Category: Graphic Novels

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Superior Carnage


By Kevin Shinick, Stephen Segovia, Dennis Crisostomo, Don Ho & Dan Mexia (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-567-3

Back in the anything goes, desperate hurly-burly of the late 1980s and early1990s, fad-fever and spin-off madness gripped the superhero genre in America as publishers hungrily exploited every trick to bolster flagging sales. In the melee Spider-Man spawned an intractable enemy called Venom: deranged, disgraced reporter Eddie Brock who bonded with Peter Parker‘s Secret Wars costume (a semi-sentient alien parasite dubbed the Symbiote) to become a savage, shape-changing dark-side version of the Webspinner.

Eventually the arachnid adversaries reached a brooding détente and Venom became the “Lethal Protector”, dispensing his own highly individualistic brand of justice anywhere but New York City.

But then the symbiote went into breeding mode; spawning a junior version which merged with serial psycho-killer Cletus Kasady. Utterly amoral, murderously twisted and addicted to both pain and excitement, he became the terrifying metamorphic Carnage: a murder-crazy monster tearing a bloody swathe through the Big Apple before an army of superheroes caught him and his equally lethal “family” (as seen in the crossover epic Maximum Carnage).

One of the most dangerous beings on Earth, eventually Kasady was executed with his remains dumped safely into high-Earth orbit.

However, “safe” is an extremely relative word and eventually the crimson killer returned…

More recently, as part of the MarvelNow! restart event, Spider-Man underwent a startling shake-up which left arch villain Otto Octavius in control of the Wallcrawler’s body and permanently installed in Peter Parker’s brain.

The hero’s mind had been maliciously transferred and trapped in the dying body of Dr. Octopus where, despite his every desperate effort, Parker perished with and within that decrepit, expiring frame. With his final efforts he bombarded the psychic invader with his full unvarnished memories and forced Octavius to experience every ghastly moment of tragedy and sacrifice, binding Ock to living the rest of his stolen life in tribute to his enemy and earnestly endeavouring to carry on Spider-Man’s self-imposed mission. However, Octavius’ personality gradually was in control, resulting in a cold, calculating and obsessively Superior Spider-Man.

Scripted by Kevin Shinick (Avenging Spider-Man, Robot Chicken) with art from Stephen Segovia, Dennis Crisostomo, Don Ho & Dan Mexia, this slim, grim tome collects the 5-issue miniseries Superior Carnage (September 2013-January 2014), beginning in an undisclosed containment facility where the recently recaptured Kasady -lobotomised in a clash with the Scarlet Spider – has been transferred to be dumped and forgotten.

Sadly it only makes the monster available to another ruthless maniac…

The Wizard has his own problems: once one of the smartest men on Earth, a battle with Black Bolt has left him with induced and progressive dementia which will soon kill him. Desperate to prove himself to his son (who couldn’t care less), the sinister savant uses mind-control tech to release Carnage – dormant since Kasady became functionally brain-dead – and lets the bloodthirsty beast run wild amongst the prison population…

The Wizard’s goal is to revive and restock his gang The Frightful Four, but he hits a slight snag when the beast proves uncontrollable due to the simple fact that Kasady has no mind…

Lucky for the bewildered boffin his already-restored ally Klaw is still loyal. The creature is composed of solidified sound and easily subdues the rampaging Carnage, since the only vulnerabilities symbiotes possess are no tolerance for fire and extreme sonic frequencies…

With Plan A a bust, the increasingly unstable Wizard then transfers the alien parasite to his confederate Karl Malus, a wheelchair-bound rogue surgeon who is far from happy to be the monster’s new home, but upon whom the aforementioned mind-control mechanisms will work…

And all this time the Superior Spider-Man has been hunting the escapees: dedicating his vast crimefighting resources to seeking out the Wizard, even though he believes there’s little to fear from a demented ex-genius and brain-dead serial killer…

Impossibly, the impromptu tactic works and Malus’ intellect has had a transformative effect on the alien, which now augments its lethal metamorphic abilities with an arsenal of high-tech weaponry.

Delighted and delirious, the rapidly declining Wizard then leads his team in a murderous assault on City Hall, attacking New York’s controversial Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. The big brain has no intention of surviving the foray and fully intends to go out in a headline-grabbing blaze of glory…

It’s just as well, as Malus’ grip on the Carnage creature is slowly slipping…

The doomed desperadoes are just too late. Spider-Man has deployed his own mercenaries to spirit Jameson away, but has in turn severely underestimated the threat posed by the invaders.

Only after all of his men are slaughtered does the Wallcrawler realise his error, and is further shocked when the Wizard – despite his declining faculties – discerns that he’s fighting Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man’s body…

When the Wizard’s control fades Carnage then takes over its host and goes completely wild, beating Spider-Man and destroying Klaw, but as the sound-master’s body explodes, the uncontained fury blasts the Symbiote off and out of Malus…

And into the Wizard…

Shock follows shock as the tales escalates to a spectacular and fearsomely foreboding conclusion that will satisfy every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s wildest dreams whilst promising even nastier surprises in days to come…

Smart, sharp, fast-paced and addictively action-packed, this stand-alone saga keeps tensions high and the suspense bubbling, and this creepy chronicle also includes a covers-&-variants gallery by Clayton Crain, Marco Checchetto and Raffa Garres.
The Spider-Man has been reinvented so often it’s almost become commonplace, but this
™ & © 2013 and 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. Italy. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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The New Avengers volume 1: Breakout


By Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1479-6

During the Marvel rebirth in the early 1960’s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby aped a tactic which had recently paid big dividends for DC Comics, but with initially mixed results.

Although Julie Schwartz had achieved incredible success with revised and modernised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, the natural gambit of trying the same revivification process on characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days didn’t go quite so well.

The Justice League of America-inspired Fantastic Four featured a new Human Torch but his subsequent solo series began to founder almost as soon as Kirby stopped drawing it. Sub-Mariner was back too, but as a villain, as yet incapable of carrying his own title…

So the costumed character procession continued: Lee, Kirby and Steve Ditko churning out numerous inventive and inspired “super-characters”. Not all caught on: Hulk lost his title after six issues and even Spider-Man would have failed if writer/editor Lee hadn’t really, really pushed his uncle, the publisher…

Thus, after nearly 18 months during which the fledgling House of Ideas had created a small stable of leading men (but only a sidekick woman), Lee & Kirby settled on combining their meagre stock of individual stars into a group – which had made the JLA a commercial winner – and assembled a handful of them into a force for justice and even higher sales…

Cover-dated September 1963, The Avengers #1 launched as part of an expansion package which also included Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and The X-Men…

Despite a few rocky patches, the series soon grew into one of the company’s perennial top sellers, but times and tastes always change and after four decades, in September to December 2004, the “World’s Mightiest Heroes” were shut down and rebooted in a highly publicised event known as Avengers Disassembled.

