Synopsis: A unit of SHIELD troops prepares to enter a house. Inside, a man talks to someone over the phone about a book and movie deal. He is interrupted as the SHIELD unit barges in and tells the man, Mac Gargan, that he is under arrest. Gargan chuckles as the unit tries to find the symbiote and tells one of the troops to shoot his comrades. The trooper surprisingly does so but doesn’t understand how since mind control is not one of the symbiote’s powers. Gargan tells the man to look down and sees the symbiote all over him. The symbiote then kills the trooper as he calls for back up. Gargan looks up to see the backup: Songbird and Radioactive Man of the Thunderbolts. They tell Gargan to join the Thunderbolts or be arrested as a prisoner. Gargan rhetorically asks why he wouldn’t join the Thunderbolts, as the benefits are so one-sided. With that, Venom asks, “Where do we sign?”

Review: Well…that doesn’t explain too much. At least they give some reason for Venom being in the Thunderbolts. Now let me say, I don’t like Gargan as Venom. I don’t like the new look. And I don’t like the idea of Venom working for the government on a team. So I am not behind this at all. And I’m not happy the reasoning for Venom to join is Gargan’s selfish desires and material possessions like money. That’s not really Venom to me. I can’t wait for the third Spider-Man movie to come out so they might reinstate Eddie Brock as Venom again. The funny part was that Guggenheim used some clever names for the deals Gargan wanted like himself and Brad Meltzer (from Identity Crisis and Justice League of America) to write a book. But the real highlight of this story is the art by Yu. Yu does vicious extraordinarily well. The last page of Venom is very cool. I just wish it was the original Venom design and not this new look for Gargan Venom. However, his Songbird looks weird. The face seems messed up and the skin coloring is too pale. But the story itself doesn’t tell much. It’s too brief and doesn’t do much but give something that could have been told in one text bubble in the first issue of the reloaded Thunderbolts title.

Synopsis: Ant-Man sits on a roof and watches the heroes locked in combat. Ant-Man chuckles to himself but sees a pretty girl in trouble. Ant-Man rushes into action and tells the girl to run and then hide under a car after having to smash away some rocks. With that Ant-Man leaves as the other heroes find the young girl. She explains a small super hero helped her. Iron Man looks at Yellowjacket but he says it wasn’t him. He mentions he invented a new Ant-Man suit for SHIELD but it was stolen. Pym then puts two and two together and asks what the hero looked like. The woman explains he had a small bug-like look with red and blue and antennae on the head. Pym says he needs to use a phone. Pym talks to a SHIELD officer who worries the person inside is plotting some evil plans as they speak. All the while, the new Ant-Man is setting his plan in motion: Entering undetected into an aerobics class for women.

Review: Well that was an improvement. It shows a lot about Ant-Man’s personality and his goals of looking out for number one. I believe the battle takes place after the Thor Clone kills Goliath and the Anti-Side is trying to rescue their captured as seen in Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. But still, some things are kind of odd, like Pym not realizing from the start it was Ant-Man. I mean, Pym is supposed to be smarter than that. As for the art, I’m not a fan at all of Hester. His stuff just isn’t detailed or fine-tuned enough in my mind. Ant-Man himself looks too much like Spidey’s Iron Spider suit with the legs and all. The story isn’t bad, but in no way made me want to pick up The Irredeemable Ant-Man. The biggest problem is that Ant-Man has already come out, and this story doesn’t tell us anything the first issue, original solicitation, or preview pages told us.

Daredevil II rescues a girl in from some thugs only to find it’s a trap set up by the government. Numerous SHIELD troops surround Daredevil, but are unable to capture him. Daredevil then enters his home and enters a secret room where he removes his mask to reveal himself as Danny Rand, The Immortal Iron Fist! Danny remembers his conversation with the real Daredevil after he escaped prison. Iron Fist tells Murdock it’d be an honor to continue acting as Daredevil and carry his burden while he leaves to take care of some business. Danny then remembers how he got his powers by lunging his hands into the heart of Shou-Lao. Danny holds the Daredevil costume and vows to keep his promise to Matt Murdock, but hasn’t forgotten who he is and he’ll soon carry his own burdens again.

Review: This story was alright, but again kind of skimpy. Most of the issue is already known between Iron Fist pretending to be Daredevil and vowing to continue as Daredevil while he’s elsewhere. The beginning trap is kind of cool, but nothing special. The big point is to show Iron Fist is ready to come back and ready to go on his own adventures again. David Aja’s art is very fitting for this story and this title when it launches. I’m not a huge fan but his dark and gritty style really works here. Ed Brubaker is one of the better writers at Marvel with his great work on Daredevil, his acclaimed work on Captain America, and his good stuff on Uncanny X-Men so far. But with Brubaker doing one gritty book like Daredevil, I worry that Iron Fist will seem too close like it. I mean, he can pose as Daredevil. But again, while this story isn’t horrible, it isn’t enough to make me want to plunge into The Immortal Iron Fist when it comes out.

