Thunderbolts #64
Thunderbolts #64
Title: "City of Hope”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Patrick Zircher
Inker: Al Vey
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Two weeks ago, MACH-3 takes off his helmet and asks Zemo what makes him think that he can give them ultimatums. Zemo says that it wasn’t an ultimatum, but merely a question. He asks them again if they are going to save the world or rule it. Everyone looks at him. Moonstone freaks and flies at Zemo. She grabs him by the throat and asks how he dares. Zemo says that she is overcompensating for her own recent indiscretions. He says that of all the Thunderbolts she should understand the best that he should be leading the Thunderbolts. Moonstone says that she was just stringing Graviton along until he could be defeated. Zemo says, “If you say so.” Moonstone asks why he wants to take over a world that is on the brink of destruction. Zemo asks if there is an easier kind to take over. Jolt steps between Moonstone and Zemo and asks Zemo if he will become king of nothing. She asks if he will ever learn. Atlas asks if anyone else is interested to find out if this is really their Baron Zemo. Zemo remarks at Atlas showing an inquisitive mind and remarks about the influence of the policewoman that he shares bodies with. Zemo says that he was killed by the assassin Scourge, but that the Techno robot implanted a failsafe that transferred him into John Watkins III. Fixer smirks and says that the Techno “robot had some kooky sense of humor”. Zemo says that when Citizen V was teleported away during Graviton’s maelstrom that his neural patterns went into Fixer’s tech-pack. MACH-3 asks Fixer if he has been carrying Zemo around the entire time and never told them. Fixer says that it never came up. Zemo says that he gave Norbert no choice in the matter, and that less than an hour ago he downloaded his engrams into this world’s version of his own body. Zemo says that he is unscarred and whole. Zemo says that now they are there and that the question remains: where are they going.
One week ago, the Thunderbolts walk up to the Himalayan city of Attilan though they had never answered Zemo. Atlas asks Jolt how he knew about this place. Jolt says that she is a super hero encyclopedia. Zemo says that as much as he despises Jolt that her choice was inspired. Moonstone says that her choices usually are. Zemo asks if Karla has grown fond of the brat. Karla tells Zemo to shut up. Abe asks if the city really has an undercarriage of anti-gravity generators. Fixer says that it does. Abe asks if he can get them to work. Fixer asks if there is any kind of tech that he can’t figure out.
Sometime later, Fixer says that he can’t figure this thing out. Atlas flies into the room and says that he/she has finished securing anything that might topple. Zemo says that is nice though they aren’t going anywhere. Fixer shouts that he is working on it. Atlas asks if there is anything he/she can do. Zemo asks Josten if he has to keep ignoring him. He wonders if it is something more than that like a guilty conscience from when he saved his life at the space station and never told his teammates about it. Fixer says that he was not the only one keeping secrets. Atlas tells Fixer to be quiet and make a chair so she can turn into Dallas Riordan. Dallas tells Zemo that his guilt trip won’t work because now he is talking to both of them and that she doesn’t share Erik’s guilt. She says that he will have to earn his allegiances by earning them. She asks him if he has the “stones” for that. Zemo stares coldly at Dallas. He reaches out and grabs a lever. He pulls the lever up and activates the city’s anti-gravity generators. Zemo says that Fixer always looks for complex solutions when simple ones will suffice. Abe says that he always forgets that Zemo is an engineer too. Abe asks what they do first. Zemo says that he will use his stones to kill two birds.
After mastering the city’s aerodynamics all of them fly Attilan over Tokyo. Japan has been ravaged by savage storms of cosmic energies. It also has highly educated potential citizens for Attilan that are desperate for help and a sign of hope. MACH-3 snatches an old man from the cosmic energy just as it begins to bathe. Moonstone asks what that stuff is. Fixer says that he is trying to figure that out now. Jolt says that it doesn’t feel electric. Fixer says that there is only eight hundred neutrinos per cubic inch inside it. Abe says that there is actually less space inside the energy than there is in real space. Abe tells Fixer to clear out. Zemo tells him to stay and send a probe in. MACH-3 repeats for Fixer to cut out and that they have enough samples of the energy inside the bodies of the people that they just rescued. The old man asks where he is being taken. MACH-3 flies towards Attilan and says that it is a safe place.
Zemo surveys the scene. He thinks that it is twenty-seven hours of waiting and four thousand refugees. Zemo thinks how they are sheep, bleating and hungry. Moonstone asks Zemo if he is going to be the wolf or the shepherd. Zemo asks if telepathy is a new gift. Moonstone says that she doesn’t need telepathy to read an open book. Zemo says, “Said the psychiatrist who sees the world as her maze… and everyone in it as her mice.” Moonstone says that these animal analogies are boring her. Moonstone asks Zemo what his play is. Zemo says that they all seem to be unwilling to answer that question. Zemo says that he is content to follow the advice he was given and earn their trust. Moonstone asks what he will do then. Zemo says, “That… is the real… question.”
