337. Power Man/ Iron Fist #113 ... Marvel ...

Remember in our last review we talk about stories that has more than one issue? Well, this is sort of an epilogue of the tale involving the kid you see on the cover and what an issue it is as we finally have several villains and also several heroes

We see Fist coming to a special holding cell for supers and going through the motions of security check. We also get a glimpse of the Falcon and then head of facility security but not in his guardsman (cheap Iron Man knock off) uniform

While the humdrum of administration is being administered, something wicked is happening down below as one by one, both villains and good guys started encountering something that scares the shit out of them and yet is impervous to any one of their attempts to stop it. What's this mystery presence? Well, go and buy the book

Suffice to say, the action is drawn out rather than a few pages of over the top fight and the fight here is actually brief but full of tension that makes you keep on turning the pages. For this tale, I do wish it was done in more current contemporary style as it would have benefited the extra pages. Still Greg Laroque penciller turned in awesome pages!

Ratings: 8/10

336. Power Man/ Iron Fist #109 ... Marvel ...

There was a time in the 80s when the Power Man/ Iron Fist series was failing in terms of sales and Marvel made these cute house ads with one version having Fist whispering to us readers to try their mag and the other has Cage telling us to buy

Anyway, so what did they do to ramp up the sales? Well instead of giving us guest star after guest star, for some weird reason, the writers and editors didn't. They did give us stories with a bit of continuity every now and then sort of letting you buy the next couple of issues but that's it and I have to wonder why Spidey didn't drop by or the X-Men? Hehehe!

For me, I started this series with 108 and found myself actually enjoying the straightforward storytelling that stresses more on the human angle and this issue is no different. Here we have Power Man hanging out at the community church as apparently a kid was in there with a gun. Sad story is that the kid is no druggie or thieve. And he ... well ... you have to read the story okay?

While at the office, Iron Fist is approached by a beautiful, sad woman to find her husband as apparently he is ex-forces who has gone off the deep end in trying to bring justice to what he perceived as a world lacking and who he kills along the way including innocents do not bother him

Naturally thanks to TV coverage, Fist's search and Luke's stake out ends up intertwined and in the same place (cool storytelling) ... and the ending is more sad and tragic rather than a simple fist fight

Ratings: 8/10

335. Ultimates #9 ... Marvel ...

And now for our second instalment and boy can this series pump up the pressure! It continues as if it was the same flow from last issue ... because basically it is ... as we see Cap confronting Pym about his behaviour towards Janet. Rather than taking it as it is, Pym decided that it was none of Cap's biz and grew to giant man size and you know what this means, right? Fight!

And what a fight it is! We get to see once again how bad ass the Ultimate Cap can be as he gave Hank the beat down of a lifetime. Damn! Aside from this, there is always the need to seed the story for the future. So cue some downtime chat between some of the characters like Tony and Natasha and Fury and his mates ...

The really heartfelt and sad moment came just before the last scene change for this issue. Cap went to the hospital with simple gifts for a recuperating Janet ... only to be torn a hole as Janet ripped out right at him telling him to butt out of his business ... and that his 1940s values just do not work here ... crazy woman ... Hank nearly killed you and regardless of your love for this man, shouldn't there be a limit? Sigh!

Yes, there are bits about the aliens on earth but for me this little drama is so much more exciting. And that cover with Hawkeye - how cool is that?

Ratings: 10/10

334. Ultimates #8 ... Marvel ...

I cannot believe that almost one year in of reviews and I have not touched on this title. This is easily one of the best comic series I have ever read and this is the series that made me a fan of artist Bryan Hitch and writer Mark Millar. Honestly. Before this, I don't even know Hitch's work even though I have seen it like the Thing and She-Hulk one off

Anyway, the Ultimates is basically the Ultimate Universe's version of the Avengers before this verse go too messy and by messy I meant that after several years' in, there came an Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Ultimates. Yes, see what I mean? Hehehe!

Now covers aside, the highlight of this issue is certainly not Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. In fact, until the end of this volume, these two are merely on the fringes of the book and gets cameo appearances and occasional dialogue. Whatever they do, it is always off panel

So what's the highlight here then, you ask? It is the awesomeness that is Hitch's artwork. Hehehe! Basically the focus is on Hawkeye and Widow as they infiltrate a seemingly normal building to uncover that the workers here, from drone to managers are all decades old aliens. And what a firefight it was. This is worthy of a movie framing sequence - reminds one of Matrix lobby scene where Neo walks in, gets checked and whips out the guns! I kid you not. Check it out and you will be glad you did

Of course the ending is equally good promising us a sure kick ass next issue as Cap takes it upon himself to track down loser, Pym in a bar after he has finished (Pym not Cap) assaulting the Wasp until she has to be hospitalized! Talk about wife abuse!

Ratings: 10/10

333. Cage #4 ... Marvel ...

What-ho! And here we are with the next issue as Cage continues on his merry adventure with Punisher. So what happens now?

