216. Fantastic Four Season One ... Marvel ...

So ... you may be wondering why I am doing a second review from Season One after that bad, bad, bad experience, eh? Well, this is called buying everything when it was on discount. Hahaha!

Once more, the cover sucks with its weak-ass colouring and too-weak line work but oddly enough for the FF, the interiors are generally acceptable and even gorgeous especially the way they drew the Thing. Even the new take on the story is interesting

Here we have the same dynamics of Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben except that they are generally more cynical and aware of what's going around them rather than their original counterparts from the 60s that was more wide-eyed, gollygoshgeee style

Example: We see Reed and Sue as a couple but nowhere is Sue near his intellectualism ... and he naturally has as a lab partner Alyssa Moy ... and she naturally feels insecure ... while lunching and gossiping with her mates whose idea is to walk down the aisle ...

And then there's Johnny who may love the high life but knew his limitations as that of only a mechanic

And finally we love the bit about Ben when he was first transformed into the Thing and how he did a walk-through in his mind of what would happen with Reed feeling guilty and making lots of promises ... so true and exactly as what would normally happen in today's cynical worlds

And what about the bad guys, you ask?

Well we have the Mole Man (naturally) but it was not so much a bad guy because here the storyline wrapped up nicely ... and then there's Namor ... and Doom lurking in the background ... so enough villains and thrills eh?

Ratings: 7/10

215. Hulk Season One ... Marvel ...

A few years ago, for reasons best known to Marvel, they decided to roll out, one more time, new takes on the origins of their heroes and these are all in the form of OGN i.e. one-shots, thick, hardcover. Naturally at that price I didn't pick up a single volume of anything ... that and the horrendous artwork on the covers ... I kid you not!

So why did I finally try?

Sale, naturally!

And I must admit one thing after wading through the Hulk's tale - it suffers from an artwork where the interior is bad if not worse than the cover you see. Look at the colouring and the line work! Ugh! What is Marvel thinking of? Do they think this is like their annual experiments of the past?

As for the story, yes, it is updated for today's times but the core is still the same. Bruce is still the scientist working on gammas at a base run by General Ross. He has his crush on Betty who secretly pines for him but as she is in the military this time around and not a civilian, it is harder for her to reciprocate. Instead of using Talbot, there is someone named Halpern

And throw in the mix is naturally the pain in the ass Rick Jones

A lot is going on in these pages including AIM .. drugs ... experimental weapons and hulkbusters. I would like to say more but cannot because several times it is so difficult to read that I stopped and stared at the pictures trying to make sense of what is going on ... it's really muddy

Ratings: 3/10

214. Savage Wolverine #1 ... Marvel ... Cho ...

Yes I read the reviews online and saw the promo ads and what-not but I still remembered the last Cho adventure in Mighty Avengers where ... although it looks pretty ... somehow there is a bit too much reality zapped in ... and the women have gigantic fat thighs!

So I generally ignored this ... until there was a huge book sale and since it was like 80% discount .... why not, right?

And I will be honest here this book rocks!

If you like the cover good for you. If not ignore it. Because the moment you start flipping the pages, you will be immediately drawn into it. The art and storyline flows so well

Basically everyone starts popping up in the savage land but without knowing why. Of course Shanna came with Shield to study one of the savage land anomaly but the rest? Like Wolverine? Does it matter?

Nah!

As we are saying, they came to study a part of the Savage Land where supposedly an ancient device lies buried and supposedly keeping another creature embedded. So is this space aliens, space gods or something else? While the investigation proceeds, they are immediately attacked and fight after fight ensue and that's where the fun lies as we get to see how bad ass Shanna really is - bitch!

Ratings: 7/10

213. X-Men vol 1 #50 ... Marvel ... Andy Kubert ...

Back in the good old hype days of Marvel, a 50 is guaranteed some sort of celebration and in this case, the story is good but not special as it is part of the build up to the next Marvel Event of that time i.e. Onslaught but rather the awesome cover that is enhanced (hahaha)

Artwork is by Andy Kubert and if Andy is onboard, it means some fantastic angles in terms of his fight scenes. It may look odd at times but it is never boring, Andy's artwork that is

In terms of storyline, we start off with a bang as we see the X-Men consisting of Storm, Iceman, Cyclops and Wolverine appearing confused and injured yet not knowing where they are or how they came by their injury ... and as they started to regroup and compare notes ... they were, as expected met with their adversary, Post ... grey guy on the cover

Aside from being large, nasty looking and has all those blocks stuck on him, we are never told what his real powers are and it seems like either he has a bit of everything powers or perhaps it is provided by an outside source ... at that time, most X-Men solo villains are like that .. including folks like Apocalypse and Sinister ... I guess it is because the X-Men were becoming too big and powerful a group and not many new villains can be a Magneto

Anyway, as the battle rages, the X-Men learnt to their absolute horror that Post is but one of the followers of Onslaught and he is here to test them for his master ... and if he nearly defeated them singlehandedly ... what can they expect when the villain finally arrives with his entire cohort of villains?

