Category: Marvel Superheroes

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Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2: War of Kings Book 1


By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier, Brad Walker, Carlos Magno, Wes Craig & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3339-1

Following twin cosmic catastrophes (the invasion of our cosmos by Annihilus and legions of Negative Zone monsters plus a subsequent assault on the shattered survivors by parasitical invading Phalanx techno-horrors) our corner of the universe was left reeling and frantically trying to rebuild.

During that period of instability and crisis, Star-Lord Peter Quill assembled a rag-tag team of alien warriors with the intention of acting as a pre-emptive peace-keeping and disaster management force.

They comprised Quill, Adam Warlock, Gamora “the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy”, Drax the Destroyer, latest Quasar Phyla-Vell, anamorphic adventurer Rocket Raccoon and gloriously whacky “Kirby Kritter” Groot, a constantly regenerating killer tree and one-time “Monarch of Planet X”.

The squad was supported by telepathic precog and failed Celestial Madonna Mantis and Cold War Soviet superdog Cosmo, both high in the controlling hierarchy of intergalactic research think-tank Knowhere, situated in the hollowed-out skull of a dead Celestial Space God…

Before too long they were battling on many fronts after discovering that the fabric of the cosmos – stretched, mauled, abused and abraded by continual crises – had begun to unravel in various hotspots, allowing access to things from outside reality: very nasty things that really, really wanted to come and play in our universe…

Whilst closing one such rift the team recovered a huge chunk of “limbo-ice” and found the temporal effluvia was encasing a chunk of Avengers Mansion, an appalling atrocity hungry for slaughter and a strange costumed hero holding Captain America‘s legendary shield…

The amnesiac outcast alternately called himself Vance Astrovik and Major Victory, claiming to be part of a 30th century group of freedom-fighters called The Guardians of the Galaxy. He had travelled back from the future but could not remember what for, why or even if he had eventually arrived in the right universe…

Before the suspicious heroes could explore further, Knowhere and especially Astrovik were targeted by another future-born being – Starhawk – and the base was subject to infiltration by shapeshifting Skrulls.

In fighting off the attack Quill’s team accidentally discovered that when they initially convened, Star-Lord had urged Mantis to telepathically “nudge” the war-weary warriors into joining his proposed team.

Quite understandably on hearing this, they all quit…

Perhaps a better term would be mutinied as weeks later the majority were still putting out cosmic brush fires, but without the manipulative betrayer Star-Lord…

This particular collection – gathering Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2 #7-12 spanning November 2008 to April 2009 – acts as prologue to yet another cosmos-rending crisis wherein the battered Shi’ar Empire, ruled at this time by mutant Vulcan (half brother of Scott and Alex Summers) battled for its very existence against the resurgent Kree, led at first by Ronan the Accuser but eventually Black Bolt of the earthborn genetic weapons known as Inhumans.

The convoluted saga involved a host of space-themed characters, crossed over into many titles and served to forge closer links between the Earth-based Marvel Universe and its far-flung intergalactic outliers, eventually encompassing and engulfing such diverse elements as the X-Men, Nova Corps, Darkhawk, Starjammers and many more…

Here however there is the barest inkling of what is to come as writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning describe ‘No Future’ (illustrated by Paul Pelletier & Rick Magyar) wherein the constantly gender-shifting captive Starhawk shares his/her shaky memories of the future and the fall of tomorrow’s galactic guardians with telepathic canine émigré Cosmo whilst elsewhere Rocket, Groot, Mantis, Major Victory and Galactic Warrior Bug (from 1970’s phenomenon The Micronauts) struggle to prevent a Spartoi colony world from being ravaged by technologically enhanced undead monsters.

In a flash of memory Astrovik recognises them as precursors of the Badoon terror battalions he knows as “Zoms” just as he discovers a colossal factory churning out fresh horrors from the remains of the colony’s populace…

Half a galaxy away Adam Warlock and Gamora have invaded a citadel of the Universal Church of Truth responsible for the latest rips in the fabric of space/time whilst Drax and Phyla-Vell are searching a planet of spiritualists and get a disturbing message from someone long dead…

And, further still from any of them, Peter Quill wakes up a captive of bombastic tyrant Blastaar, deep inside the subspace hell of the Negative Zone…

How he got there is revealed in ‘Past Mistakes’ (with art by Brad Walker & Victor Olazaba), disclosing how the guilt-ridden Star-Lord returned to Kree homeworld Hala to aid their resistance only to be ambushed by notional leader Ronan who has commissioned the reconstruction of a lethal atrocity weapon dubbed the Babel Spire…

Quill’s moral and physical objections were overruled by superior force before the fallen hero was cast into the N-Zone whilst all his erstwhile comrades soldiered on without him in their own sectors of a growing universal disaster…

The self-appointed lord of the Negative Zone and unlikely ally of the Accuser wants Quill’s help. King Blastaar has a plan to invade Earth again…

At that time Earth’s smartest minds had built an other-dimensional jail – codenamed 42 – where they unceremoniously dumped a wide variety of super-felons and enhanced maniacs. ‘Prison Break’ (Walker, Carlos Magno, Olazaba & Jack Purcell) found Blastaar pitting his armies against the supposedly impenetrable fortress, determined to capture its single portal back the positive matter universe…

The penitentiary, long abandoned by its correctional officers, was being run by some of the less crazy inmates such as vigilante and former Captain America sidekick Jack Flag who had organised a stiff resistance to Blastaar’s bloody, besieging legions.