Well, firstly both he and Pun made up (awwww) and naturally the bad guys interrupted only for our combined heroes' efforts ... that proved more than sufficient to kick ass. And boy did Cage did a low blow here in this issue against Nitro ... bad ass! And then Pun followed it up with a shot in the back? Talk about fighting dirty

Naturally while the grunts are having a go at each other, the big boss of all these villains are carrying out his dastardly plans elsewhere ... and this involves a new chick that is somehow getting some mileage with Cage ... whether she will be his squeeze is yet to know ... but stupid boss villain ... why you bother with the black man's bitch, eh?

You just know, dumb as Cage is, he will still track down and kick more ass

And o yeah before we forget, that subplot habit of Marvel, yup, still here! Marvel is seeding something more from last issue to this issue for the futur

Ratings: 4/10

332. Cage #3 ... Marvel ...

What do you do when, at first you plan to launch a new series, and you are not sure if it will be a success? Why, you simply include cameo and guest appearances from other "hot" properties. And at the time when this series was launched, Luke Cage aka Power Man was not yet the success that he was with the Avengers and so here they rolled in another "grim n gritty" character the Punisher

At this juncture, after bye bye with Iron Fist and no more Heroes for Hire, well, Cage still needs to eat and as he is not much good for anything else, he goes around looking for jobs even as super powered body guard. Naturally as he is a "black" character, his world revolves around more "black" character than is the norm for the 616 Marvel U

And while he goes about his life, stopping thieves and what-not, as per the cover, a bigger villain is lurking and is strategizing a team of his own - he has basically freed Tombstone, Kickback and Nitro. Now if only Cage had really taken care of Nitro all those kids would still be alive, eh? And there would be no Civil War ... sort of makes you think about all these heroes' creed where they capture the villain to give to the authorities who never fail to incarcerate them properly only for them to be loosened onto the population for more bloodbath later ... sigh!

I know, it's just a comic!

Of course in order to fit in the Punisher they have to have him appear somehow and let him be pissed off with Cage. And to ensure that not only one but more issues are sold, this is part 1 of a 2 part crossover

Ratings: 4/10 (average art and cliche story)

331. Thor vol 1 #358 ... Marvel ...

And our next back to back is this issue of Thor where the little subplots we mentioned back in the last review continues to bear fruit here and in the previous issues

For example the opening sequence shows the fruition of Loki and Lorelei's plans in getting Thor except that in many matters, Thor's will turned out to be surprisingly strong although the final 2 pages seemed to show us that not everything is as it seemed and there is definitely another player who has yet to be officially announced in these pages

And then with regards to the cover, well, the guys plotting in the dark return once more in the form of "credit card" tin men and this time, as they created havoc, Beta Ray Bill stands in their way. They even had to summon the bigger and green version of their tin plates to give Bill a slightly harder time in order for them to up and disappear ... leaving us to ponder who is that young man who is the one dropping these tiny cards that can then turn into teleportational gateway for our tin men

And what about the Warriors Three's time on Earth? A lot to read and be enjoyed about in this issue

Ratings: 6/10

330. Thor vol 1 #354 ... Marvel ...

Thanks to the 2 Thor movies and the Avengers franchise, all things Thor especially back issues are at an all time high. However, if you do have a chance, and do enjoy comics not just because of artwork like Jim Lee or Whilce, then give Simonson's legendary run a try. I am not a huge fan of his work not when it was on FF or on his own series, Star something or other. But here, the critics are right. I got them via back issues off of Mile High and boy do they rock!

354 starts with the war against Surtur over after a build up of more than 2 years. In today's times, this would have made a Marvel summer event but back then with a short appearance in other comics, it didn't result in major crossovers even though the Earth was supposedly covered in unnatural winters and demons abound!

Anyway, the opening page says it all SPOILER ALERT. At the end of the war, Odin made the ultimate sacrifice by plunging the demon Surtur and himself into the pit and straight back into the fire realm that is Surtur's home and prison leaving behind both Thor and Loki. Thor in his rage chased Loki away even though he had come, towards the end to their aid to defeat the fire demon

Loki being Loki naturally immediately has something else up his sleeve for he doesn't let emotions get the better of him unlike his more bullheaded brother and he sees the vacant throne as a future opportunity

As per the cover, Hela comes to Asgard hoping to find Odin but could not. Now if Thor were to pay attention, it means Odin is not dead as Hela could not claim him for her own but instead, being the brawny type, he battles Hela until Hela disappears. Then Thor girds himself to chase her to her own realm

While on other fronts, we get to see each faction of life returning to normal after the war with characters like the Warriors Three, Sif and Beta Ray Bill

During this era of story telling, seeding for future stories is the norm and we get a very tiny glimpse of a gathering of arms, this time mortal, for something brewing that will come in the near future

So was this a good read?

