This is a sort of team dynamic, I suppose.. might get one-sided awfully quickly.

[thanekos]

So in this week's Thunderbolts, Jeff Parker builds issue plot around roster alteration.

He's been doing it for the last few, with the introduction and quick removal of a very unstable Hyperion (or to hear him say it to Man-Thing, "Monster, I am KING HYPERION!!") and the for-now more permanent addition of Satana Hellstrom (as occult specialist.)

This issue continues that, featuring the government-mandated creation of a backup team (dubbed cleverly, if not charmingly, by Moonstone as "The Underbolts"), which promises to be fun; at the very least, the Shocker and Mister Hyde and Centurius are potentials.



Luke takes 'em down to Man-Thing's tank to meet her, only to find that..



I have a feeling Parker wrote this scene just so he could put those words in Luke's mouth. It's just.. so perfect.

And I was also wondering how Moonstone would react to her, in much the same way I was wondering how she'd react to Hyperion.

The answer is not what I was thinking, as we see Satana indulge an appreciation for artifacts of power (that's actually how Strange and Cage got her, by pointing out the Man-Thing.. um):



Arcane, alien, it's all the same to her! Though she might want to go a little lower for the crackling energy..

(The way she's posed and posing, I expect her next line to be a frank evaluation of Moonstone's bust.)

Luke puts paid to this little moment soon enough, to the disappointment of several boner-havers:



(Three times? That might get a little cumbersome, down the road.. also, I love how put out she looks.)

And so they're off, to contend with the citadel of the mad Baron Gothenvald.

Meanwhile MACH-V and the Shocker bond over fighting Spider-Man, Centurius and the Fixer trade smart person jibes, and Songbird and Calvin Zabo have some very frank discussions.. Parker writes some nice character interaction, he does.

(And markets rather cunningly, too..)

Comments

[baihu]

I'm confused. Is Man-Thing = Swamp-Thing or just a renamed and possibly slightly smaller Swamp-Thing? They don't even look different, so I don't know if they're even different characters or the same character with two names?

[pyrotwilight]

They were conceived at virtually the same time and were just very similar.

Both are made of Vegetation but Swamp thing is intelligent and an elemental (has control over plants)

Man-Thing is made of plant matter, burns whatever shows fear or is afraid (somehow thankfully only burning those who are evil or otherwise bad people) and is hard to destroy (he can regrow from other vegetation around him if hurt)

And of course Swamp Thing is DC and Man-Thing is Marvel.

[baihu]

I just read up on Wiki, apparently they were made by the same guy and Man-Thing was first and when Swamp-Thing was made, he just refused to make him any more different and Marvel never pushed him on it.