2.83 (448) West Coast Avengers vol 1 #13 ... Marvel ...

With this cover, the final fourth  element of natural forces and the true mastermind behind the last issue's assault is revealed as none other than Graviton. While Graviton has always proven himself to be a tough customer, I guess at this point, the writers @ Marvel are trying to establish a few villains who will be recurring nemesis for the West Coasters (Wackos as is their name in the letters pages)

So we have Master Pandemonium who actually debuted in this series first and Graviton who was the main driving force in their first limited series. So naturally, after a year in the regular ongoing series, we see the return of the Gravity Lord and here ... he got smart. Not just to always engage heroes in nonsensical fight but he came prepared

He drafted the 3 crazies from the earlier issue to assault the Wackoes and distract/ weaken them so that by the time he is ready for his master stroke, they are all caught so unawares. You need to read this to see what we mean. It is a stroke of genius and something that is actually replicated albeit in a slightly different manner in the second Avengers movie

Awesome action!

Ratings: 7/10

2.82 (447) West Coast Avengers vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ...

Well, at least we managed to do 4 reviews of comics that is not from Marvel, eh? So now we move back to more familiar territory - West Coast Avengers. It has been a while since we did a review from this - when this first came out, we remembered following it avidly for slightly more than 2 years before it became a little too retro from artwork to storyline and slowly but surely by year 3 we dropped it

But hey this is issue 12th and in a time of double-sized specials, this is a single-sized issue and the start of a storyline that has been building from earlier issues

As the cover shows, from out of nowhere, for no apparent reasons, our wonderful agents of Avengers found that they are attacked ... by super beings that are not just powerful but almost inhuman ... and represents three of the four natural forces in our world

We have Zzzax ... a being composed of electricity ... and a Hulk villain. So you know this means that he is going to be one tough cookie to swallow ... next along the line is a female whose uniform is in tatters called Halflife and as her name implies ... her touch is deadly ... and to round this up we have Quantum ... a guy who is clearly an alien and doesn't speak English ... not only is he super strong but he can replicate himself into so many figures that there is just no way for our Avengers to beat him

So what does the Avengers do? Well, to tell you here would be revealing, right? Buy the book for goodness' sakes!

Ratings: 7/10

2.81 (446) Weapon Zero vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

It had to happen, right? After the first arc that ended with issue 3, the team found out that they now had the support of a few people with limited resources. So what's a predominantly time displaced team to do?

Well it seems that Kikuyo, a Jap gal, used to come from money and so ... it's time to make a trip home to visit Japan ... as is the norm in such comics, no one gives a damn about passports and international boundaries and before you know it, bang, they are in the land of the rising sun

Now even though years may have passed, the next crazy thing is because Benitez is so awesome at drawing weapons and armour ... guess what?
The Jap @ home is also garbed in all these hi-tech shit. It all looks very pretty (finally) and loved the colouring. So what happens next? Well, that's why they have see you in next issue blurb at the end. Hahaha!

Ratings: 7/10

2.80 (445) Weapon Zero vol 1 #1 ... Image ...

After the awesome promo poster and the unique countdown style of the opening mini-series that ended with a huge bang even though a number of the panels in the various issues are mini-posters rather than sequential storytelling (who care when it all looks so beautiful, right?) ... I am surprised and delighted when they announced an ongoing and with the same creative team

So what happened?

Why did the first issue right from the covers felt so different?

I really cannot be sure but perhaps it is because the artist tries to be less flashy and more detailed and as a result, everything feels shrunken down and minute if that makes sense. Well, if it doesn't please buy a copy and compare. Heh!

As for the story, it's about people from different timeline who get plucked out of their time and get involved in a long ongoing intergalactic conflict that has finally reached earth. After the opening miniseries, here we see our protagonists coming back to modern day earth where their de facto leader, an American bloke tries to get everyone settled down only to find out that not only is his record of existence wiped out, it seems as if people actually do not remember him.

So what the F is going on? And that's when the fun starts once again as we delve deeper into the mystery. SPOILER ALERT. In case you  think the aliens are gone, nah, they are making a come back too as this series progresses so keep an eye out because it is still good

Ratings: 6
/10

2.79 (444) WildCATS/ X-Men Golden Age ... Marvel n Image ...

