"Joe Quesada decided that perhaps they had treated the finale of the old Thunderbolts series a bit cavalierly, a bit rudely. He told Tom Brevoort if you want to bring the Thunderbolts back, if you want to do something new with them, then go ahead. Tom talked to Fabian Nicieza, he talked to me, and what Fabian and I talked over was, "let's do a new project." Tom suggested doing Avengers/Thunderbolts and Fabian and I talked it over and decided that the best way to do it would be with Fabian as the main writer. I'm essentially co-plotting, kibitzing, and tweaking things here and there. We thought it would be fun to have the both of us involved. Between the two of us, we wrote all of the previous Thunderbolts series that featured those guys. It's kind of a story that would work as a grand finale for the Thunderbolts but also as a new beginning depending on how well it works. We pick up the Thunderbolts as we left them in Thunderbolts #75. They are heroes, but they're being heroes in a very, very different manner than the Avengers. They're being Baron Zemo's idea of world saving super-heroes. Naturally, that doesn't sit very well with the Avengers. Hawkeye is proud of them. He would be. Captain America is very suspicious of them. The Thunderbolts are doing things that the Avengers aren't sure about. Are they positive? Are they dangerous? They need to look into this. So, that sets up a clash between the Thunderbolts and the Avengers that will bring up issues of redemption and reformation and how you act as a hero. It will also heavily explore the relation between the Avengers and the Thunderbolts. The conflict that Hawkeye feels being trapped between the two teams. It'll explore Baron Zemo's character. We'll see what shaped the Zemo dynasty. We'll see more about Moonstone, about Songbird, we'll see Mach 3, even though last seen he was going back to jail. Lots of stuff. Big, big cool adventures, lots of character stuff, lots of action. Barry Kitson is doing a beautiful job drawing it."

And if you're hungry for more, don't miss the two teams first encounter in the Avengers/Thunderbolts V. 1: The Nefaria Protocols TPB also listed this month.