50th Place: Thunderbolts #1 with Al Kennedy

Shelfdust Presents: The Fifty Best #1 Issues

In 2019 Shelfdust counted down the top fifty #1 comic book issues of all time, which you can find here! Now the list is over and we know which issues made the master list, we’ve invited critic and podcaster Matt Lune to sit down with a different comic critic each week to look at every comic which charted into the top fifty, one issue at a time.

Our first comic in the list is Thunderbolts #1 by Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Vince Russell, Joe Rosas and Comicraft, which charted in 50th place. Wait, but isn’t that really low down for such an important and well-regarded first issue? Matt spoke with critic, podcaster, and Thunderbolts-appreciator Al Kennedy (House to Astonish; Desert Island Discworld) to take a closer look at the issue; if it should’ve ranked higher up in the list; and how that twist hits readers today.

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Al Kennedy is the host of podcasts House to Astonish and Desert Island Discworld, in which he sits down with special guests to talk about their work, their career, and the Terry Pratchett novel they would take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. He’s also been a featured writer for Shelfdust, and you can find his byline here! For more from Al, you can follow him on Twitter here and follow Desert Island Discworld on Twitter here.

Matt Lune is a critic and podcaster who has written for publications including PanelXPanel, The MNT and Multiversity. You can find him on Twitter here!