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

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

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

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

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

Ratings: 6/10

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

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

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

Just check out that cover!

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

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

Ratings: 6/10

2.127 (492) Avengers X-Sanction #1 ... Marvel ...

What has this limited series got going for it? The awesome artwork of Ed McG

However, this limited series is also a good indication of the convoluted mess facing the casual yet long time reader of Marvel comics. They are trying so hard to make the universe as connected as possible that there is now consistent overlapping between various mags. So if you read one without the other, it feels quite confusing and will take you at least a few issues before you understand. The question then is that if you are willing to try more than one. The next is for those who read TPB. While most TPB tells a complete story, it may not jive with what you know of the characters if you have not been reading regularly that particular characters storylines

In summary, it's a mess

And here is a good example. After nearly 2 decades of the mutants being at the top of the popularity charts, the Avengers finally kicked them off that lofty pedestal and from then on, it was a steep fall with revamp after revamp failing to do much. So what does the powers that be decide upon? Crossover! Hence, you have the forthcoming AVX where from a limited series, it spawned into yet another jumpstart in most titles. Sigh!

And this is a prelude of sorts. Cable, who is the guardian of Hope, the first human/ mutant in a long while is part of the plethora who believed that she is mutantkind's future. Hence, he has come back in time and across many time lines to gather weapons where he hoped to be able to face off against the Avengers so that they do not manage to stop Hope from some day merging with the Phoenix force! Yes, the Phoenix force. For those not in the know, the Phoenix force is one of the primal energies in the universe that brings death and destruction and life anew and in the past, for some weird reason, love Jean Grey's DNA and has bonded with her and caused yet another long series of convoluted storylines. Hehehehe!

In this opening issue, we see the Avengers going about business as usual taking down a group of escape convicts only to be ambushed, selectively by an unknown (Cable) figure. Naturally this results in yet another big fight and with the conclusion of a cliffhanger SPOILER ALERT Cable pointing a gun at a defeated Captain America and a panel that uses sound effects of a shot. Obviously we know Cap will not die

Ratings: 6/10

2.126 (491) Northstar #1 ... Marvel ...

Northstar ... hmmm ... you know if there are people with convoluted origins and retcon origins, Northstar and his weirdo sister, Aurora should be somewhere on the Top 10 lists. I mean, they started as potentially mutants who needed to join hands in order to emit a blinding light (Dazzler got them beat with this) ... to potentially be part-human, part-faery ... and then back to more or less mutant ... then there is the bit of his angry always obstinate nature that then becomes ... gay ... so I guess he is the icon for political correctness candidate? Hahahahaha!

Anyway, at the height of the comics boom in the 90s, many characters were given a chance at their own one-shot, limited series and short-lived ongoings and Northstar is one of those people. His is a 4-issue limited series

And we opened this series with him being angry with the world (ho-hum) and not knowing where to turn to for the direction in his life. But then since he is usually seen in skin-tights, for some weird reason, Canadian super power division decided to seek their 2nd best team on him - a team that looks fierce but is always on the losing end i.e. Weapon PRIME. Yes there is a pair of twins and a grinning idiot serial killer. Their individual names are not important. Their job is to stand around and pose and mutter tough guy lines before getting their asses kicked

In this issue is no different, they hunt down Northstar for whatever lame reason even as he realizes something is going on when everyone he knows is one by one targeted for death. So while tracking down who is dropping murderous candy trail, he has to fend off Weapon Prime too and fend them off he did and in style

Now just in case you find the rushed and muddy artwork not to your cup of tea, in order to ensure you come back, we end the story with the villain reveal - Arcade, he of the mutants, hoping that with a hint of mutant-mania-influence, this series will be a hit

Not happening ... so not happening!

Ratings: 2/10

2.125 (490) New Avengers vol 1 #4 ... Marvel

Firstly, check out that cover ... and regardless of your opinion on how sexy big boobs or butts are ... that looks a bit (to put it tactfully) out of proportion, right? I mean, how the heck can you even have that post? Hahahahaha!