Yes, if you enjoyed the earlier saga as this is not just the epilogue but continuing part of that saga and should be considered essential reading

Ratings: 8/10

329. X-Men vol 1 #140 ... Marvel ...

And our second review on the X-team is still within Morrison's pen man ship ... bad spelling, eh? Heh! And here he is paired up with yet another star artist, Phil Jimenez who we loved even more than Quitely. Good times to be an X-fan

Murder at the Mansion 2 of 3 - the cover is a tad boring with the X-words in huge and head shots of various people in different sizes bobbing all over

So who was murdered? The White Queen ... while in her secondary mutation, Diamond Form so you know it was not easy. Enter Bishop and Sage as official investigators into her death. And the investigation does not go easy as they review all the witnesses and those with apparent potential causes ... as Emma is not exactly miss sugar n spice n all that's nice. She was more bitchy and let's rile everyone up ... so while Bishop does the tour of the faculties and speaking to students and fellow X-Men ...

Sage does a trip into the grounds gathering evidence ... only what she found ... right at the last page ... will leave you gasping for more! It's creepy, it's icky and boy does it feel like an alien horror movie from a superhero comic

Morrison has done it again!

Ratings: 8/10

328. X-Men vol 1 #137 ... Marvel ...

It's back-to-back review time and to start off we chose the X-people. The era is when the movies came out and was a hit. So they changed the X-people into wearing leather rather than those colourful costumes so as to match the movies and all these happened under the guidance of Grant Morrison who indeed brought in a new vibe to the X-teams especially in the introduction of new concepts and villains

Here in this issue he is paired with superstar artist Frank Quitely whose primary signature could be that his people usually have puffy, kissy lips but other than that the minimal linework is awesome as it conveys emotions so well

Riot at Xavier's Part 3 ... we see the continuing effort of Omega Level Quentin who has seized control of the school thanks to using the drug Kick to enhance his intellect that was already superhuman to something else. He even, like Hitler, designed retro uniforms for his supporters and manage to totally snagged the school!

So after having enough of his nonsense, the X-Men decided to charge in and the battle is innovative, short and sweet. However, the punch to this storyline is that Quentin is still a teenager and all he did was thought he wanted to change things, to be remembered but he didn't plan all the way through like what is his real message? What happens after he takes over the school? How does it all plan?

And does it have anything to do with a girl?

Ah ... the joys of rebellious youth!

Ratings: 8/10 (for story and art)

327. Robin Ongoing #177 ... DC ...

My all time favorite Robin is Robin number 3 i.e. Tim Drake and most comic collectors from the 90s will agree with me because that young man has many one off and limited series coupled with a more than 10 year run of his own solo series ... that later morphed into Red Robin (becoming a huge mess) and all other rubbish ... although the tv series (campy but fun) was also good ...

Anyway in this issue, towards the waning years of his series, the Red Robin character started popping up making others wonder who the F is this ... because when RR appeared we also see Robin in his own red and black costume ... and simultaneously the guy who was originally the RR in his civilian clothes (say what)

Confusing? I guess they want us to keep guessing ...

And while all that is going on, we have the backdrop of Gotham falling into chaos as gangs and crazies are popping up for a snatch of the action i.e. turf war

Sorry if this is what they think will get new readers to try and collect or old readers to continue. I steadily collected this until before 100 and thereafter spotty because of the artwork and general direction and this issue didn't make me want to be a collector. Sorry Mr Williams, your artwork is not my taste

Ratings: 5/10

326. Alpha Flight vol 3 #1 ... Marvel ...

Yet another number 1 issue in our reviews .... if the hype of the 90s are to be believed, number 1 are collectibles. Hahaha! Right! Thanks to all the constant cancellations and relaunches, we have tons of number 1 these days and here is another

Now before we start, after the end of vol 2, there was this volume and another on Omega Flight (Civil War stuff) before ending with yet another short run Alpha Flight ... and like we said earlier in other reviews, each volume gets shorter and shorter and this is shorter than vol 2

We have Lobdell (he who used to do good X-Men stories) on writing duty and ably assisted by Clayton Henry on pencils. When you look at the cover and then the first page, you know that this is an either you like it or dislike it issue. If you are a huge fan of vol 1's first 50 issues, chances are, you will not like this. If you are a fan of early Deadpool, then maybe and that's an iffy maybe, you will try this

So this volume starts off with a gathering of heroes ... but only briefly before we are sent tumbling back to see how they are all assembled and the assembly is basically a recruitment process in short we get to see each of them before they came to be Alphans with the natural ending as a team. It's an okay story and if you like some of the characters, you may come back for more but there are no significant hooks to lure you back which is why this failed

Who is on this team?