Of course it was only to replace them with both The New and The Young Avengers. Affiliated comic-books Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Spectacular Spider-Man also ran parallel but not necessarily interconnected story-arcs to accompany the Big Show.

Said Show consisted of the worst day in the team’s history as the Scarlet Witch was revealed to have gone crazy, betraying the team who had been her family and causing the destruction of everything they held dear and the death of several members. That all happened in issues #500-503, plus the one-shot Avengers Finale.

The most important major change from that epic ending was The New Avengers, and this slim tome collects the first six issues from that celebrated revamp (covering January to June 2005) as Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch – with inking assistance from Danny Miki, Mark Morales, Allen Martinez & Victor Olazaba – redefined the nature of group heroics for a darker, more complex age.

The six-chapter saga ‘Breakout’ begins six months after the day Tony Stark shut down the Avengers and withdrew all funds, backing and support…

Somewhere in the city a shadowy client hires super-villain Electro to facilitate the escape of a certain individual from the metahuman super High Security prison The Raft.

The lock-up is located on an island in New York City Harbour: a high-tech exemplar of space-age confinement, keeping hundreds of super-thugs and deadly monsters safely away from decent folks, all efficiently operated and maintained by superspy peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D.

One particular day, lawyers Foggy Nelson and his partner Matt (Daredevil) Murdock are visiting a mystery prisoner at the behest of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. In accordance with security protocols they are accompanied by S.H.I.E.L.D. super-agent Jessica Drew – formerly costumed crusader Spider-Woman – but have also brought their own metahuman bodyguard in the formidable form of Luke Cage AKA Power Man.

They picked the worst possible day. As a city-wide sudden power blackout disables the technologies suppressing the powers of the inmates, Electro’s attack shatters the walls and, having secured his target, the mega-volt mercenary opens all the cells and tells the exultant escapees to have fun whilst he flees…

At the first sign of trouble Peter Parker switched to Spider-Man and headed for The Raft, snagging a ride on an official helicopter. When it is shot down, he is pulled from the freezing waters by Captain America who had diverted the chopper to get to the endangered island…

Far below the surface level, Agent Drew has shepherded her charges to relative safety, leaving Foggy in the cell of the man they’d come to interview. Bob Reynolds, a superhero known as Sentry, is the most powerful being on Earth and has allowed himself to be incarcerated for the murder of his own wife…

As Nelson tries to break through to the shell-shocked, nigh-comatose superhuman, Drew, Cage and Daredevil are engaging in a brutal holding action against an army of enraged psychos, whilst at the surface level Spidey and Cap are fighting for their lives.

Things go bad when the web-spinner’s arm is broken, whilst down in Sentry’s cell the sadistic metamorph Carnage finds a way to reach the cowering Foggy…

The inevitable bloodbath rouses Sentry from his stupor and the Golden Gladiator explodes out of the Raft, carrying Carnage to his doom in deep space, whilst on the surface level Iron Man’s blockbusting arrival begins to turn the tide against the army of maniacs…

The third chapter opens with Stark and Steve Rogers discussing the recently pacified penitentiary and the obvious need for the Avengers to reform. Captain America’s urgent belief that it was fate calling a new team together nearly sways the arch-rationalist – as does the fact that forty-two of the worst malefactors managed to get away in the chaos – but Iron Man remains uncommitted until Cap can get some – or any – of the staunch loners they fought beside to join the proposed New Avengers team…

Always undaunted, the Star-Spangled Avenger starts talking and soon Spider-Woman, Cage and Spider-Man are aboard. Daredevil again declines to join any group and the enigmatic Sentry just goes back to his cell…

Captain America even convinces S.H.I.E.L.D. to rehire the immediately cashiered Jessica as liaison between the agency and Avengers – although current Director Maria Hill is hostile to both her and the formation of a new team. Little do any of them know that Spider-Woman’s loyalties divide not two ways, but three…

The first order of business is to find Electro and discover who he was specifically after. The trail leads to Boston, another blistering battle but no joy, forcing Drew to try radical tactics on the remaining, re-incarcerated super-freaks in an attempt to divine the identity of the cause of all their problems.

Soon the rag-tag band are rocketing to the Savage Land – a sub-surface wonderland of cavemen, dinosaurs and other strange creatures left in splendid isolation as a UN Protectorate – to recapture Karl Lykos, a man who feeds on mutant energy to become the reptilian monster Sauron…

The excursion is a disaster: they are marooned, attacked by giant lizards and captured by mega-genius Brainchild and his band of Mutates. Lykos’ escape had been engineered by the ruthless experimenter, who still considers humans as guinea pigs and seems intent on eradicating mankind, but the proto-Avengers’ biggest problem is a former ally.

Wolverine has also tracked the fugitive to the Antarctic paradise and intends to end the threat of Sauron forever… no matter who gets in the way…

He is just too late and the great reptile is reborn. However, during the subsequent battle the heroes uncover an even greater horror. Global good guys S.H.I.E.L.D. have apparently enslaved the indigenous people of the region and are using them to mine alien wonder element Vibranium.

Unfortunately, the secret is guarded by ultra-operative Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow and she is quite prepared to destroy them – and the entire installation – to preserve the secret…

In the appalling aftermath the astounded Avengers make more ghastly discoveries. The Raft breakout also exposed the fact that many of the criminals held there had been reported dead for years and the new team – which now includes Wolverine – have to face the prospect that the Free World’s greatest peacekeeping force may be partly (or wholly) corrupt: stockpiling deadly elements, super-weapons and even metahumans for what cannot possibly be any good reason…

Shaken and betrayed, The New Avengers resolve to find out why, whatever the cost…

Smart, bombastic and laced with tension and brilliant hilarity, this was – and remains – a superb moment of innovation and bold thinking that truly revitalised a moribund concept, With covers-&-variants by Finch, Miki & Frank D’Armata, Steve McNiven, Joe Quesada,. Trevor Hairsine, Olivier Coipel, Jim Cheung, Richard Isanove, Adi Granov and Bryan Hitch, this is a grand jumping-on point for readers who love Fights ‘n’ Tights Fiction and fans familiar with either the TV animation series or movie blockbuster iterations of the World’s Greatest Superheroes.
© 2004 and 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Dark Avengers: Molecule Man


By Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, Rain Beredo & Greg Horn (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3854-9
One of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history occurred in 1963 when a disparate array of freshly minted individual heroes banded together to stop the Incredible Hulk. The Mighty Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package, and over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe – and even some from others – has at some time numbered amongst their serried ranks.

After years of valiant, if often controversial service to humanity, when the draconian Federal initiative known as Superhuman Registration Act led to Civil War between costumed heroes, Tony Stark AKA Iron Man was appointed the American government’s Security Czar – the “top cop” in sole charge of a beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom: Director of high-tech enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and last word in all matters involving metahumans and the USA’s vast costumed community…

Stark’s mismanagement of various crises led to the arrest and assassination of Captain America and an unimaginable escalation of global tension and destruction, culminating in an almost-successful Secret Invasion by shape-shifting alien Skrulls.

