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

735. Wolverine Weapon X #6 ... #Wolverine ... #WeaponX ... #Mutant ...

[This is reviewed on 4th Dec 2017]

A bit different this series in the sense that the first arc ended less than six issues which is more of the norm for the past few years of Marvel stuff. So here in issue 6 we start round 2 and I am not sure maybe Garney is growing on me. The characters are still feeling more like rough sketches but when he does backgrounds, it was properly drawn and in adequate detail

But enough about the art

The tale is quite good. It starts right in the middle and we see a confused Logan trapped in a straight  jacket mumbling and answering questions. We are given bits and pieces of whoever is speaking to him and never the whole issue and we know that wherever he is, he is in deep shit. And we are left wondering why isn't his healing factor working if he is being fed with some kind of drug ..... all these serve as effective inducers to us to read further and actually follow the series and storyline through ...

There is enough gruesomeness in the madhouse even though it is not a straightforward superhero versus supervillain issue here. The people we are introduced is quite a mixed bunch, obviously. There are cannibals and a giant sized man and what not and we see some interesting characters in the background as well. Look out for the guy who is banging his head against the wall until bleeding

So how did Logan end up here? That's the question

Does anyone know where he is? Not yet ... but help will be coming ...

Ratings: 6/10

3.4 (734) Fantastic Four vol 1 #537 ... #FF ... #Thing ... #Doom ...

[This is reviewed on 2nd Dec 2017]

For those who are not in the know, this issue is part of the lead up to Marvel's then big company wide crossover, the first Civil War. At that time, Thor and his entire Asgardian pantheon had supposedly finally met the end of the gods, Ragnarok and disappeared from the face of the Earth

And as the cover shows ... and this continues from the previous issue, Thor's hammer has suddenly shot through from his world until landing in Oklahoma. And so many including the government are trying to unearth its special properties to no avail

Doom was last seen trapped in Hell and while he didn't explain to Reed how he got back, we the readers are given glimpses via flashbacks. Apparently on his last ropes and surrounded by a type of demons, a sudden energy blast created ripples across many realms. And as Doom approaches it, he was witnessed to the fall of the gods and saw that at its nucleus, the force blast was the hammer of Thor. And so he leapt into one of the ripples and was swept away

While his doombots kept Reed and company busy, Doom made a play for Thor's hammer with only the Thing standing in his way and even then, it was not enough

However, unfortunately for Doom, his ego was his downfall. He figured that just because he was privileged to witness the Asgardian end, and he had a touch of the magic as he leapt into the ripple, he must be worthy to bear the power of Thor. As his hands reached for the hammer, a blinding flash of light ripped right through all and sundry and blasted once again into space leaving all humbled including Doom

SPOILER ALERT

Such is Doom's ego that he departed and with Reed wondering if maybe Doom had awaken some force from beyond by his contact ... what's really important are the final 2 pages as we see the back and distant view of someone boarding a bus with a one way ticket to Oklahoma whose back bore the initials of DB (Don Blake Thor's first alter ego) ... and potentially signaled the return of Thor ...

All in all, lots of good action scenes and a riveting storyline leaving us wanting more ... so even though it is part of a larger whole, this chapter by itself is complete and a very worth while and entertaining read

Ratings: 6/10

3.3 (733) Alpha Flight vol 1 #9 ... #johnbyrne ...

[This is reviewed on 30th Nov 201]

This cover belongs to my all-time favorite covers list. Just look at it! Giant Sasquatch and rocky Thing! And that's how they opened this story. It's a set up tale for part 2 next issue but this part is so enjoyable that you do not feel cheated somehow as we see Walter aka Sasquatch (previous issue dealt with Northstar and Aurora and so it is Walt's turn now) doing his alter ego's life work of research when their scanning caught onto something and that something appeared to be rocky Mr Grimm

However, as they placed him in a convalescing room while another chap studied him, what should happen but a huge twist ... and Walt and crew went out into the cold darkness trying to track down Grimm when in truth, it was none other than the Super Skrull that they have brought back who was momentarily trapped in Grimm's body shape. With his other FF powers, he had murdered a significant number of the research team leaving only Sasquatch to confront him next issue!