The real and original Sasquatch (thank goodness)! A old man who has a jumpstart and joins with super strength. Some native in the jungle who doesn't understand modern civilization (sigh). A former villain whose knife can slice through pretty much anything. A bargirl who can kick all the asses in one room (say what) and finally the Maple Leaf bloke (ugh)

Ratings: 4/10

325. Avengers: Children's Crusade #1 ... Marvel ...

Some mini series or limited series are so densely tied to continuity that it is simply not enjoyable for the uninitiated and this is one of them. But there's nothing wrong, okay? After all, for those who have been following Avengers for the past 15 years, hey, they deserve the occasional reward, eh?

A quick recap: this limited series relies on primarily two things:

1. When Scarlet Witch went batty, she destroyed the Avengers and gave the world an alternate reality called Avengers Disassembled and World of M

2. When there were no Avengers, a group of youngsters with abilities similar to some of the Avengers somehow met each other and ended up calling themselves Young Avengers. Some have direct ties to the original Avengers, while others do not

If you got that, then let's go

In this series, it deals, as the title puts it, with primarily two of the Young Avengers: Wiccan and his twin brother, the Speedster as it seems that one is tied to Witch and the other Quicksilver. As they are orphans while the Witch supposedly lost her kids as they were created by her willpower and Hex power (since her husband at that time was the Vision who is not biological in nature and hence has no ... you know what!) ...

So ... the plot in this first issue is that the Young Avengers are out doing their good bit with the Sons of the Serpent when along comes Avengers Senior ... and BOOM the world goes white and when it comes back to normal, it seems as if Wiccan is responsible. Naturally like all boring old men, the Avengers dragged the kids back to headquarters and do all they can to get the kids to stay - friendly, through parents or force!

But once things start rolling, Wiccan decides that for him at least he needs to find out if he is indeed the Witch's son even if no one else were to help him ... but they are kids and you know kids ... one for all and all that rubbish ... and it reads swimmingly well because hey we got Cheung on art and that always means awesome!

And that last page?

You know you are coming back for issue 2

Ratings: 7/10

324. Caliber #1 ... Radical ...

Well, since we are on the Radical trail, let's pick up another series, eh? And this one is the direct contrast on the last review we did. Here we take a time leap back into the past, back to the days of cowboys and indians when they have started trying to live life together

What this means is that there are people who will go around killing Indians and creating problems, there are those who see life as such as an opportunity to seize wealth for themselves and as it is Indians, the cliche thing of visions comes up

But what makes this interesting is that there is a gun that cannot be fired, a gun of legend that will only work if the person who wields it believes not in the law but in true justice ... whatever that means! So the current holder is trying to wonder which generation will produce such a great young man to save civilisation or at least their part of the civilized world

At this stage, so many potential protagonists emerge ... is it the local law guy who dresses more in a military uniform but who tries to do right by everyone including the migrant Chinese workers? Is it a young Indian mystic who sees visions of past and future and wondering why he can even see so far ahead?

Or does the gun have a life of its own?

The ending is pretty good ... and the so-called epilogue leaves us wondering ... not in a cliffhanger sort of way but more like if the seeming protagonist SPOILER ALERT is killed and really dead and not making a comeback like most other publisher comics ... what then is available for next issue?

Ratings: 7/10

323. City of Dust #1 ... Radical ...

I have never bothered to track down alternative publishers and if not for freebies from friends would never have discovered Radical comics and what an awesome line they have. All limited series with semi-realistic artwork and great painted covers. Unique storylines that do not necessary toe the spandex category and all have potential to be awesome movies!

This one is a sci-fi detective mystery where as it is sci-fi, it takes place in our future where technology has made life seemingly better. Seemingly because there is still the have and have-nots. Uptown and downtown. Nothing new in this concept. And for ensuring that there is peace, the leaders have decided that flights of imagination are not permissable i.e. no books and comics unless it is something pre-approved for education and the law

Enter our protagonist! Philip is one such person who believes in these ideals and has in his younger days inadvertently given up his own pater to the law for merely reading him bedtime stories. So while we get to see a slice of his life, doing the things he does like sleeping with hookers, catching criminals and shooting at them, we also get a glimpse of something nastier happening where something is coming out from the dark in downtown ... something that kills ... and yet leave no traces!

And it all ends on a high note! SPOILER ALERT! As Philip comes upon the scene of the latest crime and finds ... a book ... a child's book with cute characters ... but is he permitted to even touch such a corrupt little thing?!!?!!?!

Hehehehe!

Very entertaining read - seriously

Ratings: 7/10

322. Dark Avengers #7 ... Marvel ...

Remember our recap about the many Marvel yearly events of the past years? Well this is another one of those series where they added in the word Dark. And boy if you are not reading most of what is going on in the Marvel U, you may as well skip this series entirely because it is that confusing!

We have the Avengers now composed mainly of villains with the exceptions of crazies like Ares and Bob. And they all work under Osborn. Then from the original Illuminati, Osborn created his own "Dark" Illuminati and with Emma, they established a "Dark" X-Men

So this issue is mainly about how Emma pretends to lead the Dark X-Men into public trying to apprehend mutants, both young (Hellion) and old (Avalanche). They are effective and shows the public that they can get things under control. Naturally for the actual villains, there's a wee bit of an ego issue and the fun part is Bullseye commenting about Daken and how he seemed to be in many teams at the same time, kind of like Wolvie, eh?