Well, well, well ... in happier times, Marvel and Image finally decided to work together to pull this crossover series off ... mind you this is before Jim Lee's Wildstorm studios and characters were acquired and absorbed into the DC mythos

So here we see a series of one-shots showing us that the Cats and X-Men have actually encountered each other over the years i.e. not in alternate realities but in this, our prime reality and thus trying to make it seem like they are all in 616 and such a joy to read

This is the first issue to be released and it features an almost black-n-white style of artwork from superstar Travis Charest. While I loved Jim Lee, Travis, if I dare say so (and why not, eh) outdid even Lee here in this one shot

As for story, it talks about the time of the war, back when we have Nazis running around doing crazy experiments and a perpetual torn in the side of the Nazis is super-soldier Wolverine. However, at that point, W didn't know about the fact that aliens have taken on the identity of human Nazis and are actually in cahoots with the stormies

Enter Zealot! She who is from another offshoot of aliens named Khera and has stayed on our planet hundreds of year constantly battling Daemonites wherever they may rear their ugly head and one of the most pertinent of these nasties are now with the Nazis ... and so our 2 heroes met!

Awesome art, awesome story, awesome action sequences - what more do you need?

Ratings: 9/10

2.78 (443) WildCATS vol 1 #3 ... Image ...

There was a time, more than two decades now (wow I find that hard to believe) when comics were all about having a good time - if action, let's go overboard. If pencilling, then let's forget about perfect human anatomy but rather idealized it. And if we talk about printing, let's go for the best ink and colour and paper and that's the glory of Image!

And this issue from Jim Lee is a celebration of all that ... as we see the CATS finally coming to a head against team Badrock ... oops I mean, Youngblood. Hehehe!

As the name implies, Wildcats are covert independent teams and they are busy tracking alien scum that are hellbent (Helspont is one of the bad guys) on Earth domination while Youngblood is part of US enforcement super-cops style ... SPOILER ALERT ... and so when the trail of aliens led to the government senior officials (I so wanna so who but I need to keep lips sealed Sigh!) ... well someone decided to tip the US team off and so they come charging for the CATS

And as every comic fan so loves and want to see, first is always misunderstanding that both are good guys and every first encounter must have a great fight and this? It's just that. Awesome!

Love the artwork but it could have benefitted from perhaps (in my opinion) heavier inking and a more muted colour palette thus giving the right scenes greater accentuation. Still this is a colourful amusement park style fun read on every single panel. Go CATS!

My fave 'blood? Badrock rocks!

Ratings: 8/10

2.77 (442) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #15 ... Marvel ...

And so it ends this saga of ours but what an ending it is!

Throughout this entire arc, though Wolverine has been savage, he has also shown to be a man who has honour and knows when to kill and when not to. However, here, he goes one step beyond and actually plays a surprising card letting the baddie thinks the latter is ahead. Heh! Good one!

Basically, at the end of this arc, the tale has not yet finished as Wolverine and Daken still hasn't settled their father-son animosity issues and the mysterious guy scheming behind is yet to be fully confronted. It does, however, give us closure of a sorts with psycho, Cyber

NO SPOILER ALERT

Other than that, you can expect some awesome action sequences but that's it. I cannot reveal more ... except to say what a bummer the ending is ... no Quesada cover

Ratings: 5/10

2.76 (441) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #14 ... Marvel ...

O damn and disaster! No more Quesada covers ... sigh ...

If last issue was a Wolverine v Daken fight, then we start this where the storyline left off with  Daken then clashing head on with Cyber and to everyone's surprise, Cyber actually kicking the shit out of Daken inspite of Daken's self-cocky confidence in winning!!!

In fact, the only way Daken got out alive is case W managed to rouse himself and interfered. And as Cyber rightly puts it, was W hoping this to be the emotional moment where he connects with his kid?

SPOILER ALERT

Nah! Daken then turns and walks off leaving W to get his own ass whupped next and boy does Cyber finish what he started ... and then the joke fell on him as he is struck down (Cyber that is) by a weak heart! Hah! We kid you not. Just as he was finishing the job, he has a mild heart attack. You see, the body he is inhabiting has grown too fast until the inner organs cannot cope with the physical bulk

Ah what a good turn of events here! So let's see what happens next as W makes a deal with Cyber to get him fixed up in return for more info on Daken and the mysterious figure who seemed to be behind all these claw characters

Ratings: 7/10

2.75 (440) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #13 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well what a surprise this issue turns out to be. It may be the middle point of the story but the amount of action here is literally non-stop from opening until the next cliff hanger ending! There are a few things that didn't make sense but hey this is comics, right? Hehehe!

