2.33 (398) Prophet vol 2 #1 ... Image ...

We are three more reviews to the big 400 and in honour of that significant landmark, we are going to do all featuring one of our fave artists - Stephen Platt. Yes. He doesn't have much work out there in comics land but what he has is simply awesome. We loved this details, the little bubbles and splashes of inks everywhere and even his overly stylized unrealistic character sizes. Hey if you want correct anatomy go read something else, eh? Hehehe!
So volume 1 was by another artist until issue 5 and then Platt ran it until it ended before a full 12 issues. Then it was relaunched with this issue and WOW it blew the minds of most readers to see what Platt can really do! I have bought extra copies over the years to give to friends - so good is this one issue

Volume 2 starts off really well as we get to see the various stages and eras of men with a figure that is Prophet. Could it all really be him or merely a figment of his imagination? Or images planted by others? Did he live through the ages or was he sent backwards and forwards in time? Which is which? What is the truth? We did get some answers even right here in issue 1 but not the whole picture (natch)

Highlights is the fight scene with him in the icy wastelands and the shocking ending!

The prophet is no longer an apt name for him more like the Pawn! And who he thought of as his mates/ team may not be their true identity and intentions after all. Lots of intrigue! And that awesome foil cover!!!

Ratings: 10/10

2.32 (397) Predator Cold War #1 ... Dark Horse ...

There was a time when it was all the rage to bash at something called house style for artwork and for me, it was indeed true. If you look at most Marvel/ DC/ Image of the 80s, there is indeed a workmanlike artwork to everything. Those that break out have to do so in a big, big, big way such as Bill S, Arthur A and the likes and they usually make a splash. Even people like Jim Lee and Whilce originally started with an almost "house" style as well

What's the relationship with this particular comic? Well, this issue is a prime example of Dark Horse's house style although nowadays there is such a welcome diversity. Now, house style doesn't mean it is bad but just plain acceptable and oft times boring

In the case of Predator, the artwork for cover is average and interiors is equally bla

However, this issue is saved by the storyline although there are some "strange" logic. Anyway for some reason or other, our alien friends decided to make another visit to beautiful earth except that this time they went a-hunting in the frozen wastelands. Naturally when they encountered humans and humans encountered them, the bloodbath begins. It is a brief confrontation as the folks they met were not really equipped and quickly slaughtered. Love the parts of spine ripping (hehehe) although in reality of course it would be much painful (ugh) ... now if only the artwork was sufficiently gory eh?

The really good thing about this issue is that it spends time on a few human characters like we got the view of the army officer and then the criminal versus official enforcement department crackdown and what-not ... a lot of different characters and viewpoints all sandwiched between the pages of a regular size comic makes you really entertained

Ratings: 5/10 (would be higher if not for the artwork)

2.31 (396) Unknown Soldier vol 2 (I think) #1 ... DC ...

An old war comic (my fave of them all) that has been resurrected every now and again to keep the character fresh or perhaps from lapsing into public domain (?) ... this is a 12-issue limited series during the 80s/ 90s I cannot remember when ... but the artwork is very workmanlike so it is unlikely it is the 90s when people are more into grimacing and over posing style of artwork

Here we are not given much about this particular Unknown Soldier and we do not know if he is the same hero from the earlier series ... except that this takes place in the present day so to speak not WW2 ...

We see a few people who could be the Unknown Soldier at the start ... the guy in the fancy suit ... the military chap ... and then VC? Well, whatever we are assuming, it was all a red herring as we see the VC turning on their comrades but have patience ... and the following pages will reveal all ... as our erstwhile hero ... turns out to be ... ssssshhhhhhhh no spoilers here

And naturally he starts investigating into who did what to him ... only to come up against someone rather high up in the ranks ... unfortunately at this point the story made no sense ... if he had discovered this why did he confront the chap at a public gathering and then instead of taking action he went back and waited for people to come and take him out?????

Because hey that's how the first issue ended ... he could have been killed and maybe he will in the next issue but because of the bleuuurgh artwork and the storylines ... I didn't bother

Ratings: 2/10

2.30 (395) Astro City Dark Ages Book Two #1 ... Image

Here is a prime example of what we are talking about in the previous review. After the last longer run series, Astro City even took a stab at doing a series of mini-series from a particular time period featuring a fixed cast

In this issue, we are shown 2 brothers (African Americans) who grew up in the shadow of their families' demise during one of the superhuman conflicts. One brother decides to join the law except for the fact that the law he is on is corrupt and his entire precinct is on the take and it is tough for him to be the just man in that group

As expected, his brother is his exact opposite and decided to turn to a life of crime. However, aside from the theft etc he is opposed to ruthless killings etc and is finding it hard to keep himself in the background as an impending gang war looms on the horizon

Throw them in the mix of Astro City and the occasional superhuman coming to the conflict and you know it's going to be hot. We have the  Silver Agent travelling back through time and passing through this era. We have one chap who used to be like a junior Peter Parker with the quips except that he is now grim n gritty and his angelic like lady partner who is perhaps not quite human

And an insane baddie coming up as well

And ... yes there's more ... let's not forget the cop's bitchy leech like wife ... awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

2.29 (394) Astro City vol 1 /2 #5 and 6 ... Image/ DC ...

