Category: Marvel Superheroes

Posted on

New Avengers: Secret Invasion Book 2


By Brian Michael Bendis, Billy Tan, Jim Cheung, Michael Gaydos & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2949-3

The Skrulls are shape-shifting aliens who’ve bedevilled Earth since Fantastic Four #2, and they have long been a pernicious cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. After decades of use, abuse and misuse the insidious invaders were made the sinister stars of a colossal braided mega-crossover event beginning in April 2008 and running through all titles until Christmas.

The premise of Secret Invasion is simple: the would-be alien conquerors have only just survived a devastating catastrophe which destroyed much of their empire; subsequently leading to a mass religious conversion. They are now utterly resolved and dedicated to make Earth their new holy homeworld.

To this end they have gradually replaced a number of key Earth denizens – most notably superheroes and other metahumans. When their plot is discovered no defender of the Earth truly knows who is on their side…

Moreover the cosmic charlatans have also unravelled the secrets of Earth magic and genetic superpowers, creating amped-up counterparts to Earth’s mightiest. They are now primed and able to destroy the world’s heroic champions in face to face confrontations.

Rather than give too much away, let me just say that if you like this sort of thing you’ll love it, and a detailed familiarity is not crucial to your understanding. However, for a complete experience, you will want to see the other 22 “Secret Invasion” volumes that accompany this one, although at a pinch you could get by with only the key collection Secret Invasion – which contains the 8-issue core miniseries, one-shot spin-off “Who Do You Trust?” and illustrated textbook “Skrulls” which claims to provide a listing and biography for every shape-shifter yet encountered in the Marvel Universe (but if they left any out, who could tell?).

The New Avengers segment of the saga concludes in the book, collecting issues #43-47 (September 2008 to January 2009) and offering more supplementary and sidebar insights to the main event as the Invasion progresses, focussing again on individual character pieces to propel the narrative rather than vast battles.

Scripted throughout by Brian Michael Bendis, the first tale (illustrated by Billy Tan & Danny Miki) returns to the moment which turned a cold war of suspicion and attrition into a hot shooting match after a spaceship full of what appeared to be Earth heroes crashed into the dinosaur preserve known as the Savage Land.

These returnees all claimed to be the originals, taken at various times and upon landing accused those who had been on Earth prior to their crash of being alien impostors. The most shocking example was Captain America, whom everybody saw assassinated weeks previously on prime time TV…

Whilst the Star Spangled Avenger is exposed as a Skrull a flashback reveals how potent the new Skrull strategy is, not only copying the body and powers but programming the infiltrator with false memories so that it actually believes itself to be the human hero it mimics…

These unwitting Trojan Horses have been mixed in with genuine shanghaied Terrans and eventually allowed to escape back to Earth…

With art by Tan & Matt Banning, the next sneak peek harks back to the time when Earth’s “Illuminati” – Reed Richards, Tony (Iron Man) Stark, Black Bolt, Stephen Strange, Charles Xavier and Namor, the Sub-Mariner – confronted and were consequently captured by the Skrulls.

Although the heroes eventually escaped they left behind far too many genetic secrets, and this shocking history lesson proceeds to reveal how neophyte scientist Dro’ge Fenu Edu used the mind and personality of Richards to forge the final link in the aliens’ infallible invasion plan…

Jim Cheung, Matt Dell & Jay Leisten illustrated the next chapter which intersected with publishing event House of M as deep-cover agent and invasion commander Queen Veranke found herself caught up in the reality-warping spell of the Scarlet Witch.

As that deeply troubled woman remade the world in a crazed attempt to create a mutant paradise, Veranke was forced to see things that would sharpen her resolve to eradicate humanity once the previous reality was (mostly) restored…

Tan & Banning were back for #46 as mystic gangster The Hood and his syndicate of super-criminals rescue murderous menace Madame Masque from SHIELD agents, only to discover that the high-tech lawmen are shapeshifting aliens…

As the villains struggle to decide what their role will be in the coming struggle, The Hood at last learns where his own incredible abilities come from…

The catalogue of changeling tales concludes with a Tan, Michael Gaydos & Banning art collaboration as new parents Luke Cage and Jessica Jones review how they first met when the former “Hero for Hire” commissioned actual private detective Jones to track down his estranged father.

Some heartbreaks lead to new loves but as the woman known as “Alias” gradually moved into Cage’s life, neither knew that one day it would all lead to a Skrull impersonating the Avengers’ butler, stealing their baby…

Quirky, moving, and winningly low-key, the stories gathered here are supplemented with a cover gallery from by Aleksi Briclot and a selection of landmark original covers his homages are based on, including Avengers Annual #2 by John Buscema, New Avengers: Illuminati #1 by Cheung, House of M #1 by Esad Ribic, Bring on the Bad Guys by John Romita Sr. and West Coast Avengers #1 by Bob Hall.

Although impressive and entertaining, this great Fights ‘n’ Tights tome doesn’t really stand alone, but you will also certainly benefit from checking out the collections Secret Invasion: the Infiltration, Avengers Disassembled, and Annihilation volumes 1-3, as well as the rather pivotal New Avengers: Illuminati graphic novel.

Despite the copious homework list I’ve provided, this book is still a solid action-adventure read, with plenty of human drama to balance the paranoia and power-plays: a pure guilty pleasure.
© 2008, 2009, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man by Brian Bendis volume 4


By Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-6503-3

When the Ultimate Spider-Man died, writer Brian Michael Bendis and Marvel promised that a new hero would arise from the ashes…

Marvel’s Ultimates imprint began in 2000 with a post-modern take on major characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of 21st century readers – apparently a wholly different demographic from us baby-boomers and our descendents content to stick with the precepts sprung from founding talents Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee… or perhaps just those unable or unwilling to deal with five decades (seven if you include Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of continuity baggage which saturated the originals.

Of course the darkly nihilistic new universe soon became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor and in 2008 cleansing exercise “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which killed dozens of super-humans and millions of mere mortals in a devastating tsunami that inundated Manhattan courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.

In the months that followed, plucky Peter Parker and his fellow meta-human survivors struggled to restore order to a dangerous new world, but just as Spider-Man finally gained a measure of acceptance and was hailed a hero by the masses, he took a bullet for Captain America and very publicly met his end during a catastrophic super-villain showdown …

In the aftermath, child prodigy Miles Morales gained suspiciously similar powers (super-strong and fast and able to walk up walls, plus invisibility and a crippling “venom-charge”) and started out on the same deadly learning curve: coping with astounding new physical abilities, painfully discovering the daily costs of living a life of lies and realising how a crippling sense of responsibility is the most seductive method of self-harm and worst of all of possible gifts.

He was helped and hindered in equal amounts by his uncle Aaron: a career super-criminal dubbed The Prowler. Things started to go spiral out of control the night Aaron Davis died in battle with the new arachnid hero in town, but now – months later – the repercussions of the televised event have finally caught up with the boy who would be Spider-Man…

Written throughout by Bendis, this luxurious hardcover collection (re-presenting Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #16.1 and #19-25, from December 2012 to June 2013) finds the juvenile wall-crawler recovering in the aftermath of a second War Between the States.

That internecine conflict almost destroyed the Republic but has left the traumatised public in no mood to tolerate mysteries or put up with unexplained and potentially dangerous characters and vigilantes.

The action opens with jump-on tale ‘Point One’ (illustrated by David Marquez

from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #16.1) wherein unscrupulous reporter Betty Brant uses her considerable investigative skills to establish a link between The Prowler, the second Spider-Man, the genetic experiments of Norman Osborn and a guy named Morales.

As she digs deeper and follows the brief career of the new hero, Betty not only uncovers the remains of the genegineered spider which transformed Miles, but also learns far more than she should have from disgraced Oscorp biochemist Dr. Conrad Marcus, as well as engendering the unwelcome interest of scientific monolith Roxxon Industries and a brutal, relentless monstrosity…

The main event is 4-part epic ‘Venom War’ (art by Sara Pichelli) which opens in the days following the civil war. Child prodigy Miles and best-bud/superhero trainer Ganke are back at Brooklyn Visions Academy Boarding School. Miles spends only weekends at home, and now he and his confidante are eagerly attempting to master Peter Parker‘s web-fluid formula and wrist-shooters which the inexperienced hero has recently inherited.

As a mysterious monster raids and wrecks Roxxon’s HQ, in Manhattan homicide cop and ex-SHIELD agent Mariah Hill is investigating the bloody murder of a journalist. Her interviews at the Daily Bugle all lead her to the Davis/Morales home in Brooklyn.