Well, that's when you know you need to read the Onslaught series coming up then

Ratings: 6/10 (I know you expected me to rate higher, right? But somehow, I felt this was a letdown for a 50th issue and the artwork is not consistent throughout. Perhaps it was the inker?)

212. Cabbot: Bloodhunter #1 ... Image ... Rob Liefeld, S Platt, Rick Veitch

First up, before there was David Finch, I was a fan of Stephen Platt. However, he did so little comic work before moving out of the industry. All I know is that he started towards the end of the Moon Knight run and then did a smattering of Prophet for Image and then a bit more here and there followed by covers ... and that's it!

Anyway, what I loved is the fact that his artwork is chockful of details including extra bubbles and circular lumps and bumps and what-nots ... splatter effect ... kind of like how he spells his own name in his work ... S.Platt

Okay as for the story, it is actually quite interesting. We have Cabbot former leader of Bloodstrike dead again. But for someone in Project Born Again ... dead is merely a time to heal before someone in the government brings him or her back to our world to do yet another mission

So here we have a bit of an argument where Cabbot in the past wants the chance to actually die while in the service of his country and to stop bringing him back. However, thanks to all the skullduggery around, one time after another, he found himself back

And this time around, we are shown more of the players some of whom wants him back and some don't. And we are given a quick glimpse of all the fights he was in and some of the times he died i.e. a good recap first issue so that we more or less know what's going on

However, once we are settled, the issue ends with a BANG and we are left with the questions of whether Cabbot wants to be back and this time, who is going to pull his strings?

Unfortunately we couldn't find any other issue to continue after this ... damn!

Ratings: 6/10 (extra 1 point for that cover)

211. Supreme #36 ... Image ... Rob Liefeld, Dan Fraga, Danny Miki

I am not a fan of Supreme when it first came out and by fan, I meant following each issue. I have issue one simply because of the enhanced cover (sue me for liking those covers) and naturally anything from Image at that time was what made me want to read comics. The only challenge was that there were too many titles so I had to make a decision on what to follow and what not to. Sorry Supreme!

I got this from the back issue bins ... and I have to say ... if you are not a fan of Supreme you will be completely lost by this issue. I mean, the cover is a bloke screaming Hate but inside?

Hate is but side or sub plot in this very issue actually!

Let's  see ... it opens up with a lady dressed sexily and floating in space (we think!) but the way her cape is billowing even when she is not moving ... we have to assume that there is some wind somewhere ... and it is quite confusing her thoughts ... as apparently she seemed to think she is a woman who was in the body of the true Supreme or something but got walloped by some bad guy and now transformed back into a woman???

Then there is kid Supreme caught up in a web of hate ... but finally coming to find himself only to encounter some woman villain whom he didn't actually defeat but walked away ... leaving her to plot coming after him

And finally SPOILER ALERT we see potentially one Supreme with Beard capturing another Supreme

Well ... that's not much of a review but more of a summary on what happened within ... did I enjoy it? Not really. Did I dislike it? Not really. I guess if I lived in a place where there is a comic bookstore, I would go out and buy more to see what happens. Otherwise, it would get dropped ... yet again ...

Ratings: 4/10

210. Justice League new 52 #1 to 6 ... DC ... Jim Lee ...

Can Jim Lee still draw? Yes

Is his work still relevant and up to the times? Yes

Is this work awesome? Yes

Okay. So I am not a fan of DC but I have to admit that a few years ago, when JLA was relaunched, I actually followed it for 2 years enjoying both stories and artwork. So when new 52 states that there was going to be a new Justice League, I waited and waited for the TPB to arrive ... no onlines please ... and finally couldn't wait anymore and decided to splurge on the hardcover edition

First up, if you are not a DC fan like me, or you have given up on comic continuity like me, then you will, more or less enjoy this series because this first story arc has it all. It checks on every tiny square box on that checklist: good story, good pacing, enough action, enough villains, enough drama, good artwork, good colouring and good origin story where relevant

Sure we know from here, if you read the new 52, some of the timelines do not make sense. But forget about it

Basically it is about a boom tube appearing on Earth and depositing alien warriers in humanoid forms. What are they after and why are they here? Well Earth's heroes have banded together to find out. Note that in this series, they may or may not know each other but generally have never worked as a team and some like Cyborg are totally new having his origins happen in the course of this series

Who is the baddie?

None other than DC super-baddie Apokolips! And what a show. We see the team fighting with each other as they try to confront Apokolips ... only to realize that inspite of their crazy super powers, none of them are a match for the bad guy not even Supes!

So while they thought they were so hot, Apool showed them all and managed to trounce them one after the other

SPOILER ALERT

Ummm ... nah we better not. Suffice to say action takes place on more than planet Earth. And that there is reveal after reveal until we reach the awesome me-punch-you-me-blast-you ending!