I am ashamed to say that after more than a year of reviews, I have never touched on this. Why? Because this is one of the most awesomely entertaining (fresh) series to come out in years and years and it is surprisingly told by mainstreamers like Kurt Busiek (writer) and Alex Ross (character design and covers). Interiors are provided by one Brent A

As for the volumes in my header, well, Astro City is unique in that sense that it was part of Homage/ DC/ Wildstorm/ Image during its many incarnations and also it never stayed as an ongoing with an initial short run followed by a longer run then many one shots and then a series of 4 issue runs

Anyway this particular 2 issues is in the "second" volume or longer volume and it is a 2-parter (obviously) ... now what made Astro City unique is that it is about the many goings-on in the city rather than following any particular character. So sometimes it tells the tale of a man in the street even as something else large is happening and we will see this as a passing note/ reference only

However, not in this 2-parter for this deals with the guy in black called the confessor and his junior sidekick, altar boy (or some such lame name hehehe)

And this is one story that has potentials of darkness/ horror/ suspense/ thriller to it ... the Confessor is a priestlike figure who dabbles in darkness and loves to emerge at night and tracks down miscreants. Somewhere along the line, his youthful sidekick came to join him albeit without special powers. And all the while there are secrets lurking just behind the mask of the confessor for no one knows, not really how he came to be except that he is there one day ... not even his sidekick ...

And as they hunt down the villains of the piece, what is obviously more important is the SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT  identity of the confessor because when it comes out, it is indeed a gasp-worthy moment

Awesome tale worth a second reading or three

Ratings: 8/10

2.28 (393) Raiders of the Lost Ark #1 to 3 ... Marvel ...

Did you like the movie? Indiana Jones? I loved it ... and I was surprised to encounter this series

For it's time, I guess the adaptation is acceptable but since I didn't read it as it comes out, my mind automatically compare it to the movie, and that falls flat. All the important scenes are captured here but thanks to limited panels and pages, many more of the stories fell away into the abyss and that makes this a less than satisfactory read

For those who actually do not know this story ... it's about archaeologist adventurer Indiana Henry Jones who travels to seek hidden items of antiquity and generally always encounter problems that usually have Nazis along for the ride (this era is WW2)

In this storyline, it is a tale of recovering the fabled Ark from the Bible ... an object that many believes to contain power undreamt of. Indy is looking for it for its historical and religious reasons while the Nazis for the power that it would bring them ...

And so you have it! A tale!

If you have never seen the movie, please get it and skip this

Ratings: 5/10

2.27 (392) Robin Ongoing #2 ... DC ...

This version of Robin is my absolute favourite of them all ... even better than Dick (really?) Grayson, the first Robin in his underwear with no leggings ... hahahaha ... and I am so glad I didn't start with the early issues of this series because if I did (aside from 1), I doubt I would have been a fan

You see ... issue 1 is reintroduces us back to Tim after his previous 3 miniseries ... and a new artist is always a fresh take ... but the villain of the piece or rather the thrust of the tale is kind of weak ... car thieving ... and the worst part of it all is, it continues into this issue

Oh sure we have the detective bit but come on! We come here for a superhero in training kind of comic, not a detective noir style of tale and to me, this falls flat SPLAT!

The cover itself tells you everything and it's not good. Robin goes against the gang and someone decides to stick a mask on himself, someone big and strong but not super strong like Solomon Grundy or Bane ... sigh ...

But hey the issues after these early starts? Awesome!

Ratings: 5/10 (only because we are prejudiced hahaha)

2.26 (391) Rom #31 ... Marvel ...

As is typical of Marvel comics during that era, subplots are a plenty and this issue sees 2 plots reaching its apex and thus becoming the main story

First up is the Brotherhood after finishing their fight with the Avengers and being incarcerated ... well they are being transported to the middle of nowhere but still in a human prison ... so weird, right? Even the attempt at explanation by the writer sounds wrong ...

And as the cover indicates, Rom comes upon them and a battle ensues but ... for some reason, to ensure that there is a layer more of "story" to it, and a bit of a moral ground, we see Rom initially making the mistake of trusting convicts ... only to be conned ... when he believed the convicts that they were slaves and that the warden is the slavemaster while the prison ... a den for slavery!