Discredited and ostracised, Stark was replaced by apparently rehabilitated and recovering schizophrenic Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin), who assumed full control of the USA’s covert agencies and military resources, disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed the nation under the aegis of his own new organisation H.A.M.M.E.R.

The erstwhile Spider-Man villain had begun his climb back to respectability after taking charge of the Government’s Thunderbolts Project; a penal program which offered a second chance to super-criminals who volunteered to undertake Federally-sanctioned missions…

Not content with commanding legitimate political and personal power, Osborn also secretly conspired with a coalition of major menacing masterminds to divvy up the world between them. The Cabal was a Star Chamber of super-villains all working towards a mutually beneficial goal, but such egomaniacal personalities could never play well together and cracks soon began to show, both in the criminal conspiracy and Osborn himself.

As another strand of his long-term plan, the Homeland Security overlord subsequently sacked the Avengers and formed his own, more manageable team consisting of replacements and outright impostors…

Constantly courting public opinion, Osborn launched his Avengers whilst systematically building up a new, personally loyal high-tech paramilitary rapid-response force. Moreover, seemingly to keep himself honest, he hired ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. hardliner Victoria Hand as his Deputy Director, tasked with watching the recovering madman for any signs of regression into criminal insanity…

His second-in-command was also occupied with the day-to-day running of the organisation whilst he concentrated on keeping Greek War-God Ares, mentally-disturbed superman Sentry and altruistic, dimensionally displaced alien Noh-Var – now dubbed Captain Marvel – unaware of his true intentions.

His other recruits were content with the sweet perks and devious deals on offer. Bullseye, Moonstone, Venom and Wolverine‘s psychotic son Daken Akihiro happily counterfeited Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man and the irascible mutant Avenging X-Man, especially as Osborn had confiscated and repurposed Tony Stark’s greatest inventions into his own suit of super-armour, retooled and finished to invoke impressions of both Captain America and the Golden ex-Avenger. Iron Patriot was always at the forefront of his hand-picked team, leading from the front as a true American hero should…

Collecting issues #9-12 (December 2009-March 2010) of the controversial Dark Avengers series scripted by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Mike Deodato & colourist Rain Beredo, this volume begins to catalogue the cracks in the façade.

As Osborn starts to become unglued, the God of War takes a personal day and follows his son Alexander.

Nick Fury, driven by duty, fuelled by suspicion and powered by a serum which kept him vital far beyond his years, didn’t go away when S.H.I.E.L.D. was shut down. He just went deep undercover and continued doing what he’d always done – saving the world, one battle at a time. From an unassailable, unsuspected vantage point Fury picked his battles and slowly gathered assets and resources he’d personally vetted or built…

The indomitable freedom fighter had always known that to do the job properly he needed his own trustworthy forces and no political constraints. To this end he had long endeavoured to clandestinely stockpile his own formidable team, which included a crack squad of super-human operatives: Yo Yo Rodriguez AKA Slingshot, Sebastian Druid, Jerry “Stonewall” Sledge, J.T. “Hellfire” James and Daisy Johnson, codenamed Quake, and the terrifyingly volatile Alexander: a 12-year old boy of incredible power.

The child Phobos was destined to become a true god – the personification of Fear – but until then his daily-developing divine gifts were Fury’s to use…

Now Ares tracks his delinquent child to the lair of his commanding officer’s most dangerous enemy. Instead of all-out combat, however, the confrontation with Fury leads to a shaky détente and an improbable deal…

The main part of this volume then deals with the faux team’s most perilous challenge, as a string of uncanny disappearances in back-of-beyond hamlet Dinosaur, Colorado ties in with Osborn’s desire to keep his bored and dangerous team occupied.

However when the more-than-godlike Sentry is apparently vaporised, the grand schemer realises the magnitude of the unidentified menace and mobilises his entire organisation.

But as his team approach ground zero and the still unknown foe, each is whisked into a personalised hell (illustrated in painted sections by Greg Horn) wherein impossibly overwhelming Molecule Man Owen Reece sits in judgement and metes out appalling punishments on the interlopers who have desecrated his private paradise and playground…

With only Victoria Hand left the situation looks dire, but the former S.H.I.E.L.D. bean-counter undertakes a brilliant last-ditch stratagem which delays events long enough for Sentry to somehow reassemble himself and battle the most powerful creature in existence to a standstill…

Not even Sentry himself realised just how strong he truly was, and as that terrifying fact sinks in Osborn continues to mentally unravel – even as his erstwhile Cabal ally Loki attacks…

To Be Concluded…

This portentous, doom-drenched psycho-drama builds breathtaking suspense whilst delivering blistering action in a slowly-intensifying progression as part of the “Dark Reign” company-wide crossover which impacted upon the entire Marvel Universe, yet besides being a component of an overarching epic, still holds together effectively as an entertaining one-off read for casual Fights ‘n’ Tights fans…

Also included to enhance the appeal are a cover gallery by Deodato & Beredo, a wealth of Characters Designs and unused material, a 4-page article on the Cover Process, Norman’s Dream Sketchbook by Greg Land and an information feature on Molecule Man taken from the Marvel Universe Handbook.

Although definitely not a book for younger fans, this is another striking saga from author Bendis, packed with intrigue and action, magnificently illustrated and offering an engaging peek at the sinister side of superheroics and the deadly downside of good intentions.
© 2009 and 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman/Batman: Supergirl

New Revised Review

By Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0347-7

In a shock of sheer horror, I realised over Christmas that I’ve been doing this for over 20 years: firstly in magazines like Comics Forum and books like Slings and Arrows, then as an online critic for the Comics Creators Guild website, before starting the independent Now Read This! in 2007.
Moreover many of those early efforts weren’t particularly fair or good – a side-effect of being literally bombarded non-stop with volumes one wouldn’t generally pick to read.
Thus in a probably futile effort to be less judgemental I’ve been going over older reviews, rethinking some previous pronouncements and will be making amends over the months to come.
What’s really worrying is how many I haven’t changed my mind about…

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the “World’s Finest” team. They were best friends and the pairing made perfect financial sense as National/DC’s most popular heroes could cross-sell their combined readerships.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths 1980s, they were remade as cautious but respectful co-workers who did the same job whilst deploring each other’s methods. They preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League – but then, the character continuity of team titles has always been largely at odds with heroes at home in their own titles…

After a few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again with modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestably differing methods and characters.

