2.148 (513) Stormwatch vol 1 #10 ... Image ...

This is a shocker. As we checked our archives, we are embarrassed to admit that we have never reviewed a Stormwatch issue. Why? Because the first few issues of Storm was actually very entertaining with great artwork, colouring and a decent line up of characters

Here in this issue, the artwork has morphed into something more serviceable and less posturing but still good. The artist in this issue even tried something different with 2 page spreads broken up with side panels. All well and good, eh?

Storywise, this takes place immediately after Image's original novelty i.e. each title that wants to ... can participate by printing issue 25 of their series ahead i.e. after Stormwatch 9 came out ... it was 25 before 10. So here in 10 we get a SPOILER ALERT glimpse of what went on with 25 ....

For the Stormwatch portion of this 25 event, the writer decided to make it a time jump forward where leader, Battalion discovered that in just a short time, he was dead, his psycho father is back to being a major super bad guy and many of the team he led is either killed or been transformed. So he started off this issue by logging his thoughts for the future incarnation of the Watch team when he is called to duty (hey this is a comics and we need our action)

Apparently, the super nasty looking chap from issue 4, Talos who escaped is discovered. As expected, from Image of that time, the strength and abilities of the bad guys tend to waver. Here the threat is supposedly great but easily taken down. Talos is attacking a special weapons firm to steal some of their tech for himself when Watch comes in to kick his butt and kicked it they do and ... that's it ... hehehe

Ratings: 5/10

2.147 (512) Moon Knight vol 3 (2007) #7 ... Marvel ...

Approximately 450 reviews ago (can you beat that?), we did a batch review of the first story arc and how awesome this series' re-launch was. So we figured, it's time we move to the second story arc

The awesome bit first - David Finch is still on art duties. So it means that no matter how lame this story is, it will still rate well simply because of his work but thank goodness, this first chapter continued strongly in the vein of the first arc

As the cover shows, there is a cameo by Spidey (and no stupid super hero fight here). This tale takes place at the early part of Civil War, the Marvel event where heroes are split owing to the registration act with Iron Man on the government's side (obviously since he loves their defence contract money hahaha) and Captain America on the opposing side (proving that there is a difference between government and country)

Anyway, we start off with Marc slowly getting back in the groove even as his body is complaining about the hardship he puts it through, he is doing the rounds on the rougher neighbourhoods giving hoodlums a hard time. Naturally his own inner demons are still popping up as if they are real instead of figments of his imagination but the thrust of this entire issue is to hint at the villain that will be appearing in this particular arc (someone who loves clocks - sorry I couldn't even spoil it for you if I wanted to as I am not a 100% follower of Marc's earlier volumes and have no idea who this villain is except that he isn't knew) and Marc doing the rounds trying to assemble a crew to work with him so that he can carry on his plans of being the superhero vigilante once more

And amongst the rounds include a visit to his old pilot/ mercenary buddy, the gay French guy nicknamed Frenchie in his restaurant, an old African American lady and a few others ...

SPOILER ALERT About the only thing we can spoil it for you is that on the last page, Captain America pops by and then it's to be continued moment. See? Civil War crossover

Ratings: 6/10

2.146 (511) Bloodstrike vol 1 ongoing #3 ... Image ...

When you are a kid in your teens and you go to a comic book specialty shop and this cover just stands there on the racks ... you know you want it because just look at it! Two chaps going at it full blown. Isn't that even more awesome than any of those wrestling and MMA events? This book with Dan Fraga as artist onboard kicks all kinds of @$$ ... and the colorist is improving by leaps and bounds too ... hehehe

Anyway as the cover indicates, this is the fourth and final part of the Blood Brothers saga (in Bloodstrike that is). To sum it up, there are two brothers, John and Cabbot with the former being the elder brother. When growing up with their psycho father, they were consistently pit against each other with one being weaker. Naturally when both grew up, they have no love for each other ... and father dearest makes appearances SPOILER ALERT in later issues

However at this juncture, John had gone off from his tenure in Youngblood owing to disciplinary issues in anger management and formed his own group to supposedly show up the govt (yeah right and you never get to see much of this unfortunately) ... so to cover their tracks, the govt sicced their new team from Project Born Again (read that as reanimated bodies i.e. zombies of a sort) to take down and if required kill everyone in John's team. Coincidentally this new govt team is led by John's younger brother, Cabbot

Got it?

