2.160 (525) The Immortal Iron Fist #2 ... Marvel ...

Before this series came out, I have no idea who David Aja, artist is but after that first issue, I knew regardless of the quality of story, I would stop by for issue 2 and the surprise here is that writers, Matt and Ed decided that it is their turn to shine. And so we get a comic where all creators are going all out to impress we the readers thus resulting in an entertaining read!

This book opens with a style that is soon to be recurring throughout its 2-year-plus run with flashbacks to other Iron Fists and so it is great that we get a glimpse of hundreds of years ago somewhere in China where pirates come to do a little raiding by sea only to encounter a female Iron Fist ...

But hey Rand is the star so let's not forget him although his first appearance here is more akin to a falling star as we see him tumble through the skies right through some construction before realizing ain't no way he is able to stay conscious

SPOILER ALERT

Loved also the way that other super heroes pop up in this comic book as part of the supporting cast without the need to publicize on the cover. So we see Luke Cage dropping by to check up on a recovering Danny and loved, loved, loved the banter between the two of them over Chinese takeaway

However, as if that wasn't tough enough, we see moves of a hostile company takeover on Danny's Rand Inc by someone who is possibly linked or hired on Hydra goons. So Danny has yet another nightmare on his shoulders and one where he couldn't just karate-chop it away

Now if you thought that was enough of a revelation ... well it isn't according to our writers as we see yet another new character making his way into USA only to encounter trouble! SPOILER ALERT and what he uses to help himself is sure to make everyone reading this, fans new and old gasp in surprise!

Ratings: 7/10

2.159 (524) Realm of Kings - Inhumans #1 ... Marvel ...

[We are approx. 1 month behind now in our reviews and for our regular subscribers, we do apologize]

Anyhow, a looooooooong time ago ... or rather in 2008/ 2009, back when Marvel was exploring its vast catalogue of characters, it had decided to split events into Marvel U and then more contained sub events in the Mutant verse and finally the cosmic folks and this one is an epilogue of sorts to the awesome War of Kings

For those unfamiliar, think Guardians of the Galaxy and you are fine

Inhumans are basically an offshoot of humanity on earth where eons ago a space faring race called Kree came to experiment upon and then thinking that it was a failure, left them behind. So what happens is that they have since then lived by themselves hidden from the general public awareness of Earth. What made them different is that every child is exposed to something called the Terrigen Mists that mutates them and bring out different abilities including what we would term deformities or monstrosities but not to the Inhumans

Next bit of background info is that in the War of King, basically Inhumans kicked Kree asses and then ruled them. Unfortunately another space faring race called Shiar also tried to launch an attack on them and they also kicked said Shiar's asses so now they have 2 Empires. The only problem is that they lost their king, Black Bolt to the cause

And so this issue opens ... what should be a normal epilogue is not ... in fact, the writers have made this into an integral ongoing saga of the previous limited series as we see the Inhumans adapting to the roles of rulers of 2 Empires now and playing politics while simultaneously denizens from the Negative Zone try to expand its own Empires

But that is not the extent of the threat

We are given hints that Medusa, the queen is still harbouring hopes of finding hubby alive and thus divide their already stretched resources in that direction ... and like all newly come into power, she is protective of future heir, her young son ... and worrying and seeing shadows where there may not be while all the time, at her side is the most treacherous of Inhumans, Maximus who once again appears to be "normal" and not the "mad" ... sigh ... when will super heroes ever learn, eh?

Ratings: 6/10

2.158 (523) X-Factor vol 1 #11 ... Marvel ...

There was a time ... a few decades ago ... that whenever it was time for a huge crossover yearly event, it was what it promised to be - an event. Not just recycled old villains going through the motions on a larger scale but rather something new entirely

So this year is the year of a storyline called Mutant Massacre. The thread is straightforward. At this point in time, a hidden figure has sent forth some super nasty cold blooded assassins into the Morlock tunnels to assassinate all mutants living there. The X-Men got involved because Storm, leader of the X-Men at that time is also the leader of the Morlocks while X-Factor got dragged in due to the fact that they enjoyed running through the sewers more or less from their office to the outside world so that no one can linked them to mutant hunters' front that they were presenting at that time. Got it?

This issue is the tail-end of their involvement

We open up with the final bits and pieces of fight scenes between various members of X-Factor and loose factions of mutant-dom with them rescuing sorry looking kiddie muties and kicking ass a lot. Unfortunately, they didn't escape unscathed and one of those in serious medical issues is Angel

The really noteworthy bits about this issue for those of you who only know the team of X in more present terms are actually quite a fair bit and we will highlight them to you SPOILER ALERT as follows:

1. Angel is still Angel and in fact, it is because of this injury that is the opening act in him becoming Archangel

2. Apocalypse is a new villain in Marvel U having just finished his arc with X-Factor in issue 6 and is given cameos here as he goes about recruiting down-and-out mutants who have tremendous power and potential

3. Naturally here we are also introduced to a whole host of mutants like Scalphunter and others but not their enigmatic leader

4. Sinister will be identified as said manipulator and in a typical retcon of story telling, we will in decades to come find out that Gambit, future X-Men was part of the Marauders although throughout its original run, we were not given even a hint of Gambit - hah - bad retcon, eh?

Still, overall, an entertaining chapter in the life of a new comic series

Ratings: 5/10 (would be higher but the artwork didn't quite match this book's requirements)

2.157 (522) X-Men vol 1 #8 ... Marvel ...

Christmas Day 2015 and what better celebration than to do a review of one of the all-time favourite artists in comics - Jim Lee! Yeah, man! When you look back at these early 90s work, you can, naturally see that in many ways, it does look dated when compared to today's artists especially in terms of paper quality, printing and colouring but then again, you can see just how much energy and crazy detail Lee has put in into each of his pages

Anyhow, this tale is on the X-Men's downtime except that this time, they are really just chilling out instead of the usual soft ball game that was their past fave thing to do. What can we look forward to in this issue?

Well ... SPOILER ALERT ...

As the cover indicated, we see Bishop (waaay back then he was a grim and gritty policeman from the future not yet given over to the dark side ... ooooops wait wrong comics .... ) who is still adjusting to his time here on Earth in our timezone ... and trying to discover the identity of the man who would betray the X-Men. Gambit, being the sole survivor to Bishop's future, Bishop suspects that it is him and takes the opportunity to confront Gambit ... but rest assured, no big fights ensue

Then we have one guest star ... as we learn SPOILER ALERT that Gambit's other half is not dead but for some reason, still alive and kicking ... and coming to get him because the peace between their two families is about over and Gambit has a huge part to play in the forthcoming drama

And finally, the most interesting titbit continues as we see Psylock and uh-uhm ... Cyclops ... Cyke sure has a thing for telepaths, eh? From Jean to her clone, Madelyn then to this brief flirtation with Psylock before finally (in today's comic times) settling for Emma the White Queen, yet another telepath

Enjoy!

Ratings: 7/10

2.156 (521) Archer and Armstrong (2012) #1 ... Valiant ...

I am NOT going into the history of Valiant nor am I going to talk about this re-launch Valiant but instead I want to tell you, right up front, this is not your typical supes and capes type of comic. In fact, the good guys here wear pants and t-shirt and jackets and hats. The bad guys come in suits and military gear. There is only ONE sect whose henchmen dress in something resembling your typical superhero type of gear. But you know what? For someone whose comics are probably over 90% superheroes, I found that this series is so highly entertaining that I kept checking the shelves for each TPB that was released. Because it is so good that soft copy just isn't enough!

