2.155 (520) Punisher War Zone (2007) #1 ... Marvel ...

This is sort of an odd issue for me in terms of the artwork. While I liked the fact that Ariel makes his figures huge and bulky and the facials are perfect, the fact that the colouring and inking/ shadowing using so much light/ watered down/ pastel effect simply makes the whole book ... or at least softens the impact of this comic which is a shame because as a storyline goes, this one opens with a huge BANG!

I mean this is Frank Castle, the Punisher we are talking about. The one real "hero" in the Marvel Universe who has no powers and yet is serious enough about crimes to put an end to it rather than those supes in capes who enjoyed incarcerating villains so that they can escape and murder others again and again and again ... almost as if ensuring that the supes have something to do, eh?

So sometimes the Punisher does feature in the more colourful main landscapes of the 616 while at others he is more street level. This series aims to bring Frank back into the landscape of the supes by having him take part in the Civil War between Iron Man and Captain America

Anyway, it starts up simply enough with Frank being annoyed about the Civil War but not participating. He goes about doing his job of taking down bad guys. Unfortunately, this is the one time where Stilt Man decides to go straight and thinks that when he encounters Frank, it is going to be a team-up ... well, he sure doesn't get Frank, does he? Because in Frank's books, if you are a villain, you stay a villain and the best way is to stay dead. Love, love, love the scene on how Frank brought him down (literally)

Well, if you are not reading the rest of the tie-ins to Civil War (like us), you will be left wondering why GW Bridge is now old and fat and a practising Muslim because hey in Cable? He wasn't. And why the heck is SHIELD suddenly asking him to bring down or bring in the Punisher

Seeing that the opposition has stepped up, Punisher decides he needs a new wing man kinda like his old pal Microchip. And away he goes recruiting ... SPOILER ALERT ... only to encounter after a few worthwhile trips a case of Civil War that has him left with literally no choice. If he stepped aside, a good guy could potentially bit the dust and it's a character that Frank knows well over the years. Thus that is how they introduce Frank back into the world of the supes ... and left us wanting more ... more violence and goodness hehehe!

Ratings: 7/10

2.154 (519) Secret Wars vol 1 #7 .. Marvel ...

[We have fallen way behind in our reviews. Today is already the 10th of Jan and we are still doing for 19th of Dec. Let's try to catch up, eh?]

In honor of the ongoing madness in Marvel's latest miniseries a similarly named Secret Wars, let's turn back the clock to the 80s where the original Secret Wars is. And now, we have just stepped past the halfway mark as we review issue 7

Talk about action, intrigue and a tale from many angles. Here in this issue, there is so much here that we cannot even find a quick way to summarize except to say that .. the heroes have split into two camps earlier with the mutants on one side (natch) and the heroes on the other. However, here, owing to ongoing investigation done by Prof X, he decided that the threat is so big, it will take both teams to re-combine SPOILER ALERT because Galactus is here and about to make his move! Cap obviously agrees because Mr Flag believes in the goodness of everyone or some such nonsense. Hahaha!

While on the villains side, it is even worse. There is, at this point, the mysterious Beyonder who is still nothing more than a presence. Then we have Galactus as mentioned earlier with his world ship and devices planning his own move to either defeat or get away from the madness of Battleworld

Obviously Doom is his own team since he believes himself the superior of everyone. And even in defeat and near death, he learned something new. But what will that result in? Future issues for us to find out. On Doom's side, we have the mad Klaw and equally loony Lizard. But the surprise of the moment is Ultron

Finally the remainder of the villains are seen fleeing inspite of having achieved a momentus victory by trashing She Hulk to within an inch of her life. The biggest casualty is Molecule Man who was savaged! So they are retreating but find that they have no safe haven. Will they team up with Doom?

And what's up with the alien healer, Esaji?

So much goodness all in one flimsy issue. Is it any wonder that this comic was a hit?

Ratings: 7/10

2.153 (518) Darth Vader (2015) #2 ... Marvel ...

By now, everyone out there who doesn't live under a rock would have heard how awesome was the sales numbers of Star Wars the Movie Episode VII ... and of course the limp ass Kylo Ren, baddie, Darth Vader wannabe because he looked so cool in the previews but so lame in the movie. Anyone can give him a hard time. You sort of wonder how he managed to sabotage Luke Skywalker then, eh?

Anyway, that's neither here nor there because what we want to talk about is the awesomeness of this comic. And in issue 2 it doesn't let up one inch in the awesomeness department. First up, just look at that amazing cover, eh?

