155. PITT vol 1 #7 ... Image ... Dale Keown

For those of you buying from the back issue bins (I don't think there's a trade for this volume), you are lucky as you are spared the earlier challenge we regular monthly followers had because I remembered that even with issue 7, the schedule for PITT was far from regular. We had no idea if it will come out in next 6 weeks, 2 months or even 6 months. Yup, that's how bad it was!

But you know what? Every time an issue comes out, it's always well worth the wait. The only problem was that the artwork took center stage and thus, the 22 pages or so never felt enough because a read even admiring the artwork would be like 10 minutes or so. Thus most of us make a point of reading the multiple pages of letter columns. Hehehe!

So issue continues right off where issue 6 left off

We have PITT teaming up with some operatives from a covert arm called Axiom where Pitt is trying to find those who have kidnapped his human-link named Timmy while Axiom is looking for their missing agent Rai-kee and Rai-kee? She is looking for her police partner!

And this entire sequence takes place in a frozen wasteland so Dale gets to show off how good he is as an artist even when the landscape is so barren of details. Between him and the colorist, the work is just awesome

Naturally being a PITT comic, there are action scenes when they encountered those who kidnapped the missing people while another subplot involving PITT's family develops closer to fruition

So all in, it's a vital part of the ongoing saga. Almost flawless output once again from Dale

Ratings: 8/10

154. Ultimate Spider-Man vol 1 #7 ... Marvel ... Mark Bagley ...

Someone asked why most of the time, if I put a name at the title, it's the artist. Well, I admit it takes an entire team to produce a good book but for me, if I just wanted a story, I can read a book or watch a movie, etc. The main difference in the comic's medium is the artist that draws it out. Of course, in the actual technical aspect, the inker and colourist and colour separators are important too but hey it's my review, right? Hehehe!

Onward

After last issue, you know you are going to be at the very least a teensy bit curious how the next chapter rolls and this is it! Bagley's primary letdown this time is the cover. For this issue, the interior is miles better than it's lame ass cover. Sigh! I don't mean to bitch but if you turn the cover, you will know what I mean immediately

Anyway, almost the entire issue is one big fight and it is not boring thanks to all the spectacular angles. We see a youthful Spider-Man going all out until ... as fate would have it ... interference from the law wherein there's a lot of gunfire ... and the Goblin tumbles into the waters ... as this is a comic, you know it means he, the Goblin will be back

Shocker here for those who actually have never seen the movie, watched the cartoon or read a comicbook, is the reveal by Harry, Peter's best friend on the identity of the Goblin. So for once, NO SPOILERS here in this review. Hehehe!

It ends just like that - hints of the Goblin's return but for once, no cliffhangers. So if your wallet doesn't allow it, you may actually not buy the next issue. For me, not the smartest of endings eh? Still if you have enjoyed the first 7 issues, highly likely you would still give the next issue a try. I did. For the entire run of 100+ issues

Ratings: 6/10

153. Ultimate Spider-Man vol 1 #6 ... Marvel ... Mark Bagley ...

So from one ultimate title, let's move on to the next title - the one that started it all and gave Marvel comics the jumpstart it needed ... including the movies! In this issue, we continue where the first arc left off ... in fact, it felt so seamless like there is no discernible arc ... and perhaps that's why this relaunch work so well ... because when you read it, it feels like the comics of old ...

One chapter continuing into the next ... issue by issue ... and while there is arc by arc yet it all felt like one big story ... like chapters in a life ... the life of Peter Parker

Anyway before we continue we have to say that Bagley while awesome throughout had some parts where he overly cartoonized Parker in his civillian status ... sorry mate ... there were parts when his floppy hair became like that of a girl with longer tresses ... sigh!

But the action scenes were awesome!

So the story line ...

We started off with a few pages on the Bugle and Jonah ... which is good comic relief as who doesn't love the old ranting JJJ, right?

Then came typical school scenes of Peter adjusting back to normal life ... only to have BOOM ... the Goblin attacks ... and here is where Peter consciously need to decide to don his costume and save some butts ... unfortunately for him to his utter shock as he fights the Goblin ... it began to try and utter human words ... of his own name ... and that scared Peter more than anything for if his secret is out, then what will happen to his home life, right?