Okay?

So Archer is one of many kids raised in a religious compound that is also a religious themed theme park during the day. The children are raised in the believe that the best will be assigned special missions to achieve that of their adopted parents. And Archer was led to believe that he is the only one not adopted

On the other side, there is he who must not be named (no not Voldemort!), Armstrong. Armstrong is part of an ancient civilization who had thrived thousands of years ago. And one little incident wiped them out leaving Armstrong to wander the earth all alone as he watched civilization start anew. So while he is fat, loves to drink and takes young ladies to the bedroom, he is also incredibly knowledgeable and near "un" killable but not like Wolverine, okay?

Now that you know our primary players, let's get into the thick of things. We see here that Archer (Obie) passes the final tests by beating all the other kids and is thus assigned to go out and kill he who must not be named as well as to retrieve more pieces of an ancient machinery. What that is ties back to Armstrong's own past and as luck would have it, they ran into each other in a pub

It's a joy to see old-fashioned super uptight upbringing like Archer's colliding with our modern world juxtapose with someone who has the most right to be old-fashioned but instead is a freewheeling opportunist .. Armstrong is a bouncer in that pub! Naturally a fight ensues ... and we end with Archer learning a wee bit more about his "mom and dad" and it ain't pretty!

Great opening issue that feels like watching an excellent tv serial!

Ratings: 8/10

2.155 (520) Punisher War Zone (2007) #1 ... Marvel ...

This is sort of an odd issue for me in terms of the artwork. While I liked the fact that Ariel makes his figures huge and bulky and the facials are perfect, the fact that the colouring and inking/ shadowing using so much light/ watered down/ pastel effect simply makes the whole book ... or at least softens the impact of this comic which is a shame because as a storyline goes, this one opens with a huge BANG!

I mean this is Frank Castle, the Punisher we are talking about. The one real "hero" in the Marvel Universe who has no powers and yet is serious enough about crimes to put an end to it rather than those supes in capes who enjoyed incarcerating villains so that they can escape and murder others again and again and again ... almost as if ensuring that the supes have something to do, eh?

So sometimes the Punisher does feature in the more colourful main landscapes of the 616 while at others he is more street level. This series aims to bring Frank back into the landscape of the supes by having him take part in the Civil War between Iron Man and Captain America

Anyway, it starts up simply enough with Frank being annoyed about the Civil War but not participating. He goes about doing his job of taking down bad guys. Unfortunately, this is the one time where Stilt Man decides to go straight and thinks that when he encounters Frank, it is going to be a team-up ... well, he sure doesn't get Frank, does he? Because in Frank's books, if you are a villain, you stay a villain and the best way is to stay dead. Love, love, love the scene on how Frank brought him down (literally)

Well, if you are not reading the rest of the tie-ins to Civil War (like us), you will be left wondering why GW Bridge is now old and fat and a practising Muslim because hey in Cable? He wasn't. And why the heck is SHIELD suddenly asking him to bring down or bring in the Punisher

Seeing that the opposition has stepped up, Punisher decides he needs a new wing man kinda like his old pal Microchip. And away he goes recruiting ... SPOILER ALERT ... only to encounter after a few worthwhile trips a case of Civil War that has him left with literally no choice. If he stepped aside, a good guy could potentially bit the dust and it's a character that Frank knows well over the years. Thus that is how they introduce Frank back into the world of the supes ... and left us wanting more ... more violence and goodness hehehe!

Ratings: 7/10

2.154 (519) Secret Wars vol 1 #7 .. Marvel ...

[We have fallen way behind in our reviews. Today is already the 10th of Jan and we are still doing for 19th of Dec. Let's try to catch up, eh?]

In honor of the ongoing madness in Marvel's latest miniseries a similarly named Secret Wars, let's turn back the clock to the 80s where the original Secret Wars is. And now, we have just stepped past the halfway mark as we review issue 7

Talk about action, intrigue and a tale from many angles. Here in this issue, there is so much here that we cannot even find a quick way to summarize except to say that .. the heroes have split into two camps earlier with the mutants on one side (natch) and the heroes on the other. However, here, owing to ongoing investigation done by Prof X, he decided that the threat is so big, it will take both teams to re-combine SPOILER ALERT because Galactus is here and about to make his move! Cap obviously agrees because Mr Flag believes in the goodness of everyone or some such nonsense. Hahaha!

While on the villains side, it is even worse. There is, at this point, the mysterious Beyonder who is still nothing more than a presence. Then we have Galactus as mentioned earlier with his world ship and devices planning his own move to either defeat or get away from the madness of Battleworld

Obviously Doom is his own team since he believes himself the superior of everyone. And even in defeat and near death, he learned something new. But what will that result in? Future issues for us to find out. On Doom's side, we have the mad Klaw and equally loony Lizard. But the surprise of the moment is Ultron

Finally the remainder of the villains are seen fleeing inspite of having achieved a momentus victory by trashing She Hulk to within an inch of her life. The biggest casualty is Molecule Man who was savaged! So they are retreating but find that they have no safe haven. Will they team up with Doom?

And what's up with the alien healer, Esaji?

So much goodness all in one flimsy issue. Is it any wonder that this comic was a hit?

Ratings: 7/10

2.153 (518) Darth Vader (2015) #2 ... Marvel ...

By now, everyone out there who doesn't live under a rock would have heard how awesome was the sales numbers of Star Wars the Movie Episode VII ... and of course the limp ass Kylo Ren, baddie, Darth Vader wannabe because he looked so cool in the previews but so lame in the movie. Anyone can give him a hard time. You sort of wonder how he managed to sabotage Luke Skywalker then, eh?

Anyway, that's neither here nor there because what we want to talk about is the awesomeness of this comic. And in issue 2 it doesn't let up one inch in the awesomeness department. First up, just look at that amazing cover, eh?

Well this issue continues right off from 1 with Darth Vader trying to preserve his tenuous position in the Empire what with challenges from the military not counting his own Sith Lord, the Emperor and all the while trying to track down the user of the force, the boy Skywalker

We see him putting plans in motion even as someone suspects him of doing something he shouldn't. And the "overseer" who is sent to work with him naturally meets his own just desserts

What is really awesome here is the artwork. Salvador Larocca is a perfect fit here. The lines are clean and the background is chockfull of details. Yet at no time is there clutter i.e lines and items for the sake of filling up space. And at no time, does it feel too polished. In fact, it feels just right. Shiny and smooth breathing menace!

Ratings: 8/10

2.152 (517) Captain America vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) #1 ... Marvel ...

I have to admit that prior to this release, I was not a fan of Captain America. I did not mind when he made his appearances in Avengers but his own solo title was good for the casual peruse while at local convenience stores' spinner racks (back in those days). So when it was announced that Captain A would be one of the titles involved in Heroes Reborn, it was not on my pull list and look at the cover! So not there when compared to say Iron Man or Avengers. But the moment I bought it (with the white cover) and got home and read it ... well I was hooked and knew for sure, I would follow the next few issues. That's how good it was

Of course, if you do online googling, you will find that this issue is one of those that earned creator Rob a lot of flak from his detractors but you know what? To heck with them all. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Don't read it. Why bother spending hours and days just typing up articles to put down someone, right? And anyway, no one artist is perfect. Here in this issue, there is so much goodness that why anyone would want to look at the negatives is beyond me ...