Storywise, at this point in time, the world is still in turmoil (it has to be otherwise there would be no need for superheroes and hence the existence of superhero comics) ... and Stark is not yet head or then chopped ex-head of SHIELD

So we have them gathering at one of his new buildings (Stark Tower) ... as he kept saying while he is rich, he is not rich enough to fund the Avengers anymore but Steve reminds him that there is no need for fancy stuff as long as they have a place to meet/ discuss/ and a way to call each other when the danger arises

The best part about this issue is the balance between quieter serious moments with the action sequences and a sprinkling of friendly light hearted banter between the characters. The above paragraph is our example of serious moments. As for action, SPOILER ALERT, how about the fact that aside from hunting down the villains that managed to escape, the Avengers decided that since Electro was the one who caused the disaster, he should be the one for them to tackle first and in so doing, try to find out who hired him to do so

And boy was the scene awesome!

And finally an example of lighter moments would come courtesy of when they were in the quinjet heading for the Savage Land where Iron Man proudly proclaims that there ain't gonna be a crash landing because he is at the helm while Spidey kept reminding that every single trip ends in a crash!

O yes and this issue introduces us to the next member for the New Avengers, Wolverine although he only makes one final page semi-sort-of-appearance! That's how good this book is that they do not need to wheel him out from first issue!

Ratings: 9/10

2.124 (489) New Avengers vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

Okay we are not always about the oldies so we are going to move our review batch a few decades (!) and come to the 2004 issue (yes still more than a decade old although if you read this it doesn't appear dated - shows how good Finch artwork is) of New Avengers. Apparently the last time we reviewed this particular run was a while back and we covered only issues 1 and 3

The reason being that I didn't have issue 2 in hardcopy but thanks to all those online comics, I now have it - yes! Am so excited because of artist David Finch. Amongst my all time favourite artists include Jim Lee, David Finch, Rob Liefeld (occasionally), Arthur Adams, Walt Simonson (occasionally) and Finch. Since Finch hit the big times, I have yet to find another artist that I would follow except for Ethan van Sciver but hey this is a review about a comic, not which artist I liked so let's get on with it

At the end of 1, we see the world of Marvel New York in turmoil as Electro was hired by a shadowy individual/ organization to break someone out of Rykers, the superhuman prison. Heroes who happened to be around included Luke Cage, Daredevil, Spiderwoman and heroes who came to assist included Spider-Man, Captain America and Iron Man. Unfortunately over 40 villains made it to freedom and so opens issue 2

Basically if you like your comics full of action, this one will not disappoint because from page 1 to the end, it is one big fight. We get to see even Spider-Man has his hand/ wrist broken by Jigsaw. And yet heroically he fought on. We see Captain America jumping into the fray to assist him and we see ... the introduction of Sentry who for some unknown reason is locked in here being brought into the fray but will he help them at first? Because at this point, he is still a psycho who is suffering from mental breakdown of some sort

The ending with the introduction of Purple Man into the fight is actually more scary than the entire issue. Yes strangely enough someone who can project his willpower onto those nearest to us and make us do what he wants rather than being super strong ... that look and that sinister gleam in his eye? Woof! Plain awesome

Ratings: 9/10

2.123 (488) Avengers vol 1 #41 ... Marvel ...

Well if you thought our last review was really digging it up from the archives, how about we step back four more months and give you a review on 41? Just to show you that even way back then, Avengers was a consistently awesome comic to read

And here we have the cover showing us the oft misunderstood Dragon Man with his then-green clad master/ creator Diablo

Art chores this time around is John Buscema and inked by George Bell - someone we do not know but the work is still just as good as 45

And at this point in time, the Avengers are primarily Hercules, the Scarlet Witch, her brother Quicksilver and hot headed Hawkeye. However, we are given a glimpse of future member, Natasha who is the Black Widow. Naturally at that time, our Widow has a mask like going to a masque and even wears a half-sized cape! Complete with fish net stockings we kid you not! Hehehe!