Ratings: 6/10

152. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

Okay so after the new beginning of 26 we go backward to issue 2 where we continue with the tale of the "Tomorrow People" arc ... in this issue Wolverine takes the spotlight (as always, eh?) ... but as this is in the early days of the Ultimate-verse, the translation of Wolvie here is also still fresh

We see him as a real tough and rough type of fellow ... and it seems like he is having troubles with the uniforms ...

Naturally for some reason, knowing his rep, Xavier sends his young recruits out to assist Wolvie ... and rightly the kids ask who the F is he and why is everyone speaking in hush tones about one man!

The X folks naturally found Wolvie ... how could they not? But at this point in the storyline, is Wolvie all he seems to be? This is the Ultimate-verse and perhaps ... he is not as lost as he seems and may not be what Xavier is looking for, eh?

Again like 26, for this issue you need to reach the end for that delicious twist in the tale that will leave you wondering what is ... really what ... and what is going to happen. So while the artwork for me is quite "muddy" and the colouring doesn't help but made it worse ... the storyline is enough to make me continue reading this series

Ratings: 7/10

151. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #26 ... Marvel ...

Wow we are behind in terms of our daily reviews by .. 16 days ... no excuses, eh? We will do our best to catch up. For those reading this in the future, what it means is that we are doing this particular review on 12th October 2014 but for posting on ... 26th Sep 2014 ...

Anyway onward onward ho!

This issue is significant in the sense that after the first 25 issues, the main thrust of a comicbook energy runs short ... so where do the awesome writers strive for next? Well, they start off easy ... or at least it felt so if you are reading the first 4 pages ... as we see a younger Charles and Erik planning for the future of their world ...

We see a very cold Charles leaving behind his son and "wife" ... claiming that he could not relate etc to children anyway ... and joining Magneto ... so if he is so cold himself, is it any wonder that he is going to be part of the architect to encourage Magneto to go all ballistic?

And true enough, as the pages flew by, we see the true design of Magneto. Now for once I wished ... that this book is told in more than one volume because you feel that the transformation of Magneto is sped up ... as they found a place and build their new world ... Magneto also builds his costumes and defences against Xavier

With the ending?

Wow! You just need to read this!

Ratings: 8/10

150. Bloodstrike vol 1 #25 ... Image ... Rob Liefeld

There was a time ... a long time ago ... in Image comics under the Extreme banner when they decided to do something different ... instead of issuing comics based on each month (or some fixed schedule) and each issue following the last ... Extreme decided to jump several months ahead to issue 25 of each of their group titles ...

Of course we can say that DC etc years later have followed their start by having line wide event such as OYL (One Year Later) ...

I personally like this 25 ... it shows the future of Bloodstrike and leave many people guessing who is under the mask because in the regular schedule of the 'strike we are still seeing a team whereas in the near future it is now a one-man operation who doesn't fly or anything except for being extra mean/ tough/ fighters/ grim/ grimacing type of character

The next achievement is to show that Extreme titles have somewhat a semblance of continuity and planning i.e. there is already a future so it means that the current stable of writers have planned that far even if not in detail ... so this is good ...

However, while I enjoyed this issue I found the plot rather straightforward and simplistic. Mysterious loner Bloodstrike goes toe-to-toe with generic baddies and their gigantic robot counterpart ... and ummm ... that's it?

Ratings: 8/10

149. Avengers vol 3 #1 & 2 ... Marvel ... George Perez artist ...

George Perez - one of my all time favorites - why? Because of his ability to put in so much detail in each page and panel of his work - he doesn't follow trends - he does his own work and it is enough to make him a superstar - in this issue, you will understand! Check out his figures

They have eyes with eyeballs not just plain white ... or grim and gritty ... or snarling teeth ... and check out his take on Wanda. What beautiful dressing which accentuate her gypsy heritage!

Anyway this issue marks the return of the Avengers from the alternate universe that they were stuck in for the better part of the slightly more than 12 months ... and we open up this issue with a BANG! Great artwork, fast paced storyline, twists and turns and all the action you can swallow

We have the Avengers back ... as we said above ... and naturally they are trying to readjust to being back and letting others know they are back ... in superhero mode as well as their individual civillian identities ... naturally the first question is who made it back? And who is going to be in the team?