AWESOME!

Ratings: 10/10

209. Iron Man vol 1 #216 ... Marvel ...

It's not that we are trying to do back-to-back reviews of the same title ... it's just that from last month's killer conclusion ... well, we just have to follow up with this review because it hits home on so many critical points that make a comic good reading. So let's do this review in the form of a check list okay?

1. Artwork - crisp clear lines, metallic bits are shiny, fiery bits are fiery and facial expressions are perfect without a doubt!

2. Colours - eye popping bright!

3. Action - tons from re-entry from space right through obligatory fight scenes

4. Suspense moments - SPOILER ALERT - this is only relevant for those who didn't read the last review because at the end of the last issue, we see both Tony and Rhodey crashing back through Earth's atmosphere with Rhodey burning up as his armour was damaged! Now instead of giving us a cheap short cut out, we see the whole deal here. We see Rhodey literally getting burnt, we see Tony trying to help him out and panicking ... we see actual injury requiring hospitalization ...

5. Twist in the storyline - SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT -  this is a big one ... at least it was for me. I didn't see this coming. You see, when this original run came out, I collected it sporadically and I was there when Tony rebuild the company before the 200 issue clash with Obadiah and I remembered the scene of pain as one of his mates bit the dust. There was so much pain and sorrow and anger ... and then this? His other remaining partner, someone he grew this and that business with, someone who went through all that with him ... and he and us didn't see it coming. O what a betrayal! What a stunner! What a blow!

Who are we talking about?

Read the book

Ratings: 8/10

208. Iron Man vol 1 #215 ... Marvel ... Bob Layton ...

WOW!

That's all we can say ... and we are referring to the cover for this issue's Iron Man. In fact, generally, Iron Man has had a long series of excellent covers from even the days of JR Jr like 80 issues ago! And this is in the age when there is supposedly a Marvel house style ... and before computer colouring ... take a look at it ...

As for the interior, it is the same team and while a lot of the scenes are workmanlike, the storytelling is always smooth and when there is a need to SHOUT, the artists deliver

So how about the story you ask?

As the cover blurb states, this is a new direction and what this means is that after 14 issues post-Obadiah Stane, Tony Stark is finally ready to launch his new company from the funds he recovered inc building an over-the-top cliffside residence for himself

At the same time, the people around him are moving back into his circle of friendship ... and we get to see a bit of him trying to adjust back to normal life running all his businesses inc thinking to do an acquisition deal (yup we are back to corporate world) ...

However, as this is still a comic ... like the cover shows ... there is an over-the-top development here and Iron Man is trying to build a space station that ... supposedly help people ... as we have not been following regularly we have no idea how but that's not the issue ...

For the villain of the piece, we have AIM and this time they comes with a bio weapon and kami kaze attitude ... which in short means? Iron Man and Rhodey (suited up) got their asses KICKED MAJORLY ... and the ending ... wow what an ending ... literally knowing that you will need to read the next issue

Ratings: 7/10

207. Rom #21 ... Marvel ...

For Rom the series, to keep its sales going, similar to Dazzler, Marvel would mix it up with guest stars that are "hot" (like the X-Men) and newer heroes that can benefit from the exposure so that we believe Marvel can see whether to have spin off or not

So for this issue it is the Human Torpedo (say who?) except that there's some retcon going on the Torpedo's history. Basically he is an insurance sales chap who was given the costume by someone who was fleeing from his employer and by donning on this, it gives him ability to "fly" and his Torpedo punch and what-not

And because he has a costume, he feels the need to play hero only SPOILER ALERT in a past adventure he realized he made a mistake and endangered his family

Thus that is the background info you require ... as this issue sees him relocating his family to Clairton where Rom is as it seemed more quiet and he hoped that those he was fleeing from will not be able to track him down. Unfortunately, his bosses are also Dire Wraith including the Rocketeers although they all looked human. Therefore it is not surprising that a mistake by his wife let those in power know where he has hidden himself and tracked him down

And then as this is Marvel, coincidences abound. Rom is looking to go home to Galador, home planet but may take weeks or months ... and he is hoping to find someone to replace him ... good coincidence and naturally the enemy of Torpedo turns out to be Dire Wraiths, Rom's ancient enemy ..

Ratings: 6/10

206. New Mutants vol 1 #26 to 28 ... Marvel ... Chris Claremont

One of the reasons we decided to do a review of these three issues is to share with today's readers that even from waaaaaay back then some writers do choose to write in arcs as well and Claremont is one of them. For the X-Men there is no discernible arc but the New Mutants, he started from 23 onward i.e. 23 to 25 was an arc with Cloak and Dagger, then followed by this and then another and so on and so for

For this arc, we basically see that it is now downtime for the Mutants after the nightmare of the previous arc. So Prof X receives a call for aid and decided to bring some of the kids along to Scotland because hey he thought it would be nice to bring kids to an area of danger (good man, isn't he?)

What's the danger here?

