Category: Marvel Superheroes

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Avengers/Invaders – UK Edition


By Alex Ross, Jim Kreuger, Steven Sadowski, Patrick Berkenkotter & Jack Herbert (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-413-3

I’ve mentioned before my innate antipathy to time-travel stories, which can too often simply be an excuse for empty posturing and flamboyant stunts without impacting on a profitable brand.

It’s all true, and I stand by my view but every so often an exception comes along to shake my surly foundations and Avengers/Invaders happily falls into that rare category.

Released as a 12 part limited series this is a classy and well thought out romp set in the post Civil War Marvel Universe with renegade heroes on the run from the government (represented by superhero technocrat Iron Man,) for refusing to submit to federal registration and licensing.

In 1943 war-time super-team the Invaders (Captain America & Bucky, Human Torch & Toro, Sub-Mariner, Spitfire and Union Jack) is battling its way into Hitler’s Fortress Europe when a cosmic mishap sucks most of them to New York in our era. Disoriented and wary they encounter a battle between government-sponsored heroes and the unlicensed outlaw Spider-Man, and jump to the uncomfortable but logical conclusion that the Nazis won World War II!

They soon come into conflict with Iron Man’s Avengers and battle is joined…

And that’s just the start of a compelling epic which combines chilling mystery and a universe-rending threat with sheer, bravura comicbook shtick as childhood icons battle in spectacular manner, whilst the plot contains many twists and surprises to keep the accent on action and suspense.

Even though this sprawling epic contains a host of guest-stars the creators never forget the cardinal rule that every comic is somebody’s first one; meaning that even the freshest reader can happily navigate these continuity-packed pages with comforting ease, particularly in the extended sub-plot concerning Cap meeting the mystery man who replaced him (sorry, no spoiler hints from me!). This makes Avengers/Invaders a magnificently accessible tale for all lovers of the superhero genre in its most primal form.

Also included in this volume is the Sketchbook issue containing Alex Ross and the greatly underrated Steve Sadowski’s working drawings and un-inked artwork, plus a gallery of the many cover variants that graced the original comicbook releases.

© 2008, 2009 Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

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New Avengers: Illuminati


By Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, Jim Cheung & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2436-8

The remodeling of the Avengers franchise continued and expanded with this tale (originally released as the five part miniseries New Avengers: Illuminati) wherein the intellectual and factional powerhouses of the Marvel Universe form a clandestine cabal to guide and dictate the future of the world.

Writers Bendis and Reed spin back to the end of the Kree-Skrull War (relatively recent in story-terms but the epic from Avengers #89-97 was first published in 1971-1972) as a battle between intergalactic rivals nearly destroyed our world. And here the story begins with Charles Xavier of the mutant X-Men, Black Bolt of the Inhumans, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Iron Man of the Avengers, the mystic Doctor Strange and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four materialize in the Skrull throne room to threaten the recently defeated emperor, warning him that no further attacks on Earth would be tolerated.

The confrontation leads to massive bloodshed (an attitudinal and moral shift that would appal older fans) before the earthlings are captured and intensively “studied” by the shape-shifting aliens. Although the humans eventually escape back to Earth the damage has been done; the Skrulls will never rest until our world is theirs and now they have a keen understanding of all types of Terran super-humanity…

Safe on Earth the elite star-chamber of champions resolve to meet whenever necessity dictates: the next recorded incidence being after the Thanos Quest/Infinity Gauntlet affair (1991 for us) as the heroes brave overwhelming terror and temptation whilst trying to put six gems which can control all of time, space and reality beyond harms reach. The third mission deals with the secret origin and final fate of the Beyonder (Secret Wars I and II – 1984-1986) whilst the fourth tale is a more intimate exploration as this disparate group of older men discuss love and loss whilst deciding the fate of Kree invader Marvel Boy who had declared open war against all of humanity.