Then before they could take a proper breather (and thus ensuring the book doesn't end up being a bore) ... their world is hit by something very strange ... which as our tale progresses turns out to be the one thing most of the Avengers frown upon ... magic!

Someone powerful is back ... and this someone has a plan in place to undo reality as we know it

If you have pondered about buying this ... our recommendation is BUY IT and READ IT!

Ratings: 9/10

148. Avengers vol 1 #238 ... Marvel ...

Well, with the current popularity in the movie-verse of Marvel characters and more specifically Avengers- related characters, not surprising that here we dive back into the Avengers back issue bins, eh?

This is a good example of a "normal" issue in the Avengers of old ... basically you pick up an issue and there would be some sub plots that reach maturity while others are moving along and still others are introduced ... then at the same time you are given your action sequences for the month plus some personal character development ... all this wrapped in 20+ pages in nice colouring and proper artwork that is neither flashy nor just full of motion lines

So how is this issue? Awesome!

The Vision had been injured in a battle issues ago ... and as the cover showed, in this issue he managed to find a way to return himself to "active" duty ... though the return is somewhat of a twist ... also as the cover indicates, his compadre or partner in crime is new Avenger in training, Starfox of Titan ... for apparently Starfox managed to assist him by connecting him to the intelligent network on Titan

So while the return is surprising ... in the hands of an ordinary writer, this would have been the culmination of the past few issues of built up ... but not here ... apparently there is more to come in the Vision's new abilities that will built up and up and up to even more spiralling storylines. That was how good the writers and comic book makers were waaaay back in those days

Ratings: 7/10

147. The Authority vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

There are many team books especially from the big 2 ... but when this book came out, I wished I was actively collecting floppies or singles or monthly comics ... call it what you want ... all I can say is that I am fortunate to come across this because every single issue in this volume is just plain awesome! From the artwork to the fast paced storyline ...

Basically this particular twist is that the super powers have decided to band together staying in a gigantic sized intelligent ship existing beyond the normal reaches of us mere mortals ... and when need arises they would descend upon our world to help end conflict and by this ... we meant end ... literally ... they would exterminate with no questions asked ... this is not Batman or Spider-Man where it is in their nature to catch and put criminals in jail ... only to watch them escape ... hurt or kill others ... and repeat the freakin' cycle!

Take for example the baddie on this cover - Kaizen Gamorra - ruler of a country - in other Wildstorm comics, he is a major baddie scheming and doing super-nasties on others. In this? I am going to SPOIL it for you ... so stop reading if you do not want it spoilt ... Kaizen got his @$$ handed to him ... well not just that but the good guys literally tried to destroy the entire city/ palace/ nation - bad ass to the max, yo!

Ratings: 9/10

146. Astonishing X-Men ongoing vol 1 #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... John Cassaday ...

 
Let's move to one of Marvel's more recent successful mutant titles. This started about 10 years or more now and at that time, it made a huge hit because it comes with artist John Cassaday. I am not sure why John is such a "star". Don't get me wrong. I like his work but I just don't think it is that ... umm ... special for my tastes ... it is good, clean lines, smooth story telling, cinematic style ... and he actually puts it a bit more realism ... and less flash ... in his artwork as opposed to the usual grim, grimacing, spit flying, posing style of comics ...

So aside from the artist, the story is quite good. Basically they take a bunch of the mutants and then while putting them in the thick of things in the Marvel and Mutant-verse, yet kept them separate from whatever nightmare crossovers there are so that the series reads well by itself

And that works for me as I read this in TPBs

The first arc has Cyclops as leader, Frost as his other half and team telepath plus overall bitchiness provider (love her quips and that dress), Beast for intellect, Wolverine because he is popular and surprising return, Kitty Pryde as teacher for the students and sometimes joining them

From the covers you will know that Colossus who has been dead for a while since the Legacy Virus storyline ... is back ... even though the explanation is kinda wonky ... anyway, what happens is our mutants encounter a new kind of baddie and in the course of their fight, they encountered Peter who has been trapped for a while but is now finally free ... but does the mutants believe it is him or someone else?

