2.2 (367) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #199 ... Marvel ...

And after inspecting the issue that came after 200, we go backwards to one issue before 200 to see if this issue is equally as good as ... naturally for me it IS a huge RESOUNDING YES. I have read this several times including enjoying that awesome, awesome cover of Rachel as Phoenix arising!

Yes, in this issue, Rachel, not Jean or her clones, is Phoenix

What's really important here is that of the quieter moments. Sure we see Magneto and the rest of the regular X-team helter-skelter running around and preparing to be in Europe for the trial and having challenges from bitch Mystique and Freedom Force

But what's important here is when we see Rachel coming to finally finding peace within her as she goes to Jean's parents house ... and finding the sphere that contains the remembrances (and perhaps a little essence?) of Jean ... and finally ... finally accepting the fact that she may be from a divergent timeline or universe but without doubt, she has the powers and the force that is the Phoenix!

Awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

2.1 (366) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #201 ... Marvel ...

Check out our numbering. We decided to try a little typical comics re-numbering. So as this is our official year 2 and first post ... hence 2.1 and the ongoing review numbering in brackets (366)! Hah!

Anyway, how do we follow up such a great issue? With another great issue. 201 is significant because after the big bang action and high profile exposure for the mutants, they went home to Westchester for a little R&R and building up of even more tension albeit personal

Here we SPOILER ALERT witnessed the birth of a baby who in future will become Cable but at this point is merely the baby of Cyclops and Madelyne. Apparently she gave birth when Scott was away traipsing Asgard and what-not. So while everyone is ooh-ing and aah-ing we see Scott looking his usual grim manner and you have to wonder WTF, right?

But here we also learnt that Scott is not a great X-Men or even man. Why? Because he is more worried about himself than his wife and kid. As Professor X has vanished end of last issue, there is vacuum for leader of the X-Men in both field and off field and Cyclops decided that as he was the first leader, now that he is back in the mansion, he wants the job

And he put Storm down as she has lost her powers

Naturally Ororo is not taking that shit sitting down and they decided to have a contest in the Danger Room. I ain't going to spoil it for you by telling you how it ends but it's a good scene for the fight anyway and you will enjoy it. What's more important is once again, after the fight, the quiet scenes with Madelyne and her realizing that the future is not potentially roses but more storm clouds a brewing. Poor lady. Not surprise she became SPOILER ALERT the Goblin Queen in the next couple of years

Ratings: 7/10

365 ONE YEAR OF REVIEWS Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #200 ... Marvel ...

Woooooowiiieee this is our 365th review and this means we have a year's worth of issues ... well the actual time period is slightly more than a year ... as in the past, we were not regular but now we would post a bunch of review in batch format ... and merely set it forward on a daily basis kind of like how real magazines are done and the dates are usually in the future! Hehehe!

And for this 365th we have to choose a comic that is not only special for its time but for us. X-Men 200th was great on several reasons and here are the reasons:

1. It's a celebration issue with double sized story telling. I remembered the ads and reviews saying that to get the location and all that correct, some of the Marvel crew even travelled to Paris!

2. It's a celebration issue that the young me managed to snag from the newsagent instead of via back issue bins similar to Hulk 300. So it's a big deal

3. At that time, X-Men had been consistently on top of the comic charts beating out current champs the Avengers and perennial competitors DC

And with all that, penciller JR JR is coming into his own with his stylized lines although I have to admit that it didn't work that well here because the scenes are usually in bright broad daylight. So nothing much for JR to lay his lines on

Anyway, as the story indicates, by this time, Magneto was on his first big reform as a good guy (current readers will think this is no big deal) ... because at that time, Magneto had never been a good guy until after the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars where he returned and stayed with the X-Men helping out with the NMutants though not many will agree to his presence

Here, finally, the good guys in the form of Freedom Force (ex-Brotherhood of Mutants) caught up with him (and he surrendered) ... and he decided he wanted to be shown another side of him ... he wanted to be able to have a good platform for his voice and reasoning to be heard. So the court case will be moved to Paris with an international panel of jury to hear him out. Naturally being such a high profile case, the court room and outside are full of tension ...

And in the midst of all these, as Magneto and those within make their grand speeches to which we as readers are privy too ... outside to ensure we have a chance for some action we get to see new villains Fenris, pair of twins, coming making their plans to attack the court case

SPOILER ALERT

Though we are given the motives of the twins' attack, it never sounded convincing. Their subsequent appearance in the mutant world is much better and showed us just how callous and nasty these 2 can be but here ... feels flat

SPOILER ALERT

The ending is touching when all came tumbling down and that final speech between Xavier and Magnus? Solid!

Ratings: 8/10 (could be higher with different artist)

364. Amazing Spider-Man vol 1 #596 ... Marvel ...

Recap time:

1. Somewhere along the lines, Marvel reverted back to the original numbering sequence and hence we put this as volume 1 because earlier when there was a relaunch, there was a new numbering. After several years, they put vol 2 number and vol 1 numbering side-by-side and now back to normal numbering. Got it? Good

2. And for those (like me) who are not regular reader of Spidey, basically years ago, Spidey married MJ and in an alternate universe, they had a kid. However, in their normal universe, new boss decided he prefers a single Spidey and the cop-out story is that Spidey made a deal with the devil to annul his marriage and made it seem as if he is not married. I don't mind the magic bits but a deal with the devil? Hmm Marvel? Disney approves of this? Really?

