773. Youngblood vol 1 #5 ...

[This is reviewed on 3rd Jan 2018]

So after 4, we see that something had happened to Badrock and he had for some unknown reason been switched over to the side of Darkthornn. What is really sad about this issue and generally the first run of Youngblood is not the heroes but the villains. While they may look cool, they do not really have much in the sense of danger and a plan. Like Darkthornn. He is coming back to capture Prophet to ensure that Prophet does not pose too much of a threat to his plans to conquer the world. If this was like 50 years ago, it would have been fine but when this came out in the 90s, it was kinda average. In addition, inspite of looking cool, and supposedly powerful, it came down to fists pounding each other. Even his robotic army was just like cannon fodder. Emerging from the crash tunnels to be easily shot down ... for a guy from the future and alternate dimension or some such stuff, he is certainly not bright

And for Youngblood to take him down with nothing more than fists and guns and arrows (let's not forget  Shaft) ... like we said the villains are a true letdown

Still what this book got going for it are some awesome artwork and we kid you not. Let people say whatever they want about Rob but when he is in the zone, his work is just plain awesome. I mean, look at that cover. Badrock is perfect right there!

And within, the team basically split to combat the threat of 'rock and Darkthorn vanquishing the villain but unfortunately not able to stop him. So he vanished into one of his crash tunnels to terrorize them once more. The Berzerkers left as well but with Kirby choosing to remain behind because for some reason, he had a feeling like he should be there with Prophet to guide or share his misadventures or whatever

We really enjoyed re-reading this book on the digital format reminding us of our youth and enjoyed many panels of the art!

Ratings: 7/10

772. Youngblood vol 1 #4 ...

[This is reviewed on 2nd Jan 2018]

This is the issue that started it all for us from way back when ... the first Youngblood issue we remembered reading off of a mate and subsequently went all out to find. And as for why? Just look at the cover. Great colouring, great grim n gritty pose, and that pose just exudes so much attitude. I mean we are at the age where slasher movies and horror movies are entertaining even the B grade stuff. So obviously this book hits the mark and generally speaking, the interior artwork especially the production values matched the covers. Sure there are a few splotchy pieces where Liefeld looks a wee bit rush but on the whole, this is one entertaining book

The only downside? It is not the final battle SPOILER ALERT

Basically we see the Youngblood team now together with Prophet and Kirby and Bezerkers kicking all kinds of ass from Darkthornn and his Disciples. And that's what this entire book is all about. That's it. Darkthornn is some sort of strong overlord from another dimension who came to our world to eliminate Prophet. He could potentially be from the future trying to ensure a scene like the Terminator movies while Prophet is supposedly a genetically enhanced human being designed to combat the threat of the Disciples but he is only one man and no matter how good he is, he has his limits. Thank goodness for Youngblood then eh?

The only disappointment is that the book ends here and will continue in another comicbook as a flip book in terms of this particular storyline's ending and then ... the book will return a few months later as an ongoing. Now during the original run, this was delightful news but for those reading it here and now there is no renumbering. So you can read until 4 here and then pick up 5 as it is labelled in the other comicbook before continuing with 6

Got it?

Good

Ratings: 7/10

771. Warlock 1972 #9 ... #Avengers ...

This is for us the start of the Thanos saga even though yes he made some earlier appearances elsewhere. Why do we say this? Because this is when he went cosmic with figures like Warlock and his other identities like Magus. And then there's Pip and Gamorra too!

And the artwork is by Starlin whose works even in these early days were chock full of lively energy and detailed facial expression ... though there are some splotchy stuff along the way but generally just plain awesome!

In this issue, we see Warlock finally encountering the Magus, the head of the Universal Church who is actually the evil side of him from the future and unfortunately whatever Warlock has planned in mind has already been anticipated by the Magus simply because the Magus has went through exactly the same thing in addition to having a scrying pool of sorts to view and monitor things. And the Magus calmly tells Warlock that everything has been orchestrated by himself to ensure that the past proceeds according to plan so that the Magus will come to be

So this is an issue of desperation

And the Magus is summoning the In-Betweener to absorb Warlock into his realm. This is to free Warlock's complete psyche to crash him until he emerged after centuries as the Magus

And on Warlock's side, there is the annoying Pip the Troll who serves no purpose whatsoever in this issue except be an ugly wallflower and his one attempt of rushing the Magus was easily brushed aside. Unfortunately for Gamorra even though she has plans and support from Thanos as the new element in Magus' games, it still wasn't enough because the Magus obviously detected her and waited for her to make her move and similar to Pip, swatted her aside. Pathetic, woman!

So how did the team ended this issue of about 19 pages? By letting Thanos finally enter the fray directly and leaving us readers hanging to wait for the next issue!

Ratings: 7/10

770. Black Panther vol 1 #14

Next year's Big Marvel movie is the Black Panther and to keep abreast of things, we go back to the first ongoing run of BP albeit a short one. But first, please do note that after his initial introductions in other comics, the Panther was finally launched and launched very strongly by Kirby who gave the Panther's adventure a real sense of adventure and sci-fi

However, that run lasted less than a year

By the time this issue came out, Kirby had moved on and sad to say, it seems like the energy he infused has as well because inspite of the cover, we see from the interiors a kinda average going nowhere story of the Panther still in USA being greeted by his fellow Avengers and what-not while in the Bronx somewhere, a chap who hates violence but is an electronics genius is being forced by a gang called Thunderbolts (yes the same name but this was before the famed super group) to jumpstart a weapon they found

So just as the guy got it going inspite of his objections, in came Panther and naturally the hoods activated the machine. However, within a few pages we see the sound had matured of its own and it is obvious that the user is somehow being controlled by Klaw, a baddie of the Panther who used his hand claw to generate sound of different intensity and who ended up being a person composed of solidified sound whatever that means

Here the image takes on an elephant and as the fight ensues, the elephant keeps mutating to keep up with the Panther until it surpasses that of the Panther. Everything would have been curtains if not for the timely intervention of Captain America (alone) who decided to go with his own gut instincts and tracked Panther down instead of leaving Panther to hunt his prey in solitary style.

And that's it - time for next issue to see the next part of the right. See? It's a long-ish kind of read but really not that exciting, sad to say

Ratings: 3/10

769. Stormwatch vol 1 #0 ... #ImageComics ... #JimLee ...

[This is reviewed on 16th Dec 2017]

There was a time when specials like zero issues had significance. Then came the 90s and from then on everyone and their sister's company will have 0 and 00 and -1 and 1/2 and whatever else you can think of

In the case of Stormwatch, back when there was a Wildstorm studios before Mr Lee sold it to DC and for some weird reason most of his characters never survived (sort of made you wonder why DC bother to buy the studio, eh?), Stormwatch was the next big group from his studio after his own WildCATS

In Stormwatch, they are an enforcement agency reporting to the United Nations. Hence the team is definitely more international in terms of racial identity and villains. Their so-called history is something called the seedling program where young men and women of potential were brought onto the program for the training and subsequently activation ie to make their innate abilities pop up, so to speak and here in this zero issue we get an origins of sorts but the writer tries too hard, mixes way too much to make this an enjoyable read

Anyway, basically we open with Sentinel duking it out with Fuji while others are breaking away from their prison and slaughtering those who rescue them as well. We learnt then that Sentinel was merely training Fuji and the real Stormwatch team at that time consists of others. So when trouble hits the fan, Sentinel goes off to catch the bad guys only to discover that this bad guy is involved in one of his earliest missions and cue flashback

So that's the vehicle they used to show us how Stormwatch formed and thanks to Sentinel's musing, we learnt of an event that destroyed a lot of good men and women while transforming others like his dad into powerful psychopaths that are hellbent on death and destruction and general stupidity

But the villain of this issue is just a regular chap with gun going to kill those he deemed responsible for his brother's death. Kinda ho-hum when you think of all the high-end super powered people arrayed against him and the UN's space station and what-not and he didn't even do that well except for the fact that the station had shitty surveillance systems

Sigh!