Man ... Rom is supposed to be from a pacifist world who comes to save us from Dire Wraiths but the sheer amount of naivette is unbelievable ... and he believes that just because he has the power, he can do whatever he wants to whoever he wants ... how is that heroic? How is that different from the villains? It just so happens that what he feels is deemed to be "heroic" in the real world ... so he is a hero? Well what about attacking guards and freeing prisoners?

Sorry man you fail again!

And then he actually failed to subdue the brotherhood? Sigh!

Next is the other subplot where the fleeing brotherhood encounters SPOILER ALERT Hybrid ... only to have the usual cliffhanger to get us to come back next issue for the continuation ...

Ratings: 3/10

2.25 (390) Rom #29 ... Marvel ...

Let's move back to an oldie but goldie ... in this issue, we see for once, that Rom has shrugged off the guest stars galore format that the series has been using although not entirely ...

The issue opens with the epilogue from previous storylines where we see both Rom and the town Clairton mourn the loss of Spaceknight, Stashine - the original not the SPOILER ALERT subsequent human who uses this armour to fight against the dire wraith ... and sprinkled in amongst the mourners are moments of self-reflection and self-doubts ... from Rom and his human friends especially the mainly useless Torpedo ... so far all his appearances have him losing fights only to be saved by Rom

And while that is going on ... Rom spies a new danger that pique his curiosity ... and so he journeys to the next town only to find that the final family still there is dying of radiation poisoning ... and noble Rom rescues them ...

Being the gallant hero that he is, Rom goes into the mines to find the source of the problem ... and here is where we have objections. Rom actually blames another entity for the problem in the town even though he knows the truth ... and just wants to spare the family from further pain ... but dude you have just spoiled another's reputation by making them seemed dangerous ... so not cool Mr Robot!

Ratings: 3/10

2.24 (389) Power Pack vol 1 #18 ... Marvel ...

Unlike our previous review where Marrina guest-stars in the Pack's comics but there is no reciprocal anywhere else, here is a tie-in with Secret Wars 2 where the Pack makes a cameo and this is basically the culmination of the Beyonder's curiosity

For the Beyonder came to Earth in Secret Wars 2 to learn about desire which drives humanity ... and amidst all the diversity of desires per individual, he found one person with a singular desire ...

So wondering what would happen to this person if his desire is achieved, the Beyonder brought him back to fully functional and re-armed him with enough raw power to achieve his desire i.e the death of Thor ... and so the stage is set ... and as Kurse, the new name for our villain reaches USA ... who should encounter him but our kiddie heroes and boy do they give him a fight! They prove themselves well in this issue

Ratings: 7/10

2.23 (388) Power Pack vol 1 #10 ... Marvel ...

Let it be known without shame that I was once a huge fan of Power Pack to the extent that I even joined one of the fanzines that lasted a few years after the actual series ended! And yes, sometime last year, I finally downloaded from youtube the short pilot episode that was made for tv! And yes, it was just plain bad! Hahahahaha!

But in all seriousness, if you want to try the Pack, get volume 1 issues 1 to 25 as basically these are the definitive issues before dropping sales made them go like specialty shops only, crappy artists and what-not. Subsequently at the height of the comics boom, for diversity, Marvel actually used the Powers in limited series with various guest stars done ala Asian comics style ... so not for me ...

In this issue, the Pack continues their adventure with Marrina of Alpha Flight after she has managed to regain some semblance of her sanity and control her violent mutations. Basically, to cut a long story short, the Pack and Marrina discovered an alien life form living dormant in earth that has been awakened and now goes out to track it down and bring it to a place safe from harm

And the way the tale is told is simply awesome - brains not just brawns!

So there are no real villains in this particular tale but a lot of charm as we see kids behaving like kids, and we mean that not just whining okay? And the artwork is simply perfect. June Brigman never looked better. I mean, check out the cover, yes?

Ratings: 8/10

2.22 (387) Pitt #10 ... Image/ Full Bleed Studios ...

At this juncture, I still put Image at the title even though Dale has moved his work into his own studio with his own publishing and what-not but there was not like a big announcement and I am not clear exactly which issue he is totally independent and many online retailers are the same. Hence sometimes you can find it with the Image banner

Clear?

Good

As for this issue, basically as the cover indicates, Timmy has had enough of Pitt coming around and bugging him. Sure at first it was cool when there were alien nasties but with Pitt now hanging around and dropping by whenever he felt like it, Timmy finally snapped and has it out with Pitt

Obviously as one is a kid and his power is more from the child of future light rather than evil Zoyvod, the fight is brutal but brief with no one really hurt AND NO THIS IS NOT A SPOILER

What is more interesting is the background development that Zoyvod is making a comeback and more on the horizon ...

