Originally Posted by
Sutekh
That's the key, right there, IMO. None of the Thunderbolts were 'A-listers,' and none of them had really had any sort of consistent characterization (since they'd been, in most cases, people to get punched by super-heroes, in previous appearances, with 'Screaming Mimi' perhaps being the most egregious case, and the most startlingly transformed).
What made that series work, is that, instead of *saying* that they were 'hitting the ground running,' they actually *did* hit the ground running. We didn't get 'how the team got together' until the first annual. We didn't get people sitting around choosing members until, well, pretty much *never.*
The story moved, which seems to be anathema to the current writing style of "let's sit around a table and have a lively debate, and, *six issues into our run,* we'll have a fight, probably with each other, instead of with a villain..." Somehow, using a technique apparently lost to today's writers, the first years of Thunderbolts had character development happening *at the same time* as action and plot advancement. The action didn't have to grind to a halt for a thrilling round table discussion for half an issue whenever Moonstone and Songbird were on different sides of an ethical dilemma (because, generally, they always were!). No spine-tingling scenes of characters sitting around discussing who was suitable for membership (thanks for that, Justice League, very exciting! Not.). :/