HOT CORNER

A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, heard, observed, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed.

What: “Thunderbolts.”

Publisher: Marvel Comics.

Writer: John Arcudi.

Artist: Francisco Ruiz Velasco.

Cost: $2.25.

Marvel Comics has moved into movies -- “Spider-Man,” “Daredevil,” etc. -- and now sets its sights on the sports world.

Beginning with issue No. 76, on newsstands and in comic-book specialty shops now, “Thunderbolts” begins a run that is part ultimate fighting championship, part boxing and part fight club. Those parts add up to an enjoyable book.

What happens to super villains after they are beaten for the umpteenth time by the likes of Spider-Man or Captain America? This book aims to find an answer. The first issue of this ongoing story focuses on two characters, the Battler, who has just been paroled from prison and has landed a job with a construction company, and Armadillo, a champion fighter in an underground boxing tournament that features washed-up super villains. As in mainstream boxing, there are managers and money men, trainers and gamblers.

The people running the show want Armadillo out, and they think the Battler would make a nice new champion. Will the Battler leave the legal life he is leading for the lure of easy money and fame? It’s a promising start to the new story, and boxing fans will find a lot to enjoy, especially after the drama that led up to the Tyson-Etienne fight. Hey, maybe Tyson can play Armadillo in the movie.