At the end of #39, the team was facing the “V-Batallion,” who they assumed worked for Citizen V, but during the face-off, Citizen V was teleported away by Crimson Cowl. We start #40 seeing her, naked, after she was teleported.
Citizen V also revealed her identity as Dallas Riordan–Erik Josten’s ex-lover–so he’s more than a bit ticked off…
Meanwhile, Beetle–who recently became a black man (yes, you read that right), meets Sandman. He ends up leading the heroes through Symkaria, where they take on the V-Batallion’s super army.
The Sandman story is on the covers of both of these issues, but it’s really not as interesting or important as the other plotlines. As for the V-B’s “penance squad,” a few are new characters, most are older ones–some very, very old.
The villains don’t get much (if any) solo time or panels. They’re just kind of dropped into the series. It’s a little frustrating.
Moonstone’s actions in battle reveal a new power…
We also see that Dallas has been hauled before the nonpowered leaders of the group…
And the new Crimson Cowl (which was Dallas’ own prior identity)…
She’s nekkid for these issues.
One of the fun things about Thunderbolts is how the series consistently plays with identity and whether a character is a hero or a villain.
At the end of these issues, the ‘Bolts have fought the Penance Squad and Sandman, but it appears like they all get away and it’s not clear why the whole thing was happening in the first place. Moonstone ends up in outer space as a side effect of her powers and the team can’t find her. And Ogre is being stalked by the new Scourge.
…Who has invaded the T-Bolts’ base. Oh, and Citizen V escapes captivity and puts on some clothes…
This all feels very much like a Fabian Nicieza joint: Lots of loose plotlines, nothing much resolved, busy pages and not much for the reader to solidly care about.