Ratings: 3/10

768. Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #7 ... #mutants ...

[This is posted on 16th Dec 2017]

When you read the original X-Men's run, while the characters are interesting, you just know, if published today, it wouldn't survive and be the success that it is now. Heck even back then it failed after a years becoming reprints for a while before relaunching with the new X-Men that survived until today

Why do we say that?

Well, mainly because of the villains. The premise is good enough. You have bald headed Prof X assembling a group of teens who have shown mutated abilities to train and use them against villains. However, the challenge is that the villains are always Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Even when they feature others like earlier Namor or later Unus, it is always Magneto trying to recruit them to go against the X-Men almost to the point of boredom because back then most tales are told as one-shot and if within less than a year, the same villains keep coming back only to have their butts kicked, then where is the fun in the tale any more, right?

So in this the seventh issue, we not only see Magneto and the Brotherhood but the return of the Blob. See what we mean by limited variety of villains?

Anyway, after their first encounter, Prof X wiped the Blob and his carnival buddies' memories of the X-Men (yes Prof X was nasty then) ... however, thanks to Magneto trying to recruit the Blob, a freak physical slam made his memories come back and thus he temporarily agrees to be Magneto's allies to track down and face the X-Men as what the cover clearly indicates

What is of more importance is the fact that this issue sees Cyclops taking the leadership role as Prof X takes a sabbatical! And so we see Scott struggling to balance his sense of obligation, his duties and his growing love for Jean

Other than that, it is a ho-hum kind of issue for us

Ratings: 4/10

767. Avengers vol 1 #266 ... #Avengers ... #Marvel ... #Surfer

Well, well, well now that the Avengers trailer for Infinity War has dropped, we will be doing a fair bit more review of Marvel titles that have movies coming up ... why? Because we are that kind of people so suck it eh? Hahahahaha!

This issue is awesome because it doesn't focus on slambang action but rather the cleaning up after the end of Secret Wars 2 ... where we see the Molecule Man apparently hurt after he managed to hurl the Beyonder's awesome "death knell" energies into a wormhole and thereby to recreate the Big Bang effect that originally made our world

However, immediately after, many parts of our world down to the core are damaged and causing devastation. So we see the various Avengers scrambling around trying to help with even the Surfer coming onboard to assist since he has the power cosmic that can help alter stuff and what-not

But what is really cool about this issue for us is the ending when after everything has taken on a bit of sanity and Owen Reese aka the Molecule Man goes home to suburbia with his love ... only to reveal that actually he wasn't that injured to the point that he is powerless and that the Surfer knew but kept his lips sealed! Because all Owen wanted was a quiet family life with his love ... awwwwww ... how sweet right?

Ratings: 7/10

766. Bone #2 ... #Bone ... #Comics ...

Well, well, well after an excellent and very entertaining opening, we started this issue a few days/ weeks ahead as we see Fone Bone now settling into the life of living in the valley - village outskirts style kind of a hardy woodsman type

We open the tale with a scene of how the snow is still thick on the ground and Bone is out sourcing for his necessities when we see a Possum mom and kids coming by where the mom seems happily ignorant of anything beyond her daily life and routines. The kids are adorable. Active and fun and Bone ended up babysitting them

Hilarity ensues as he tries to figure out how to control them. The good thing is at this stage, even though we see the rat creatures and the dragon, the tale is generally lighthearted ...

And we get to see the kids being kids running out from Bone's wooden home ... encountering as usual the rat creatures ... from issue one who are as stupid as ever ... and we literally laughed at the scene where Bone ran and fell hopping onto a tiny branch thinking he would be safe because the branch is too tiny to support the weight of single rat creature and thus he was not expecting the rats to join him ... only to his utter shock both rats leapt onto the branch and ... SNAP ... hence the famous line of stupid, stupid rat creatures

Ending is a nice surprise when Bone finally met the person he was seeking ... Rose ... and the beautiful clean line work immediately changes in tone both obvious like heart shaped symbols and soft like the entire background changes .... so so so good!

Ratings: 8/10

3.35 (2.400)(1.765) Amazing Spider-Man vol 1 #531 ... #Spider-Man ... #Marvel ....

[If we had followed daily, this would have been year 2 or volume 2's 400th review]

And now we turned our attention to yet another Marvel title that is huge but has received little to no love from us and that is the Amazing Spider-Man! This issue is interesting because it is truly a prelude to one of Marvel's popular mega-sized crossovers, the original Civil War

And here regardless of the cover what you need to know SPOILER ALERT that at this juncture, Peter is married to Mary Jane and Aunt May knows his secret identity. In addition, he is now doing business with Stark and being buddies in the Avengers. Stark being Stark has asked Peter to be his right hand man, his confidante and what-not

We admit that when we read CW in floppies all those years ago, it was easy choosing sides with Captain America. Having said that, if we had read this before, it would have at least put us on the fence because this issue and the previous two shows clearly that Stark was trying his best to be diplomatic before the Senate's private hearing, trying to delay the bill on Superhuman Registration and hoping that with time, like all other things, it will go away because politicians come and go

While all this is happening, we also see how he buys Peter's loyalty by upgrading his suit

Unfortunately Stark is Stark and he is never being 100% honest and upfront. At the start of this issue, there is a continuing fight between Peter and the Titanium Man who is hired to eliminate Stark right in Washington DC and naturally because Peter has the new suit, it can record conversation between him and Titanium and used by Stark in the hearing. How convenient right? And this is even noted by the Committee but of course they have no prove to show Stark orchestrate anything ... even Peter asked him and he denied it

Of course we the readers get the truth almost at the end when Iron Man shows up to pay the Titanium Man!

And then this issue ended with Peter falling asleep in front of the telly just as live reports were coming in on an incident involving Speedball ... the incident that would put everything back on Superhuman Registration ... well all things considered at least it shows the level of planning Marvel actually did to tie one book to another, eh?

A good read

Ratings: 7/10

3.34 (764) X-Factor vol 1 #87 ... #X-Factor ... #Mutants ... #Marvel ...

[We are posting this review live - finally!]