Well this issue continues right off from 1 with Darth Vader trying to preserve his tenuous position in the Empire what with challenges from the military not counting his own Sith Lord, the Emperor and all the while trying to track down the user of the force, the boy Skywalker

We see him putting plans in motion even as someone suspects him of doing something he shouldn't. And the "overseer" who is sent to work with him naturally meets his own just desserts

What is really awesome here is the artwork. Salvador Larocca is a perfect fit here. The lines are clean and the background is chockfull of details. Yet at no time is there clutter i.e lines and items for the sake of filling up space. And at no time, does it feel too polished. In fact, it feels just right. Shiny and smooth breathing menace!

Ratings: 8/10

2.152 (517) Captain America vol 2 (Heroes Reborn) #1 ... Marvel ...

I have to admit that prior to this release, I was not a fan of Captain America. I did not mind when he made his appearances in Avengers but his own solo title was good for the casual peruse while at local convenience stores' spinner racks (back in those days). So when it was announced that Captain A would be one of the titles involved in Heroes Reborn, it was not on my pull list and look at the cover! So not there when compared to say Iron Man or Avengers. But the moment I bought it (with the white cover) and got home and read it ... well I was hooked and knew for sure, I would follow the next few issues. That's how good it was

Of course, if you do online googling, you will find that this issue is one of those that earned creator Rob a lot of flak from his detractors but you know what? To heck with them all. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Don't read it. Why bother spending hours and days just typing up articles to put down someone, right? And anyway, no one artist is perfect. Here in this issue, there is so much goodness that why anyone would want to look at the negatives is beyond me ...

Examples of what I enjoyed included:

Page 3 - with Cap holding his shield up close and looking serious - every inch the war hero!

Nukes - the page where Agent Hunt (Mission Impossible? Hahaha) - come on! That is so awesome and scary - the shiny and clean lines of the Nukes versus the darker, warmer colours of Hunt and his rocky outcropping

Nick Fury - splash page - you can tell that Rob is a fan of Fury. That is one awesome Nick!

See?

SPOILER ALERT

Story wise, everything goes off at a rapid pace with no time wasted on why Rogers is awake from WW2 without remembering anything (kind of like Wolverine). We see him dreaming more and more of a time in WW2 when he is dressed in a costume but he does not know why he has this dream and is afraid to tell his wife even though he supposedly is in love with her

And one fine day, while engaging in his routine dredge of a job, an old black chap ... who apparently has been tracking him down for over 50 years ... finally sees him passing by and waited for him to finish work ... because this man found the shield of Captain A and is looking for Steve to return it. Unfortunately all is not on the up and up in Steve's life as some of those around him are posing as friends and colleagues for Master Man and his World Party

Master who?

Master Man is one of the engineered super humans from WW2 who like the Skull survived WW2 and is now establishing a new party called the World Party aimed at Aryan Supremacy. Some of the rhetoric he spills when standing in front of his supporters ... well if you take out the Nazi reference ... can fit many of the situations in our world today as there are still politicians who do this. Scary when you think about it. Open racism!

Anyway, aside from Master Man and the Spy Hunt, we also see a new "Barnes" in the form of a young girl named Rikki whose dream is to be a dancer. And her dumb brother who is buying into the World Party spiel

So what happens next?

Fight fight fight that's what! Great stuff here with Rogers recovering part of his senses and taking down goons but how much does he really remember eh? Well that's for issue 2

Ratings: 8/10

2.151 (516) New Avengers vol 1 #5 ... Marvel ...

Before you read any further ... the most important thing to know is ... the artwork is DAVID FINCH! And if you are a huge fan like us, then this is most definitely for you. Buying softcopy is not enough. You need at least the tradepaperback or even the floppies. So glad we got it when it originally came out in sequentials hehehe!

Check out that awesome cover!

Alright as for the storyline, it continues as the (unofficial at this point) Avengers continue to track down escapees from the Raft break out while trying to figure out what the F is really going on but they haven't much time. Why? Because they are in the Savage Land and as the opening pages show, dinosaurs are trying to chomp them up

Yup Savage Land that unique piece of warm climate somewhere in the snowbound south where apparently time stood still, well, not really except that evolution is kinda screwy there

Anyway, to our Avengers' utter surprise out comes Wolverine and what a NASTY scene it was when he jumped on Spider-woman. Damn! But that's important is that after teasing everyone with the cover way back in issue 1, Bendis finally got around to introducing Wolvie to this ongoing volume of the Avengers. Naturally a short fight ensues before everyone questions everyone else on why they are in the Savage Land

The cool bit here is when the nasties uses vertigo and WHACK them all unconscious SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT the bad bit is why did the mutates not kill them? They know the Avengers are super powerful and they are nowhere near their league. So you know in a few pages, even though they are stripped and naked (yes you read that right) the Avengers are so going to wipe the floor with those mutates. Sigh!

