2.254 (619) Blue Beetle (1986) ...

A few reviews ago we did number one and now we are in number two. Why? For some reason, we

actually like Ted Kord's version of BB and in fact we like BB better than most DC Heroes. Go figure, huh?

SPOILER ALERT

At the end of issue 1, as it was an 80s style comic, naturally it ended with a cliffhanger as the fire-bug villain bombed out an entire old building while our Beetle hero tried to do his bit combating the villain and helping out innocents. So we opened this issue with him pinned under tons of stuff and without real superpower of sorts or even body armor, Ted is hard pressed to get out of this but get out he does. Otherwise the issue would be the end of this run, eh?

Naturally as the villain is new, we are given a run down on how he became who he is in terms of his choice of powers and his anger towards who and why. Now to ensure you don't get bored, there is the usual added layer of foreshadowing of future problems to come including potential sabotage and betrayals by those who know Ted in his civilian guise. Naturally these are old in short panels leaving more to be developed at a later stage and trust us, the writer did build up in later issues for all these to come to a head

However, at this point, after he rested a wee bit, our man Beetle is back on the case trying to find out more on the villain and how to nail him the next time they meet and meet they did for the climatic battle and it was a decent battle. What is awesome is we see the Beetle doing Daredevil style moves with leaps and punches instead of depending on gadgets except for the fact that Beetle is more of any style fighting goes kinda chap, know what we mean?

The ending is kinda abrupt yet climatic and because this is issue 2, we are only left with a blurb of the villains of issue 3 at the closing credits box. As we are not fans of DC, we have no idea if the next round of villains are already active in the DCU or again newly created for this and honestly, they do not look that interesting just like this fire setting character. The saving grace is still the Beetle

Ratings: 6/10

2.253 (618) New Mutants vol 1 #100 ...

Back in the olden days, as in the 80s and 90s, when I was collecting comics as they were coming out, rather than TPB and softcopies, when a series was slowly dying thanks to diminishing sales, usually the hype was just that - hype. They would give us average stories and change artists to maybe newcomers who need time to hone their skills and I would be left wondering how the F are they supposed to turn it around. Of course, as we grew up and with hindsight, we realized that there is always the possibility that the publishers had some commitments and while they know the series is due to cancellation, they moved the better talents to booming properties and simply use cheaper talents to fill the commitments. Basically we were used - the readers and buyers! It doesn't sound nice but it is the truth

Hence, once in a while, it is nice to see a reversal in trend. The New Mutants did strongly in its early years and especially when Bill S was onboard. After that, it was still good with Claremont on stories and Guice on art. Unfortunately for me and I do believe a fair bit of others, Bret wasn't the right choice of artist. That and the strange storylines with that spyder like character and whatever was going on before and after the big mutant crossover of Inferno drove sales downward

Thus the arrival of Rob Liefeld was a saving grace. Of course, now that I am older and reading this book once more, I can see the other side of the artwork - the part where critics like to hammer him but like I said in my first paragraph, in Rob's case, he put in a lot of energy and spark into the New Mutants transforming them from teenagers with angst into young people who actually have huge responsibilities thrust on them and the challenges that they faced were more grim and gritty though no less worse than the threats before

If there is one thing Rob is good at, it's energy. Look at that cover. It just rocks! While the interior artwork has its moments, we can feel the rushness of the artwork where the artist has to just churn out to meet the deadlines and with a double sized issue? Well, we can understand some of the panels are less than impressive but visually it connects and in fact, I believe if they have a better colorist (or perhaps the challenge is with production quality?),  it would be better

Anyway, story wise, this is the final issue of New Mutants as the team is largely changed in terms of new faces, departure of old faces and the relaunch of X-Force. So here on the final issue SPOILER ALERT we are introduced to even more characters. First up, Lady Domino was just with us a couple of issues ago and last issue was bye bye Sunspot....

So naturally in terms of character development, a lot of chit chat is going on between Cable and Domino and then Cannonball and Boom Boom about changes and moving on and whether who should stay and who should go and what-not

But then in the midst of this we are introduced to Shatterstar who just pops in and is running and fighting everyone he meets. Naturally in terms of visual he is so awesome but Cable pops him easily hahahaha. And where there is new guy who is a hero, we found out that his villains are chasing after him to Earth from Planet Mojo

Now if that wasn't enough, the sneaky person in shadows from earlier is revealed as none other than a new claw person now that old claw person Wolfsbane is no longer with the team and she comes with her own set of problems in the form of Masque of the Morlocks!

