34. Generation X #1 ...

I loved loved loved this book for several reasons and there are also some interesting trivia about this particular series when it was first launched. So rather than do a conventional format for review, I am going to do this in bullet point form:

1. Back in the days when comics do not relaunch every 12 to 24 months, a new ongoing series like this is much appreciated and it launched with proper planning. Here we have Chris Bachalo, at that time an upcoming superstar. When you check out his pages, get ready to be stunned by his energetic, cartoony hyper realistic background style! Loved it!

2. Cover is chromium or whatever they called it. Loved it! Over the years, I have bought even extra copies and give some away

3. The characters - some are new introduced over a major storyline in the X-titles while others have been around. Basically it is New Mutants generation 2 ... where we have a bunch of young mutants band together in this new school run by Emma and Banshee

4. When it was going to be published, Image had another title where they advertised as Gen X. Lots of problems ensued or supposedly ensuing and in the end, Image changed theirs to Gen 13

5. Characters - we have Paige (younger sis of Cannonball from the New Mutants) whose ability is to rip her skin and reveal a new self suited to whatever situation she found herself in, Jubilee, Jono (guy whose lower half of his face was blown apart when his powers kicked in), Skin and a few others

6. New villain - Emplate - creepy guy who eats the marrow and genes of mutants. Hence they bumped into him at the airport as he was busy looking for a gourmet meal!

The ending with gateway is equally brilliant and leaves you wanting more. Upon thinking about it, there is not one iota of change I would want in this book. It is just perfect the way it is

Ratings: 10/10

33. Fantastic Four vol 3 #1 ...

13 issues or approx 1 year and that's the end of vol 2, Heroes Reborn ... thus the mighty family of the Four made their way back into our world. I am not going to go back and recount how they came to be because this is a review of an ongoing comicbook not a movie. So there!

What was good about this book is that Chris Claremont returned to the Marvel U on a non-mutie title. Even though I find in today's re-reading of his works to be too verbose but it is still classic Marvel storytelling and ably assisted by Alan Davis

So we have the 4 back home only to find out that during their absence, even their old home cum office cum headquarters have upped and been utilized. So they moved out to new quarters temporarily and the fun is in seeing how the family interact in a new environment with less space and also getting to know their new neighbours. Naturally as this is a superhero book subplots abound especially about future villains while for this book, there is a told-in-one villain as well

I won't spoil it any further by revealing details but suffice to say, do please go and buy this. I have read it several times and even bought the variant cover!

Ratings: 8/10

32. Freak Force vol 1 #10 ... Image

During the hey-days of Image (not that they are gone mind you), each of the Secret Seven ... I mean founding fathers ... subsequently had spin-offs from their main titles. Erik Larsen has to-date been the most steady chap still working on his Savage Dragon. However, as is the style of Larsen, he will introduce characters, both good and bad, so very often and sometimes before you know more about them, they are gone! Bit the dust! Killed!

One concept that didn't die is Larsen's team where a group of misfits decided that unlike the Dragon, they do not want to work with the police force and decided to head out on their own setting up shop as Freak Force. For their money, they are supposed to be like special investigators cum bounty hunters. Ah well ... you knew it wouldn't last but for the time that it was around? It was good fun

Issue 10 is the best as far as I am concerned. We have a character (I am not a regular follower when this series first came out) supposedly created in a fan contest or something being featured as this issue's surprising villain of the piece and he is not really a villain. Told in one issue, this issue is a breather between the drama and intrigue amongst the varied cast of Freak Force where the attention is on a kid who has been dumped upon by school bullies and a ferocious mom! BANG one morning he woke up and guess what? He got his freak on i.e. mutant powers kicked in and he discovered it the same way Peter Parker first found out about his organic webs in the movies

However, instead of being altruistic and mega-psycho planning to take over the city, kid goes out dishing some and before he knew it, things spiralled out of control into ... some deaths and mutilation. Freak Force being the shoot-first-ask-later type naturally came charging in and trying to apprehend the kid. Turns out, kid is tougher than them! That's why you see the Dragon on the cover! And heck it seems as if the Dragon is not as tough as this kid too!