Ratings: 7/10

2.21 (386) Pitt #9 ... Image/ Full Bleed studios ...

A quiet issue ... more or less ... in the sense that after the ongoing nonstop rush of this series from issue 1, we finally end a big adventure and we see grandpa and Timmie attempt to return to life as normal human beings

Unfortunately, all is not well with Timmie and grandpa has his suspicions for the living light child Jereb resides within Timmie but Timmie has no idea how to control this presence or even actively aware of its presence and what it will mean for his future

We also get glimpses of life as a normal kid as seen from the cover

And PITT now realizing his ties to the human child is never far away keeping watch trying to ensure nothing untoward comes after the child or that the child himself developes into a monster too

A good issue inspite of the "quiet" nature ... at this point Mr Keown has decided to not do everything himself ... so in the original run of the book the target is now quarterly publication schedule ...

Ratings: 7/10

2.20 (385) Fantastic Four vol 1 #275 ... Marvel ...

Check out that cover and you know you are in for an offbeat story if the contents are indeed as per the cover and in this case, that ain't no over-hype. The story is pretty straightforward but entertaining.

New York has a spell of the sun and girls all over the city are trying to catch a bit of that welcoming ray. We saw that in Marvel Team Up where Peter Parker took pictures of the 3 gals sunbathing and actually submitted to the Bugle and here, we have She Hulk taking time out from super heroing ...

Except that in this case the paparazzi had been alerted to her routine and actually been staking out for a shot of her ... however, a regular photo is not enough oh nooo ... they want her in all her naked glory ... and so they used a helicopter to zoom down on her and blow everything away ...

The fun is when Jenn tries to use both super heroics and her alter ego as lawyer to fight this and stop the press. However, nothing can and the end is the photo in a magazine that the Torch went out and bought ...

Trust Byrne not to let us down as he actually has an ingenuous yet most logical twist towards the end!

Ratings: 7/10

2.19 (384) Fantastic Four vol 1 #274 ... Marvel ...

For some reason, Ben Grimm aka the Thing has always been hugely popular and if you are to read today's views of his series at the time of this review, you will find that present day readers or even those who were from that era (wow makes me sound so old, eh?) somehow do not like his Space Ranger forays. I am not sure why. I personally think it entertaining and much better than before he was stuck in Beyonder World ... ah well ... to each his own, eh?

So here in this issue based on that cover you would be thinking that Ben is coming back to Earth, eh? Well, not yet ... it's a misleading cover ... all the cover means to say is that the second chapter of a tale that began in the Thing's solo series continues here and for fans of FF who do not buy that series, well, at least you get a glimpse of Ben. Get it?

Okay ...

So in this issue it's basically as the cover indicates. Ben is going through a part of Battle World ... where it resembles the B-grade horror movies of earth. A dark and dimly lit road, a horse drawn wagon and spooks that go bump in the night such as Frankenstein monsters and what-not. About the only thing different is that here ... SPOILER ALERT ... while the monsters may look freaky and nasty ... there is someone else even nastier after them ... years later, Rick Remender (if I am not mistaken) created a similar but more in-depth tale on the regular Marvel U with Punisher versus monsters and monster hunters too

So was this tale enjoyable? Yes. Yes it was for me ... again nothing special or new but just a comic told well

Ratings: 6/10

2.18 (383) Fantastic Four vol 1 #273 ... Marvel ...

And heeeeeeere we are ... finally ... right back to volume 1 the start of it all and where better to start than with the 2nd man who manages to revive the FF back to its glory days ... we are talking John Byrne. This is also the time when I was first introduced to his work ... and though it may look spartan at times ... and a bit harsh the lines ... but I love them all!

In this issue, it is a continuing chapter of a longer story arc where the FF (with She Hulk who came
onboard after the Thing decided to continue staying on the Beyonder's world after the first Secret Wars) went traipsing to a different time/ space/ dimension ... call it whatever you want

The cool bits are space cowboys ... we kid you not ... cowboys talking in drawls riding metallic steed and facing huge problems with a master bad guy ... and NO spoiler alert ... as Reed found out in this issue the baddie is none other than his estranged dad who is equally smart but not as moral ... what he deems best he does without regard for his fellow mortals is Nathaniel Richards

Naturally to ensure his dad doesn't disappear into obscurity ... there is one more reveal in this comic ... SPOILER ALERT NOW ... and that is that Nat's position has been more or less usurped by his younger, hotter lover! Hahaha! What a cliche!

Ah well ... still an enjoyable read anyhow

Ratings: 6/10

2.17 (382) Defenders vol 1 #150 ... Marvel ...