So this issue opens like most Bloodstrike issues with awesome interior artworks and revelations - the first of which is the mutation of Coldsnap right there on page 1! Day-mn! And while the fight continues as each side tries to take down the other (for the remainder of the issue it is one awesome fight), on another part of the world, good old sexy Lethal went on a recruitment mission to help her buddy, who she tries to assure everyone else is not her buddy (hmmm) ... suffice to say that if you read this issue, you are guaranteed excitement up the wazoo ... everything is just so good here ... and the only letdown would be the second story of some knights in space where while the artwork is good enough but unfortunately with Dan Fraga in lead story ... this one just looks so sad that I skipped it after the first 2 pages ... that's how good the main tale is hah!

Ratings: 7/10

2.145 (510) Captain America vol 4 (2002 to 2004) #2 ... Marvel ...

It's been over a year since I reviewed issue 1 of this volume and not because I do not like the first 6 issues (I love it) but that the topic, if one were to randomly read just an issue, might seem inappropriate in our world of today what with all the bombings and terrorism going on but author Ney Reiber hit this subject matter so well in his own view that I figured ... let's do this

In issue 1, you have Steve as Captain America being on missions not against supervillains but against bombs and what-not in good ole USA. But as this is a super hero comic, you just know that there must be more to it than that

What stands out in this volume is the narrative manner of artist and caption boxes where both worked so well ... at times it seems like a monologue and at times as if from a third party yet everything reads seamlessly

This issue SPOILER ALERT opens with a kidnapping ... and then is revealed that there is a mad bomber plot going on ... and this time they attacked a church in a red neck part of USA with a reporter being forced to "report" from the terrorists point of view ... but basically what they are doing is to drive out Captain A. So you have to be wondering say what?!?!?!

And Cap sensing that time is running out realizes he has no choice but to go charging head on hoping that his skills is enough to see him through

Now before anyone goes jumping to conclusions, yes the guy at this point calls himself Al Tariq and he has kids dressed up with head scarves and long robes ... and that's the cliff hanger but hang on ... I encouraged you to read the rest of the next few issues because you will discover that author Rieber has thought this through ... and it's not necessarily anti-Muslim or Islam issue but something akin to almost paranoia in the West ... using doubt to tear apart a society ... good stuff

Ratings: 8/10

2.144 (509) All Star Superman #1 ... DC ...

There was a time ... waaaaay back when both Marvel and DC were not relaunching their core titles every 2 to 3 years ... back when they wanted to tell a character with a twist ... they resorted to mini series or even alternate universes and thus for the purists you can follow the main publishing schedules while for the rest, like, who hardly ever buy DC, we love it as we can dip in when the storylines suite us

And this is one heck of a storyline ... 12 issues ... Morrison and Quitely ... and so much happening in each issue that you know it is not padded ... and the artwork despite its sparse linework ... never once feels like rushed but so perfect ... same goes for colorist ... and inventive villains

So here in this first issue naturally we get a brief on Clark Kent and Superman's background but they didn't waste time so as not to drag things out ... in fact SPOILER ALERT ... they start with a huge action scene of something going wrong in the sun and dear old Superman coming to the rescue ...

And between the switch in scenes ... we get the feeling that there is something more than an exploration mission gone wrong or that an astronaut is the villain of the piece ... of course there is Luthor but what is his ultimate plan as at this point he doesn't even give a damn about being caught? But our summation here is weak ... the actual flow of the storyline has so much going on in it that you just have to download illegal copies (whoops) and read it and if you like it we encourage you to track down the floppies or the TPB

Gorgeous piece of work

Ratings: 9/10

2.143 (508) Black Panther 1998 #1 ... Marvel ...