Examples of what I enjoyed included:

Page 3 - with Cap holding his shield up close and looking serious - every inch the war hero!

Nukes - the page where Agent Hunt (Mission Impossible? Hahaha) - come on! That is so awesome and scary - the shiny and clean lines of the Nukes versus the darker, warmer colours of Hunt and his rocky outcropping

Nick Fury - splash page - you can tell that Rob is a fan of Fury. That is one awesome Nick!

See?

SPOILER ALERT

Story wise, everything goes off at a rapid pace with no time wasted on why Rogers is awake from WW2 without remembering anything (kind of like Wolverine). We see him dreaming more and more of a time in WW2 when he is dressed in a costume but he does not know why he has this dream and is afraid to tell his wife even though he supposedly is in love with her

And one fine day, while engaging in his routine dredge of a job, an old black chap ... who apparently has been tracking him down for over 50 years ... finally sees him passing by and waited for him to finish work ... because this man found the shield of Captain A and is looking for Steve to return it. Unfortunately all is not on the up and up in Steve's life as some of those around him are posing as friends and colleagues for Master Man and his World Party

Master who?

Master Man is one of the engineered super humans from WW2 who like the Skull survived WW2 and is now establishing a new party called the World Party aimed at Aryan Supremacy. Some of the rhetoric he spills when standing in front of his supporters ... well if you take out the Nazi reference ... can fit many of the situations in our world today as there are still politicians who do this. Scary when you think about it. Open racism!

Anyway, aside from Master Man and the Spy Hunt, we also see a new "Barnes" in the form of a young girl named Rikki whose dream is to be a dancer. And her dumb brother who is buying into the World Party spiel

So what happens next?

Fight fight fight that's what! Great stuff here with Rogers recovering part of his senses and taking down goons but how much does he really remember eh? Well that's for issue 2

Ratings: 8/10

2.151 (516) New Avengers vol 1 #5 ... Marvel ...

Before you read any further ... the most important thing to know is ... the artwork is DAVID FINCH! And if you are a huge fan like us, then this is most definitely for you. Buying softcopy is not enough. You need at least the tradepaperback or even the floppies. So glad we got it when it originally came out in sequentials hehehe!

Check out that awesome cover!

Alright as for the storyline, it continues as the (unofficial at this point) Avengers continue to track down escapees from the Raft break out while trying to figure out what the F is really going on but they haven't much time. Why? Because they are in the Savage Land and as the opening pages show, dinosaurs are trying to chomp them up

Yup Savage Land that unique piece of warm climate somewhere in the snowbound south where apparently time stood still, well, not really except that evolution is kinda screwy there

Anyway, to our Avengers' utter surprise out comes Wolverine and what a NASTY scene it was when he jumped on Spider-woman. Damn! But that's important is that after teasing everyone with the cover way back in issue 1, Bendis finally got around to introducing Wolvie to this ongoing volume of the Avengers. Naturally a short fight ensues before everyone questions everyone else on why they are in the Savage Land

The cool bit here is when the nasties uses vertigo and WHACK them all unconscious SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT the bad bit is why did the mutates not kill them? They know the Avengers are super powerful and they are nowhere near their league. So you know in a few pages, even though they are stripped and naked (yes you read that right) the Avengers are so going to wipe the floor with those mutates. Sigh!

And as for Wolvie? The person he is tracking is Lykos, Sauron a chap who sucks mutant energies to transform himself into pterodactyl. Yup, that's it. Come on! Sabretooth I can understand. Even Jugs but Sauron? Never understood why no one bothered to just shoot the old wild life out of him, eh?

Ratings: 7/10

2.150 (515) New Mutants vol 1 #1 ... Marvel ...

Yeeeees! Yaaaaay! For our volume 2 or "year 2" or "season 2" reviews, we hit our 150th review which is just awesome. So at this point, we have to wonder, do we start with calendar year as year 3 or do we wait until we hit 365 like a normal year? Reason is volume 1 was reviews done daily but as time progresses and we added in movies and novels reviews amongst others, we did this on alternate days and even then, we are severely behind by now nearly 3 weeks or thereabouts.

We think, for ease of reference, we will wait until 365, eh?

Anyway, for this special occasion, we review the original, the first splinter X-team waaaay back when mutants were at the top heap of the comics monthly sales charts and popularity. Here, author Claremont decided to go back to the early days of the X-Men when the school is more a school than a training ground for super-heroes which was what the X-Men had transformed into. And here, in their first issue though not their first appearance (for that you need the Graphic Novel), we see newbies:

1. Xian (Vietnamese and ability to possess people) - sad she never stayed long enough and only popped up whenever someone remembered to use her

2. Mirage (American Indian with the ability to channel someone's deepest fear) and at this stage still feel that she is not of much use and generally scared of everything

3. Cannonball (your typical red neck geek?) who is having huge issues controlling his power in the sense that he can generate and fly but had to tone down the sound of his flight or even turn

4. Sunspot (Brazillian) and the only one who can control his power which is like low grade Superman as he uses the sun to charge his body into super strong form and ... that's it. Lame? But the visuals are great though

5. Wolfsbane (Scots) who can ... change into a full blown wolf form or a were wolf ... hey every team needs someone savage with claws, right? But she is the lamest of them all in the M U hahaha!

Anyway, here in issue 1 they are brought together in X Mansion and gets to know each other ... with all the usual teen angst and conflicts unfolding ... and also to know the Danger room as Prof X (who seemed unnecessarily harsh and cold here) shows them the ropes of the room and how much more they have to go through training to be acceptable

Sideplot wise, we have 2 (hey this is Claremont). Firstly is the government keeping an eye on them which is fine but what is amazing now that we have re-read is the plot about Moira McTagggert and Gabrielle Haller because what started here in 1 will get full blown main plot attention only from issues 23 to 25! How's for building up suspense, eh? Imagine plotting that far down the line! Awesome, Claremont, just plain awesome!

Ratings: 6/10 (not enough fights - sorry that's why I buy comics)

2.149 (514) Alpha Flight vol 1 #7 ... Marvel ...

[Even though the date is 9th Dec but we are doing this on 3rd Jan 2016 - Happy New Year - so we are going to do a batch of bullet reviews to catch up, okay? As we are reading a lot of newer stuff not just comics from decades ago ... hehehe and want to share with you all]

In this, the 7th issue, the spotlight is on the speed twins of Northstar and Aurora. Waaaay back then, they travel together and do things together. Waaaay back then, when they joined hands, they can generate super powerful intensity light that blinds opponents and waaaay back then, we were not given the knowledge about Northstar's sexual orientation. Got it? Good, then you are ready

Here the issue splits into three, not just two from the previous format as writer John Byrne (awesome chap) decides not to waste our time by having sub plots littered throughout the main thrust of the story and what is this main thrust?