Our story spends about half the time on the above before we see Goliath and his wife, the Wasp encountering a strange package that when opened bursts forth the Dragon Man. Naturally being huge and a robot, his strength would outweigh that of Goliath! Unfortunately for the big man, the Wasp and Witch of that time were not that strong in terms of power/ character and chiefly for damsel in distress and hence were not of much help in stopping the Dragon Man and Diablo

As the cover shows ... so is that SPOILER ALERT plucked from the ending of this comic ... which means to be continued!

Ratings: 6/10

2.122 (487) Avengers vol 1 #45 ... Marvel ...

Now it's time to take a time travel waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to the early days of the Avengers and even then, before there are uncountable teams and relaunches, the Avengers were already mighty. Not only is the team mighty by itself (check it out that they already have Hercules, Iron Man and Thor) but even the art team of Don Heck and Vince Colletta are awesome. The interiors are miles better than the cover - a rarity in modern day comics, eh?

So aside from the titanic three, who else is part of the old Avengers? Well, at that time, we have the  Scarlet Witch (before she went crazy and tried to kill everyone and actually changed the entire world) and her brother, Quicksilver (before Ultimate verse where he shagged his sister the Witch - see what we mean?) ... and then there's the Wasp and Hank Pym in one of his many guises (Goliath) ... before he went woman beater crazy ... hmm notice a trend here in modern day comics ... modern just by adding the worst facets of today's behaviour, eh?

And to round things out, we get appearance from Captain America and early days Hawkeye

Here, the team is enjoying quiet moments albeit for the Avengers quiet still means spotlight as the press hounds them while they go about doing their tasks and trying to make the world a safer place ... and what issue would it be if there is no action sequences?

Hence, as promised on the cover, the Super Adaptoid is lurking around studying them, and copying their power patterns onto his robotic frame before launching an attack at the Avengers! And before you know it, it's time for a battle royale! Naturally SPOILER ALERT the Android is beaten just in time for the issue to end. So it's a told-in-one piece and rather satisfying too

Ratings: 6/10

2.121 (486) Alpha Flight vol 3 #3 ... Marvel ...

Volume 2 is so painful that we decided to give you loyal readers a break and skip to volume 3 issue 3. Basically volume 3 is yet another failed chapter in Alpha's revival lasting a mere dozen issues. Why did this fail? Well, firstly, Marvel decided to do a 360 making the content humorous and introducing formerly serious characters now behaving weirdly comical. However, the actual storyline itself is serious. Thus the highly uncomfortable, non-synergy of character versus storyline ... if they had done this in all ages format ala Power Pack's later volumes, that would probably be more palatable

I mean look at the cover lower left with the elderly bloke half sleeping away and you know what we mean

Storywise, Walter Langkowski aka Sasquatch takes the lead this time around in recruiting new candidates for a revival of the Alpha team and now that he has a team of sorts, this issue wastes an entire issue in explaining the villains ... I kid you not ... it is a new race of alien-like creatures and we get to see them grow and destroy and conquer ... as all their interactions are with races that were not the norm in the Marvel U, again, readers could not connect

Therefore this issue fails ... utterly ... old guy with super strength ... maple leaf bloke who is naïve and super enthusiastic ... and a girl who is the daughter of Puck, potential or otherwise (really?) ... I mean who is going to care, right?

Ratings: 3/10 (saved a bit by the artwork)

2.120 (485) Alpha Flight vol 2 #2 ... Marvel ...

The biggest disappointment in this series so far is actually artist Scott Clark. After having enjoyed his work in Image titles a few years ago to suddenly encounter him here in this series producing this kind of work? Ugh! Of course it could be the paper or the production quality or the inker but if so, he should have gotten himself out of this triple quick

Anyway, story wise, writer Seagle continued weaving his paranoia fuelled mania as we see hidden agenda after agenda where everyone is not what they seemed and Alpha members are nothing more than brainwashed zombies being activated ...