Marcus’ dad Jefferson Davis has become an involuntary and extremely camera-shy celebrity because of his stand against the secessionist organisation Hydra. When a film crew bursts into the family home he understandably goes ballistic and kicks them to the kerb, but his fury is futile in the face of the towering, metamorphic horror known as Venom, which chooses that moment to attack the person it accuses of being Spider-Man…

The next chapter opens seconds later as the beast lunges, and in the family home Miles suits up and springs into battle…

The clash is savage and terrifying. As the TV parasites carry on filming, Jefferson joins the severely overmatched Spider-Man only to be smashed and broken like a bug…

The Arachnid kid goes crazy but his best efforts – and the fusillade of shots from the just- arrived cops – are useless. Only after the shattered lad employs his devastating venom blasts does he succeed in driving off the amorphous atrocity…

The shocking struggle has been broadcast all over the world. Elsewhere in Brooklyn two girls cherished by the original web-spinner immediately drop what they’re doing and rush to the scene of the battle…

Many months previously, as part of the crowd of grateful strangers attending Peter Parker’s memorial, Miles and Ganke had talked to another mourner, a girl who was intimate with the murdered hero. Gwen Stacy offered quiet insights to the boy child who had just acquired his powers and then altered the course of his life forever by sharing a simple mantra: “with great power comes great responsibility”…

Now she and Mary Jane Watson arrive at the crime scene ready to share their experience in keeping secrets just as attending detective Mariah Hill reaches the conclusion that the shell-shocked boy crying on the stairs is Spider-Man…

His mother Rio Morales is in the ambulance taking Jefferson to hospital and Miles is in no state to fend off questions from an experienced SHIELD interrogator or even speak to his equally traumatised buddy Ganke, but Gwen and Mary Jane certainly are and quickly shut down the situation and terminate the interview.

As they explain all the ghastly secrets of the Venom monster and its connection to the Parker family, speculation leads the youngsters to the idea that maybe the genetic quirk which made Peter Spider-Man might be repeated in the Morales family…

Deep below their feet the shapeshifting symbiote is reconstituting. Soon it breaks out of the sewers to again consume human hosts. The consciousness in charge of the marauding terror hasn’t given up its search for Spider-Man and is all too quickly bursting into the hospital where Rio is waiting for word on her husband…

The shocking conclusion begins with news of the assault reaching Miles. Hill, convinced she is right, gives Miles crucial advice for the battle she knows his coming. By the time Spider-Man reaches the medical centre Venom is carving a bloody swathe through the patients and doctors and the consequent clash is terrifying to behold.

With bodies falling everywhere Miles eventually finds a grotesque and dreadful way to stop the beast and expose the villain within, but in the aftermath realises that the awful cost has been another person he loves…

As the ruthless boss of Roxxon now makes Spider-Man his only priority, in Brooklyn Miles wakes from a deep sleep and realises his life has changed forever. At last he understands the horror and tragedy which underpins the legend of Spider-Man. This time though, the response to a death in the family is not guilty defiance and an urge to make things right, but a crushing, total surrender…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Sara Pichelli, this is a tense, breathtaking action-packed, thriller full of the humour and drama which blessed the original Lee/Ditko tales: a controversial but worthy way to continue and advance the legend that Fights ‘n’ Tights addicts will admire and adore… © 2012, 2013 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Avengers volume 1


By Brian Michael Bendis, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer& various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4501-1

Once upon a time Norman Osborn was America’s Security Czar, an untouchable “top-cop” in sole charge of a beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom, especially in regard to the USA’s costumed and metahuman community.

When the deranged former Green Goblin overplayed his hand, a coalition of outlawed champions united to defeat him and his fall from grace was staggering and total, leading to a new Age of Heroes.

As part of that resurgence, original Captain America Steve Rogers was appointed Supreme Commander of US metahuman resources and promptly set about redefining the what, who and how of the World’s Mightiest Heroes. This meant a flotilla of new teams (and titles) with Avengers volume 4 being the official spine of the comicbook franchise.

This slim yet spectacular collection gathers issues #1-6 (written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by John Romita Jr, and inkers Klaus Janson & Tom Palmer; spanning July to December 2010) and opens with the triumphant, reunited army of heroes trying to decide just who goes where and does what.

Those deliberations are rudely interrupted in ‘Next Avengers Part One’ when time-tyrant Kang the Conqueror beams in with a frantic warning. He barely opens his mouth before he’s blasted across the city by the wary, twice-shy heroes, but as they gather to press their attack the conqueror stops all hostilities by brandishing an ultimate weapon.

Iron Man Tony Stark prevents his comrades from finishing off Kang because he recognises the Dark Matter Accelerator. It’s something he thought up and swore never to build. The only way the future man can have it is if Stark made it and then gave it to him…

In the cautious ceasefire that follows Kang explains that he’s come to beg the aid of the Avengers. In the future he is one of a team that includes the children of the Avengers, united to stop life-loathing Artificial Intelligence Ultron from exterminating humanity.

They at last succeeded in destroying the mechanoid marauder but the children have now become an even greater menace. Moreover, Kang’s attempts to stop them have resulted in time itself shredding and all of reality is now collapsing…

The arrogant time-terrorist expects the Avengers to stop their errant offspring, but as Steve Rogers heads off all debate and allocates teams, back in the future Kang and his hidden allies make preparations to carry out their real scheme…

Not every past Avenger was keen to answer the call to reassemble. Simon Williams had come to believe the team had done more harm than good and threatened to stop them if they started up again. ‘Wonder Man Attacks?!!’ sees him make good on his warning as a committee of heroes track down Kree outcast Noh-Varr The Protector to make use of his expertise in time travel.

As the alien and Stark’s efforts finally bear fruit Wonder Man brutally engages the entire team and in the blockbusting battle that follows, something goes terribly wrong and an alternate Apocalypse and his horrendous Horsemen materialise, intent on ending mankind.

As the heroes swiftly mobilise to tackle the new crisis, a ‘Menace From Beyond Time’ manifests as various time-streams and realities begin to coalesce and overlap in New York City.

With All of Everything endangered, a small squad of heroes heads into the unhappy future leaving their harried comrades to hold back a tidal wave of time-tossed menaces – and the occasional misplaced hero such as Killraven and Devil Dinosaur…

Far away from now, Iron Man, Wolverine, replacement Captain America James “Bucky” Barnes and Noh-Varr witness first hand the cataclysmic war against Ultron before being ambushed by the next generation in ‘Only the Good Die Young’.

Back in their home era a multitude of past menaces – from cavemen to cowboys to cosmic devourer Galactus – are keeping the majority of Avengers busy, whilst in the foredoomed tomorrow the questing quartet are painfully discovering that they’ve been played by Kang yet again…

Full explanations are promised by an incredibly aged Tony Stark and the architect of the chronal rescue plan: Bruce Banner in his gamma-charged arch-villain persona of the Maestro…

With two Starks, an incredibly experienced Banner and new element Noh-Varr all intent on fixing the problem, the sorry story soon comes out. All of creation’s future is stuck in a temporal loop: a cosmic “Groundhog Day” with Kang interminably spent battling Ultron but now, with the odds altered by the historical Avengers, there’s a chance to make things right in one final ‘Battle for the Future’…

Of course as Thor’s clash with Galactus escalates and the assembled Avengers resolutely resist Apocalypse and his minions in the now, there may not be a past to return to…

Layers of murderous duplicity are peeled back in ‘Next Avengers Part 6: Conclusion’ as a cunning solution to the Ultron-Kang impasse is conceived but, even as reality reasserts itself and four weary heroes return home, old man Stark takes the risky chance of giving his younger self a deadly device and a portentous warning from the future…

Epic, vast in scale and overflowing with action, this a magnificently rendered tale that might bewilder new readers looking for a post-movie fix, but will delight dyed-in-the-wool Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatics. It comes with 16 covers-&-variants by Romita Jr., Janson & Dean White, John Romita Sr. & Frank D’Armata, Greg Land & Morry Hollowell, Jim Cheung & Justin Ponsor, Alan Aldridge, Phil Jimenez & D’Armata, plus a massive combined variant cover by Marko Djurdjevic.

© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Vengeance of the Moon Knight volume 1: Shock and Awe


By Gregg Hurwitz & Jerome Opeña & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4106-8

Moon Knight is probably one of the most complex and convoluted heroes in comics. There’s also a lot of evidence to support the contention that he’s a certifiable loon…

He first appeared during the 1970s horror boom: a mercenary Batman knockoff hired by corporate villains to capture lycanthropic Jack Russell (AKA Werewolf by Night). Catching the readers attention, he then spun off into two trial issues of Marvel Spotlight and an exceedingly mature (for the times) back-up slot in the TV-inspired Hulk Magazine before graduating to a number of solo series.

His convoluted origin eventually revealed how multiple-personality afflicted CIA spook-turned-mercenary Marc Spector was murdered by his best-pal and comrade Raoul Bushman but apparently restored to life by the Egyptian deity Khonshu: god of the Moon and Justice, or perhaps simply Vengeance…

Over many years the solitary avenger and a select band of hand-picked helpers battled the darker threats more flamboyant superheroes neglected or avoided, ever-vacillating between pristine white knight and bloodthirsty killer-with-a-good-excuse…

At the time of this rocket-paced riot of action and suspense, resurgent villain and American Security Czar Norman Osborn was de facto ruler of America, using Federal power to wage war on heroes who refused to sign The Superhuman Registration Act. Those he couldn’t coerce or crush, he smeared…

As Moon Knight became more obviously frenzied and manic, Osborn framed the outlaw hero for murder ands numerous ferocious atrocities and, in response to seemingly overwhelming opposition, the out-of-control hero faked his own death, moved to Mexico and went about cleansing his ravaged mind and troubled soul.