Okay

For this issue, basically the Marvel U has gone nuts after the Skrull invasion as the US president and American public allows psycho ranting publisher JJJ to become major while Osborn is now head cop of USA in charge of SHIELD replacement called HAMMER as well as the Avengers

And in this issue, Osborn's kid, Harry, the Goblin finally agreed to join his dad in-charge of PR and what not for the supposed reason of making a regular paycheck to feed his family as his other half is now preggers. Note that the other half is revealed as a villain that rides a glider too. How coincidental! Naturally Pete Spidey is not satisfied and tries to investigate. And for once, he uses brains. Love the way he managed the infiltration. Because it makes sense. The world is now different so he uses harsher methods although strangely enough ... once again. they caught someone in the act of killing and can let go ... sigh!

Ratings: 6/10

363. Marvel Two-In-One #62 ... Marvel

As per our last review, we skipped a few issues down the line to prove our point and here is the saga of HER. Basically she is a scientifically created being by a mysterious group of scientists in a place called the HIVE. Their intention is to make the perfect human being and thus super powerful. They hoped to use this powerful new being to create a master race and naturally reporting to them

The first time out, they ended up with Adam Warlock

And now this time out the first round was a being who is male ... however, that being ended back in the cocoon and this time becomes HER. So after the past few issues, she decided to find her perfect mate and that perfect mate is Adam

She ventured forth to find those who know of Adam i.e. Alicia Masters girlfriend to the Thing. And after a brief tussle she managed to escape with Alicia. Bitch Moondragon decided to tag along to help HER realize her quest while Starhawk who is out hunting another powerful being came across Ben and decided to help him out

Got it?

So the cover is not just Moondragon but Starhawk, Her, High Evolutionary ...

Anyway that's in the past. In this issue Ben and Hawk managed to catch up with Her on the High E's world and after the usual misunderstanding tussle, all focus on finding out what happened to the High E and the planet where Adam Warlock is supposed to be buried because that planet is now ... missing ... towed away by someone even more mysterious

How's that for a recap?

Sorry if it's long winded but that's just how good this issue is and with awesome artwork by everyone involved, this series is such a must read

Ratings: 7/10

362. Marvel Two-In-One #57 ... Marvel ...

Marvel 2-in-1 is supposed to be like Spider-Man's team up where every issue Ben the Thing meets and team up with another hero but during the middle of this run, the great thing is that the writer manages to make it into one big arc that actually have monumental impact on a great number of titles ... like the Serpent Crown saga and this the Project Pegasus saga. I guess that tells us how popular the Thing was during his hey-day, eh?

So ... this is the midst of a saga ... where as the title indicates the new guy is Wundarr but the others included are Quasar and Giant Man (black guy not white guy).

As for the artwork ... get this ... George Perez! Dude!!! This guy on this title? You know it's awesome and it is. Every panel is properly drawn with no rush lines and hatches to fill them up

So ... the story so far ... as Quasar so kindly recaps it that there seemed to be a string of baddies attacking various people and what the heck are they going to do about it to ensure things go well ... but in the middle of this the silent man, Wundarr awakens and walks ... as if sleepwalking into the chamber where a ... SPOILER ALERT ... cosmic cube resides ...

However, this issue deals with all the people Wundarr alerts as he walks through Project Pegasus like we see Solarr breaking free ... and then while trying to escape he goes about looking for support encountering other villains like Electro and Klaw ... just plain goodness

And as they are making a break for it, naturally Ben who is still at Pegasus from earlier issues rush to stop them and it's time for a BATTLE ROYALE! ROCK ON!

Ratings: 7/10

361. Marvel Two-in-One Annual 5 ... Marvel ...

Look at that cover and especially at the Thing's face! Haw!

Well, this annual is dated 1980 which means this is before Marvel went experimental on their annuals. So what can we expect? A decent story and art that doesn't deviate too much from the monthly issues except that it is double sized or as the cover proudly proclaims 48 big pages!

So ...

As the stars are the Hulk and the Thing, the story naturally starts at 2 different points with the FF coming home and getting zapped. So the Thing couldn't revive his mates and decided to enlist the aid of one Bruce Banner ... while on the flipside the Hulk is jumping across country and who should he encounter but his sweetheart and her father and before anything else could happen ZAP ... they are out too!

While waaaaay aways, the Stranger realizes that there is a huge problem dawning reaching catastrophic size and he decided that only the Hulk and Thing could help him. SPOILER ALERT. Who is the villain of the piece? Pluto from Olympus mythology as he is busy constructing something that will give him the opportunity to tear down Olympus ... regardless of its affect on others ...

While all this is good and entertaining, now comes the illogical part ... as you read, you will find that the natural animosity between Thing and Hulk kept on materializing and they keep on taking bits and pieces out of each other ... and in fact, their help wasn't much help but more of luck ... so WTF was the Stranger thinking, eh? Hmm


Ratings: 5/10

360. X-Men vol 1 #174 ... Marvel ...

When they have good artists and a decent storyline, the X-Men can carry a soap opera tale like no other comic and this issue is good solid proof! Pete Milligan (famous for work on Vertigo) is here on writing duties and while I am not a huge fan of his ... here it is just perfect. Salvador Larocca is the penciller ... and I love his work here and in Namor ... but imagine later on he was at Iron Man and that style seemed worse than this! Could it be because here he has ... Danny Miki, inker extraordinaire ably covered by Liquid! the colourist? Hehehe!

Just check out the cover and imagine every page and panel within is that gorgeous!

As for the story, well, after so many issues, everyone found out that Foxx, the new character is Mystique ... in one of her more weird attempts at either infiltration or sabotaging the X-Men ... but here her justification is that she is trying to wake Rogue up that she deserves better than Gambit as her other half!