The final chapter leads into and kicks off the publishing event Secret Invasion (2008). The cabal fragments when Iron Man reveals that Skrulls have replaced an unknown number of Earth’s super-humans as a direct result of their failed first mission. The shape-changing invaders are not only undetectable even to Professor X’s telepathy but they have also duplicated all the unique powers of their long-time adversaries…

The habit of strip-mining and in-filling the history of Marvel’s universe has had some high and low points in the past, but I’m happy to say this intriguing idea is one of the better ones, however a fairly good knowledge of the referenced material is predicated so if you’re a bit of a newbie, best be prepared for some confusing moments. For older fans, myself among them, the real shock is the casual abandonment of such abiding principles as “all life is sacred”: oddly, I always thought this was daft and impractical as a young reader, but seeing the obverse operating is disquieting: aren’t your heroes supposed to be better than you?

Still, this is a cracking good read, wonderfully illustrated by Jim Cheung with inkers Mark Morales, John Dell and David Meikis; cohesive enough that it can be read independently and satisfactorily without further reference to the greater Secret Invasion saga.

© 2007, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Spider-Man 2099: Genesis – UK Edition


By Peter David, Rick Leonardi, Al Williamson and various (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-428-7

At a time when Marvel’s product quality was at an all time low, and following a purported last minute dispute between the company and prodigal son John Byrne (who had re-invented himself by re-inventing Superman) the House of Ideas launched a whole new continuity strand with all new heroes (and franchise extensions) set more than a century into the future.

The world was corporate and dystopian, the scenarios were fantastical and the initial character-pool was predictable if not actually uninspired. A lot of the early material was by any critical yardstick sub-par. But then again there was also Spider-Man 2099.

Some analogue of the wall-crawler is always going to happen in any Marvel imprint (anybody remember Peter Porker, Spider-Ham?), and in those insane days of speculator-led markets (where greedy kids and adults dreamed of cornering the market in “Hot Issues” and becoming instant squillionaires) the early episodes were always going to be big sellers. What nobody expected was just how good those stories were to actually read…

Now the first ten issues are available in a fantastic and entertaining full colour collection.

In 2099 world governments are openly in the capacious pockets of huge multi-national corporations that permeate every aspect of society. All superheroes have been gone for decades although their legends still comfort the underclass living at the fringes – and below the feet – of the favoured ones who can survive in a society based on unchecked, rampant free-marker capitalism.

Miguel O’Hara is a brilliant young geneticist fast-tracked and swiftly rising through the ranks of Alchemax. He enjoys the privileges that his work in creating super-soldiers for the company. He loves solving problems. And now despite the interference of the salary-men and corporate drudges he’s forced to work with he’s on the verge of a major breakthrough: a technique to alter genetic make-up and even instantly combine it with DNA from other organisms…

But after a demonstration goes grotesquely awry the arrogant scientist makes a big mistake when he tells his boss that he’s going to quit. Unwilling to lose such a valuable asset CEO Tyler Stone poisons O’Hara with the most addictive drug in existence – one only available from Alchemax – to keep him loyal.

Desperate, furious and still convinced he knows best the young scientist tries to use his genetic modifier to reset his physiology and purge the addiction from his cells. However one of the lab assistants he used to bully sees a chance for some payback and sabotages the attempt, adding spider DNA to the matrix…

Fast-paced and riotously tongue-in-cheek scripts from Peter David kept the series readable but the biggest asset to Spider-Man 2099 and the greatest factor in its initial success was undoubtedly the fluid design mastery and captivating rollercoaster pencilling of Rick Leonardi wedded to the legendary Al Williamson’s fine ink lines. The art just jumps off the pages at you.

After the eponymous origin issue, #2’s ‘Nothing Ventured…’, which introduced cyborg bounty hunter Venture, and the concluding chapter ‘Nothing Gained’, which saw him soundly defeat the company hired gun, the early editorial policy downplaying “super-villains” resulted in yet another hi-tech Corporate raider in ‘The Specialist’ and ‘Blood Oath’ (issues #4 and 5) going to any length to uncover the secrets of the first costumed adventurer since the mythic “Age of Heroes” ended.