This is an X-Factor issue that we picked up as it came out. X-Factor is a very odd series for us because it will have its great run with good story and artwork then fell into a slump and then back again to another spurt. This for us was the fourth spurt after the first opening two arcs, then 25th issue, then the killer Whilce Portacio run and the surprise is this with Quesada and team doing an unbelievable show

For this, what is cool SPOILER ALERT is that this is the Doc Samson exploring the mindset and thoughts and emotions of the team. So we do not get an all out villain slugfest but personal time and thanks to writer Peter David, it is engrossing as we see the team take turns to hang out with Samson

Example: the scene with Guido who used to be this huge oddly sized bodyguard of Lila Cheney interstellar (literally) rock star cum thief who joins them and turns out to be able to issue a quip or two. And we found out that he is actually in constant pain because of his power where in the past he absorbed kinetic energy without proper release thus making him misshapen

Other highlights would include Quicksilver finally letting everyone know why he is so short tempered. It is because he has to literally slowdown just to keep pace with the rest of the world. And Polaris from her long tenure under the influence of psychic entity Malice has a fear of being manipulated and mind-controlled. And on and on ... so you get the picture ...

If you just want another gigantic villain plot and slambang, skip this but if you want a character interaction and discovery journey especially if you have ever read anything by X-Factor and you like it ... then this is for you

Ratings: 8/10

3.33 (763) New Mutants vol 1 #39 ... #mutants ... #marvel ... #marvel.com

[This is posted on 26th Nov 2017]

And our reviews on the New Mutants continue as this arc goes on to show how seamless the New Mutants general storyline has been focusing more on personal issues and development rather than supervillain of the day

The cover is awesome and very clear that the Mutants SPOILER ALERT has ben sent to the Hellions' Academy as Magneto runs out of options on how to heal his students. So he calls in the only other telepath he knows - Emma Frost, the white queen because during this time of the story, Magneto is White King of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle while Frost is his opposite number. Obviously we know in the comics later on she becomes Cyclops main gal! Hahahaha!

Dani aka Mirage gave a hissy fit of sorts screaming and shouting at Magneto for giving up on the Mutants simply because she herself could recover and why not the others?!?!?! But she knew, in her heart of hearts that she is not certain and merely lashing out and as such ... perhaps as she could not help the rest too, she may as well take a sabbatical home ...

And while all that is going on, we see the Queen happy that Magneto has caved in but at the same time hoping that she could genuinely do her magic on them ... and that she did. But will she add a little something in her favour or not?

Ratings: 7/10

3.32. (762) New Mutants vol 1 #38 ... #mutants ...

[Posted on 25th Nov 2017]

If the last issue had them all murdered by the Beyonder, literally, everyone died, then in order for this series to continue, you know that there must be a resurrection. It's a given and the resurrection part unfortunately is dealt with in the main Secret Wars issue. Basically, the Beyonder has decided to assume mortality in its entirety with one exception - he is a mortal but has access to powers like mutants or the Molecule Man (his inspiration)

So while he is constructing the machine using his immeasurable knowledge and powers (not sure why he cannot just make it happen after all it is not as if he is going through childhood but straight within seconds to adulthood in a machine!), he decided to resurrect the mutants by summoning whatever remainder memories and atoms and reconstruct them ... to send them against the approaching heroes to delay them so that he, the Beyonder can finish his work

This issue shows the effects where the mutants are now back in the mansion, not zombies but may as well be because they are going through the motions with literally no feelings whatsoever. If asked to do something, they do. And then they are content to just hang around standing or seating or whatever ...

So new headmaster Magneto is obviously in a bit of a difficult situation feeling like he is in way over his head. Since his power is Magnetism and not like Xavier, he knows that there is only one solution ...

While he is making his decision, Dani aka Mirage is the first to find her own feelings returning and her senses as well

The question then is whether Magneto can afford to wait or will he seek outside help?

Ratings: 7/10 (awesome cover)

3.31 (761) New Mutants vol 1 #37 ... #NewMutants ... @NewMutants ...

[Posted on 23 Nov 2017]

This is such good news for us because of the announcement of a forthcoming motion picture aka movie! Hehehe! After all the X-Men and spin off finally they come to this and we are seriously hoping they do a better job than some of the X-Men movie. Why? Because it is with this series that we started off in the X-world waaaaaaaaay back in the 80s and we followed it from 17 off and on right up to its end in 100 (although we had stopped in the late 60s owing to closure of many comic book shops and newsstands but wherever we went, if there are comics we would be hunting these issues and happy to share that we have all from 1 to 100 inc Graphic Novel and Annuals and the awesome Special Edition!)

Anyway this issue truly marks the end of the first round of the Mutants. SPOILER ALERT

As the cover indicates, this issue is a crossover with the Beyonder from Secret Wars (original first and second series) where a being (at that time) who is the entire universe achieved consciousness and after the first Secret Wars decided to come to our universe and our planet and the USA to learn what it is about mortals and desires

In this issue of the mutants, a disappointed Beyonder who cleansed Illyana aka Magik of her dark soul persona and gave her the ability to bring about a "savior" kind of relationship comes to collect. His life is a mess and he is pissed off that she failed too. When he arrives, the Mutants themselves were in a bit of a disarray and still adjusting to Magneto being headmaster

So when there is no Magneto, the Beyonder comes. While some challenges him and tries to fight, others knew that no matter their effort, the outcome is certain for they were only mortals regardless of abilities while the Beyonder encompass an entire Universe (whatever that concept may mean in this context) like he is literally the space even of that Universe and when he comes to our world, his Universe ceases to exist (do not try to wrap your head around that)

It is very touching/ heart-rending to see the Mutants die one by one from Cannonball to finally Dani aka Mirage especially her as she got on her horse and rode away into the sunset knowing full well he will atomize her!

Violence? Yes! But more than that, a tale where every single person dies! Sigh!

Ratings: 7/10

30. (760) Power Pack vol 1 #1 ... #powerpack

[The last time we did a real life review was on 15th Jan 2017 and we backdated the entry to 7th Jul 2016. So as you can see, it has been a while and honestly while life has been tough this year, it is no excuse, right? So suffice to say, we will attempt to fill up the holes via back reviews and basically a review will be dated every Monday and Thursday. Sorry for those who follow us]

This is the first issue of the first volume where Marvel at the height of is 80s strength and with forthcoming Star Line comics decided to do a full regular Marvel Universe comics based on children and it was successful to the extent that it spawned very loyal fan base that has its own newsletters many of which continued years after the official comic's demise. If it had been in today's world, there would be online fan fiction and perhaps it could have survived even longer

But we are not here to discuss fan fiction or why the comic demise ...

Here we get to see a regular American family (or so we assume as we are not Americans) ... father is a smarty professor lecturing ... mom is an artist painting covers for books ... and four kids evenly spread with 2 boys and 2 girls ... eldest is a boy named Alex followed by serious and bookish Julie then Jack the adventurous one and finally Katie the youngest ... the good thing is the art did make them look like kids with imperfections and all that ... and personality wise, they all share one common trait inspite of individuality and that is to be goody-goody ...

One fine day or rather one fine night they saw/ heard something ... and rushed to find a space ship and alien (horse like) ... and before you know it, they are imbued with special gifts. Where the alien possesses all four abilities, it was spread out amongst the kids with Alex having limited control over gravity (Gee), Julie can fly fast leaving rainbow trail (Lightspeed though she is nowhere near sound speed), Jack can turn his body into a cloud or shrink into dense form (Mass Master) and finally Katie who can absorb items to power herself up and shoot bolts of energy from her chest (Energizer) ...

Naturally with powers comes ... alien enemies ... and that's where the fun takes off ... this issue will continue into the next until the first arc ends in #4 ... 4 was a bit of a nostalgia moment for us because it was our first issue bought before all the back issue hunting ... hehehe!

