186. Doctor Spectrum #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... Gary Frank ... cover artist

Hmmm let's do a quick history lesson here. Years ago, there was a superteam called Squadron Supreme from a different version of Earth. There the super powered folks are not that many but there they decided to use their powers for good as in actively and came to rule their world. Naturally pitfalls galore blossomed and they cross-over into our 616 Marvel Universe

When that maxi-series ended, there wasn't much more to be heard except the occasional guest appearances ... that is until this gentleman and Marvel decided to give it a new spin! And what a spin it was. They named it Supreme Powers and gave it several limited series and a maxi/ ongoing series ... that reads very well ... especially when the artist is Gary Frank. We loooooooooooove Gary Frank artwork

However, like all successful series, miniseries will be generated to flesh out certain characters and one of the main characters from Supreme Power is Doctor Spectrum. He is the guy who has a colourful crystal embedded in his hand and can use it to generate his super powers. He works for the govt and ends up giving the other main alien powered alien a hard time

So this miniseries intends to explore his origins

But it is such a major bore

Why?

Firstly it is the artwork. I don't mean to slam the guy but his art while adequate is quite boring and at times lacking in detail. Compare his with the gorgeous covers by Gary Frank and you will now what I mean ...

Then there is the storyline. It really does feel like decompression story telling. Basically it tells us that the government is running experiments to find out ways to use this special crystal they found in an alien spaceship. However, until our protagonist comes along, no one has survived

Unfortunately due to an incident (please read the book as we are trying to cut down on spoilers), our protagonist became entwined with this crystal and became unconscious. Now while the military tries to heal him, in actuality, the crystal is the one holding him back from waking up and instead takes him back on a psychological trip through his formative years. And that's the whole problem. Every single issue is a flashback to those incidents ... and in each issue in his real life, the poor doctor is trying to get the politicians not to pull the plug on Spectrum ... and that's it really

Lots n lots n lots of flashback with almost no plot progression - ARGH!

Ratings: 2/10

185. Dazzler vol 1 #38 ... Marvel ...

And now to wrap up our string of Dazzler reviews, we skip and hop from the last post and as promised, give you a glimpse of when the comic series tries to fix what went wrong by ...

(a) Giving Dazzler an updated look from disco diva with make up and skates to Aerobics instructor Dazzler in blue and headband (sigh) - I actually have no problems with both

(b) Guest stars - X Men's Wolverine and Colossus - I guess they believe that with this, the sales will surge and I am sure this issue did but there isn't much happening here to make the casual fan come back for more. What do I mean? Read on

Basically, after the last few issues worth of life moments where Dazzler tries to be regular but still faced challenges in the form of all sorts of situations that actually require the usage of her mutant powers, she decided to go back to school to fine-tune her powers. Where is that?

Why the X School for Gifted Youngsters and as part of her program, she gets Wolverine and Colossus. As for the reasons why? It is obvious. Wolverine then and Wolverine now has the same qualities - tough guy and fan fave. Add together obligatory strong guy and you have a winning issue and ... it works!

It's interesting to see them track down Alison the Dazz and equally interesting to see her giving it to them. After all, she isn't an amateur even if she doesn't always think in terms of heroes or rather super heroes

It's a good read - told in one and a good turn in direction for the series. However (SPOILER ALERT) it isn't enough to turn the series around and within 4 issues, Dazzler the ongoing series ended for good. It has never been revived even though she then went on to star in a 4-issue limited series with the Beast and became a member of the X team from way back then

Ratings: 7/10

184. Dazzler vol 1 #27 ... Marvel ...

This is going to be an odd review for this title because we are not going to talk so much about the contents but rather the change in direction for this book that ... probably signaled that the end of this series is on the horizon. You see, Dazzler started with tons of guest stars in each issue after issue be it from famous solo heroes or groups or even more established baddies like Doctor Doom and Galactus (yes Galactus!)

Unfortunately, for reasons we do not know, after a solid 2 year run, the series publishing schedule got stretched a little longer ... never a good sign ...

And why is 27 significant?

Well as the gorgeous cover shows, it features painted artwork. Now waaaay back then, such realistic looking painted covers were a rarity. However, Bill S has been engaged to do this book's covers from 27 onwards for several more. Interiors were by someone else

And as the cover indicates, it is more serious, quiet, slice of life stories which means there is a teeny tiny bit of super powered action but that's it. Sigh! I guess the market was not ready for this type of stories as opposed to today's market where decompression story-telling would have allowed this series to survive

Except for a short Inhumans cameo in issue 32 ... basically this trend continues until 35 ... and then they started bringing in new villains and x-men but by then ... it was too late!

Bye Dazz ... see you around some day

Ratings: 3/10

183. Dazzler vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

From the Canadian super team, we turn our attention to the only female mutant super-hero who actually has her own ongoing series. I mean, we know Storm is strong and Rogue is a long time fan fave while X-23 is a Wolvie knock-off. Yet all of them have only like one-shots and mini-series while this disco glam lady started straight off in her own ongoing ... and even has a 4-issue limited series with the Beast before she became a part of the X-family!

So while today's readers may slam her and her retro look, all I can say "You go, gal!"

