2.175 (540) Alpha Flight vol 1 #24 ... Marvel ...

Back in the days, before all sorts of gimmicky covers (we love them here in fingerlicking central mind you), Marvel and to a certain extent, DC celebrated special issue numbers with double-sized extravaganza and here in hit comic Alpha Flight, we have it on number 24

For those who have been following, SPOILER ALERT, 23 ended with Snowbird realizing that Walter Langkowski is not transforming into Sasquatch but rather he is in a co-sharing relationship with one of the ancient evils that Snowbird's people have long been an enemy. And so in a fierce battle, she literally ripped his heart out!

Now, we are told that there is a chance to retrieve Langkowski from a mystical world before it's too late but to do so would require a journey to a place where the lines between dimensions are weak while magic is strong and so that's where Alpha is at the opening page and what an awesome opening page it is - crazy details in the artwork everywhere!

As for the team so assembled, not everything is going as expected with Heather the reluctant powerless team leader (goodness' knows why she thinks she is qualified), Puck (still short and still harbouring for Heather's affections), Shaman and his daughter (newly crowned Talisman who is tricked into her position by her father - awesome man that he is), Aurora who is grieving for Walter and Northstar, her super bitchy brother ... and a few others we will not bother much with hehehe

Anyway, as you can expect, the team naturally breached the dimensional walls and entered the home dimension of the Great Beasts. Well aside from being gigantic in size and ugly, their powers are surprisingly not that ... powerful? The Flight could actually survive. Hehehe! Of course, the Beasts also do not like each other which is a plus point and thus after a long arduous fight ... well naturally Walter's soul force is recovered SPOILER ALERT ... the one part we will not tell you is if he came back intact or not and if he did, in what form ... because we want you to buy the damn book and read it

There is a wee short end epilogue ... that seemed like a throwaway unnecessary bit ... almost like a love story style ending ... and that's what it is ... unfortunately if you are to read about a year's story later, you will see that this little bit will come to have disastrous consequences for a few members of the Flight. Such is the storytelling skills of Byrne. He seemed to have plotted everything out quite far ahead!

Ratings: 8/10

2.174 (539) Death of Wolverine #1 ... Marvel ...

20 years ago, during the hey days of Image and during its early life, Image creators (a few of them) did something called Image of Tomorrow where regardless of their current title numbering they jumped forward to issue 25 and then back to regular numbering. If memory serves correctly, the intention is to show that Image titles have a lot of forward planning. Unfortunately, some never reached 25 before it disappeared which is quite sad as we actually liked that idea

What has that got to do with this? Well this review is dated 28th Jan 2016 but we are typing it on 7th Mar 2016 and after this, the next review 2.175 was already typed and posted on 24th Jan 2016. See? Kinda jumped forward and now playing catch up. Hehehe!

Okay - onward!

This series came out in 2014 and was HUGE because aside from the last The End series, and some other alternate timeline or whatever, this is meant to be in continuity. I was hesitant when I got it on softcopy. The only reason I got it is because it had McNiven on art and McNiven is just plain awesome here. The technique here has the same consistency as his work on other titles except that rather than keeping each line clean, here he puts in more shading and what-not ... not sure if deliberate or a progression of his own art style but whatever the reasons, it is still a beauty to read

And this opening issue shows why as we see a troubled Wolverine realizing that something is wrong and not just with his own healing factor. For those who do not follow closely (like us), the imaginative flashbacks are great SPOILER ALERT. We get to see that Wolverine tried to find a way to cure himself but no deal and in the end, accepted life as is i.e. he gets to grow old, be in pain and die

However, unknown to him, a contract has been put out there with his name on it. The only challenge is he must be brought in alive and at this point, he has no idea who. So to ensure he doesn't bring untold continual danger to all those around him, Wolvie decided to go far away in seclusion and wait for the scum to come after him. And in this way, slowly, he intended to work his way back up the chain until he finds out whom

At this point, until the ending, we are not given a hint of who the mastermind is and that's great. We did get to see a glimpse of Viper who has been deposed as overlord of Madripoor but somehow still involved and on a chain (literally) is super mean bastard, Sabretooth. So what the fuck is going on here, eh?