Quill, sent in by Blastaar as an ambassador to convince the humans to surrender, instead links up with the cons and they hatch a plan to unlock the one-way transmat portal and ship the surviving cons back home, but dealing with maniacs like Gorilla-Man Arthur Nagan, hacker Skeleton Ki, winged killer Condor and mutated mauler Bison proves as fraught with peril as betraying Blastaar…

In the outer universe, whilst Drax and Quasar seek a way to reunite with dead and possessed champion Moondragon, Quill uses a captive telepath to send a message to his former comrades. In response Cosmo uses Knowhere’s tech to despatch Rocket, Bug, Groot, Mantis and Major Victory to his aid…

Unfortunately they materialise on the wrong side of the invading forces just as a traitor opens the doors to the killer king’s forces…

‘Blastaared!’ (Walker, Olazaba, Rodney Ramos & John Livesay) finds the reunited heroes battling for their lives inside 42 as, on the throneworld of the Universal Church of Truth, Warlock confronts his own appalling future before regretfully taking control over the merciless theocracy.

Pulling off a minor miracle, the Guardians and last penal survivors beam back to our reality, even as in a dark cell Starhawk realises that the war she/he had fought so hard to forestall is beginning…

The last two tales in this collection (illustrated by Wes Craig) yield focus to Drax and Phyla-Vell, beginning with ‘Welcome to Oblivion’ wherein the recently murdered duo awake in a deathlike dimension to be challenged by a number of deceased heroes and villains such as her father Mar-Vell and murderous maniac Maelstrom. The Avatar of Oblivion has been slowing leading the seekers to this pocket purgatory with psychic breadcrumbs of Moondragon’s essence in a scheme to escape back to the lands of the living…

The resurrection shuffle spectacularly concludes in ‘Sacrifice’ as ghostly champion Wendell Vaughn – the first Quasar – boldly appears to aid Drax and Phyla’s rescue of Moondragon before sending them all back to the world of breath and light.

However plots within plots are constantly unfolding and in truth a new Avatar of Death has manifested, allowing the cosmic entity known as Oblivion to anticipate a forthcoming “End War”…

This stunning stellar treasure-chest also includes a covers-&-variants gallery by Clint Langley, Jim Valentino, Brandon Peterson, David Yardin and Paul Renavo to complete a sharp, breathtaking adventure with loads of laughs and tremendous imagination.

On its own terms this is superb stuff well worth seeking out, but Fights ‘n’ Tights completists might be wise to remember this is only the tip of a cataclysmic cosmic iceberg and the full picture spans at least six other volumes…
© 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: The Definitive Guardians of the Galaxy


By Arnold Drake, Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Bill Mantlo, Jim Valentino, Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Gene Colan, Mike Mignola, Timothy Green, Paul Pelletier & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-601-4

With another Marvel filmic franchise kicking off around the world, here’s a timely tie-in trade paperback collection designed to perfectly augment the cinematic exposure and cater to movie fans wanting to follow up with a comics experience.

Part of the always rewarding Marvel Platinum/Definitive Edition series, this treasury of tales reprints intriguing landmarks and key moments from Marvel Super Heroes #18, Marvel Preview #11, Rocket Raccoon #1-4, Guardians of the Galaxy volume 1, #1, Annihilation Conquest: Star-Lord #1-4 and Guardians of the Galaxy volume 1, spanning January 1969-July 2008, and hopefully answering any questions the silver screen story might throw up whilst providing an immense amount of spectacularly bombastic fighting fun.

One thing to recall at all times though is that there are two distinct and separate iterations of the team. The film concentrates on the second but there are inescapable connections between them so pay attention here…

Moreover, in addition to the sparkling Brady Webb Foreword, this compendium contains text features detailing the secret history and statistics of Drax, Gamora, Groot, Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord, plus Mike Conroy’s scholarly trawl through comicbook history in ‘The True Origin of the Guardians of the Galaxy’.

Although heralded since its genesis in the early 1960s with making superheroes more realistic, The House of Ideas has also always maintained its close connection with outlandish and outrageous cosmic calamity (as best exemplified in their pre-superhero “monster-mag” days), and their pantheon of much-travelled space stalwarts maintain that delightful “Anything Goes” attitude in all of their many and varied iterations.

This titanic tome’s blistering battle-fest begins with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome!’ first seen in combination new-concept try-out/Golden Age reprint vehicle Marvel Super Heroes #18 (cover-dated January 1969). The terse, gritty episode introduced a disparate band of freedom fighters battling to save Earth from occupation and humanity from extinction at the scaly hands of the sinister, reptilian Brotherhood of Badoon.