Buy the book and find out

Ratings: 9/10

145. Alpha Flight vol 1 #17 ... Marvel ... John Byrne ... X-Men guest stars ...

Well from that last issue of iconic ... you will have to wade through some grieving issues and one big action sequence before you reached this ... and the thing about number 17 is that it is part flashback and part moving forward and part grieving yet again on the death of James Hudson i.e. Guardian the leader of the pack

Well in this issue there is a fair bit of time spent looking behind the scenes of a number of the primary characters include the wife, Heather where she ponders upon the fate of herself, the Flight etc and she is being visited by an old friend ... thus reminiscences unfold ... and they think back to the first time the X-Men met the Flight and the atypical fight that ensues between 2 heroic teams

It's a generally quiet issue ... with the flashback giving us the thrust of the issue's quota for action

Typical of comics of that era and typical of Byrne's work, we are given some subplots with one of them developing and moving to the front at the end of the issue and it involves Shaman ... so that we all have something else to look forward to

So is this issue worth buying? If you have not read any of the earlier issues, I would say NO. If you have read a few, then yes this is a nice chapter in the greater ongoing saga

Ratings: 7/10

144. Alpha Flight vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ... John Byrne ...

Every once in a while, a cover becomes iconic beyond the strength of its own story and in this issue of Alpha Flight, even though the artwork is average and so is the colouring (heck I think it's horrendous sorry), it has become iconic in its own right with many others using it as a direct tribute in years to come ...

As for the tale, well, John took a unique way to tell the adventures of the Alphans with most of the first year's issues split into one main tale and one shorter back-up story of each featured Alphan's history which lets us relate to the characters in greater depth. And inspite of the short time available, John moves the tale of the Alphan's at a fast pace with a proper subplot propelling the characters until it reaches this issue, until we are confronted with the question of which Alphan is going to bite the dust ... literally ... not a fake death! Or at least I believe that was what John had in mind before other writers kept on bringing back the person who was killed in this issue

And yes there is a death

And no I will not SPOIL it by telling you who except that it is an important character and not just a fan favorite or some weaker less liked character ...

So now that you know there is a death, do we need to continue? What else can we tell you to entice you to read this book? The villains? And how they have connection back to the origins of Alpha? And that this is a well-planned vengeance scheme?

Nah! Just buy the book and read it already!

Ratings: 8/10

143. Adv of the Rifle Brigade: Op Bollocks #1 to 3 ... DC Vertigo ...

When the first series is so good, you know that it had to happen: a sequel! And I enjoyed this just as much. I am just wondering why the F there is no more. Perhaps the writer has run out of over-the-top ideas? Sigh! I guess better to end a series at the top than letting it scrape bottom eh?

Anyway, as the title suggests, this is literally and figuratively an operations assigned to the Rifle Brigade about ... bollocks ... for those not in the know we are talking balls ... testicles, okay?

To be more specific, it is Hitler's single testicle!

Yes, that's what this story is about. I kid you not. Check out the pics. Anyway, what happened is that during the war, it was believed that the Nazis were using all sorts of magical paraphernalia and oddly enough one of those sacrifices is the fuehrer's ball so ... it means the fuehrer now has only 1 left ... hehehe ...

Our dear Rifle Brigade is supposed to ensure that said powerful item does not fall into the wrong hands ... thus hijinks ensue! I won't say more. If the word testicles is offensive, this is not for you. Otherwise, do you really still need to read a longer review? Seriously?

 Ratings: 9/10

142. Aztek #1 ... DC ...

Every now and then, Marvel and DC will attempt to launch a new character ... it is a valiant effort especially since more characters do not survive unless they first appeared in another more famous character's books

As for Aztek, he is totally new - not related to anyone in anyway

The story is this: Aztek is a man who was raised in a faraway land ... being trained by his order to be on standby against the approaching darkness that will one day attempt to consume the Earth ... so here he comes with his funky helmet that gives him his abilities ... and knowing nothing about our world he tries to find a place to stay, how to fit in and all the while getting ready for the darkness ...

The fun in this issue is largely in how he handles our customs. And as for action scenes, yes there are some as this is after all a super-hero comicbook ... it is interesting though ... and what I liked is the surprisingly chunky artwork with a few lines to fill up the background ... for me, it works although I can imagine many wouldn't like it

So, it came as no surprise that inspite of the many guest stars to come flooding this book, it ended up being cancelled within the first 12 months!