The first and hardest part of the remedy was to eradicate every vestige of Marc Spector from his wardrobe of personalities…

Collecting Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1-6 (November 2009-May 2010) this spectacular breakneck thriller opens with the return of ‘The White Knight’ to New York City; (mostly) clear-headed and determined to reclaim his name and sullied reputation. That begins with a most public foiling of an extremely violent bank robbery, where, despite the utmost provocation and the watching citizenry’s fervent expectations, the silent Avenger kills absolutely nobody…

The astonished observers – including the hero’s former lover and confidante Marlene Alraune – would have been even more astonished to learn that throughout the shocking struggle a little godling had been whispering in Moon Knight’s ear…

Khonshu is displeased. He wants his chosen agent to exact full and final vengeance and is growing increasingly impatient over this sacrilegious “no killing” peccadillo…

Nights pass and Moon Knight, hunted by cops and Osborn’s agents alike, prowls the streets, quietly thinning out the predators who feed on the weakest members of society. His diligent pruning is interrupted however when the most powerful of Osborn’s super-operatives appears…

‘The Sentry’s Curse’ is that he is nigh-omnipotent, truly crazy and utterly unpredictable. As an old comrade, the golden giant grants Moon Knight a measure of leeway and one last chance, but Osborn is less sanguine about being defied and orders his mystic minion The Hood and telepathic snoop Profile to find and decisively deal with the returned rebel.

Now favouring his Jake Lockley and Steven Grant personas, the repentant paladin is visiting old associates and comrades whilst using his vast financial resources to upgrade the Moon Knight’s armoury. Being an outlaw, he has no problem employing the best criminal scientists money can buy…

The first felonious monster to fall to his renewed crusade is grotesque sin-peddler The Slug, and once again the cataclysmic clash is punctuated by his divine passenger screaming in his ear for blood. That distraction might be why the hero doesn’t notice Profile taking a reading and extracting the one secret that might end his ceaseless war on crime…

After tolerating years of appalling atrocities, Moon Knight eventually killed his greatest enemy and, in a fit of madness, cut off his fright-mask of a face. Now, thanks to the psychic’s reading and The Hood’s dark magic, the one foe Spector could never handle is dragged howling from his grave to pick up where he left off in ‘The Bushman Cometh’…

The resurrected psychotic immediately hits the ground scheming and whilst Moon Knight wastes time trying to convince Spider-Man that’s he’s back – but he is also better – Raoul orchestrates a bloody raid on horrific sin-bin Ravencroft Asylum.

With fellow maniac Scarecrow, Bushman turns an institution full of criminal madmen into murderous slaves and even augments his army of the living damned with a cadre of autonomous and atrocious menaces such as Herman the German and The Great Wall…

Never reticent, Bushman then unleashes his foul forces on sleeping Manhattan in the sure and certain knowledge that unremitting carnage and slaughter is bound to bring Moon Knight running…

With the city under siege even Spector’s oldest – and most betrayed – friend sees the need for action, and with “Frenchie” Du Champ once again piloting the awe-inspiring Moon Copter, the resurgent Knight takes on the entire legion of loons with devastating if non-lethal force under an unforgiving ‘Full Moon’…

The battle goes into overwhelming overdrive in ‘Past is Prologue’ as Bushman finally confronts his ultimate antithesis, but as the chaos escalates the screaming of Khonshu for his chosen one to cross back over the line and fulfil his blood-letting destiny is almost too much for any mortal to resist.

…And even after resoundingly defeating his physical foes and restoring some semblance of sense to the city the gory god still calls and, at last, ‘Knight Falls’…

With covers by Leinil Francis Yu and eight stunning variants by Alex Ross, David Finch, Yu and Francesco Mattina, this high-octane, explosively all-out psycho-thriller is compellingly scripted by Gregg Hurwitz and captivatingly illustrated by Jerome Opeña, Jay Leisten and Paul Mounts who combine to create one of the most memorable and enjoyable reboots of recent years.

Fast, dark and savagely entertaining, Shock and Awe is pure electric entertainment for testosterone junkies and Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatics.
© 2009, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Black Panther: The Deadliest of the Species


By Reginald Hudlin, Ken Lashley, Paul Neary & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3342-1

Regarded as the first black hero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since July 1966 when he attacked the Fantastic Four as part of an extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father.

T’Challa, son of T’Chaka, was an African monarch whose hidden kingdom was the only source of a miraculous alien metal upon which the country’s immense wealth was founded. Those mineral riches – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – had enabled him to turn his country into a technological wonderland.

The tribal resources and the people had long been safeguarded by a cat-like human champion who derived physical advantages from secret ceremonies and a mysterious heart-shaped herb which ensured the generational dominance of the nation’s Panther Cult.

In recent years the mythology was retooled to reveal that the “Vibranium” mound had actually made the country a secret Superpower for centuries but now increasingly made Wakanda a target for subversion and incursion.

This slim, unassuming but extremely engaging Costumed Drama outing collects the first six issues of Black Panther volume 5 – April to September 2009 and was originally part of Marvel’s company-wide “Dark Reign” publishing event.

‘The Deadliest of the Species’ begins as new bride (and queen) Ororo nervously embarks on a goodwill tour. As a mutant – and far worse, an American – who has married the king, she is keenly aware of her tenuous position.

All thoughts of winning over the people are soon forgotten when T’Challa’s jet – which left only hours ago on a diplomatic mission – screams in and catastrophically crashes in the heart of the city despite all the weather goddess’ efforts to slow it down…

Unknown to all, five hours previously the Black Panther had secretly met with regal rival Namor the Sub-Mariner to hear an invitational offer from the Cabal of world-conquerors led by Norman Osborn but now the adored sovereign is near death. His formidable Dora Milaje bodyguards are gone, and once dragged from the wreckage burned and broken, T’Challa agonisingly reveals it was an ambush before lapsing into a coma…

As Queen Mother Ramonda and sister Shuri dash to the hospital, the ruling council are frantic; terrified that the assassination attempt is prelude to an invasion. Wakanda has always been ready for such assaults, but that was with a healthy Black Panther. Right now they are spiritually all but defenceless…

Even though the king is not quite dead, the Ministers advocate activating the protocols which will create a new Panther warrior… but the question is who will succeed?

Hours ago after Namor departed, a far less friendly potentate accosted T’Challa as he left the conference. Dr. Doom was also a member of the Cabal and took the Panther’s refusal to join the club very, very badly…

Back in the now, desperate meetings and Ororo’s refusal to undertake the mystic rituals result in Princess Shuri being reluctantly assigned – over the strenuous protests of her own mother – the role of Black Panther Apparent. As T’Challa’s older sister it’s a role she was destined for, but one her brother seized decades ago.

At that time she was away being schooled in the West when an invasion by American adventurer Ulysses Klaw resulted in the death of their father. With cruel circumstance demanding nothing less, the boy took the initiative, the role and the responsibility of defending his nation…

Now after years as an irrelevant spare, the flighty jet-setter is being asked to take up a destiny she neither wants nor feels capable of fulfilling. She is especially afraid of the part of the ceremony where she faces the Panther God and is judged…

T’Challa cannot reveal how the battle with Doom ended in brutal defeat and certain death had not his valiant Dora Milaje given their lives to get his maimed body back in the jet and home via auto-pilot. He is even unable to stay alive and as the world’s most up-to-date doctors slowly abandon hope, Ramonda convinces Queen Ororo to try something ancient instead…

Despite a pervasive cloak of secrecy bad new travels fast and across the continent adherents of the Panther Cult’s theological antithesis revel in Wakanda’s misfortune. The smug worshippers prepare arcane rituals to finally destroy their enemies and in a place far removed from the world, T’Challa awakes to meet his dead bodyguards once more…

In an isolated hut Queen and Queen Mother are bickering with sinister shaman Zawavari. He claims to be able to bring T’Challa back but gleefully warns that the price will be high…

Thanks to her years of training, Shuri is having no problem with the physical rigours of the Panther Protocols and foolishly grows in confidence. Far away, Wakanda’s enemies succeed in summoning Morlun, Devourer of Totems, but are unprepared for the voracious horror to consume them before turning his attention to more distant theological fodder…

And in Limbo, a succession of dead friends and family subtly and seductively attempt to convince T’Challa that his time is past and that he should lay down his regal burdens…

As Morlun makes his way to Wakanda, stopping only to destroy other petty pantheons such as the master of the Man-Ape sect, Death continues her campaign to convince T’Challa to surrender to the inevitable whilst Shuri faces her final test.

It does not end well. The puissant Panther God looks right through her ands declares her pitifully unworthy to wear his mantle or defend his worshippers. Despondent Shuri is despatched back to the physical world just as her sister-in-law arrives in Limbo, sent by Zawavari to retrieve her husband from Death’s clutches.

