2.83 (448) West Coast Avengers vol 1 #13 ... Marvel ...

With this cover, the final fourth  element of natural forces and the true mastermind behind the last issue's assault is revealed as none other than Graviton. While Graviton has always proven himself to be a tough customer, I guess at this point, the writers @ Marvel are trying to establish a few villains who will be recurring nemesis for the West Coasters (Wackos as is their name in the letters pages)

So we have Master Pandemonium who actually debuted in this series first and Graviton who was the main driving force in their first limited series. So naturally, after a year in the regular ongoing series, we see the return of the Gravity Lord and here ... he got smart. Not just to always engage heroes in nonsensical fight but he came prepared

He drafted the 3 crazies from the earlier issue to assault the Wackoes and distract/ weaken them so that by the time he is ready for his master stroke, they are all caught so unawares. You need to read this to see what we mean. It is a stroke of genius and something that is actually replicated albeit in a slightly different manner in the second Avengers movie

Awesome action!

Ratings: 7/10

2.82 (447) West Coast Avengers vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ...

Well, at least we managed to do 4 reviews of comics that is not from Marvel, eh? So now we move back to more familiar territory - West Coast Avengers. It has been a while since we did a review from this - when this first came out, we remembered following it avidly for slightly more than 2 years before it became a little too retro from artwork to storyline and slowly but surely by year 3 we dropped it

But hey this is issue 12th and in a time of double-sized specials, this is a single-sized issue and the start of a storyline that has been building from earlier issues

As the cover shows, from out of nowhere, for no apparent reasons, our wonderful agents of Avengers found that they are attacked ... by super beings that are not just powerful but almost inhuman ... and represents three of the four natural forces in our world

We have Zzzax ... a being composed of electricity ... and a Hulk villain. So you know this means that he is going to be one tough cookie to swallow ... next along the line is a female whose uniform is in tatters called Halflife and as her name implies ... her touch is deadly ... and to round this up we have Quantum ... a guy who is clearly an alien and doesn't speak English ... not only is he super strong but he can replicate himself into so many figures that there is just no way for our Avengers to beat him

So what does the Avengers do? Well, to tell you here would be revealing, right? Buy the book for goodness' sakes!

Ratings: 7/10

2.81 (446) Weapon Zero vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

It had to happen, right? After the first arc that ended with issue 3, the team found out that they now had the support of a few people with limited resources. So what's a predominantly time displaced team to do?

Well it seems that Kikuyo, a Jap gal, used to come from money and so ... it's time to make a trip home to visit Japan ... as is the norm in such comics, no one gives a damn about passports and international boundaries and before you know it, bang, they are in the land of the rising sun

Now even though years may have passed, the next crazy thing is because Benitez is so awesome at drawing weapons and armour ... guess what?
The Jap @ home is also garbed in all these hi-tech shit. It all looks very pretty (finally) and loved the colouring. So what happens next? Well, that's why they have see you in next issue blurb at the end. Hahaha!

Ratings: 7/10

2.80 (445) Weapon Zero vol 1 #1 ... Image ...

After the awesome promo poster and the unique countdown style of the opening mini-series that ended with a huge bang even though a number of the panels in the various issues are mini-posters rather than sequential storytelling (who care when it all looks so beautiful, right?) ... I am surprised and delighted when they announced an ongoing and with the same creative team

So what happened?

Why did the first issue right from the covers felt so different?

I really cannot be sure but perhaps it is because the artist tries to be less flashy and more detailed and as a result, everything feels shrunken down and minute if that makes sense. Well, if it doesn't please buy a copy and compare. Heh!

As for the story, it's about people from different timeline who get plucked out of their time and get involved in a long ongoing intergalactic conflict that has finally reached earth. After the opening miniseries, here we see our protagonists coming back to modern day earth where their de facto leader, an American bloke tries to get everyone settled down only to find out that not only is his record of existence wiped out, it seems as if people actually do not remember him.

So what the F is going on? And that's when the fun starts once again as we delve deeper into the mystery. SPOILER ALERT. In case you  think the aliens are gone, nah, they are making a come back too as this series progresses so keep an eye out because it is still good

Ratings: 6
/10

2.79 (444) WildCATS/ X-Men Golden Age ... Marvel n Image ...

Well, well, well ... in happier times, Marvel and Image finally decided to work together to pull this crossover series off ... mind you this is before Jim Lee's Wildstorm studios and characters were acquired and absorbed into the DC mythos

So here we see a series of one-shots showing us that the Cats and X-Men have actually encountered each other over the years i.e. not in alternate realities but in this, our prime reality and thus trying to make it seem like they are all in 616 and such a joy to read

This is the first issue to be released and it features an almost black-n-white style of artwork from superstar Travis Charest. While I loved Jim Lee, Travis, if I dare say so (and why not, eh) outdid even Lee here in this one shot

As for story, it talks about the time of the war, back when we have Nazis running around doing crazy experiments and a perpetual torn in the side of the Nazis is super-soldier Wolverine. However, at that point, W didn't know about the fact that aliens have taken on the identity of human Nazis and are actually in cahoots with the stormies

Enter Zealot! She who is from another offshoot of aliens named Khera and has stayed on our planet hundreds of year constantly battling Daemonites wherever they may rear their ugly head and one of the most pertinent of these nasties are now with the Nazis ... and so our 2 heroes met!

Awesome art, awesome story, awesome action sequences - what more do you need?

Ratings: 9/10

2.78 (443) WildCATS vol 1 #3 ... Image ...

There was a time, more than two decades now (wow I find that hard to believe) when comics were all about having a good time - if action, let's go overboard. If pencilling, then let's forget about perfect human anatomy but rather idealized it. And if we talk about printing, let's go for the best ink and colour and paper and that's the glory of Image!

And this issue from Jim Lee is a celebration of all that ... as we see the CATS finally coming to a head against team Badrock ... oops I mean, Youngblood. Hehehe!

As the name implies, Wildcats are covert independent teams and they are busy tracking alien scum that are hellbent (Helspont is one of the bad guys) on Earth domination while Youngblood is part of US enforcement super-cops style ... SPOILER ALERT ... and so when the trail of aliens led to the government senior officials (I so wanna so who but I need to keep lips sealed Sigh!) ... well someone decided to tip the US team off and so they come charging for the CATS

And as every comic fan so loves and want to see, first is always misunderstanding that both are good guys and every first encounter must have a great fight and this? It's just that. Awesome!

Love the artwork but it could have benefitted from perhaps (in my opinion) heavier inking and a more muted colour palette thus giving the right scenes greater accentuation. Still this is a colourful amusement park style fun read on every single panel. Go CATS!

My fave 'blood? Badrock rocks!

Ratings: 8/10

2.77 (442) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #15 ... Marvel ...

And so it ends this saga of ours but what an ending it is!

Throughout this entire arc, though Wolverine has been savage, he has also shown to be a man who has honour and knows when to kill and when not to. However, here, he goes one step beyond and actually plays a surprising card letting the baddie thinks the latter is ahead. Heh! Good one!

Basically, at the end of this arc, the tale has not yet finished as Wolverine and Daken still hasn't settled their father-son animosity issues and the mysterious guy scheming behind is yet to be fully confronted. It does, however, give us closure of a sorts with psycho, Cyber

NO SPOILER ALERT

Other than that, you can expect some awesome action sequences but that's it. I cannot reveal more ... except to say what a bummer the ending is ... no Quesada cover

Ratings: 5/10