Ratings: 9/10

2.173 (538) Weapon X: Sauron ... Marvel ...

When you have a hit character, you always try to squeeze as much money as you can out of it and this series fits that to a perfect T because you see, this uses the Weapon X name as in X for X-Men, Wolverine as Weapon X (10) and the Weapon X Program itself. See?

Unfortunately, while it may have links to all the above, this is a sort of preview miniseries for a forthcoming ongoing series that you know, regardless of writer or artist will run out of steam soon. Why? Because it is about the Director, that disfigured guard from the Wolverine Weapon X series, who along with a couple of agents decided to re-open the Weapon X program for their own skulduggery benefits. So while it is an interesting premise, you have to admit, there is the word FINITE stamped all over that concept, right? Heh!

As the title of this first issue indicates, it focuses on Sauron. And as this is the opening salvo, so to speak, we get a quick introduction to some of the other members like Agent Jackson, Kane and Wild Child

What we are then told is that the Director has a few existing agents but he needs the team to be more rounded. Thus each of the agents must go out and do a bit of recruiting. The targets will be those specified by the Director and in the case of Sauron, he started off with Emma Frost, White Queen as they needed a team telepath. The way she handled him with so much calm and cool is just perfect

Next on the list is an Aussie named Jack and this guy is just plain odd and funny, the way his body hardens and breaks off each time he uses his power!

Anyway, we are also shown that something had been done to Sauron to limit his intelligence and bestial like nature. So that he sounds more like Gray Hulk than Bruce Banner or anyone with half the intelligence of a normal adult

The ending ... is a sort of ending but with the somewhat original introduction and acceptable artwork ... it neither attracts you to come back for more nor does it tell you to stay off. I guess it will be a matter of budget

Ratings: 5/10

2.172 (537) Fear Itself: Wolverine #1 ... Marvel ...

Permit us to rant before the review proper starts ... this is another indication of Marvel trying to milk each event for all they can (nothing wrong as Marvel is a business) and each popular character (Wolverine) ... however by using "experimental" artists, it fails spectacularly. We choose the term "experimental" as we do not want to offend the few who may actually like this particular artist's work because we sure as heck don't

Now don't misunderstand us here. The story telling is adequate. The facial features and expressions are equally adequate. However, with the price of comics these days, we do not want run of the mill work here. This ain't no newspaper comic strip, guys! So in short to us the artwork lacks pop!

Anyway, continuing on the main mini series, while the world itself is being inundated with weirdos and chaos and magical hammers falling from the skies, here in this series, we see a once "vanished" black ops team resurfacing in the form of STRIKE. And what they did is to go to a storage for SHIELD/ HAMMER and decided to break in and steal ex-boss man Norman Osborn's latest version of a SHIELD Helicarrier except that this one has numerous additional nasty super weapons

Naturally Wolverine and his current squeeze (a reporter) was busy battling it out on the ground when this shit hits. And he got dragged in because at this point, he is deemed an awesome and reliable Avenger. So when he found his way onboard, being the tough guy that he was, he wanted to show off and forgot how to fight except to charge headlong into something. Yup. How awesome a warrior is that! Hahahahahah!

Naturally he got the shit handed to him

And at the end of this issue, we are left wondering who is the bad master villain as all is not yet revealed. However, we would only give a damn if we want more of this same artwork. Ugh!

Ratings: 3/10

2.171 (536) Ultimate Spider-Man vol 1 Annual 1 ... Marvel ...

[This is typed on 5th Mar 2016 just so you know our backlog hahaha]

There was a time, way back in the first phase of the Ultimate verse, when the concern was not so much political correctness. And by that, I am referring to the first Spider Man, Peter Parker was a "white" kid. The current incarnation is a black dude named Miles or something. We tried a couple of issues and gave up. And we are Asians ... so we are not sure if we are being racist when we type something like this ... hehehe ... but then again the comics buying stats probably support us as dear Miles is unable to carry his own title long enough anyway

But let's get back to the comic itself

This issue is important for 2 reasons and both are not action oriented and that just goes to show you how good a writer Bendis is for creating so much human drama and issues that it just pulls us in and in fact, the bits and pieces of action are more of a distraction though even that doesn't feel forced