In fact the latest redesign of Dazz makes her look so weird and her behaviour is so not Dazz anymore. Sure people grow and change but that person in comics now? Except name and powers she is nothing like the Dazler of old

So this is her second issue and we are featuring this issue is because ... in order to ensure she has strong sales ... Marvel wisely threw in a ton of guest stars. Basically you have everyone from FF, Avengers, X-Men and solo (at that time) player, Spidey too!

Why?

Because Dazz is performing in a club and her super powered friends are coming out to enjoy and support her. Naturally for the sake of some action, we have the Enchantress! But hey she isn't the main attraction here and like we said, her appearing is merely to give the story some action scenes. Otherwise, it is still a good read about a young woman trying to find her way in this world without compromising on her dreams of being a singer instead of a lawyer like what her dear old dad wanted ... and we can all sure relate to that, right? Hah!

Ratings: 7/10

182. Alpha Flight vol 1 #23 ... Marvel ...

Our third back-to-back review on Alpha Flight and we decided to choose number 23 - one issue short of 24. Why? Because it has so many critical plot points including:

(a) It is the culmination of the last 6 months and more of plot development with 24 being more of a fight scene to end all the storylines

(b) It has an awesome cover that to us is even better than 24

(c) It has a giant sized good guy tearing into another giant sized bad guy

Get it?

Okay

As for the content itself, it is basically about the strange effects on Walter Langkowski or Sasquatch. Over the past few issues, with each transformation, when he is in pain, he seems to be more bestial ala the Hulk

And here, we see that Snowbird, who is semi-goddess finally realizing what is going on with Walter i.e. Walter is not tapping into any scientific energy to transform himself but rather he is merging with one of the ancient nasty beasts of Canada i.e. one of the baddies!

As she does so, Walter becomes totally the beast and so they duke it out with Snowbird transforming into a white Sasquatch while Walter is the orange chap on the cover. It's awesome the fight!

And the ending?

Shockingly brutal ... and that leads us into the next issue!

Ratings: 9/10

181. Alpha Flight vol 1 #19 ... Marvel ...

Once more, we have to say that this is awesome comicbook storytelling at its best! Why? Look at that cover. We see a supporting character that has been building towards this - her emergence as a new fully fledged super heroine - to the point that the villain of the day (another newbie) is not even mentioned on the cover!

In terms of villains, it continues from the last issue as the Flight, what remains of them, not even a proper team, is assembled in response to their comrade, Shaman's mystical plea. They come, one and all including his daughter Elizabeth to this particularly bleak part of Canada in the hopes of piercing some mystic barrier and tracing the evil to its source ... to better understand it and thus defeat it!

It's all awesome artwork and super fast pacing in terms of storyline ... even the flashback was awesome with an awesome twist!

But what's more important here as the cover clearly indicates is Talisman - or rather how Shaman got his daughter to become the Talisman. And one has to wonder ... is she being manipulated and is he the manipulator here? But we know it will be another story for another day and knowing Byrne we trust him to make it ... you guessed it ... awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

180. Alpha Flight vol 1 #18 ... Marvel ...

In this issue of the Canadian super-team's set-up, we see that it is still a book more concerned with superhero soap opera instead of good guys versus bad guys as the writer, John Byrne continues to give us loads and loads on how each of the characters move on with their lives post-Guardian and the guy has been offed since issue 12!

Is it entertaining?

For me, yes! And this is me speaking not just because I am a huge fan of Byrne's X-Men and FF but rather this particular series itself. I admit the cover is kind of weak but it serves to tell us of the many splinters and threads of storylines this issue contains

On the left, we see Heather standing in front of a mirror posing with the outer suit of her husband's uniform. Will she don and lead the team? Willl she don it with the armor thus giving her power or be just a motivational leader on the ground whenever the team is off on adventures? And will the team accept her as their new leader just because she was Guardian's wife?

On the top, we see Snowbird and her human lover/ husband ... and as the caption reads ... the two of them needs to make a decision ... what is that decision? Will she stay with the team? Will she stay with her human lover? Will she ... well, you get the picture

And finally as this is still a superhero comic, the bottom right panel addresses this as Shaman sensing something is wrong somewhere goes off to investigate only to encounter yet another powerful magical entity coming out into our world and this entity is far more powerful than even Shaman can ever suspect. Will he be able to counter such nastiness on his own?

Ratings: 7/10

179. Amazing Spider Man vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ...

From moving forward, we take a huge step back in time ... travelling to the early days of Marvel's first super star solo character i.e. Peter Parker - the star of many a movie and cartoon and comic book series!

Why this issue?

Well, it shows how good the artwork and storytelling really is in the old days. Here we see Peter continuing to learn about his new found abilities. Unfortunately, as life would have it, school work, peer pressure, bullying and dear old Aunt May is not enough to keep him busy

Enter: Doctor Octopus!

Yup like the movie, this issue shows us the origin of Octopus and how Spider-Man encounters him. And in the first fight, the 4 arms actually give Peter a run for his money.  Inspite of his Spider sense, it just isn't enough as an attack can come from 4 different angles at any one time simultaneously. And even though the arms are strong but not yet from Adamantium (like in later versions), it is still plenty tough to knock Peter silly!

So it's interesting to see how Peter managed to figure a way to overcome Doc Ock!