However, is that really her agenda?

Because in a surprising twist, she then asks to be an X-Men and so all the big boys and girls come to gather to put matters to a vote on whether she should be accepted or not. Oh puh-leeease how could they forget what a nasty bitch she is? How about her time on X-Factor, eh? Hello, Havok? Polaris? What's the matter with you two? Ugh!

Sometimes while I do enjoy a comic read, the unbelievable nonsense of accepting villains is just ridiculous especially in the X-Men. Real life even small time criminals must do time and therapy etc but if you are a villain and have even killed others, the X-Men can give you a second chance if you say you want to tread the straight and narrow. They are gullible like that ... and in this case, specisist (like racist?) ... because this is automatic acceptance only if you are a mutant! BULLSHIT!

But other than that, the read is awesome!

Ratings: 6/10 (would have been a 7 if not for the above plot issue)

359. X-Men vol 1 #22 ... Marvel ...

This is the ongoing saga from way back when we were having a hot babe Psylocke ... who is supposedly Betsy Braddock. So how did a British woman become Asian after vanishing within the Siege Perilous? For those who do not know what we are talking about here, then shame on you. You are obviously not an X-Men fan because if you are and you do not know, then how the heck can you make sense of today's X-Titles? Hahahaha!

Seriously, Betsy was a British telepath secret agent who wasn't much use in the X-Men until one day when the odds were against the X-Men, they took the short cut way by running into this mystical mirror called the Siege Perilous. In theory, it is supposed to weigh each entrant and give them a new lease of life. But as far as the X-men are concerned, none of them came through with anything big except our Brit friend ... who became unto an Asian ninja warrior woman type!

So as the X-Men starts to get used to having her around, the original Psylocke returned and claims to be the real Betsy Braddock. Strangely enough even Prof X cannot discern who is real and who is not and so begins a quest to the East ... tagging along is Gambit and Beast ...

Things would have been a little easier on the eye if Kubert had bothered to draw one woman with Caucasian features but instead both women have slit-eyes ... sigh ... and we love Kubert ... seriously because this issue is just plain AWESOME especially all the action scenes although the posings could be a little bit ... odd?

Anyway, in Japan, in this issue, things come to a head as they confront several of the Japanese X-villains including Silver Samurai, Shinobi Shaw, Lord Nyoirin, Matsuo and more ... but will the truth be revealed ... finally?

Ratings: 8/10

358. Web of Spider Man vol 1 #25 ... Marvel ...

Well to wash away the bad taste from our mouths (so to speak) of yesterday's blue-ish comics, let's move to perennial favorite, Spider-Man and once again, we have to reiterate to those who do NOT know, we are NOT fans of Spidey and thus our reviews may be biased. So there you have it! You have been cautioned

This story is rather straightforward. Aliens from outer space ... one believes in war and has just acquired a super powered battery that can turn his war machines into super war machines ... while another believes in peace. As said battery is being sent unmanned through space, it got caught in the signals of an earth satellite (I kid you not) and landed on earth

What is actually cool when I think it over is the clever sequence of related events and that final twist on the policeman is quite clever ... but that's neither here nor there ... all the while ... our main man Peter is dating his Aunt to a nice dinner and when they are heading home, Marvel did a DC with a mugger stealing from Aunt May

Well, naturally, Pete goes in pursuit and also happen to end up picking up the weird battery not realizing what it was ... and before you know it, said nasty alien comes looking for it. There is the usual fight here and there but nothing over the top and before you know it, the double sized pages are used up and we are left with a predictable ending

Now in today's world of decompression story telling this tale would have worked better as it would give us great artwork ... and give us time to built the tension and a proper climactic battle instead of a few panels here and there

Nothing special about this special anniversary issue ... just another day in the life of Peter P ... and Spider-Man ... in short buy it for your collection if you are a collector. Otherwise, don't bother

Ratings: 4/10

357. Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel ... Marvel ...

We bought this entire series from Mile High back issues because at that time, it was cheap but honestly, we have no idea what was the purpose of the creation of this new character, the Blue Marvel. It smacks a bit of all the retcon that the Marvel Universe is undergoing especially characters like Sentry and Illuminati ... and now this ...

And Broome's art? Sorry, pal, your work from Image is miles better than this mess of line work

You judge for yourself

Basically the inclusion of the Avengers (and Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) is either to ensure people buy this series or is integral to the storyline but if integral why not put it in one of the many Avengers series out there?

Anyway ...

A new villain called the Anti-Man appears threatening to destroy the world and is met by the Avengers. However, inspite of everything they do, the Avengers are no match for this guy and he whups their asses but good ... and the only reason the bad guy even lost is that the Avengers are many characters and thus manage to drain away his energy until he more or less disincorporate

So begins a search by the Avengers into who this new chap is ... only to find out that he appeared years ago and encountered a hero who actually defeated him, more or less i.e. the Blue Marvel. And with that, our story proper has its opening as Iron Man in his Tony Stark capacity tries to track down who the Blue Marvel is, what happened to him and if he is still around ...

Now the Blue Marvel is a "black dude" and being the most powerful man of his era, at a time, when there is segregation and what-not in America, when politics are swinging every which way with no certainty, his secret is revealed while in the midst of a fight ... yup his face mask and costume got shredded ... and thus SPOILERS he was asked to stand down for the good of the American people (WTF)?!?!?!