It all starts when Jovian militia-man Charlie-27 returns home from a six month tour of scout duty to find his entire colony subjugated by invading aliens. Fighting free, he jumps into a randomly programmed teleporter and emerges on Pluto, just in time to scotch the escape of crystaline scientist Martinex.

Both are examples of human genetic engineering: subspecies designed to populate and colonise Sol system’s outer planets but now potentially the last of their kinds. After helping the mineral man complete his mission of sabotage – blowing up potentially useful material before the Badoon can get their hands on it – the odd couple set the teleporter for Earth and jump…

Unfortunately the invaders have already taken the homeworld.

The Supreme Badoon Elite are there, busily mocking the oldest Earthman alive. Major Vance Astro had been the world’s first intersolar astronaut; solo flying in cold sleep to Alpha Centauri at a fraction of the speed of light.

When he got there 1000 years later, humanity was waiting for him, having cracked trans-luminal speeds a mere two centuries after he took off. Now he and Centauri aborigine Yondu were a comedy exhibit for the cruel reptilian conquerors who were eradicating both of their races…

The smug invaders were utterly overwhelmed when Astro broke free, utilising the psionic powers he had developed in hibernation before Yondu slaughtered them with the sound-controlled energy arrows he carried.

In their pell-mell flight the pair stumbled across the incoming Martinex and Charlie-27 and a new legend of valiant resistance was born…

The eccentric team, as originally envisioned by Arnold Drake, Gene Colan & Mike Esposito in 1968, were presented to an audience undergoing immense social change, with dissent in the air, riot in the streets and with the Vietnam War on their TV screens every night.

Perhaps the jingoistic militaristic overtones were off-putting or maybe the times were against the Guardians since costumed hero titles were entering a temporary downturn, but whatever the reason the feature was a rare “Miss” for Marvel and the futuristic freedom fighters were not seen again for years.

They floated in limbo until 1974 when Steve Gerber incorporated them into some of his assigned titles (Marvel Two-In-One and The Defenders), wherein assorted 20th century champions travelled a millennium into the future to ensure humanity’s survival. Rejuvenated by exposure the squad rededicated themselves to liberating star-scattered Mankind, and eventually gained a short-lived series in Marvel Presents (#3-12, February 1976-August 1977, but not represented here) before cancellation left them roaming the Marvel Universe as perennial guest-stars in such cosmically-tinged titles as Thor, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One and most significantly The Avengers.

In June 1990 they secured a relatively successful relaunch (#62 issues + annuals and spin-off miniseries) before cancellation again claimed them in July 1995.

However before we get there this volume highlights two seemingly unrelated characters who made their debuts elsewhere in the 20th century Marvel Universe.

Starlord (without the hyphen) premiered in black-&-white mature-reader magazine Marvel Preview # 4 in 1976, appearing thrice more – in #11, 14 and 15 – during the height of the Star Wars inspired Science Fiction explosion.

Years previously a warrior prince of an interstellar empire was shot down over Colorado and had a brief fling with solitary Earther Meredith Quill. Despite his desire to remain in idyllic isolation, duty called the starman back to the battle and he left, leaving behind an unborn son and a unique weapon…

A decade later, the troubled boy saw his mother assassinated by alien lizard men. Peter Jason Quill vengefully slew the creatures with Meredith’s shotgun, before his home was explosively destroyed by a flying saucer.

The orphan awoke in hospital, his only possession a “toy” ray-gun his mother had hidden from him his entire life. Years later his destiny found him, as the half-breed scion was elevated by the divinity dubbed the “Master of the Sun”, becoming StarLord. Rejecting both Earth and his missing father Peter chose freedom, the pursuit of justice and the expanse of the cosmos.

In his second outing (Marvel Preview #11, Summer 1977) Chris Claremont, John Byrne & Terry Austin crafted a classic space opera which saw the deity-appointed galactic policeman scupper a slaving ring and follow a string of clues back to his own incredible origins.

Presented here in the original monochrome, that tale opens on decimated agrarian planet ‘Windhölme’ where fisherman’s son Kip sees his entire community abducted like cattle by alien criminals. Aboard their vessel he is befriended by feisty fellow abductee Sandy but before they can enact their childish dreams of revenge the slaver dreadnought is attacked by Starlord and his sentient super vehicle “Ship”…

The traffickers are no match for the aggrieved heroes and, after the victims have been repatriated, psychic interrogation leads Kip, Sandy and the stellar paladin up the criminal chain to flesh-peddler and imperial favourite Kyras Shakti on his debauched pleasure world ‘Cinnibar’.

