A Nearly Perfect First Issue Thunderbolts #1 (April 1997) Writer: Kurt Busiek Penciller: Mark Bagley Inker: Vince Russell Colorist: Joe Rosas * Superhero comic books promise "an ending that will shock you!" all the time, but rarely do they deliver. Just over a quarter of a century ago, Thunderbolts #1 presented readers with a twist that still stands as one of the most genuinely surprising final pages in all of comic book history. It was a surprise that wasn't just a clever bit of plotting, it was a bait-and-switch of the entire concept of the book. Thunderbolts was presented in the pre-release hype as a team of brand-new heroes who would be stepping in to fill the void filled by the apparent deaths of the Avengers and Fantastic Four at the hands of a villain called Onslaught. (At the risk of curtailing my momentum, I'll pause her to share that Onslaught was the in-story explanation for the awful one-year "reboot" of the Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic
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