For decades DC really couldn’t make up their minds over Supergirl. I’ve actually lost count of the number of different versions that have cropped up over the years, and I’ve never been able to shake the queasy feeling that above all else she’s a concept that was cynically shifted from being a way to get girls reading comics to one calculated to ease young male readers over that bumpy patch between sporadic chin-hair outbreaks, voices breaking and that nervous period of hiding things under your mattress where your mum never, never ever looks…

After a few intriguing test-runs she debuted as a future star of the ever-expanding Superman pocket universe in Action Comics #252 (May 1959). Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El had been born on a city-sized fragment of Krypton, hurled intact into space when the planet exploded. Eventually Argo City turned to Kryptonite like the rest of the detonated world’s debris and her dying parents, observing Earth through their vision-scopes, sent their daughter to safety as they apparently perished.

Landing on Earth, she met Superman who created the identity of Linda Lee and hid her in an orphanage whilst she learned of her new world and powers in secrecy and safety.

Her popularity waxed and waned over the years until she was earmarked for destruction as part of the clearout of attention-grabbing deaths during the aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths.

However as detailed in scripter Jeph Loeb’s introduction ‘On the Roller Coaster or, How Supergirl Returned to the DCU for the First Time’, after John Byrne successfully rebooted the Man of Steel, non-Kryptonian iterations began to appear – each with their own fans – until early in the 21st century the company Powers-that-Be decided the real Girl of Steel should come back… sort of…

Thus this visually intoxicating version (reprinting Superman/Batman #8-13, May-October 2004) resets to the original concept and has a naked blonde chick arrive on a Kryptonite meteor, claiming to be Superman’s cousin…

Written by Loeb with captivating art by Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald, the action commences in the aftermath of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies wherein a Green Kryptonite asteroid crashed to Earth. Now in ‘Alone’, as a quarantined Superman chafes at enforced detention, the Dark Knight explores a section of the meteor submerged in Gotham Bay.

The JLA have all been active, clearing away the deadly fragments, but this last one is most disturbing. As Batman quickly grasps, it’s a ship but its single passenger is missing…

Soon the Gotham Guardian is tracking a wave of destruction caused by a seemingly confused teenaged girl with incredible powers and only Superman’s unwise early intervention stops the mounting carnage. Their subsequent investigations reveal the comely captive to have all the Man of Tomorrow’s abilities and she claims – in fluent Kryptonian – to be the daughter of his long-dead uncle Zor-El…

The mystery further unfolds in ‘Visitor’ as a deeply suspicious Batman and ecstatic Superman continue their researches, arguing their corners as the most powerful girl on Earth becomes increasingly impatient. Fuelling the Dark Knight’s concern is superdog Krypto‘s clear and savage hostility to the newcomer and Kara‘s claims that she has amnesia…

Then as Clark Kent endeavours to acclimatise his cousin to life on Earth, on the hellish world of Apokolips vile Granny Goodness and her Female Furies are ordered by ultimate evil space-god Darkseid to acquire the pliable naive newcomer…

Before they can strike, however, an attack comes from an unexpected source, as former ally Harbinger, ruthless hunter Artemis and beloved ally Wonder Woman ambush the Kryptonians. …

Princess Diana has acted arbitrarily nut from necessity: kidnapping Kara and bringing her to the island home of the Amazons to be trained in the use of her powers as a ‘Warrior’. Superman’s growing obsession has rendered him unable to see her potential for destruction, despite a cryptic message on her space ship from Zor-El, and Wonder Woman decided to strike first and ask later…

With tempers barely cooled, Dark Knight and Man of Steel are invited to observe Kara’s progress weeks later, just as the tropical Paradise is assaulted by an army of artificial Doomsdays manufactured on Apokolips…

The wave of slaughter is a feint, but by the time the horrors are all destroyed, the Female Furies have done their work, slaughtering Kara’s only friend and stealing her away…

In ‘Prisoner’, DC’s superheroic high trinity enlist the aid of Apokolyptian émigré Big Barda and stage a devastating rescue mission to Darkseid’s homeworld, but not before the Lord of evil apparently twists the innocent Girl of Steel into his tool: a ‘Traitor’ to the living…

The Master of Apokolips has never faced a foe as adamant as Batman and the quartet are unexpectedly victorious, but after returning Kara to Earth and announcing her as the new Supergirl, the heroes discover that they are not safe or secure, and in ‘Hero’ Darkseid horrifyingly returns to exact his ultimate revenge…

This hardcover collection also includes a covers-&-variant gallery by Turner, Steigerwald, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, assorted roughs and a wealth of production Sketches, and a nifty 2-page translation key for the Kryptonian Alphabet.

For me, the most intriguing aspect of this sometimes overly-sentimental tale is Batman’s utter distrust and suspicion of Kara as she is hidden from the world while she assimilates, but there’s plenty of beautifully rendered action (plus oodles of lovingly rendered girl-flesh and titillating fetish outfits jostling for attention amidst the lavish fight-scenes and interminable guest-cameos) and enough sheer spectacle to satisfy any Fights ‘n’ Tights fans.
© 2004, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Usagi Yojimbo book 6: Circles


By Stan Sakai (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-146-0

Wandering rabbit bodyguard Miyamoto Usagi started life as a background character in Stan Sakai’s anthropomorphic comedy The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper before indomitably carving his own unique path to graphic glory.

Creative mastermind Sakai was born in 1953 in Kyoto, Japan before the family moved to Hawaii two years later. On graduating from the University of Hawaii with a BA in Fine Arts, he pursued further studies at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design in California and started in comics as a letterer, most famously for the inimitable Sergio Aragonés’ Groo the Wanderer.

Eventually the cartoonist within resurfaced: blending a passionate storytelling drive and abiding love of Japanese history and legend with a hearty interest in the filmic works of Akira Kurosawa and his peers, Sakai began crafting one of the most enticing and impressive fantasy sagas of all time.

And it’s still more educational, informative and authentic than any dozen Samurai sagas you can name…

The addictive period epic is set in a world of sentient animals (with a few unobtrusive human characters scattered about) but scrupulously mirrors the Feudal Edo Period of Japan – (roughly the 17th century AD by our reckoning); simultaneously referencing classic contemporary cultural icons from sources as varied as Zatoichi and Godzilla, whilst specifically recounting the life of a peripatetic Lord-less Samurai eking out as honourable a living as possible by selling his sword as a Yojimbo (bodyguard-for-hire).

As such, his destiny is to be perpetually drawn into a plethora of incredible situations.

He is a rabbit – brave, noble, sentimental, gentle, artistic, empathetic, long-suffering, conscientious and devoted to the tenets of Bushido – who simply cannot turn down any request for help or ignore the slightest evidence of injustice…

This superbly stirring sixth black-&-white blockbuster collects yarns from Fantagraphics’ Usagi Yojimbo comicbook volume 1, #25-31 plus an extra attraction from funny animal anthology Critters #50, offering a selection of complete adventures tantalisingly tinged with supernatural terror and drenched in wit, irony and pathos.

Following an adulatory Introduction from Jeff Smith, the restless Miyamoto encounters a Hannya (female demon) plaguing travellers whenever they try to cross ‘The Bridge’ after which ‘The Duel’ sees him targeted by a ruthless bookie.