Well let's take a quick breather from all that fantastic people and switch to Marvel's other team book - Defenders. For those not in the know, this book was touted as the non-team team book in the sense that initially more than 10 years ago when the book was launched, it was by a group of misfits who had to work together not because they want to

And they do not generally have a HQ or whatever ... but due to fate ... and even then it continued for a good 152 issues before being relaunched into shorter and ever shorter runs including the Secret Defenders and other forms of Defenders such as "light hearted style" etc

Well in this their big 150 it is a double sized extravaganza as the problem of the past finally comes to an end. A while back, a young teenager was merged - boy and girl into a child named cloud (supposedly) who can be either girl or boy as he/ she sees fit. Here we see the truth

And here the Defenders are also summoned into space to right with the Star Thief because in one part of the universe, stars are blinking out one by one ... and one of the more sentient celestial beings i.e. a sentient star comes crying looking for aid and response is from cloud

So the Defenders rally and fly off (like real eh) into space to immediately encounter the dangerous being that is the Star Thief whose powers seemed to be insurmountable and yet whose attitude is perhaps a wee bit more childish than can be expected

A decent read, an interesting read, a decent artwork but nothing spectacular. So you can understand that in 2 more issues the series will end

Ratings: 6/10

2.16 (381) Fantastic Four vol 2 #4 ... Marvel ...

There are some artists who can really do awesome cover after cover (Jim Lee) and there are some artists whose covers are generally average (Bryan Hitch) ... personal opinion naturally. Hehehe! Don't get me wrong. I am a HUGE fan of Hitch having his 2 runs on Ultimates and buying once more in TPB and then collecting his FF run and also the issues in Authority

Well here in this issue once more Lee and crew doesn't give you time to breath as he pushes forward that Reed's suspicions has borne fruit and that the space anomaly that gave them their powers ... well there is a being emerging and so the 4 go forward to discover what this is

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

It is none other than the  Silver Surfer ... can Galactus bee far behind then? Well at this point in the storyline, YES! But to ramp up the excitement, the Surfer's potential point of landing is in Wakanda where the Black Panther resides. So it's guest star time

And for a real villain of the piece ... it's DOOM yes yes yes! And Lee does an awesome DOOM

Ratings: 8/10

2.15 (380) Fantastic Four vol 2 #3 ... Marvel ...

The cover says it all! In this, our foursome's third issue, it's time for over-the-top action as if the past 2 issues were slow burners, eh? So basically here as the entire world goes nuts thanks to Namor and as even the Thing found out that his awesome strength doesn't amount to much if he doesn't use some brains ... and they are in deep, deep shit time ... Nick Fury (the original) pulls out his bunny from the hat ... in the form of the Avengers to the rescue

And while everyone is scrambling around trying to either fight or find some way to resolve the situation SPOILER ALERT TIME ... what happens but Namor is struck by the beauty that is Sue Storm. Hahaha! Yeah, right!

And then Thor lays down the law

But ... the ending has both good and weaker points. The good is that Ben is ready to be self-serving along with Nick Fury and the bad? Captain America has a history with Namor and manages to calm him down and guess what? Once more, with all the death and damages Namor and his people are free to go. Say what?!?!?!

But enough of this actual issue's main thrust on the storyline because what we hinted at in our review of #2 gets even more space time and we see it building up for ... net issue as we see more of Doom (finally) and naturally more of the anomaly that gave the 4 their powers!

Ratings: 8/10 (we would have given it even higher if not for the fact that everything is so rush. This is one issue that would have benefited from extra pages)

2.14 (379) Fantastic Four vol2 #2 ... Marvel ...

Ok, readers. Brace yourselves. We feel guilty and are going to make up for it with a HUGE slew of FF and FF related reviews and to kick it off, for those who thought we DID NOT like the Jim Lee run on Heroes Reborn, you couldn't be more wrong. We loved the first 11 issues and here is a good example of what we mean

After the opening arc where our fantastic foursome gained their powers and have a big brawl with the Mole Man and his monster crew and simultaneously appear to be the new heroes of the Earth ... well without slowing down for even one bit ... Jim and his team takes us on another rip-roaring cram session of comic story telling as ...

Namor and his Atlanteans are not happy with what we topside humans are doing. So in retaliation, he decided to teach us a lesson and his lesson is to bring his own slew of monsters to kick our butts not counting his own army as well as the very sea itself

And all this while, our fantastic family is still struggling to come to terms with who they are now and their own powers and the extent of their powers and Reed being Reed ... he is feeling that there should be something more in the space anomaly that causes this

So if you find yourself enjoying this very issue, then you should most definitely read the next few issues as Reed's suspicions are proven right and in such a loud way!

Ratings: 8/10

2.13 (378) The Thing vol 1 #15 ... Marvel ...

Well since there is a request for a bit more information about the old Thing ongoing, here is our next review ... as we followed Ben after his last victory onwards ...