In the end, it showed a different side of the Dragon as they managed to calm the situation and got the "villain" in custody. It's a simple, straightforward story but still a story worth some thinking over especially the ever-present issue of bullying in all its forms and long pent-up rage

Ratings: 8/10

31. Fighting American Dogs of War ... Awesome Entertainment ...

Ummm according to the blurb and the geek historians of comics (yes it's a very real thing that can even earn you an income), Fighting American the character's creation is somehow tied to the creators of the original Captain America at Marvel. I will not go into detail on which one was created first and who sued whom and why. You can google that

However, when Rob was off the Heroes Reborn Marvel universe cap, he got on the bandwagon of this and launched some mini-series on this hero

Honestly, there is a lot of posing and gnashing of teeth and choppy storytelling and as for the contents, lots of clichés and rip-off storylines. In short, nothing original. But before you think I didn't enjoy it, I did! I even bought the variant covers. Hahaha!

Why?

Well you have Rob on covers and he did a decent job here but more awesome than Rob, there is S Platt! About the only gripe I have is actually the interior pages. It should have better colouring, paper and production values! Sigh!

So what about the story? Well we have our Cap ... I mean Fighting Am ... and he is now back in the driver's seat of his destiny. Then there is the matter of flashbacks to a past that may not be what it seems. Aside from this, they are then called in and encounter the China equivalent of FA another overly muscled chap who jumps and bounces and throws blades (naturally!). So who is the good guy and who is the bad guy? And what's up with his kid sidekick anyway? The human one not the robot one!

Ratings: 6/10 (points are mainly for the covers)

30. Fantastic Four vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

Jim Lee is at the height of his game and popularity when he did this series and what's not to love? Check out the cover below and imagine every single page inside is as gorgeous as this! I know some old loyalists actually made some snarky remarks about this run of the FF ... well that's their loss. I was not a fan of the original FF until sometime near 400 and then this came along and BANG wow was it good!

Sure we all know the original tale of how the Four came to be - flying into outerspace and getting bombarded by cosmic rays and what-not and in this retelling of that tale, there is no condensation or decompression. It is told all in one. We are introduced to Sue Storm being equally brainy while her brother Johnny is more into fast cars. Then there is Ben who is the tough guy and buddy of brainy Reed Richards. So one day they all took the rocket into space and crash landed back on earth with all these super powers except for one problem - the moment they crash landed, they encountered the Mole Man and so begins their superhero tale

And the artwork is so gorgeous that I enjoyed it from start to end. So what if the tale is slightly familiar? This is a good intro to the team as far as I am concerned and good for newer readers like me ... a literal jumping on point

Ratings: 10/10

29. Excalibur vol 1 #1 & 2 ... Marvel ...

There was a time waaaaay back in time when a new comics ongoing title is something to be looked forward to eagerly ... and not to be met with moans of "Another spin off?" "When will it be cancelled or relaunched?"

And during those days, the house of M's mutants was reigning the top of the charts for years. And this, Excalibur was one of its few spin offs. Following the events of the Mutant Massacre, three of the X-team needed time out to recuperate and though not fully well yet, they somehow found themselves in the UK

The 3 X-people are Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Phoenix. The 2 still recovering are Shadowcat and Crawler and Phoenix is Rachel at the height of her powers and always dressed in second skin-tight red spiky yummilicious outfit

Anyway, in the UK, they naturally ended up with Captain Britain in his second uniform (loads of white) and his love, Meggan who can shape shift and do a whole host of other stuff

The best thing about this series? Both art and story are a treat! Just check out the cover. It's perfect! Not too cartoony and not too serious. Same goes with the writing. The threat in this first 2 issues is Warwolves. Those silver coloured animals that look metallic who is going around eating the essence of humans and donning their skins as disguises. Why are they doing this? What other powers do they have? That is what Excalibur must find out

And all this is happening even as the team is just trying to adjust to each other and move home to a lighthouse in a remote part of UK

Ratings (8/10)