Anyway, finally we caught up with Wolverine once more as we see him using more brains than brawns at the outset (love the firemen and police set up) before encountering Daken and then all hell broke loose!

What is there to tell? They exchanged a few words and then tore into each other ... SPOILER ALERT ... I just cannot believe that there as no scent of Daken even when he was like behind his dad and he was wearing regular shoes so there should be sound ... and what the fuck is that with shooting W in the chest and with what? Never shown or explained but W was well and truly smacked and defeated !!!

And then enter Cyber ... except Cyber came for Daken too and not W ... WTF?!?!?!?!

Ratings: 7/10

2.74 (439) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ...

Remember what I was saying about a Joe Q cover? Check this one out especially the angle of Cyber ... he is totally dominating Wolverine and that cover space, eh? AWESOME

Covers aside, unfortunately although this is issue 12, there is nothing special in terms of number of pages or storyline but rather more of a middle point, a post office kind of issue serving as a set up for the remainder of this arc

Here we get a wee bit on Wolverine as he decides to head out to the one place that he hopes to solve the partial mystery of his son while Daken himself finds that he is indeed being jerked around on a chain although he did his rebellious best by giving others a hard time just as a knee jerk kind of reaction ...

But the one main thrust on this story is Cyber as we see him finally having a physical body and ... as he goes about setting his own revenge plan in motion, we get to see flashbacks of how he was as a ruthless and savage individual ... getting yanked out of prison ... and how he first encountered Wolverine and subsequently the rest of the shit that happened before he became what he is now ... in short a recap and origin issue for Cyber here

Don't get me wrong. I know shit about this chap. So for me, this was a good read

Ratings: 6/10

2.73 (438) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #11 ...

[Short note ... from next review onwards, we will be publishing on an alternate day basis as we are running short on staff ... and still churning out our movie and novel reviews as well ... hope you bear with us ... thanks for reading!]

I cannot believe this. After 400 over reviews, I did a check and found that I have only ever reviewed issue 1 of this series when it boasts in its early run AWESOME QUESADA covers and by awesome, I meant it. I am not a fan of Quesada interiors but his covers are just WOW

In this issue, we start a new story arc and once again with Dillon delivering on the interiors, it was a roaring kick off as we see Wolvie realizing he is being surrounded and has the option of slashing through SHIELD agents or using his brains. Nice to see him reigning in his killer urge here. At this point, he has no idea who is really jerking his chains only that he is obsessed with finding Daken, his estranged son and see if anything can be done to calm the kid down as the kid is infinitely worse than him!

On the flipside, we see Daken playing his usual games of debauchery and killing anyone who he feels like it while realizing that as much as he considers himself a player, he is nothing more than a pawn

And as all good Marvel of ole knows, a Marvel comic must have threads hanging for the future and in this issue, we see not the body but the eerie and foreboding voice of ... Cyber ... in a farmyard where a kid has mutated to giant size with super strength!

Ratings: 6/10

2.72 (437) X-Factor vol 1 #63 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well after that crossover I was happy to drop X-Factor once more except that this issue introduce me to an artist whose style finally came to the fore and this artist is none artist that Whilce Portacio. Whilce is simply awesome. I became a fan and have generally followed his career until today!

Anyway in this issue we see a 2-parter of sorts where young Bobby Drake aka the Iceman is finally getting full spotlight as we see him going out with his girlfriend who is Japanese

Predictably her family didn't approve of him ... kinda similar to Bobby's problems all the time

However, to add some spice to the tale, on the flipside we found out that the girlfriend's brother is supposed a master assassin who has a whole heard of wanebe heroes and that's them on this cover. So they are cybernetic soldiers

Good work, decide storyline if ableit too cliché but of course the ending is good as we are guarant
eed with more action and sound effect noises to come

Ratings: 8/10

2.71 (436) X-Factor vol 1 #61 ... Marvel ...

Once more we skipped forward a couple of years to the next big event in the Mutant verse and this time around, it's called the X-tinction Agenda and it involves the entire Mutant family as apparently in small island nation Genosha, the humans have managed to enslave the entire country and using mutants to do a lot of menial and special tasks

When we talk about mutants here, it is not just regular but special or activated mutants. Of course, some are brainwashed to even become magistrates. Magistrates are like police special forces armed with high-tech weaponry

In this ongoing chapter, we see as the cover shows, a battle between Cable who is in deep shit over his team going out to take a strike against a Cameron Hodge ... the latter of whom is now more machine than man but his hatred remains. On a slightly more dramatic yet sentimental mode, we have Jean caring for Wolvie

The one let down here is the artwork for me. I mean at this time, we have artists like Jim Lee on Uncanny producing the other chapters to this crossover and after reading a Lee issue to come to this rushed looking work? UGH!