And basically that's what this tale is all about

We have Tony playing judgmental freak calling everyone racist etc from his future perspective never thinking about what is going on ... and then we have all these flashback scenes to what actually went down ... and we are given panel after panel of our Blue Marvel in his civilian identity pondering if he has made the right decision. There is no where we are given a glimmer that he is a hero in his human personae ... no where ... we repeat no where ... he looked more like a timid office worker in his facial expression than anyone with a back bone

So in short this is a weak story that uses the Avengers and racism with the hopes of creating a story that has enough "reality" and grittiness to sell itself ... ugh!

Ratings: 2/10

356. Secret Invasion #1 to 8 ... Marvel ...

And now for something totally different, we are going to review the entire series of a limited series instead of issue by issue ... so over the past decade, both Marvel and DC have decided on 1 big major yearly event that has implications (almost) line wide and at the end of each series, the so-called universe will have a new setting to play on ... until next year's big event. In the cast of Marvel, sometimes if the event is not so all encompassing, then there will be several like one for the mutant books, one for the cosmic books and one for the remainder of the Marvel U ...

But this series encompasses all the titles!

It continues from where Civil War left off and ends by giving us Dark Reign ...

What's it about? Basically Marvel awesome scribe, Bendis decides that years ago, after the nonsense with the Skrull war and intervention by earthlings, they wanted to get even and established a long term plan that studied how to come and invade earth without being detected by magic, science and telepathy ... all the while having other conflicts in space ... this came to a head as their empire fell apart and so they decided to officially adopt earth as their new home

What made this a pain for the heroes and serve as the tension point?

Who do you trust?

When word came out at first, each hero began to question friends around them especially since the first confirmed Skrull was when Elektra was killed and before then, Elektra was everywhere including SHIELD, Avengers, and even DD's world ... with that happening, what else can be wrong?

And then when the Skrulls unveiled their hand, the entire world was taken completely unawares! From even non super powered beings and family, the Skrulls have put plans in motion. And they provided for contingencies like Stark tech, Maria Hill, Shield and even Sword!

So it's a long scramble as the disparate parties try to run away, find a breathing space, recuperate and hopefully find a way to turn around the invasion

It's a decent read BUT ... the biggest letdown for me are 2 things:

1. The end is one slugfest between heroes of earth and skrulls with powers? I mean, that's it? You are an alien race, advanced, years in the planning and your intention is to slug it out with earth's heroes and decided to do it in USA where the most heroes are?

2. Yu's artwork - sorry but it is too scratchy for my taste

Don't believe me? Look at back issue prices online. Of all the past decade's worth of crossovers, this is by far the cheapest to buy still

Ratings: 6/10 (would have been 7 if not for Yu)

355. Thor vol 2 #5 ... Marvel ...

Do you know how tempted I am to continue reviewing more of this particular run of Thor? Because it is such a good read! ARGHahahahahahaha!

Anyhow, recently we see Thor seeming to have problems controlling his weapon of choice, Mjolnir almost as if it was developing a consciousness of its own. Some of the troubles include not coming back to his hand when thrown and this can cause problems cause without it for a full 60 seconds and Thor reverts to his mortal guise

For this issue, the big action scene takes a backseat regardless of the cover and instead the focus is on moving all subplots forward. We get to see more of the Mysterious Gods that have overtaken Asgard and brought it down low for in this issue, the leader of the pantheon finally materializes within her conquered lands

Then we get to see slice of life of Thor's mortal chap as he encounters people he knows as Don Blake, as Thor and what-not plus what he does for a living

And naturally to tie everything together, the vehicle of choice is a newscaster's ranting n raving tirade on air against Thor just as he needed Thor's help. Irony?

Ratings: 6/10 (sorry I still need me some thumping action)

354. Thor vol 2 #3 ... Marvel ...

I know we said we are not huge fans of Thor but bear with us ... 2 runs are significant ... first is the Walt Simonson run from about 335 to about 360 or so ... and then JRJR with Dan Jurgens for the first 25 to 30 issues in vol 2 and this is from that era

First up, issue 3 is the first issue of freedom from the continuity of issues 1 and 2. In that, we find Thor back on Earth except that Asgard seems to be in ruins and gods are missing. In addition, the Destroyer tore up huge chunks of his earthly home and it took the combined might of both Thor and Avengers to finally bring him down and this time? There are innocent bystanders casualties

So this is like a day after ...

Now in case you think this is a breather sort of issue, it sure is not. On a personal side, we see Thor not even realizing what is going on as he is zap back to earth and learning to come to grasps that he now wears the body of a mortal but with bits of the mortal's memories. He wonders where is his hammer and how he is to transform into Thor if the need arises

And then he is physically assaulted ... first by the woman he loves (hahaha) ... as she comes into the house and talks about how happy he didn't die ... and their impending marriage (hahaha) ...

And then his mortal host's supposedly best friend just took a turn for the worse ... and you know peace ain't gonna come to his neighbourhood in the near future

And while all this is happening, a new villain emerges from the depths to give Thor a pause ...

And while all this is happening (yet again), Thor keeps on wondering who is the figure that dares go to Hela's realm and bargain mightily for Thor's return to earth ...

Ratings: 8/10

353. Hulk vol 1 Annual 16 ... Marvel ...

As per our last review, in this year's annual, the crossover is titled Lifeform and spreads out over 4 issues. This is number 3 and basically with each issue, the threat grows in size although it is the same threat. Now if the Hulk is only worthy of 3 not yet final issue, who could potentially be more powerful?