28. Elektra vol 2 #1 to 3 ... Marvel Knights ...

I think this is vol 2 but there were earlier runs of limited series or what-not. Anyway for me this series is significant because it introduced me to 2 creators who were sooooo awesome even at this early stage of their careers: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer) and Greg (Cover artist)

At that time, many reviewers were making fun of how Austen gets assignments as writer or artist but I never minded until this series. We have a great storyline seeing Elektra on all sorts of assignments and finally growing as a character with some depth instead of just skimpily clad, sai-wielding assassin (not that there is anything wrong with it) and who comes and spoils it with his wooden art? Chuck Austen!

No wonder he was replaced within a few issues

I mean come on check out these awesome covers! Ugh!

Ratings (5/10) ... would have been a 6 or 7 if not for Chuck

27. DP 7 #3 ... Marvel ...

And speaking of alternate spin off lines, here's an entry from the New Universe ... where one night, a light flashed across a world that is supposedly more like our own real world with no superheroes ... and suddenly people found themselves with special talents

DP stands for displaced paranormals

And in this issue (3), we have a bunch of escapees from some agency learning to live life on the road, getting along with each other, finding new uses for their powers while trying to decide if they even want to hang around each other or go home ... if they can go home safely and if their families will have them ... and while all this is happening, they run into the real law as well as the agency's agents who are also DPs ... all in all, a lot for 22 pages, right?

Yup, that's the time when there is no decompression story-telling ... and in this case, it works ... the artwork back then is generally workmanlike house style ... if only it has the chances of today's lusher framing sequences, this may have been a treat

Ratings: 6/10 (2 points for the opening sequence where they trashed the law and then have to save the policemen!)

26. Doom 2099 #1 ... Marvel ...

Years ago ... Marvel was still experimenting with creating new lines of comics that differs from its current line (New Universe, Star, Epic) ... and this was meant to be 100 years in the future!

So all lines were based on existing characters with 2 exceptions: Ravage 2099 (new character created by Stan Lee) and Doom 2099 based on a villain

Firstly, I got this because of the enhanced cover. Yup I am one of those who may not be pleased about the price hike for covers but I buy when prices go down. Hahaha! It's better than variants. But the story was certainly sufficiently engaging to get me coming back for more back issues whenever budget permits

Basically the premise is that in the future someone sits on the throne of Latveria but is he or is he not Doom? There are rebels trying to oust him and on one day, out pops someone in beaten armor who claims he is the real Doom, the original from 100 years ago. But is he or isn't he? And will he help the rebels kick out the present ruler and then betray them? If so, why would they work with him?

So as you can see, the premise is not so much superheroics but intrigue, betrayal, etc with time travel thrown in the mix for good measure

Ratings: 7/10 (1 point for cover hahaha)

25. Dazzler vol 1 #18 & 19 ... Marvel ...

Hey it's our 25th review and to celebrate this we are going to post something off-the-beaten path so to speak. From the title, you will see that it's a supe that you have not been actively seeing or hearing about in a long while so why?

Well, Dazzler is Alison Blaire whose mommy left her daddy and she grew up with ultra-strict daddy and housekeeper only. Her dad is a judge and she is expected to follow in his footsteps except that daddy's precious is a rebel at heart and all she wants to be is a disco-singing; roller-blading star! Yes, Dazzler's first uniform is actually a disco-outfit and not your traditional supes uniform. Hence the make-up (thanks to KISS)

And to add more drama to the soap opera, Alison discovers that she is a mutant with the ability to transduce sound into light. So the more sound she absorbs, the more powerful she can be. Initially she was more of a screeching damsel in distress who skates away and uses her dance move agility to combat the baddies with the occasional light show. However, as the series progresses she learns to use her powers in ever more destructive manner like lasers and what-not

For the first two years of her series, almost every issue is inundated with guest stars from the X-Men to the Inhumans to Galactus, then there is Spider Man and Spider Woman, the Enchantress, Rogue and even Doctor Doom, I kid you not

Perhaps they figured this was a good way of ensuring people pick up her book but whatever the justification it worked for nearly 4 years. When the guest stars stopped popping up and we get to the grim n gritty of her trying to survive career and family, that's when lagging sales killed the book

So why did I choose these 2 issues to highlight?