Ratings: 7/10

3.29 (759) Iron Man vol 1 #94 ... #IronMan

[Posted on 29th Nov 2017]

In the olden days of comics, while a major story line may be taking the highlights, many subplots continue to be embedded in each comic book being nurtured until it is their turn to be the stars and this comic is no exception

While it is the second and final part of the Kraken fight, simultaneously, it has been a long non-stop journey for Tony Stark wherein he seems to be besieged by problem after problem with almost no stop gap in between challenges that he doesn't have time to even fix his armour properly and in this issue, he even realizes and acknowledges this but first things first

And the first is that he has to go rescue his friends from the mad commander Kraken who plans to take over the world. He is smart but unhinged. He manages to figure out that Iron Man is Stark. However, he is stupid enough to drop Stark off his ship and tells Stark to wait it out until contacted again. So naturally Tony goes all out to discover Kraken's lair using a bit of brain work and a whole lot of lark before he infiltrates said lair

And as luck would have it, he manages to breach the lair undetected even when he rammed right through a wall ... we guess either there is a challenge in the plot lines itself or perhaps the author intended this way to show that mind controlling your stooges is not the best way to go forward in being a master villain. Either way, the story moves rather fast with no panels wasted on prolonged fights and before we know it, there is a breach in the walls SPOILER ALERT and the water rushes in to destroy everything

However, we are privileged to see the final page and the final panel where it is obvious Kraken somehow managed to escape like a horror movie ...

Ratings: 6/10

2.28 (758) West Coat Avengers vol 1 Ongoing #30 ... #WCA ... #Avengers ...

[This is posted on 30th Nov 2017]

This is another fill in issue between major story arcs but once again, in the WCA this filler is done well. But this filler is done very recently because the characters are exactly the same as the regular storyline. So first up is Simon Williams who is not only back from the date but finally settled down into his persona as Wonder Man the Avenger and the movie star wannabe and here he is, having a moment to visit the Vision and Scarlet Witch in their suburban home ... and their two little twin boys (at that time the Witch and Vision have kids ... yes, confusing but it's comics so just chill and go with the flow)

Next up we see him getting whisked away aka alien abduction and we are introduced to a new bunch of aliens never seen before in the Marvel U of that time

Apparently this race of aliens are like the Skrulls and Kree and other war faring type of aliens wanting to fight and conquer. They have heard whispers of a powerful people and before they come to our sector of the universe, they want to try and study first and of all people they captured the WCA

So each member of the WCA is released from statis to fight against a robot that when defeated can reassemble and grow more powerful to combat the next opponent. Unfortunately for the robot, the sequence of assailants made it lose for whatever reasons although the reasons were quite logical

It started with Wonder Man, the strongest and most invulnerable and went through Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Tigra, etc until the final is Moon Knight who initially was at a loss until he looked around and saw .... well we leave you to read it and discover for yourself.

So this is a one-shot story and it is very enjoyable!

Ratings: 7/10

3.27 (757) Alpha Flight vol 1 #8 ... #Marvel ...

[This is reviewed on 30th Nov 2017]

As the cover shows, this is a continuing part of Northstar and Aurora's own adventure in the main story while we are provided with a backup tale of how Mac and Heather went searching for Shaman and through him, they met Snowbird. The backup stories are actually very entertaining as it feels more "slice of life" and thus make the characters resonate more with the readers kind of like what Stephen King is doing with his books once he gets to be successful ... more pages, more background information ...

Anyway, Aurora is investigating the strange long life of St Ives when Northstar barges in. At this juncture in their history, they are still potentially mutants or whatever ... because with time, they became part elves or mystical and back to mutants and whatever they are these days and then Northstar became gay and got hitched to an ugly bloke ... sigh ...

What is shocking to Aurora is that St Ives survives the decades simply because he rejected death at his own point of death and was granted immortality as long as he keeps on touching another human being and sucking the life force out of them (just by touch) ... however, he had not counted on revenge for the lady in red with her full mask on has a mysterious blade that can slice through anything and while we are given many panels of superheroes in their costumes, there is none of that confrontational drag out fight here. And inspite of that this comic is still such a great read. All testament to the awesomeness of Byrne as both writer and artist!

Ratings: 6/10

3.26 (756) Fantastic Four vol 1 #536 ... #FF ...

[This is posted on 1st Dec 2017]

FF may have once upon a time been the world's greatest and heralded in a new age for comics but somehow for some odd reason the sales have never been that great. Inspite of the many relaunches ... and especially what happens now that Marvel even pull it off their publishing schedules ... we believe Marvel should actually invite writers to pitch their storylines and from them source and recruit and they will continue to have a hit on their hands because honestly, the characters have so much to offer from family issues, to kids, to super powers, to sci-fi, to adventures!

In this issue, we continue crossover from one of Marvel's yearly mega events. And here Mr Fantastic is a bit troubled hence his mind was not focus when Sue aka his wife the Invisible Woman asks what is going on because Reed has just come back from his Illuminati meeting where Stark has shared what is to come in the registration act ... this is the one that also leads to the first Civil War where Sue stands apart from Reed ... but at this point they are still together

However, the primary thrust of this story is about an object crashing to earth a while back and the government has cordoned off the area to study it. They wanted to keep it hush hush until a barrage of doombots come to attack. Seeing no choice they called for the FF only by the time the FF came and understood what is going on, they were a wee bit too late because potentially it wasn't just doombots and of course as the cover so clearly shares, the object is the hammer of Thor!

Ratings: 6/10

3.25 (755) WILDC.A.T.S vol 1 #5 ... #JimLee ...

[This is reviewed on 1st Dec 2017]

Finally we take a break from our many, many, many Marvel reviews and jumped into early Image back when comics glorified the artform and take no prisoners thanks for folks like Lee and Silvestri and in this the fifth issue is the opening arc for crossover with Marc Silvestri's Cyberforce

All you need to know is that WILDCats are basically a group of superhumans who are predominantly half breed between humans and an ancient alien race. Their primary opposition is another alien race that is hell bent on domination and that's it

As for Cyberforce, this deals more with humans and mutants who were captured by a company called Cyberdata and put implants to enhance their physical attributes. In addition, for those unwilling, they will be mind controlled like puppets using yet another implant. So our friends in Cyberforce managed to get away and stayed together to combat the evil that is/ was their former masters

In this arc, someone (NO SPOILER) or something has somehow managed to get the two teams' wires crossed ... and deliberately so as to get them to go against each other. For what reason and why is what we will need to keep on buying the next two issues of the Cats and the Force to get the whole story and honestly it is worth the buy just for the sheer beauty of the artwork where both artists give their all and then some.

Chockful of details and awesome colouring ... and if we have to choose a winner, we would go with Lee over Silvestri even though we collected every single issue of the Force as it comes out  more so than with the Cats

Ratings: 8/10

754. Bloodshot 2012 #2 ... #Valiant ... #Nano

[This is posted on 2nd Dec 2017]

Honestly, we have just checked and found that we started posting this blog in 2013 and we are technically in our fifth year now! Whoopty doo! So while we have experimented with the year as volume 1, 2 and 3; we think it makes more sense to make the entire review using the original numbering and hence the testing every now and then to revert to original. Kinda like Marvel comics, eh? Hahahaha

And now we touched back on Valiant

For those not in the know, when Valiant was launched in its original run, while it is a comic, the characters within are definitely not your typical superheroes. In fact, we are inclined to think of them as stories but told using graphics. Case in point: Bloodshot is a chap with great skills who somehow got nanites injected into his blood making him this pale looking chap with  blank like eyes and a red splotch on his chest. He has tremendous healing abilities as a result of the nanites and on top of that can do lots of other stuff. At no time does he suit up in spandex and he goes out on missions like super spy or super commando. See?