Ratings: 7/10 (2 points for the artwork)

141. West Coast Avengers ongoing #3 ... Marvel ...

Remember in our last review we mentioned about sub plots and character development? Well, as the cover shows, this issue focuses on Tigra. Now, for those who do not really know about Tigra, a little history. There have been many different cat like characters in the Marvel U. However, the 2 weakest of them all is Tigra and Wolfsbane (New Mutants). Why? Well, Tigra is supposed to be the human embodiment of the strongest, fiercest warrior of the Cat People and yet all she does is behaving like a schizophrenic ... with tons of phobias ... generally ineffective in fights

Honestly, I have no idea why she wants to be a superheroine. A loooooong time ago, she joined the Avengers and left within a few issues when she realized the Avengers' time of villains are way beyond her. So when WCA is launched, I was surprised she is included. Maybe as the token scantily clad woman of the team? Hahaha!

Here, she reflects upon her yet again dismal performance of the past issues where she was either ineffective (against Ultron obviously) or failed to win any fight (Man-Ape). So what does she do? Why she decides to prove herself to herself by going out to find and kick Kraven's @$$

Kraven is supposed to be the mightiest warrior hunter in the animal kingdom until he did the craziest thing by trying to hunt Spider-Man. I mean, come on. Spider-Man is a man. So how can you even consider hunting him? Much less make it into a TV show or whatever? Anyway, let's shelf that aside for the moment and switch SPOILER ALERT ON

Did Tigra win? What do you think? Hahahahahaa! If she did, why do you think the cover had Hawkeye and Mockingbird to the rescue? Naturally, in the contents, she gave Kraven a hard time until he used one of his many potions on her and she was whining away saying that she had him if only he didn't use his "tricks"! Come on, dear! What do you think this is? A sport with rules? You are fighting villains and you get to use your full abilities like claws, speed, strength. So why should your opponents not use their full array? It's because of your inability to pre-plan that you lose out all the time. So stop whining, baby!

Ratings: 6/10 (mainly for the action sequences)

140. West Coast Avengers Ongoing #1 & 2 ... Marvel ...

From the limited series, let's move on to the ongoing series. So obviously you know that the limited series was a hit, eh? Well, honestly it was a good read and if you get the chance to try the ongoing series ... we are quite sure you will enjoy the first year to two year's worth of stories because it was concocted so well with subplots from villains to heroes being developed progressively ... with cliffhangers after cliffhangers to bring you back for more ... the way a good comicbook should ... and the art of that period ... that actually looks great with the vibrant colouring job ... perfect comicbook joy!

So the first issue is a double-sized special and it cross overs with the Vision and Scarlet Witch maxi series or 2nd limited series so buy that as well, eh? Hehehe! And no, I am not working for Mile High comics or Marvel ...

Anyway we start off with the heroes chilling out and enjoying their new compound in LA ... having some well deserved downtime ... and while this is going on, we also get a glimpse of their personal lives with Wonder Man slowly casting off his "worry wart" persona ... with Tigra becoming more of her namesake (including sexual appetite) ... and with the new silver and red Iron Man whose identity at this stage is not known by all his fellow WCA members ... in fact about the only people at this stage with no dramas are Hawkeye and Mockingbird, the two "non powered" members of the team ...

And so all good things ... must come to an end ... and what a big ending it was with the WCA being attacked in their own compound ... they have no idea what to expect ... as the villains had planned it thoroughly ... there is the Man Ape, Ultron (yes Ultron), freeing Goliath, Nekra, Grim Reaper and others ... and it was not a straight out assault but more of one person here, one person there ... and before you know it, the WCA was completely wiped out!

Issue 2 opens after the continuation in Vision/ Witch where our heroes are captured ... finding out the real plan of this entire fiasco ... and the craziness of the Reaper who is trying to get his brother some peace! What a whack job!

Lots of fighting ... lots of action scenes ...

All in all? Aces!

Ratings: 8/10

139. West Coast Avengers Limited Series #2 ... Marvel ...

The ... Blank ... really? Seriously?

Don't get me wrong. I loved this entire limited series and the first two years or so of the ongoing series but what a lame ass title for a villain and putting him on the cover? Ugh! But after you read this issue, you will realize ... hey it ain't all lame ... it's just whoever thought that this type of cover would attract readers ... darn!!!