In issue #6 the hero’s Pyrrhic victory leaves him wounded in the dank shanty-zone far beneath the giant skyscrapers of the productive citizens. Spider-Man has to survive ‘Downtown’, encountering an unsuspected underclass of discarded humanity, but soon falls foul of its top predator (and first super-villain) Vulture 2099 in #7’s ‘Wing and a Prayer’ and the concluding ‘Flight of Fancy’. Kelley Jones and Mark McKenna substituted for Leonardi and Williamson in #9’s ‘Home Again, Home Again’ as the reluctant hero finds himself the latest Idée Fixe of celebrity imitators – or are they John the Baptists for a brand new religion?

All through the stories a strong family cast including younger brother Gabe, girl friend Dana, annoying mother and plain-crazy personal computer Lyla have added drama and scintillating laughs in complex and enthralling sub-plots, but in the last tale of this collection ‘Mother’s Day’ they all take centre-stage as we get a peak into the childhood that made Miguel O’Hara the man he is. His reaffirmation of purpose at the end of the book closes this superb lost gem on a merry high and promises great things to come.

It’s not often that Marvel’s output reached this kind of quality after the mid-1980s, especially with a character and setting that didn’t demand prior knowledge of an entire continuity. For sheer enthusiastic enjoyment and old-fashioned Marvel Magic you simply need to step into this particular future…

© 1992, 1993, 2009 Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: the Greatest Foes of Wolverine – UK Edition


By various (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-422-5

The Wolverine juggernaut rolls confidently on with this bulky yet absorbing compendium of bombastic battles starring a selection of worthy adversaries as rendered by some of the biggest names in comics.

The carnage begins with a sleekly impressive turn from illustrators Paul Smith and Bob Wiacek, as the feral mutant Logan goes wild in Japan after the X-Men are poisoned at his wedding. With fellow mutant powerhouse Rogue in tow Wolverine carves a bloody trail to the Yakuza mercenary Silver Samurai and the deadly mastermind Viper in Chris Claremont’s ‘To Have and Have Not’ (from Uncanny X-Men # 173, September 1983).

This is followed by the concluding episode of the six part miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (April, 1985). ‘Honor’ by Claremont and Allen Milgrom features a big battle between Logan and an immortal Ninja magician named Ogun, but unless you’ve actually read the preceding five issues somewhere else, that’s about all you’ll comprehend plot-wise from this underrated saga which completely rewrote the character of the youngest X-Man and her relationship to the Canadian crazyman.

‘Wounded Wolf’ is a visceral, visual masterpiece from Uncanny X-Men # 205, (May 1986), courtesy of Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith as Wolverine faces the vengeance-crazed cyborg Lady Deathstrike in a compelling tale guest-starring little Katie Power from Power Pack.

Marc Silvestri and Dan Green illustrated the first part of a classic clash with ex-Hellfire Club villain Donald Pierce (‘Fever Dream’ Uncanny X-Men # 251, November 1989) and his band of cyborg assassins the Reavers, whilst Rick Leonardi and Kent Williams finished Claremont’s brutal tale in the concluding ‘Where’s Wolverine?!?’

There’s no let-up in the extreme action and bloodletting in the untitled tale that follows as Peter David and Sam Kieth introduce the grotesque and decidedly warped Adamantium Assassin Cyber in an eight chapter, 64 page saga that originally ran in the fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents (1991) whilst John Byrne, Jim Lee and Scott Williams pit the old Canuckle-head (albeit incredibly briefly and please don’t make explain that peculiarly inept nick-name) against toxic Cold War living weapon Omega Red in the first part of a much longer tale that begins in ‘The Resurrection and the Flesh’ from X-Men #4 (January 1992).