Well, firstly we have Aurora in her human, prim n proper personae going through a check up to determine if she is "normal" as her brother worries that her split personality may cause more damage to come and true enough, it does show up her in bits and pieces but basically aside from this, the remainder is prelude to something else as the twins run across old friends who on the surface seemed to be doing fine until a stranger comes along

Flip to the next shortest segment and we see a man who is down on his luck and have a poor outlook on life suddenly being approached by a snazzily dressed lady and you just know that troubles a brewing for the future eh? Because this lady is on a recruitment drive ... but for what? Well, this IS a sub plot

Finally we venture further into the past as Byrne continues his take on the individual origins of the team. Here is Snowbird and it actually goes waaaaay back to how researchers found some ancient sites of the old "northern" gods of Canada ... naturally Shaman is involved ... and we see Snowbird finally arriving in the human world as a one year old child! Now that is truly an origin, eh?

Ratings: 6/10 (would have rated higher if the main storyline had a little more villainy and action)

2.148 (513) Stormwatch vol 1 #10 ... Image ...

This is a shocker. As we checked our archives, we are embarrassed to admit that we have never reviewed a Stormwatch issue. Why? Because the first few issues of Storm was actually very entertaining with great artwork, colouring and a decent line up of characters

Here in this issue, the artwork has morphed into something more serviceable and less posturing but still good. The artist in this issue even tried something different with 2 page spreads broken up with side panels. All well and good, eh?

Storywise, this takes place immediately after Image's original novelty i.e. each title that wants to ... can participate by printing issue 25 of their series ahead i.e. after Stormwatch 9 came out ... it was 25 before 10. So here in 10 we get a SPOILER ALERT glimpse of what went on with 25 ....

For the Stormwatch portion of this 25 event, the writer decided to make it a time jump forward where leader, Battalion discovered that in just a short time, he was dead, his psycho father is back to being a major super bad guy and many of the team he led is either killed or been transformed. So he started off this issue by logging his thoughts for the future incarnation of the Watch team when he is called to duty (hey this is a comics and we need our action)

Apparently, the super nasty looking chap from issue 4, Talos who escaped is discovered. As expected, from Image of that time, the strength and abilities of the bad guys tend to waver. Here the threat is supposedly great but easily taken down. Talos is attacking a special weapons firm to steal some of their tech for himself when Watch comes in to kick his butt and kicked it they do and ... that's it ... hehehe

Ratings: 5/10

2.147 (512) Moon Knight vol 3 (2007) #7 ... Marvel ...

Approximately 450 reviews ago (can you beat that?), we did a batch review of the first story arc and how awesome this series' re-launch was. So we figured, it's time we move to the second story arc

The awesome bit first - David Finch is still on art duties. So it means that no matter how lame this story is, it will still rate well simply because of his work but thank goodness, this first chapter continued strongly in the vein of the first arc

As the cover shows, there is a cameo by Spidey (and no stupid super hero fight here). This tale takes place at the early part of Civil War, the Marvel event where heroes are split owing to the registration act with Iron Man on the government's side (obviously since he loves their defence contract money hahaha) and Captain America on the opposing side (proving that there is a difference between government and country)

Anyway, we start off with Marc slowly getting back in the groove even as his body is complaining about the hardship he puts it through, he is doing the rounds on the rougher neighbourhoods giving hoodlums a hard time. Naturally his own inner demons are still popping up as if they are real instead of figments of his imagination but the thrust of this entire issue is to hint at the villain that will be appearing in this particular arc (someone who loves clocks - sorry I couldn't even spoil it for you if I wanted to as I am not a 100% follower of Marc's earlier volumes and have no idea who this villain is except that he isn't knew) and Marc doing the rounds trying to assemble a crew to work with him so that he can carry on his plans of being the superhero vigilante once more

And amongst the rounds include a visit to his old pilot/ mercenary buddy, the gay French guy nicknamed Frenchie in his restaurant, an old African American lady and a few others ...

SPOILER ALERT About the only thing we can spoil it for you is that on the last page, Captain America pops by and then it's to be continued moment. See? Civil War crossover

Ratings: 6/10

2.146 (511) Bloodstrike vol 1 ongoing #3 ... Image ...

When you are a kid in your teens and you go to a comic book specialty shop and this cover just stands there on the racks ... you know you want it because just look at it! Two chaps going at it full blown. Isn't that even more awesome than any of those wrestling and MMA events? This book with Dan Fraga as artist onboard kicks all kinds of @$$ ... and the colorist is improving by leaps and bounds too ... hehehe

Anyway as the cover indicates, this is the fourth and final part of the Blood Brothers saga (in Bloodstrike that is). To sum it up, there are two brothers, John and Cabbot with the former being the elder brother. When growing up with their psycho father, they were consistently pit against each other with one being weaker. Naturally when both grew up, they have no love for each other ... and father dearest makes appearances SPOILER ALERT in later issues

However at this juncture, John had gone off from his tenure in Youngblood owing to disciplinary issues in anger management and formed his own group to supposedly show up the govt (yeah right and you never get to see much of this unfortunately) ... so to cover their tracks, the govt sicced their new team from Project Born Again (read that as reanimated bodies i.e. zombies of a sort) to take down and if required kill everyone in John's team. Coincidentally this new govt team is led by John's younger brother, Cabbot

Got it?

So this issue opens like most Bloodstrike issues with awesome interior artworks and revelations - the first of which is the mutation of Coldsnap right there on page 1! Day-mn! And while the fight continues as each side tries to take down the other (for the remainder of the issue it is one awesome fight), on another part of the world, good old sexy Lethal went on a recruitment mission to help her buddy, who she tries to assure everyone else is not her buddy (hmmm) ... suffice to say that if you read this issue, you are guaranteed excitement up the wazoo ... everything is just so good here ... and the only letdown would be the second story of some knights in space where while the artwork is good enough but unfortunately with Dan Fraga in lead story ... this one just looks so sad that I skipped it after the first 2 pages ... that's how good the main tale is hah!

Ratings: 7/10

2.145 (510) Captain America vol 4 (2002 to 2004) #2 ... Marvel ...

It's been over a year since I reviewed issue 1 of this volume and not because I do not like the first 6 issues (I love it) but that the topic, if one were to randomly read just an issue, might seem inappropriate in our world of today what with all the bombings and terrorism going on but author Ney Reiber hit this subject matter so well in his own view that I figured ... let's do this

In issue 1, you have Steve as Captain America being on missions not against supervillains but against bombs and what-not in good ole USA. But as this is a super hero comic, you just know that there must be more to it than that

What stands out in this volume is the narrative manner of artist and caption boxes where both worked so well ... at times it seems like a monologue and at times as if from a third party yet everything reads seamlessly

This issue SPOILER ALERT opens with a kidnapping ... and then is revealed that there is a mad bomber plot going on ... and this time they attacked a church in a red neck part of USA with a reporter being forced to "report" from the terrorists point of view ... but basically what they are doing is to drive out Captain A. So you have to be wondering say what?!?!?!

And Cap sensing that time is running out realizes he has no choice but to go charging head on hoping that his skills is enough to see him through

Now before anyone goes jumping to conclusions, yes the guy at this point calls himself Al Tariq and he has kids dressed up with head scarves and long robes ... and that's the cliff hanger but hang on ... I encouraged you to read the rest of the next few issues because you will discover that author Rieber has thought this through ... and it's not necessarily anti-Muslim or Islam issue but something akin to almost paranoia in the West ... using doubt to tear apart a society ... good stuff

Ratings: 8/10

2.144 (509) All Star Superman #1 ... DC ...