What we have here for reason 1 is the artist Brooks whose own style is enough of a similarity to Bagley to make this progressive transition seamless and we admitted to reading this with pure enjoyment

Reason number 2 tackles Peter's social life or rather what happens to him after he breaks up with MJ. His concern is for her safety as it was driving him nuts the fact that she always runs after him when villains appear instead of staying somewhere safe. Coincidentally not far away in the X campus, young Kitty is facing the same problem. She finds herself alone and not fitting in. What made it worse is that Iceman had gotten over his infatuation with her and so she literally has no one to hang out with or talk to ... and since they only ever stay in the X Mansion, no chance of bumping into anyone

So what's a girl to do?

Why after a chat with her girlfriends (Jean mainly), she decided to do something even most regular human teens would approach with trepidation ... she calls Peter at home and introduces herself to him and explains that she would like to hang out with him ... even this very call, and the drama and misunderstanding between them is simply cringeworthy and hilarious!

And obviously their day together was filled with chats, confessions, hanging out, corn dogs (Ugh so not our taste) ... and a villain or two to keep them entertained SPOILER ALERT ... loved the ease with which they take down the baddies

But the highlight?

That KISS

Ratings: 8/10

2.170 (535) West Coast Avengers vol 1 #48 ... Marvel ...

And like our reviews on the X-Men, a long time ago, back when the Marvel Universe was at the end of its so-called Bronze Age, spin off from main titles was a rarity and usually each new title would have its own angle and in the corner for the Mighty Avengers, what happened was that the original Avengers team would be deemed to be on the East Coast and as there are many suitable and experienced heroes, it was decided to form a West Coast

In the end of its fourth year run, so many developments have occurred. We have seen a marriage fall apart (Hawkeye and Mockingbird), we have seen Wonder Man become an ego maniac after becoming a Hollywood star, we have seen the deterioration of Tigra into more catlike in appearance and personality (before X-Men's beast's transformation during Grant Morrison's run) ... and we even have the first FF member, Thing to ever join the Avengers even if for a limited run ...

All that said and done, this issue is the culmination of a run that has gone on for more than 6 issues! On the sidelines, we are treated to more developments in terms of the Scarlet Witch's and Vision's twin boys - how they sometimes seemed to disappear without a trace from their quarters. At this juncture, most readers would assume that these are toddlers who are having early access to their mutant abilities ... we guess ... but the truth is something more dire

In addition, we see Hawkeye and Mockingbird finally able to stand each other's presence and busily training the Great Lakes Avengers (an Avengers wannabe team consisting of very funny characters)

But on the main cards for the night is obviously the tale of Vision and Scarlet Witch. Now a while back, the Vision was taken SPOILER ALERT apart and put back together by the USA govt. Unfortunately, for security reasons, they have wiped all traces of his original presence and personality. Hence when restored, he is bereft of his earlier memories and becomes cold and mechanical once more

We see the Witch going to various parties for assistance only to be turned down/ away and her anger seething and with that, she is susceptible to accepting an invitation from what seemed to be a genuine research and academic facility

However, behind said veneer, the administrators are using it to separate the couple as their intention is to lure the Witch and brainwash her into sharing their way of thought. But the baddies are no as smart as they thought they were because they also destroyed the Quinjet and when that happens, our East Coast buddies in the form of Cap A and S Hulk come to investigate and you know there's going to be a bit of whupping!

Ratings: 5/10

2.169 (534) X-Men vol 1 Legacy #245 ... Marvel ...

For you regular readers, you may be wondering why after our less than happy review just one review ago, why we are delving back into this particular run? Well ... because we decided that it cannot be all that bad, right? We so want to give them a chance and you know what? Yes, it can be that bad and even worse. Sigh!

SPOILER ALERT

First up, it's the same artist and inker and colorist. So you get exactly the same style of work with same amount of details and in short, very inspiring artwork. Hey guys! Like it or not, this is comics. Visuals is important and if at times we need a little posturing, go for it! So that there are WOW moments and not just "yet another day in the lives of ..." kind of artwork ... pedestrian is the most charitable description we can think of

As for storyline, guess what? New X-event! And in the past this would be a whoop whoop kind of point but not this time around because you see, at the end of the last issue, we get a one page forewarning that the threat they had defeated was not what was causing Blindfold her problems and distress and that something that looked like a city or tower is coming through the ether. So what happened here?

