2.46 (411) Daredevil vol 1 #268 ... Marvel ...

Six months down the line, a different writer and artist ... and we see a different direction for the Devil

After the mess in New York and Inferno, we see DD travelling incognito through small towns and suburbs across America ... trying to find himself I suppose ... although being a blind dude? And in this issue, what works really well is that we see the tale from so many perspective and not just from DD's. Even the narrative boxes works so well about appetites

SPOILER ALERT

DD or rather Matt has come to a small neighbourhood and in here, there is the usual "big" man who thinks he is really something when he is nothing compared to people like the Rose or Kingpin. Still big fish in small pond and all that, he takes what he wants and even tries to espouse his own weak knee philosophy on the rest of the people

And that's when our dear Matt realizes that like it or not, he has the urge to do something ... to balance the scales a little bit ... and it's just great the way he did it ... not just jumping in and knocking teeth out ...

Ratings: 6/10

2.45 (410) Daredevil vol 1 #262 ... Marvel ...

There was a time when all things mutants took centerstage and when there is an event, all other titles will try to tie in. Sad to say, Daredevil was cashing in on the Inferno storyline. For those who didn't know, the Inferno storyline takes on a few front in the various mutant titles. Example: in New Mutants, Illyana and her demons were instrumental in bringing the demons of Limbo to Earth while in the regular X-Men titles, it was Cyclops first wife, Madelyn who is now transformed into the Goblin King and instrumental in a deal with demons to devastate our world (yes we know it sounds ludicrous but you have to read it - quite good actually)

Anyway, here in this issue, after being beaten to near death in 260, we finally see DD coming to ... just as the world around him goes nuts and more and more things are being infected by the techno organic virus ... basically making all metallic and electronic items come alive hence the cover

What's cool about this issue is the fact that you really feel for DD ... the pain of gaining consciousness ... the struggle to survive ... and yet that fighting spirit that doesn't give up!

And o that awesome John Romita Jr artwork ... one of his best comic runs ever in our opinion is his work on DD

Ratings: 7/10

356. Secret Invasion #1 to 8 ... Marvel ...

And now for something totally different, we are going to review the entire series of a limited series instead of issue by issue ... so over the past decade, both Marvel and DC have decided on 1 big major yearly event that has implications (almost) line wide and at the end of each series, the so-called universe will have a new setting to play on ... until next year's big event. In the cast of Marvel, sometimes if the event is not so all encompassing, then there will be several like one for the mutant books, one for the cosmic books and one for the remainder of the Marvel U ...

But this series encompasses all the titles!

It continues from where Civil War left off and ends by giving us Dark Reign ...

What's it about? Basically Marvel awesome scribe, Bendis decides that years ago, after the nonsense with the Skrull war and intervention by earthlings, they wanted to get even and established a long term plan that studied how to come and invade earth without being detected by magic, science and telepathy ... all the while having other conflicts in space ... this came to a head as their empire fell apart and so they decided to officially adopt earth as their new home

What made this a pain for the heroes and serve as the tension point?

Who do you trust?

When word came out at first, each hero began to question friends around them especially since the first confirmed Skrull was when Elektra was killed and before then, Elektra was everywhere including SHIELD, Avengers, and even DD's world ... with that happening, what else can be wrong?

And then when the Skrulls unveiled their hand, the entire world was taken completely unawares! From even non super powered beings and family, the Skrulls have put plans in motion. And they provided for contingencies like Stark tech, Maria Hill, Shield and even Sword!

So it's a long scramble as the disparate parties try to run away, find a breathing space, recuperate and hopefully find a way to turn around the invasion

It's a decent read BUT ... the biggest letdown for me are 2 things:

1. The end is one slugfest between heroes of earth and skrulls with powers? I mean, that's it? You are an alien race, advanced, years in the planning and your intention is to slug it out with earth's heroes and decided to do it in USA where the most heroes are?

2. Yu's artwork - sorry but it is too scratchy for my taste

Don't believe me? Look at back issue prices online. Of all the past decade's worth of crossovers, this is by far the cheapest to buy still

Ratings: 6/10 (would have been 7 if not for Yu)

284. Wolverine vol 2 #23 ... Marvel ...

After this review, we will most likely at least have a break between each Wolverine issue, fair enough? So please DO NOT leave us. Waaaaugh! We need your readership and support to keep this blog going on and on and on ... after all, comic collecting and reading is such fine fun!

What makes this issue awesome? Look at the cover. Basically it's Wolverine carving up grunts' time and it reminds us of all those war comics where the best is when there is all out carnage with the villains of that particular comic getting their butts handed to them be it the Nazis in WW2 or those goons in afternoon cartoons with Japanese type robot heroes

Here, after the ride and fast fight with the FF, Wolv manage to escape and be on his way and while everyone is getting more and more antsy, who should run into him but a bunch of grunts? So it's cut, slice, dice time! YEAH!

Ratings: 9/10

254. Daredevil vol 1 #214 ... Marvel ...

Daredevil ... may be a guy in red tights with underwear on the outside ... but the stories are usually grim, serious, and shall we say this ... adult/ mature? Take for instance this issue and let's break it down section by section:

1. Cover - beautiful, dark, moody and lovely muted colours

2. Interior artwork - nothing flashy, almost workmanlike but still the intense tone of the story is conveyed well between inks and colours

3. Villains - the villain of the piece is not dressed in tights or some sort of super villain but yet his story is compelling enough to grow as a subplot until reaching here over several months - and yet at the end, we feel for the villain!

4. Story - while all heroes must have great villains, after the slightly more upbeat tone (pursuant to 200), we see this arc with Micay Synn taking DD down a darker type of story telling and it's not going to let up at all until well after issue 300 ... yes that far down even though there are changes in writers

5. What's it about? Well basically there is supposed to be a tarzan like chap ... a whole clan of white bloke who still lived wild and finally found by modern day civilization ... so while he may be rich but his morals are different and being from the jungle the way he handles things are nothing short of ruthless. And like all primitives, the so-called civilized world has many temptations that in the end made a king a slave to its addictions

Ratings: 6/10

246. Daredevil vol 1 #250 n 251 ... Marvel ...

In an age of double sized issues, this came as a shocker. I bought this from Mile High Comics back issue bins years after it came out and I was expecting something special since it is DD's 250 but ... it read like any other normal issue of DD ... with new villain coming out from the subplots and finally coming to an encounter with DD ... and of course the full fight is next issue but as the guy is just a big sized guy who is almost but not quite superhuman strong or with great fighting skills ... it felt kind of ... m'eh if you know what I mean

Artwork ... it's fine ... it carries the story well ... when there was a need to be quiet, dark n moody, it was ... when it opens up to something emotional, the lines convey the emotions well ... about the only disappointment is the thin paper quality ... not thick like the 70s or later 90s ... so it makes the colouring n inking looks too ... murky?

What's more interesting like most DD stories is actually the human element as we see Matt's life spiralling downhill and out of control ... and we get a snapshot of family life for his forthcoming villain too

Hmm ... that's about all I can share ... without telling exactly what's going on

Ratings: 5/10