans for future blackmail, discovers a truth that he's long since taken to heart:

Goes a long way to explaining his anti-corporate mindset, doesn't it?

Explains his paranoia, if nothing else; he's already been the target of a conspiracy.

So as is the tradition in this kind of thing, revenge happens, and a Ghost is born to strike against structures that would engineer such manipulative conditioning for the purpose of exploitation.

A Ghost who ends his story with more than a few jabs at Moonstone.

" Congratulations. You now know more about me than anyone else alive. "

Not sure why she's shocked; I guess she just can't deal with madness not backed by conventional rationale.

And so he drifts off, leaving us with an origin whose veracity is just a bit in doubt.

Speaking of origins, the issue ends with a new Thunderbolt to replace Crossbones, one whose origin also hasn't meant much to what he's done but whose history makes him a good replacement:

Did not see him coming, I'll be honest.

Should be interesting to see what's done with him, since there's not really much to build off for him, is there?

.. you know, how did no one ever contrive a Hyperion/Sentry fight? You'd think someone would have.