Well, it felt like you have to read some other comic before this issue is what and that sucked majorly because there is not even a recap. We start off with the X-Men looking so different and more characters yet again. They are busy fighting off some lame ass human threat and they called this the Age of X (as opposed to the earlier event of 2 decades ago Age of Apocalypse) ... and as the story progresses, we learnt that something happened to trigger all out war between humans and mutants ... and unfortunately for the mutants they are now living a live behind some mutant made barrier that needs to be refreshed nightly

Aside from that, we are also introduced to Kitty who in this world is a mystery figure ... and we are not given much more than that ... we are also shown her smuggling something from the world beyond their barrier back (flashes of Aeon Flux?)

And ... that's it. About the only unique bit about this tale is you know the bit about bad girls or good girls dressed skimpily? Well, here we have two of the five who built the barriers being blokes and they dressed skimpily exposing their chests while the women are dolled up. Hmm is the writer/ artist gay or ladies? Hehehehehe!

Ratings: 3/10

2.168 (533) X-Men vol 1 Legacy #244 ... Marvel ...

The storyline is interesting. It shines the spotlight on someone who is young and potentially a weak link in a physical fight situation and yet can prove to have uses. As the cover indicates this is none other than Blindfold. In fact, her near uselessness in a fight reminds us of Cypher (New Mutants) and Destiny (Freedom Force) although in terms of power, she is obviously more akin to Destiny

So Blindfold wears a blindfold as her eyes are "empty" and she is blind, literally. However, her ability gives her glimpses of future. Unfortunately it is not something she can control and zoom in. Hence, her interpretation can at times be hazy. This has been demonstrated several times in past issues to the point that even Cyclops pointed it out in this very issue

Now what made this issue interesting is that in the aftermath of some long drawn out story arc, here we see each of them licking their wounds in their own way. We also see how splintered the X members are at this point in time where friendship is barely tolerated and gone, more or less, is the sense of family. Too many secrets, too many hurts - that sort of thing. In the midst of all these, Blindfold is having a panic attack where she senses a presence is hiding among some of the mutants. Who? She does not know

And as she goes narrowing down the options, Rogue with the help of the more brainy X members actually found what it was and basically one of the little portals leftover from an earlier storyline has allowed monsters from that dimension to pop through to ours

While this is interesting, it is not monumental and if you have not read this, no big deal

I do have two primary gripes with the X teams at this juncture ... first is the fact that inspite of the many X-titles on the market, still there are way too many characters present to the point that it serves to distract from an enjoyment of the book. And here we are talking about the fact that we are loyal followers of the mutant titles for about 30 odd years! Although we have had periodic lapses, it is never even a full year and we are struggling to keep up. You can imagine new readers who casually buy this online ... it will not make them come back for more ... we are pretty sure

And next up is the artwork. Sorry I am sure artist (T) has his fans but by far and large, we are pretty sure it is not that many because it is either penciller or inker .... but one of them dropped the ball and while the storytelling chops are there, the visuals and layouts are not. We have so much white spaces that it feels ... well let's not go into more of it. You know what we mean. And if you don't, go take a peek at that cover

Ratings: 5/10 (mainly for the art)

2.167 (532) Secret Invasion - The Inhumans #1 ... Marvel ...

A few years ago, awesome writer Bendis and team created a storyline that was seeded from New Avengers #1 and grew in a few years into a mini series entitled Secret Invasion - Secret in the sense that the Skrulls have spent years studying the various types of earthlings available and all their varied abilities so that they can find a way to infiltrate our planet without being detected - from conventional scientific means to mutation, psychic and even magic

And this series is a spin off from the main

But unlike our previous review, this one reads just as good without understanding the main series for we open the book SPOILER ALERT with Iron Man presenting the corpse of a Skrull in the guise of Black Bolt, monarch of the Inhumans

Naturally the shit immediately hits the fans and we are not talking just the preparation for invasion and defensive measures but rather politicking as well for you see, Black Bolt is no longer monarch and his brother, who in the old Inhumans' storylines has always been a mad conqueror wanna be type is actually king now (go figure) but hey that's not important on how he came to be ...