So in this relaunch, in issue 2, we continue where the tale left off as we are given an origin of sorts for Bloodshot.

Our man Bloodshot wakes up tied down in a plane while his mind keeps on seeing pieces of potentially his past and some ghostly images keep talking to him. Throughout the issue he is not sure if these are his memories or real ghosts or the nanites in his blood but he learnt the hardway or rather everyone else learnt the hardway that a confused Bloodshot is a dangerous man as he broke away from all that was keeping him down, literally don't give a fuck to the bullets and killed every single soldier onboard the plane bringing it crashing down

While on other fronts, we see as usual scientists and other high-ups going about their shady business with experiments and potentially other more grisly or deadlier models that we know are just going to get released into the wilds, so to speak

By the end of the book, all you will know is that it reads very well, drawing the casual reader into its unwinding mystery and with every detail they divulge, more seems to be coming forth thus making us want to continue to issue three. The only sad bit is with the state of the comics industry most are reading online or TPB. So hope Bloodshot can garner good support

And as for the art? Damn! Awesome!

Ratings: 7/10

753. Bone #1 ... #Bone ...

[This is reviewed on 2nd Dec 2017]

This is the book that made us understand that black and white comics that use cartoony characters that when done right can make a riveting read (before we stumble across other stuff like Walking Dead and Chew) ...

Basically the tale opens with no time wasted for back story as we see the Bone cousins from Boneville out of breath running away from the townspeople and from the dialogue captions, we learnt that Phoney Bone (guy wearing star on his shirt) is the richest man in Boneville owing to his many schemes while Smiley Bone (tall wearing vest and always smoking) is the easy going one of the trio who can at times be brave or wise but never appears so. And then there is our protagonist the naked Bone called Fone (for no apparent reason)

So while they are stuck on a mountaintop, the areas oddness began to assail them first with a swarm of locusts (Phoney even tried to stick his tongue out) that totally blanketed them until Fone found himself running on air, literally and tumbled down into the valley

Thus begins his trek to find his cousins and find a way out of wherever it is he has stumbled into relying only on a grotty map that Smiley found earlier and hoping that the other two are on the same trek direction as him

Characters he came across in this first issue that will be back in subsequent issues include tiny Ted, a leaf insect kid ... the Red Dragon ... and the clumsy supposedly nasty but comical rat creatures

The panels are definitely fluidly drawn and yet there is so many hidden gems and what - not. Author Smith has certainly spent a lot of time thinking about the story, the backstory of each of his characters and painstakingly create a landscape totally unique - love the arrival of winter!

Ratings: 9/10

752. Wolverine: Weapon X #3 ... #Wolverine ... #Mutant ... #Marvel ... #RonGarney ...

[This is reviewed on 3rd Dec 2017]

It continues the saga of a Black Ops squad that are blessed with endurance, healing factor and laser claws to simulate Wolverine's claws and this issue shows the growing depths as Wolverine investigates what the hell is going on by setting up his own strategies.

So we see the CEO of the company whose stocks are skyrocketing while an investigative reporter is trying to get the dirt out to the public and get him hauled up to the senate committee for a hearing knowing potentially also if the senate votes to support him and he can twist his way out of whatever she throws at him

On the sidelines, while Wolverine is out there doing what he does best and fighting off (as the cover indicates) a gaggle of baddies, we see his once in a while popping up friend Maverick assisting him in the covert part providing him with information and what-not. They even have an agent (ex of Maverick) assisting them ... she is currently an agent of Hammer (at this point in Marvel's history, SHIELD is gone replaced by Hammer, an agency run by Norman Osborn - yes we know how ludicrous that sounds especially since he is a proven psycho and the ex Green Goblin but what the heck, it is comics) ...

So is there enough fighting? Yes

Is it more of the same with variations in the old Weapon X storyline? Unfortunately yes

And while the artwork is adequate because it is from an old hand like Garney, unfortunately Garney's work is workman like with no splash and hence ... boring ... sigh!

Ratings: 5/10

751. Ms Marvel vol 2 #8 ... #Ms Marvel ... #CaptainMarvel ...

[This review is posted on 3rd Dec 2017]

This particular series revolves around Carol Danvers, blond and ex-military and ex-security chief and whatever else. Not the current Marvel, Kamala Khan with her weird skin colouring and abilities that defies believe that she should be called Ms Marvel. Heck if she wanted a name with Marvel it should be something cheesy like Marvel Girl (since Jean is not around to use it) or Marvel Lass hahahaha!

Anyway, during this particular reincarnation of the series, we see Carol siding with Iron Man and the government for the initial duration of the Civil War (Superheroes Registration Act). And here, she and Wonder Man and a team of SHIELD agents are going to take down Spider-Woman ... who was once a friend of Wonder Man in other Avengers' title and also a friend of Carol's. Shows how nice both Simon and Carol are, eh?

The highlight of this entire issue is the slugfest between the three of them where Spider gives as  good as she gets but obviously it was never going to be enough as she is up against so many others while at home with her family

The emotional bit has to do with the new Spider girl called Anya aka Arachnid we think her name is. She is like a super hero in training and tailing them and shocked to see the lengths to which her idol Carol would go to to harm a woman in front of her daughter and grandparents! And she went home crying and confused and this ... more than anything else is the turning point for Carol as it began to sow seeds of doubt into her mind that what she is doing may not be the best or right thing anymore regardless of what the current law states ...

Good art, good story, good pacing, good superhero action!

Ratings: 7/10

3.30 (750) West Coast Avengers Ltd Series #3 and 4 ... #Avengers

[This is posted on 27th Nov 2017]

We celebrate our 750th review by reviewing one of the most entertaining limited series we have ever read which is WCA during its inception. This series basically takes off from the main Avengers series when the Vision sends Hawkeye to the West Coast with his new bride, Mockingbird to set up new branch for the Avengers as apparently there are too many villains and for Hawk, this is a great opportunity. Of course later on in the main Avengers' series, we see that it is because of the Vision wanting to control the world!!! Hahaha!!!

Anyway, after a great opening two issues where we see Hawkeye reviewing potential candidates and shortlisting and recruit Tigra, Iron Man (Rhodes not Tony) and Wonder Man, the first villain they encountered was someone new called the blank

SPOILER ALERT

And in this series we finally found out that the blank is part of the henchmen for Graviton who is back and power mad. He intends to rule the entire West Coast crimelord (geez is that all hahaha). At least he scaled down his ambition. But to do so to get everyone to respect him, he has to show his powers and boy did he do a great job

Highlights include:

Shroud - guest stars and was sent hurtling out to see nearly killing him

Wonder Man - pinned to the bottom of the pool and it is a good thing he doesn't need to breath. If not, he would be dead (once more)

Obviously as there is 102 issues of the ongoing to come you can all imagine that the Whackos won, right? But the artwork is great, the action scenes fluid and lots of character development with the end a BBQ a new tradition from Hawkeye that we get to see later on in subsequent issues as well which is nice

Ratings: 8/10

749. Dazzler #1 ... #Mutant ...

[This is reviewed on 5th Dec 2017]

There must have genuinely high hopes when Marvel launched this title. Look at the cover and the amount they must have spent to get that painted effect going on. The story is written by a younger Tom deFalco with art by JRJR before he got to his current signature style and the cover unashamedly plugged all the guest stars that will be featuring from Spider-man to X-Men and Avengers with forthcoming villainess Enchantress (Thor). So if this book doesn't sell well, something is seriously wrong, right?