There was a time ... waaaaay back when both Marvel and DC were not relaunching their core titles every 2 to 3 years ... back when they wanted to tell a character with a twist ... they resorted to mini series or even alternate universes and thus for the purists you can follow the main publishing schedules while for the rest, like, who hardly ever buy DC, we love it as we can dip in when the storylines suite us

And this is one heck of a storyline ... 12 issues ... Morrison and Quitely ... and so much happening in each issue that you know it is not padded ... and the artwork despite its sparse linework ... never once feels like rushed but so perfect ... same goes for colorist ... and inventive villains

So here in this first issue naturally we get a brief on Clark Kent and Superman's background but they didn't waste time so as not to drag things out ... in fact SPOILER ALERT ... they start with a huge action scene of something going wrong in the sun and dear old Superman coming to the rescue ...

And between the switch in scenes ... we get the feeling that there is something more than an exploration mission gone wrong or that an astronaut is the villain of the piece ... of course there is Luthor but what is his ultimate plan as at this point he doesn't even give a damn about being caught? But our summation here is weak ... the actual flow of the storyline has so much going on in it that you just have to download illegal copies (whoops) and read it and if you like it we encourage you to track down the floppies or the TPB

Gorgeous piece of work

Ratings: 9/10

2.143 (508) Black Panther 1998 #1 ... Marvel ...

There is every now and then the usual hoo-ha about how there are not enough character of diversity in the world of comics. But for me, I am Asian and in my 30 years of reading comics, I have never felt the need for this. If the story warrants it, fine but if not, it's no big deal. I just don't think it should ever feel forced upon for the sake of political correctness

And this issue is just plain awesome. I was not a fan of the Panther and except for knowing him to be from an African country that has Vibranium and advanced technology even though they still behave tribal? I know next to nothing

So when I picked this up waaaaay back when it was coming out in floppies, it was merely to flip the pages ... and please note that I am also not a fan of Tex's art but for some reason the tale within captured my attention and off and on I followed it for a good four years plus!

I mean when you open this comic and you read the first page? Come on! How awesomely funny is that? You just have to try it

Anyway, let's get to specifics. At the point of this series launch, Panther is arriving to America because of some potential frame up accusing of him being involved in some scandal or other. Naturally he bring in his troops i.e the 2 warrior women and an elderly giant of a man. As he is both royalty and head of State, the US govt attached a liaison to him to sort of be his guide but unofficially be the eyes and ears of the US govt. So intro Mr Ross

Mr Ross plays a prominent and comical role throughout the 50 or so issues becoming the soul of the series for me. He is a shrimp of a man who is not afraid to show his weaknesses and is obviously an office person more than a field person

And he is also sleeping with his superior!

Now this series flips all over the place, past and present from scenario to scenario. So you really have to pay attention but it is time and effort well-spent SPOILER ALERT what the cover doesn't tell you is that the ending has yet another guest star. Throughout this issue, it's more political intrigue and some fisticuffs than anything else but that last 2 page? Wow! It leaves you wondering what else may be coming because you see ... Ross' door was knocked (not a joke) and when he opens it ... outside was Mephisto (the devil) waiting to come in (say what?)

Ratings: 8/10

2.142 (507) Moon Knight 2011 #1 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well ... when Marvel relaunched Moon Knight with super hot artist Dave Finch, it was reminiscence of the previous Moon Knight series that was limbering towards its end and cancellation when new artist Stephen Platt brought it out of the doldrums. Unfortunately Platt moved on to other things and well, Finch being that good but albeit slow, has to move on too ...

And so Marvel must have thought to do it differently this time around by using uber hot writer Bendis (Avengers) and paired him off with critical darling artist Maleev (Daredevil) but honestly ... while interesting the series was middle-of-the-road at best ... and it lasted for all of 2 story arcs or 12 issues if you are counting ...

With that griping out of the way (sorry, readers) let's get on with this review. As the last series finished not that long ago, the first few pages ... I guess it is directed at new readers who are probably fans of Bendis or Maleev because we actually waste time retelling the origins of Moon Knight. If it is for a fan of the Knight, well, they know his origins so why bother eh?

The fun starts several pages into the comic as we see Marc enjoying the high life once more as a wealthy bloke only to disappear as he is summoned. SPOILER ALERT And to our utter surprise we see him popping up to the rooftop to confer with his Avenger buddies because for those not in the know, Moon Knight was actually an Avenger for a while

Naturally the problem is that with the past few years of nonsense going around with the heroes, new and old villains are popping up and staking their interests and here in the new city where Knight is operating, he is tasked to find who is the new Kingpin more or less

As he does his runaround bit, he encounters a strangely garbed ex villain who is in a costume but not the one that most fans of Marvel would know and recognize and hence ... feels so weird ... anyway to make a long story short, inspite of the fight and drama, this guy is still not the ultimate villain i.e. there is still someone at play and that someone was not revealed even at the end of this issue for you see, this villain? He has somehow come across an Ultron and is trying to sell it to the other guy

But what is surprising and you should put up with this book until literally the last page is the last page reveal because wow what a reveal it is. It is of such a monumental reveal that will make you wonder about the next issue. Wonder but not necessary put it on your pull list unless you have the extra bucks

For me, while I do like Maleev's work, I am not a fan and would not buy if his name is on the cover and in this case, thanks to Finch's previous series, this feels like a huge fall from standards. Sigh!

Ratings: 4/10

2.141 (506) Shadowhawk vol 1 #1 ... Image ...

Continuing our trend from the previous few reviews, here is another first issue from one of the original Image co-founder - Jim Valentino. Now Jim has been the one that gets the odd critic approval more from his storylines rather than his artwork because he doesn't do much of that over-pouches, gigantic boobs with odd poses stuff (not that he didn't try every now and then)

Anyway he is one of my favorites simply because of the first 15 or so issues of Guardians of the Galaxy from before the movie with the original team. For some reason, when he started, before he developed his own signature style, the artwork is so cool with space faring types of people kicking all kinds of ass and the fast-paced action all the time

Unfortunately here in his own book, Jim lost all control and goes full fledged Jim. Now I loved his enhanced covers and I actually enjoyed the story but I think he would have benefitted from a good editor so that he doesn't come out too preachy

You see, Shadowhawk initially comes out like a tv series with a few limited series telling a larger tale which is great. And in this first issue, we are shown a number of sccenarios that hints at who Shadowhawk could be

At this point, we see someone dresses up, coming out and kicking the crap out of thugs of all sorts. And to ensure that Shad is a tough guy, his "thing" is to break the backs of the baddies ... here we mean literally he cracks the spine so that they will be paralyzed for life and can spend the rest of their lives regretting their action i.e. even less merciful than killing them. I guess that's grim and gritty, eh?

In the meantime, we all see all sorts of machinations but so far more or less, it's human level type of bad guys with a bit of low level supervillainy

Now allow us to skip the tale a bit ... basically if you follow this story, you will find that Shad is actually an African American who has been infected by some vicious asshole with the HIV virus. And as the story progresses he goes all over the Image Universe trying to find a cure ... yes ... it is that preachy ... regardless of what Valentino and team might say in the back pages of the books. Ah well ...

Rating: 5/10

2.140 (505) Savage Dragon ongoing #1 ... Image ...

Here we go again ... another embarrassing review moment as we checked and realized we have never done a single review on Erik Larsen's super awesome Savage Dragon series. This is one of two series that started the Image revolution that until today is still running, the other being Spawn. Now while I am not a big fan of Erik, neither do I dislike his work. There is a lot of energy in his lines and at this early stage of his career, his work has a lot of lines and details before he morph more and more into a Kirby-esque homage (see Dragon above #75) ...

