14. Star Wars: X Wing: Rogue Squadron #15 ... Dark Horse ...

Off and on, I will pick up the odd issue of a Stars Wars comics especially if it has Stormtroopers on the cover. Why? Because you know inspite of the armor and their supposed training, they somehow cannot shoot even the side of a barn and with one zap from any blaster, they dropped dead to the floor. So what's the point of the armor right? Hehehe!

As for this book, well, the numbering sequence is 15 but again thanks to the sub titles or whatever, this is also 3 of 4.

What's important is that you do not need the earlier chapters to read. Artwork interior is workmanlike and stiff but what's a  decent read is the story. We have some challenges going on in a world far away from the one we know. And as people conspire to kick out the Empire, it appears that the Empire is also busy masquerading as different enemies just to dig out info and cause instability because as we are told, divided? We fall

In this chapter, I have no idea how the cover relates to the interior because this scene doesn't appear and that little girl or woman? I cannot identify her with those within. But there is a high born lady who loses her temper and surprisingly with one hand she can even punch and slap the baddies until body armour cracks! How's that? I have no idea. Hehehe

Ratings: (5/10) only because of cover and the many deaths of cannon fodders within

13. Silver Surfer (1987) ... #70 to 74

You will note that for this review I didn't bother with which volume and this is because there were too many short-lived runs of the Surfer. Suffice to say, this is, as far as I know the longest ever run and you know why??? Becaaauuuuuuse ........ You have the awesome artwork of RON LIM!!!

Ron is born to draw this book, I kid you not. Just check out the covers below. All that shiny metal work and the energy signatures and lovely space backgrounds! I wished Ron would go and do another space faring book because I would soooo pick it up. Now don't get me wrong. I am NOT a Ron Lim fan. This is because his style didn't work for me when he doesn't do cosmic heroes like his run on Spider-Man Unlimited (Ugh!). So when I say he rocks on this book, boy does he ever!

Okay.

Basically I have reviewed the end issue 75 earlier in my personal blog. So here is the first 5 chapters. Hehehe! Going backwards, I know

Alright, the Surfer realizes that in his quest for heralds, and the challenges he faced in getting loyal employees, Galactus has now in his service a complete psychopath by the name of Morg. Morg is the type that has no problems serving Galactus because his entire life is one of service and his services has always been to fight and kill. And with Galactus? He gets to kill whole planets. So what could be better, eh? On top of that, always looking for ways to gain greater power in order to serve whoever is more powerful, when the opportunity comes to gain greater power than even what Galactus granted him, Morg goes all out for it

So knowing that alone, he has no chance against Morg, Surfer begins his quest by finding those who will join him i.e. all the former heralds of Galactus including a baddie, Terrax. As Galactus had warned Surfer off and shielded the ship from his cosmic senses, Surfer even when and rejuvenated a robot form named Airwalker whose robotic senses can detect where Galactus' world ship is

And so begins their earnest quest by recruiting, chasing after and finally clashing with Morg first and foremost while trying to get Galactus to see reason! This is a simple tale told in 7 parts and yet it doesn't feel like decompression storytelling because of all the action scenes and those beeeeaaautiful artwork!

For this entire arc? I gave it a 9/10 ... many may disagree with me but ... UP YOURS! Hahahaha!

12. Shadowman vol 4 #5 to 9 ... Valiant

First up, I didn't even know that this latest relaunch is volume 4! I have always thought there was 2 volumes before this. Ah well ... it just goes to show that for some reason, through my 30 years of comics collecting, Shadowman in its original incarnation was not on my pull list or discount searching list

Anyway, here in the now, this is tradepaperback vol 2 collecting issues 5 to 9 and they are roaring from the word GO! Patrick Zircher provides art and for those who know, it means you are going to get pages that have great storytelling yet with enough posturing and line detail work and for this book, it works .. it works majorly, at least for me!

So this second TPB is a straightforward continuation from 1 and as it is not your typical superheroics, I strongly recommend everyone to go get vol 1 first. Hey! It's valiant. Vol 1 comes at huge discounts anyway so no harm starting in on the ground, right?

Okay?

Good. Spoilers ahead. In this second chapter, we see our protagonist, Jack learning more about his parents and the people he finds himself with while simultaneously trying to cope with the force that is now within him. Unfortunately it is not on his own schedule as many forces come into play.

First is Mister Darque who has ended up in the realm where dead spirits roam and he is constructing something horrifying down there as his dreams of grandeur are indeed huge and crazily delusional. On the other side, there is lord of the undead, Baron Samedi and he is being given another stab at our world as well thanks to the machinations of Darque

So it's team ups galore and backstabbing at every turn as our new hero goes to town and trying hard to do the right thing and hoping not to fail. Because failure? Equates a heavy price!