With that as the opening tale, on the flipside we see Aurora as a depressed schoolgirl committing suicide by jumping off the roof only to discover she can fly. After this, we are rushed through the scenes as we see her being tormented by both fellow peers and the teachers and yet for some unknown reason she decided to be a teacher herself and to return to her alma mater. Does that make sense to you? She isn't even seeking revenge!

About the only thing that is worthwhile for us is the glimpses that we get of her dual personality and the ending features another guest star who is not even mentioned on the cover: Wolverine who at that time was with the Flight and came a recruiting inviting Aurora to consider joining his team!

Ratings: 6/10

3.2 (732) Gambit 1993/ 1994 #2 ... #X-Men ... #Gambit

[Posted on 29th Nov 2017]

There are so many X characters populating the comics world these days all fighting for their moment in the sun so to speak but there was a time, not that long ago, when a new character was to be celebrated and that was how Gambit came to be. He was first introduced in Uncanny as someone Ororo came across and subsequently brought back to the mansion. And as time develops, SPOILER ALERT, he developed feelings for Rogue and his friendship with Ororo became distant.

He was always portrayed as a Nightcrawler type of swashbuckler thief who has his ways with the ladies and  we guessed he liked the unattainable ones especially since Rogue's powers does not permit skin contact

Anyhow, as time went by, his entire history became very convoluted with the X-teams finding out he has a wife, then his died, then supposedly she didn't and then he was a villain before he joined the X-Men and subsequently maybe he just was a villain all along ... sigh ... while it is good that characters grow but total changes like this feels a little too much ...

As for this, it is his first limited series of a few before he got his start in an ongoing that didn't last before he finally faded in obscurity of a sort although he makes his appearances here and there including a Wolverine movie hehehe

So in this issue what you need to know is in New Orleans there are two factions - one is thieves and one is assassin. Gambit was adopted into the thieves faction while his wife was an assassin. He fell in love, they brokered peace between the guilds and subsequently he left her. The guilds are formed by a lady named Candra who gave them gifts of powers n long life and what-not and she herself is an External, an offshoot of mutants who can live extremely long lives almost immortal like

Confusing eh?

But for some reason by his leaping about and swinging a stick, Gambit can defeat all the assassins that come at him be it here or in other books and that sort of makes you think if assassins are like the hand ninjas = mere cannon fodder hahahaah

So ... one more time ... this issue deals with Gambit coming home to his in-laws to see for himself that his wife is indeed back from the dead although we are not told how and why. While here, Rogue his then girlfriend follows without his permission to discover the truth though one wonders why as he is not divorced yet! Anyhow, his brother in law, in a state of greed has broken some age old covenant and went for more than  the assassins entitlement and is now depicted as a man with weird facial expressions draped in black who kills or attempts to kill Gambit and all his family

And as this issue unfolds, it focuses very well on both story and action which is the saving grace here because while the art is good taken on a panel by panel basis but as a whole, it feels very much rushed and a style of its times, if you know what we meant

Ratings: 5/10

1. (366/ 732) Power Pack vol 1 #4 ... @MarvelComics #PowerPack

[Posted on 20th Nov 2017]

Wah-hoo! We are now in year 3 of our reviews and if you are following the sequence this is either review 366 if vol 2 or 731 if vol 1. If we are following based on calendar days, it is even longer than three years as we have not been doing daily reviews for a few years now ...

Anyway we chose this issue to review as it holds special significance for us. This is our very first issue of Power Pack and we bought this when we were still schooling. So obviously it definitely hit a chord close to home. And this is such a wonderful tale as it ends the opening story arc of the Pack

It introduces us to who the Power family are, it shows us how the kids got their powers and subsequently who the villains and the heroes are and in this the final chapter, we SPOILER ALERT get to see the kids finally coming to good grips with their powers as they stage and escape from the lizards and rescuing their parents. However, as the parents had some alien bandage on them, their conscious thoughts were not exactly there and for some weird reason, the kids and their alien saviors (horse like creature) decided it best that the parents are not aware of what happened. How nutty is that eh?

But aside from this one tit bit, the entire comic is an enjoyable ride. It feels like reading a family style sci-fi fantasy adventure yarn. Very good, very cinematic and the artist is just perfect as the kids do not look like miniature adults but rather still kids with the right proportions from head to torso

Colouring is even brilliant here. No modern day computer colours but good palette

Ratings: 8/10