In this issue, he and Tarianna's recovered spaceship finally gives out and they landed in a space port of sorts hoping to find parts but money is in short supply and even then Ben goes to a tavern for a drink. Well if that isn't looking for trouble I don't know what is

Naturally there is some sort of bad guy who then goes to hassle Tari only to be taken care of by Ben in the form of Bengrimm not the Thing

That sort of tells you the quality and seriousness of this issue ... and as they walked onwards, throughout the issue, Ben keeps getting set up for minor pranks sort of like banana peels strewn across his path and what-not making him think of the Yancy Street Gang i.e. the neighbourhood where he grew up where a gang of kids are always trying to give him a hard time

About the only other interesting bit here is the green girl whose mates discovered a weapon only to have it disappeared in her hand and appearing in the hands of the bad guy from the bar ... this indicates that something else is controlling Ben's misadventures ... something more serious than pranks but as to who or what this is ... we are not even given the usual shadowy presence

Ratings: 4/10

2.12 (377) Vision/ Scarlet Witch vol 2 # 3 ... Marvel ...

Similar to the FF, I thought that I had done some reviews on this or vol 1 but found none. So here goes ... the reason I decided to pick this is because of the Avengers Age of Ultron movie. In that, you have the introduction of the Vision, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (Wanda). And online buzz seems to be favorable ... so why not, eh?

Vol 1 is 4 issues and about their attempt to live in suburbia while learning more about their family i.e. the old speedster who used to take care of Wanda

Vol 2 is after 1 naturally but also follows on after the Vision's attempt to rule the world (yup) except that naturally as they are super heroes no punishment is placed upon them (go figure) ... so in my mind at this point is that they blame it on the fact that the Vision was corrupted by a computer from Titan ... so it's fine but would the public accept this? Or is it swept under the carpet? The latter naturally ... so much for heroics, eh?

Other than the above, this issue is quite entertaining and while it is part of a longer arc, stands well on its own. We are given snapshots of a village where Witches lived including one Agatha Harkness who is an aging sorceress and who used to be the baby sitter for the FF. Apparently SPOILER ALERT her grandchildren finally fought and is free and burnt her at the stake. Now I am not sure what the grandchildren's intents are, good or evil, because we are never told except that they are worried people like Wanda will come after them (ah yeah!) because Agatha was also Wanda's friend and mentor

Naturally after the action from issues 1 and 2, while taking a leisurely stroll home through the landscape, Wanda and the Vision came across this village and is ambushed. You can figure out the rest. Suffice to say that the villains in the form of Salem's Seven are very colourful, good designs and powers but ultimately too easily defeated

The next bit of trivia is quite "naughty" as you see earlier in the issue, Wanda and Vision talked about having a child and that Vision being mechanical cannot satisfy that criteria but if you know the end of this miniseries ... well this issue is the conceive issue ... though at this point you will not know ... except for the hints and mysterious smile on Wanda's face ... but if that is the point of conceiving, it would also mean that Wanda took one from the back by the Vision ... you will know what I mean when you read the issue. Hehehe!

Ratings: 7/10 

2.11 (376) Fantastic Four vol 2 #13 ... Marvel ...

Wow am I feeling bad right now. I was going to do this review and checked to my archives master control list thingie to ensure that we do not do a double review and to my absolute embarrassment, I found that over the past year plus ... I have hardly ever done any FF even thought I have most of vol 3 and all of vol 2 and a few hundred issues of vol 1. UGH!

So here it is the final issue from the Heroes Reborn era as Marvel attempts to consolidate all the one year old universe storyline into one major arc and bring all these heroes back into the regular Marvel Universe

If you have not been following the series or at least the past issue of this and its three sister titles of Avengers, Iron Man and Captain America, it is going to be confusing but basically you just need to know that there was a bad guy named Onslaught who was created when Xavier shut down Magneto's mind. And this chap created a huge powerful energy arc that is going to wipe out creation. Many heroes then rush into the arc to absorb and block with their own mortal shells and thus BANG "died" only to be reborn in another universe called Heroes Reborn where their back stories are being told from scratch albeit with alterations from the regular universe

Got it?

At this, the 13th issue in all 4 series what we do get is that since Jim Lee is now headlining all 4 titles, he brought his own Wildstorm characters onboard and that's where it got really confusing. We see different versions of our regular heroes as they fight an alien menace all the while ... something else big is going on and I have no idea why even the Heroes Reborn universe is suddenly mixed with Wildstorm because if you read the first 12, this is not in

So for me, it's a total FAILURE for the 13th issue - sorry to all who liked it

Also the artwork changed from Jim Lee and Brett Booth to Mike Wieringo and sorry to Mike but this looked so below his norm. I am a huge fan of Mike and loved his Robin works and later on when he took over the regular FF (years after this run) but this single issue looks so not like his normal

Ratings: 2/10

2.10 (375) The Thing vol 1 #14 ... Marvel ...