The monolithic battle there reveals even greater Royal involvement, drawing Starlord to ‘Sparta’, and a shocking family connection before ‘The Hollow Crown’ sees Quill uncover his true origins when he is unexpectedly reunited with his alien father. Despite renewed emotional ties the hero forswears a life of impossible luxury for the heavens, duty and justice…

Rocket Raccoon was a minor character who appeared in backup serial ‘The Sword in the Star’ (Marvel Preview #7 in 1976). He won a larger role in Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982), and like Wolverine years before refused to go away quietly.

Reprinted here in its entirety is the 4-issue Rocket Raccoon miniseries (cover-dated May to August 1985 and crafted by Bill Mantlo, Mike Mignola, Al Gordon & Al Milgrom), a bizarre and baroque sci-fi fantasy which blended the charm of Pogo with the biting social satire of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest all whilst ostensibly describing a battle between Good and Evil in a sector of space crazy even by comicbook standards.

Rocket was one of many talking animals in the impenetrable, inescapable Keystone Quadrant; a Ranger in charge of keeping the peace as robots and anamorphic beasties went about their holy tasks of caring for the distinctly odd and carefree humans known as The Loonies on their idyllic, sybaritic planet Halfworld.

However when a brutal shooting war between voracious apex toymakers Judson Jakes and Lord Dyvyne led to Rocket’s girlfriend Lylla Otter being kidnapped, the planet went wild, or perhaps… ‘Animal Crackers’.

In rescuing her, Rocket and his faithful deputy Wal Rus had to contend with a murderous army of mechanised Killer Clowns, face an horrific, all-consuming bio-weapon at ‘The Masque of the Red Breath’, and even team up with arch-foe and disreputable mercenary bunny Blackjack O’Hare before uncovering the horrendous truth behind the mad society he so tirelessly defended in ‘The Book of Revelations!’

The final chapter then shook everything up as ‘The Age of Enlightenment’ saw the end of The Loonies, allowing the Raccoon and his surviving companions to escape the confines of the eternally segregated Keystone Quadrant into the greater universe beyond…

Back on Earth, a speculator-fuelled boom in comics sales led to Marvel launching a bunch of new titles in the early 1990s. Amongst them was Guardians of the Galaxy volume 1, #1, once again focusing on the 31st century centurions.

Conceived, written and drawn by Jim Valentino – with Steve Montano inking – the debut issue reprinted here reprised the entire eccentric combined careers of Vance, Yondu, Charlie and Martinex (plus later recruits Mercurian Nikki and Starhawk – an alien god who shared a single body with his estranged wife Aleta) as the team set off on a quest.

They were following a string of ancient clues to recover Captain America‘s legendary shield, only to fall foul of cyborg-enhanced warrior ‘Taserface!’

For the rest of that epic journey and their battle against the alien Stark race who had based their entire warrior culture on Iron Man‘s armour, you’ll need to track down one of the many other GotG collections flooding out now…

In 2006 a massive crossover involved most of Marvel’s 21st century space specialists in a spectacular Annihilation Event, leading writing team Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning to confiscate and reconfigure the Guardians concept for modern times and tastes.

Among the stalwarts in the big event were Silver Surfer, Galactus, Firelord (and other previous heralds of the world-eater), Moondragon, Quasar, Star-Lord, Thanos, Super-Skrull, Rigellian Colonizer Tana Nile, Gamora (“Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy”), Ronan the Accuser, Nova, Drax (the Destroyer), a Watcher and many previously established alien civilisations such as the Kree, Skrulls, Xandarians, Shi’ar et al., all falling before an invasion of rapacious Negative Zone bugs and beasties unleashed by insectoid horror Annihilus..

After that shooting match subsided the decimated sectors and empires were left helpless as sentient, aggressive all-subsuming technological parasite The Phalanx struck, absorbing and thriving inside all the machines and electronic engines the shaken civilisations were using to rebuild in a follow-up apocalypse designated Annihilation: Conquest.

From that second sidereal saga came the beginnings of the Guardians the world has gone crazy over – specifically the side-bar miniseries Annihilation Conquest: Star-Lord #1-4 from September-December 2007 and which is reprinted here in full.

What You’ll Need to Know: in the scarred and war-torn realm of known space, still reeling from the chaos of the Annihilation Wave and its aftermath, both the Kree and Skrull empires are splintered, Xandar‘s Nova Corps (the universal police force) has been reduced to a single agent, ancient gods are loose and a sizable number of the Negative Zone invaders have tenuously established themselves in territories stolen from the billions of dead sentients that once populated the cosmos.

The Supreme Intelligence is gone and arch-villain Ronan has become a surprisingly effective ruler of the Kree remnants. Cosmic Protector Quasar is dead and Phyla-Vell, daughter of the first Captain Marvel has inherited both his powers and name…

Whilst Phyla and psychic demi-goddess Moondragon were working with the pacifist Priests of Pama to relieve the suffering of starving survivors, Peter Quill (no longer Star-Lord) was working with Ronan and the pitiful Kree remnants on Hala to shore up the battered communal interstellar defences of the myriad races in the sector.