Artwise for the interior as a product of its time, it is okay and acceptable although I prefer JRJR when he hit the Uncanny X-Men or even when he was doing first round of Iron Man

And in terms of storyline, it is again adequate as it actually spends time laying down the background of how Dazzler came to be where she is i.e. she was a well brought up girl with a lawyer for a dad whose mom is not around and she was constantly in sad state or should we say depression? Hehehe

And her one love is singing ... so while performing one fine day, she got whacked by mutanthood and her powers blossomed blinding many people ... so from confusion to terrified to scared is how she developed

The one weak thing here is the way the scene jumps from current to flash back and that there is no difference in art or colour style so if you are to flip through casually it can be quite confusing

As for the gaggle of guest stars, well basically we see Dazzler going for audition to be a star of a new club and all her friends who are super heroes are keen to go support from Spider-Man to the X-Men and as for the Avengers, it is because of the Beast. How does the Enchantress get into the mix? She has her own plans to do something nasty and as part of that, she actually went to audition and lost to Dazzler at the same event. Hence you know in the next issue there is going to be the usual fisticuffs which ... means ... that this issue the only super powers we see is the opening act where Dazzler is fighting against thugs ... we know, we know ...

Ratings: 6/10

3.18 (748) Fantastic Four vol 1 #554 ... #FF ... #BryanHitch ...

[This is posted on 1st Dec 2017]

The main highlight of this issue is artist Bryan Hitch who had just finished a huge super successful run on Ultimates vol 1 and 2 and while his work may be late and the covers less than inspiring, the interiors are mind-blowingly good that everyone is willing to wait and apparently that is the main reason why anticipation was running high when he and writer Millar came onboard the FF. That's probably why there was a huge print run and thus back issue prices are slow to increase which is good for folks like us who buy them from the discount bins hehehe!

So did the issue have spectacular art? Yes

Is the issue enjoyable? A bit harder to say because Millar used this to start off many plotlines simultaneously hence while there is no earth shattering crises but we get to see many brewing and the cover kinda spoiled everything anyway

Who is Mrs Fantastic? Basically we get to see Reed's other love prior to Susan who is a genius as well and hot and an adventurer to boot. Suffice to say Sue has nothing to worry because his ex has also got herself another man already

Susan's new team is basically Susan going out to the superhuman committee to meet some of the other ladies and trying to see if she can organize a group to do works together not so much superheroic save the world but more awareness and charity (we do not like that word sorry) stuff

And as the cover indicates, the entire family is back and the problem is going to start soon thanks to Reed's ex. So seatbelts people because with the next issue, it's going to BURN

Ratings: 6/10

3.17 (747) Power Pack vol 1 #62 ... #PowerPack ... #MarvelComics ...

[Posted on 27th Nov 2017]

This is the final issue of this particular run of the series and it is odd. As we start reading comics from the 70s and different era, it seems like in the past, Marvel started a new series on bi-monthly status. And when there are legs in terms of sales, then they switch to monthly. And then there are those where a comic has two main characters until one is proven to be able to carry an ongoing ... but somewhere along the line everything became monthly. And the trend is reverse so if sales drop, it becomes bi-monthly and then they put crap artists onboard ... pretty much trying to kill the series, eh?

If you just check this cover and compare to earlier ones, you will see, even for a cover, Marvel didn't want to pay someone to do it attractively. So this mega downward slide ran for nearly a year in the life of the Pack

The good thing is since its cancellation the Pack did come back as cute cuddly kiddie comics as well several times and then Alex made appearances in New Warriors and Julie and others popped up in other series. So it seems that there is interest and just need someone to take a risk on them

Here, basically we find out that Alex due to something going on with the Pack inheriting Powers from Kymaellian horse like aliens transforms into a horse (what the fuck). And with the rest of the kids worried too. The parents finally found out over the course of the past issues and there is really no other choice but for the Power kids to get their alien craft, Friday to take them to the Kymaellian world to find a solution. And that's the end of this ... so basically leaving room open for what comes next ... and as part of the farewell, the kids say goodbye to Franklin as Franklin has to stay on Earth with his parents in FF ... bad artwork, rushed storyline, crap cover ... bad ending ... sigh!

And we used to be such fan even joining a fanclub!

Ratings: 1/10

746. Defenders vol 1 #41 ... #defenders ... #marvelcomics ... #hulk ... #magic ... #drstrange ...

[This is reviewed on 5th Dec 2017]

This is the infamous non-team but in actual fact if you managed to read this online or from the various compendiums, you will note that there are some who try hard to keep them as a sort of team and their only challenge is the desire to fight against evil but have no resources ala Stark of the Avengers even though with the arrival of Richmond, things improve but not much

And in this issue we continue the primary focus on Richmond aka Nighthawk who is having a tough time but with the Defenders support he is trying to put his life back together after having his brain removed (long story). Here he tries to track down his ex-girlfriend who lost her arm in a car bomb accident and arrives at the place where she has been holing up only to find that there is yet another mystery

So it is a good thing Richmond didn't go alone but have Strange along with him (Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson make Strange looks like Stark though) ... and BANG they heard that his ex Trish was using the occult to find some sort of meaning to her life! Hello-oo-o-o-o-o-o ....

So obviously since Richmond brought Strange along (how fortunate) ... things turn for a nasty turn as they found Trish now distant and apparently trapped and being used by the "demon" who has plans for her and Earth (as always) ... again thanks to Strange and now Kyle's new affiliation with the Defenders who came to their aid, they quickly proved that demons here are merely ugly thugs and the Hulk especially puts a beat down on them (hey these are stories from a simpler time)

Long story short, everything ends happily in the sense that the demon is banished once more but Kyle would not be with her

Ratings: 5/10

745. X-Force vol 1 #29 ... #Mutant ... #X-Force ... #Marvel ...

[This is reviewed on 6th Dec 2017]

Cover looks okay as it is an early Tony Daniels but interior has guest pencils by an early Mat Broome waaaaaaay before he became good. So in short, the work kinda ... sucks? Hahahaha! For us anyway, the book is really bad especially he tries so hard to give us what was the trend then i.e. posing and snarling figures and his facial features on characters are just plain bad ... inker Bud LaRosa was no help either especially when the normal speech moments if you know what we mean

For storyline, as the cover has spoiled everything, it is back to Arcade which means Murderworld which means either Arcade has a contract on one of the members of X-Force or he has a vendetta which predictably means he is kidnapping them direct or kidnapping someone else to get their attention. See? Very predictable and no longer a relevant threat to the world of X because honestly Murderworld makes no sense even if you have bucketloads of money and as an assassin, his fee must be astronomical and the X-Men must have realized that to keep his operations running, he must have a few successful hits ... which would mean the X-Men can let murderers run wild? Hmmm ...