The gambler’s professional duellist only needs one final big payday to safely retire with his beloved wife and child, but his disreputable boss is determined to fleece the locals no matter who has to die…

‘Yurei’ means ghost and, when a weeping woman’s spirit invades the Yojimbo’s dreams crying for justice, Usagi becomes an unwitting avenger whose presence provokes her murderer into making a huge and fatal mistake, after which ‘My Lord’s Daughter’ finds the Rabbit Ronin relating his greatest – battle against a horde of Obakemono (monsters) and demons to rescue a princess – in a wry fairy-tale tribute to the aforementioned Groo…

The remainder of this rousing compendium details a revelatory exploit wherein Usagi makes for his home village with thoughts of finally staying in one place. However when he meets again his childhood sweetheart Mariko a shocking secret regarding her soon changes everything.

‘Circles’ is divided into a succession of connected vignettes beginning with ‘Wind over the Tombstones’ as the homeward-bound hero discovers his former sensei Katsuichi – whom he believed dead – is very far from it…

Then in ‘Remembrances’, young Jotaro is abducted by the deadly Jei.

This veritable devil in human form believes himself a “Blade of the Gods” singled out by the Lords of Heaven to kill the wicked. The raving loon has been hunting Usagi ever since the Yojimbo defeated him – with the aid of a fortuitous or possibly divinely sent lightning bolt….

Now, in the little boy Jei senses a connection to his despise quarry and recruits a band of brigands to assist him in his schemes for revenge…

When the devil’s hired killers attack the village where Mariko’s husband Kenichi is headman, the strands of fate knit together as ‘Shroud Over the Mountain’ unites former friends and rivals in their desire to save the boy – who has already escaped and got into even more trouble…

The drama comes to an emotionally shattering climax in ‘Closing the Circle’ as the Rabbit Ronin learns at last the shocking truth about Jotaro and Mariko.

Arranging for his aging sensei to take on a new pupil he then wearily resumes his restless wanderings …

Triumph, tragedy, terrific action and terror all seamlessly flow together in this addictive epic, and Circles is still one the best collections in an unbroken run of classic graphic masterpieces.

Usagi Yojimbo has been in continuous publication since 1987, resulting in more than 30 graphic novel collections and books to date. The Legendary Lepus has guest-starred in many other comics and nearly had his own TV show – but there’s still time yet and fashions are ever fickle so hope endures…

As well as generating a horde of high-end collectibles, art prints, computer games, RPGs, a spin-off sci-fi series and lots of toys to promote popularity, Sakai and his creation have deservedly won numerous awards both within the Comics community and amongst the greater reading public.

Fast-paced yet lyrical, funny and scary, always moving, astoundingly visceral, ferociously thrilling and simply bursting with veracity and verve, Usagi Yojimbo is a work of cartoon genius: engaging and irresistible with a broad appeal that will delight devotees and make converts of the most hardened hater of anthropomorphic adventures.
Text and illustrations © 1992, 1993, 1994 Stan Sakai. Usagi Yojimbo is ® Stan Sakai. Book editions © 1994, 2006 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.

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Essential Avengers volume 7


By Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, George Pérez, Don Heck, Dave Cockrum, Rich Buckler, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, George Tuska & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4453-3

The Avengers always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in a single basket pays off big-time: even when Marvel’s major players like Thor, Captain America and Iron Man are absent, it simply allows the team’s lesser lights and continuity players to shine more brightly.

Although the founding stars were regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy, the human-scale narrative drivers were the regulars without titles of their own and whose eventful lives played out only within these stories and no others.

This monumental seventh monochrome tome, collecting the ever-amazing Avengers‘ extraordinary exploits from issues #140-163 of their monthly comicbook (spanning November 1975-September 1975), also includes material from Avengers Annual #6 plus a crossover appearance from Super-Villain Team-Up #9.

This era saw revered and multi-award winning scripter Steve Englehart surrender the writing reins to Gerry Conway during a period of painful recurring deadline problems – before neophyte wunderkind Jim Shooter came aboard to stabilise and reshape the cosmology and history of the Marvel Universe through the adventures of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes…

Opening this epochal tome is ‘The Phantom Empire!’ (Avengers #141, by Englehart, George Pérez & Vince Colletta), which began another complex, multi-layered epic combining superheroic Sturm und Drang with searing – for 1975, at least – political commentary.

It all began when new member The Beast was ambushed by mercenaries from corporate behemoth Roxxon Oil.

He was saved by ex-Avenger Captain America who had been investigating the company on a related case and, after comparing notes, realised something very big and very bad was going on…

Linking up with Thor, Iron Man, other trainee Moondragon and the newly returned newlyweds Vision and Scarlet Witch, the pair learned of another crisis building as Hawkeye had gone missing, probably captured by time tyrant Kang the Conqueror…

Just as the Assemblage was agreeing to split into teams, former child model Patsy Walker-Baxter (star of a bunch of Marvel’s girl’s market comics such as Patsy Walker and Patsy & Hedy) burst in, threatening to expose Beast’s secret identity…

When he had first further mutated, Hank McCoy had attempted to mask his anthropoid form and Patsy had helped him in return for his promise to make her a superhero. Now she had resurfaced prepared to use blackmail to make him honour his vow. She got dragged along as one squad (Cap, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch and Vision) joined Beast’s as he returned to his old lab at Brand/Roxxon… where they were ambushed by alternate Earth heroes the Squadron Supreme…

Moondragon and Thor meanwhile co-opted sometime ally Immortus and followed Hawkeye back to 1873 but were also bushwhacked, finding themselves battling Kang beside a coterie of cowboy legends including Kid Colt, Night Rider, Ringo Kid, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid in ‘Go West, Young Gods!’ even as the present-day team learned that their perilous plight involved a threat to two different dimensions’ situations because Roxxon had joined with the corporations which had taken over the Squadron Supreme’s America – thanks to the malignly mesmeric Serpent Crown of Set…

The Wild West showdown culminated in the apparent death of a deity in ‘Right Between the Eons!’ (Avengers #143, inked by Sam Grainger). Elsewhen, the 20th century heroes were beginning their counterattack in the esoteric weaponry factory at Brand, and during all that running wild the heroes found the technologically advanced, ability-enhancing uniform of short-lived adventurer The Cat in a storeroom.

When Patsy put it on the hero-groupie neophyte dubbed herself Hellcat in ‘Claws!’ (Mike Esposito inks)…

Soon after, the Avengers were cornered by the Squadron and as battle recommenced Roxxon president Hugh Jones played his trump card and transported all the combatants to the other Earth…

The dreaded deadline doom hit just at this crucial juncture and issues #145-146 were taken up with a 2-part fill-in by Tony Isabella, Don Heck & John Tartaglione with additional pencils by Keith Pollard for the concluding chapter.