Silver Surfer

But hey let's get back to our Mr Green ... except at this point a year later he is still Mr Grey. Basically the threat is a guy who got infected and he gets hungry for flesh, human flesh and he eats and grows and mutates bigger and larger ... in fact the start of this tale is narrated by him

Now after his last tussle with DD, he went off and ran into that weird magical entity called Mercy. The only problem is Mercy is not human and doesn't really understand human needs and motivations. So what she did is that as she no longer kills, she transports him to where the Hulk is thinking that one ugly can help another cope but ... his hunger overwhelms him and a fight broke out

What is cool about this tale is at this point, Banner and Hulk are two individuals and Hulk is just nasty until almost the end ... when the Hulk gets chill wondering what's going to happen next ... and whether he will perish ...

Aside from this, we have 3 other tales. One is bad artwork and lame storyline She Hulk, one is about Samson and his nightmares, and finally Hulk's top 10 regular sparring partners. Best of all? The last!

Ratings: 5/10

352. Hulk vol 1 Annual 15 ... Marvel ...

We are back again, with back-2-back annual reviews and this time, Hulk gets the honours

What makes this issue special is the fact that it is the final year where Marvel keeps Annuals to the titles without crossovers. And also there are no funny new talents on display here. We get good old Sal whose work is workmanlike but very suitable for the 80s style of comics and his Hulk is powerful!

So ... the tale thus far is that at this point in time, Banner's transformation is the Grey Hulk which means he has intelligence when he changes and is mean but is not as strong as his green counterpart. In addition, from his other issues, we found out that Banner is recuperating as recently he had been split apart into Banner and Hulk before rejoining

All the while this is happening, an old foe plots his revenge and from his exile in space, he shoots, blazes and trail and lands smack back on planet Earth. Naturally the human enforcement units are all useless although they try their best so that we get to see grunts eat dirt!

And it is up to the Hulk to take down the villain. As the cover shows, it is the abomination. But what the cover didn't tell you SPOILER ALERT ... is that the villain is actually that old guy who is proud of his looks, Tyrannus. He was cast into space and found a vessel he could seize control i.e. that of the Abomination's body. As he landed, he went to find Banner in order to separate his body back into that of who he was (nice timing with Banner's own experiments)

What's really cool here is the double fights ... round 1 with Hulk getting knocked out!

And round 2 SPOILER ALERT with Hulk winning (naturally) ... but 2 main fights in one issue? Awesome!

Ratings: 6/10

351. Thunderbolts vol 1 #7 ... Marvel ...

The Elements of Doom ... hmmm ... seems like the writer is having trouble conceiving really grand villain at this point ... and taking the easy way out by having the 'bolts always facing against an opposite number that is numbers, not number

And look at that cover ... sorry Mr Bagley ... it just looks very amateurish like you are just rushing to finish it off. Honestly, if someone is not a fan, a cover like that would not make them pick it up from the stands and flip through it ... and that colour scheme? Ugh!

So what has writer Mr Busiek got in store for us? Well as our heroes are flying through the sky from one place to another, they spotted a strange edifice and as they flew in closer to investigate ... out comes the Elements. Naturally a fight ensues and the 'bolts were defeated and captured ... finally facing the mastermind behind this round of nastiness. As it turns out, the brains behind is someone who has encountered the Avengers ... and that ending cliffhanger, hah! It only works if you care about the characters ... and at this point, so early in their career? Nah, falls flat as far as I am concerned. I only bought this because it was in the bargain bin ... and I didn't even both to finish reading it the first time around

Now? Equally painful to read through it for this review

Ratings: 2/10

350. Thunderbolts vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ...

Not many new series have staying power especially if it is not a branch out from some other existing titles and one of the few groups that managed to stay alive in its first run is the Thunderbolts. Of course it has had relaunches and what-not, then reverting to its original numbering system ...

Concept wise, it is basically the old Masters of Evil deciding to be good for a change when our world is left without the official heroes such as Avengers and FF after big Marvel event, Onslaught

At the time this book came out, Bagley was not yet the superstar artist he is but his style is reconizable as slightly thin and out of proportion figures in cramped situations remain. So we can safely conclude that he is only a star because of Bendis' writing on Ultimate Spider-Man ... hah!

As for the storyline itself, at this point in their careers, the 'bolts are still adjusting to their intended new roles as heroes with some of the team members still thinking it okay to occasionally revert to form as long as no one suspects. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with the remainders and reminders are needed

On the plus side, in order to achieve recognition, a new group calling themselves Masters of Evil are in play and the 'bolts figured that this is their moment to shine. Along the way, they also run into the remainders of the Marvel Universe heroes in the form of a determined Black Widow ... as she deftly explains it, she is hunting down all loose villains and corralling them back ... alone ... hmmm ... in most of her appearances, she was never that tough. So what makes her think she can do it, eh?

Ratings: 5/10

349. Thor vol 1 Annual 15 ... Marvel ...

We skip to 1990 at the start of the 90s boom time of comics but a few years short of Image ... and here we see Thor slugging it out with Terminus. At that time, Marvel had gotten into the habit of each year, having a storyline that continues through a few of its annuals. So example in a year there are 20 annuals. They may decide to have like 5 stories set through 4 issues each. An Annual can be double or triple sized but by this time, an Annual will be filled with pin-up, back-up stories and what have you until the main story is usually less than 30 pages just like this and this is a 5-parter

I picked this up because I may not remember seeing Terminus before but he is huge and one of those powerful, mysterious villains. In this issue of Thor, he has already materialized twice before and each time, the threat grows. Unfortunately, this time there is not only Terminus himself but variants that had been affected by the big T called ... Termini? Termice? Whatever

The main point is naturally to see Thor launch himself into space for a big of walloping ... while on Earth, his buddy Hercules who was accompanying some people to check out stuff found himself fighting a whole batch of metallic creatures that finally ended up growing into one Termini ...

