2.117 (482) Cyerforce Ongoing vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

Well we skipped one issue ie 3 the ending chapter of Killer Instinct because we just want to avoid any more comparison to WildCATS, okay? And what a great thing too ... I mean check out this awesome nasty cover of Ballistic, right?
That's the great thing about Cyberforce. You don't have to be officially inducted into their team to get in on the action and here Miss Ballistic takes center stage as the original sub plot from issue 1 builds up take the limelight. Or at least you would think so thanks to that cover but unfortunately inspite of the cover and the title, Assault with a Deadly Woman, this is not so

In fact the opening scenes are great especially where we get that guy dropping from the roof - awesome art - Silvestri at his best!

And then we get great background scenes on what is potentially the early life sequences of both Caryn and Ballistic ... with both then zapping to the present when our dear speedster does her stumbling best by stumbling into a new drug cartel's activity where you have a guy who has horns and his cabal is called the ... well you read it and you will see

Anyway, this is a great opening issue for a multi-issue arc as we see lots of action while both sides are driving the plot in the same direction ... with Cyberforce and Ballistic on a collision course

Ratings: 6/10

2.116 (481) Cyberforce ongoing vol 1 #2 ... Image ...

Before you read this, I do strongly suggest you get WildCATS #6 as that is the official starting point of this great crossover. And if you ask me to choose, I have to admit that the 'CATS have better art thanks to Jim Lee (sorry, Marc, I do like yours too but just for comparison ...)

Anyway, remember our gripe from the last review? Well, because this is part of a bigger story arc, it finally feels like a proper comic of sorts because there is fast paced development, character moments and slam bang action  yes yes yes!

But like his Marvel counterpart, this story arc is all about Wolverine wannabes because it stars Ripclaw from Cyberforce and Warblade from WildCATS, both claw characters with temper except Rip is more the animal and here in this issue, we feel like reading an X-Men Comic because almost the entire issue is only on Ripclaw SPOILER ALERT

We open with a sequence of Rip and the Blade together with SHOCS on a mission for cyberdata and what-not only to be ambushed and through one page after another of subterfuge and action, we felt the betrayal and "death" of Rip ... only to be told that it was a flashback because in the here and now, Rip is controlled by former love, Misery who has, for her own reasons, set him off against Blade. And so another round of battle ensues ...

And this eats up the entire book except the last 2 pages where the rest of Cyberforce finally makes an appearance. See what I mean?

Still a decent read though

Ratings: 6/10

2.41 (406) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #251 ... Marvels ...

If there is one person we all respect when reading all these old Marvels, it is Chris Claremont. He certainly brought life to a flagging title and made it the superstar it has been since then until now. The mutants have never slowed down ... gotten lost yet but slowed down no ... regardless of artist he is paired with ... sounds like Bendis, eh?

Anyway, before the big 250th, we saw that this incarnation of the X-chums have come to an end and all their thoughts of bringing the fight to their enemies lasted less than a good 2 year run ... oh well ... that's why they are predominantly heroes and not villains, eh?

So what happens after that? Before the return of the team?

Well, this issue kicks it all off as we see the old base of the X-Men ... it was by a team of semi-robot and partial-humans ... and now they have come back to reclaim what was lost ... and from the cover you can see that Wolvie encountered them .. and is left strung up in the open to die ... and yes it happened inside too so it's not a hype

However, a minor character introduced several issues ago ... the Asian American Jubilee who has since then stowed away in the home of the X-Men ... is still around and is shocked by what happens so will she go help Wolvie or is he bad ass enough to free himself? What do you think? Heh!

This is the start of the next incarnation of the X-Men and it ran on for another good 2 years before it morphed into something else ... so this issue is a definite must read ... the muddy inking and colouring and rush pencilling styles merely enhance the mood!

Ratings: 7/10

2.9 (374) Avengers vol 3 #4 ... Marvel ...