Quill had brokered an alliance with the Spaceknights of Galador (an old noble cyborg species most famously represented by 1980s hero Rom) which should enhance the all-pervasive etheric war-net, but once uploaded the data instantly causes disastrous problems throughout the system.

In seconds all technology in the region is compromised: overruled and overwritten by a ruthlessly efficient electronic sentience whose cybernetic credo is “peace and order through assimilation”. Once more organic life is facing total extinction…

On Pama, Phyla and Moondragon are targeted by repurposed Kree automatons as the Phalanx attempt to destroy any credible resistance before cutting off the entire quadrant from the rest of the universe.

If life was to survive this threat it must besaved by the champions trapped inside…

The 4-part miniseries Annihilation Conquest: Star-Lord – written by Keith Giffen and illustrated by Timothy Green II, Victor Olazaba & Nathan Fairbairn, finds the former Cosmic Avenger stripped of his powers and hi-tech enhancements – all liabilities when facing a predator species that infests electronic devices – and forcibly seconded to a Kree resistance division.

Here he is tasked with turning a bunch of Kree convicts into a Penal Strike Force (a highly engaging intergalactic Dirty Half-Dozen) to take out the complex where the Phalanx are perfecting an efficient way to assimilate organics into their electro-mechanistic hive-mind.

The Kree were once the major bad-guy race in the Marvel mainstream, so whoever they consider criminals look surprising like failed heroes to us. Firstly there’s Galactic Warrior Bug (originally from 1970’s phenomenon Micronauts), the current Captain Universe (ditto), the Shi’ar berserker Deathcry, failed Celestial Madonna Mantis, the so-very-far-from-home Rocket Raccoon and gloriously whacky “Kirby Kritter” Groot: a Walking Tree and one-time “Monarch of Planet X.”

With this reluctant team in tow and using natural abilities and decidedly primitive Earth weapons the squad invades Hala – central beachhead of the Phalanx – to discover and destroy the augmented assimilation project, but they have drastically underestimated the remorselessly callous creativity of the electronic invaders…

Happily the Phalanx have no grasp of the ingenuity, bloody-minded determination and willingness to die stupidly for a cause that afflicts organics and heroes…

Sharp, witty and engaging, this is a magnificent romp full of humour, shocks and thrills no comic fan could possibly resist…

The roaring success of all that intergalactic derring-do led to a new rootin’, tootin’, blaster-shootin’ conclave of outer space reprobates who formed a new 21st century iteration and this titanic tome concludes its comics cavalcade with Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2, #1, (July 2008) wherein some of those recently acquainted adventurers get back into the business of saving the universe…

‘Somebody’s Got To Do It’ – by Abnett, Lanning, Paul Pelletier & Rick Magyar – reveals how, due to fellow Earthling Nova’s prompting, Star-Lord forms a pro-active defence force to handle the next inevitable cosmic crisis as soon as – if not before – it starts.

To that end he convinces Phyla-Vell, Drax, Gamora, Groot, Warlock and the Raccoon to relocate with him to the pan-species science-station Knowhere (situated in the hollowed-out skull of a dead Celestial Space God) and start putting out a never-ending progression of interstellar brush-fires before they become really serious…

The station is guarded and run by Cosmo – an elderly Soviet dog with astounding telepathic abilities – and is where Mantis now works as chief medic. It also offers unlimited teleportational transport which the team soon needs as it tries to prevent an out-of-control Universal Church of Truth Templeship from crashing into a time/space distortion and shredding the fabric of reality…

Soon the surly scratch squad are battling savage, crazed missionary-zealots empowered by the worship of enslaved adherents channelled through the Templeship’s colossal Faith Generators whilst desperately attempting to divert the vessel before it impacts the fissure in space.

Such a collision would cause catastrophic destruction to the galaxy but the UCT crusaders only see heretics trying to interfere with their mission to convert unbelievers…

The crisis is exacerbated by another small problem: there are very nasty things on the other side of the fissure that really want to come and play in our universe, and when one of them breaks through the only thing to do is destroy the Templeship…

In the aftermath, Warlock reveals that the non-stop string of cosmic Armageddons since Annihilus’ invasion has fundamentally damaged the substance of space and inevitably more fissures will appear. He wants to repurpose the team to find and close them all before anything else escapes.

And on Sacrosanct, homeworld of the Universal Church of Truth, the Matriarch issues a decree for her Cardinals to deal with the interfering unbelievers…

With covers by Colan & Esposito, Ken Barr, Mignola & Gordon, Valentino, Nic Klein, and Clint Langley, this spectacular slice of riotous star-roving is a non-stop feast of tense suspense, surreal fun and blockbuster action: another well-tailored, on-target tool to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnation and another solid sampling to entice the newcomers and charm even the most jaded slice ‘n’ dice fanatic.

© 2014 Marvel. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. British edition published by Panini UK.