On a more personal character development moment, we see Terry aka Siryn is becoming a regular drunk owing to personal issues and Warpath is falling for her except that he has problems expressing himself. And so typically he makes a mess of matters everywhere!

Ratings: 3/10

744. Avengers vol 1 #261 ... #Avengers ...

[This is reviewed on 7th Dec 2017]

Well, the cover says correctly that this has ties to Secret Wars 2 but more importantly this issue while one full book length reads as if there are two stories and the first is the end of the fight against Nebula when Skrulls and Avengers combined. In short, this issue deals with the fallout ... and we see that Starfox, as he is the brother of mad Thanos, decides to say farewell to the Avengers ... as he needs to seek out Nebula to determine if she is who she says she is (granddaughter of Thanos) and to stop her since they are then family

And joining him is guest star Firelord who still have problems being on the side of Skrulls. In addition, for those unfamiliar with Nebula or Starlord, apparently she has decimated his people in the recent past and thus he too seeks justice

With that, the remainder of the team heads for home ...

And that's when they encounter the Beyonder in his guise as a  superhero wearing some funky armor costume. He desires experience at this stage and meets up with each team or rather duo or sub team of the Avengers separately only to find out that they while limited in their abilities when compared to him can still put him out of action rather fast if he doesn't use his unlimited power ... example Wasp stings him to catch his attention and giving Captain America the time to catch up and with a swipe of his shield brought the Beyonder tumbling to the ground ...

At the end of it all, Jan aka the Wasp took a huge risk by offering the Beyonder a place with the Avengers! WOW! I mean, the guy has everything powers. So for every challenge, he can more than overcome the villain du jour and basically all the Avengers need do is tell him the problem and what they want him to do (so he doesn't make a mistake in his godly type of interpretation of our more humanly events) and he can accomplish it. Nothing is beyond him. Damn!

Ratings: 5/10 (pretty ho hum issue sorry!)

743. Wolverine & The X-Men vol 1 #39 ... #wolverine ... #NickBradshaw ...

[This is reviewed on 8th Dec 2017]

The best thing to happen with this series is artist Nick Bradshaw and if you are fortunate to get the first issues of this series, then you will know how awesome Nick is. His artwork is very energetic with clean lines and a touch of Arthur Adams thrown in. And in this series it works. However, towards the end of the run, he is doing covers while another person does the interiors and whatever publishers can claim, the truth is comics is every bit the visual medium thus you need the right fan favorite artist to pair with a great storyline for success and hence this volume has to "end" ...

Anyway, in this the penultimate chapter to the volume, we see an ongoing twin thrust in terms of the storyline. First up are the seniors where at this juncture, Cyclops and Wolverine have split up once more and hating each other once again with each setting up rival camps. However, the government is trying to set them up by using Sentinels as a lure hoping Cyclops will come out of hiding to thrash the robotic nightmare and Wolverine is there to kill Cyclops!

Do note that thanks to the various issues before, Cyclops at this point is labelled a weapon of mass destruction and dangerous to the general public

However, as both men met on the field of battle and realized they were set up, regardless of how they may feel about each other, Cyclops call for a truce to which Wolverine agrees readily but stresses that this be a temporary truce and as we see the fight progresses, we quickly learnt that both men are now performing in diminish capacities especially in view of their powers with Cyclops unable to do one of his devastating full power wipe them all out blasts while Wolverine isn't exactly healing

Now a while back we did mention another thrust of this story and here we found out that the other thrust is happening at Wolverine's school where there are a couple of new students who are not what they seemed to be ie they are spies sent to find out what is going on at the school. While we are not told their backstory and why they owe a favor to the organization that sent them thus, we are shown that they were injecting themselves with mutant growth hormone to have their powers while learning about their fellow students ... and the boy found himself actually liking the life here while the girl remains steadfast to their initial objections ... until the end when their secret is uncovered ... and ... cliffhanger! Wait for next issue! Hahaha!

Ratings: 7/10 (would have scored a 9 if Nick was doing interiors)

3.12 (742) X-Factor vol 1 #84 ... #X-Factor .. #Mutants ... #MarvelComics

[Posted on 28th Nov 2017]

This is part of one of Marvel's mega-crossover projects that span all the mutant titles for a few months dealing with the topic of why did Cable shoot Prof X? And as the X-teams go scrambling about to find Cable, other villains pop up to confuse the matter including people like Apocalypse thus leaving all X-teams wondering what the heck is going on

SPOILER ALERT

Basically the prime villain is Stryfe who looks like Cable because he is the clone of Cable raised in the future and coming back to exact revenge on the past or some such nonsense but the tale is well-told and it shows how disjointed the heroes are especially in the way justice is meted out because if there is no death penalty or life imprisonment, then these characters will come back again and again to give others grief

In this chapter, which is still early, to find out the truth, X-Factor being a government sanctioned mutant strike force working with Valerie Cooper sets out to hunt down X-Force and bring them in for questioning because at this part of their convoluted timeline, X-Force has aligned themselves with Cable. Of course none knew that X-Force has kind of lost Cable in its own series a few issues earlier because by then, X-Force has walked away from the main world of X

So a fight ensues and while X-Force give it its all ... is it enough?

Some nice fight scenes but the artwork does take some getting used to though

Ratings: 6/10

741. Blue Beetle Ted Kord #3 ... #DCComics ...

[This review is posted on 9th Dec 2017]

Once in a blue moon (no pun intended), we are actually capable of reviewing a DC comic as well. Hahahaha! And here we are doing a Blue Beetle because while we started immersing in the universe of DC late, we actually enjoyed this particular 24-issue run so much that we bought all of it and for some reason, while not always on the top of our reading to-do pile, yet we enjoyed it

Here we see the start of a major villain (not the people on the cover). However, in order to get the power source to "activate" himself, he goes out to recruit the Madmen i.e. the people on the cover. And while we are not sure what these idiots are supposed to do, all they seemed capable of when they appear is dressed in those horrid coloured uniforms and face paint and jump and cause low-end thuggery. Heck a regular human who is composed can knock them out. So we are guessing their real power is nearly non-existent?

Anyhow, on other fronts, we see the Beetle returning after his long fight in the first two issues and trying to learn from it while upgrading his own machinery and "bat cave" for want of a better word. As this is still early stages in his tale, we are given a whole host of sub plots from a girl who is going to do something bad for someone, to his own team having their own secrets that may have an impact on Ted to a few more.

In short, a lot goes on including police investigation to keep us turning the pages until the final panel with the introduction of the main villain! Alchemy!

Artwork, it is clean lines, enough fluidity and facial expressions to make the comic an easy read although it is also apparent that there is some room for improvement for the artist as well and he does in the days to come especially when doing quieter or civilian scenes

Ratings: 6/10

740. Fantastic Four 2012 #1 ... #FF ... #Marvel ... #Thing

[This is reviewed on 9th Dec 2017]

There was a time, not sure because of sales or overconfidence on the part of Marvel comics, that the FF actually had two ongoing titles to tell the tales of the actual FF (not like the last round where it was Fantastic Force with future Franklin) so we have a title called FF and another called Fantastic Four and this review concerns the latter as it has writer Matt Fraction who did an awesome job on DD and artist Mark Bagley who did an amazing run on Ultimate Spider-Man and both, we are pleased to say, acquit themselves well in this opening issue

At this juncture, the FF was back to the original four and they had a gaggle of weird alien and local and what-not children living with them ... and we open the tale with Franklin waking up from one of his dreams and cautioning his mom not to take a near trip to space ... and where are his parents at this juncture?