Now we say pretend because in Osborn's labs/ dungeon/ prison, some other mutants including Xavier and Beast are already captives. And the Dark Beast (this one is from Age of Apocalypse) is doing some funky experiment on them. What that is remains to be seen

Got it?

If you can swallow all that, then by all means give this book a try. The artist is Luke Ross only he does more of a different style than his usual kind of like a Deodato

Ratings: 6/10

321. X-Men vol 1 #226 ... Marvel ...

When I wrote or rather typed X-Men at the top of the title, I am referring to the adjectiveless X-Men that was launched because of Jim Lee's star turn at Marvel. However, after issue 200+, thanks to all the mess that was going on, this title even morphed further to become X-Men Legacy although the numbering continued kind of like when Morrison was onboard in the 100+ and it became New X-Men!

Sigh!

Anyway, by the time Legacy rolled around, you had best be an active follower of all main X titles because if not, holy shit, will you have no idea what the F is going on. I am a 30-year reader of the X-titles and have hundreds well thousands of X comics and still got lost because I didn't follow much from around 200 and I do not read the rest of the X titles much too at that time

So let's do the WTF twists shall we? The cover has Danger? WTF? Danger is a sentient intelligence of the X team's training room called Danger Room. Apparently no one knew she became sentient and she gave the Astonishing X-Men team murder. So WTF when did she join them?

Anyway this issue is right smacked in after Civil War when Osborn became the ruler of everything while even Assembling a Dark Avengers team ... yes they Darked most relevant titles ... and at this juncture, a team from Osborn is sent out to take down or take in anyone who is not registered and has powers

So naturally Cyclops and team come to the aid of their younger charges who were caught in the crossfire and boy life is not going to be easy as this is a tougher than expected fire fight! And basically that's it. The remainder or 3/4 of the issue is one long fight

Ratings: 5/10

320. Fear Agent #2 ... Alternative Press ...

Check out that cover. Despite the more cartoony line work for features, the overall colouring scheme made it acceptable to folks like me. Hehehe!

So what do we have for you in issue 2? Well, we can say that it started off with the usual fun where Heath tries to collect on a job well-done but not counting on the fact that yes he did what was stated but instead made everything else worse. That's our boy!

And with that sour taste in his mouth, he is off to find some alcohol to drown his sorrows in order to avoid thinking about home base Earth and his failed marriage to the one and only true love of his life

What did he need to do then?

Find more supplies i.e. alcohol and lands in a place where of all people he runs into an earthling type person named Mara while encountering a bunch of murdering aliens ... the same ones he had to fight off years ago on earth ... only to discover that here they are planning yet another sojourn to earth!

More blasting up of aliens, running helter skelter and unhealthy hijinks ensue throughout this entire issue!

Ratings: 7/10

319. Ronin #1 ... DC ...

This is a serious departure for the usual comics fare from DC comics and you need to be a big name to let a big company allow you to play thus. So in comes Frank Miller who is huge as he has done a star run on Daredevil and Batman

And what does he do here?

For me, it's the art. Here he literally uses his more and more stylized line work and do the entire book thus. The characters take their shell or the outlines of their 2D forms from colours instead of inks. And inks are only used for shading effect. See it to understand what I am yammering at. Is it great? Well, for me, no. It's different but give me Jim Lee anyday. Sorry

Next comes the storyline and it's quite different as it tells a marriage between old world Samurai Japan and modern over-the-top tech world. And in this world, demons are no different than cyberspace!

It's so dense that you have to read it to enjoy it and a review like mine will not do it justice. Suffice to say that there is a Samurai in old world Japan and where there is a warrior, there must be challenges. So he and his clan and master do battle and wine and dine to celebrate their victories. But as is the norm in such tales, the losers plot revenge and more than men are involved.

Intersperse this old world tale with something more modern where the world outside has become a devastation beyond believe while the world within is clean and modern and yet so much more controlled almost as if they are programmed. But something is happening to the computers and their projections. Someone is programming them to do things they are not supposed to do and more!

And when an explosion finally comes about ... you just know that it is the opening salvo to more mayhem than can be contained in this first issue ... as both worlds, old and new, are set to combine in ways we are not yet certain ... very entertaining if a bit wordy

Ratings: 6/10

318. Gen 13 vol 1 #2 ... Image ...

The cover is a letdown with all that black lines at the background ... is it supposed to convey speed?

Anyway, we start the tale with a BANG as we see the kids make a break for it with someone slightly older. Naturally, the enemies give chase and it's a good exhibition of the kids abilities with some of them having nary a control. At this point, I have no idea what's the purpose of Grunge except to be the funny and cool semi-Asian looking guy ... and failing miserably at that (in my opinion that is should Grunge actually have fans out there!)