From the same month in Wolverine #50, Larry Hama, Marc Silvestri and Dan Green’s ‘Dreams of Gore: Phase 3’ reveals tantalizing snippets from Logan’s past life as secret agent when he fights a rogue computer program and a past lover in a choppy but oddly satisfying tale, whilst ‘The Dying Game’ (Wolverine #90, February 1995) by Hama, Adam Kubert, Mark Farmer and Dan Green, although not the final battle between Logan and his arch-foe Sabretooth it was proclaimed, is certainly one of the most cathartic and impressive.

‘Better than Best’ by Tom DeFalco, Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz (Wolverine #123, April 1998) finds a physically depleted Logan imprisoned and tortured by two of his oldest foes Roughouse (a giant troll) and Bloodscream (a vampire) in an unusually insightful tale of perseverance and the grudge matches conclude – once more unsatisfactorily I’m afraid – with parts one and two of the three part epic ‘Bloodsport’ by Frank Tieri, Dan Fraga and Norm Rapmund (Wolverine #167 and 168, October-November 2001). Herein the mutant mite competes in a gory martial arts/superpowers tournament against such second-raters as Taskmaster, Puma and the Terrible Toad just so he can confront Viper and the man he cannot defeat, the telepathic serial killer Mr. X.

The old, old plot still has plenty of punch here but I find it incomprehensible to have 18 pages of data-files and biographies of Wolverine’s foes pad out the book whilst omitting the 20 or so pages that would end the story! Visually this book contains some of Wolverine’s best moments, but I’ll never understand sacrificing story-content for pictures and punches…

© 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2009 Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

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She Hulk: Time Trials


By Dan Slott, Juan Babillo & Marcelo Sosa and various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-78511-795-7

Let’s re-cap: She Hulk is the cousin of the Incredible Hulk. Her alter-ego, lawyer Jennifer Walters, got a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner and the inevitable result was a super-powerful, ample-bosomed, seven foot tall green Valkyrie who is the poster-child for “As If…”

For most of her comics career she’s been played slightly skewed to the rest of the Marvel Universe. For a good deal of it she was the only character to refer to her life in comic-book terms, with all the fourth wall comedy that could be wrung out of that situation. In this incarnation (reprinting her five issue miniseries from 2005 – in which #3 is celebrated as her 100th full issue) she returns to the prestigious Manhattan law-firm which specialises in the fledgling legal grey area known as Superhuman Law (see also Single Green Female).

This volume is marginally less tongue-in-cheek, but still follows the delightfully accessible formula, albeit with a slightly darker overtone as the human Jennifer needs artificial methods to transform into her seven foot glamazon form due to psychological traumas incurred as a result of the Avengers: Disassembled storyline and her rampaging destruction of the city of Bone, Idaho.

Nonetheless she is soon back at work on a time-travel murder case with a fascinating underlying idea. As everybody in the potential jury pool has been prejudiced by constant media coverage of the attempted murder (the victim isn’t dead yet at time of trial) Jen’s defence team comes up with the brilliant notion of calling jurors from the recent past – courtesy of the multiversal temporal police force the Time Variance Authority…

It’s all going so well until Clint Barton is selected as a jury member: how can Jen work when one of the twelve is secretly Hawkeye – a fellow Avenger she feels responsible for killing!? Guilt-racked and conflicted, Jen decides to break her oath and the rules of time-travel to warn the Ace Archer of the doom that awaits his return to his own time…

The Time Variance Authority is infallible however and when Jen is accused of the capital offence of time-tampering she faces having her entire existence erased from the annals of reality.

This third chapter is also her 100th anniversary issue and features guest art from Paul Pelletier & Rick Magyar, Scott Kolins, Mike Vosburg, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, Ron Frenz, Joe Sinnott & Sal Buscema, Mike Mayhew, Don Simpson, Lee Weeks and Eric Powell as well as dozens of costumed guest-stars from her jaded career as a hero/villain, whilst #4 is a brief interlude in the greater story (illustrated by Scott Kolins) as She Hulk explores the aftermath of her Idaho rampage with the poignant and rewarding ‘Back to Bone’ before the jurisprudence and chronal carnage concludes with the rescue and return of a dead hero…