Anyway if you start with this, it does feel like you are in the middle of a story. The good part is that there is sort of a one page flashback sequence somewhere in the middle of the story. Another good part is that there is not a lot of panels wasted on exposition on the origins of Dragon and the bad? It feels like you are in the middle of a story (hehehe)

Now on to the tale proper SPOILER ALERT at the start of this tale, and for many years, Larsen wants Dragon to have the same persona as Cable and Wolverine i.e. a man who cannot remember his past but that in no way takes or retracts from the reader's enjoyment of the series as it supposedly add a layer of "mystery" to the protagonist and in this case, Larsen made all the right calls because the series at the start is really enjoyable

We start with a Dragon who doesn't remember who he is or how he came to be the Dragon looking like that, all green, super strong, regenerative abilities and with a fin on his head. What is even more add is that before being found by a police officer in a burning field, a fully grown adult, there is no record in any of the news media about there ever having been someone like him and hey we are talking fin head okay? So mystery set and in place

Well, our police officer sort of placed him with a family member who then got iced by the super villains in Chicago and that is how the Dragon ends up as a police officer which is how we opened the first page of this comic

And in quick succession, we are shown how the Dragon is a bad ass by how fast he takes down nasty villains without even second's worth of hesitation employing violent means to win and to save lives, be damn with the consequences and the paperwork ... which when you even stop to think is weird ... because hey it is America, the land of being sued and suing

Hah

Aside from that, we also see that his first buddy, the police officer is quickly having huge personal stress problems that are hinted at here. And then as the Dragon wants to confront the powers of Chicago, he is being directed at other superpowered issues .. here we refer to Ricochet and her brutish mate ... SPOILER ALERT ... these are characters that are being introduced here who will then become members of Freak Force ... a team that will assist Dragon in future law enforcement ... so you know this is just a chance for gratuitous fighting but hey it's comics and that's what we want! Hahaha!

So is it worth the time? Yes if you like loads of action and a comic that takes more than 20 mins to read because each page? Has tons of words from balloons to this and that. Hehehe! Awesome!

Ratings: 6/10

2.139 (504) WildCATS vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

Wow this issue is just plain awesome. If you have followed this tale from 1 to 3, you will be left wondering how Lee and Co are going to finish the tale in just a normal sized issue but you know what? They did it and did it well to the point that it doesn't feel .. rushed or forced ... it's just that great

Now for those who have yet to read this but may be interested, please note that you should just look at the cover and enjoy that cover and stop reading this because this is a review not a preview and I do not want to spoil it for you but hey that cover? Wow, right?

Okay this is the end of the first arc of this new series and the players at this time are:

1. Wildcats - obviously
2. Youngblood - from Rob Liefeld's corner of the Image Universe as they are assigned to protect the VP of USA who is at that time possessed by alien baddies and this means, the blood were being used
3. Alien baddies
4. Alien and semi-alien mercenaries
5. Regular folks

So it's battle royale as the blood found out the truth and took sides with the cats to bring a world of pain on the baddies. They were close, very close to unleashing their ultimate weapon to take down our world. The price to stop this was high to the cats

And to my utter surprise, the battle actually ended with several pages left in the issue for us to get a feel of what is going to come next in this series and I am so glad it continued ... at least for the next dozen issues

Ratings: 9/10

2.138 (503) WildCATS vol 1 #1 ... Image ...

Wow I am so embarrassed to admit that while the CATS was my early fave from when Image comics launched ... until now ... at 503rd review only am I here doing this review. I checked our list and realized that for some odd reason, I did 2 and 3 and 0 but not 1. Why? No F-ing idea! Anyway, so here we are and so let's get started

Everyone who reads comics in today's world still knows Jim Lee. So I am not going to waste time extolling his virtues in terms of awesome pencilwork and storytelling abilities but instead I am going to say that he is paired with an awesome colorist of his era and this entire issue is well balanced from the subtlety to the bold color moments. Just plain great!

For the tale itself, well, as an opener, once again, there is great balance between introducing us to the main protagonists, the heroes, the villains and a few side plots. It opens with flashes of the past somewhere in Antartica where something happens but mind you if you read this series you will find that this flashback ties to a future issue and so this is relevant

Next up we are introduced to a midget, Jacob who starts off as a drunken street bum but within a few panels WOWZA we find out he is just a billionaire who enjoys slumming it and he has no recollection of who he was in the past until a weird looking silver lady found him and then with her assistance somehow made him into the billionaire that he is

Naturally at this point he supports her and her wishes. I mean, who wouldn't? But he still didn't believe her that he is going to be some sort of hero-saviour in the war amongst alien races. Yes, this is not about mutants but rather 2 alien races that crashed on earth years ago and each have grown hiding amongst the humans as humans developed and evolved. In addition, some of the alien spawn have intermarried with earthlings and their progeny now shows unique abilities

So with his wealth, our friend Jacob has been busy collecting these special individuals and housing them and training them to defend us mere mortals against the eventuality that some day, the bad aliens will come a calling

And who are the aliens? Well they are called Dire Wraiths ... nope that's from Rom ... they are called the Brood ... nah but they do look a bit like Brood but hey does it matter if the story line is awesome?

We are shown a few scenes into the baddies hideout as they too consolidate their moves and we are shown that amongst the baddies are 2 strong factions. One is muscle for hire and one, typically, world domination. So they are culling the weak from their world while planning to take over the world. That last page with the reveal of their mole in USA government? Rich!

Anyway to ensure that there is enough action, we also get to see the training of the good guys and a few small scum they encountered. For those who do not know the CATS the important members are:

Warblade - green hair and can stretch his hands like Mr Fantastic except he has these hands that can turn into metallic claws ala Wolverine

Maul - who can grow big and strong except the bigger he grows the dumber ala the old Hulk and he is purple too

Zealot - supposedly one of those good aliens who learned to fight and founded a sisterhood of warrior women who then went on to hire themselves in the world of men (say what). She is your obligatory bad girl dressed in her undies and wielding blades

Grifter - the loner who acts tough and wise cracks supposedly one liner funnies (though rarely do I find it funny) and jumps around shooting at things just like Gambit in his jacket

And then for the more boring members:
Adrian or Hadrian - the robotic guy who looks like human and can fly and shoot beams from his hand
Void - the silver lady who can teleport and supposedly very powerful but throughout the series we are rarely shown and thus rarely understood why she is supposedly very powerful as she is always taken down easily

There are a few more to go as the series progresses but for this issue, that's it. Good art, good story, good characters. If you haven't, then you need to read it

Ratings: 8/10

2.137 (502) Youngblood vol 1 #3 ... Image ...

If you thought our last review indicated a lot of goings-on, well, this next issue continues that trend. So for this review, let's try to list them like a fan's letter to the comic style with bullet points:

1. Cover - AWESOME. Regardless of what some may say about the posture or the shading, all I can say is that it projects so much awesomeness in terms of power and what each of the characters are all about that the pose actually works!

2. First part - the first few pages of this comic continues from the last with Prophet now taking on the SPOILER ALERT robotic bad guys supposedly sent from his future by his nemesis. Prophet has no choice because after his battle with Team Youngblood before teaming up with TY, they were exhausted and most of this encounter happens off panel and we see Proph as last man standing. Ah well ...