Ratings: 6/10

178. Avengers vol 1 #250 ... Marvel ...

Now this is how you do an anniversary or important issue number. You see, back in the oooold days, when there is a new issue 1 or 12 or 24 or 25 or 50 or 100 and every 25 issues, Marvel and even DC would come up with a special double sized issue chockful of goodness and this issue is a great example!

We have a villain who finally came to prominence here and we have double sized issue because ... guess what? Huge fight, huge development and it all ends in ONE ISSUE ... talk about chockful, eh?

The villain: Maelstrom ... his powers? More than just growing big obviously and then there are other supporting him although he is the big honcho with the powers himself and he definitely gave the entire team of Avengers a run for their money

Again, we won't tell you what happened because we want you to READ THE COMIC

Hahaha!

So roll call time - who is in this issue of the Avengers?

Vision - the robotic dude with intangibility and solar powers and his mutant wife, the Witch

Hawkeye - the archer who is back for another run at Avenging

Captain Marvel - the female version who is an African American (trying to be politically correct I guess) and one of the most powerful ever as she can transform her entire body into any form of energy she envisions and even shoots these energy from her hands etc

Wonder Man - ionic strong man who cannot "die" in the conventional sense anymore

Hercules - he of legend and super strong

Starfox - eternal long live strong chap from Titan - alien - and his other powers include affecting people's happiness emotions!

Iron Man - do we need to elaborate?

Mockingbird - wife of Hawkeye and only an ex secret agent from SHIELD

Tigra - failed Avenger each time she appeared so I am not sure why she keeps on coming back and why they keep on giving her chances!

Buy this? Please?

Ratings: 8/10

177. Avengers vol 1 #249 ... Marvel ...

Okay ... let's skip about 100 issues down the time line or this translates into about 8 years worth of comics ... and let's see where our Avengers are ...

Well, as the cover tells us ... this is a crossover event book. Now bear in mind that waaaaay back then, crossover events were a rarity and this issue ... the Avengers didn't take the lead but rather one of their members i.e the storyline originated from THOR's own book and spilled over here

You see, in the world of THOR for more than a year now, Walter Simonson (writer again) has been busy building up a storm of a storyline introducing new characters that are from waaaay left field and throwing Thor into all sorts of nastiness while showing us the brewing storm coming ... and in this case even the brewing storm has many sub plots and he HIT us hard with the ominous ... blunt ... deliberate ... and it works!

So finally, the fire demon Surtur has managed to break out of his prison ... and using the dark elves (Malekith being their leader) together with his own fire demons ... they have broken the casket of ancient winters ... and unleashing eternal winter on earth!

So while the Earth is consumed by freezing cold thus causing havoc ... and a lone human scrambles to fix this situation ... Thor and the entire Asgardian legion is trying hard to stem back the tide of the demons as they come pouring through various portals in different realms/ dimensions ...

Get it?

Well ... if you don't basically all you need to know is demons from Thor's background is invading Earth and Asgard hopping to rule all .. and Thor coming to earth to help fight the tide of nastiness ... and as Avengers are Earth's mightiest heroes ... naturally they came to the defence

What is really good is we get to see regular human soldiers taking a stand too and not leaving it to the super heroes only. So basically the conclusion is ... in THOR ... and next issue in Avengers is a new storyline ... feel free to skip this issue if you want but if you like Thor, then this is good to get!

Ratings: 8/10

176. Avengers vol 1 #158 ... Marvel ...

Remember the last panel from the last issue?

Now as you recall from our last review, we were rambling on about writers ... and not artists ... which is a rarity for this review column, eh? Well, here again, they proved how good the writers were because that final closing panel is opening right into this issue and it actually leads into the massive blow-out as per the cover!

And just who is this wonderful writer? None other than Jim Shooter ... who in time will become EIC of Marvel and who will go on to develop Valiant and Defiant

Actually in this very issue there is a new villain who in time to come will be one of the Avengers deadliest villains but as you see, here in this issue, he doesn't even rate a cover appearance so good is the storyline ...

The focus is on the Vision and his continuing doubts about his humanity after meeting Simon Williams, the man whose brain patterns served as the foundation of the Vision's programming (yes it's all very confusing so you should read the comic hahaha) ...

Anyway as the cover shows, as Simon offers Wanda (the Vision's wife) a comforting arm ... the Vision's brewing emotions went into overload and the 2 men (or men and android or synthozoid) ... decided to have it out ... while the rest of the team came running in breathless after their knocked about from last issue ... and decided to let the 2 combatants spar

All the while, in the back ground, a new villainous plot is materializing while the hint from last issue takes a back seat here ... who is the villain in this issue? GRAVITON

Yup master of gravity ... we got his "how I came into my powers" storyline told in a few effective passages ... we got a demonstration of his powers and how he is becoming kookoo ... and we even got to see how he decided to become a supervillain ... you have the Avengers to blame actually ... what do we mean?

Go read the comic - hah!

Suffice to say, when the heroes finally got their act together to confront the baddie, the same thing, except worse, happened just like the last issue! And we ended this issue on a definite cliffhanger. So if anyone who read this and like it will definitely be back next issue!

Ratings: 8/10

175. Avengers vol 1 #157 ... Marvel ...

And now it's time we head back to one of the all time classic comic titles - the Avengers - the original run - the one that inspired all of us and the movie - and check out that cover! The artwork may seem stiff by today's standards but the cover composition is classic comicbook goodness. Everyone fallen at the feet of something in grey and the words? Why they merely reinforce the cover!