This is a priceless, clever romp with devastatingly sharp wit and low, vulgar slapstick in equal amounts plus loads of the mandatory angst-free action: a great read and possibly the Best Whacky Legal Drama since Boston Legal. But don’t listen to me: catch this book and judge for yourself…

© 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Wolverine/Ghost Rider: In Acts of Vengeance


By Howard Mackie, Mark Texeira & Harry Candelario (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-7851-0022-9

From that dubious period of “Grim ‘n’ Gritty” super-heroics in the early 1990s comes this slight but entertaining fast-paced pairing of Marvel’s (then) most savage champions which originally ran as the lead series in the fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents #64-70, although dyed-in-the-wool continuity buffs should be warned that the connection to the company’s crossover event Acts of Vengeance is oblique – if not downright tenuous.

From his insalubrious bar on the pirate stronghold of Madripoor the globe-trotting mutant Wolverine is lured back to New York by a blatantly inept attack carried out by ninjas belonging to vampiric super-villain Deathwatch. Meanwhile Dan Ketch, human host of the fearsome Ghost Rider, finds one of his oldest friends also the target of similar ninjas.

The heroes’ paths cross with a karate instructor whose family also has a grudge against the criminal mastermind and all converge on the life-leech’s skyscraper headquarters for a surprise or two and a climactic showdown…

This yarn is just a stylish excuse for a big chase and huge fight – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing – so on those terms, this is a visceral, vicarious, effective use of the creators’ talents, with the added bonus of the introduction of yet another mutant superstar-in-waiting (I think he’s still waiting, even now) in the form of the unstoppable martial arts manhunter code-named Brass.

Sometimes no-frills cathartic comics combat is all you want from graphic narrative, and if you ever get that feeling this might be the book to buy…
© 1990, 1991, 1993 Marvel Entertainment Group. All rights reserved.

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Thor


By J. Michael Straczynski, Olivier Coipel & Mark Morales (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1722-3

I’m always a little dubious about high-profile, big-name relaunches, coming as I do from that curmudgeonly old school which believes that “there are no bad characters”, “Iconoclasm isn’t Creativity” and especially “Famous doesn’t mean Good”.

So it’s rather refreshing to be able to say that the newest incarnation of Marvel’s God of Thunder is a delightfully good read. Collecting issues #1-6 of the monthly comicbook it finds all the entities of Asgard dead and gone (see Avengers Disassembled: Thor, ISBN: 978-0-7851-1599-1 for the startling details) until a mysterious voice summons Thor back to life – and Earth (us fans call it Midgard) – in a crack of spectacular thunder. Revived for an unspecified purpose the solitary Lord of Asgard sets about retrieving the souls of his fellow godlings, scattered and hidden inside human hosts – or perhaps incubators?

There’s a welcome reappearance and significant role for Thor’s early alter-ego Don Blake when the Thunderer rebuilds Asgard in the wilds of Oklahoma and plenty of action as the immortal hero adapts to a world that has radically changed since his demise. Even with cataclysmic battles against former ally Iron Man and the Dread Demolisher, plus a radical new look for the hero’s oldest and most implacable foe, the real joy here is the savvy script, especially the interactions between the resurrected gods and their new neighbours the ordinary folks of Broxton, Oklahoma,.

Beautiful to look at, engagingly written and with a welcome dose of political intrigue and social commentary, this “cosmic comic” has a lot of earthy resonance to balance the scope of its own mythology and, despite ending on an annoying cliffhanger, is a book to recommend to complete neophytes as well as dedicated fans. If you’ve never seen Thor before, you should now…

© 2007, 2008 Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

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The New Warriors: Beginnings


By various (Marvel)
ISBN13: 978-0-7851-2043-8

With the wealth of comics material Marvel has access to it constantly surprises me how poorly served the company’s faithful, mainstream fanbase remains. Whilst there’s always a book or collection with the key stories, name artists, latest edgy hit or crossover compilation available, strong, solid tales comprising pulse-pounding Marvel Madness of the type that made them Number One for so long just don’t seem to make it onto the bookshelves these days.