Anyway, after the first issue, we have the makings of a new sub-division of the Avengers. So naturally, there must be a villain, right? And in the west, it's not just super-heroics but also super-villains who are engaged in the same type of villainy as regular folks i.e. crime

At the back of it all, there is a master criminal, someone far more powerful than the Blank. However, at the start, the Avengers didn't know and crazy or not, the Blank even gave them a challenging time. Hahaha!

But the most interesting thing about this comic is the development of camaraderie and easy banter between Hawkeye and his new team mates more than the fisticuffs. And the artwork with colours ain't all that bad too. This is 80s comics done right, artwise and colours that is

Ratings: 7/10

138. X-Men/ Alpha Flight vol 1 #1 and 2 ... Marvel ...

Alpha Flight, that Canadian super team, somehow seemed to be popping up as guest stars in the X-books and at the height of their popularity, they even had a team up limited series with the mutants. This is their first limited series together and in this reviewer's opinion, the best

If you are a follower of Marvel mags in the 80s, you may recall in one of their bullpen bulletins where then editor of the X-books even came out with a cute-sy write up on how to read the mutant books for the summer owing to the crossovers and some relating to the past i.e. retcon

But even if you do not know the history, this 2 issue series is enjoyable. First, check out the artwork. What you see here is what you get inside. Clean lines, enough backgrounds that does not overpower the foreground

During this juncture of the mutants history, Cyclops is still married to Madelyn Pryor as Jean Grey is still dead. Anyway on one of their flights (both Cyclops and Madelyn are pilots) they encountered some trouble. Naturally the X-Men being linked to Cyclops via Prof X were jolted by Cyclops' psychic distress cry and came to investigate

At the same time, craziness happening in the north means Alpha Flight has been summoned to drop by and find out what's going on ... and what's going on is a magical fountain that suddenly appeared and everyone touched by it is able to achieve their full potential ... this includes powers and curing illnesses ...

To their surprise, it came from Loki and he gave them his word that he would do them no harm with that fountain or the world because it is not forced upon them and they are the one who welcomed its touch

So what happens next? Many doubt Loki and his true intentions. So they try to investigate what is really going on while others ... see this as a blessing that can be used for the greater good ... example: Puck is no longer a dwarf and the sickness within is healed ... Madelyn is now blessed with the healing gift of the fountain's fire itself ... and many others

However, at the core of it all is one thing ... what is the price, not on the outside world but on each individual that the fire fountain robbed even as it blesses? It takes some of the team some time to realize ... and when they do ... well the cover to issue 2 says it all

Ratings: 8/10

137. Xtreme X-Men vol 1 #4 ... Marvel ... Salvador Larocca ...

Salvador Larocca is an unbelievably awesome artist. Not only can he meet deadlines every month, his artwork is sooooooooo gorgeous. I mean, just check out the cover. Has Sage ever looked so hot? Heck, how many cartoon ladies looked so good in a skintight bodysuit, eh?

In addition, in this series, the stress is that there is no inking and that the printing is done based on Salva's pencils. However, as it is experimental, quite often the pages can come out too muddy or the colours too strong. Sigh! Still you can see the goodness in the pencils, right?

Now the only odd thing is that until today, Salva is still working at Marvel ... with one big exception. His artwork is becoming more stylized (as is to be expected) ... with the main challenge being that ... it now looks so rush and barren especially on the backgrounds ... almost as if he is merely churning work out and not caring ... see his later X-Men works or even the current stuff ... his last decent run was in Iron Man ...

Okay ... as for the story ... it is a continuation from the first three issues ... where this particular team of X-Men is formed to track down Destiny's Diaries that have been hidden/ gone missing ... and they finally come face to face with another team and their arch nemesis who are also hunting the Diaries ... the X-team came across and paid a heavy price in issue 3 ... now in issue 4, they go all out (not backing down) to trace the whereabouts of the villains ... and we also get to see a cameo by Gambit ... after all, he is a thief, yes?

Who is the villain? Someone named Vargas - rich and powerful living on the borderlines of society in shadows ... we are never quite sure of his powers ... seems to be the case with many new X-Villains, eh? Look at Apocalypse and Sinister

Ratings: 6/10

136. Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #189 ... Marvel ...