We are introduced to another kid from X's past that is turning into a huge menace to society. Another you ask? Yes from the X-Men, we had Proteus and for New Mutants, we now have Legion. Legion is a kid who suffers from multiple personality disorder with each having a strong characteristic of its own almost as if it is a separate entity and ... Legion possesses powers on an Omega Level ... and the link to X?

SPOILERSSSS ALERT

Well, basically, David Haller carries his mother's last name i.e. Gabrielle Haller who was sleeping with Prof X but didn't tell him when she was pregnant. Ah well ...

So with powers of telekinesis and pyro, basically young Legion can affect the world around him on multiple levels and the entire team is suddenly drawn into a very harrowing situation that is affecting them all on both mental and physical level. What a great teacher eh? Bringing them on this sort of field trip

The artwork here basically is just ... perfect ... the way Bill S drew the psychic world of David Haller's brain as X and the team journey there to confront Legion ... just check out the covers and you will know what I am talking about ... awesome!

Ratings: 9/10

205. New Mutants vol 1 #21 ... Marvel ... Chris Claremont ...

Back in the 80s and early 90s, back when writer Claremont was in his prime, he was churning out hit after hit, creating new characters, both good and bad and here is another example of his creation that until today has been a cult favorite resulting in even a super villain cosmic crossover event!

So let's start from the awesome painted cover by artist Bill S. It says slumber party. And since it is a book about teens, naturally here in this issue, after the mess that happened, we see most of the young people requiring a break. Prof X approved them inviting local teens from the nearby village/ town to come and ... to my surprise and how incredulous this part of the storyline is ... they came and naturally people being people some started exploring school grounds

Now why no one freaked out when they saw a real life tiny dragon defies believe (we are talking about Lockheed) ...

So while the girls have their party, the boys were left wandering the grounds ... until they see a meteor coming in for a landing in their vicinity and go to investigate

SPOILER ALERT ... or a sort

As per the corner box on the cover, you already know that the character is going to be future member, Warlock. Warlock is a child escaping from his techno-organic world where a child is expected to fight his parent for the right to live once he comes of age except that Warlock decided not to do so and flees his father. As we are shown in panels here and there, he is being pursued but that is another tale for another day

In this issue, it merely deals with Warlock meeting the humans and how they communicated with him after the usual obligatory "fight". But as this is NM and not XMen, the fight is brief. One more future character not on the cover is Doug Ramsey (aka Cypher) who is brought in to communicate with Lock as his ability is ... to be able to translate all languages almost instantaneously ... yeah we agree ... lame ... and he is not of the jock type of kid either ... so why did he join the NM and actually later go on missions? Defies understanding

But hey my criticisms aside, this is an excellent read as so much happened here! And awesome moody artwork from Bill S

Ratings: 8/10

204. New Avengers vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ... David Finch ...

Yes for those who didn't know when they relaunched Avengers slightly more than a decade ago, they decided to add in the word new ... naturally thanks to today's market, there have since been some more relaunches even from this series ... so it's like (New) New Avengers and what-not ...

Well in issue 3, we finally see the big long drawn out fight to be more or less over ... with the heroes taking a moment's rest ... basically there's a breakout from the Raft prison ... and the Avengers after being disbanded ... well, they don't exist but the individual heroes come back to help arrest the criminals ... some got away and some don't ...

And naturally with Captain America and Iron Man around ... they got to thinking if they were wrong to break up the team and that there is a need for the Avengers after all ... and this also explains why this particular iteration of the Avengers will be different consisting of folks like Wolverine, Luke Cage and Spiderman

Forget the cover with the Sentry ... at this point the guy is merely background noise ...

So aside from some good dialogue that we get to read what else happens? We see some side plots being developed a wee bit more ... and then building up to the next arc ... not really a new arc but more of the same ... as the heroes discovered that they better go after some of the more violent criminals ... we will not spoil it for you except to say ... look at that cover and can you imagine ... the entire book is done in terms of artwork of that detail?

David Finch is awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

203. The New Shadowhawk vol 2 #1 ... Image ... Jim Valentino ...

Did you read the first volume of Shadowhawk? Actually I am not sure if that is right because the original Shadowhawk came out as a series of limited series telling a larger tale and it was ... entertaining and enjoyable ... except sad to say, Valentino's artwork!

Yes, I know what I typed ... don't get me wrong here ... I am a huge Valentino fan ... because of him, I actually collected the run of Guardians of the Galaxy right up to its end ... and that's why I actually tried this volume of Shadowhawk ... except that it wasn't by Valentino anymore

So what's it about?

In essence, it follows the first run ... initially we are left guessing who is this crusader against injustice and as the series continues, we found out who and immediately get drawn into the hero's personal story ... what's that story? He tries to find a cure for AIDS ... because he has been infected and he assumed that thanks to his role in the superhuman community with so many having different types of abilities ... someone would have that ability to heal him

So this series opens with a new hero ... same old costume ... same old no holds barred attitude ... back breaker spine breaker out against injustice but who is he behind the mask?