Now: USAgent runs from bullet fire in Philadelphia.

Then: USAgent climbs Stark Tower, bypasses the security codes, and sneaks into the building.

Now: USAgent continues to dodge fire. He was chasing Purple Man but now he’s running from his own SHIELD troops.

Then: Tony Stark talks to his secretary and then tells USAgent to come out.

Now: The SHIELD unit hits into a news helicopter while chasing John Walker.

Then: Tony thanks John for all of his help to the SHRA but tells him he’s been reassigned. He’s going to Canada to act as the America Liaison for their new Alpha Flight program.

Now: USAgent rescues the helicopter crew and manages to jump onto the SHIELD hovercraft chasing him and figures out Purple Man has taken control of his men.

Then: Walker yells at Tony and refuses to go to Canada. Tony tells them Canada is responsible for a great deal of America’s oil supply and it’s best to work with them.

Now: Walker fights his mind-controlled troops when Purple Man grabs him and puts USAgent under his control. Purple Man says he’s leaving the US and heading up north so the American super heroes can’t touch him. He tells John to hand over his shield and fall off the hovercraft.

Then: Walker storms out of Stark’s office still refusing to go to Canada, even if it means being court-martialed.

Now: USAgent falls, slams into a building, and onto the cold, hard cement.

Later: A bandaged John Walker talks with Tony Stark aboard a SHIELD helicarrier. Walker asks where Purple Man went and Tony tells him Canada. Walker asks if Tony’s old offer still stand. Tony says it does and John asks to get him to Canada. Tony informs Walker they’re already right above Canada and a hovercraft will take USAgent down. John replies he’s “had enough of hovercrafts”, grabs a parachute, and jumps out the helicarrier and down into Canada.

Review: Well not much happened there. Last I heard of Purple Man he thought he was living in a comic book world in Thunderbolts. I guess he escaped? Really we see Walker shoot his mouth off…as usual…and eventually have to eat his words. Nothing special there. This story is really three parts. Walker’s battle with SHIELD and Purple Man, the earlier conversation with Tony, and an epilogue of sorts when Walker finally decides to go to Canada. Is it that hard to figure out Purple Man put the SHIELD troops under his control? I mean, you’re chasing a guy with mind control and all of a sudden your men start firing on you and preventing you from capturing the villain with mind control. Seems obvious. At least we find out why he’s on Alpha Flight/Omega Flight. It doesn’t make Tony look any better since he tells USAgent he has to go to Canada for the oil. But it actual is a smart move on behalf on the country. Tony just got the unlucky job of telling Walker and I wouldn’t necessarily take it as another Tony jerk moment. Still, doing it for oil doesn’t sound like the best reason morally. But neither does going for revenge against Purple Man. Scott Kolins is on the art here and on the series. I’m not really a fan of his style. It’s not really bad, but not really good. But the big problem is probably the colors. Some things seem too bright. I’m not happy about Alpha Flight’s demise in New Avengers. But I don’t like the way the new series is shaping up. I’ve never really cared for USAgent and I think Omega Flight will be another pass for me.

Howard the Duck drives a cab with a woman named Bev and argues with her about the Registration Act. Howard doesn’t want to register but Bev tells him it’s for the best and tells him he won’t need training since he knows Quak Fu. The two get out and enter the building to see a huge line. The two wait in line and watch some of the other…weirder heroes…before their turn. However, they find out they’re in the wrong line and end up talking to the DMV. The two “heroes” then find the right area and wait some more until their turn again. However, the woman refuses to register Howard and contacts her superior about the “Duck Man.” A SHIELD officer arrives and shows Howard a huge file about supposed sightings of a duck driving a cab and creating other disturbances. However, SHIELD has told every eyewitness they were drunk and denied the existence of this “Duck Man.” As such, they won’t register Howard and continue to deny his existence. With that, SHIELD throws Howard and Bev out. Surprisingly, Howard is overjoyed that he doesn’t legally exist anymore since it means no more taxes, parking tickets, or jury duty. With that, the two happily drive off.

Review: They brought Howard back! He’s really back! Too bad the story was horrible. Seriously, the plot and art were pretty bad. But the important thing is that Howard the Duck was back, even for a short time. This story had no point other than to have Howard in it. But it succeeded in that regard. There’s not much to this story…it was a fun and stupid little Howard story. What more could you ask for?