3. Next part - unfortunately we will have to wait for issue 4 to see the conclusion of Proph's side as we now jump to the main YB team headed by Shaft as they spend a few pages on downtime handling admin work

4. Side plots - naturally all good comics needed this and here we have creatures looking like Kombat in outerspace chatting away and gritting their teeth and posturing around

But guess what? All the above? Not even half of the comic. Now without further SPOILERS you can imagine actually how much is happening here in this comic - sub plots, main plots, characterization, all that and more and so many of these new characters would spin off into their own limited series and ongoing (short lived or otherwise). It's just amazing if you are a kid and getting your hands on an issue of a comic like this ... just plain ... wow!

Ratings: 8/10

2.136 (501) Youngblood vol 1 #2 ... Image ...

Admittedly, if you are to read this without knowing the history in detail of this issue's release, you would probably feel that it is somewhat dated especially in the colouring department and to a certain extent, the storylines but hey when this came out waaaaay back in the 90s, inspite of all this, it was HUGE. The sheer anticipation of what else creator Rob Liefeld can throw at us, his loyal fans, was simply AWESOME

In this issue, we finally, as the cover indicates get to see Prophet - and as typical comic teasing would have it - is he friend or foe? Well as far as we are concerned, that cover alone makes you want to turn the pages to find out because colouring aside, that is one awesome looking character

And when you turn to page 1, hey, guess what? More new characters in the form of the Berzerkers. At this point, I have no idea who these people are (but they are going to have their own limited series not long after their debut here so that should tell you a little bit more about their impact) but the fact that on page 1 you have them? Whoa!

As for the storyline proper, well, basically some superpowered earthlings were defending against an invasion from Darkthornn's dimension or some such place. And in the course of such things found someone encased in a tube (no this is not similar to the Avengers discovering Cap). However, while they debated long over it, before they know it, our man in the tube managed to be ... free ... and naturally with gritted teeth, a hard fought battle ensued. We see that Prophet is one tough cookie even though none expected him to be that fast or strong i.e. he is no Hulk or Quicksilver but his skills and ability to bear with the pain made him an opponent that gave the entire Youngblood team a run for their money

Oh yes, before we forgot, in this issue there is yet one more new character - Kirby the shortie who smokes and has like gazillion guns blazing every time! Hah!

Ratings: 6/10

2.135 (500) Star Wars 2015 #1 ... Marvel ...

It's our big FIVE HUNDREDTH review ... and how can we cover anything but the year's BIGGEST SALES comic - the new STAR WARS. Hehehehe! Enough with the caps, yes? Actually this issue would have been granted a 10/10 if not for the cover. Seriously. Look at it. Could they not find someone who can do better for such a monumental issue? How about someone like P Craig Russell/ Alex Ross/ Arthur Adams/ Bill Sienkiewicz? Right? Ugh!

Yes it is by John Cassaday but ... it still looks weak ... sorry!

Anyway, similar to our review of Vader, this issue takes place after the destruction of the Destroyer. So feeling that the Empire is going all over the place panicking and witch hunting, our friends in the Rebel Alliance realizes that here is yet another awesome opportunity to press home their advantage and go all out trying to kick the Empire's butt

The opening sequence is plain awesome as it feels exactly like the movie where after the rolling titles and summary we get a space ship zooming down to a planet. SPOILER ALERT. And before you know it, our friends Han/ Luke/ Leia is on a roll trying to infiltrate and destroy whatever they can get their hands on

Naturally to complicate things, they ran into a slave pen and being the good guys that they are, they try to accommodate. However, as if that wasn't enough, along comes Vader and this is totally unexpected. What was meant to be mayhem earlier is nothing when you add Vader into the mix. Here we get to see an angry Vader who coldly sacrifices his loyal troops just to proof his point. Just ... wow!

And lots of Stormtroopers get their chips cashed in too!

Suffice to say, the story and interior artwork are just perfect. Feels so good that it could have been taken off from panels in a movie!

Ratings: 9/10

2.134 (499) Planetary #1 ... Wildstorm ...

Finally a break from Marvel to ... Wildstorm ... at this time I am not sure if they are Image or DC and I couldn't be bothered to scrutinize the fine writing at the bottom of the page. Hah! Who cares?

This issue though not new shows us the potential of what the Authority and Stormwatch could be. We also have a younger John Cassaday whose artwork is already phenomenal even at this stage and Warren Ellis giving his all

As the title and cover shows, we see this as your non-traditional superhero comic. It is about a group of always three people though we are not sure why who is hired and recruited into this awesomely weirdly high tech organization where there seems to be no one else and their jobs are to go on missions that are just plain weird with potentially X-Files style except to the max

As this issue opens, we are introduced Jakita (the lady who turns out to enjoy a good brawl hence her dressing and she is the most "super hero" of the group) who comes a recruiting to a café in the middle of somewhere. The gentleman she is recruiting is one Snow (chap in white). What makes him special is he is one of those millennia type folks i.e. living below the radar but have existed for a full millennia (yup a hundred years old) with what other abilities no one is sure

The third team member is Drums and his ability is that he can tap into all sorts of data wavelengths but he needs to draw them out. We are not told all this but the artwork after a few issues sort of shows you this and hence the need to always drum or stamp his feet (weird right?)

And in this issue, they are sent to explore something that just came up on the mysterious radar blip only to discover that the "evil" is none other than SPOILER ALERT an aging Brass who has stayed there protecting the world from the "evil" after his ancient team had been decimated. He has survived but he didn't know the actual number of years (half a century) had passed by and he is still alive!

How's that for an eye opener of a first issue? Definitely makes us want to come back for more

Ratings: 8/10

2.133 (498) Darth Vader 2015 #1 ... Marvel ...

If you are any sort of Star Wars fan, be it movie/ comics/ cartoons, you would know of two things that is happening this year. First and foremost - part 7 or rather VII of the movie is coming out next month and secondly, more in relation to our reviews, the comic franchise has been shifted from Dark Horse back to Marvel ... we say back to because during the original run of movies 4 to 6, the comics were at the house of M (heh)

Anyway, what's really important is that in this issue (wow we are reviewing a current comic more or less) it is plainly AWESOME

Yes it is that good that it deserves caps. So let's say it again - AWESOME

Basically as the title indicates this is a series told from Darth's perspectives except that to make his presence more ominous there are no thought balloons. And so when you see him in that face mask coming and no words coming out ... well, it is soooo good as if watching a movie

Now for those wondering how a villain can carry a comic series, well, all we can say is try this. It starts after the end of the Deathstar ship that was destroyed by the rebels. As we all remember, Darth tried and failed to stop it and so for the first time since he became a Darth to his Sith Lord, the Emperor, he has failed. And naturally he must be wondering how the Emperor will take it. If the Emperor treats him like the way he treats others, it will be nasty

While all this is ongoing, and the Emperor is not helping by deliberately (or otherwise) showing his dealings with others of whom Darth has no idea of their true identity or purpose, Darth's head is all a swirl about the young Jedi whom he met as they were under the impression that all Jedi were thought dead and gone with ... at that time ... perhaps a failing Obi-wan scuttling a way. So this became one of the objectives in his planning ... to locate and identify and if need be exterminate

All this on top of his personal quest to track down and eliminate the rebels who brought shame to his door

What an opener of an issue. O yeah for those who like the original stormtroopers and not those from the clone wars era, you get them here

Ratings: 9/10

2.132 (497) X-Men vol 1 #115 ... Marvel ... (New X-Men)

After that last issue (review), if you are a casual reader or long time but lapsed reader of the X-Men, for sure, you know, you are going to come back for more, right? Hehehe! Because we know we did when it first came out on floppies or singles or loose issues and we actually waited for it

This second issue is no disappointment. From the cover of an awesomely smug Wolvie to the interiors and coloring, just superb and converted us into a fan of Frank Quitely

SPOILER ALERT

Sorry we re-read the issue trying to figure out how not to spoil it for you but there is just so much goodness here that it would be a literary crime for us to not do all we can to make you go read it. So without further ado, if you buy this, here is what you are going to get:

1. Ugly throwaway mutants - yup Morrison and Quitely gave us a few new characters whose destiny it is to remain useless but still interesting - look at that annoying guy with more than one physical face!