In issue 2, as the  cover indicates, we see a return of the Master of the World, a supervillain debuting and primarily plaguing Alpha Flight in their first incarnation ... in other words, inspite of his rich history, he is potentially lame ... even that costume of his

Here, after the opening sequences of supposedly Master breaching Alpha head office, we are left wondering and grasping at clues similar to the Alphans ... intentionally set up by writer Seagle supposedly creating intrigue to the plot. However, thanks to the artwork, I found it a chore to plough through this issue and thus never bothered to collect it on a regular basis until it ended up in the quarter bins. I guess a lot of other readers agreed with me

Other supposedly mysteries added in this issue is the many shapes of the Master, what or who is this Sasquatch in the new Flight as he is more monster than human as all he does is growl and thus needs to be chained amongst others ... sigh ... reminds me of those old Hong Kong movies with unnecessarily complicated plots pretending to be sophisticated storytelling elements

Ratings: 2/10

2.119 (484) Alpha Flight vol 1 #6 ... Marvel ...

Look at that cover! Plain, simple, no over rendering but Byrne just totally kills it! Such an awesome image and that title? Perfect and that's how from lame old Puck we move on to awesome gal, Narya aka Snowbird

Quick background ... as this is a review ... Narya is not entirely human but rather offspring of the Northern Gods i.e. half and half and has the ability to shape shift into any creature of the North. She also has a few other abilities though for some reason or other, she doesn't ever uses them. And as she is such an awesome character, she keeps a recurring role as one of the main characters that drives the stories forward especially in the first 50 or so issues! Several story arcs are because of her/ her human husband (cutie)/ and baby (nasty)

In this tale, we see Snowbird in trouble from her bosses because for some stupid reason, she decided to work for the police and naturally disappearances from work is to be frowned upon until they even locked her up. Not too sure about that

Unfortunately some even bigger idiots did some work and inadvertently (isn't that always the case?) freed one more of the "Great Beasts" Kolomaq (great name, right?) ... and before you know it, Snowbird is on the case ... the cover you see? It is actually part of the storyline once Snowbird encounters Kolomaq ... it's probably the only time or the first time that several pages of a comic book has panels, word balloons and other text but literally no artwork ... I kid you not!

And as for the flipside, we see Michael Twoyoungmen finally coming into the power of Shaman as he accepted his spirit ancestors advice and learnt the mystic arts

Ratings: 7/10

2.118 (483) Alpha Flight vol 1 #5 ... Marvel ...

It has been a while since we did an Alpha review. So we figured it was time to go back to that particular box and dig up yet another golden oldie from creator John Byrne's catalogue and so here it is: issue 5 featuring one of the lamest ever hero in the Marvel Universe: Puck

For those who are wondering, Puck is in all likelihood taken from a Shakespeare play?

Anyway this guy's main ability is ... that he is short like a midget (due to a magical malady - yes you read that right), he can fight well but like a regular guy and for some unknown reason, he loves to do somersaults and bounce everywhere though he is nowhere near the abilities of the Toad (that mutie) or faster than even 3 D (yes such names do exist) man

So ... one more quick fact and that's waaaay back in the early days of Alpha, John splits the book with a main story and a back up story exploring the history of the characters which is actually great and highly entertaining and what's this issue about? Why it's about ... Puck hahahahahaha!

Anyway let's start with the back up story. Why you ask? Because it is not about Puck (sorry couldn't resist it). It features way cooler magic man, Shaman in his younger days when he was a rebellious bloke rejecting old world mysticism for modern day medical school and learning to be a doctor/ surgeon. We get to see him fall in love and have a daughter who will one day be Talisman and how his path way back then already overlap into Guardian Heather's live ... it's all rather well down if a bit rush

And for the main piece of this comic? Well ... Puck is recovering from the last few issues of adventure and when his Alpha mates left his bedside ... he feels that something is wrong and goes to investigate ... to discover (gasp) that the hospital has a crew that is selling some of the meds (drugs) to others ... and goes out to stop them because they are not really that big a gang so a few hops and punches and kicks and everything is hunky-dory

See? Puck is ... lame ...

Ratings: 5/10 (1 point for that cover)

2.117 (482) Cyerforce Ongoing vol 1 #4 ... Image ...