‘The Taking of the Avengers!’ revealed how a criminal combine had taken out a colossal contract on the World’s Mightiest Superheroes but even though ‘The Assassin Never Fails!’ the killer was thwarted and Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Beast, Vision and Scarlet Witch – plus Wasp, Yellowjacket and the Falcon all safely returned to their various cases untroubled by the vagaries of continuity or chronology which makes this rather impressive yarn such a annoyance in this specific instance…

The trans-dimensional traumas finally resumed in Avengers #147 which described the ‘Crisis on Other-Earth!’ (Englehart, Pérez & Colletta). With the corporate takeover of the other America revealed to have been facilitated by use of the mind-bending mystical serpent crown, the Scarlet Witch took possession of the sinister helm and her team-mates tried desperately to keep the overwhelming Squadron Supreme from regaining it.

On our Earth Hawkeye brought Two-Gun Kid to the modern world but decided to go walkabout rather than rejoin his fellow Avengers even as Thor and Moondragon began searching for their missing colleagues…

It was back to business in #148 as ‘20,000 Leagues Under Justice!’ (Grainger) featured the final showdown and the Avengers’ victory over a wiser and repentant Squadron Supreme, and as the heroes returned to their home dimension ‘The Gods and the Gang!’ reunited them with Moondragon and the Thunder God to clean up Brand/Roxxon. The Corporate cabal still had one trick left to play however: a colossal and biologically augmented Atlantean dubbed Orka, the Human Killer Whale…

Avengers #150 saw an official changing of the guard as ‘Avengers Assemble’ by Englehart, Pérez, Tartaglione & Duffy Vohland – supplemented part-way through by half of ‘The Old Order Changeth!’ (reprinted from #16 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) – settled the membership question and made way for new scripter Gerry Conway in #151 whose ‘At Last: The Decision’ (with additional scripting by Jim Shooter & Englehart and art from Pérez & Tartaglione) set the group off on new, less cosmic adventures.

No sooner had the long-delayed announcement been made (this membership drive had begun in Avengers #137 after all) though, than a mysterious crate disgorged the long-dead body of Wonder Man which shockingly shambled to its feet and accused the stunned android Vision of stealing his mind…

Long ago Simon Williams had been turned into a human powerhouse by arch-villain Baron Zemo and used as a Trojan horse to infiltrate the team, but eventually gave his life to redeem himself. After he was buried his brain patterns were used to provide an operating system for The Vision, inadvertently creating a unique human personality for the cold thing of plastic wires and metal…

In #152 ‘Nightmare in New Orleans!’ kicked the simmering saga into high gear as the team began a search for the fallen Wonder Man’s grave robber/re-animator, in a tale by Conway, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott which soon found the team facing voodoo lord Black Talon in New Orleans…

‘Home is the Hero!’ reintroduced 1940 Marvel sensation Bob Frank (AKA super fast superhero The Whizzer). In a tragic tale of desperation the aged speedster sought the heroes’ help before he was seemingly possessed and attacked the team.

Avengers Annual #6 answered all the mysteries and wrapped up the storyline with ‘No Final Victory’ (illustrated by Pérez, Esposito, Tartaglione & Vohland), as a conspiracy involving the Serpent-helmed Living Laser, Whizzer’s government-abducted son mutant son Nuklo and rogue US Army General Pollock almost succeeded in conquering California if not America – until the resurgent Avengers laid down the law…

Also included in the annual – and here – was ‘Night Vision’ by Scott Edelman & Herb Trimpe: a stirring solo story of the Android Avenger battling super swift psychopath Whirlwind.

In Avengers #154 ‘When Strikes Attuma?’ Conway, Pérez & Pablo Marcos began a blockbuster battle bonanza which was in part a crossover with Super-Villain Team-Up (this series followed the uneasy coalition of Dr. Doom and Namor the Sub-Mariner). The initial chapter found the Vision captured by subsea barbarian Attuma even as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were ambushed and defeated by the warlord’s augmented Atlantean thrall Tyrak the Treacherous.

The scheme was simple enough: use the enslaved surface champions as cannon fodder in an assault against Namor…

At this time US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had recently signed a non-aggression pact with the Dictator of Latveria with Doom subsequently blackmailing the Sub-Mariner into serving as his unwilling ally. One American vigilante observed no such legal or diplomatic niceties. The Shroud thought he had freed the Atlantean from his vow by “killing” Doom but the villain had survived the assault: rescued and secretly imprisoned by Sub-Mariner’s cousin Namorita and girlfriend Tamara under the misguided apprehension that they could force the Metal-shod Monarch into helping Atlantis and their lost Prince.

SVT-U #9 carried on the epic encounter with the heroes now ‘Pawns of Attuma’ (scripted by Bill Mantlo, drawn by Jim Shooter & Sal Trapani) as the Avengers were unleashed upon the Atlanteans, only to discover Doom now in charge and easily able to thwart their half-hearted assault.

In Avengers #155 the beaten heroes were helpless, leaving only confused, despondent and battle-crazed Namor ‘To Stand Alone!’ (Conway Perez & Marcos), joined by lone stragglers the Beast, Whizzer and Wonder Man to hunt down the triumphant barbarian sea lord.

The epic conclusion came in ‘The Private War of Doctor Doom!’ (Avengers#156, by Shooter, with art from Sal Buscema & Marcos) wherein the liberated and furious heroes joined forces to crush Attuma whilst simultaneously preventing Doom from turning the situation to his own world-conquering advantage…

In #157 ‘A Ghost of Stone!’ (Conway, Heck & Marcos) addressed a long-unresolved mystery of the Black Knight – his body had been petrified whilst his soul was trapped in the 12th century – as a strange force reanimated the statue and set it upon the weary heroes, after which ‘When Avengers Clash!!’ (Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos) saw the revived and now fully-recovered Wonder Man clash with an impossibly jealous Vision over the Scarlet Witch.