Now you may be wondering why after all that rash of reviews on Avengers, why we switched to the Thing? Well, the reason is simple. Before the Avengers movie hits, we saw the internet being inundated with comments about the relaunch of the fab four (no not the beatles) and this is because while the origins are similar, this relaunch has taken liberties with the actual four human persona making one even African American

When I saw the trailer in the cinemas, I actually enjoyed it and thought it had the feel of when X-Men was first brought to the screen. Less flashy costumes and more focus on storytelling and a dose of realism

And that's why I decided to take a nose dive waaaay back into my back issue bins and found this issue - where Ben Grimm is stuck on the Beyonder's World after the first Secret Wars ... which coincidentally is Marvel's 2015 big event that supposedly changes everything about the Marvel universes!

Anyway, here Ben is staying behind and exploring more of the planet in accompaniment of a tall warrior woman. The story is interesting though not compelling to make you put this series on your must buy list. It is basically another chapter in his time traveling through this planet and here he encounters a group of spaceships flying and attacking another civilization. To Ben's utter amazement the latter did nothing to defend themselves and explained that these attacks happen every month for years untold until no one remembered how to fight or why they fight. Hmmm

And naturally Ben stood up for the under-dogs - bah!

Ratings: 5/10

2.9 (374) Avengers vol 3 #4 ... Marvel ...

Every now and then, a team as large as this with so many back up members, a team that has such a good reputation ... needs to reconsider who their new members will be ... and basically that sums up this very issue

At the end of the first arc, there are many, many Avengers gathered. And the Earth hasn't seen Avengers in a while thanks to Heroes Reborn. This means that the slate is clean for them to gather members to relaunch the Avengers franchise

It's quite fun to see how each of them react. Naturally there are the founding members who sit in deliberation and there are those who really want to be selected (Hawkeye) and those who are open but don't give a toss and finally those who prefer not to be as they have their own lives to get back to and will come only when there is an emergency

What's an added fun is we get to see when minor villains go to their villainy and there are all these massive number of good guys getting into each other's way to fight the villain ... it's quite fun and funny!

So who gets selected?

Read and find out

Ratings: 8/10

2.8 (373) Avengers vol 3 #3 ... Marvel ...

From volume 2 we move on to volume 3 and basically for me, volume 3 is the final definitive Avengers storyline that is easy to follow. After this, there are multiple titles and multiple relaunches with some lasting less than a dozen issues or so ... well, I have spoken about relaunches a lot in past few months ... so I will not bore you here

For those who read 1 and 2 SPOILER ALERT ... it is only to be expected that after such a monumental opening saga, things have to quieten down a bit and that's what this issue is all about. The quiet issue where we see all the various Avengers that fought against Morgana coming to terms with each other once more

And as the cover indicates, once more, Simon William aka Wonder Man has made his return from the dead. Wonder Man is no longer human as he is composed of ionic energy and this time, he reconstituted because of the Scarlet Witch's desperate need for help ... this is actually a good point to see how the Witch is so powerful yet have minimal control over her abilities ... sort of a foreshadowing of what is to come in Avengers Disassembled, eh?

But basically that's what this whole book is about ... finishing the Morgana incident and the Avengers regrouping ... and coupled with Perez art, this book is just awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

2.7 (372) ... Avengers vol 2 #5 ... Marvel ...

If you actually went and tried the last issue, we hoped that you will be like us and actually continued because the Kang storyline is pretty interesting (different from pretty good though) ... and here, towards the first half of the Heroes Reborn run is a mini-crossover where all the heroes met because of a threat but first ...

the Hulk!

I mean, that cover says it all. If you are any bit of the typical majority comic book reader, you know you want a big heroes fight ... and if it is strong versus strong you know you are in for a good time ... and if you have over-the-top maestro orchestrating like Rob Liefeld, then you know this is going to be one decent blow up

And this issue does not disappoint. Forget about the lame excuse of a story to get the Avengers to come investigate a problem ... forget about the fact that in this universe, Bruce is a supporting cast of Iron Man ... but here, when a problem arises, the Hulk steps up to be misunderstood (as usual) and goes all out against Thor ...

And this Thor? He is all about pillaging and plunder and setting villages on fire and having copious amount of sex and alcohol. So for him, a fight that he can totally go to without restrictions is a blessing ... unfortunately ... the Hulk might be a bit more than he was counting on

Ratings: 6/10

2.6 (371) Avengers vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

Waaaaaay back when ... there was a time when Marvel thought to kickstart its ailing titles by subcontracting out to others ... and Avengers was given to Rob ... now don't get me wrong! I am a huge fan of Rob and collected his work since Hawk and Dove and then New Mutants and X-Force until his Image run of Youngblood and other Extreme titles

But this? Well ... I am sorry. While the story is somewhat interesting the choice of artist (Chap Yaep) is average at best and the choice of cast is less than inspired. I mean Hellcat (looking like that?), Swordsman in that floaty old uniform ... sigh!