A perfect example would be this workmanlike gem from 1992, which collected the first unsteady steps of a kid team that grew to be one of the most consistently interesting superhero series of the later Marvel Age.

Created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz before being assigned to Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley to develop, the team consisted of a bunch of failed young super-doers led by a new grim-‘n’-gritty kid millionaire with a grudge, a battle suit and (trust me, it works) high-tech skateboard calling himself Night Thrasher (I still wince at the name).

At their inception the team consisted of hyper-kinetic Speedball, mutant Firestar, telekinetic Vance Astrovic/Marvel Boy, a re-invigorated Nova the Human Rocket, and Sub-Mariner’s niece Namorita: a line-up seemingly designed to flop, but one which swiftly proved the old adage about there being no bad characters, only bad handling…

They made their first appearance in Thor #411 and 412 before launching into their own title, but here, with uncharacteristic consideration for the reader, the editors have led off with that first issue, ‘From the Ground Up!’ an origin of sorts, which sees Dwayne Taylor, man with a mission, gather up a disparate group of super-kids for a mysterious – and as yet unrevealed – project, only to fall foul of a resurrected cosmic powered ex-herald of Galactus named Terrax.

Overcoming the threat the young heroes band together as much to spite dismissive adults like the Avengers as to fight for Justice. This initial helter-skelter romp was written by Nicieza, drawn by Bagley and inked by the legendary Al Williamson.

From there we jump to those aforementioned Thor issues. ‘The Gentleman’s Name is Juggernaut!’ by DeFalco, Frenz and Joe Sinnott, was actually part of the Acts of Vengeance company event, wherein a coalition of villains arranged to trade enemies in a concerted attempt to wipe out the heroes. The Thunder God was targeted by the mystically enhanced X-Men nemesis, resulting in a spectacular, catastrophic battle that devastated much of New York, and the Asgardian Avenger was on the verge of losing his life until the woefully overmatched teens injected themselves into the battle…

New Warriors #2 ‘Mirror Moves’ found Taylor training his new team with his own adult mentors Chord and the enigmatic dowager Tai, when his mysterious past came back to haunt him in the form of old friends Silhouette and Midnight’s Fire, super-powered siblings who battled Korea-Town crime in their own rather unpalatable way. Also debuting were the human-weapon builders of the unscrupulous Genetech Company – destined to be a long-running thorn in the team’s collective side. When Silhouette was crippled in an ambush her brother instigated a murderous gang war that threatened to engulf the entire city…

As Larry Mahlstadt assumed the inking chores, ‘I Am, Therefore I Think’ further explored the budding relationships of the team whilst old Fantastic Four Foe the Mad Thinker took a decidedly deadly pop at the heroes courtesy of a little Genetech prodding, culminating in the New Warriors taking the battle back to them in the all-action ‘Genetech Potential’, which introduced the exceedingly odd gengineered combat force known as Psionex…

Whilst never going to the broadest of audiences these tales are a superb example of what Marvel used to do so well: cultivate a market and instill brand loyalty by producing the kind of thrilling action stories that always satisfied whilst keeping us hungry for more. This bread-and-butter approach ensured a following that was loyal and caring. They’re still there, but so much of what they want simply isn’t any more…
©1989, 1990, 1992, 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

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House of M: Avengers


By Christopher Gage, Mike Perkins & Andrew Hennessey (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2750-5

In the company crossover event House of M reality was rewritten (yes, again!) when the sometime Avenger Scarlet Witch had a breakdown and altered Earth continuity so that Magneto’s mutants took control of society and where normal humans (“sapiens”) are an acknowledged evolutionary dead-end living out their lives and destined for extinction within two generations.

