2.160 (525) The Immortal Iron Fist #2 ... Marvel ...

Before this series came out, I have no idea who David Aja, artist is but after that first issue, I knew regardless of the quality of story, I would stop by for issue 2 and the surprise here is that writers, Matt and Ed decided that it is their turn to shine. And so we get a comic where all creators are going all out to impress we the readers thus resulting in an entertaining read!

This book opens with a style that is soon to be recurring throughout its 2-year-plus run with flashbacks to other Iron Fists and so it is great that we get a glimpse of hundreds of years ago somewhere in China where pirates come to do a little raiding by sea only to encounter a female Iron Fist ...

But hey Rand is the star so let's not forget him although his first appearance here is more akin to a falling star as we see him tumble through the skies right through some construction before realizing ain't no way he is able to stay conscious

SPOILER ALERT

Loved also the way that other super heroes pop up in this comic book as part of the supporting cast without the need to publicize on the cover. So we see Luke Cage dropping by to check up on a recovering Danny and loved, loved, loved the banter between the two of them over Chinese takeaway

However, as if that wasn't tough enough, we see moves of a hostile company takeover on Danny's Rand Inc by someone who is possibly linked or hired on Hydra goons. So Danny has yet another nightmare on his shoulders and one where he couldn't just karate-chop it away

Now if you thought that was enough of a revelation ... well it isn't according to our writers as we see yet another new character making his way into USA only to encounter trouble! SPOILER ALERT and what he uses to help himself is sure to make everyone reading this, fans new and old gasp in surprise!

Ratings: 7/10

2.159 (524) Realm of Kings - Inhumans #1 ... Marvel ...

[We are approx. 1 month behind now in our reviews and for our regular subscribers, we do apologize]

Anyhow, a looooooooong time ago ... or rather in 2008/ 2009, back when Marvel was exploring its vast catalogue of characters, it had decided to split events into Marvel U and then more contained sub events in the Mutant verse and finally the cosmic folks and this one is an epilogue of sorts to the awesome War of Kings

For those unfamiliar, think Guardians of the Galaxy and you are fine

Inhumans are basically an offshoot of humanity on earth where eons ago a space faring race called Kree came to experiment upon and then thinking that it was a failure, left them behind. So what happens is that they have since then lived by themselves hidden from the general public awareness of Earth. What made them different is that every child is exposed to something called the Terrigen Mists that mutates them and bring out different abilities including what we would term deformities or monstrosities but not to the Inhumans

Next bit of background info is that in the War of King, basically Inhumans kicked Kree asses and then ruled them. Unfortunately another space faring race called Shiar also tried to launch an attack on them and they also kicked said Shiar's asses so now they have 2 Empires. The only problem is that they lost their king, Black Bolt to the cause

And so this issue opens ... what should be a normal epilogue is not ... in fact, the writers have made this into an integral ongoing saga of the previous limited series as we see the Inhumans adapting to the roles of rulers of 2 Empires now and playing politics while simultaneously denizens from the Negative Zone try to expand its own Empires

But that is not the extent of the threat

We are given hints that Medusa, the queen is still harbouring hopes of finding hubby alive and thus divide their already stretched resources in that direction ... and like all newly come into power, she is protective of future heir, her young son ... and worrying and seeing shadows where there may not be while all the time, at her side is the most treacherous of Inhumans, Maximus who once again appears to be "normal" and not the "mad" ... sigh ... when will super heroes ever learn, eh?

Ratings: 6/10

2.158 (523) X-Factor vol 1 #11 ... Marvel ...

There was a time ... a few decades ago ... that whenever it was time for a huge crossover yearly event, it was what it promised to be - an event. Not just recycled old villains going through the motions on a larger scale but rather something new entirely

So this year is the year of a storyline called Mutant Massacre. The thread is straightforward. At this point in time, a hidden figure has sent forth some super nasty cold blooded assassins into the Morlock tunnels to assassinate all mutants living there. The X-Men got involved because Storm, leader of the X-Men at that time is also the leader of the Morlocks while X-Factor got dragged in due to the fact that they enjoyed running through the sewers more or less from their office to the outside world so that no one can linked them to mutant hunters' front that they were presenting at that time. Got it?