Naturally we need a bit of flashback in order to give us the lowdown on how they got free and on the run ... but then again, not everything is as it seems ... not the break for freedom but their current team and one of them is going to betray them

For me at this juncture, it reads like any super hero comic and the real let-down is the ending. Even the protagonist wondered why there is a mental connection between her and one other. I can tell you why, dear. It's a cop-out. The writer needs you to go somewhere and the easiest is to make it suddenly appear as if you have this mental connection. We see it in the New Mutants when Dani has a psychic link with Rahne even though both are from different countries and racial backgrounds. Again same with Kitty Pryde and room mate Illyana

Sigh!

Ratings: 5/10

317. Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 #9 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well, this had to happen. To ensure the popularity of the newly relaunched GOTG (prior to it becoming a hit movie), the creators tie it to the then yearly cosmic Marvel event and this is War of Kings where the Kings involved and featured in GOTG is Blastaar, a creature from the Negative Zone who used to lose out to an insectoid called Annihilus but with Anni gone, the more bestial Blastaar whose main power is his (get this) blasting hands, decided to take the throne and not satisfied with this, he wants to get out of the Zone into our reality

So how does he do this?

Why by breaking down the prison for super humans that was created during the previous event, Civil War. And so as they come barging in, only villains and a couple of lame ass heroes are left to defend the gates from falling

Meanwhile, 2 of the Guardians are tracking down the fate of Moondragon on Titan with Mentor ... when they are ambushed and left ... supposedly dead (?)

And still meanwhile, the final gang of Guardians are trying to trace where their missing leader, Peter has gone to. And though they were not sure exactly where but when they do, they jumped there at once ... and landed into ... issue 10 next! Hehehe!

Ratings: 7/10 (would have given it an 8 if the artwork was more to my taste)

316. Invincible #2 ... Image ...

Well if you started the first issue like I did even after this series has hit over 75, I hope that you are interested enough to continue because honestly, I DO NOT WANT TO SPOIL IT FOR YOU but boy does this series built up with lots of twists, crazy action and stuff that Erik Larsen only wishes he could have done it in his Dragon series (sorry, Erik, I am a fan of Dragon too but only in the first 75 or so before he became too Kirby-esque)

Anyway, in this issue, we kicked off with daddy Invincible finally revealing his own alien origins to the young boy ... and like any young kid ... the first thing it hit him was that he was going to be able to be like daddy ... flying and super strength and everything cool!

But is daddy telling the truth?

SPOILER ALERT

Nah, I won't go there. The rest of this series moves equally fast with him going out to test his abilities and encountering first a villain, then other heroes and then teaming up with them and then finding the baddies' nest and defeating them all. It's told so fast and smooth. You know that it's not meant to be heavyweight or anything because more serious stuff will eventually be coming up

A fun read the way superhero comics should be

Ratings:7/10

315. Lucifer #4 ... Vertigo DC ...

We do not glorify the devil. Okay?

With that out of the way, let's review this because the name Lucifer in the title is indeed Lucifer of the Morningstar, he who was cast out of Heaven after a failed coup attempt. And like Sandman, while there is an over-arcing storyline to this miniseries, interspersed amongst the bigger picture are also little gems like this that plays into that story yet stands by itself quite well

This particular story is more a magical who-done-it

It concerns a couple of young girls who are best friends except one day one of the girls died/ murdered and her ghost appears talking to her mate. Now this other girl always believe she had a flair with the spirit world and in this case, as she calls her "grandmas" for help, and she tries to summon the devil himself ... only to be cautioned off ... and so she goes through the usual paraphernalia of trying to use magic to trace the source of who killed her friend

Except when the truth comes, it is from an unexpected angle ... and landed she herself in equally dire straits ... and that dire straits is a double-fold ... even her own plan to get out would have gotten her the bitter pill ... if not for the final appearance of one Mr Lucifer ... so why did he appear? And what was his message?

Something for you to find out by reading this book

Ratings: 6/10

314. Red Sonja Revenge of the Gods #2 ... Dynamite ...

A long time ago, Marvel tried to run with this franchise as an ongoing series but it stuttered and burnt itself out so fast that most don't even recall it. And then came Dynamite and boy did they do the impossible! It is now a decade since Dynamite launched Sonja and the actual ongoing series lasted years with many one-shots and limited series like this coming out as well as the multiple covers

So what makes this so good?

Because aside from the fact that she is scantily clad, nothing else about this series is a joke. Dynamite uses the wild world of the Vikings as something serious treating all the characters the way they deserve and even having them comment on Sonja's dressing and sometimes to show even she feels the chill when it is winter

And so it is in this series as Sonja aids some people that she finds worthy except for the fact that there is talk of Odin, Loki and Thor. Are they merely great warriors or indeed something more? Well you have to read more to find out. However, in this, the second issue, we finally see Sonja embarked on her mission chasing down the villains and encountering all the barricades and stumbling blocks he placed in her path deliberately

While the battles are indeed bloody, it was also a diversion. So what does our warrior woman do? Aside from charging headlong, she comes up with her own contingency ... and a good thing too ... as the final pages show!