There is every now and then the usual hoo-ha about how there are not enough character of diversity in the world of comics. But for me, I am Asian and in my 30 years of reading comics, I have never felt the need for this. If the story warrants it, fine but if not, it's no big deal. I just don't think it should ever feel forced upon for the sake of political correctness

And this issue is just plain awesome. I was not a fan of the Panther and except for knowing him to be from an African country that has Vibranium and advanced technology even though they still behave tribal? I know next to nothing

So when I picked this up waaaaay back when it was coming out in floppies, it was merely to flip the pages ... and please note that I am also not a fan of Tex's art but for some reason the tale within captured my attention and off and on I followed it for a good four years plus!

I mean when you open this comic and you read the first page? Come on! How awesomely funny is that? You just have to try it

Anyway, let's get to specifics. At the point of this series launch, Panther is arriving to America because of some potential frame up accusing of him being involved in some scandal or other. Naturally he bring in his troops i.e the 2 warrior women and an elderly giant of a man. As he is both royalty and head of State, the US govt attached a liaison to him to sort of be his guide but unofficially be the eyes and ears of the US govt. So intro Mr Ross

Mr Ross plays a prominent and comical role throughout the 50 or so issues becoming the soul of the series for me. He is a shrimp of a man who is not afraid to show his weaknesses and is obviously an office person more than a field person

And he is also sleeping with his superior!

Now this series flips all over the place, past and present from scenario to scenario. So you really have to pay attention but it is time and effort well-spent SPOILER ALERT what the cover doesn't tell you is that the ending has yet another guest star. Throughout this issue, it's more political intrigue and some fisticuffs than anything else but that last 2 page? Wow! It leaves you wondering what else may be coming because you see ... Ross' door was knocked (not a joke) and when he opens it ... outside was Mephisto (the devil) waiting to come in (say what?)

Ratings: 8/10

2.142 (507) Moon Knight 2011 #1 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well ... when Marvel relaunched Moon Knight with super hot artist Dave Finch, it was reminiscence of the previous Moon Knight series that was limbering towards its end and cancellation when new artist Stephen Platt brought it out of the doldrums. Unfortunately Platt moved on to other things and well, Finch being that good but albeit slow, has to move on too ...

And so Marvel must have thought to do it differently this time around by using uber hot writer Bendis (Avengers) and paired him off with critical darling artist Maleev (Daredevil) but honestly ... while interesting the series was middle-of-the-road at best ... and it lasted for all of 2 story arcs or 12 issues if you are counting ...

With that griping out of the way (sorry, readers) let's get on with this review. As the last series finished not that long ago, the first few pages ... I guess it is directed at new readers who are probably fans of Bendis or Maleev because we actually waste time retelling the origins of Moon Knight. If it is for a fan of the Knight, well, they know his origins so why bother eh?

The fun starts several pages into the comic as we see Marc enjoying the high life once more as a wealthy bloke only to disappear as he is summoned. SPOILER ALERT And to our utter surprise we see him popping up to the rooftop to confer with his Avenger buddies because for those not in the know, Moon Knight was actually an Avenger for a while

Naturally the problem is that with the past few years of nonsense going around with the heroes, new and old villains are popping up and staking their interests and here in the new city where Knight is operating, he is tasked to find who is the new Kingpin more or less

As he does his runaround bit, he encounters a strangely garbed ex villain who is in a costume but not the one that most fans of Marvel would know and recognize and hence ... feels so weird ... anyway to make a long story short, inspite of the fight and drama, this guy is still not the ultimate villain i.e. there is still someone at play and that someone was not revealed even at the end of this issue for you see, this villain? He has somehow come across an Ultron and is trying to sell it to the other guy

But what is surprising and you should put up with this book until literally the last page is the last page reveal because wow what a reveal it is. It is of such a monumental reveal that will make you wonder about the next issue. Wonder but not necessary put it on your pull list unless you have the extra bucks

For me, while I do like Maleev's work, I am not a fan and would not buy if his name is on the cover and in this case, thanks to Finch's previous series, this feels like a huge fall from standards. Sigh!

Ratings: 4/10