This issue is the tail-end of their involvement

We open up with the final bits and pieces of fight scenes between various members of X-Factor and loose factions of mutant-dom with them rescuing sorry looking kiddie muties and kicking ass a lot. Unfortunately, they didn't escape unscathed and one of those in serious medical issues is Angel

The really noteworthy bits about this issue for those of you who only know the team of X in more present terms are actually quite a fair bit and we will highlight them to you SPOILER ALERT as follows:

1. Angel is still Angel and in fact, it is because of this injury that is the opening act in him becoming Archangel

2. Apocalypse is a new villain in Marvel U having just finished his arc with X-Factor in issue 6 and is given cameos here as he goes about recruiting down-and-out mutants who have tremendous power and potential

3. Naturally here we are also introduced to a whole host of mutants like Scalphunter and others but not their enigmatic leader

4. Sinister will be identified as said manipulator and in a typical retcon of story telling, we will in decades to come find out that Gambit, future X-Men was part of the Marauders although throughout its original run, we were not given even a hint of Gambit - hah - bad retcon, eh?

Still, overall, an entertaining chapter in the life of a new comic series

Ratings: 5/10 (would be higher but the artwork didn't quite match this book's requirements)

2.157 (522) X-Men vol 1 #8 ... Marvel ...

Christmas Day 2015 and what better celebration than to do a review of one of the all-time favourite artists in comics - Jim Lee! Yeah, man! When you look back at these early 90s work, you can, naturally see that in many ways, it does look dated when compared to today's artists especially in terms of paper quality, printing and colouring but then again, you can see just how much energy and crazy detail Lee has put in into each of his pages

Anyhow, this tale is on the X-Men's downtime except that this time, they are really just chilling out instead of the usual soft ball game that was their past fave thing to do. What can we look forward to in this issue?

Well ... SPOILER ALERT ...

As the cover indicated, we see Bishop (waaay back then he was a grim and gritty policeman from the future not yet given over to the dark side ... ooooops wait wrong comics .... ) who is still adjusting to his time here on Earth in our timezone ... and trying to discover the identity of the man who would betray the X-Men. Gambit, being the sole survivor to Bishop's future, Bishop suspects that it is him and takes the opportunity to confront Gambit ... but rest assured, no big fights ensue

Then we have one guest star ... as we learn SPOILER ALERT that Gambit's other half is not dead but for some reason, still alive and kicking ... and coming to get him because the peace between their two families is about over and Gambit has a huge part to play in the forthcoming drama

And finally, the most interesting titbit continues as we see Psylock and uh-uhm ... Cyclops ... Cyke sure has a thing for telepaths, eh? From Jean to her clone, Madelyn then to this brief flirtation with Psylock before finally (in today's comic times) settling for Emma the White Queen, yet another telepath

Enjoy!

Ratings: 7/10

2.156 (521) Archer and Armstrong (2012) #1 ... Valiant ...

I am NOT going into the history of Valiant nor am I going to talk about this re-launch Valiant but instead I want to tell you, right up front, this is not your typical supes and capes type of comic. In fact, the good guys here wear pants and t-shirt and jackets and hats. The bad guys come in suits and military gear. There is only ONE sect whose henchmen dress in something resembling your typical superhero type of gear. But you know what? For someone whose comics are probably over 90% superheroes, I found that this series is so highly entertaining that I kept checking the shelves for each TPB that was released. Because it is so good that soft copy just isn't enough!

Okay?

So Archer is one of many kids raised in a religious compound that is also a religious themed theme park during the day. The children are raised in the believe that the best will be assigned special missions to achieve that of their adopted parents. And Archer was led to believe that he is the only one not adopted

On the other side, there is he who must not be named (no not Voldemort!), Armstrong. Armstrong is part of an ancient civilization who had thrived thousands of years ago. And one little incident wiped them out leaving Armstrong to wander the earth all alone as he watched civilization start anew. So while he is fat, loves to drink and takes young ladies to the bedroom, he is also incredibly knowledgeable and near "un" killable but not like Wolverine, okay?

Now that you know our primary players, let's get into the thick of things. We see here that Archer (Obie) passes the final tests by beating all the other kids and is thus assigned to go out and kill he who must not be named as well as to retrieve more pieces of an ancient machinery. What that is ties back to Armstrong's own past and as luck would have it, they ran into each other in a pub

It's a joy to see old-fashioned super uptight upbringing like Archer's colliding with our modern world juxtapose with someone who has the most right to be old-fashioned but instead is a freewheeling opportunist .. Armstrong is a bouncer in that pub! Naturally a fight ensues ... and we end with Archer learning a wee bit more about his "mom and dad" and it ain't pretty!

Great opening issue that feels like watching an excellent tv serial!

Ratings: 8/10

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