Ororo doesn’t want to tell her husband that this is their last meeting. The price of his passage back is her becoming his replacement…

In the real world Morlun has reached Wakanda’s borders, drawn inexorably to T’Challa’s (currently vacant) physical form, utterly invulnerable to everything in the nation’s super-scientific arsenal and leaving a mountain of corpses behind him.

With Armageddon manifesting all about them, the Royal Family and Ruling Council are out of options until sly Zawavari points out an odd inconsistency: the price for failing to become Wakanda’s living totem has always been instant death, but Shuri, although rejected, returned alive…

Realising both she and her country have one last chance, the newest Black Panther goes out to battle the totem-eater whilst in the land of the dead T’Challa and Ororo resolve to ignore the devil’s bargain and fight their way back to life.

And as the two hopeless battles proceed, Ramonda and Zawavari engage in a last-ditch ploy which will win both wars by bring all the combatants together…

Fast-paced, compelling and gloriously readable, this splendid blend of horror story, action epic, political thriller and coming-of-age tale comes with an impressive cover-&-variants gallery by J. Scott Campbell, Edgar Delgado, Michael Djurdjevic, Ken Lashley and Mitch Breitweiser.

If you don’t despise reboots and re-treads on unswerving principle and are prepared to give something new(ish) a go, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights farrago, so why not set your sights and hunt this down?
© 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Deadpool Corps volume 2: You Say You Want a Revolution


By Victor Gischler, Rob Liefeld, Marat Mychaels & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4827-2

Stylish killers and moody mercenaries have always been popular fictional protagonists, and light-hearted, exuberant bloodbath comics will always find an appreciative audience…

Deadpool is Wade Wilson: an inveterate, unrepentant hired killer who survived cancer and genetics experiments which left him a grotesque bundle of scabs, scars and physical abnormalities but also practically immortal, invulnerable and capable of regenerating from any wound. He is also a many-times-over certifiable loon…

The wisecracking high-tech “Merc with a Mouth” was created by Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza for New Mutants #97, another product of the “Weapon X” project which created Wolverine and so many other mutant/cyborg super-doers. His first shot at solo stardom came with a couple of miniseries in 1993 (Deadpool: the Circle Chase & Sins of the Past) but it wasn’t until 1997 that he finally won his own title, which blended fourth-wall-busting absurdist humour (a la Ambush Bug and Warner Brothers cartoons) into the mix, thereby securing his place in Marvel’s top rank.

Since then he has become one of the company’s iconic, nigh-inescapable stars, perennially undergoing radical rethinks, identity changes, reboots and more before always – inevitably – reverting to irascible, irreverent, intoxicating type in the end…

In this iteration – and following events too ludicrous to mention – Wilson united with a quartet of alternate Deadpools from very different parallel Earths (a buxom female Lady Deadpool, killer pre-teen Kidpool, a floating masked cranium from Marvel’s Zombiverse dubbed Headpool and a costumed mutt who answers to Dogpool (and sometimes “Cujo”) to form the strangest team in Marvel’s history (and yes, that includes Pet Avengers).

What Has Gone Before: a bizarre concatenation of circumstances has resulted in Deadpool and Co saving creation from the sentience-sucking Awareness.

For this they have been rewarded by the Elders of the Universe with a starship (the “Bea Arthur”) and a set of one-use only wishing rings. They’re having fun and don’t want to go home yet, but as card-carrying mercenaries the unlikely champions can never have enough spending money…

Collecting Deadpool Corps #7-12 (December 2010 to May 2011 by Victor Gischler, pencillers Liefeld and Marat Mychaels with inkers Adelso Corona & Cory Hamscher) the manic mayhem continues with a wickedly cruel spoof of blockbuster movie Avatar.

Framed through insanely clever fiddling with the narrative technique of flashbacks, the story resumes with the carnival of killer fools accepting a huge commission from the vast and unscrupulous Omega Confederation…

Paradise planet Kagan 7 is a beautiful wonderland of flora and fauna inhabited – or perhaps safeguarded – by the deeply spiritual, jungle-dwelling, blue-skinned warrior-race known as the Krook.

Sadly, to cost-effectively get at the planet’s mineral wealth, the Confederation had to enslave the Krook and turn them into miners. Now the ungrateful sods are rebelling and demanding their planet back so the Omega board would like somebody to go and quietly remove all the ringleaders so the peons can get back to digging up all that lovely platinum…

Taking out the alien legion of mercs hired by the rebels is no problem, but the natives themselves – especially the extremely hot daughter of the bombastic king – prove too much for the Crazy Corps and soon they are desperately bargaining for their own lives…

Said deal boils down to the Deadpools switching sides and running the revolution against the Omega Confederation. The murderers from a multiplicity of Earths have no qualms about switching sides: the problems only occur after Wade starts boffing the mercilessly manipulative Princess Teela who then convinces her highly sceptical father that to survive as an independent, free world the unspoiled Arcadian paradise needs to modernise and commercialise … just a bit…

Wade’s thinking something reserved and classy, properly in tune with the environment: Hospitals, swish eateries, a complex of skyscraper hotels, spa resorts and golf courses… y’know, like Las Vegas in space…

As Deadpool starts a crass telethon campaign to raise galactic awareness of the poor Krooks’ plight, a tidal wave of tree-huggers from across the universe converge on the endangered paradise to support the latest cause célèbre. Elsewhere the Omega Confederation board decide that something nasty needs to be done to the contractors who took their cash and failed to deliver…

On Kagan 7 so many donations are coming in the Imperial Senate recognises the new world and inducts it into the Galactic Economic Community. The first part of that procedure is to set up a Central Bank of Krook and advance several thousand tons of gold so the latest member of the club can suitably set up a proper trading profile…

Wade is so stunned with loot-shock he doesn’t even notice when the Omega’s death-squads start attacking. Luckily old girlfriend and legendary arms-smuggler The Broken Blade arrives to save they day whilst stocking the newborn world’s defences with the latest in super-ordinance.

She’s a little less than ecstatic when she discovers Wade’s been making time with a plush and primitive princess…

The social evolution of the Krook isn’t going smoothly either. Whilst Teela ruthlessly embraces everything flashy, new and civilised, dear old dad just wants his world back the way it was before all the outworlders came. Soon father and daughter are spearheading two separate armies in a savage civil war – beamed live into quintillions of homes all over known space – and the Deadpool Corps have picked opposing sides to help keep the slaughter quotient high.

All poor Wade can think about, however, is several thousand tons of gold just waiting to be salvaged and taken back to Earth…

And in the background the Omega Confederation are still working on ways to take back their mining operation and kill everybody who has defied them…

Displaying with extreme clarity how the cure can be worse than the disease, the last hurrah of the Deadpool Corps again blends a minimum of plot with an overabundance of sharp gags, snappy one-liners, shtick, shlock and slapstick as the trans-dimensional terrorisers bumble, fumble and smart-mouth their way across the galaxy and over a mountain of oddly-shaped corpses until finally they at last go their separate ways…

Surreal, wickedly irreverent and excessively violent in the grand Bugs Bunny/Road Runner tradition, Deadpool Corps is frat boy foolish and frequently laugh-out-loud funny: a wonderfully antidote to the cosmic angst and emotional Sturm und Drang of most contemporary Fights ‘n’ Tights comics, but again pays lip service to being a notionally normal Marvel milestone by also offering a full cover gallery by Liefeld and variant by Skottie Young…
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Iron Man 2.0 volume 1: Palmer Addley is Dead


By Nick Spencer, Barry Kitson, Kano, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ariel Olivetti & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3685-9

Supreme survivor Tony Stark has changed his profile many times since his 1963 debut when, as a VIP visitor in a conflict zone observing the efficacy of weaponry he had designed, the arch-technocrat wünderkind was critically wounded and captured by a local warlord.

Put to work with the spurious promise of medical assistance upon completion, Stark instead built an electronic suit to keep his heart beating and deliver him from his oppressors. From there it was a small jump into a second career as a high-tech Knight in Shining Armour…

Ever since then the former armaments manufacturer has been a liberal capitalist, eco-warrior, space pioneer, civil servant, statesman, and even spy-chief: Director of the world’s most scientifically advanced spy agency, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

For most of that period his best friend and frequent stand-in was James Rhodes, a former military man who acted as pilot, bodyguard, advisor, co-conspirator and occasional necessary conscience. “Rhodey” actually replaced Iron Man when Stark succumbed to alcoholism and eventually carved out his own chequered career as remorseless mechanised warrior and weapon of last resort War Machine…

Along the way disagreements became fights and one day the pilot had enough and quit, going back into military service…

During the time when the Federal initiative known as the Super-Human Registration Act led to Civil War between costumed heroes, Stark was appointed the US government’s Security Czar: a “top cop” in sole charge of a beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom, tasked with overseeing every aspect of the legislation’s enactment. He became the absolute last word in all matters involving the USA’s vast metahuman community…

However his mismanagement of a succession of crises led to the arrest and assassination of Captain America and an unimaginable escalation of global tension and destruction, culminating in a so-nearly successful Secret Invasion by shape-shifting alien Skrulls.