Ratings: 6/10

313. Rom #1 ... Marvel ...

Now this is one odd series and hero. In the age of relaunches and limited series and specials, this is one series that has had no revivals even though during its 6 year publishing history, Rom has had many fans including crossovers and toys etc and in fact, started life as a toy

What is Rom?

A man from Galador, a world far away from ours that treasured peace above war until one day creatures from another galaxy called the Dark Nebula invaded them. Seeing no choice, their ruler decided to merge each of their best with non-organics thus creating a race of Spaceknights, metallic looking beings with half of their humanity within and awesome powers to combat the invaders named Dire Wraiths

And once their world was cleansed, the Knights ranged far and wide individually to track down the Wraiths in order to ensure they do not visit the same evil on other worlds. Rom is supposedly the greatest of such warriors and armed with neutralizer and analyzer

This issue ably tells his arrival, scaring the locals while tracking the Wraiths and because of the way he disposes them by banishing them to limbo, another dimension while still in their human guise, terrifies human's even more

However, instead of spending the full 22 pages, the other half is a tale about the history of the spaceknights. Sigh! It would have been better if this had happened a few issues in

Ratings: 5/10

312. Ultimate Fallout #1 ... Marvel ...

This issue is entitled Spider-Man No More and basically it deals with the various fall outs after Ultimatum and what-not when many heroes passed away. In the case of Peter, though he survived that, he didn't survive the nastiness that is the return of the Goblin, Osborn and he perished, literally!

So this entire issue shows us the perspective from different people including:

JJJ - who hated Spider Man but towards the end saw in his own eyes the truth and what Spider Man did for the city and the fact that it was Peter who was his photographer ...

Human Torch - short and straight to the point grief about a friend ...

MJ - who thought that there could be more and was even more hurt when she found out there wasn't ...

Aunt May - attending the memorial service ...

Ratings: 8/10

311. Villains for Hire #1 .. Marvel ...

There was a time when Marvel made Daredevil disappear and in his place was Black Panther ... yes Black Panther came to Hell's Kitchen as apparently the monarch of a country ... when he couldn't be said monarch found that one particular neighbourhood in the whole world needs a super hero 24-7! You can bet that I stopped reading DD when that happened ...

And then there was a time when Marvel tried to revive Heroes for Hire ... after it ran for a good 10 years ... and each time they did so, the relaunch lasted shorter and shorter ... and the weirdest one of all is when Cage was at the height of new found popularity thanks to Bendis' Avengers ... well, they should have used that opportunity, right? But nope! They went and introduce a new Power Man to pair up with Iron Fist! Go figure!

Anyway, after all that nonsense, Marvel got wiser and went with limited series

And this is one of its relaunches or whatever you want to call it (you can tell I am not a fan)

Here we have Misty Knight who is running a team of freelancers doing her beck and call for whenever there is an assignment with a paycheque. And her current team in this first round is Paladin (no surprises there although not sure why as he is boring), Black Panther (guess he needed the dough for the soup kitchen hahaha) and Hellstrom (was he kicked out of hell by daddy and needed money for rent or what?)

So what's the scope? Well something got stolen and Misty assembles a team to go after to retrieve without realizing that this is not so simple an operation ie. there is a mastermind behind them all. And who is this masstermind? It comes at the end of the issue (naturally) and it turns out to be ... the Purple Man. Sigh! I know his powers can make him seem sometimes nasty and horrid but it's mind control and he is purple dressed in purple. When has he ever been a real challenge?

Sigh!

Ratings: 4/10

310. Wetworks vol 2 #1 ... Wildstorm ...

Honestly, when this came out, I could no longer recall if Wildstorm is part of Image or DC. I checked the cover but there is nothing except the WS logo. But who cares, right? Hehehe! As long as you can find it, when you want it, it's good enough

Onward then!

Volume 1 when it debuted was AWESOME. I am a fan of Whilce but here, he exceeded everything he did on the X-Men. I mean, here is a team that are not superheroes with no costumes and yet, he made it work with his over-the-top artwork. However, that volume sort of petered out with guest artists early on in the run ...

