Sector3600 wrote:
JakeWallace wrote:
Almost the entire team changes every 20 issues or so, so it's pretty easy to jump on. I haven't read the most recent few issues (which are likely the ones being recommended to you), but I know that #163 was the debut of the new team and billed on the cover as "1st issue of a new era!", so it's probably as good a jumping on point as any. I've been reading for about 50-60 issues now, up to #162 and I would definitely say it's maintained a decent level of quality. My biggest issue with the book is that it almost always stars D-List characters and they usually don't stay around long enough for me to really care about them. I have an affinity for D-Listers (X-Factor has been one of my favorite books since it was revived), but they take longer to really develop strong feelings for than someone you've read in a million other titles and have some pre-conceived opinions on.
Which D-listers?

If you mean compared to the rest of the Marvel Universe in terms of popularity as in mass appearances that's different with the Thunderbolts.

Man-thing, Luke Cage, Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-5 to names the first that come to mind that are currently in the book are bigger names than most of the influx of characters on this title.

Moonstone, Songbird and Mach-5 have been in the title in one form or another since early on the various Thunderbolt incarnations.

Still its one of the other than Spider-man or Captain or other bigger name titles available



  
I came into the book with Ellis' run, so I considered all of the characters, even those who had been there from the beginning, to be D-listers. I'd never heard of most of them and hadn't read any other books that prominently featured the characters, even for a guest appearance. Luke Cage is obviously not a D-lister, but he's an exception to the rule and didn't actually appear in the book all that much. What I was really saying is that my only complaint is the constantly rotating cast of characters, because it feels like every time I start caring about a character I wasn't previously familiar with, they're replaced with a new one who I know nothing about. It's a small complaint, as I've been really enjoying the book since Ellis' run a few years back.