Discredited and ostracised, Stark was replaced by ostensibly rehabilitated super-villain Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin), who assumed full control of America’s covert agencies and paramilitary resources.

Osborn disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed the nation under the aegis of his new umbrella organisation H.A.M.M.E.R. Publicly acclaimed as a recovering schizophrenic, he was still a deranged monster at his core and craved total power. Intending to appropriate all Stark’s resources, the “reformed” villain began stripping all of the ex-Avenger assets; financial, technological and even psychological.

Terrified that his weaponry and files – containing the secret identities of almost all of Earth’s heroes – would fall into a ruthless maniac’s hands, Stark systematically erased all his databases and did the same to his own memories, effectively lobotomising himself to save everything before going on the run in a hopeless but valiant attempt to give his few remaining allies time to pull off a miracle…

Spinning out of Iron Man #500 and the fall of Norman Osborn, this compilation reveals a reconciliation and bold new start for Stark’s ferociously independent ally James Rhodes as Iron Man: 2.0 #1-7 (April to September 2011, and scripted throughout by Nick Spencer) deals with the aftermath of the villain’s defeat in a prologue from Iron Man #500, illustrated by Barry Kitson, with colours from Matthew Wilson.

The tantalising flashback-riddled teaser finds the embattled Rhodey explaining a recent defeat – resulting in being caught in a nuclear detonation (by no means his first one!) – to his military supervisor General Babbage, whilst inter-cutting to scenes of rapprochement with Stark. This dual conference leads to the promise of a brand new suit of super-armour for the embattled veteran…

Iron Man: 2.0 #1-4 and ‘Palmer Addley is Dead’, (art by Kitson, Kano, Carmine Di Giandomenico & Wilson) begins prior to the prologue as Babbage orders his private War Machine to quell a series of baffling security glitches by leading with a rather hostile team of contracted investigators.

All the problems involve nanotech and programs devised by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) emergent-technology specialist Palmer Addley and each failure can only be sabotage. Addley looks like the only suspect for the global systems meltdown but, as he very publicly committed suicide six months previously, that’s a hard conclusion to prove…

Moreover each successive failure benefits assorted terrorist groups and Rhodey has been called in to provide some outside-the-box thinking. Just how outside is hard to imagine: the army have already consulted ultimate inventor Reed Richards, mutant telepaths from the X-Men and even Doctor Strange… just in case Addley’s ghost was the culprit…

After lengthy and diligent consideration of all the facts, Rhodey can only conclude that somewhere, Palmer Addley is still alive…

And in Ann Arbor, Michigan a quiet unassuming mom puts the finishing touches to the super-weapon she’s built in her garage…

When another terrorist strike wipes out Camp Liberty Victory Base in Baghdad, Rhodey calls in old associate Suzi Endo – über-hacker and former superhero Cybermancer – to give his team a few pointers on Extreme Data-Mining. Her contributions soon have War Machine jetting to an off-the-books Russian science city and into a trap.

On arrival, Rhodey finds all the military personnel slaughtered before being jumped by a figure who disables him with shocking ease. Warning him to tell his masters that “Palmer Addley is Dead”, the stranger detonates a nuke…

The third chapter opens five days later with Rhodes savagely wounded but slowly recovering from catching the edge of the blast as Stark’s factotum Pepper Potts takes over the case. The CEO of Stark Resilient has used her company’s phenomenal resources and discovered everything Babbage and the army knew about the dead technologist is a lie…

With Babbage cowed and SR now a fully accredited Private Security Contractor, Pepper transfers money and resources to Rhodey’ team and soon naive Kaylie Doran has been granted “eyes-only” access to Addley’s actual background file…

Elsewhere Stark and Rhodey are in conference and the result is the scrapping of War Machine. In its place the ultimate survivor is offered a unique, cutting-edge armour system that will make him truly Iron Man: 2.0…

The concluding chapter is illustrated by incoming regular artist Ariel Olivetti and finds Kaylie at the most secure records room in America to discover exactly what kind of brilliant sociopath the military hired to create weapons for them.

Apparently even after his High School killing spree, the boy’s talents were considered too important to waste…

With Palmer Addley still at large in some manner, matters of more pressing importance suddenly impinge and the remainder of this collection focuses on Rhodey’s part in cosmic event Fear Itself…

Marvel’s 2011 multi-part, inter-company braided mega-saga revealed how an ancient Asgardian menace resurfaced, possessing a band of the planet’s mightiest mortals – good or evil – via mystic hammers and compelling them to wreak unimaginable death and destruction on the global population whilst he/it drank the terror the rampages generated.

Still illustrated by Olivetti, the story starts in the Chinese Hell known as The Eighth City where legendary Monkey King Sun Wukong is distracted from his usual entertainments by the thunderous arrival of a monstrous mallet which shatters the gate to the living world as well as much of the infernal metropolis…

In Washington DC, freshly kitted-out wonder warrior Jim Rhodes has joined other heroes to help with that city’s hammer-fuelled catastrophe. He is soon distracted by old comrade and martial arts paragon John Aman, Prince of Orphans who warns him of an even greater need for champions elsewhere.

With Hell ruptured, mystic guardians and Immortals Weapons Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, Dog Brother #1, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter, The Immortal Iron Fist and Aman have been summoned to close the breach as it pours demons into downtown Beijing. However the mystic force policing the crisis has also arbitrarily included Iron Man: 2.0 in the preferred response team…

Iron Fist is already there, barely surviving against hammer-reforged amazon Titania and her brutal paramour Crusher Creel. The Absorbing Man is frantically demanding his transformative mallet but cannot find it. The sticky-fingered Sun Wukong has filched the colossal talisman and isn’t prepared to release his latest toy to anyone…

With the world shattering under twin assaults, the Immortal Weapons are keen to end the infernal incursion, but before they can send the demons back they first have to get Creel and Titania out of the Capital City of Hell…

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, another mystic mastermind is covertly manipulating events, the only one aware that Iron Fist has been possessed by an entirely different menace. Happily for Earth, Jim Rhodes and his modern martial technology don’t depend on hocus-pocus to solve world-threatening problems…

Brash, gripping, action-packed and stuffed with tense suspense, this splendid high-tech Fights ‘n’ Tights reboot comes with a covers-&-variants gallery by Salvador Larroca, Dheeraj Verma, Marko Djurdjevic, Frank D’Armata, Sebastian Fiumara & Wilson, a picture-packed potted history of Jim Rhodes career by John Rhett Thomas and original ink art pages by Kitson.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Spider-Man Noir book 2: Eyes Without a Face


By David Hine & Carmine Di Giandomenico, with June Chung (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4450-2

When fictional heroes and villains become really popular – to the point where fans celebrate their births and deaths and dress up like them at the slightest opportunity or provocation – eventually a tendency develops to explore other potential character facets that the regular, cash-cow continuity might normally prohibit.

DC invented a whole company sub-strand of “Imaginary Stories” and Marvel asked “What If…?”, sharing glimpses of alternate realities. Even television series got into the act with shows like Star Trek, Roswell and Stargate SG-1 offering coolly jarring, different takes on their established stars and scenarios.

The nasty little gem of alternate continuity on view today stems from Marvel’s intriguing experiment of 2009 wherein many of their biggest stars were reconfigured and set back in time: populating a universe drenched in the tone, lore and ephemera of pulp fiction and Film Noir. This iconic 1930s milieu was a grim and grimy land where shiny gleaming super-powered heroes were replaced by stark, paranoid, deeply flawed and self-serving individuals just trying to get by as best they could…

Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face is a sequel to an initial “origin” yarn and benefits from not having to explain or differentiate the so-similar seeming stars from the bastions of the regular continuity.

It ran as a 4-issue miniseries from February to May 2010, offering a glimpse into a moody world with no heroes, only varying shades of villainy. Nevertheless it still provides a satisfying slice of suspenseful entertainment for Fights ‘n’ Tights fans in search of something genuinely edgier than their regular fare. After all, the big draw for the jaded is that these folks might actually die and stay that way…

What You Need to Know: living in Depression-era New York City, the nephew of liberal activists Ben and May Parker was bitten by a strange tropical spider, developing rather strange attributes. The hot-headed radical used those newfound abilities and the files of reporter/extortionist Ben Urich to bring down the corrupt Mayor and his audacious criminal partner Norman Osborn AKA The Goblin.

Sadly the clearing-out of the town’s most powerful individuals only allowed a whole new echelon of murderous scum to come to the fore.

Now a junior photojournalist for the crusading Daily Bugle, Peter Parker moonlights as the trench-coated, wall crawling mystery man dubbed the Spider-Man, striving to keep the streets clean and give the little guys a break in an uncaring world of callous giants…

It all begins ‘Around Midnight’ in September 1933. The Spider-Man has prowled the dark streets for eight months but despite his best efforts crime is still rampant. Local Bureau of Investigation Chief Agent Jean De Wolfe is running out of informants as new underworld supremo Crime Master exerts growing control over the mobs, aided by his taciturn enforcer “The Sandman”.