Well we skipped one issue ie 3 the ending chapter of Killer Instinct because we just want to avoid any more comparison to WildCATS, okay? And what a great thing too ... I mean check out this awesome nasty cover of Ballistic, right?
That's the great thing about Cyberforce. You don't have to be officially inducted into their team to get in on the action and here Miss Ballistic takes center stage as the original sub plot from issue 1 builds up take the limelight. Or at least you would think so thanks to that cover but unfortunately inspite of the cover and the title, Assault with a Deadly Woman, this is not so

In fact the opening scenes are great especially where we get that guy dropping from the roof - awesome art - Silvestri at his best!

And then we get great background scenes on what is potentially the early life sequences of both Caryn and Ballistic ... with both then zapping to the present when our dear speedster does her stumbling best by stumbling into a new drug cartel's activity where you have a guy who has horns and his cabal is called the ... well you read it and you will see

Anyway, this is a great opening issue for a multi-issue arc as we see lots of action while both sides are driving the plot in the same direction ... with Cyberforce and Ballistic on a collision course

Ratings: 6/10

2.116 (481) Cyberforce ongoing vol 1 #2 ... Image ...

Before you read this, I do strongly suggest you get WildCATS #6 as that is the official starting point of this great crossover. And if you ask me to choose, I have to admit that the 'CATS have better art thanks to Jim Lee (sorry, Marc, I do like yours too but just for comparison ...)

Anyway, remember our gripe from the last review? Well, because this is part of a bigger story arc, it finally feels like a proper comic of sorts because there is fast paced development, character moments and slam bang action  yes yes yes!

But like his Marvel counterpart, this story arc is all about Wolverine wannabes because it stars Ripclaw from Cyberforce and Warblade from WildCATS, both claw characters with temper except Rip is more the animal and here in this issue, we feel like reading an X-Men Comic because almost the entire issue is only on Ripclaw SPOILER ALERT

We open with a sequence of Rip and the Blade together with SHOCS on a mission for cyberdata and what-not only to be ambushed and through one page after another of subterfuge and action, we felt the betrayal and "death" of Rip ... only to be told that it was a flashback because in the here and now, Rip is controlled by former love, Misery who has, for her own reasons, set him off against Blade. And so another round of battle ensues ...

And this eats up the entire book except the last 2 pages where the rest of Cyberforce finally makes an appearance. See what I mean?

Still a decent read though

Ratings: 6/10

2.115 (480) Cyberforce ongoing vol 1 #1 ... Image ...

Enough of the negative reviews, eh? Let's move on ... to Marc Silvestri's first title at Image! I was not a huge fan of Silvestri's X-Men but for some reason I collected every single issue I can get my hands on when the limited series came out (started with three and in time got the 2 back issues) and actually liked it enough to look forward to this

I still remembered when it was announced that they said there will be no more special covers which to me is quite sad as I actually loved the gimmicky enhanced stuff hahahaha!

Anyway, if you are ever a fan of Silvestri you will love this as his work actually looks less rush and more polished! And the interiors (dare I say it) has better work than the cover especially on the colours!

Now on to the tale ... we basically picked up where the limited series left off with Mr Claws doing his Wolverine bit while the speedster is young Kitty Pryde hahaha! Seriously ... here we see Ripclaw doing a training session with Velocity yet losing his control every now and then until Heatwave literally has to take him down ... and I guess Heatwave is the Cyclops figure then, eh?

On the sub plots ... we have Mr Four Arms Stryker trying to get Ballistic bad babe to come back and join Cyberforce instead of letting her move off on her own ... however, unbeknownst to him, she has a debt to repay to an old mate and hence she gave him one in the nuts!

And naturally to ensure there is some sort of connection to future issue ... i.e a set up ... we see guys that appear to have claws leaping and attacking ... in silhouettes ... and we see Ripclaw waking up in cold sweat after having a nightmare about an old flame and arch competitor ... a member of WildCATS ... which means you know it's guest star time to come! Yippeeeeeee!

See? Not a great first issue but at least enough to make us think if we want to try 2 or not ... I am glad I did!

Ratings: 5/10