Collecting the ancillary miniseries House of M: Avengers this volume is set in a world of perfect order, but one where certain malcontents and criminals are determined not to go quietly. Rallying around escaped convict and artificial superman Luke Cage, a gang of criminals calling themselves the Avengers fight to survive and get by however they can, inadvertently becoming a rallying point for Sapiens in a world only too eager to see them all gone…

With the likes of Hawkeye, Tigra, Mockingbird, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Misty Knight (no relation, not even close), Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu, Mantis, Swordsman, White Tiger and the Punisher on hand, as well as villains such as Kingpin, Elektra, Bullseye, Taskmaster, Black Cat, Typhoid Mary, the brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Gladiator among the cast there’s plenty of familiar faces and lots of action, but as the countdown ticks towards a big climax and the re-establishment of “real” continuity it’s hard to muster any sense of connection.

Marvel has used this plot to kill off and resurrect our favourites purely for momentary cheap effect so many times its difficult to care…

Weaving established Marvel continuity skilfully into their portion of the overarching epic Gage and Perkins tell an intriguing but frustratingly quick and facile tale that just can’t stand alone (so you will need to read at least some of the other House of M collections for the full picture) that doesn’t fairly reflect their great talents nor deliver the punch we were all hoping for. Pretty, but not for the casual or occasional reader

© 2007, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Immortal Iron Fist volume 1: The Last Iron Fist Story


By Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2489-4

Iron Fist sprang out of the 1970s Kung Fu craze, by way of a heartfelt tribute from originators Roy Thomas and Gil Kane to Bill Everett’s golden Age super-hero Amazing Man (who appeared from 1939-1945 in Centaur Comics).

Young Danny Rand travels with his parents and uncle to the mysterious Himalayas. Searching for the “lost city of K’un Lun” which only appears once every ten years, the boy’s father is murdered by the uncle, and his mother sacrifices herself to save her child. Alone in the wilderness, the city finds him and he spends the next ten years mastering all forms of martial arts.

A decade later he returns to the real world intent on vengeance, further armed with a mystic punch gained by killing the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying. When he eventually achieves his goal the lad is at something of a loose end and – by default – a billionaire, as his murderous uncle had turned the family business into a multi-national megalith.

The series ran in Marvel Premiere #15-25 (from May 1974 to October 1975), plagued by an inability to keep a creative team (writers and artists included Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Larry Hama, Arvell Jones, Keith Pollard, Pat Broderick and Al McWilliams) before Chris Claremont and John Byrne steadied the ship and produced a superb run of issues for his own title (Iron Fist #1-15, November 1975 – September 1977). After cancellation the character drifted, until paired with Luke Cage following a splendid three-part try-out in Power Man #48-50.

Power Man & Iron Fist ran from #51 until the book was cancelled in 1986 (#125). The K’un Lun Kid has died, come back and cropped up all over the Marvel universe as guest star, co-star and even in a few of his own miniseries.

This volume contains issues #1-6 of Immortal Iron Fist as well as excerpts from Civil War: Choosing Sides, and follows the directionless hero as he struggles to find his place in the world. Discovering a plot by subversive super-terrorist organisation Hydra to steal his company Danny also learns the secret history of his dragon-power and the lives of previous Iron Fists when he stumbles across his renegade predecessor Orson Randall, on the run from K’un Lun since the First World War…

The book also includes the eight-page prequel from the Civil War: Choosing Sides one-shot, guest-starring Daredevil, plus a fascinating sketch section that describes the design process for the reworked and new characters and superb covers.

A lightning-paced, sleekly exotic thriller blending contemporary costumed drama with gritty period battles (illustrated by a phalanx of talented veterans including Russ Heath, John Severin, Sal Buscema and Tom Palmer), Brubaker’s compelling script and the stylish, compulsive art of David Aja (with Travel Foreman & Derek Fridolfs) carries the reader to a superb climax but no conclusion. Ending on a strangely satisfying cliffhanger, I’ve no doubt that every reader (even new ones – the script is wonderfully inclusive and assumes you don’t know the characters well) will gladly seek out the second volume. I’m certainly going to…

© 2006, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.