When the Arachnid Avenger discovers a theatre full of slaughtered crooks he heads straight for his paramour and occasional ally Felicia Hardy, hopeful that she’s overheard something at her Black Cat Nightclub – a speakeasy regarded as neutral territory by crooks and cops alike.

She is less than forthcoming… at least with information…

Heading home to the Bowery Welfare Center in the grey morning light, Peter meets old friend and fellow agitator Robbie Robertson. The hothead is sounding off about new President Franklin Roosevelt and questioning how his proposed New Deal reforms will affect the situation of black people in America…

The brilliant and passionate young man works for the city’s segregated newspaper The Negro World and knows how things really work. Furthermore, Robbie shares with his old marching comrade suspicions that the government have something covert going on with prominent biologist Dr. Otto Octavius on Ellis Island. Being “a coloured”, Robbie has been refused an interview. Perhaps Peter could use his Bugle credentials to facilitate the matter?

Three days later the journalists are being greeted – albeit with exceeding different degrees of warmth – by the researcher’s assistant Curtis Connors before being ushered into a lab where wheelchair-bound and severely handicapped Octavius is finishing up appallingly sadistic experiments on a number of primates…

As they return to Manhattan, Robertson declares that something even worse is going on and resolves to go back for a look without the scientist’s Aryan-seeming minders tagging along. He doesn’t share his suspicions that the doctor’s passion for mind-control surgeries might be connected to a rash of disappearances of black citizens from Harlem…

‘Night Music’ follows escalating gang conflict as Crime Master tightens his stranglehold on the mobs and the Spider-Man spectacularly raids Harlem nightspot Seventh Heaven to discover what manager Fat Larry claims is just a faked-up dungeon room for clients with “exotic tastes”. It smells like the real thing to Peter…

Later, as Parker gloats over his first scoop for the Bugle, Robbie’s dad comes knocking. His proud, brilliant, too-inquisitive boy has gone missing…

Introducing his prospective daughter-in-law Gloria, the elder Robertson explains Robbie had been looking into reports of missing blacks and a possible white supremacy movement in New York. He was especially concerned about inroads into the government and possible links to Nazi Germany…

Having been roundly abused by the police when they tried to report him missing, the desperate family have come to Peter hoping he might have an idea.

He has only one and immediately rushes out to a nightclub in Harlem.

Elsewhere in town Octavius’ supplier of raw material and suitable test subjects is being carpeted by his clandestine backer Josef Ansell. Crime Master has no interest in the theories of the American Nazi party but revels in the power of his new position. He is not happy to hear his boss screaming over his performance and failure to deal with the Spider-Man.

Later, in the devil’s doctor’s fortress of obscene science, Octavius and Josef debate theories of racial purity and controlling the sub-human races through the creepily dispassionate butcher’s radical new surgical discovery. Today we call it lobotomising…

Berlin favours simply eradicating the lower orders but Octavius is convinced his scheme is better. Surely it’s more economically sensible to simply remove the capacity for rebellion and employ the sub-humans as tractable, ever-obedient slaves?

Considering the argument won he turns his attention back to Robbie, trussed up but awake on an operating table…

The Spider-Man, meanwhile, has reached Seventh Heaven to check out that dungeon again only to walk into a trap. Leading the overconfident army of thugs are Crime Master and his hulking Sandman, a brute seemingly oblivious to pain or injury…

Acting on a tip, De Wolfe and his team break in just in time to save the ambushed arachnoid from being beaten to death. As ‘Blues in the Night’ further unfolds, the battered vigilante shares his knowledge of the Negro disappearances and profound belief that Otto Octavius is behind them.

Still reeling, Peter then goes to Felicia for comfort and medical assistance but she can’t minister to him for long. She has a very important client coming who doesn’t like to share. However when she inadvertently questions her mystery high-roller about the Harlem abductions she tips her hand and the Crime Master sadistically makes her regret nosing into his business…

With his shielding veils of respectability and political secrecy tearing all around him, Josef frantically prepares to up stakes and relocate to somewhere more isolated and less troublesome like Tuskegee, Alabama, but the vengeful Arachnid is already deep within the Ellis Island facility and has seen what’s been done to Robbie…

The horrific pot of bubbling hatreds boil over in ‘Endless Night’ as obsessed Octavius rails against his backers whilst Crime Master and his goons ignore his protestations and get rid of the “livestock” and evidence of the doctor’s “scientific breakthroughs”.

By the time the Spider-Man joins the fight the supremacist thug and theoretician have almost killed each other but that doesn’t prevent the outraged avenger exacting his own measure of vengeance…

If he had known what Crime Master had left of Felicia, The Spider-Man might not have gone so easy on the monsters…

Bleak, gutsy, galvanising and trenchantly effective, this excellent period thriller by scripter David Hine & illustrator Carmine Di Giandomenico offers a stunningly suspenseful serving of dark drama and gripping action which would work equally well even if you had never heard of Marvel’s wondrous wallcrawler.

This pocketbook sized collection also includes a covers gallery by Di Giandomenico with variants by Dennis Calero as well as original art pages of variant options, inked art shot prior to the digital colouring stage and an extended script excerpt by Hine & Fabrice Sapolsky from issue #1, illustrated with character design sketches by Di Giandomenico.
© 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Essential Hulk volume 5


By Len Wein, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Chris Claremont, Herb Trimpe, Sal Buscema, Jack Abel, Joe Staton & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-7851-3065-9

By the close of the 1960s the Incredible Hulk had settled into a comfortable niche – and satisfyingly effective formula as radioactively afflicted Bruce Banner sought cures for his gamma-transformative curse, alternately aided or hunted by US General (and father of the scientist’s one true love) Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and a variety of guest-star heroes and villains.

Illustrator Herb Trimpe had made the character his own; the “house” Jack Kirby-based art-style quickly evolving into often startlingly abstract mannerism, augmented by an unmatched facility for drawing technology – especially honking great ordnance and vehicles – all of which looks especially great in the crisp black and white of these magically affordable Essentials volumes.

Most importantly, no one could possibly deny the sheer cathartic reader-release rush of a great big “Hulk Smash!” moment…

This chronologically complete monochrome mammoth contains Incredible Hulk #171-200, plus Hulk King Size Annual #5 (spanning January1974-November 1976) and opens with excessive bombast but no appreciable fanfare as ‘Revenge!’ (by Gerry Conway – from a Steve Englehart plot with art by Trimpe & Jack Abel) finds the Green Goliath a stowaway on a plane back to military Mecca Hulkbuster Base carrying new Project: Greenskin commanding officer Colonel John D. Armbruster who has taken over from the politically sidelined Thunderbolt Ross.

The camp is eerily deserted and the reason soon becomes clear as bludgeoning brutes Abomination and The Rhino attack. Having subdued the entire garrison, they plan on detonating the base’s gamma-bomb self-destruct device but are utterly unprepared for the Hulk’s irascible intervention…

Roy Thomas plotted Tony Isabella’s script for #172 wherein the Hulk – captured by the ungrateful soldiers he saved – is hurled into another dimension, allowing a mystic menace to inadvertently escape. ‘And Canst Thou Slay… The Juggernaut?’ reveals that even that magically augmented menace cannot resist our favourite monster’s might and features a telling cameo by the X-Men, after which Thomas scripts all-Trimpe art-fest ‘Anybody Out There Remember… The Cobalt Man?’, wherein another old X-adversary – Ralph Roberts – picks up the Jade Giant at sea before sailing his research vessel into a nuclear test explosion…

Dying of radiation exposure the deranged technologist then determines to demonstrate atomic bombs are bad to a callous, uncaring world by detonating one over Sydney in Doomsday… Down Under’ (Conway, Thomas, Trimpe & Abel). The second clash with the azure-armoured Cobalt Man results in a blistering battle in the stratosphere, a cataclysmic explosion and Hulk crashing to earth far, far away as a ‘Man-Brute in the Hidden Land!’ (#175, Thomas, Trimpe & Abel)…

Here a typically short-tempered encounter with the Uncanny Inhumans and devastating duel with silent super-monarch Black Bolt, after the usual collateral carnage, ends with the gamma gladiator hurtling to the far side of the sun in a rocket-ship for a date with allegory if not destiny.

During the early 1970s a throwaway Fantastic Four character dubbed Him was turned into a modern interpretation of the Christ myth and placed on a world far more like our own than the Earth of Marvel’s universe.

That troubled globe was codified as Counter-Earth and upon it the messianic Adam Warlock battled a Satan-analogue known as the Man-Beast. Hulk had briefly visited once before and now he crashed there again to complete the allegorical epic beginning with ‘Crisis on Counter-Earth!’ by Conway, Trimpe & Abel.

Since the Hulk’s departure Man-Beast and his animalistic minions (all spawned by godlike genetic meddler The High Evolutionary) had become America’s President and Cabinet. Moving decisively they had finally captured Warlock and led humanity to the brink of extinction, leaving the would-be messiah’s disciples in utter confusion.