As the cover shows, the main cast for this issue is Captain America, Iron Man (chairman of this batch),Vision (back when he was still alive and married to the Scarlet Witch), Scarlet Witch (back before she became cray), and Yellowjacket

Those not in the cover include the Beast (Hank from X-Men) and Wasp (wife of Yellowjacket)

Basically, after the huge run of the previous arc, this is meant to be a breather of sorts but in the classic old days of comics, even this issue, as we see the Avengers relax and unwind in their own ways with some going out while others tinkering in the lab and even others in the kitchen ... the writer manages to dig back to the early days of this series and pulls back an old storyline and made it the main thrust of this storyline

It has something to do with that grey stone title blurb ... and we will give you a hint ... Defenders

Aside from that, as we read through the entire comic, we are given just the tiniest hint of something else brewing ... something that is actually the cause of this issue's villain even though we didn't get more than a few panels and ... even that they kept the "brewing" feeling down to a minimum

So it's all around great storytelling whereas in most other comics ... the guy behind the picture tends to be a tad bit ominous thus drawing our attention in while here ... the guy behind the picture is almost like a prop

Good reading this!

Ratings: 7/10

174. Young Avengers #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... Jim Cheung ...

[Jim Cheung is the artist and here his work is so perfect a fit unlike when he did Maverick]

Anyway as the title indicates, this is not your typical Avengers but once again, Marvel's attempts at assembling a new team of superheroes hoping to create more titles for us loyal readers to collect (hahahaha) and enticing newer readers (I hope). Was it a success?

Yes and no ... while it is a good read, unfortunately, trying to retain the title for writer Heinberg (initially) meant that after the first year's worth of issues were out ... there was a dearth on the market owing to the writer's schedules (or some such) ... so we see them as irregular guest stars and after a while some other limited series came out ...

For me, it kind of lost steam after that ... and I didn't bother with subsequent issues and what-not ... they could have done it like tv series with seasons 1 and 2 and whatever as they talked about ... but even tv series doesn't have an indefinite hiatus between one season and the next ... just marketing spin from Marvel I guess ... sad because I really enjoyed the first 12 issues here

Basically, this tale takes place after Bendis first stab at Avengers by destroying that team ... so young characters with ties to some of the old Avengers (not all direct ties) came across each other as they tried either solo or with mates to honor the memory of their fallen idols ... and naturally they decided to band together to "fight the good fight"

As the covers show, the members include Patriot (Captain America), Iron Lad (Iron Man obviously), Hulkling (Hulk - what else) who is actually a shape changer, Wiccan (Scarlet Witch), and a female Hawkeye

This first arc has as its core villain - Kang the conqueror and we know he is no pushover! In addition, to make matters worse, this Kang has a relationship with one of our heroes and definitely the arc will end with one of the young heroes not making it out alive

Its told with a lot of heart ... and even the back story is interesting reading ... I am glad they made the series in a readable arcs so that the first 12 issues were plainly awesome ... and I gladly forget the subsequent series and guest-series hahaha

Ratings: 9/10

173. Y The Last Man #1 ... DC ... Vertigo ...

This series like most Vertigo series has adopted the fixed format i.e. they run for years but with a definite end in mind. Anyway, so it has ended but we are revisiting it because it is such a good series at the start although like all long-running series tends to lose steam mid-way and then a rush to the end

Why is it good?

Well, let's start with the awesome covers. All of the covers are super gorgeous and the interior artwork is a bit workmanlike but is perfect for the series because there are no spandex types or big action scenes

And as for the story, well no spoilers here but imagine waking up one morning ... waltzing around and discovering that you are ... literally the last male left on planet earth ... last male except for you monkey

Our man, Yorick is such a man ... so disasters abound everywhere ... from hospitals and what-not with all the men dropping dead ... is it some biological agent gone wrong? But to have immediate global effect?

While Yorick goes out exploring and trying to find his way to his girl friend, the world of women must now try to make sense of what happened and find a way to continue ... which as all of you can imagine would later include propagation of the human species ... so you know a lot is going to come in the months/ issues ahead and that makes this series so refreshing ... we have both the bigger picture and the quieter more human moments mashed together so well here

Congratz to the team who came up with this!

Ratings: 8/10

172. Aztek #3 ... DC ...

Well talk about a tight continuity ... here in issue 3, the continuity affects both the super hero fight aspect and Aztek's social life. In fact, there is so much to highlight in this slim copy that let's do this by the numbers:

1. Aztek goes on his first ever date - and being raised in some remote/ obscure world, with no experience on dating or even going out to dinner in a restaurant, the scene is worth a broad grin if not a small chuckle. Even the ending is touching

2. Aztek goes on patrol - to help the so-called little people and his naivette in handling thugs is so funny. Of course halfway through the comic you will see the link back yet again to the main thrust ... a link that we didn't see coming

3. The villain of the day - and this is tied back to the hero that failed to survive from issue 1. We see how this lady became a villain and though supposed to be beautiful, cos of the artist, she looks ugly. Naturally as this is Morrison, the ending came fast with a few good fight scenes and then it's the END

And those are the highlights of the book ...