And so we spent several pages indulging in various key characters soliloquy as well as the growing doubts about who around them are Skrulls and who are not ... and before you know it, the extent of infiltration in their society is revealed in a full blown all out action ... and what a shocker it is in the final pages!

Ratings: 6/10 (Tom Raney on art is doing his best ever work we have read to-date)

2.166 (531) Pitt Crew #1 ... Full Bleed Studios ...

Dale Keown is the creator of PITT. In the main series, his initial run was marred by so much delay that no one had any idea when each issue would come. Imagine something like 6 months or so per issue but the best part for us is that whenever it comes out, you can be assured of awesome art - pencil, ink and colouring. The only disappointment is that ... with the awesome art doing so much work, the storyline feels like so empty as a first read would be like 10 mins max!

And then comes second and thirds and more!

So a few years into the run, Dale allowed others to play in his sandbox but only by telling stories of the supporting cast not the primary storyline and thus was born Pitt Crew. For me while the covers are good and stories are average, unfortunately if compared to Dale, the artwork pales by a huge margin and thus the series suffered. Although with a much smaller print run, back issues can be more difficult to find and more pricey!

This first issue delves into Pitt's alien race history of the fact that they are ruthless conquerors and we get to see glimpses of how hybrids are even nastier and potentially how his "brother"wroth came about leaving threads open for the next issue ...

Ratings: 4/10

2.165 (530) Mars Attacks the Savage Dragon #1 ... Topps ...

Mars Attacks is not new ... concept wise and story wise but somewhere in the 90s, it was turned into a movie and had a bit of a "hit" vibe to it and with many celebrities wanting to do cameos. Naturally with this, it has to come out with some reading material and Topps at that time was producing the collectible card sets. And of course, Topps decided to do a mini series

This is a spin off from the main series of Mars Attacks

And honestly, while it is a fun read, it is also a messy read. In fact, from scene to scene there are too many references to events happening off panel in the main series to the point that it detracts from enjoying this

However, if you really want us to tell you what this is about, well one fine day, Martians after pretending that their planet is barren using higher end tech decided to come invade Earth and by the time we earthlings are aware, they have already hit us. The initial wave rocked the planet quite badly. Naturally, when it comes to Chicago, inspire of all the mess going on with supervillains, our friend the Dragon manages to drop everything and come rushing to kick alien butts

And basically that's it. It feel kind of flat like a book you wouldn't mind reading if it is there in front of you and you have nothing else to get addicted to. Otherwise, honestly, I don't feel like even continuing to book 2

Ratings: 3/10

2.164 (529) Daken Dark Wolverine #13 ... Marvel ...

For those not in the know, somewhere along the line, along with finding his memories, Wolvie found out that he has a son from his Japanese wife, someone he had not been aware of until now when said kid is growing and seeking vengeance/ revenge for being neglected

Of course that would have been too simple and clear cut however warp we may think the logic is

And thus in view of that, we also have yet another figure in the shadows named Romulus who is apparently hundreds if not thousands of years old whose main issue besides living long is that he is feral looking like Sabertooth and Wolverine and naturally he is pulling many strings ... whose sole purpose seems to be just to create complications with no pre-determined ending or targets in mind

So somewhere along this muddled path, Daken came to his own ... and had been offered this ongoing series. With a somewhat lacklustre art for interiors and covers, you know it will not last long before it is cancelled, right? Hahaha!

Well, story wise, it is readable as we see Daken forging his own confused path. Here is a man who is trying to prove to himself that he is nothing like his father i.e. an animal and so he schemed and murdered his way on a path of conquest

This issue continues his journey with drugs (yes you read that right) for you see, Daken after taking over Madripoor has decided to go to LA and been stalking a handsome actor. Unfortunately the current drug of choice has disrupted his senses severely and not only that but retard his healing factor which for someone like Daken is never a good thing

And in this issue, he is trying to fight said addiction while retracing his steps by entrapping a police woman to assist. He is trying to determine if when he had his black out moments, was he responsible for the murders going on in the neighbourhood?