Now with the nation in foment the Hulk’s shattering return gives Warlock’s faithful flock an opportunity to save their saviour in ‘Peril of the Plural Planet!’ but the foray badly misfires and Warlock is captured. Publicly crucified at the behest of the people, humanity’s last hope perishes…

Meanwhile on true-Earth Ross and Armbruster discover trusted comrade (and Ross’ son-in-law) Major Glenn Talbot has escaped from a top security Soviet prison and is making his triumphant way back to the USA…

The quasi-religious experience concludes with ‘Triumph on Terra-Two’ (Conway, Isabella, Trimpe & Abel) as the dead prophet resurrects whilst Hulk is waging his last battle against Man-Beast in time to deliver a cosmic coup de grace before ascending from Counter-Earth to the beckoning stars…

Incredible Hulk #179 signalled a much-need thematic reboot as Len Wein signed on as writer/editor with strong ideas on how to put some dramatic impact back into the feature. It begins with ‘Re-enter: The Missing Link’, as the Jade Juggernaut loses patience during his return trip and bursts out of his borrowed spaceship just as America’s military defences shoot it down.

He crashes to earth in the mining district of Appalachia and, reverting to befuddled Bruce Banner, is adopted by the dirt-poor Bradford family. They have a habit of taking in strays and have already welcomed a strange, huge yet gentle being they’ve named Lincoln.

As time passes Banner recognises the creature as a former Hulk foe known as the Missing Link. The colossal brute is neither evil nor violent (unless provoked) but is lethally radioactive, and the fugitive physicist faces the dilemma of having to break up a perfect happy family before they all die.

The Link of course, refuses to cooperate or go quietly…

Next comes the most momentous story in Hulk history which starts with ‘And the Wind Howls… Wendigo!’ (#180, October 1974, Wein, Trimpe & Abel), wherein the blockbusting brute bounces across the Canadian Border and encounters a witch attempting to cure her lover of a curse which has transformed him into a rampaging cannibalistic monster.

Unfortunately that cure meant Hulk had to become a Wendigo in his stead…

It was while the Great Green and Weird White monsters were fighting that mutant megastar Wolverine first appeared – in the very last panel – and that’s what leads into the savage fist, fang and claw fest that follows.

‘And Now… The Wolverine!’ captivatingly concluded the saga as the Maple nation’s top-secret super-agent is unleashed upon both the Emerald Goliath and man-eating Wendigo in an 18-page romp stuffed with triumph, tragedy and lots of slashing and hitting. The rest is history…

Back south of the border, Major Talbot has been reunited with his wife and family and is eagerly expecting a meeting with President Ford as ‘Between Hammer and Anvil!’ (with Trimpe taking sole charge of the art chores) finds the ever-lonely Hulk meeting and losing a true friend in jolly hobo Crackerjack Jackson.

The über-action portion of the tale comes from two escaped convicts who despise each other but are forced to endure togetherness because of an alien chain which shackles them whilst imparting overwhelming power. It’s not, nearly enough, however, enough to stop a fighting-mad, heartbroken Hulk…

Electrical vampire and life-stealer ZZZAX returns in ‘Fury at 50,000 Volts!’, wrecking a new life Banner surreptitiously carves for himself in Chicago, after which ‘Shadow on the Land!’ finds the wandering man-mountain battling alien invader Warlord Kaa who has taken possession of the Hulk’s shadow. This close encounter leads to Banner’s capture by Armbruster just in time for the President’s visit and a shocking ‘Deathknell!’ as the truth about Talbot is revealed when the trustworthy major attempts to assassinate the Commander-in-Chief.

During the attendant death and chaos Hulk busts out and General Ross regains his credibility by recapturing him, but the Soviet infiltration of the base is far from over as a traitor dons super-armour to continue the attacks in ‘The Day of the Devastator!’

This time when the Jade Juggernaut smashes their common foe, the American army are suitably grateful…

Sometime later SHIELD intelligence discovers the real Talbot is still a prisoner in Siberia and that Hulkbuster Base’s current problems have been caused by a Soviet mutant genius they’ve all battled before…

‘There’s a Gremlin in the Works!’ (Incredible Hulk #187, with Joe Staton joining the team as inker) features the return of the son of the Green Goliath’s very first foe The Gargoyle – see Essential Hulk volume 1 – a vicious mastermind with plans far beyond merely serving the Soviet state.

The little maniac is holding Talbot at his Bitterfrost fortress and quite prepared for Ross and SHIELD agent Clay Quartermain to stage a rescue bid, but all the cyborg super-soldiers and giant mutant monster dogs in the world are not enough when mission stowaway Bruce Banner gets scared and goes green…

The fiend’s personality-altering technology is exposed in ‘Mind Over Mayhem!’ but as the heroes escape with Talbot’s comatose body Hulk seemingly dies in Bitterfrost’s explosive death-throes. Nothing could be further from the truth and #189 sees the monster battle the Mole Man to secure a miracle-remedy for a sightless little Russian girl in ‘None Are So Blind…!’

Veteran Hulk illustrator Marie Severin inks Trimpe on ‘The Man Who Came Down on a Rainbow!’ as alien benefactor Glorian whisks the solitary man-monster to a veritable promised land in the stars, only to have the idyll shattered by invading Toad Men hungry for the secret power fuelling paradise…

After murdering Glorian, ‘The Triumph of the Toad!’ (Trimpe & Staton) is short-lived and catastrophically self-destructive after the enraged Hulk and the Shaper of Worlds extract a measure of justice for their fallen friend…

Cast back to Earth, the Green Giant lands in Scotland in time to get between feuding hotheads with violently opposing attitudes to ‘The Lurker beneath Loch Fear!’ after which Banner heads back to America where Ross and Quartermain have recruited a famous psychologist to fix the catatonic Glenn Talbot.

‘The Doctor’s Name is… Samson!’ finds the one time Gamma-powered superhero falling victim to another scientific gaffe and accidentally reborn as the green-haired strongman, yet still unable to cure his patient. For that he needs Banner, but when his wish comes true, Leonard Samson just isn’t tough enough to hold onto him…

After years on the strip Trimpe moved on to other things and Incredible Hulk #194 saw the pencilling debut of Sal Buscema in ‘The Day of the Locust!’ (with Wein & Staton still doing what they did best).

Lost in the American heartland the Hulk stumbles upon young lovers pursued by an overly possessive dad determined to end the affair. This angry parent however is a former X-Men enemy who can enlarge insects to immense size so the kids are more than grateful for the assistance of a Jolly Green Cupid…

With Samson and the army one step behind him, the Hulk befriends a small boy running away from home in ‘Warfare in Wonderland!’ Eager for any advantage Ross tricks the Abomination into attacking the Jade Giant but is unprepared for the gamma gladiators to team up rather than tussle in #196’s ‘The Abomination Proclamation!’

The villain’s innate viciousness soon alienates his temporary ally however and after winning another spectacular fight Hulk blasts off on a runaway rocket and crashes down in the Everglades where the invidious Collector has made his latest lair…

The phenomena fanatic is on a monster kick and, having scooped up Banner and a mute young man who is in actuality The Glob, feels ‘…And Man-Thing Makes Three!’ to be the perfect set. He has grossly underestimated the deeply buried humanity of his living trinkets and soon must face a mass-escape and the loss of all his living exhibits after ‘The Shangri-La Syndrome!’ hits home…

Hulk Annual #5 (November 1976) was the first all new King-Size compendium since 1968 and featured a huge monster mash reviving a half dozen iconic threats and menaces from the company’s pre-superhero phase. Written by Chris Claremont, with art by Sal B & Jack Abel, ‘And Six Shall Crush the Hulk!’ offers little in the way of plot but stacks of sensational action as a procession of resurrected aliens attack one after another, beginning with ‘Where There’s Smoke, There’s Diablo!’, ‘And Taboo Shall Triumph!’ and ‘It Is Groot, the Monster from Planet X!!’, after which ‘For I am Goom!!’ and ‘Beware the Blip!’ pile on the pressure until an evil mastermind is revealed as grudge-bearing Defenders foe Xemnu in ‘A Titan Shall Slay Him!’

Naturally even exhausted the Hulk is too much for the spiteful schemer…

Building up to a spectacular anniversary, Incredible Hulk #199 saw Samson and Ross employ all America’s most advanced assets in ‘…And SHIELD Shall Follow!’ (Wein, Sal B & Staton) to capture the critically necessary Jade Giant, but in the end it is the psychologist’s sheer guts and determination which won the day, allowing the big issue #200 resolution as Hulk is shrunk to infinitesimal size and injected into Talbot’s brain to battle materialised memories and a viciously sentient tumour as ‘An Intruder in the Mind!’

The struggle to restore the mind of Banner’s rival for Betty Ross-Talbot‘s undying affections is not without complications, however, and at the moment of his greatest triumph and sacrifice the Hulk suffers a major setback and begins uncontrollably shrinking beyond the ability of Samson and his team to rescue him…

To Be Continued…

This superbly cathartic tome also includes Hammer and Anvil pages taken from the Marvel Universe Handbook plus an alternative cover to Incredible Hulk #174.