Anyway, not much different from the first run of the Avengers, here we see a threat coming that is supposedly so big that it is beyond the ability of a single hero to combat. So enter the Avengers. Here they formed, here they fight and the ending is just time enough to introduce us to the villain of the next issue which is Kang ...

Hmmm ... so very, very average at best

Ratings: 5/10

2.5 (370) Avengers vol 1 #300 ... Marvel ...

On this monumental issue ... we present to you some new members to the hallowed halls of the Avengers ... and none are more interesting and awesome than the one, the only (drum rolls please) ... Gilgamesh, the Forgotten One!

Yes, he is the one in that weird armour uniform with bull's head horns and what-not ... and the one with strength and a bit of other abilities ... and if you don't remember him, well he is also known as the Forgotten One and obviously has been forgotten ... no pun intended!

Okay ... so issue 300 ... it is meant to be a significant milestone. And here the storyline is once more building until this the climax where someone has corrupted the very fabric of the world itself turning everything dark and slimy and there is even an artificial construct that got in the way of the Avengers but ... and this is a big but ... it feels like any other tale ... nothing special except that the threat happened when there is almost no more Avengers left to combat it

Enter: a ragtag bunch where Steve Rogers is now known as the Captain (Yup that inventive a name), Thor (thank goodness), 2 of the Fantastic Four who is on vacation and got drafted (but never changed their uniforms throughout their short tenure in the Avenger) and finally ... Gilgamesh

Yes, boring story ... boring characters ... Epting's artwork also failed to lift matters

Ratings: 5/10

2.4 (369) Avengers vol 1 #274 ... Marvel ...

From one appearance of the Masters of Evil to the next, let's skip approximately 4 years worth of issues and here we find the next official incursion of the MoE ... and this is appropriate because if your first introduction to the MoE is from our last review and thought that inspite of their colourful appearance and powers, they were easily defeated ... well, here is where the Avengers are defeated ... literally!

This particular story arc is to run for several more issues but it has been building up rather well. With a proper leader now in the form of Zemo who plans to take out primarily Captain America, he has been a planning and a plotting and finding the weakest moment in the Mansion, has sent out his troops to take the team down ... and with each issue, as each unsuspecting member comes "home", Zemo and his gang takes them down more and more .... until this issue

Here, we see Hercules NO SPOILER ALERT who has, of late, been disgruntled with the Wasp (a woman!) being in charge and is giving her a hard time. And to release his pent up frustrations, he goes out and gets royally drunk. So naturally when danger beckons, he charges forward even more foolhardy than his usual self

And BANG his initial strength may carry him far but not far enough ... so when it was time to gang up and beat the stuffing out of a demi-god, the MoE sure laid it into him ... what you see on the cover? So much worse happens inside!

Ratings: 8/10

2.3 (368) Avengers vol 1 #222 ... Marvel ...

By the time this is published, the 2nd Avengers movie would have been set loose upon this poor world. But at the time I am typing this, it is not yet out (19th April 2015 for those who keep count). So why the earlier reviews? Because firstly, this is like those olden days of Marvel's Bullpen bulletins (as if!) where they do it months in advance of the actual comic coming out (hah the sheer audacity of me to compare my ramblings to Merry Marvel's eh?) ... and secondly (more truthfully) I am travelling one week here and there ... and not everywhere has decent internet connection (I know, I know, shocking, right?)

So ... I was surprised when I checked back to past reviews and noted that there aren't as many reviews of Avengers vol 1 as I thought I may have done. Well then, without further ado, here is a review ...

This issue is sort of a quiet story in between bigger arcs and for a quieter tale, there is still plenty of action going on which goes to show you that Marvel really rocked waaay back when ... of course with current comic resurgence they still rock (you can guess that I am a Marvel fan, eh?)

Here, as the cover indicates is featured a Masters of Evil invading the Avengers Mansion ... for you see, the new characters and old characters figured that with all the recent challenges the Avengers has faced, now is the best to raid their mansion when they are tired, recuperating or not there at all ... and they are right ... to a certain extent ...

However, they did not realize that the Avengers' membership had recently grew/ swell once more and here we have the savage She-Hulk coming in to give the old MoE a walloping, that and the fact that no one really gave the Wasp much credit ...

Simple told in one tale that can be skipped but if you can find it, I do advocate you to read it. It's good storytelling, good art and interesting character development all rolled into 20+ pages

Ratings: 6/10