Let's fast forward several years or rather more than a decade to issue 189 ... where the X-Men comics were hitting the top of the charts regularly ... and their popularity is such that off-beat issues are permissable without denting their sales

This is one such issue

All the main X-Men (a depleted team) is recuperating from the last big fight against the Dire Wraiths and also busy feeling sad as Storm plans to take a hiatus to clear her mind and find herself ... that sort of thing ...

So against that setting, this issue sees 2 mutant chicks just deciding to get out of the X-Mansion for a wander about. Who are these two? As the cover shows, Magma (from the new mutants) and Rachel (baby phoenix) who at this point have arrived at the X-Mansion but is not yet an X-Man. See what we mean? Not one full X-Men is taking the lead and yet it is such a good story

So we have Magma, a girl who grew up in a civilization that is backward when compared to ours and Rachel a girl from the future - what a perfect pair to go exploring the city together. Unfortunately while strolling about, who should they encounter but Selene, the Hellfire club's new black queen??? And to their surprise, both girls discovered that they have both had dealings with the bitch and none of it good ...

Selene who is not just a mutant (ability to control non organic objects) but also long lived (external?) and a sorceress (wielding magic, baby) ... is going to give the 2 X-ladies far more than they bargained for when they tracked her across town to her lair ... only to find her waiting for them ... and that it was potentially a trap (SPOILER ALERT)

A fight ensues ... but are the girls up to it? And if not, who is going to come to the rescue? Buy the comic, find out!

Ratings: 7/10

135. Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

From such a high as the last issue where we are introduced to the concept of mutations, seeing five new superheroes facing off against the ultra-powerful Magneto, we dropped down what seemed to be from a mountaintop to the bottom of the valley for a second issue ... the Vanisher ... I mean, come on!

This is the original Vanisher, not the version that appeared in later years where he has actually mastered his powers to prove a little bit (not much more) menacing

So what does this guy do? Why, he can teleport over a distance and he uses his ability for thieving. Yup, you read that right. And in this issue, that's what he does while the X-Men tries to stop him. 5 X-Men and 1 Prof X tracking down a cowardly villain who looks suspiciously like Spidey's vulture - bald headed, aged,  scrawny ... sigh ...

Ratings: 4/10

134. X-Force vol 1 #3 & 4 ... Marvel ... Rob Liefeld ...

These 2 issues feature Spider-Man as a guest-star and aside from that, it also has something less done in American comics and that is to draw using horizontal slant instead of the more vertical style for the comics

And best of all, it features one of my all-time favourite tough guys, Juggernaut!

If you are looking for a story that is focused more on being a joy to read and entertaining, then this is the perfect story arc for you. If you are one of those who are looking for realism in the artwork or continuity in the storyflow, then please avoid this like the plague, okay? So no whiners here please

For me, this is awesome. We start with Juggernaut and his best bud, Black Tom (generally talks tough in most of his appearances but ultimately useless as all his planning are quite childish aside from a few genuine threats usually in earlier X-Men issues) trying to make a quick buck by taking over a tower filled with rich businessmen (see what we mean by no whiners? Because the storyline is ... meh!) ... so suspend your disbelief and get ready because X-Force comes a calling to take down Juggy and friend

Why?

Because it allows them the opportunity to pose and strut and spout off some macho bullshit and that just so WORKS here. Damn! It is so fun to read. So what if Juggs sometimes looks bigger than a house? Check out that cover for 3. This is comics. Exaggeration is fine if done right and Rob, the artist kicks so much ass here in the done right department. Hat off to you, sir!

Anyway, aside from this fight, there is also a sideplot of Sunspot with his new bud/ mentor/ supposedly friend Gideon who belongs to an offshoot of humantiy called the Externals as they ... apparently have long lives and ... loves to keep ponytails (see Crule later on in this series). Hehehe!

Are there explosions galore? Heck, yes!

Are there lots of fist fighting and big guns? F***, yes!

So what more do you want, eh?

Ratings: 8/10

133. X-Factor vol 1 #4 to 6 ... Marvel ...

Every good new villain needs a good team of grunt ... and a good built up ... and "now" classic Apocalypse was first introduced here in this story arc ... so let's review each issue by issue, eh?

4 - we see X-Factor being called in under the guise of Mutant Hunters to a boys' academy from a phone call that one of the lads was a dangerous mutant only to have a heart-to-heart talk with a terrified young child. It is only this that made X-Factor questioned their method of operations and whether they are helping or making the situation worst by encouraging a mutant hunting scenario by "humans" ...