The Incredible Hulk is one of the most well-known comic characters on Earth, and these stories, as much as the movies, cartoons, TV shows, games, toys and action figures are the reason why. For an uncomplicated, earnestly vicarious experience of Might actually being Right, you can’t do better than these yarns, so why not Go Green – even if it’s only in monochrome and in your own delirious head?
© 1974, 1975, 1976, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Secret Warriors volume 5: Night


By Jonathan Hickman, Mirko Colac, Alessandro Vitti, David Marquez & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4803-6

In his “Infinity-formula” extended career, Marvel’s immortal secret agent Nick Fury fought in every war since WWII, worked for the CIA and ran numerous iterations of superspy agency S.H.I.E.L.D.; generally finding over and again that nobody could be trusted – not to stay clean and decent – in a world of temptation.

Worse yet, even the best of men could be forced to whatever was necessary given the right motivation…

Too many times the spooks “on our side” became as debased as the bad guys in a world where covert agencies were continually exposed as manipulative, out-of-control tools of subversion, oppression and ambition.

The taste of betrayal and those seeds of doubt and mistrust never went away, and following a succession of global crises – including a superhero Civil War and the rise of a certified maniac to the second most powerful position in America – Fury was ousted as S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

His immediate successor Tony Stark proved to be a huge – if well-meaning – mistake, and after an alien invasion by Skrulls the entire organisation was mothballed. He was replaced by the dynamic Norman Osborn and his cultishly loyal H.A.M.M.E.R. outfit. It was a case of giving a rabid fox the keys to the henhouse…

As America’s Director of National Security, the former Green Goblin instituted a draconian “Dark Reign” of oppressive, aggressive policies which turned the USA into a paranoid tinderbox.

The nation’s Top Fed was specifically tasked with curbing the unchecked power and threat of a burgeoning metahuman community, but he was also covertly directing a cabal of the world’s greatest criminals and conquerors; intent on divvying up the planet between them. The repercussions of Osborn’s rise (and inevitable fall) were felt throughout and featured in many series and collections throughout the entire fictive universe.

His brief rule also drastically shook up the entrenched secret empires of the planet and his defeat destabilised many previously unassailable clandestine Powers and States…

Fury, a man driven by duty, fuelled by suspicion and powered by a serum which kept him vital far beyond his years, didn’t go away. He just went deep undercover and continued doing what he’d always done – saving the world, one battle at a time. From this unassailable, unsuspected vantage point, free of the shackles of politically motivated oversight, Fury picked his battles and slowly gathered assets and resources he had personally vetted or constructed…

The indomitable freedom fighter had always known that to do the job properly he needed his own trustworthy forces and no constraints. To this end he had spent decades secretly sourcing and stockpiling his own formidable, unimpeachable army. Decades in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided him with mountains of data on metahumans. From these he had compiled “Caterpillar Files” covering many unknown, unexploited and, most importantly, untainted potential operatives who might one day metamorphose into true assets…

His first move was to assemble a crack squad of super-human agents. Team White initially comprised Yo Yo Rodriguez AKA Slingshot, neophyte mystic Sebastian Druid, Jerry “Stonewall” Sledge, J.T. “Hellfire” James, instinctive leader Daisy Johnson – codenamed Quake – and the terrifyingly volatile Alexander: a 12-year old boy with incredible power.

The child Phobos was destined to become a true god and personification of Fear itself but until then his daily-growing divine gifts were Fury’s to use… if he dared…

In the aftermath of the wave of crises the old soldier had come across a truly shocking piece of intel: for most of his career, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been no more than a deeply submerged and ring-fenced Hydra experiment.

All Fury’s world-saving triumphs had been nothing more than acceptable short-term losses for a secret society which claims to reach back to ancient Egypt, secretly steering the world for millennia.

However since Osborn and the Skrull invasion had shaken things up, the old war-dog now had an honest chance of wiping out his perfidious many-headed, faceless foe forever…

Hydra had been badly damaged by the crisis, and as the dust settled Baron Wolfgang von Strucker sought to capitalise on the chaos to regenerate the cult in his own image, seizing all fallow assets, technology and even experienced agents abandoned by friends and enemies alike…

To this end, Strucker co-opted breakaway factions of Hydra and convened a new hierarchy of deadly lieutenants loyal to him alone. However even with Viper, Madame Hydra, Kraken, Silver Samurai, The Hive and mystically resurrected mutant ninja The Gorgon on board, the prospect of wedding super-science and corporate rapaciousness with ancient magic and millennial covert cabals was a risky ploy…

Their rabid rapid expansion also gave Fury an opportunity to place one of his own deep within the organisation…

To further bolster his own relatively meagre forces, Fury reached out to selected old S.H.I.E.L.D. comrades and especially his former second-in-command Dum-Dum Dugan who had gathered up the most trustworthy agents and veterans into a private security agency – the Howling Commandos Private Military Company. Warriors to the last, they were all looking for one last good war and a proper way to die…

Some of them got their wish when the good guys launched a daring raid and stole three of the mothballed colossal flying fortress warships dubbed Helicarriers, laying the groundwork for an imminent, unavoidable and very public shooting war…

Fury’s counterattack failed spectacularly and in the resultant chaos that followed things only got worse…

Now Hydra has once more splintered into factions again leaving Strucker embroiled in a globe-spanning vendetta with Soviet-founded subversive organisation Leviathan. Moreover, their once-covert conflict has escalated into a monstrously damaging and destructively public shooting war resulting in thousands of collateral civilian casualties all over Earth…

Written throughout by Jonathan Hickman, this fifth complex and intriguing espionage epic collects Secret Warriors #20-24 (November 2010-March 2011) and opens with the eponymous 3-parter ‘Night’ and ‘How Did Things Ever Come to This?’ (art by Mirko Colak and Alessandro Vitti) wherein Fury briefs his diminished White team – Hellfire, Stonewall, Slingshot, Daisy, Phobos and human teleporter Eden Fesi – about the growing crisis and tells them how they’re going to stop it.

Once the squad’s preparations to raid and eradicate Hydra’s key base are finalised, the traitor in Fury’s handpicked team takes the first opportunity to pass on the plans to the always-one-step-ahead opposition…

Infiltrating the supposedly unsuspecting Gehenna Base in ‘This is How it was Always Going To Be’ Team White find a veritable army of hostiles led by Gorgon, Strucker and Madame Hydra waiting for them, but still manage to plant a devastating “mountain-breaker” bomb before beginning a frantic retreat. In the melee Fury and Phobos are separated from the rest.

Confronted by Gorgon, the boy-god tricks his grizzled human mentor into leaving before turning to duel the Gorgon. After a shattering battle with enchanted swords Alex dies heroically, enigmatically stating “this is how it’s supposed to be”…

The tragedy concludes with ‘I Gave Everything I Had’ as the mountain-breaker – aided by Daisy’s quake powers – detonates and Fury pragmatically drives his protégés to a secret rendezvous where his back-up escape plan is waiting.

The old warrior then selects one of the squad to join him in a rearguard action and, as they hold back the Hydra hordes, makes it plain that he’s aware of the greedy treachery which caused this debacle and Phobos’ death.

Only Fury rejoins the rest of Team White as they make their hairsbreadth escape…

In the aftermath, Strucker fumes, his frustration at fever pitch and his power further diminished by the desertion of The Gorgon and Madame Hydra. He is not expecting his faithful subordinate Kraken to try to kill him…

Illustrated by Alessandro Vitti, ‘Rebirth’ offers an elucidatory flashback which clarifies the mechanics of the team’s lucky escape. Six months previously Fury had very publicly kicked junior sorcerer Sebastian Druid out, declaring him a liability.

It was another ruse and ‘There Is No Out’ reveals how the portly mage was subsequently hot-housed by cyborg SHIELD agent John Garrett whose draconian training program turned the sad sack into a lethally capable operative in complete control of his eldritch abilities.

As a graduation test Garrett had Druid assassinate one of the Leviathan leaders and make it appear as if Hydra was behind the killing…

The Beginning of The End commences with ‘Wheels Within Wheels Part One’ (art by David Marquez & Vitti) as another strand of Fury’s Byzantine scheme seemingly falls apart. A year ago and unknown to all, he had activated another, completely covert Caterpillar team of super-agents, led by his own son Mikel.

Now ‘I Did My Best’ reveals how that entire squad falls in battle against Hydra rebel Hive and a shell-shocked, heartbroken and utterly beaten Nick Fury surrenders himself to Kraken and his Hydra host…

To Be Concluded…

This excellent exercise in tense suspense and Machiavellian manipulation also includes a stunning ‘Cover gallery’ by Jim Cheung and Paul Renaud to supplement the bleak, engagingly cynical, convoluted, over-the-top action and dazzling cloak-and-dagger conflicts: employing enough intrigue to bamboozle even the most ardent espionage aficionado, with the added bonus that far less knowledge of Marvel continuity is necessary to fully appreciate this particularly intense and engaging effort to the full.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.