2.235 (600) Fantastic Four vol 2 #7 ...

SPOILER ALERT

There! I decided to put that right at the start because I have no idea how we can do this without that. So after six issues of non stop running and fighting and dodging and blowing things up, can we expect life to slow down for our Fabulous Foursome? Yes

Reason is because after the nightmare of the crossover with the other Heroes Reborn titles, we see Ben aka the Thing with severe radiation burns on his hands and recuperating. Lucky thing for him (no pun intended) that the beautiful Alicia Masters who is blind yet seemed to have an awesome ability to dress up and pair off clothes and make up wonderfully (colour not texture) has a thing for the Thing (pun intended) and she is visiting him

Thus creating the opportunity for the rest of the team to go back and do some stuff

Unfortunately whatever they may wish for was not meant to be as before they know it BANG they have split up and each appear to be in a different time or place or universe. Reed, Sue and Johnny had to face some cold hard truths

The biggest shocker of all is the arrival of Mr Non Intervention, the Watcher as apparently he was the one who orchestrated their temporary displacement and after what he deemed to be enough, he whisked them back leaving them with cryptic messages. It's always thus, isn't it? Hehehe!

So yes there is some drama and action ... but not all out war here ... I guess that's as good as it gets with the FF. Oh yeah! Jim Lee has vanished from the art side and given the reins to Brett Booth who generally does a good job except for his facials

Ratings: 6/10

2.234 (599) Fantastic Four vol 2 Heroes Reborn #6 ...

Waaaaay back then or about 20 years ago (damn has it been that long?), when this book was coming out, it was a huge hit regardless of what some critics were saying (originally). We have artistic superstar retelling the original tales of the FF and updating not only costumes but storylines. In fact, rather than decompression storytelling, this is like an overload trying to cramp as much as possible into each issue and the surprising thing is inspite of the amount of dialogues, it is still a very good looking book thanks to the entire creative team from penciller to inker to colorist

In issue 6, as the book approaches its half year point, we see the end of one tale, the start of another that will crossover into the other books and also the start of yet another thread for issue 7. In short, this is one heck of a comicbook storywise

First up, we see the conclusion SPOILER ALERT to the Silver Surfer issue as we see that the Super Skrull has mistakenly thought (so childish - seriously) that by absorbing some of the Surfer's powers, he will have enough to challenge Galactus himself. The FF proved him wrong by wakening the Surfer and letting Surfer kick Skrull butt

Unfortunately the place they were having their all-out was Latveria because it was Doom who originally kidnapped the Surfer hoping to syphon the Surfer's Power Cosmic for himself. That ended in a dramatic explosion where once again probably owing to lack of pages we see the FF depart without clear conclusion on outcome or even following up later

So we have a potential ticking timebomb underground, Surfer surviving with potential world devouring status coming to pass and finally, an enraged Doom who as usual will plot his revenge. Unfortunately as if that isn't enough, we get a whiff of something going horrendously wrong in USA where it affects a certain green-skinned monster. So what book is next for you to buy?

Avengers #6 and all the others that has #6 before coming back here for 7

Ratings: 8/10

2.233 (598) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #206 ...

The first question that comes to mind when reading this is how much longer can writer Claremont keep up with this greatness? He has been churning out issue after issue of tense, continuous laden goodies for fans, be it new or those following for years and each issue there are always either new plot developments or he progresses on existing sub plot threads slowly nurturing them to the fore for a future primary storyline

In this issue, we see the culmination of subplots from before the big 200

Mystique in her wheeling and dealing finally got approval and pardon for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in return for them performing services for the government. While the concept is not new but the oddity here is that there is no attempt to even clean their image or at the very least new uniforms to confuse the general public before releasing them out into the wilds so to speak

Anyway, in view of what happened in 200 where the trial of Magneto was Hung, SPOILER ALERT, amongst many other issues, it has been decided that the X-Men is not on the side of the angels anymore or at least their status is more a shade of grey

So when the opportunity arises, as the cover indicates, Mystique launches Freedom Force and the moment they come across the X-Men, her ego got the better of her and it's all out fighting!

Awesome!

Ratings: 7/10

2.232 (597) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #205 ...

We were going to stop and change to a different title but this issue is so freaking awesome that we just had to do a review. After 204's breather with Nightcrawler, Marvel continued to do a "told in one" issue and this time with Wolverine ... and to ensure that the tale packs a huge PUNCH, they brought in artist superstar, Barry Windsor Smith

And boy did Mr Smith delivered! Big time!