And unfortunately, that's where the main story ends ... sigh!

The back-ups have a few stuff Thermal Man being primary but after such an opening, another huge fellow from the past seems kind of tame?

Ratings: 6/10

348. Thor vol 1 Annual 10 ... Marvel ...

Now, for something a little different, we are going to tackle Thor's (I know, I know, we did his reviews not that long ago but bear with me for a sec) Annuals ... yup in the past we have been reviewing regular issues of ongoing and limited series. But this and next review is on Annuals

Firstly, check out that cover. Admittedly, it conveyed the tale within. However, we believe in this case, it could have been much better and am not sure if the inking is insufficient or the penciller was not that tight. Colouring ... you cannot fault it

But fear not because the contents inside more than do justice to this cover because it doesn't let down for within these pages ... we have the god-eater!  Now before you think me a huge fan of Thor, while I like big slugfests, somehow I never collected Thor except via back issues ... and only during Simonson's run

So the villain is a surprise to me. However, the writer of this issue did it justice because in the opening pages, we actually have the entire origins of how the villain or rather in this case, the opponent came to me ... how he was created in the early days of the world to bring a cleansing when the planet was corrupted with too many demi-gods ... and how he had been away for eons since

Then why is he back? Well ... greed is the reason for you see Mephisto and a team of rulers who oversee the underworld has had a meeting of minds, so to speak and debated the fact that individually, they all rule over a minute aspect of creation ... with some weakening as the believers of their faith fast vanish from Earth ... so they sought to consolidate their presence by breaking the barriers between each other's realm ... only this is one spell of summoning that is beyond anything even they know and before they realized it, they have released Atum, the God-Eater!

As the cover tells it, we know that it will soon be Thor and his legions turn to do battle and what a magnificent battle it is. Similar to our review of Namor, this writer did not cop out and let Thor and his people get consumed by Atum! Yup, defeated and eaten alive! Now that's a rocking good read and as for the escape, we leave it up to you to read the actual comic, eh?

Ratings: 6/10

347. Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner (80s) #4 ... Marvel ...

Once more, look at that cover! Imagine from a time when comics artists have to meet deadlines and there are no fancy computer colouring and yet that piece of work is just superb! About the only thing I would suggest to improve is to make the background ... a bit more dark ... more shadowy so that the foreground with the characters would "pop" a bit more ... but that's just tiny bit of suggestion!

So, how will our tale of Namor end? Surprisingly, very well. Nothing feels rushed and everything is closed beautifully. Starting with Namor's usual denial when the truth about his latest crush, Jacq came to the fore ... to the man he had thought to oppose him in bringing Atlantis to the UN ...

No spoilers here as the cover would have told you everything ... apparently Jacq is hellbent upon a mission of revenge since she was a girl as her father was one of those innocent bystanders caught in the middle of a battle with Namor years and years ago and she grew up hating him preparing herself for this mission ...

And to aid her, as she studied the ocean depths and their mythologies, she managed to cover the real trident of Neptune. This is the very instrument that allowed her transformation into that blue Mermaid that gave her the power to transform others into the various creatures that have been giving Namor a hard time over the past few issues. So naturally when he finally found them, ain't no way he was going to defeat them as each of them, singly had already beaten him!

This is one Marvel story that stayed through to its hero's limitations. Namor, for once, when realizing he was hopelessly outclassed (the seas have cast him out) uses his brains and decides on a gamble ... for he is a product of land and sea but not everyone is. So SPOILER ALERT he put the new Jacq to the test ... and she in turn was found wanting

And the last few pages ... both heart breaking and touching and hopeful ... as he found that upon this disaster from the surface ... to return to Atlantis only to be notified that he has been voted unfit to rule!

Ratings: 8/10

346. Namor the Sub Mariner (80s) #3 ... Marvel ...

Look at that cover! Now that is a cover that conveys power!

And that is precisely how this issue starts - full of energy and action and the suspense goes on and on until the final page leaving us to wonder how they are going to wrap this up in just one more issue. I will be honest and admit that as a 12-year-old reading this for the first time ... wow ... it made a good impression on me regards Namor ... he may be arrogant (hey he is a royal born and king of Atlantis) ... but doesn't he have a right to be so?

Anyway for those who have yet to read issues 1 and 2 ... at this time of the tale, Namor is still king of all Atlantis. However, as a person who has a human father and Atlantean mother, Namor decided that it is time for Atlantis to take part on the world stage instead of living hidden away beneath the waves or to come out only for attacks

To this end, he pursued and petitioned through the UN. And the UN attached someone to his case a lady named Jacqueline who actually managed to capture Namor's heart although this is possibly not as difficult as one may imagine as Namor always seemed to melt for human ladies who is blond hehehe!

Anyway, while all this is ongoing, there are problems in his kingdom with some factions thinking he doesn't care about them and more about the surface world. And when problems come and the king is not around, well, this is an opening for politicians and the politicians of Atlantis are no less sharp as their counterparts from the surface world above

But what's a super powered protagonist without a super powered villain? And here the mystery deepens. In the first two issues, each time, Namor encounters something from out of legends. Here is no different. Two giant blue men came out of the depths to assault him and leave him among the rubble and to Namor's swirling thoughts, they most seemed like the old Twins ... from Lord Neptune's era ... but how is that possible?

And who is that mystery figure in darkness that is yet to be revealed?

What will Namor's final fates be?