So when it was announced that vol 2 was finally coming out and will have the writing talents of Mike Carey and the artwork of Whilce, well, I definitely did check it out. Coverwise ... kind of average for me! But the interiors? Thank goodness were well worth the price of the book. The only challenge I have is the hairstyles. Whilce characters are becoming standard with that lock of hair puffing up and falling in front of the face

Aside from that, this series is not ... really the old Wetworks. There is only at this point Dane from the original series and a smattering of others who are more like his ex-sparring partners than his partners, if you get what I mean

In addition, they tried to introduce too many new ideas and characters here to the point that you get only a slight feel of it and ended up not strong enough for the casual collector to maybe follow through the series. That's why I am not surprised when it saw cancellation soon enough

However, in this one issue, you get an old Vampire who is back and slicing through everything but is she going to be friend or foe? Then there is definitely another Vampire who wants to rule and thus qualifies as foe

After that, we have a strange being called Ab-Death ... who talks in a funny manner and whose powers are not definitely clearly spelt out ... which makes this somewhat interesting

And finally as if it wasn't enough we have yet another character who likes a bit like Dingo from Backlash ... except that maybe, just maybe, he is from an alternate dimension or world or whatever

Get it?

Ratings: 6/10 (would have given it a 4 if not for Whilce)

309. Hulk vol 1 #273 ... Marvel ...

The Hulk's stories, aside from him smashing things up, is generally a story about a man on his journey through various stages of exhibiting his repressed anger. Or at least, in the first few decades of the Hulk's tales, this is generally through

In this issue, the cover is about the second 10 pages of this comic

The first part wraps up the huge crossover of the past issue where the Hulk teamed up with Sasquatch to take down Wendigo (loved Wendigo). And here, as he struggles to reconcile with a Hulk that has Banner's intelligence, we find that his hold on Banner-hood (for want of a better phrase) is tenuous at best. Because when he questioned why the Mounties are pointing guns at him, he loses it and becomes the old Hulk Smash within moments

Aside from this, we get a glimpse of something else developing i.e. the supporting cast of Betty and Rick that now has an alien girl added to the mix. If you are not a regular, you will be entertained albeit confused on who she is although with that nice costume, it does make us want to know her more

And finally, we come to the reason for that cover

Well, basically, we needed a bit of action. So after leaving Canada and the Mounties, the Hulk calms down a wee bit and has back the intelligence of Banner. What's he decided to do? Prove that he can do good by helping the locals. However, the ending with the alien encounter is a nice twist. Sure, I agree that it isn't Banner's fault. After all, he isn't a mind reader. How was he to know why things were going that way, eh? But still ...

Ratings: 6/10

308. Ultimate Iron Man vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

From one series with average artwork, we moved on to the first of 2 limited series from the Ultimate-verse about Iron Man and this features the writing skills of Orson Card (worldwide famous sci-fi author) and Andy Kubert who simply knocked this ball out of the park. I mean, this is Tony as a baby and then a small kid. No Iron Man, no Super Villains and yet the story and art are so riveting good, that I kept turning pages until BANG the end to be continued DAMN IT! Hahaha!

But seriously this is a tale about how Tony came to be from birth (his mom gave birth to him only in this issue) ... and ending as Iron Man ... so here we see his dad, brilliant as ever, yet having a loving heart for his newborn babe ... while mom ... well ... she didn't SPOILER ALERT make it

Tony is born with some huge issues and it requires a special bio-armour fluid to keep him alive ... and all the while dad and his mates are doing more research to make the fluid better

On their backs, as there must be a villain, is fellow industrialist and a corporate shark, Stane and what Stane does is horrible. Then again, we are shown that he is surrounded by a whole bunch of equally nasty people ... wife/ butler/ lawyer none of whom is truly on his side

A good issue to read ... I didn't have 1 but I could totally enjoy  this and makes me look forward to 3

Ratings: 8/10

307. Alpha Flight vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

After many years of hiatus with only the occasional appearances here and there in other comics, the Flight returns slightly more than a decade ago with this awesome cover. There is a mix of old and new characters but what is a disappointment is the choice of writer. Seagle. Don't get me wrong. This guy can write and his work is generally in a more Vertigo-esque style

So while he tries to inject overwhelming paranoia in this volume and in a very odd, third person narrative talking direct to us readers, somehow, the nonstop use of this technique made the series subsequently too weighty to be picked up by anyone who didn't read the first few issues. That and the odd choice of penciller, Clark, who used to do a better job (seriously) years ago on Stormwatch made this a wee bit of a mess to read

I remembered buying a number of back issues and trying to dive into them only to give up and left them on the shelves. It took months of occasional boredom to finally plough through my back issues of like 8 issues? Hahaha!

So the new members include Murmur (Purple Girl wannabe), Flex (guy who can change his hands into some sort of metallic weapon but who whines non stop ... still my fave new member) and his big bro who is a Skids wannabe (yes of all people, right?)

Back for another turn at stardom is Heather in the green suit, Sasquatch like creature but minus Walter's presence so more animalistic, Puck (who can ... bounce around? Really?) and resurrection joke, Guardian - he's back yet again and younger with no memories of who he was

The team is assembled or rather woken up in Dept H seemingly to have rejoined but their memories are unclear and as the issue went on, more and more dubious intentions are sprayed everywhere ... and I guess the closing panels are meant to be a cliffhanger of sorts to make us wonder what the F is going on ... well if the artwork is more "clean" I would care but this? UGH!

Ratings: 3/10