Telling you would definitely be spoiling everything, right? Suffice to say we didn't follow this series after this first issue ... that's the only hint we will leave you with

Ratings: 3/10

202. Ms Marvel vol 1 #4 ... Marvel ...

I love Ms Marvel. Don't get me wrong here. I have no problems reading chics as the lead in comics. In fact, I completed the back issue run on Dazzler and some will scream LAME, right?

So for this particular run, I did read a few but didn't follow up actively because of 2 reasons:

(a) I love comics in colour and the Essentials are in black n white
(b) Thanks to the Avengers and her newer series, this old series became expensive to collect

If not for that, I would still have bought this series even if it is kind of lame. I mean look at that cover!

First up, the bad guy. He is a smart alec but not on the scale of Richards or Stark. In an earlier appearance  (yes this is 4 and he has appeared before) all he did was try to attack her and got his butt whipped. For a smart guy, all he could come up with is a skin tight costume that has a horn that shoots blasts of energy. Sure it's powerful but the aim ain't easy and it's a slow firing type. Sigh!

So here he is once more and this time, as the cover indicates, he is trying to acquire more power and as usual, Ms Marvel comes across him and stops him, more or less

NO SPOILERS HERE

What's really lame is that cover that screams "THIS FEMALE FIGHTS BACK". I mean, WTH right? Female? Really? And then fights back? Are they saying that women during that era regardless of their abilities generally stand back and let men do everything and if having to defend themselves will just lie down and screech for help?

Come on!

Ratings: 3/10

201. Moon Knight vol 2/3/4 ... #1 ... Marvel ...

Here is one character that many creators seemed to like but somehow could not figure out how to sustain a series by him. Well we have the answer. In view of his "low tech" style of operations, you need lots of action, intrigue and above all else, great artist with eye for details, not just some Editor's favorite. That's why towards the end of his longest running series, when newcomer Stephen Platt wa onboard, it sold like mad

And finally when it relaunched years ago under David Finch, it was a huge hit too ... subsequent relaunch with other fan faves but whose work is more stylized could not make it past the one year mark ...

And this series in the 80s was the same. I remembered it being launched as a new ongoing but made it as a limited series only. Sad because the first issue was awesome as it did a retelling of the Knight's origins but in a tactful way by showing us both flashbacks and Marc's new journey to the land where he first found Khonsu

Basically for those not in the know, Marc is a split personality type who has different persona that somehow manages to work well for him. In his most dominant personality, he is a mercenary and during his days in the dessert was betrayed and left for dead by his fellow mercs until ... brought back to life by Khonsu to serve as Khonsu's fist of vengeance ... that's pretty much it

So he uses his $$$ to create his costume and weapons and fight ... of course later version showed him with some mystical strength but during this incarnation he is a white version of Bruce Wayne ...

Ratings: 6/10

200. Mighty Avengers vol 1 (2) #3 to 5 ... Marvel ...

So for the 200th review we decided to do 3 issues of Frank Cho's awesome but unfortunately short run on this the Mighty Avengers

Let's talk briefly about Cho - he is famous for his work on good girl/ bad girl but for me sometimes he overdid it especially on the thighs making the lasses look "chunky". Here the most obvious on his artistic flaws include #3's Tigra (how is that angle even sexy?)

Anyway, this continues from the cliffhanger of issue 2 where thanks to Ultron for some weird reason Iron Man is now a ... woman. Don't get us started. We don't even want to tell you the answer here as otherwise that would constitute a major spoiler

So what can we share? Two things:

1. Ares - finally shows us his true abilities as the God of War. Formerly he is more like a thug that serves no purpose because his strength is easily eclipsed by most of the other Avengers and his nasty uncooperative attitude is less than useless but here, he actually came up with a plan that attempts to take down Ultron. Yes, Ares has a plan

2. Ant Man - whoooo wheee - we see how good the new Ant Man can be when he puts his mind to it as he then takes his power and one other to penetrate Ultron's defences

So lots of action, enough intrigue, enough mysteries to keep you wondering ... and well ... I guess enough decent artwork?

Ratings: 7/10

199. Marvel Team Up vol 1 #147 ... Marvel ...

One more review and we will reach our 200th review!

So for this issue, we move our review backwards instead of forwards - from 150 to 149 and then 148. Now it is 147 and we still have Spidey and here this time he is with his fave buddy, the Human Torch

SPOILER ALERT ... NOT!!!

The cover pretty much tells you everything. First up is that in this issue and across all Spidey mags during that time, Spidey reverts from his black (then new) costume to his classic blue and reds

Next is the fact that the Black Abbott finally makes his full blown appearance and villainy and thus we know his full powers - mind control of a certain limit because here he manages to use the Human Torch to try and take down Spidey. Well, if he has smarts, he should have studied Spidey a bit more, eh?