In the past stuck in the jaws of a dinosaur ... don't ask. Best you read to find out

Suffice to say, they came back but Reed was hurt which was impossible as his body has stretching properties. So being the brain of the group, he analyzed and found out that for some reason his power is not only in remission but perhaps fading and causing molecular what-ever mumbo jumbo and so what does he do? What he does best ... figure to go into the unknown to explore further for a solution to heal himself and potentially his family if they are going to suffer from the same problems as him except of course, like any good husband and father, not to worry the family he doesn't tell them the problem truthfully

While this is happening, we get slice of life stuff from people like Ben as he goes to his old haunt, Yancy Street only to be set upon by the kids there and ... again you have to read to find out ... it is quite hilarious and not something we were expecting

And of course all the hijinks of the other kids in the building does make for some enlightening moments but that's not all because we see Johnny Storm dating his gal in the place where he is currently ruling ... and doing something in-Johnny Storm ...

Great opening issue

Ratings: 7/10

739. Hulk vol 3 (2010) #29 ... #Hulk ... #Rulk ... #RedHulk ...

[This is reviewed on 10th Dec 2017]

The Red Hulk launch was big when it was first released and regardless of its shipping schedules, whenever an issue hits, if it has Ed on artwork, it was plain awesome. His work is perfect for this title and the mystery sort of stretched for well over two years before it ended and we found out that the Red Hulk (Rulk) was Ross

Once it was over, we have new writer and artist and while the story continues to deal with the aftermath of the villains in Red Hulk, unfortunately the artist Gabriel Hardman takes some getting used to. Not saying his work is bad. On the contrary, he gives the book a more realistic grainy kind of look but the oddest thing is his characters. Sometimes full of little details and other times, almost scratchy sort that makes little sense because the scenes do not call for it

In this issue, a subplot has been blown up to take center stage as we see both Red and Green Hulk working with Rick (A Bomb) to take down some bad guys (robots) that have managed to use a mind control device on many creatures including dinosaurs and A-Bomb

Expect lots of jumping and smashing and fighting each other. So it is awesome in that sense

And after all the fight, they found out that the true mastermind is an acquarium of brains thanks to the machinations of Modok. However, unbeknownst to them, obviously, it is not the end for where there is a "consortium" of small brains, can the big brain be far behind?

On the flipside of the book, another subplot has been brewing since the previous team's run that is coming to a fore front. You see, there was a time when Red Hulk managed to jump to the moon (we know, we know) and smacked the watcher. Uncharacteristically for the watcher, he decided to plan revenge and as such his other watchers have found out and tracked him down ... too late to stop what was happening ... so you know it will be a matter of issues before the next big confrontation!

Ratings: 5/10

738. Star Wars Empire #5 ... #StarWars ... #DarthVader ...

[This is reviewed on 17th Dec 2017]

With the impending arrival on the movies front of the next chapter in the great Star Wars saga, is it any wonder that we are reviewing this which in our opinion is probably the best SW series to come out from Dark Horse? Mainly because it has loads of Stormtrooper action and taking place in episodes 4 to 6 era

And this issue starts a 2-part tale involving Leia just before episode 4

Hence we see as the comic opens she is still officially a princess and officially accorded some sort of diplomatic status even though she and her team are travelling and either gathering information or allies to go against the Empire. We even see Darth and her having a rather in-civil conversation instead of outright capture

However even her plans are going to fail because of a planet she landed called Ralltiir. The Imperial in-charge is a bloke named Lord Tion who apparently has a thing for the princess and she is coming with her crew to officially bring aid to the war torn place. Unfortunately when they were there one of the local rebels opened fire upon a squadron of troopers and things quickly go south

Aside from this and Leia learning more about what goes on, we also get a glimpse as she travels to a place called Kattada and what an awesome design of this planet with everything building rising out of perfect blue seas almost reminiscent of the last SW movie, Rogue One. Bad luck continues to dog our princess though cos even here she encounters problem and the last scene will leave us hanging when the troopers threatened to shoot her with a gun pointing at her head!

Ratings: 7/10 (good art from Davide Fabri)

737. Silver Surfer (2003/ 2004) #1 ... #Marvel ...

[This is reviewed on 17th Dec 2017]

Marvel had a hugely popular cosmic character named the Silver Surfer and in the 80s had a run lasting more than 100 issues. After that, they have stop-start on the series either deliberately or because sales are bad or that writers could not find a good angle ... for us, it made no sense to put crap artists and kill a title then blame it on sales ...

SO in this short lived relaunch, the good thing is that the artist is awesome but the writers took a very different approach to this title. So for those who enjoyed the 80s run, this first issue will definitely leave you curious to try issue two but you may or may not continue after that depending on the direction the storylines will take because it is that different

Example: the Surfer here never spoke a word but rather maintain the mysteriousness of an otherworldly alien!

We see the opening scenes somewhere in a tribal warzone where after a battle, a child is offered to the spacefaring surf rider but is he our surfer? We are not sure except that there is a flash of light and the child disappears but where the adults were gathered? There is the image of an alien ala typical pointy headed burnt into the grasslands

Cue America where a lady tries to make a living for she and her beautiful but akin to autistic little girl. And after yet another trying day, she reaches their home only to see the flash of light except this time, she rushed in and saw the surfer carrying her child ...

And that's it ... alien abduction but nothing more ... good read but if this is the intention of the storyline perhaps a graphic novel would be better because there is just too little meat given out for us to remember to come back in the next thirty days for the next instalment, right? Sigh!

Ratings: 6/10

736. Stormwatch vol 1 #1 ... #ImageComics ...

[This is reviewed on 16th Dec 2017]

This comic brings back fond memories because it was the first Jim Lee comics we bought and read after he left Marvel and yes, we missed the early issues of WildCATS and only managed to snag it in TPB when that version came out finally after a long wait ...

Anyway, while not knowing the artists involved, for us, back then, the cover was amazing because it had loads of new characters in over-the-top costumes and gadgetry and the colouring is just popping off the cover. Hence the purchase

The actual storyline isn't half-bad as well. It starts at a fast pace where we are swiftly introduced to the various members of Stormwatch from their leader, Sentinel in his weird armor uniform to Fuji the Japanese built like a mountain (not just strength does he possess which makes for a nice switch), Diva the sexy Russian (and her name tells you she has sonic powers), to the rest of the team

And the villains though not yet build up to the final momentum in this first opening issue but did quite well especially with people like Pike and you just know they are all going to clash again in the near future

What is even better is we get slice of life bits on Sentinel and his family and we found out that he had long requested for his younger brother not to follow in his footsteps by having latent powers activated. Unfortunately in this tale, such a decision was no longer possible and so ....

Buy it, read it and then re-read it again. It is a good opening issue. Although with hindsight, we can see a lot of flaws but if you take it as a comicbook meant for light entertainment, then it has done its job and makes you want to come back for issue 2 even if only for the artwork

Ratings: 5/10