Ratings: 6/10

2.70 (435) X-Factor vol 1 #31 ... Marvel ...

The last time we did an X-Factor was in the 200++ review so it's high time we jump back into this particular corner of the Marvel Mutant-verse and this issue is part of an ongoing chapter in the crossover of that era - Inferno

And that is one heck of an awesome crossover where the various individual titles have threads and characters from over the years slowly being pulled back together into one major storyline. It felt natural not forced upon. Example: We have Magik from the New Mutants who powers have come to fruition as the Dark Childe and of course Magik originally encountered demons like N'astirh from Uncanny X-Men and here in this side for X-Factor is Cyclops' wife

She was missing and suspected in deep depression etc after Scott left her for the returning Jean Grey. However, she is unfortunate as we soon found out that she may be a clone of Jean and hence the physical resemblance

What is not clearly explained (or at least not to this reviewer) is how an ordinary human woman didn't do much but can suddenly be transformed into a magical being who is so powerful. Here in this particular issue is where she finally accepted her darker side entirely willing to sacrifice all in order to open the gate for all the demons to pour onto our plane of existence

How awesome is that?!?!?!

Ratings: 7/10

2.69 (434) X-Force vol 2 #2 ... Marvel ...

Thanks to those who pvt msg us, we return with the second review on this run of the X-Force characters and this time, we are not going to bitch about the artwork because Clayton continued in this vein for the rest of his tenure

In chapter 2, there are three main things of note. They follow hot on the heels of issue 1 but 3 and here are the three:

1. Wolfsbane - Rahne - is captured by the Purifiers. Why? Because even though she looks feral in her werewolf stage, she is supposedly the nice one owing to her upbringing and thus is the damsel in distress. Unfortunately while rescuing her, the X-Force team had no idea what was done to her while she was in captivity

2. X 23 - we see Laura as how she is meant to be. Focused. Obsessed with the objective and thus makes her more effective than Logan and Warpath and she proved it here in buckets as she let nothing turned her aside and boy is she nasty! Awesome fight scenes!

3. Magus - yaaaay we see the return of Warlock's daddy. Warlock of the New Mutants not of the Thanos and Silver Surfer and here is one mean daddy who the Purifiers decided to retrieve from where he was last seen for their future uses (ominous bells are a tolling)

So as you can see, you get a lot of story for your dollars!

Ratings: 7/10 (again would be higher if not for the artwork)

2.68 (433) Thor vol 2 #19 ... Marvel ...

Firstly, our apologies for hopping back on the Thor bandwagon but be patient, readers as this is a one-issue blip. Why are we doing this? Because as we are reorganizing our comics box, this is the first issue that came up

Anyway, during the hot run by Jurgens and Romita, apparently all those chunky simple linework actually takes more time for Romita than can be expected. So every now and then, like this issue, there is a filler artist which is just DAMN annoying

Michael Ryan ... is ... umm ... he isn't bad and in his own work, way in Image or Wildstorm as I cannot really recall ... he is acceptable but here ... even though it is a monthly comic it is jarring1

This issue is a continuation from waaaaaaay back in issue 1 with many subplots continuing to be developed and the primary thrust is as per the cover. So in short, you may find it confusing but it may also be interesting enough for you to go pull out the old discount bins

For here, we see Loki's plan continuing afoot as he dares to travel and bargain with all sorts of denizen from netherworld to release one ... ex human host or ties to Thor. But why? Well, that last page? Wow so unexpected and while we do not know if said human host is under Loki's influence, if you are a regular reader you will know that there is already suspicion on his character

And on the main cards, we see Thor and Odin, finally swallow some male pride as they accepted a helping hand from a human who is a lady to boot in the form of Scarlet Witch. She helps them burst free from their trap and then together confront the three Kirby-inspired looking baddies one of whom has been lately manipulating Thor's hammer by inhabiting within ala the Destroyer - yes, yes, yes - very confusing like we said but o so much fun!

Ratings: 7/10 (would have been higher if it was full JR Jr)

2.67 (432) Supreme Power Nighthawk #2 ... Marvel ...