Ratings: 6/10

171. Aztek #2 ... DC ... Grant Morrison & Mark Millar ...

I like this guy ... I even liked the artwork even though it is a bit "chunky" and less refined ... so why do I not put the artist's name at the top? Well, because the artwork is "chunky" hahaha! And the fact that it is co-written by today's hottest writers i.e. Grant Morrison and Mark Millar ... although way back then, they were more of a cult fave than a raging fan fave

Anyway, in issue 2 is usually when sales drop and retailers order less copies of a title ... so if it is a success ... it's harder to find and thus chances of price going up is easier

So how does this measure up?

Well our hero is quite charming after finally finding himself a job and digs in his new city. He is still adjusting to life of a "doctor" while waiting for the big bad guy to finally manifest in our reality. Now if the baddie is this super powerful entity, what makes the foundation that raised Aztek think he is qualified? He has next to no experience in real combat and while his armor gives him super powers ... everything he has is nothing special. Super strength but not really that strong, flight but not really fast.. need we say more?

In this issue, the highlights are that the story moves forward at a fast pace. We are introduced to a new baddie who is trying to fill the power base in Vanity. Simultaneously we see the good guys analyzing what's going on in the underworld scene and a guest star by then Green Lantern, Kyle

And the absolute best is that Aztek still has no name. So while they bust the bad guys and have skirmishes no one is able label him ... until someone did that is ...

All in all, a fast moving comic book in terms of storyline although the artwork can be a bit "choppy"

Ratings:
6/10

170. Psyba Rats #1 to 3 ... DC ...

Pssst for those who do not know, in the world of Batman, there have been tons of Robin ... some you can say are "canon" ... and some are "alternate realities" ... anyway the main few (please don't PM for those who will say I miss some because this is not meant to be exhaustive listing) are Dick Grayson (1st chap), Jason Todd (the one who got killed via phone call survey back before the internet), Tim (the one with the longest running solo series) and Damian (Batman's son) ...

This limited series is during Tim's era

And Tim is one of those non-super-powered but seemed like super-powered type of character. He is smart at everything, intuitive, super athlete, super agile and super fast at picking up fighting styles! I kid you not. If you meet him in school, you will hate him. Hahahahaha!

I am not sure why they did a limited series when it could have easily been slotted into his then ongoing series but this series focuses on some of the "lucky" people who have gained their abilities overnight and what they did with them

So here are 3 persons, youthful who decided not to be altruistic but to make a living. As the cover shows, the girl has arms that are metallic. Her mates inc the chap on the left typing away and another that is inside the screen!

As for the military chaps, basically they stole some info to sell to others and naturally the bad guys do not want to leave evidence behind. So they are attacked viciously and in comes Robin to save the day. While I bought the 3 issues, I have to wonder ... although the bad guys are bad guys ... but these 3 kids are not angels either ... Robin should have thrown their asses in jail or brought them to the law!

Still, the workmanlike artwork ... works ... and the storyline is decent enough (although nothing special) for an afternoon's read

Ratings: 6/10

169. Mighty Avengers vol 1/2 #2 ... Marvel ... Frank Cho ...

As the next Avengers movie is coming and its trailers are everywhere, we thought it timely to review this issue

During the initial run of Mighty Avengers featuring babe-artist, Frank Cho ... naturally we have to have as many pics of curvalicious women as possible including ... a female version of Ultron! Yes, that's him/it as her/ it on the cover ... hehehe

And this issue is awesome!

Following from the Avengers first outing, here the problem builds up and leave the Avengers stumped. With so many challenges coming, it is beginning to look like the disassembled arc from years ago that launched the Avengers comic into the sales stratosphere charts ...

And to the horror of the Avengers, in this issue, they found out who!

It is really cool to see an Iron Man whose armor may have been compromised ... and suddenly gasping and gagging ... and BANG ... it's Ultron but as a chick! Hahahahahaha!

Naturally there are loads of action but as this is Bendis on writing chores, you just now this is not going to be a told in one or told in two kind of stories but rather a loooooooooong series. Still with gorgeous art, tons of action and scene after scene of supes in full uniform, this is an awesome read

So go and BUY it already!

Ratings: 8/10

168. Medieval Spawn & Witchblade #1 ... Image ... Brandon Petersen ...

During the second half of the old 90s comics boom, Image began to have spin-off in the form of limited series for its popular characters and in this, we have from Todd Mc's Spawn and Top Cow's Witchblade coming together ...

Featured artist is Brandon Petersen .. he who has jobs at X-Men, who has some of his own fans but somehow never reached the height of his fellow superstar artists ... even though his lines are clean and his work is detailed ... that's life, eh?

Anyway, as the title implies, this series is not about the current Spawn and Witchblade but the past ... so Spawn ... is a power granted to certain people and with it they come back to life (not as zombies mind you) with some energy to carry out certain tasks before that energy level ends ... as for Witchblade, it is an artifact that somehow prefers to attach itself to action-oriented babes who go in for skimpy clothing

And there the two of them from the past joined together to combat a new threat to existence ... naturally their initial meeting is one of tension before they teamed up ...