The villain of the piece? New character frenzy as seen on the cover. She has a tough hide and super-strong ... as in very strong ... but otherwise reminds me of Power Man, Luke Cage who is super strong, steel hard skin and African American

And at the end, we see shades of the mastermind to come

5 - here X-Factor follows up on various leads before encountering the villains you see on the cover. Tower the guy at the top of the page and Frenzy at the bottom of the page are two X-Factor has encountered before and even though operating alone, they managed to give X-Factor a hard time. So by combining as a group with 2 others, you would think they would mop up the floor with our mutant heroes, eh?

Well such is comics that this is not so ... still a good fight scene though

6 - and so we finally get to see the bad guy in all his nasty bad guy glory. It's one busy, busy comicbook from the get-go with so much happening including action sequences. So all in all, if you can, get the tradepaperback or digital copies so you can read it all in one seating. Worth the time spent!

Ratings: 7/10

132. X-Factor vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ...

It's strange. Whenever I see this cover, in my mind, it's the weakest issue in the first year's worth of X-Factor stories and yet ... when I flipped through there is a fair bit of developments going on ... that it is actually an integral part ... so I am not sure why I never quite liked this issue

Let's do this like a check list, shall we?

Action - yes - there is a fight between the mutants and new threat (at that time)

New Villain - yes - see above

Critical Change in Primary Heroes - yes - Hank McCoy, the beast in human form experimented upon himself and that's him in bandages on the cover

Supporting Character - yes - see the pink boy? Yup he was introduced earlier but by end of this issue, having no home to go to, he ended up being foster cared by X-Factor

See? Lots of stuff but somehow nothing quite sticks

Ratings: 5/10

131. Young Indiana Jones #5 ... Dark Horse ...

And now for something totally different ... once upon a long ago, there was a series of adventure type movies made famous by Harrison Ford called Indiana Jones (hahaha) ... and years after its popularity has waned ... someone decided to do a tv series of Indiana Jones younger days ... it criss-crossed between his boyhood until his teenager years ... I guess it didn't do too well ... because both the tv series and this comic series got the axe not long after

As for me, I found both actually entertaining ...

In this issue, Indy is in his teens and getting caught up in World War 1 (has to be, right? After all during his movies, it was WW2) ... for some reason, young Indy became a messenger on the field of war ... and delivering messages across battlefields is not easy ... and it isn't as if it was just taking a bike ride in the countryside

As the cover already indicates, there is adventure littered with danger ahead ...

The thrill of this series is not so much about whether he survives or not as we already know he would even sire a child who takes after him ... but rather how a younger Indy would blindly get into all sorts of tight spot and get himself out of each with just his strength of courage ... it's a fun issue

The only downside is that the artwork was trying too hard to be "serious" and thus came off as somewhat dull ... perhaps it is intentional ... for those who like a bit of history, the writer include in each issue a detailed discussion somewhat like a history lesson of what life was really like during the phase each issue takes (as poetic licence had been used by the writer in the actual comic so here he is setting the facts straight)

Ratings: 5/10

130. Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1 #9 ... Marvel ... Jim Valentino ...

Well, I watched the movie in the cineplexes twice already and enjoyed it ... so I figured what the heck right? Let's do another review of the original set of Guardians. Why issue 9? The cover says it all. When Jim Valentino launched this series, he was smart enough to understand that all us loyal Marvelites would definitely want to see who survived to the 31st century or at least if not physically whether any of our favorite characters inspired future heroes ... although 1 thousand years down the line? But then again this is comics

And here in issue 9 ... the Guardians found a place where the mutants of Earth survive and thrive ... and they are now the ruling class over a cluster of other beings ... using their natural born powers to be the controlling regime ...

Magneto would be proud

Except in this case, as the cover indicates it is a descendant of Wolverine, a female version ... way before the clone of today ... and the costume she is wearing is also homage to Wolvie's brown costume ... her claws may not be sharp and strong as adamantium but still tough enough to give the guardians a hard time ... together with her bunch, some of whom are dumb while others are selfish or needy or cowards ... and you know she is going to have a tougher time than she deserved ... even though she herself is ... psychotic!

Ratings: 6/10