(7/10)

11. GI Joe (Image) vol 1 #1 to 4

GI Joe had its first long run from the House of M and was a hit in the 80s before dying off and then relaunching at the House of I for another decent run before once again, recently moving house ... more or less. So this here is the first arc of Image's run

Why I chose these first 4? Because if you have seen the movie (part 1), this is more or less the inspiration with the tiny microscopic bugs that can eat through stuff including humans. Naturally the movie amped up the special effects and damage plus slide in backstories whereas the book continues where it left off

So in this relaunch, we have Destro making a play off to be head of Cobra all thanks to Cobra Commander never seeming to be successful inspite of the fact that he has had plan after plan of spending money and lives over the years! Makes sense, right? Even politicians get voted off. Except that in Cobra, well, there is no election, sort of, of the traditional sort

And that is the backdrop happening while on the front, Destro and the team take it all the way to the White House. We know they are not gonna win too but hey it's the comics. However, the big question here is "Who is Destro"?

It's a nice story, with enough going on (notice I didn't mention the Joes because ... well they are simply too bland and predictable) ... decent artwork too ... to make me continue collection for a year or so before DROPPING this hahahaha! Yup I am also one of those who dropped this title as it became repetitive. Sorry!

Ummm let's see ... what else? O yes. Love the J Scott Campbell covers and every issue has one in front by Campbell and a backcover quite frequently a painted cover. So in that sense you get more bang for your buck

For these 4 issues? I give them an overall 6 + 1 for the lovely covers

10. Captain America vol3 #2 to 6 ... Marvel/ Image ...

Recap time: for those who were not collecting comics in the 90s, after the superstar artists went on to found Image, within a handful of years, Marvel contracted 4 of its titles under the Avengers family to the Image group of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld's studios. Captain A is an Extreme studios production. Issue 1 I have covered it under my old blog

Okay?

Okay

If you type in Rob Liefeld, you will find TONS of people ridiculing him and this particular run of Cap A is definitely being used as examples of how bad his work can be. I admit that his proportion is way off here. Many times, the characters seemed too stiff such as the running scenes where everyone seemed to be flailing their arms wide for no reason. And as for facial? It's always mouth wide open or snarling with saliva dripping or spittle flying out of the mouth

But stop for just a minute. Stop concentrating on nitty gritty and just read the comic as what it is meant to be: comicbook entertainment; not a masters class artwork. Sure there are some comic artists like P Craig Russell who does work in the classical sense but that's the beauty of comics ... to each his own and the best part of Rob's work is that it has a very real sense of energy to each panel that makes you flip the pages to see what happens next and he is especially not shy when it comes to action scenes! Hence that's why I love this man's work regardless of what others may say

Some of the people who trash Rob ... can shockingly then proclaim to like manga! I mean isn't that generally over-exaggerated cartoony with almost no background? Sigh!

As for this series, the reason I am covering issues 2 to 6 is because it ends first arc and also Extreme studios involvement. So after issue 1, we see Steve Rogers finally accepting the shield back, finally accepting the fact that his current life is a lie including his so-called family (LMD) and went back to serving his country because ... he is needed, bitches!

Why?

Because good old Nazi influenced agenda is back and they are trying to recruit the youth to join their manifesto. So Rob's Cap A goes out to find the source of all this trouble and kick their asses. Joining him is an athletic young girl who will end up as a Bucky to Steve's Cap. She comes from a broken home where her elder brother (skinny dude) joins his mate serving evil Nazis and boy is his mate huge! Built like a house (literally) ... we also get lots of classic villains like the Red Skull and Master Man!!

There's lots of teeth gnashing and snarling, lots of spittle flying, lots of blood squirting, leaps, jumps, kicks and punching going on. And that's how Rob ends this arc. No apologies required, brother, this is just one killer arc of a book and honestly ... this is the first time I collected Cap A on a regular basis ... not from vol 1 or 2 (sorry Ron Garney sort of killed the work of the writer for me no offence meant pal) ... but this, Rob's run! Cheers (7/10)

9. Classix X-Men vol1 #1 & 2 ... Marvel ...

Back in the olden days, when Mutant titles were largely limited to only Uncanny X-Men and much, much later the New Mutants with the occasional mini or limited series, this series came out to remind us of why the X-people were such a hit the second time around. Do bear in mind that this is before the internet. Hence, we could not illegally or legally download and read past issues unless we buy them from the back issue bins. And when something is a hit, you can just imagine the prices, right?