As you will notice, we do not focus on telling you too much but instead gives you only the set up. Why? Check out the cover. If you like the art, you will buy the series. Otherwise, you won't bother

Ratings: 6/10

167. Marvel Comics Presents vol 1 (I think) #74 ... Marvel ... Wolverine ... Barry Windsor Smith ...

Back in the last boom days of comics, Marvel decided to launch an anthology style series (not their first and certainly not their last) and this series came out at a fast clip and lasted a decent run. However, as it is anthology, each issue has more than one story with some more than 10 pages while others merely a couple of page turns

To anchor the series, Marvel decided to use the mutants and primarily Wolverine which naturally makes good commercial sense because the mutants were ruling the sales charts and Wolvie is their number one fan fave member

Well, we started this series review with issue 74 instead of 1 because this issue is somewhere in the middle of the latest Wolverine arc ... one with Barry Windsor Smith doing the bulk of the work in his now-signature style ... and where the arc has become legendary!

It's the story of Wolverine's creation or rather the story of how he came to possess adamantium skeleton told in full rather a flash back scene here and there ... and it is surprising that Marvel allowed it to be done here instead of in a core X book or Wolvie's own solo series or his own limited series!

Well, if you want to ask whether it is good, heck, yes! They even had the X-Men movie based on this series. What to us really works besides the story and the awesome artwork is the overall feel of the story. It is executed with a focus on emotions ... we get to feel Wolverine going through the pain of his creation ... we see the drama of the men around him ... where even some of the "cold" and "uncaring" do have challenges of their own ...

And finally when Wolvie breaks out!?!?!? WOW!

And issue 74 is perfect to see all this ... the only problem is the 2nd half of the comic that is filled with some lame ass stories

Get the TPB where they have compiled the entire Weapon X series into one book


Ratings: 7/10

166. Iron Man vol 2 #3 ... Marvel ... Whilce Portacio ...

Remember our rant from the last post? Well here we are proven right. Look at that cover. If you really scrutinize the details, yes the armor is done well. But as a whole, it fails to pop. Now whether that is due to production works or the colourist or whatever, I have no idea but as an end user or a buyer or a fan, that cover just fails to grab attention and looks "old"

However ... and thank goodness there is a however ... anyone who has read and enjoyed issues 1 and/ or 2 ... will pick this up on the strength of how good the earlier work was and WOULD NOT BE disappointed. There! We said it in caps!

We have the end of the fight between Hulk and Iron Man as we see them tear through each other and their surroundings. We see Tony realizing the Hulk is not Hydra or Hydra-related and that there is more going on beneath his former radar of attention span and we see .. Hulk and Tony zipping through the air, dive bombing into the sea ... and lots more

What do you want to know? What more?

Enough, right!

Suffice to say, that this issue ends the first arc and leaves us in a good position for the rest of the series. It ended well not with 100% closure but with sufficient points of satisfaction. So it is now time to move forward ... and we will definitely be back with issue 4

Ratings: 7/10 (1 point deducted because of the cover sorry!)

165. Iron Man vol 2 #2 ... Marvel ... Whilce Portacio ...

As always, we start off with a little rant about the artist and the artist for this is Whilce Portacio, one of my all-time faves. I admit he has a very strong signature style and after a while most of his characters seemed to look alike including the hairstyles but hey ... it's a style (not the hairstyle) that I enjoyed ... similar to Art Adams if you know what I mean

The only I usually have to Whilce is his cover-work. Most artists really give a good showing for cover better than interiors but somehow Whilce is lacking. Once in a while, his covers are good and this issue? AWESOME

For those who have read the first issue, you will be aware of what is going to happen here. Even though the title is Iron Man, in the relaunch universe of the 90s, this particular first arc of Iron Man has double duties as it explores Tony Stark's transformation into Iron Man and Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk ...

Hence if this is titled Astonishing Tales: Iron Man/ Hulk it wouldn't be amiss

As the cover clearly indicates, after the end of 1, an enraged and confused Hulk arises from his creation looking to settle some scores and release his first pent-up rage at the perpetrators (Hydra). Unfortunately Hydra is not the main chap around because Tony, who is injured and now drapes the IM suit ... ran into him and thought ... he is perhaps ... one of the causes of the destruction around them

At any rate, with the Hulk's rage, he does what he does best - cause destruction

And so it's time for a titanic showdown and what a glorious fight it is! One issue is not enough to contain all the slambang goodness and we find ourselves at the last page eagerly awaiting issue 3. This is HOW a comic should be - escapist entertainment, over-the-top action, good artwork, great colouring ... all wrapped in an entertaining storyline

Ratings: 9/10 - to get 10, I would have loved a nice foil enhanced cover hahaha!

164. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #41 ... Marvel ... David Finch ...

This next chapter in the arc is completely stand alone which is great. It is so well-crafted that you would not realize it is part of an arc. In fact, it reads not even like an X-Men book but can be a solo Wolverine one-shot

We open the book to find a picture postcard small town

Next a kid wakes up

And to his utter amazement ... he finds that everything is in his house ... just not everyone or anyone else ... he looks around but couldn't find anyone ... and at this point, you are thinking perhaps this is an episode of Twilight Zone?

SPOILER ALERT

Well, this is one incident where we get to see how bad sometimes mutations can be. In this case, this innocent looking lad, who is your average kid is going to get a f**king wake up call the day his powers kicked in!