That Wanda loved the android Avenger was seemingly forgotten as his “borrowed” brain patterns fixated on the logical assumption that eventually his flesh-and-blood wife would gravitate to a normal man with his personality rather than stay married to a mere mobile mechanism…

Domestic tantrums were quickly laid aside when the entire team – plus late arrivals Black Panther and Thor) battled research scientist Frank Hall following an accident which gave him complete control over the forces of gravity…

Apparently unstoppable, Graviton almost destroyed New York in #159 as ‘Siege by Stealth and Storm!’ (Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos) resulted in a savage clash and the unbeatable villain defeating himself…

Avengers #160 featured Eric Williams, the deranged Grim Reaper. With portentous hints of a hidden backer and his dead brother seemingly returned, he conducted ‘…The Trial!’ (Shooter, Pérez & Marcos) to see whether Wonder Man or the Vision was the “true” Simon Williams… but didn’t like the answer he got…

The next issue extended the sub-plot as ‘Beware the Ant-Man’ found the team attacked by a frenzied Henry Pym, whose mind had regressed to mere days after the Avengers first formed. The crazed hero had allied with the homicidal robot he no longer remembered creating and was unwittingly helping it build ‘The Bride of Ultron!’ (#162), pitifully oblivious that for the almost completed Jocasta to live his own wife Janet had to die…

At the close the Avengers believed they had finally destroyed the murderous mechanoid, but they were wrong…

This classic collection of costumed clashes closes with Shooter, George Tuska & Marcos’ stand-alone tale ‘The Demi-God Must Die!’ wherein mythological maniac Typhon returns to capture the team. Despite forcing Iron Man to attack Hercules (to save his hostage Avenging comrades), and even after lots of spectacular smashing, the scheme naturally fails and the World’s Mightiest are triumphant again…

This type of heroic adventure might not be to every reader’s taste but these – and the truly epic yarns that followed – set the tone for fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas for decades to come and can still boggle the mind and take the breath away, even here in the so slick and cool 21st century…

No lovers of Costumed Dramas can afford to ignore this superbly bombastic book and fans who think themselves above superhero stories might also be pleasantly surprised…
© 1975, 1976, 1977, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman/Batman: Night and Day


By Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Scott Kolins, Francis Manapul, Rafael Albuquerque & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2808-8

For decades Superman and Batman were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues, and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

In darker post-Crisis on Infinite Earth Times, the champions were retconned into grudging colleagues, at odds with each other over their methods and attitudes: as different as night and day, but with the passage of time the relationship was revitalised and renewed and the World’s Finest Heroes were fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence, regaining respect and friendship even though they were still in most ways polar opposites.

Finally, after a few tentative miniseries forays, in 2003 the World’s Finest Superheroes bowed to the inevitable and officially reunited in a new team-up series entitled Superman/Batman: an angsty, edgy, post-modern take on a relationship almost as old as the industry itself.

Reformed as firm friends for the style-over-content 21st century, their new stories were all big blockbuster events by major creators, designed to be repackaged as graphic novels. Eventually however the momentum slowed and shallow spectacle gave way to some genuinely interesting and different stories…

This volume contains Superman/Batman #60-63 and #65-67 (from 2009 and 2010), offering just such intriguing glimpses at other, lesser seen aspects of the mythology surrounding the Cape and Cowl Crusaders.

‘Mash-Up’ (by Michael Greene & Mike Johnson with art by Francis Manapul from Superman/Batman #60-61 from July & August 2009) apparently finds the Dark Knight and Man of Steel side-slipped into yet another alternate Earth where old and familiar faces take on new and disturbing forms. However, as they join the heroes of the valiant Justice Titans in battle against Lex Joker and Doomstroke, the razor sharp intellect and obsessive suspicions of Batman slowly determine a far more logical cause for their current situation; something only one of their old foes could possibly be behind…

There’s a far darker tone to ‘Sidekicked’ (Greene, Johnson and illustrated by Raphael Albuquerque from #62) as Tim (Robin III) Drake and Linda Lang AKA Supergirl meet for lunch and reminisce about their first meeting.

Left alone after their respective mentors were called away to a JLA emergency, the kids had to respond when a riot broke out at Arkham Asylum, but although Robin was worried that the sheltered ingénue from Krypton might not be prepared for crazed killers such as Joker, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Clayface, Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Mr. Zsasz, it was his own sanity that nearly sundered before the kids finally triumphed…

‘Night & Day’ – Greene, Johnson & Albuquerque – from Superman/Batman #63 – finds Batman the last person free on an Earth dominated by super-gorilla Grodd. With Superman trapped off-world by a planetary Green Kryptonite force screen, the Dark Knight is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his world – but once again, nothing is as it seems…

This volume omits #64, but resumes with more mindgames as ‘Sweet Dreams’ (#65 by Johnson, Matt Cherniss and artists Brian Stelfreeze, Brian Haberlin, Kelly Jones, Joe Quinones & Federico Dallocchio) depicts Superman’s greatest failures and Batman’s final breakdown – or at least that’s how the Scarecrow prefers to remember it…

The macabre madness of Blackest Night features in the concluding 2-parter by Scott Kolins from Superman/Batman #65-67 (January-February 2010) , as undead muck-monster Solomon Grundy is possessed by a Black Lantern ring and goes hunting for life to extinguish.

With every hero dead or preoccupied, tragic Man-Bat Kirk Langstrom and debased Superman clone Bizarro become unlikely defenders of humanity, with only the ferocious Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein of Super-Human Advanced Defense Executive to assist them. And ultimately at stake on the ‘Night of the Cure’ is salvation and peace for each of the ghastly travesties of life…

With a stunning gallery of covers by Manapul, Brian Buccellato, Albuquerque, Dustin Nguyen, Scott Kolins & Michael Atiyeh, this book delivers a superb series of short and sweet sharp shocks that no lover of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction could resist.
© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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X-Men – Battle of the Atom


By Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Stuart Immonen, Frank Cho, Chris Bachalo & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-553-6

At the dawn of the Marvel Age, some very special kids were chosen by wheelchair-bound mutant telepath Charles Xavier. Scott Summers, Bobby Drake, Warren Worthington III, Jean Grey and Henry McCoy were taken under the wing of the enigmatic Professor X as he enacted his dream of brokering peace and achieving integration between humanity and an emergent off-shoot race of mutants, no matter what the cost.

To achieve his dream he educated and trained the youngsters – codenamed Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Marvel Girl and The Beast – for unique roles as heroes, ambassadors and symbols in an effort to counter the growing tide of human prejudice and fear. The dream was noble, inspirational and worth dying for, and over the years many mutants battling under the X-banner did just that. The struggle to integrate mutants into society seemed to inevitably result in conflict, compromise and tragedy.

During the cataclysmic events of Avengers versus X-Men the idealistic, steadfast and trustworthy team leader Cyclops killed Xavier before eventually joining with old comrade Magik and former foes Magneto and Emma Frost in a hard-line alliance devoted to preserving mutant lives at the cost, if necessary, of human ones. This new attitude appalled many of their formers associates.

Abandoning Scott, his surviving team-mates Beast and Iceman with second generation X-Men such as Wolverine, Psylocke and Storm and stayed true to Xavier’s dream. Opting to protect and train the coming X-generation of mutant kids whilst honouring Xavier’s Dream, they are continuing his methods at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning under the direction of new Head Professor Kitty Pryde…

Things got really complicated after Hank McCoy discovered he was dying. Obsessed with the idea that the naive First Class of X-Men might be able to sway Mutant Enemy terrorist No. 1 back from his current path of doctrinaire madness and ideological race war insanity, the Beast used time-travel tech in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a species war. By bringing the five youngsters back to the future he hoped to reason with the debased, potentially deranged Cyclops and fix everything before his impending death…

The gamble paid off in all the wrong ways. Rather than shocking Scott back to his senses, the confrontation simply hardened the renegade’s heart and strengthened his resolve. Moreover, even after the younger McCoy impossibly cured his older self, young Henry and the rest of the X-Kids refused to go home until “bad” Scott was stopped…

The elder Cyclops and his “Extinction Team” face many problems. Magneto is playing a double (or is it a treble?) game; betraying the terrorists to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill, and her to Cyclops. Moreover as they travel the world gathering up freshly activated Homo Superior kids, the Extinction-ers have been repeatedly targeted by a new mysterious next generation of robotic hunter/killer Sentinels.