Right from the very first page, we knew it was going to be different from the art style to the darker colours and the moody shadows

This comic started with the full introduction of then new villain the Reavers and Lady Deathstrike. We also get to see a Spiral who has plans and intentions of her own that goes beyond Mojoworld and Mojo ... or is she merely carrying out her mistress' plans?

But whatever her plans might be, the truth remains and that is that she was the one who called into being the transformation of Lady Yuriko into Lady Deathstrike

And with that covered in the first few panels we get to see how the story goes into even higher gear as our reavers started hunting Wolverine. Naturally, as everyone knows, a cornered animal can be ... you know what ... and Wolverine when cornered, gives back every bit as good as he got. In short, it's a close quarters fight ... on the one hand you have the cyborgs Reavers with their weapons versus Wolvie's claws and on the other, the reborn Deathstrike and her claws versus Wolvie DAMN!

This is good no great comics

Ratings: 9/ 10

2.231 (596) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #204 ...

As is the wont in Marvel's merry days, after a series of issues that has way too much doom n gloom, Marvel will take an issue for a breather. This breather may be in the form of a stock comic or something in continuity

In issue 204, after all the drama with Prof X being yanked into outer space and Magneto now part of the X-Men (a first of sorts way back then) and the Secret Wars saga with Rachel/ Phoenix having the ability to wipe out the Earth, Marvel decided to spotlight this issue on a character that has always had some popularity and that is the blue coloured Nightcrawler

During those days, Nightcrawler besides his ability to teleport looked like the slimmer version of Beast. He is even agile and comes with a tail and can stick to rough surfaces almost like Spidey. Night fancies himself to be in the mold of an olden day's world sword fighter, a swashbuckler ... sort of a pirates like Johnny Depp before Pirates of the Caribbean

And as the cover clearly indicates, this is a light hearted romp through various scenes as he goes about getting involved in rescuing damsels in distress ...

And that's all there is to it. Nothing monumental happens. Nothing that will change Night's life one bit but it's all in good fun and reading this comic was indeed fun

Ratings: 6/10

2.230 (595) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #203 ...

Check out this cover! For some reason, anything cosmic just makes me wanna buy them all. So naturally I bought this one. Hehehe! And as the cover suggests, this is another crossover with Secret Wars 2 SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

After the latest tussle between Earth's heroes and the Beyonder, everyone went back to their respective hidey holes to either lick their wounds or prepare for the next encounter with the Beyonder and in Rachel's case, she ponders upon the fact that the Beyonder made her an offer of granting her a portion of his power and never taking it back. So does she have enough power now to take him down? Or kill him outright?

For Rachel is not Jean and she is actually more like Wolverine having killed during her own era in one of Earth's alternate realities. While she is busy thinking this through, the rest of the X-team members are unaware until it is too late ... by the time they wanna interfere, she has already made up her own mind and she issued the Beyonder a challenge ... and he accepted

What transpires is obviously a wee bit wordy as both hero and villain exchanged words thanks to Mr Claremont. However, while we may call it intellectual BS, it still is awesome to read. Seriously. And the artwork just makes us go WOW ...

We do not need to tell you how it ends because any new comic reader knows how it ends. The excitement is in how it came to its conclusion ...

Ratings: 7/10

2.229 (594) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #202 ...

Okay. Enough with the New Mutants eh? Now we switch on to the main team - Uncanny X-Men and what a ride this series has been for the past 100 issues. Chris Claremont really gets the characters and here he shows that he can start a new tale in the midst of impending crossover time (Secret Wars 2) and still managed to make it standalone so well

As the cover indicates (and what a lovely lovely cover it is), the Sentinels are back. And you all know what it means! Mutant hunting time ... yup for those not in the know SPOILER ALERT ... Sentinels are basically created to hunt down and exterminate mutants and here, that's what they do

So our team, still licking their wounds after their past few issues of hectic over the top stress and tension, are ill equipped to face the robotic death traps. However, in this instance, it is not a case of lacking raw power but rather focus

Still with Rachel, baby Phoenix on their side, they cannot lose, eh?

What you need to know is buy this comic and just read it and enjoy it. The art and colours work so well here with the tale

Ratings: 7/10