Ratings: 8/10

345. The Mystery and Madness of Weird War Tales #46 ... DC ...

My bad ... in the last review, I sort of typed the title as what I always remembered but now that I re-checked it, the above is correct. It is that lengthy

And for this issue, although I do not recognize the artist signature on the cover but it is dead brilliant! Have a peek and see. Look at that terrified German soldier as he backed away from a hand that emerges from the catacombs below! Awesome!

Inside this brilliant cover are three stories - each totally different from the other. The first is about a group of German soldiers lost and separated and trying to find their way home only their kindly host is no what he seemed although the ending is uplifting for both parties

The second story takes place before WW2 about Spanish conquistadors who wanted to rule more than their fair share of land. They encountered trouble from the natives but instead of learning from their experience, when their fallen leader returns to them, they rejoiced and follows him ever onward ... onward into the waiting arms of ... SPOILER ALERT

For the final tale, we jumped forward to the ends of the world where a family goes on living after a nuclear war just trying to survive and it is a very simple tale ... that seemed pointless as the short fight and the family inside appears disjointed with no sense of urgency whatsoever

Ratings: 5/10

344. Weird War Tales #86 ... DC ...

From one war comic series to another, eh? Remember in the past 2 reviews I mentioned collection or compendium style of comics? Well this series is a prime example as all the stories are contained and in fact in each comic there are several types of stories including the one-pager and two-pager-s. Maybe back in those days of no internet/ colour TV and minimal entertainment such comics would work but today? When the price of a new Marvel is 80% more than the price of a movie and a comic can be read in 10 minutes ... not likely, bro!

First up, the Kubert cover is quite good ... as usual he is a hero when it comes time for emotions. Look at the fleeing soldier's face and the sergeant who is fading away. A few lines on the eyes and we get the message clearly on what each is feeling and thinking - awesome!

The contents of this issue is rather limited as it is divided into 2 stories of about equal length. The story on the cover is the second tale and like the cover, it is about a recovering GI who keeps saying that it is because of him that people disappear. And what he finally did as the world didn't believe him is touching and definitely worth a read or two

As for the opening story, sad to say, while interesting, failed to touch us as much as tale #2 did. It's about a fight on the seas where frozen ice floes drifted and something from another era emerged ... both parties naturally are confused ... and the ending is too predictable as it is viewed from the victors (read that as American) perspective

Ratings: 6/10

343. Star Spangled War Stories featuring the Unknown Soldier vol 1 #201 ... DC ...

You know how in war movies the good guys are always having it over-the-top lucky and easy? Well, no difference here in comics but hey it's all good because our thrill is seeing those men in Nazi uniforms get their comeuppance, eh? Hehehe!

Check out the opening sequence

Anyway in this issue, the war is no longer abroad but right at home as we see Germans coming into the country itself under disguise and then finding fellow sympathisers to their causes to rally together and create havoc

What's Soldier's duty?

Infiltrate and nab the bad guys only except in this case, the bad guys ... well, they are not black-n-white if you know what I mean and at the end of it all, it leaves the Soldier with a bad taste in the mouth. Aces!

Ratings: 6/10

342. Star Spangled War Stories featuring the Unknown Soldier vol 1 #198 ... DC ...

What a mouthful for a title eh? But the fact is that comics in the 70s and going through 80s had volumes where the stories and characters are more experimental. Experimental means in each comic there may be several stories - some are short (even a couple of pages) and some are serials continuing from each comic to the next and whichever character proves popular will have run of the mag or even promoted to his or her own solo mag

This is what happened even in Marvel - example Thor sprang from Journey into Mystery

As for my labelling this as volume 1, it is because to me after this long run by the Soldier, his next run was a 12 issue series followed years later by a 4 issue series in Vertigo

Now with that out of the way, isn't it nice we are not reviewing a number 1? Hah!

Also do note that usually the covers are not necessarily relevant to the interiors and in this comic there are 2 tales. First up is the Soldier who is facing execution for being a traitor to the allies. Cue: flashback as he went on a mission and thought it was a success oblivious to the fact that while he was running around trying to be clever, for once, the Germans have some tricks up their own sleeves

So naturally at the end of this tale, our Soldier escapes. Otherwise no next issue eh? But this is not the end as he then have to find a way to clear his name

Now I am not a fan of short tales but this issue's back up or flipside is awesome. It's about 3 soldiers who are injured. One who is blind, one who is without leg use and such. And the hospital they are recuperating is suddenly under attack. The way they work together to take down the Germans is just plain intelligent ... although I find the last bit trying to make light rather .. off because that makes this tale feel more like an afternoon cartoon serial where a moral is pounded into your head at the end of each episode, know what I mean?

Ratings: 8/10

341. Ultimate Avengers vol 2 #4 ... Marvel ...

You know how people used to (and still do I guess) make fun of Rob Liefeld's artwork about how many lines he used on his characters' faces? And how old he makes them? Well why do they not knock other artists like Yu? Is it because Rob was a phenom? Because if you look at this cover, the Spidey must be at least in his 40s or 50s with that gum/ teeth thing going on and all that unshaven look and ridges in his face ... hell he looks older than black Hulk (blulk?)

Sadly enough when you open the first sequence ... it is awesome featuring a character that you have no idea of knowing would appear unless you read the previous issue ... SPOILER ALERT? Nah I am helping them sell because the Ult A (sorry getting ridiculous to type Ultimate ... something or other ... each time) ... are kicking butts with Ult Ghost Rider and this Ghostie looks like the classic Dan Ketch chap with all those spikes!

So is that really our Peter Parker?