Talk about nasty out of control powers

Basically by the time the lad realizes what is going in, he has done tons of damage and the only X-Man who can assist him is Wolverine. Yes. Wolverine. Assist a boy! For this particular chapter, the book ends quite ... abruptly ... but with no hidden motive and hints of a bigger picture. So it makes the book feel complete by itself ... sigh ...

Very powerful and emotional tale here folks!

Ratings: 9/10

163. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #40 ... Marvel ... David Finch ...

You know what the best thing about this review blog? Because we don't do reviews of new comics, we do NOT need to follow whatever's new in stores this week, be it floppies or TPB

So we skip six months down the road when the first arc by Finch and Bendis (Writer) is over ... and now we start something called New Mutants ...

Being a HUGE fan of the 616 New Mutants (vol 1) ... I bought this thinking we are going to get to see Ultimate versions of the NM like Magma and Magik ... but trust Bendis to be different ... and in this case, it is different good not different for different's sake only

So the title and that cover ... well basically the New Mutant here is Angel

What is awesome is that as you read this issue, you will see that basically the trials and tribulations from previous arc continues here ... however, instead of having a breather issue ... Bendis cleverly utilizes this arc (instead of 1 issue) to introduce NM that the school goes about gathering ... so we get adventure, newbies and simultaneously tension from one subplot to the next

Here we see the fallout from the last issues where Jean actually kills others ... and oddly enough her guilt seems a bit less dramatic than what it was ... so Cyclops being her dear sweetheart keeps feeling something amiss and each time, he almost voices it out ... but kept holding back as is consistent with his character

On the flipside, we Angel and how his introduction causes a huge stir amongst the religious belt

And simultaneously we see something brewing in Hank Pym ... the Beast ... who is beginning to feel that ... maybe being a hidden mutant adventurer is not what he wants ... that and the tension with Storm and Angel ... makes ... a new love triangle of sorts?

A good opening arc!

Ratings: 8/10

162. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #34 ... Marvel ... David Finch (artist) ...

[If you are a regular reader of my reviews, you will know I am a huge fan of Finch. So for once I am not going to extol whole paragraphs to Finch and why I am so into his works]


Anyway, after the successful launch of this particular series, with mainly a Kubert onboard as artist, how do you top up or at least match the success when Kubert wants to move on? You put one of the hottest artists in American comics publishing of the past decade - Finch and this series just moved up another notch

Just check out that awesome cover. Wolverine is gritty without being too chunky while Spidey actually seems like a regular high school kid who thanks to his newfound powers now exercises regularly. In fact, I would love to collect Spidey if Finch is onboard as artist

Hmmm ... I still ended up talking about the art, eh?

Okay

As the cover indicates, this is a new arc entitled Blockbuster and the opening scene here is awesome. We have a quiet scene that sees Wolvie leaving the X-Mansion and chilling out. However, life with W is never quiet and next thing you know, men in diaper trucks are shooting the F out of him and those bullets? Actually hurt

So he needs to get away and get away he did (as expected). However he has been through a world of hurt and he is hurt by a team of agents that seemed to be govt. But are they?

As he turned tail and flee, again NO spoilers here, the cover tells all, he seeks refuge in the house of one Peter Parker ... simply because in one of their earlier team-ups, apparently W tailed Spider home! If this is not retcon ... then again I have no idea which issue they are referring to but it doesn't matter. We see Peter freaked out and then ... it's team up time! 

Ratings: 8/10

161. Weird War Tales #55 ... DC Comics ...

Although it is short but the main story in this comic is interesting

During the war, the axis discovered a powerful creature and instead of panicking and killing it, the axis powers decided to train it to kill allied soldiers. The technique employed? Pavlov's experiment style ... so it came to the Allied soldiers who infiltrated ... that they were being decimated by this strange creature ...

... until one chap managed to turn the tables on the bad guys ... without harming the innocent creature

Ratings: 6/10

160. Weird War Tales #82 ... DC ...

The good thing about comics like these are that you do not need to read them in any proper sequential order. O sure there are occasionally references to a previous issue (like origins) and once in a blue moon a storyline that runs beyond one issue but they are straightforward and you can more or less understand with little confusion

This particular issue's cover is the main story and again, it more or less tells us what happens within

Basically, in an occupied territory of the Nazis, some of the soldiers took advantage of their positions by looking for local ladies to serve them. Some are nothing more than sex slaves while others fall in love. Unfortunately being the brutes that they are depicted, naturally they offended the wrong people

So one of the ladies decided to do ... as the cover shows ... a little magic ...

The head honcho falls head over heels in love with his little lady ... and every trip, she asks for a little souvenir/ keepsake. If he rejects or refuses, then she rejects or refuses him ... and to his own surprise, he finds he wants her so badly that he would do anything or rather give anything ... and so ... over time, she assembles enough pieces of souvenir from him to exact her own brand of revenge

No this is NOT a spoiler ... the cover has already told you all that much without spelling it out, that's all

Ratings: 6/10

159. Weird War Tales #95 ... DC ...

From superheroes and tights and capes, let's take a jaunt back in time in terms of publishing schedule and topic to Weird War Tales. War comics is something I discovered late but found them to be entertaining because they provide a welcome relief from the usual drama and slam-bang over-the-top action of superheroes series

WWT sometimes have a successful strip that will then continue taking up pages in every issue (but rarely the full issue) until some other character takes prominence. In this issue, it is a mish-mash of stories with some very brief

However, the cover story actually took place in side and is quite interesting even though the actual scene as per cover may not be the same within the internal storyline. And we start with this issue because it bears a little more resemblance to our usual superheroes' stuff

We have the war (naturally) and we have people in the same army outfit but with some being a bully to others. So the one chap who was bullied decided to bring forth an ancient incantation to sort of teach the bully a lesson. However, like all such magics in all such comics, a lesson (with morals) need to be taught and hence we are left wondering if it is an illusion or did the nasty as per the cover actually occur?