And that's about it - obviously Spidey could not be tagged by the Torch and found a way to free the Torch and jointly they go after the Abbott. If you had read our earlier reviews, you would know that this issue didn't result in the end of the Abbott as 148 features even more of his type of sheenanigans

Ratings: 6/10

198. Marvel Premier #15 ... Iron Fist ... Marvel (obviously)

Back in the olden days of Marvel, Marvel used to have series that promotes all sorts of characters that had yet to achieve a solid fan following that justifies their own series ... and Marvel Premier is one of these series

Issue 15 is monumental as it starts the Iron Fist run ... that went so well ... until later it launched its own (albeit short-lived) series ... of course for those of you who only follow comics in the last decade or during the digital age ... you would know that the recent run with David Aja ... the one that was a hit but ultimately also short lived ... well FYI there were a few more mini-series and what-not

Anyway, this issue is only significant for that reason because it is the first attempt to try out Danny Rand and see if he is popular ... and boy is it good. Unfortunately it features Danny's origin which has subsequently been extended and retconned and what-not

However, in essence this is kind of like Marvel's few obligatory homage to the Kung-fu craze during that era with an origin story similar to Ka-zar and hence Tarzan

Danny is from a rich family and following his folks into the back of nowhere is left stranded and ultimately raised in a mystical city called Kun Lun where it intertwines with Earth every few years. But until then Danny lives in that other world learning Kung-fu

As for the Iron Fist power of his? Well that's from the mystical Dragon ... yeah, yeah, we know it! But hey if you can get the digital for this give it a read okay? It is really entertaining, good artwork and nice colouring even!

Ratings: 7/10

197. Kazar vol 2 (ongoing) #2 ... Marvel ... Kubert n Waid ...

And now let's jump forward more than a decade to see this relaunch that actually started super-strong thanks to outstanding storyline and artwork ... but unfortunately faced the axe within 2 years thanks to declining sales!

I mean, come on! We are talking a Tarzan like character. In today's world, this is no biggie and you cannot expect people to follow such a series without an over-the-top artwork. See the covers as an example

I am a fan of Andy Kubert though his artwork doesn't always hit the mark as he sometimes get overly stylized but here in this issue, he hits it out of the park every single page and panel. Coupled with awesome inking and colouring and you know you have a winner!

In this issue, basically it picks up where 1 ended with both parents running around trying to track down the person who kidnapped their kid (hence the title on the cover).

And during the course of this quest they finally came face-to-face with their foe - of course we subsequently found out SPOILER ALERT that the villain is none other than Parnival, Ka-zar's back in civilization brother who hired this muscled goon as he has a phobia about germs! We kid you not!

But here, this guy, I don't think we have seen him before, his name is Gregor ... well Gregor is like this super nasty version of Kraven from Spidey series. He is a hunter, he kills and he his huge and super nasty ...

Roll out the jungle mat welcome people! Here comes the beatdown!

Ratings: 9/10

196. Ka-zar vol 1 (ongoing vol) #18 ... Marvel ...

Wow this issue brings back memories ... one of the earliest comics I have ever read ... and back then it was mostly the pictures rather than words that I enjoyed ... hehehe ...

Anyway, Ka-zar for those who didn't know is Marvel's answer to Tarzan. Here is a rich man's son who is trapped in a forgotten jungle and grown up there amongst the local savages and creatures to rise above it all and sort of bring justice to the jungle. Somewhere along the line, he discovered our "real" world and has since walked both worlds ...

The main difference is that in Ka-zar's world there are lost tribes, men who are not homo sapiens and dinosaurs roam freely ...

In this first series, he had yet to wed or have a kid ... which is his current status

So what's this issue about? It is a middle issue with the primary thrust of the storyline starting a few issues ago where Ka-zar came upon some problems brewing in the lands ... especially between different tribes ... and being the busy body that he is, he got caught up in one and now the other

In this issue, he has been caught and is expected to fight gladiator style in the Arena ... as the cover indicates, the land is populated by those odd-looking creatures. However, their so-called ruler is a human woman ... SPOILER ALERT ... who somehow has a crush on Ka-zar but is naturally spurn by our blond hero ...

And the comic element which to me is more annoying is the little troll-ish like figure on the right hand corner. All he does is worry and scream and shout and argue with our hero and contributing nothing. He should be done away with - off with his head, we say! Hehehe!

Ratings: 6/10 - fighting and artwork save this issue from a 3

195. Infinity Crusade #1 to 6 ... Marvel ... Jim Starlin ...

These 6 issues basically ended the second arc of Marvel's space themed adventures with the first during the introduction of characters like Warlock and Captain Marvel. This second round started with the highly successful Infinity Gauntlet and followed up by the less successful Infinity War and now ended with this the Crusade

But you knew it had to come

Gauntlet was Thanos ... and War had Warlock's bad side trying to seize control of creation ... however, during that time, for those not in the two, it was clearly explained that Warlock is a being that has expunged his own good and bad natures ... and these 2 have become entities of their own with immeasurable powers ... that's why the fact that we see the bad without the good ... well ...