All these tales were detailed in X-titles which resulted from the MarvelNOW! publishing event: a jumping-on point which reshaped the whole company continuity, taking the various mutant bands in strange new directions.

Scripted primarily by Brian Michael Bendis, this chronal chronicle collects all the issues in a crossover affecting those niche X-titles through September and October 2013 – specifically All-New X-Men #16-17, Uncanny X-Men #12-13, X-Men #5-6 and Wolverine & the X-Men #36-37, bracketed by the bookend miniseries X-Men – Battle of the Atom #1-2; a plot-light but action-packed, tension-drenched time-travel drama which sets up the next year’s worth of mutant mayhem…

It all begins with X-Men – Battle of the Atom #1, illustrated by Frank Cho, Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger, wherein Magik, using her teleportational ability to traverse time and space, travels into the future to see what tomorrow holds for her kind. The answer seems to be Sentinels, increased human hatred and never-ending conflict…

Back in the now, Professor Pryde is continuing the First Class kids’ on-the-job training against an emergent and very ticked off mutant when more of the mystery sentinels attack. Like evil cavalry the Extermination team materialise and the ideological opponents pitch in together, but in the melee young Cyclops is killed by a stray blast and his older self blinks out of existence. Thankfully even as the entire area begins to shake and fall apart, mutant healer Triage is able to resurrect the dying X-Man. The disruptions cease, but the near-disaster reopens the old argument: the Original Five X-Men are endangering all of existence by being in their own future…

Resolute Kitty overrules young Jean Grey and orders the Beast to send them back, but when he activates the time-cube a strange yet familiar band of X-Men tumble out of it…

The tale resumes in All-New X-Men #16 (Immonen & Von Grawbadger) as the Extinction team (which now includes Jean Grey School defectors Stepford Sisters Celeste, Mindee & Phoebe as well as the time-displaced young Angel) review the attack and consider the notion that S.H.I.E.L.D. might be behind the new Sentinels. Meanwhile at the Grey School the intruders (an elderly Kitty Pride, the grandson of Charles Xavier, an Iceman-Hulk, Deadpool, a further mutated Beast, adult Molly Hayes from the Runaways and mystery telepath Xorn) are demanding that the Original 5 be sent back to their own time immediately…

Or else…

Naturally a huge fight breaks out and in the confusion the traumatised Scott and Jean steal a plane, running away to make sense of all the pressure and acrimony. Most importantly, although the future X-Men’s minds were psi-screened, young Marvel Girl had picked up something indefinable and threatening with her new telepathic abilities…

In the aftermath, as tempers cool Xorn removes her mask and reveals herself as the fugitive girl’s bitter, wiser, fiercely determined older self…

X-Men #5 (art by Davis Lopez) picks up the pace as the now tentatively combined teams set off after the kids. Storm, however, gives her all-female squad different instructions: Rogue and Psylocke join the main party whilst Pryde, Rachel Grey (the confusingly alternate Earth daughter of a different Cyclops and Jean Grey) and vampiric-mutant Jubilee are tasked with guarding the remaining Originals, little Henry McCoy and Bobby Drake…

Never good at obeying orders, they instead follow Scott and Jean themselves, provoking another all-X confrontation and allowing the runaways to bolt for ruined mutant sanctuary Utopia… where the Extinction team are already waiting…

Uncanny X-Men #12 (Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba & Al Vey) ramps up the tension as the “mutant terrorists” learn of the future X-Men and their mission. It is then that Magik reveals her own time-travel jaunt and (some) of what she’s been keeping to herself…

In the light of these events the Extinction-ers are split: Cyclops wanting to help the youngsters whilst Emma rebels and announces that she’ll be helping Xorn and her crew send all the early X-Men back where they belong…

That resolution only lasts as long s it takes to meet their descendents and legacies. Wolverine & the X-Men #36 (Giuseppe Camuncoli & Andrew Currie) quickly finds all three generations of mutants in brutal intercine combat which only ends when young Jean at last acquiesces to the constant pressure and promises to take her team back where they came from…

Then all hell breaks loose as the real Future X-Men show up…

Thanks to Magik, the true defenders of Xavier’s dream have travelled back to Now, following the instigators of an assassination atrocity committed at the crowning moment of mutant/human cooperation. Colossus, Wiccan, Ice Master, Wolverine (AKA Jubilee), Quentin “Phoenix” Quire, Kymera and Sentinel-X  plan to ensure the madness will end before it begins…

No more spoilers from me then except to say that Cam Smith & Terry Pallot help with inks on X-Men #6 and the concluding X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 is written by Jason Aaron with portentous ‘Epilogues‘ by Bendis & Brian Wood, illustrated by Esad Ribic, Camuncoli, Currie, Tom Palmer & Kristopher Anka.

In that stunning, ever-escalating blockbuster clash the various iterations of Once-and-Future mutant champions switch sides and back again, fight, quip, discover which presumed ally is behind the new Sentinels and in some cases give their lives to preserve everything good before it all turns out OK – at least for the moment…

When the smoke clears a new chapter will begin with the Original kids willing but now unable to return to their time, the JeanGreySchool forever changed, friendships and alliances destroyed and Cyclops’ Extinction team immeasurably stronger…

Unfortunately, the most psychotic and potentially lethal monster from the future never made it back to the future and might possibly be stalking the heroes of today, and the time-disruptions caused by the assorted chronally-misplaced persons bodes badly for the continuance of existence…

X-Men: Battle of the Atom also includes many pinups and a huge cover-&-variants gallery by Art Adams, Simone Bianchi & Frank Martin, Frazer Irving, Ed McGuiness & Dexter Vines, Marte Gacia, Lopez, Phil Noto, Stefano Casselli & Andres Mossa, Frank Cho, Shane Davis, Nick Bradshaw, Stephanie Hans, Adi Granov, Immonen, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Leonel Castellani, Bachalo, Anka, Milo Manara and Esad Ribic.

™ & © 2013 and 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Last apologies of the year…

Still plagued by storms, power cuts and with at least one of us recovering from injuries far too slowly for my liking, we’ve all decided to concentrate on paid work and a little bit of celebration to see out this year.

A regular and hopefully fully restored review service will recommence on January 1st 2014 – weather and fate permitting.

In the meantime, have a Happy New Year.

From W!n and the team at Now Read This.