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Marvel Masterworks volume 16: Amazing-Spider-Man 31-40 & Annual 2


By Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr. & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-730-5

After a shaky start The Amazing Spider-Man quickly became a popular sensation with kids of all ages, rivalling the creative powerhouse that was Fantastic Four. Before too long the quirky, charming, action-packed comics soap-opera would become the model for an entire generation of younger heroes impatiently elbowing aside the staid, (relatively) old thirty-something mystery-men of previous publications and hallowed tradition.

The rise and rise of the wondrous Web-spinner continued and even increased pace as the Swinging Sixties unfolded and, by the time of the tales in this third sumptuous hardcover (re-presenting Amazing Spider-Man #31-40 and including Annual 2, originally released between December 1965 and September 1966), Peter Parker and friends were on the way to being household names as well as the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia.

Sadly by 1966 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist simply resigned, leaving Spider-Man without an illustrator.

In the coincidental meantime John Romita had been lured away from DC’s romance line and given odd assignments before assuming the artistic reins of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Before long he was co-piloting the company’s biggest property and expected to run with it.

In this momentous compilation of (mostly) chronological Arachnoid adventures, the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero successfully challenged the dominant Fantastic Four as Marvel’s top comicbook both in sales and quality.

Ditko’s off-beat plots and quirkily bizarre art had reached an accommodation with the slick and potent superhero house-style that Jack Kirby had developed (at least as much as such a unique talent ever could), with a marked reduction of signature line-feathering and moody backgrounds plus a lessening of concentration on totemic villains.

Although still very much a Ditko baby, The Amazing Spider-Man had attained a sleek pictorial gloss whilst Lee’s scripts were comfortably in tune with the times if not his collaborator. Although Lee’s assessment of the audience was probably the correct one, disagreements with the artist over the strip’s editorial direction were still confined to the office and not the pages themselves.

However an indication of the growing tensions could be seen once Ditko began being credited as plotter of the stories…

After a period where old-fashioned crime and gangsterism predominated, science fiction themes and costumes crazies started to return full force here as the world went gaga for superheroes and the creators experimented with longer storylines and protracted subplots…

When Ditko abruptly left, the company feared a drastic loss in quality and sales but it didn’t happen. John Romita (senior) considered himself a mere “safe pair of hands” keeping the momentum going until a better artist could be found but instead blossomed into a major talent in his own right, and the Wallcrawler continued his unstoppable rise at an accelerated pace…

Change was in the air everywhere. Included amongst the milestones for the ever-anxious Peter Parker collected here are graduating High School, starting college, meeting true love Gwen Stacy and tragic friend/enemy Harry Osborn and the introduction of arch nemesis Norman Osborn. Old friends Flash Thompson and Betty Brant subsequently begin to drift out of his life…

The fabulous four-colour fantasy opens – following the standard Stan Lee Introduction – with  ‘If This Be My Destiny…!’ from issue #31 which depicted a spate of high-tech robberies by the Master Planner and a spectacular confrontation with Spider-Man. Also on show was the aforementioned college debut, first sight of Harry and Gwen and Aunt May on the edge of death.

This led to indisputably Ditko’s finest and most iconic moments on the series – and perhaps of his entire career. ‘Man on a Rampage!’ showed Parker pushed to the very edge of desperation as the Planner’s men made off with the chemicals that might save Aunt May, resulting in an utterly driven, berserk Wallcrawler ripping the town apart trying to find them.

Trapped in an underwater fortress, pinned under tons of machinery, the hero faced his greatest failure as the clock ticked down the seconds of May’s life…

This in turn produced the most memorable visual sequence in Spidey history as the opening of ‘The Final Chapter!’ took five full, glorious pages to depict the ultimate triumph of will over circumstance. Freeing himself from tons of fallen debris Spider-Man gave his absolute all delivering the medicine May needed, to be rewarded with a rare happy ending…

Russian exile Kraven the Hunter returned in ‘The Thrill of the Hunt!’ seeking vengeance by impersonating the Web-spinner whilst #35 offered ‘The Molten Man Regrets…!’: a plot-light but inimitably action-packed combat classic as the gleaming bandit foolishly resumed his career of pinching other peoples jewels…

Amazing Spider-Man #36 featured a deliciously off-beat, almost comedic turn in ‘When Falls the Meteor!’ as deranged scientist Norton G. Fester began stealing museum exhibits whilst calling himself the Looter…

In retrospect these brief, fight-oriented tales, coming after such an intricate, passionate epic as the Master Planner saga, should have been seen as some sort of clue that things were not going well, but the fans had no idea that ‘Once Upon a Time, There was a Robot…!’ which featured a beleaguered Norman Osborn being targeted by his disgraced ex-partner and some eccentrically bizarre murder machines in #37 and the tragic comedy of ‘Just a Guy Named Joe!‘ – wherein a hapless sad-sack stumblebum boxer gains super-strength and a bad-temper – were to be Ditko’s last arachnid adventures.