Steve Dillon is one of the few artists whose sparse linework actually appeals to me. If you do not know his work, check out Punisher or Preacher and you can see it. He doesn't do too many fancy camera angles and in fact keeps it almost eye level and yet ... or perhaps it is because he is always paired with awesome writers who goes way over the top with violence when Dillon is onboard?

Whatever the reason, this issue rocks

For those not in the know, apparently this version of Nighthawk is from a parallel universe where a minor Marvel team called Supreme whatever has been reimagined ... as I am not a fan or have much knowledge of that first team, this was fine with me and apparently this is a spin off

In this issue, 2 of 6, we see psycho mild-mannered chap finally breaking out of prison where he has been apparently locked away and mentally zoned into coma like state .... where it was all pretence and he has decided to up the ante with immediate effect. You see, in his normal un-psycho part of life, he is a chemist. So ... he begins

And at this stage, Nighthawk is a rich angry young man who goes about trying to right the wrongs in his owl-like suit, kicking ass and hurling irons (I know, I know - it's comics)

Naturally when we see drug users starting to OD and blood gushing out everywhere we know who to suspect but hey they are drug pushers and users ... but is that the true extent, the scope of our madman's plan or is there something even more sinister at work?

And for that, you need the next issue - simply entertaining!

Ratings: 7/10

2.66 (431) X-Force vol 1 #19 ... Marvel ...

Okay we were going to stop on X-Force after that last review but what the heck? When we saw this, we just had to do it because X-Force from day 1 has been about grim and gritty, teeth bared and posing in impossible poses while supposedly jumping into the thick of battle. So this issue is a HUGE switch of pace

Here we see the epilogue after a 3-issues mutant crossover of that era called Executioner's Song wherein the mysterious new bad guy named Stryfe finally goes all out against the entire world only to finally be stopped by the entire X-teams combined along with some other villains. Now in the aftermath of all that nonsense, we see that misunderstanding and mistrust runs rampant between X-Force and the rest of the mutant teams

And in de facto field leader, Cannonball who was always the insecure one in New Mutants and later on, the lame one in X-Men ... well here not only did he fight for the philosophy of the X-force team and his mates ... but he ultimately became a man and a hero here when he dared challenge the Professor's dream and philosophy ... between the open hand (prof x) and the closed fist (cannonball) ...

You have to read this to understand what I meant by the last sentence. Worth your time

Ratings: 7/10

2.65 (430) X-Force vol 1 #15 ... Marvel ...

For those who are not following the first version of X-Force, you may not know of Tolliver. He is a shadowy guy in the background supposedly rich and powerful and trying to do mysterious things of which we are never shown and thus never understand him until his demise

His demise SPOILER ALERT begins and ends here and after this, it continues as a scavenger hunt in a Deadpool limited series. Even that while interesting ... is like the saying where the journey is more interesting than the ending itself

Ah well ...

But what made this great is the cover! We have huge fight scene between Cable and Deadpool with everyone not knowing whether Cable made it out alive at the end or not (come on!)

So basically finally using his brains, Cable figured that all his shit stems from Deadpool who is working for Tolliver. Tolliver has captured Cable's ex-team member the real Domino and Cable decides that it is time for him to bring the beatdown and here he comes, clunky armor and guns and what-not!

Ratings: 7/10

2.64 (429) X-force vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

Just when you thought comics couldn't get any darker, here comes a relaunched X-Force but I have to admit, this version is just awesome because here we get to see, no holds barred, the darker side of what the mutants especially Wolverine titles have been promising for years. In short, you get blood and gore and every issue is filled with such "fun"

About the only challenge here is actually the artwork. I like Crain and his digital works just fine but dude it is still artwork regardless of medium or tools used. Here everything is too dark and muddy. It feels like a cheap copy of a B-grade horror movie if you know what I mean

However, the storyline is just plain awesome

We open up with Cyclops telling Wolverine he has finally decided that there is a need for the kind of shitstorm that Wolverine always talked about and this took Wolvie by surprise (love the banter). However, Wolverine is not too keen on who has been assembled. So why the change in style for Cyclops?

Because the so-called humans have upped their game plan with something larger in mind and is now busy even killing other humans to get at some sort of ultimate weapon. So NO SPOILER ALERT here because it is that awesome a storyline but who are the bad guys?

Well we have all the various factions of humans against mutants including Bastion, Magus, Donald Pierce, Graydon Creed, Cameron Hodge, William Stryker and Matthew Risman ... is that enough for you?

When you reached the final page, all I can say is that this issue sure isn't padded!

Ratings: 8/10 (would have rate higher if not for the artwork inside)