Hmmmm ... hehehe ... got you thinking now, eh?

Hmmm now what else can we share with you? O yes the other characters ... we get to see what Millar calls "serious" by having a sequence where the nasty ex-wife of Fury (sob sob) actually says why they divorce and it isn't her but the fact that Fury slept with everyone including her mother while she is away (say what)

And then we got a bit of Nerd Hulk ... doesn't do anything for me ... and I am not sure why the cover has Blulk when he doesn't make much of an impact here ...

And for fans of Iron Man, you won't like this as he made a cameo only because Black Ops is assisted by his brother who is apparently smarter and richer (you shitting me) and they hated each other ...

See? Millar-world

Ratings: 5/10

340. Ultimate Avengers vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

A while back ... when our reviews were in the late 200s ... we did a review of Ult A vol 1 and 3 ... now why did we skip 2? Because artist is Leinil Francis Yu. When Yu started on X-Men, it was sorta nice but as his star rose, he seemed to be intent on meeting deadlines and churning out as many pages/ books as he can and his art became more like drafts/ roughs ... at least in my opinion ... see his work on New Avengers for what we meant!

Now don't get me wrong. I may not be a fan of his work but I do like some of his work especially that High Roads series (try it)

Anyway, since we are in this back-2-back cycle of reviews, let's do this

As the cover clearly indicates, we are going to get a heaping of the Punisher and this issue is sure no letdown as we open with a blood bath, we got through a bloodbath of an interrogation and we end with more promises of violence to come

Basically, as the Punisher tries to take down all the mobs he can get his gunsight set on, one chap even under torture manage to indirectly set him up and thus to his absolute surprise, he had a run in with the Ultimate Cap. Naturally he got his shit handed to him and next thing you know, since this is Ultimate Nick Fury, he got himself a deal i.e. to be the leader of the Black Ops Ultimate team codenamed Avengers. Say what?

But the ending is cool as I didn't know that in the old world of Ult there are more than one Hulk!

Ratings: 6/10 (would have scored higher if it wasn't for Yu)

339. Iron Fist (1996) #2 ... Marvel ...

Sad cover ... even though it conveys the action within accurately, it lacked a certain OOMPH know what I mean? It seems like the artist is wanting to put too much on the cover and finally wasting the space. Now if he had zoomed in a bit more like say another 30% and we may not have that bubble circle thing and what-not the impact would have been far more effective

Anyway as per last issue, once again the writer tries to inject what he thinks is great story telling by including the usual mumbo jumbo that passes as watered down "oriental" philosophy ...

And it is from this that Danny now seeks to find his enemies and ... o yes before we forget ... guess who joins him? The two semi-useless kung-fu-wannabe chicks, Misty Knight (with a bionic arm) and Colleen Wing (a samurai sword). They are supposed to be good but somehow, in all their appearances, everyone else can upped them in a direct fight! Sigh!

The long and short of this tale is that at the end, Danny encounters his nemesis for one final fight to see who gets to keep the force of the Iron Fist and as you know this series is only two issues no surprises here who won

What is cool as I re-read this issue after years later is the cryptic ending where the defeated Steel Serpent goes out alone and the ending paragraph states "Somewhere, a mystical gate opens and closes." Now I now after this there are other Iron Fist mini-series but the huge short lived second ongoing series, Immortal Iron Fist that was largely enjoyable in its first 2 years had a feel as if it continued from this because we are to learn along with all the IF characters that there is indeed a mystery gate that they knew not about ... a mystical mystical gate ... hmmm

Ratings: 5/10

338. Iron Fist (1996) #1 ... Marvel ...

20 years ago (wow) back in the late half of the speculation boom ... where everything grim n gritty is considered cool to the max ... Marvel decided to roll out Iron Fist ... now at this point, his history is a complete mess with people almost similar names being Iron Fist, being dead, or perhaps not dead and what have you ...

Anyway forget all that!

All you need to know is that when martial arts were cool, Marvel had Iron Fist and Shang-chi. Iron Fist was featured in one of those mags that introduced new characters and proved popular to elevate himself to his first solo ongoing which lasted about a year or so ... and then with waning popularity and sales was sandwiched together with Luke Cage into one combined team called Heroes for Hire

As for his history, basically he was a kid when he lost his folks and was found by a special mystical city called Kun Lun. He was raised there including trained for his martial arts. At his coming of age, he challenged Shou Lou, a dragon and won and hence his chest is emblazoned with a dragon tattoo. Aside from martial arts, his power is to focus all his inner chi or energy to one of his fists making it super powerful but a feat like this would leave him weakened ... kind of like Ultraman who always wait until the end to unleash his zapping beams ahahahahahah!

Well, got that?

The artist here is Robert Brown (who) and inker is Rey Garcia. If you like your artwork full of lines and dots and splotches masquerading as details, then this works. However, I do believe given time, Robert would develop to be good on his own although I have no idea if he has done much more besides this

Anyway, the story opens with a depressed Iron Fist fighting a small platoon of mercenary thugs like people and him thinking long soliloquy about how his Iron Fist is not as powerful as it once was. So why was he attacked? It apparently, at first, seemed to him that everyone is after a gem stone that he encountered. Naturally, to make matters complicated, this is not entirely true because his one and only nemesis Steel Serpent, a fellow rival from Kun Lun is seeking a way to come back to our world and the world of the living

And behind all these shenanigans? There are others from Danny's past plotting away. Are they going to be friends once more and something nastier? Well, this is the first of two part limited series. I guess they want us to pick both issues up eh?

Ratings: 5/10