When Amazing Spider-Man #39 appeared with the first of a two-part adventure that featured the ultimate victory of the Wall-Crawler’s greatest foe no reader knew what had happened – and no one told them…

‘How Green Was My Goblin!’ and ‘Spidey Saves the Day! (“Featuring the End of the Green Goblin!”)’ calamitously changed everything whilst describing how the arch-foes learned each other’s true identities before the Goblin “perished” in a climactic showdown. It would have been memorable even it the tale didn’t feature the debut of a new artist & a whole new manner of story-telling…

Issues #39 and 40 (August – September 1966) were a turning point in many ways, and inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito (under the pseudonym Mickey Demeo) they still stand as another of the greatest Spider-Man yarns of all time, heralding a run of classic tales from the Lee/Romita team that saw sales rise and rise, even without the seemingly irreplaceable Ditko.

Earlier in 1965 however the artist was blowing away audiences with another oddly tangential superhero. ‘The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!’ was the lead story in the second Spider-Man Annual (October of that year and filled out with vintage Spidey classics).

The entrancing fable unforgettably introduced the Webslinger to arcane other realities as he teamed up with the Master of the Mystic Arts to battle power-crazed wizard Xandu in a phantasmagorical, dimension-hopping masterpiece involving ensorcelled zombie thugs and the stolen Wand of Watoomb.

After this story it was clear that Spider-Man could work in any milieu and nothing could hold him back…

Also included from that immensely impressive landmark are more Ditko pin-ups in ‘A Gallery of Spider-Man’s Most Famous Foes’ – exposing such nefarious ne’er-do-wells as The Scorpion, Circus of Crime and the Beetle, making this astounding tome one of the most impressive Spider-Man books you could ever read, even if later editions have slightly altered contents. If you want to experience the quintessential magic of the Amazing Arachnid this book has to be your first stop…
© 1965, 1966, 1996 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Annuals volume 1


By Mark Millar, Brian K. Vaughn, Brian Michael Bendis, Jae Lee, Tom Raney, Mark Brooks, Jaime Mendoza Steve Dillon,& various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2035-3

After Marvel’s financial problems and creative impasse in the late 1990s, the company took stock, braced itself and came back swinging. A critical new concept was the remodelling and modernising of their core characters for the new youth culture.

The Ultimate imprint abandoned monumental long-grown continuity – which had always been Marvel’s greatest asset – to re-imagine major characters in their own self-sufficient universe, offering varying degrees of radical makeover to appeal to the contemporary 21st century audience and offer them a chance to get in on the ground floor.

Creepy vigilante Spider-Man Parker was not-so-secretly a high-school geek, brilliant but bullied by his physical superiors whilst mutants were a dangerous, oppressed ethnic minority scaring the pants off the ordinary Americans they frequently hid amongst.

The Fantastic Four were two science nerds and their dim pals transformed into monsters, and global peacekeeping force S.H.I.E.L.D. kept them all under control with their own metahuman taskforce humbly designated The Ultimates…

The revived series all sported fresh and fashionable, modernistic, scientifically feasible rationales for all those insane super-abilities and freaks manifesting everywhere…

The experiment began in 2000 with a post-modern take on Ultimate Spider-Man. Ultimate X-Men followed in 2001, and the Mighty Avengers were reworked into The Ultimates in 2002 with Ultimate Fantastic Four joining the party in 2004.

The stories, design and even tone of the heroes were retooled for the perceived-as-different tastes of a new readership: those tired of or unwilling to stick with precepts originated by inspirational founding fathers Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, or (hopefully) new consumers unprepared or unwilling to deal with five decades (seven if you include Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of interconnected story baggage.

The new universe quickly prospered and soon filled up with more refashioned, morally ambiguous heroes and villains but eventually even this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor.

Eventually, in 2008, an imprint-wide decluttering exercise “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which excised dozens of superhumans and millions of lesser mortals in a devastating tsunami which inundated Manhattan, courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.

Long before that, however, Marvel’s original keystone concepts were awarded their own celebratory summer specials and this stellar volume collects Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual#1, Ultimate X-Men Annual#1, Ultimate Spider-Man Annual#1 and The Ultimates Annual#1 (all from October 2005): a selection of relatively stand-alone sagas displaying the daringly different tone of the alternate yet chillingly familiar world.

The compilation kicks off with ‘Enter the Inhumans’ by Marl Millar, Jae Lee and colourist June Chung from Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual#1 wherein dim but pretty party boy Johnny Storm gets involved with a runaway princess bride.

The ethereally beautiful girl is named Crystal and she is fleeing from an arranged marriage to her creepy, crazy cousin Maximus. The match was decreed by her sister Medusa and King Black Bolt, rulers of a hidden race of super-powered parahumans who have concealed their existence from humanity for ten thousand years.