Finally - the Moon Knight did nothing much inspite of the cover. In fact all he did was appear towards the end and with the usual next issue blurb

Ratings: 5/10

2.163 (528) Bloodstrike vol 1 ongoing #13 ... Image ...

How many great covers can a new comic have? When it comes to Bloodstrike and the latest creative team, it seems as many as the issues that are printed because this issue's cover's yet another winner! Check out the angle, the dynamic-ism and the colouring

Storywise, we see that the new Bloodstrike (solo) and his team are in deep shit and the govt man is calling him to pull out regardless of who gets left behind. Naturally our tough guy being the loyal chap that he is refuses and decides to stay put and take down the villains

This here is the biggest problem I have with early Extreme titles. The characters, good and bad, are well designed and hint at so much. However, in terms of delivery and actual threat level, the villains are all dispatched too quickly. Look at Stormwatch, Wetworks, Dragon and Extreme books including Youngblood and you will know what I mean

Here, we have head bitch who looks super nasty and super confident about her two tiers of lackeys. Unfortunately, with great armor, weaponry and numbers, none of them were a match for Bloodstrike

SPOILER ALERT

About the only over the top thing that happens is someone plucking someone else's eyes out (hey did Kirkman do a Liefeld when he did that issue of Walking Dead then?)

Ratings: 6/10

2.162 (527) Captain America vol 2 Heroes Reborn #2 ... Marvel ...

Yes, yes, yes we know we just reviewed issue 1 recently but what can we say except that because of that awesome cliffhanger, we just gotta follow up with the next issue, yes?

And once more, for us at least, regardless of what tons of people may say, we loved, loved, loved this issue. Here we see Cap fully (more or less) activated in his role as CA and finding out more and more about what happened to him while he was under hypnosis of some sort or other and that the party responsible is the good ole USA not the Skull or other Nazis

In other arenas, we see that the Skull is back and with an assortment of the old Nazis hoodlums including MasterMan and others except that it is under the guise of a new group called the World Party

And finally we get to see a scrawny girl ala X-Men Jubilee except she appears to be Caucasian dress weirdly and jumping everywhere. Her ambition is to be a dancer but in comics, a dancer is considered to be fearless and already an awesome unarmed combatant. Hehehe! Of course, at this stage, we see that she is living in a home less than happy with a brother who believes in the calling of the World Party.

So what happens next?

Buy the comic

Read it please

Ratings: 8/10

2.161 (526) Alpha Flight vol 1 #11 ... Marvel ...

[Finally we are caught up in terms of our reviews ... not same day but at least same month hahaha]

John Byrne - used to be a superstar in the world of comics where he can not only write but pencil and ink and do it so fast that he can do more than one title a month. Say what you want that his work is generic but so do most artists. It is their style and if there is one thing no one can deny, it is that John thinks through each page and panel and suffused it with enough details. However, it is odd, when you read through online that there are those who are so against him especially those who worshipped the original Image founders' club. I loved those founders' work but I also love Byrne's work ... not taking sides, not me

And this cover is one of the reasons why!

As we know, in comics, if you do an iconic cover, there will be others who will swipe it for a homage and this is one of those covers. Imagine having this in 11 and then 12 is yet another such cover. That is how good Byrne is

So here in 11 we see that the background drama is coming to the fore as the beautiful Courtney more or less finishes her recruitment of those who were formerly in Gamma Flight plus other miscellaneous unhappy individuals. SPOILER ALERT and all for the sole purpose of taking down Guardian or James McDonald Hudson

As the villain's plans come into play, he is also pulling the strings of James' wife, Heather even though she is yet unaware in this very issue on why she is being dragged back to a certain place but her husband received official notification of the tragedy that is soon to follow and when he rushes back? BANG he is confronted on the final page by the whole coterie of villains!

That sounded rushed. We know. But we are trying not to spoil everything in this review. Suffice to say, that while this is a build up to issue 12's heartbreaking issue, it is still a very fast paced and entertaining read

On the flip side half of the book, we continue to get origins of the Flight as we see how Doctor Langkowski became Sasquatch and his ties to Shaman and Snowbird even before they were in Alpha Flight. That scene with his initial transformation is just plain mindboggling artwork!

Ratings: 7/10