So here we see that even the Good half of Warlock is ... bad news ... truly!

She calls herself the Goddess and she is trying to make the world and the universe a better place by bringing fast forward the Rapture Event ... where an overcrowded world suddenly loses half its people! So we see some heroes just disappearing too

Naturally a panic ensues and before we know it a team has been assembled to discover the presence of the Goddess. However, not all heroes agree that she is bad news. So at the start we have no idea if the heroes are acting of their own free will or indirectly influenced when they chose to stand by the side of the Goddess

It is into this mix, that the series failed. It kept stretching on to ensure that there is six issues when perhaps a 4 issue arc would have suffice

Sigh!

Ratings: 6/10

194. Iron Man vol 1 #200 ... Marvel ...

This is the big one ... double sized extravaganza with great artwork and colouring ... huge slam bang fist fight and lots of armor gadget ... a new armor ... and resolution to a storyline that's at least 4 years in the making. What more can one ask for in a special event issue, eh?

Cover enhancement is all we can think of hehehe!

As the cover indicates, in this issue we have the Red and Silver armour debut and when it first hit, it was AWESOME with those pulse bolts. Hehehe! Basically this issue has its origins 4 years ago with Stane coming to fight Tony for a slice of the corporate pie going all out including dirty tactics ... the end of that cycle is that Tony embraced his alcoholism ...

And Rhodey ended up with the armour. Naturally as the issues rolled out, we see Rhodey facing his own challenges including some odd headaches whenever he uses the armour ... and slowly freaking out thinking Tony wants it back etc ... resulting in huge blow outs between the two friends ...

All this set amidst Tony recovering and deciding to set up a new company rather than fight Stane to get back Stark/ Stane Industries ...

However, we know that in the world of Marvel, nothing changes forever and all good things will make a comeback and this issue is it! Basically Tony has had enough of Stane and it ends up in all out combat between him and Stane as he fights a game to get back his company

The ending ... NO SPOILERS ... is a shocker!

Ratings: 9/10

193. Hulk vol 5 (we think) #1 ... Marvel ... Leinil Yu ...

In our last entry we mentioned relaunches and here is another relaunch less than 2 years down the line. What is the reason? Failing sales? Silvestri failed to pull in the crowd? Well, Leinil Yu ain't going to be much better

Again before the fans of Leinil come after us, please note that we do like the energetic style of Leinil's work except that we believed he needs time. When you see him having time, he does a different job. When he is rush to produce tons (like his New Avengers run), his work becomes so sketchy as if it is a draft that he gave to an inker to copy his lines

But when the story is good (like in New Avengers), the sales are great and as long as the artwork is passable it is sufficient. So if someone in position is not careful, they may interpret successful sales incorrectly ... that's our opinion

Here in this relaunch, we see that the Hulk and Banner are back as one unit (ever any doubt) and this issue starts with Banner deciding that he and Hulk have spent enough time trying to cure himself or getting rid of each other. So Banner decides that it's time for him to accept his other half and work towards improving life on earth

Where to find the dough?

Why he goes to the government and in return for them giving him the lab etc he offers the services of the Hulk whenever the govt encounters "tough" situations. This first issue serves up a great opening move that shows all this and in this arc, Leinil reins in his loose style and adapts something a bit more similar to his initial X-Men run

All in all, a better relaunch than Marc's

Ratings: 7/10

192. Incredible Hulk vol 4 (we think) #1 ... Marvel ... Marc Silvestri ...

For some weird reason, even though I was not a big fan of Silvestri's work while he was @ Marvel (first run) on titles like Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine, I somehow followed him diligently when he set up Top Cow @ Image collecting his entire Cyberforce runs including the subsequent volumes and many other titles such as Weapon Zero, Darkness, Witchblade amongst others

Why?

I don't know

I mean his Cyberforce artwork was gorgeous but generally while energetic, I find his work has a wee bit too much rush lines ... with all sorts of sharp angles and "plaster like pieces" thrown everywhere as if to fill up empty spaces

Just check out this cover and see the veins on Hulk

Anyway, a few years ago, Marvel decided to aggressively relaunch many titles even when the sales are not sliding and Hulk is one of those. This particular launch lasted less than 2 years if memory serves before another one or two more relaunches. Sigh!

So what's this about? The opening issue is interesting as we see a Hulk trying to figure out what happened without just slipping into his rage like style when confused ... and we are given hints that something big has happened that causes the Hulk and his alter ego Bruce Banner to split into 2 entities ... with Bruce finally happily bidding bye bye to Hulk to live his own life!

But is all what it seems?

Obviously not and that's why they want us to buy subsequent issues, right? Hahaha!