In short, there are NO Nazis ass kicking this issue but rather something more supernatural ...

Ratings: 5/10

158. Spider Man vol1 #6 & 7 ... Marvel ... Todd McFarlane ...

I have always wondered if the superstar artists were fans ... at one time ... take for example Todd. He was huge on Marvel and even bigger in Image. Then he diversified in animations, movies and toys where he made a killing. And lately, he is back drawing Spawn etc ... but I wondered if he was a fan of any comics from the big Two from his youth ... and whether he occasionally draws them ... because his work is very stylized and though I am not a big fan of Spawn or his Amazing S work, here? Huge fan! Got two copies of every issue!!!

This is a 2-issue arc. After the first chapter finish with the Lizard which was Todd's first time out as writer, he trims his words and gives us a much tighter storyline. I am glad it is 2 issues. One would have been too cramped and 5 or 6 too padded. This is perfect

Here we see an old Nemesis Goblin going bonkers as unholy fires touched him, transformed him into an actual walking, guttural muttering goblin on 2-legs. And he also felt that he is on the side of the angels as in literally out to save souls against the devils

So to open his crusade, he recruits the innocents and in this case, kids! Naturally Spidey comes along to knock on his door and you can expect fisticuffs. As this was the 90s, and grim and gritty was in ... Ghost Rider was another hot commodity having many spin off titles and ... thus a natural to guest star here! But at least it makes sense as Ghost Rider looks demonic but is a man within trying hard to "protect the innocent" even though he is the Spirit of Vengeance ... or at least at this point, he still is/ was before his own origin went through upheavals in the years to come ...

These are two AWESOME issues. So go get it

Ratings: 8/10

157. Spider Man vol 1 #23 ... Marvel ... Erik Larsen ...

Back in the 90s, when Image was formed, after Todd Mc left this title, who did Marvel thought could cover Todd's huge footprint? Erik Larsen. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps because Erik has his own distinctive style? But the fact is that Erik's work, though full of energy, can appear sloppy ... sorry to all the Erik fans out there ... hey I am a fan of his Dragon works!

And speaking of the Dragon, perhaps when Marvel brought Erik on-board, they were not aware that he, too was leaving Marvel for Image to be one of the co-founders too? Because he left them, lickety-split!

Anyway, this issue marks the end of Erik's first multi-parter arc on the Spider-Man and it has been one fun, fun, fun ride. On the serious side, we have MJ's acting career going uphill except that she has been hired to be in a mega-blockbuster film franchise with a nude scene. Hence she is split between honoring her husband's wishes not to be in the film or ... if this is the film that will launch her career into the stratosphere

All the while, as husband goes out to be Spider-Man, he over the course of the six issue arc, finds that the Sinister Six has reformed and each issue, more villains popped out and each issue, Spider gets more and more guest stars to help him out. In this grand finale, on the side of the good guys, we have Ghost Rider, Deathlok, Hulk and the Fantastic Four. The sad part is that it is a regular sized issue so everything is just cramped in ... and this is where we say thank goodness it's Larsen who somehow manages to do it although it reads rather poorly! Sigh!

Ratings: 5/10

156. Power Pack vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ... June Brigman and Louise Simonson ...

In the original series of the Power family, it lasted for a good 5 years plus and the first 12 issues were simply awesome with heartfelt stories, good artwork and great guest stars. Naturally a series like this needs to be refreshed when sales dip. From our opinion, we believed that rather than refreshing, Marvel made it into a specialty shop sales only hurting the business and then extending the publishing schedule while hiking up prices. And finally using terrible artists ... because they thought that the series would never grow new readers so they were catering to the small rabid group of fans ... well if they think like this, even those fans will get sick of the crap artwork, right?

No wonder it got cancelled after that final 12 issues or so out of 62 I think was so bad!

But anyway this is at the start of the series. Check out the cover. The kids looked like kids not stunted adults. And check out the clean lines that convey so much emotions and how about those colours? Imagine this is before computer colouring. That cover is as good as it gets for me!

As for the tale, this is part of the first arc where the kids gained powers. In this issue as the cover already tells you, the kids learnt more about their individual abilities and uses their costumes that was made by their intelligent space ship ... and along the way, we see subplots building up where the space alien baddies come to the fore ... the baddies are Snarks .. lizard like ... while the good guys are horse like ... hey it's a kiddie book as well!

Since it's the kids first proper adventure, the good thing is that we get to see them being clumsy, scared and fighting in the form of reacting rather than like little superheroes which makes this quite an enjoyable 20 minutes reading experience

Ratings: 8/10