Check out the covers. Brilliant artwork and a Hulk-level villain that ends up absorbing everything Allison can throw at him. The tale only ended with Black Bolt's presence in 19. So it's action heavy after a few pages into 18 and just doesn't let up until 19 with little bits and pieces of subplot plodding on so it doesn't slowdown the action ... which is how comics should be. Entertaining!

Ratings: 7/10

24. Darkhawk #1 and 2 ... Marvel ...

You know how every now and then Marvel and DC will attempt to diversify its lines by introducing new characters as solo or group? Sometimes they have appeared as guest stars in an ongoing before spinning off into their own series while other times, its bang straight in

Darkhawk is Marvel's offering in the age of grim n gritty comics and surprisingly it lasted quite a few years before it got axed. However, unlike other characters that would get dusted off the shelf every once in a few years with a limited series or one-shot or even failed ongoing relaunches, Darkhawk has never had that luxury. Yet oddly it has a "cult status" until today

It's not that Darkhawk has disappeared but rather he has subsequently appeared as guest stars and members in non-mainlining team books and it's pretty much quite regularly too. So the origins?

Well, it's about a young man who lives with his mom and 2 younger brothers. Like all people with a single parent family, they struggle with expenses and being the older brother, he is trying to juggle being the man of the household while pursuing his dreams and a hot babe! Hahaha!

So one day, out on a lark, (o he works part time too) he found a jewel and when touched transforms him into this weird uniform. So here in issues 1 and 2, our pal tries to find out about his powers. But he wasn't given the luxury of time as hoods are coming to home and hearth and messing around his neighbourhood. With issue 2, to up the market sales, we have both Spidey and Hobs making appearances

And that's it in a nutshell. The artwork is workmanlike at best but it tells a tale. It's neither great nor bad just a typical comic adventure of its time and in its own way actually works because it doesn't cash in on the growl and over-posturing styles of the trend then

I admit that I followed it for about 6 issues before dropping it simply because of limited budgets and the fact that you feel not so engaged with the protagonist

Ratings: 5/10

23. Cyberforce vol 1 limited series #1 to 4 ... Image ...

[I admit that I am a fan of Marc Silvestri back when he was on Uncanny X-Men but never collected his works on Wolverine and though the action scenes are great, there is always a sense of rushed-ness to his pages as if he has taken on too much]

This is Marc's offering to the house of I when he came onboard as a co-founder to Image. Rather than come up with a host of ideas on his own, Marc decided to use what he was famous for at Marvel - mutants. Hence, Cyberforce! They are a bunch of mutants being 'mind-controlled' by a 'bad corporation' that uses cybernetic enhancements on them to make them even more 'powerful'

A bunch of them decided to go rogue and started freeing others similar to their predicament and thus with that, they decided to combat the 'evil corporation' wherever it may exists

The baddie is Cyberdata. However, in the vein of all good 80s Hong Kong flicks, as if that wasn't enough, there is even more to the mix in the form of a baddie called Mother May I who has some sort of weak hypnotic powers. She is all in blue ala Mystique of X-Men and has like a third eye on her forehead. She is having an affair or mind controlling Kimata of Cyberdata while trying to work out a political angle for she and her fellow mutants while simultaneously trying to qualify herself as a mutant terrorist. She even talks to inanimate objects like the Statue of Liberty ... I kid you not ... just to accentuate her weirdness or madness

And of course to give Cyberforce a villainous group we have SHOC troops and their 'leaders'

What is the saving grace? The interior pages and their awesome colouring are even better than the covers! And Marc's artwork improves by leaps and bounds from issue to issue. You just check out issues 1 and 2 and see the huge improvements

Ratings: 8/10 (for interior artwork - score 2 points)

Happy 2014 Comics fans

Here's to continuous improvements to the comics market especially from the house of M and their Mutants family ... time to get revived properly guys!