Ratings: 6/10

191. Hulk Red #5 ... Marvel ...

You know it had to happen, right? We know every incarnation of Hulk has always had fights with the Thing and each time, the Thing will lose but yet there is nothing more fun than two huge sized people punching the shit out of each other

The other one is naturally Thor and as we also know, usually Thor thanks to his hammer, can fight Hulk on a more equal footing except that Thor is essentially ... ummm ... foolish? I mean, here is a guy who has been fighting for like hundreds if not thousands of years ... with all that power battling beasts and what-not through the centuries ... he is supposed to be a skilled warrior yet each time he meets the Hulk it inevitably falls down to a basic slugfest with fists and kicks and hammer smashing and the occasional lighting ... which is silly because that hammer is capable of so much more ... it's almost as if Thor has something to prove rather than just vanquish the Hulk, know what we mean?

So in this saga, in issue 5, Thor finally comes to town to try and teach the Red Hulk a lesson and what a fight it is ... Ed McGuinness - we salute you in the art department!

However, this is not a Hulk Smash type of Hulk. This is one Hulk that has studied its opponents before commencing on his own agenda. So he expected to encounter them all and he is prepared ... kind of like Batman is prepared to take down the Justice League should any of them become out of control

So ... should we tell you how the Hulk dispatched off Thor?

Hmmm ... may we suggest you buy the TPB? Because ... it is AWESOME!!!

Ratings: 10/10

190. Hulk Red #4 ... Marvel ...

If you had followed this regularly when it came out, you would have been enjoying the ride because here is a comic that knows what a comic should be - escapist entertainment. So we have action (Hulks that actually fight), guest stars galore (Iron Man and his Avengers), villains (many hints at more to come), allies that transformed (A-Bomb aka Rick) and a mystery protagonist (to keep us guessing on who the new Hulk that is Red not Green or Grey is) ...

So when this issue came out, it was a complete BANG

Why?

Well, look at the second cover ... see that giant white gloved hand and swirling dark blue cloak? Guess who it belonged to? A Watcher - that's right, a Watcher!

SPOILER ALERT

For those who do not know, in the opening sequences, we see this Red Hulk beating the shit out of the Watcher and grinning. Of course we know Watchers are powerful but forbidden to act. So by the time this Watcher realizes what's happening, it's too late. The only questions left on our minds are:

(a) Is the watcher dead?
(b) Will there be retribution?

This is one F-ing issue!

Ratings: 9/10

189. Hulk vol 1/2 #90 ... Marvel ...

Well you know with the number of times comics has been renumbered, relaunched n then revert back to original numbering, sometimes it is hard to claim which volume it is but this issue is significant because ... well it retells an old Hulk tale but for a new generation

What do we mean?

Ummm you know how people say there are no original tales anymore but rehashing of old storylines ... and if done well, it can be fresh and entertaining? Just like how many times Thor has faced Ragnarok with the Wyrm? Well, this is one such story

Basically the premise is that once again everyone has decided that the Hulk is a menace that cannot be cured, stopped, controlled. So the only way is to get rid of him. And as no one has yet to find a way to kill Hulk, they can only exile him. And finally since this is a global decision, it means he has to be ejected beyond Earth

The first time they did this was in Hulk's first run up to 300 where he was sent to the crossroads of all realities ... by Dr Strange after massive battle with Avengers etc with Nightmare as the principle villain

Here there is no principle villain but merely a con job involving SHIELD and some of the Illuminati like Dr Strange, Reed Richards, Iron Man and a few others ...

So they con him to go into space to help on a project and then ... eject him to beyond ... great art, gripping storyline especially the rage when Hulk found out he has been tricked ... awesome!

Ratings: 7/10

188. Excalibur vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ...

From all those more (dare we say it?) obscure comics, now we move on to something more mainstream something from the world of the mutants ... for you see ... waaaaay back in the 80s, Marvel decided to have one new X-team based out of the British isles

Naturally, stereotypes abound but it's more of the charming type than negative type which is to be expected when you have Alan Davis onboard and what great work he turns out

Check out that awesome cover and the funny remarks! Sure it reads as if it is a panel from within the book but it's hilarious, eh?

And the best thing about this book is that there is indeed action and not just loads of talking heads

Anyway, after the opening chapter (issues 1 and 2), we see the Excalibur team finally settling down in their HQ of a light house only to be summoned to fix a situation for someone has seen fit to free the Juggernaut! But the lump that he is, he merely decides to walk out instead of having an idea of where to go. Naturally then as you see on the cover rash Captain B comes out a punching and that's what happened to him

It is a tale told in one issue simply because of the dynamic power of the team

For those who didn't read our earlier reviews or never heard of this team, the members are:

(a) Captain Britain - super strength and flight, wealth and supposed good looks and intelligence
(b) Meggan - odd behaviour almost like some alien race lover of (a) with shape changing abilities and able to channel power from somewhere else
(c) Nightcrawler - X Men
(d) Shadowcat - X Men
(e) Phoenix - X Men - Rachel Grey not Jean Grey

Ratings: 8/10