And as for Wolvie? The person he is tracking is Lykos, Sauron a chap who sucks mutant energies to transform himself into pterodactyl. Yup, that's it. Come on! Sabretooth I can understand. Even Jugs but Sauron? Never understood why no one bothered to just shoot the old wild life out of him, eh?

Ratings: 7/10

2.150 (515) New Mutants vol 1 #1 ... Marvel ...

Yeeeees! Yaaaaay! For our volume 2 or "year 2" or "season 2" reviews, we hit our 150th review which is just awesome. So at this point, we have to wonder, do we start with calendar year as year 3 or do we wait until we hit 365 like a normal year? Reason is volume 1 was reviews done daily but as time progresses and we added in movies and novels reviews amongst others, we did this on alternate days and even then, we are severely behind by now nearly 3 weeks or thereabouts.

We think, for ease of reference, we will wait until 365, eh?

Anyway, for this special occasion, we review the original, the first splinter X-team waaaay back when mutants were at the top heap of the comics monthly sales charts and popularity. Here, author Claremont decided to go back to the early days of the X-Men when the school is more a school than a training ground for super-heroes which was what the X-Men had transformed into. And here, in their first issue though not their first appearance (for that you need the Graphic Novel), we see newbies:

1. Xian (Vietnamese and ability to possess people) - sad she never stayed long enough and only popped up whenever someone remembered to use her

2. Mirage (American Indian with the ability to channel someone's deepest fear) and at this stage still feel that she is not of much use and generally scared of everything

3. Cannonball (your typical red neck geek?) who is having huge issues controlling his power in the sense that he can generate and fly but had to tone down the sound of his flight or even turn

4. Sunspot (Brazillian) and the only one who can control his power which is like low grade Superman as he uses the sun to charge his body into super strong form and ... that's it. Lame? But the visuals are great though

5. Wolfsbane (Scots) who can ... change into a full blown wolf form or a were wolf ... hey every team needs someone savage with claws, right? But she is the lamest of them all in the M U hahaha!

Anyway, here in issue 1 they are brought together in X Mansion and gets to know each other ... with all the usual teen angst and conflicts unfolding ... and also to know the Danger room as Prof X (who seemed unnecessarily harsh and cold here) shows them the ropes of the room and how much more they have to go through training to be acceptable

Sideplot wise, we have 2 (hey this is Claremont). Firstly is the government keeping an eye on them which is fine but what is amazing now that we have re-read is the plot about Moira McTagggert and Gabrielle Haller because what started here in 1 will get full blown main plot attention only from issues 23 to 25! How's for building up suspense, eh? Imagine plotting that far down the line! Awesome, Claremont, just plain awesome!

Ratings: 6/10 (not enough fights - sorry that's why I buy comics)

2.149 (514) Alpha Flight vol 1 #7 ... Marvel ...

[Even though the date is 9th Dec but we are doing this on 3rd Jan 2016 - Happy New Year - so we are going to do a batch of bullet reviews to catch up, okay? As we are reading a lot of newer stuff not just comics from decades ago ... hehehe and want to share with you all]

In this, the 7th issue, the spotlight is on the speed twins of Northstar and Aurora. Waaaay back then, they travel together and do things together. Waaaay back then, when they joined hands, they can generate super powerful intensity light that blinds opponents and waaaay back then, we were not given the knowledge about Northstar's sexual orientation. Got it? Good, then you are ready

Here the issue splits into three, not just two from the previous format as writer John Byrne (awesome chap) decides not to waste our time by having sub plots littered throughout the main thrust of the story and what is this main thrust?

Well, firstly we have Aurora in her human, prim n proper personae going through a check up to determine if she is "normal" as her brother worries that her split personality may cause more damage to come and true enough, it does show up her in bits and pieces but basically aside from this, the remainder is prelude to something else as the twins run across old friends who on the surface seemed to be doing fine until a stranger comes along

Flip to the next shortest segment and we see a man who is down on his luck and have a poor outlook on life suddenly being approached by a snazzily dressed lady and you just know that troubles a brewing for the future eh? Because this lady is on a recruitment drive ... but for what? Well, this IS a sub plot

Finally we venture further into the past as Byrne continues his take on the individual origins of the team. Here is Snowbird and it actually goes waaaaay back to how researchers found some ancient sites of the old "northern" gods of Canada ... naturally Shaman is involved ... and we see Snowbird finally arriving in the human world as a one year old child! Now that is truly an origin, eh?

Ratings: 6/10 (would have rated higher if the main storyline had a little more villainy and action)