So Marvel came out with this and I, for one, was happy. We have a beautiful new cover, each and every issue, courtesy of Arthur Adams and an additional short story from guest artists.

For this first issue, it is basically the tale of how the new X-Men was formed by Cyclops after he found himself free from Krakoa, the living island. So he set out to form a new group, train them and then go to Krakoa to free the rest of the old X-Men

After the adventure is over, the old team decided to leave Xavier's and try living a normal life. Cyclops remained to guide the new team.

This is back in the days before decompression story telling. And this is one tale that felt too rushed! A minimum of three issues would have been great with issue 1 spent recruiting and training, 2 for the big fight, 3 for conclusion and some quiet reflection scenes


Issue 2 is where the new team gets a taste of life as an X-Men. They were alerted of a threat and out they went to stop it. At least, this is not a tale of mutant against Magneto but rather ani-men (animal men). Yes, it does look and sound corny but it's a fast paced tale and there is someone guiding the baddies. For those totally not in the know, get ready for a shocking ending as this issue serves to show us that in the new X-Men, not only is the new team more international and higher on the power range but unexpected things can happen

For the value of the original story, I would have gladly rated them a 9 or 10 but with those covers and the extras? A definite 10

8. Power Pack vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ...

There was a time, a little experiment called Power Pack survived a full five years plus. Why was it an experiment? It was a book about a family where the kids gained super powers without the parents' knowledge. So while some are excited and want to be heroes, others just want life to continue as is. And in the midst of all that, as their powers came from aliens, there are the aliens intruding into their lives. During the height of its popularity, many fanclubs spawned with fanzines that went beyond the original 5-year-run. This was before the age of the internet. Imagine people from all over communicating via slow mail, sending artwork and short stories to be collated, printed and mailed back to all the members!!!

That was the type of book Power Pack was - inspiring fierce loyalty amongst its readers

And off and on, I did buy the comic though I was not a regular reader (but I could always refer to my sister's stash!)

Try this if you don't believe me on how good it can be. Number 12 marks the first full year and normally, during comics of that era, you get a double sized issue but here, it isn't. It's a continuing saga of the lives of the 4 kids and their sentient spaceship. As the cover shows, the Morlocks are the featured (so-called) villains of the piece and here, while what they do may not seem so bad in the books but if you think about it, it's horrific!

One of the Morlocks is lonely, an old lady whose kids are killed by humans. As she can project her emotions, that made life with her a nightmare. So some of her Morlock friends decided to go to the surface world to kidnap some kids for her and they needed kids with powers. Hence, the Power  Pack. On top of that, amongst the Morlocks, there are those who can scramble the kids memories and even twist their features to "uglify" them to Morlock styles. Ugh!

That's the crux of this story - child kidnapping. Naturally the remainder of the team had to rush to rescue and recruited X-Men Kitty and Nightcrawler along the way for a showdown below

The ending is quite sweet and touching and I do not wish to disclose it here but hope that you will seek this book out and give it a try (8/10)

7. The Mighty Thor vol 1 #352 and 353 ... Marvel ...

Right-o. In view of Thor: Dark World movie sequel being played in the cinemas right now, I am going back to the source material to let all of you who DO NOT read comics know that you should. Why? Well if you go back to this particular arc by Walt Simonson, it basically starts from the 330s and builds up with its climatic conclusion in 353 and the aftermath for easily another 10 or so issues. However, as I have reviewed earlier issues in my main blog, for this I am choosing the final 2 parts of the story thrust

352 is one long fight issue kind of like the middle chapter of LOTR. Basically we have Malekith's plans coming to fruition as he assisted the fire legions of Surtur to break free from their entrapped prisons and rained forth on planet Earth. We see loads of heroes in cameos fighting side by side with military, SHIELD and even regular policemen to defend the march of the fire people while in the end, they realized along with Thor that the only way to stop them is to go to the source and fight on both fronts.

First is the frigid winter that is clouding over Earth trying to break back the early days of our existence i.e. ice sheets with next to no creatures. And to do this, they have to fix the Casket of Ancient Winters

Next is to send all the aliens back to where they came from and also to close down the portal so that no more fire enemies can come charging through the portal

And finally, the heroes' quest? To fight against Surtur in Asgard

As you can see, we have so much going on in the 22-pages that will leave everyone waiting with bated breath during its original monthly run

The action is unbelievable and Walt's artwork is perfect. Everyone looks huge and muscular but not over the top like the Image boys not saying that Image is not great but Walt here gives simple lines that convey power. And let's not forget the lovely sound effect balloons. Here it is awesome and not just run of the mill Ka-Boom