And so there you have it ... new members with new problems but that's not all. O no. We end with an awesome epilogue where the Mutant Liberation Front's mystery leader is finally revealed as Stryfe who removes his helmet and ... gasp ... looks exactly as Cable!

What's going on? Well way back then when this came out it certainly left a lot of us hankering for X-Force 1

Ratings: 8/10

2.252 (617) Bloodstrike vol 1 #22 ...

[This review is actually typed on 8th Jan 2017 ...

With all the internet news on what Mister Liefeld is up to thanks to his last year's success Deadpool movie, a character he (co) created while at Marvel, apparently finally his movie deals for his own Image/ Extreme etc studios are on the way ...

And honestly speaking I was a huge fan of his group of books from way back when simply because they have awesome covers and some great artists who were just starting out then. Sure some times the storylines can read a little choppy and the dialogue is over-the-top but hey it's comics. I go to it for escapist fare. If I wanted something more grounded there is always the real TV news, right? Heh!

Anyway Bloodstrike started off strong then the storylines sort of lost it for me even though I bought it all but towards the end, with Karl on board as artist, it got back on track and I wished they actually finished the series properly with the missing issues 23 and 24 instead of leaving it here at 22 (25 was a promo stunt from Image waaaaaay back when with a few comics issuing 25 a year before the actual numbering reached there ... to prove to fans that Image does plan its work ... or some such justification)

So what's in store for 22? A recap. First Bloodstrike was a team of people or operatives who died and came back like zombies except that they can function like regular folks. Somewhere along the line they were badly defeated and we see a mystery figure bearing the name Bloodstrike as a solo operative. After that, the 'strike had a new posse of two chicks and one handler and one big guy or some such combination ... before the original team came back and hooked up which is where we are at when this issue comes out. See? A lot in 22 issues, eh?

And with this issue it is part of an ongoing arc where a group of villains break out of their cells and 'strike team was assigned to go bring them in since these are super powered freaks who are hellbent on death and destruction.

The saddest thing SPOILER ALERT is that when 25 came out he was flying solo again. So naturally this issue had to pave the way which means the bad guy gets to eliminate everyone (temporary or otherwise) just in time for the 25th issue that had already been issued. Sigh! Get it?

There is a lot going on, and a lot of word balloons, but I just wished that they had taken their time not to rush this book so that artist is given more time to make the interiors just as awesome as the cover

Ratings: 5/10

2.251 (616) The Punisher 2009 #14 ...

[From one milestone to another as this review ... if we are to go back to original numbering sequence ... means we are at 616 ... yes 616 and that's a heck of a lot of reviews but what we are excited is that that is what the Marvel U is known as the 616 in a multiverse concept ... but if you are the casual follower or reader of comics or you for the moment come from the world of movies then please ignore this fanboy ranting ...

Okay we know we just reviewed a Punisher issue but we just just just had to do another one because this run is so excellent. I mean, just look at that cover. It tells you so much from its almost retro style artwork of the early days when comics come in all genre including horror anthologies, western and love to what is now predominantly superheroics ... sigh ...

This issue has its own special shout out moments in the form of two artists involved to tell a tale. Primary artist is doing the actual present-day (so to speak) tale or storytelling while the flashback is painted style by another artist and it works well

Basically after the brou-ha-ha with the Oriental armor clad goons, the Punisher has no choice but to go back to his current assistant of info and whatever (a kid or teenage by the looks of it) and digs for info since his monster buddies are in deep shit and unable to be with him anymore and what a load of history was unnerved

So this is a flashback to the origins of the villains and we get it in two different era. We see how the scientist himself who is involved got his start and why he hates monsters so. And then we see the military arm and how they got their start and what happens in Japan and all those monsters (so cool right?)

Naturally the conclusion gives the Punisher even more fuel to fire up his anger and go gunning for some bad guys ... unfortunately we are left hanging as we are then not shown this and have to wait for the next issue ... argh!

Ratings: 8/10