2. Awesomely nasty new villains - Cassandra makes her move and while our heroes track her down and confront all sorts of new config for Sentinels and their guards, boy o boy, were they all mistaken if that was all the threat she posed because hey X people she has even more evil plans that are already in motion

3. Prof X - while Beast and Jean help him to recover, they found out to their own mental peril that once again Cassandra has plotted out her mad schemes several steps ahead

4. Cyclops - was way cool in how he handled both Cassandra and descendant of Trask

5. Ending - but nothing beats the ending of poor Magneto and his island nation! That was AWESOME!

Ratings: 9/10

2.131 (496) X-Men vol 1 #114 ... Marvel ...

In the life of a comics series, there will come a time when the usual run of creators are unable to bring new energy and enthusiasm to the book. And then it faces declining sales and potential cancellation. So from out of nowhere, Marvel brought in 2 talents that have been making waves over at DC - Frank Quitely (artist) and Grant Morrison (writer) and what a breath of fresh air they both did!

First up, they discarded the old cartoony costumes and introduced black jackets, leggings and what-not that is then shared with the movies (albeit not so cool looking even in the movies) and as you can see from the cover, a certain amount of swagger and confidence to the characters

While Morrison, he turned them from the usual angst ridden heroes into a bunch of experienced adventurers who each have their own personality. In this issue, he introduced no less than a new super villain named Cassandra Nova. At this point, we do not know who she really is except that she is like a shrunken old auntie wearing weird safari suit and appointing a legacy of Sentinel founder Trask onboard ... and they are taking a journey through various times of the human progress and witnessing how humanity has grown ... the message is there and if you follow the series you will see how well-laid out the storylines are ...

And also as a first introduction to her presence, she chose none other than to strike at Charles Xavier while he is hooked up with Cerebra

So aside from Prof X, this issue sees a very unique combination of X-characters. We have Cyclops as leader (naturally), two psychics in the form of Jean and Emma and two beastlike characters in the form of Hank and Logan

Can't wait for the next issue!

Ratings: 9/10

2.130 (495) All New X-Men vol 1 #1 ... Marvel ...

Finally we are "up to the times" so to speak as we review a series that is actually an on-going and not suffering from reboot and only three years old! Howabout that, eh? Hehehehehe!

Honestly, I avoided this book even though I have it in soft copy and hard copy simply because of the artist, Stuart Immonen. Sorry but I didn't enjoy his past work and it all looks a bit rushed and murky. But I have been pleasantly surprised and now can safely categorise him similar to Ed McG where if he has the right inker and colorist and right project, the work can actually be entertaining

And in this volume, we see the return of the original X-Men

Yup for those not in the know, this is not a slotting in between past issues kind of project but the actual teen heroes who failed to sustain the first round of X-Men comics coming back once more and in the present run of the X-tales

Background recap time: basically after all the horror of the Phoenix Five where many things were destroyed and the whole world nearly destroyed with the adult Cyclops openly unrepentant and even broke out of prison, the Beast, decided to make a time-jump into the past to bring the younger kids into the future hoping that meeting his younger self would jolt Cyclops back to his senses. He theorises that the kids would not remember this meeting because if all goes well and he sends them back to their own time, Prof X would wipe this from their minds (Huh?)

So that's the gist of it. As this is a normal length opening issue, there is already a lot going on here but what I found really cool is the fact that writer Bendis injects so much more personality into these youthful X-Men. Naturally we see Scott as being a bit uptight but still noble. What is refreshing is that Bobby actually looks younger and is annoying more fun than the Torch and Spidey while Warren is equally capable of a laugh or too!

Awesome!

Ratings: 7/10

2.129 (494) Daredevil vol 1 #163 ... Marvel ...

Moving forward a couple of issues and the storyline is much improved. At first, when you see the cover, you will be asking yourself what is the point ... after all, we are talking the Hulk ... and this is the actual point of the story and that made if really emotional

We open with DD attending an event as lawyer Matt Murdoch. However, with his life not exactly thriving on both professional and social front, unfortunately, his senses detecting the presence of the Hulk did not help matters as he snuck away at the first opportunity to present itself and to his credit, he initially did SPOILER ALERT something unbelievable i.e. by calming the Hulk down until he reverted back to Bruce

However, if this is all there is, the story would not be so much a super hero tale without any slam bang action. So now comes the real letdown in the tale similar to our last review. Here is the sense that the writer didn't understand the motivation for the Hulk. Because he needed Bruce to hulk out, he allowed every tiny little bit of uncomfortable situation to stress Banner until he hulked out. I mean come on. He was well, he was happy, he had been fed and clothed and now leaving New York like a normal human being. And the process of departing and encountering fellow New Yorkers was so tough that he hulked out?!!?!?!?! Come on! Millions of people go through rush hour without their stress levels hitting the roof!

Anyway, thank goodness that is not the end. Because our friend Murdoch once more senses the Hulk and tries to calm him down but this time, owing to his rage, the Hulk actually hurts DD before realizing what he has done to the only person who gave him an open hand! Yes, the Hulk whacked DD one and left him in critical condition by the last page of this issue. Like I said thank goodness for this bit where more common sense crept in

Ratings: 6/10

2.128 (493) Daredevil vol 1 #161 ... Marvel ...

Like every title in Marvel over the past 10 years, poor Daredevil was not spared the re-launch business. In fact, the past 10 years was weird especially when both writer and artist were the same and within a couple to three years, they re-launched the title yet again. Ah well ... when lost ... stick to the old tricks eh?

Anyway, this is a throwback to the days of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson as both were coming into their own before Miller had his super signature style but here, you can already see the awesome angles and perspectives of his character's moves

Just check out that cover!

Anyway, this issue is a culmination of the past year or so's worth with Bullseye seeking revenge for his defeat by DD. To sum it up, he decided that he needed to study DD's moves to better defeat our blind hero. Hence he engaged hired guns to bait DD and tried to snuff the Devil, all of whom failed as expected

To up the ante, he even sought out those nearest and dearest to DD ie Black Widow who at that point in DD's history was his love and captured her. So after a long running scene of DD tracking him, finally the confrontation SPOILER ALERT and while I loved the action scenes, I think this is one of those rare instances where more pages should have been utilized because towards the end, the fight is short and Bullseye apparently loses his nerves thinking DD is simply un-defeatable ?!?!?! WTF?!?!??!

Ratings: 6/10