Every now and then, a team as large as this with so many back up members, a team that has such a good reputation ... needs to reconsider who their new members will be ... and basically that sums up this very issue

At the end of the first arc, there are many, many Avengers gathered. And the Earth hasn't seen Avengers in a while thanks to Heroes Reborn. This means that the slate is clean for them to gather members to relaunch the Avengers franchise

It's quite fun to see how each of them react. Naturally there are the founding members who sit in deliberation and there are those who really want to be selected (Hawkeye) and those who are open but don't give a toss and finally those who prefer not to be as they have their own lives to get back to and will come only when there is an emergency

What's an added fun is we get to see when minor villains go to their villainy and there are all these massive number of good guys getting into each other's way to fight the villain ... it's quite fun and funny!

So who gets selected?

Read and find out

Ratings: 8/10

257. X-Men vol 1 #151 to 154 ... Marvel ...

And so it ends ... Grant Morrison's awesome vision of the men and women of X ... and how did he end it all? By pulling one huge final sprawling tale that has subplots dredged up everywhere ... including the final pages of 150 (our previous review) and a tale about the cosmos, the Phoenix force and even the first days of Earth's formation! I kid you not here!

Anyway, at the end of 150, we saw for some inexplicable reason, after Mags was defeated, the spirit of the school was gone and Scott sort of gave up on everything ... but also we have a small part where Beast said he realized what was going on ... and in the final bits ... a jump into the future! So what's that all about?

Well, basically the heinous villain of the tale is finally revealed. You see, when Earth was first formed, there was a first self aware sentient being who was not really a being in the common sense more like an awareness that can control DNA and this thing calling itself Sublime has been riding each wave of creation ... from Dinosaurs to us the humans and never worried because they have the ability to control DNA ... genome and thus their/ its fate is protected

Until mutants emerged ... with mutants, the abilities are ... anything goes with some potentially becoming invulnerable and thus unable for this thing to merge with on any levels ... fearing one day that it might be supplanted by the mutants, it thus engineered the destruction of the mutants

And so queue 150 years into the future ... where the world is torn apart thanks to this thing ... that has possessed the Beast's body and is creating hordes of creatures splicing DNA trying to totally eliminate mutants ... naturally in its way stood a loose group of survivors and heroes ... and some of the existing X-Men ... not sure how they all survived but some include Wolverine, 3 of the Cuckoos, Martha and Cassandra Nova ..

And the best one of all ... a human young man and his Sentinel guardian ... shades of love there too!

Lots of big ideas, lots of big fighting scenes ... full of emotions and the return of Jean Grey and perhaps this time, the true meaning of sacrifice ... very touching ending! And a spark of hope is planted in the final two pages

One gets the feeling that an extra issue would have helped this story along instead of issue 154 feeling so cramped ... still it was enjoyable and Marc Silvestri came along for these 4 issues turning in some of the best work of his career!

Ratings: 9/10

227. WildCATS vol 1 #6 & 7 ... Image ... Jim Lee

After the first few issues were launched, as it was a huge success (as if there were any doubts, right?), Lee decided to continue his CATS as a regular ongoing and to buck the trend at that time, he decided to continue with issue 5 onwards rather than renumber like most of his mates. On top of that, except for the foil on 2, there are no other enhanced covers ... now don't get me wrong ... many people bitched about those enhancements ... me? I thought they were wonderful. After all, novels have them so why not comics when comics is even more of a visual medium, right?

So why issues 6 and 7 for this review then?

Because this is the official cross-over between Marc Silvestri's Cyberforce and Jim Lee's WildCATS ... and what a crossover it is ... with both artists going all out to impress the other chap's fans ... and colourists literally going overboard with strong bright colours and awesome contrasts ...

In fact, if you were to read this, you might say that it is overboard with the details ... just check out the covers and see how much tiny details are there ... and when you read it, it seems like even the writers are going overboard with each panel jam pack with word balloons and thought boxes etc etc

What's the story about?

Well once upon a time, some of the characters in both teams have a similar/ linked background i.e. Reno/ Warblade from the CATS and Ripclaw from Cyberforce. And both of them remembered a lady named Misery who is still with the SHOCS (bad guys) ... although each of their memories may not be the same any more thanks to the usual tinkering about ...

Unfortunately Misery is back ... and she is using her powers to manipulate both teams against each other ... because there is something she and her employers want ... that's it. More or less. The fun is seeing them tear into each other over 4 issues or so ...

Enjoy!

Ratings: 8/10