MACH-3 asks Fixer if he couldn’t have deactivated Zemo. Fixer says that Zemo was controlling his tech pack and that without it he is a quadriplegic. MACH-3 says that he could have found a way to tell them. Fixer says that Abe is right and that he was playing it out. Fixer says that he doesn’t have to be so gloomy. MACH-3 says that he was just thinking that they could trust Fixer. MACH-3 finds someone with his heat sensors. They enter the room and the man greets them with a “hello”. MACH-3 says that it is great that he speaks English. He says that they have to get him out of there. The man says that he cannot leave his mother and father. MACH-3 says that they can bring them. Fixer says that he doesn’t think so and motions to two corpses laying on the bed. MACH-3 says that they can give his parents a place to rest. The man says that they are resting now and that this is their home. He says that they raised and protected him, but that he was unable to protect them. He says that he could not save them. Fixer says that they don’t have time for this. MACH-3 tells the man that his parents would want him to go on. The man says in Japanese, “What? No, mother, they are not right.” MACH-3 holds his hand out for the man, but the next instant Fixer and MACH-3 are blown out of the building. Fixer asks what the hell that was. He says that he can’t even get a reading for what he did to them. MACH-3 asks what they should do. Fixer says, “Screw him. Can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved… especially if he can toss us fifty yards with a blink.” MACH-3 starts to object, but a strange energy starts to build out of the room where the man stands. As they approach Attilan, Fixer says that he feels like sushi for dinner. MACH-3 remains silent. Fixer tells “Mother Theresa” to lighten up and says that he does have an idea on how to stop the anomaly field.
Zemo repeats that Fixer wants to pump neutrinos into the void. Fixer says that there are eighteen hundred neutrino particles in the average cubic inch of space. Zemo says that filling the space may engorge it, He says that MACH-3 and Fixer can help Jolt and Atlas create a counter field combining bioelectric and ionic energies. Moonstone says that it is convenient that if it doesn’t work that it will eliminate four potential enemies. Zemo says that they may be four potential allies and that it is simply a matter of trust. Zemo smirks.
MACH-3 says that
he feels like they are playing Russian Roulette. Atlas asks what
is the worst that could happen… that they die. Fixer says
that he has been there and done that. He apologizes to Abe and
says that he forgot that Abe hasn’t done that yet. The
energy wave hits. Atlas asks Jolt what she thinks and Jolt says
that they will be fine. Fixer shouts to power the grid. The plan
works and Zemo says that they are alive. Moonstone says that Zemo
sounds surprised. Zemo asks, “Do I?” He says that they
should hurry if they want to apply the same theory on a smaller
scale.
The old man has been cured of the radiation in his body. The old man grabs Zemo’s hand and starts thanking him. Zemo has difficulty with it but says that it was no trouble.
Zemo walks away and thinks to himself that it really was no trouble at all. He thinks about his father and his unfulfilled dreams of conquest. He says that his father’s life work was nothing but trouble. He thinks that saving a world is something that his father never dreamed of attempting… much less accomplishing.
At Seagate Penitentiary, on our Earth,
Crimson Cowl appears and offers freedom to Don Clendenon, the
Cardinal, if he agrees to help her. 
He says that
working for her is what got him in there in the first place and
asks why he would do so again. Cowl says that she knows that he
was crushed to learn of his daughter’s demise and asks if he
wants to avenge Meteorite’s death. Cardinal asks if Cowl is
saying that Graviton is still alive. Cowl says that is doubtful,
but that it was Hawkeye that was responsible for Meteorite being
in the Redeemer program. Cardinal says, “I don’t
know… killing an Avenger…” Cowl says that she will
take care of Hawkeye, and then he will help her with her problem.
Cardinal agrees and Cowl welcomes him back to the Masters of
Evil. Hydro-Man, Black Mamba, Machinesmith, Cyclone, Gypsy Moth,
and Man-Killer stand before Cardinal. Cardinal asks what the scam
is. Cowl says that she 
wishes to
control the world and to do that they need to capture Plantman.
Traitor’s rating: 7.5 out of 10
First of all let me start with the cover… wow! The issue itself is pretty cool for Zemo, but not really for anyone else. The Josten/Riordan connection is kind of stupid in my opinion. The ending is really cool and definitely successfully teases the next issue. Writing gets a 3.5 out of 5. Zircher continues to shine on this series. I wonder if he will be able to keep up with a bi-weekly schedule though.