Even after the Human Torch almost dies defending her, Crystal is successfully abducted, compelling Reed, Sue, Ben and recuperating Johnny to go after her into the heart of hidden city Attilan, thanks to the teleporting talents of the princess’ faithful giant bulldog Lockjaw…

The subsequent confrontation with the lethally powerful Inhuman Royal Family leads to an inconclusive resolution but a shattering end to the lost city…

Romance plays a part in the next tale too. ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’ by Brian K. Vaughn, Tom Raney, Scott Hanna & Gina Going (Ultimate X-Men Annual#1) finds Nick Fury warning Charles Xavier that the unstoppable Juggernaut has escaped and is hunting the mutant girl he holds responsible for all his recent woes…

Unfortunately for everyone, Rogue has absconded to Las Vegas in the company of sexy bad-boy thief Gambit, where the rampaging monster maniac finally corners the duplicitous duo. Tragically Juggernaut completely underestimates his former squeeze’s lethal powers and the self-sacrificing ingenuity of the besotted Cajun…

The most significant change to Stan, Jack and Steve’s breakthrough concepts was a rather telling one: all the heroes were conceived as being far, far younger than their mainstream antecedents. This even affected the sensational Spider-Man tales wherein – after decades of comicbook stardom – the perennially youthful Peter Parker was at last portrayed as a proper High School kid rather than a stodgy 40-year old geek trapped in a teen’s body…

In ‘More than you Bargained For’ by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Brooks, Jaime Mendoza, Scott Hanna & Dave Stewart – from Ultimate Spider-Man Annual#1 – the guilt-driven lad’s constant round of villain thrashing is derailed when cute but shy mutant Kitty Pryde makes the first tentative moves in her painfully adorable bid to make the mysterious hero her boyfriend…

That sweet, silly and utterly charming yarn is followed by a far darker and cunningly convoluted tale focusing on S.H.I.E.L.D. supremo Nick Fury and his long-term plan to mass produce an army of metahumans in ‘The Reserves’ by Millar, Steve Dillon & Paul Mounts.

Rather than highlighting stars like Iron Man and Captain America, the story follows the far from smooth development of a legion of Rocketmen, Goliaths, weather based warriors “The Four Seasons” and the short, tragic career of heroic hopeful super-soldier Lieberman. Of course the one-eyed master strategist has no time for regrets as he’s busy trying to avoid becoming the latest successful contract of infallible hitman Mister Nix…

Rocket-paced, razor sharp and blisteringly action-packed, this riotous romp is also liberally dosed with teen-oriented humour for the era of the acceptable nerd and go-getting geek, offering a smart and beguiling entrée into of Marvel’s other Universe that will impress open-minded old fans of the medium just as much as the newcomers they were ostensibly aiming for.
© 2005, 2006 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

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Wolverine: Mortal


By Paul Cornell, Ryan Stegman, Mirco Pierfederici, Mark Farmer & Karl Kesel (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-606-9

James Howlett, AKA Logan, AKA Wolverine has faced a multitude of impossible situations in his long and danger-filled life but possibly the most groundbreaking shake-up only came at the conclusion of Wolverine: Killable which saw the mayhem-making mutant Methuselah coming to terms with the fact that his healing factor – and therefore his virtual immortality – were gone, courtesy of a sentient virus from an incredible alien “microverse”.

Now he could no longer properly defend himself and, most importantly, his loved ones and innocent civilians from the likes of monsters such as Mystique or Sabretooth.

To emphasise that point his most pernicious foe Victor Creed – tenacious, savage, still possessing the powers and skills Howlett once boasted and current leader of a deviant sect of ninja cult The Hand – orchestrated a murderous snipe-hunt which killed dozens of helpless humans at a shopping mall whilst leaving the helpless Canadian Crusader physically crushed, emotionally humiliated and spiritually broken…

Written by Paul Cornell, the first seven issues of Wolverine volume 6 (spanning February to May 2014) offer a brand new look and fresh modus operandi for the down but never out outlaw hero…

The action begins with the 4-part‘Rogue Logan’ (illustrated by Ryan Stegman & Mark Morales, with David Baldeon, John Livesay & Scott Hanna) which finds Logan in high-tech armour running with a new – bad – crowd.

Supported by a band of young super-powered criminals – Lost Boy, Fuel, Reflex and Pinch – Logan appears to have lost his way; joining the gang of up-and-coming underworld boss The Offer…

The feral fury seems blithely unaware that his new boss is in negotiation with and opposition to Creed/Sabretooth…

He also appears to have gone completely off the rails. When The Offer uncovers a S.H.I.E.L.D. mole in his base, it is Wolverine who eagerly shoots the agent in the head…

Flashing back to weeks earlier when all Logan’s comrades were failing to help him come to terms with his losses and failures, ‘Bad Advice’ reveals how a tense confrontation with the Superior Spider-Man changed his perspective…

The Wallcrawler (at that time Doctor Octopus inhabiting Peter Parker‘s body) and a near-death experience when Logan joined old sidekick Jubilee and the X-Men in a battle against killer mechanoids led the powerless old warrior to a serious reappraisal and the adoption of a mechanised ablation-armour outfit devised by a brilliant master of robotics. It also resulted in Wolverine quitting the X-Men and the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning…

The truth comes out in the third chapter. S.H.I.E.L.D. has learned that Sabretooth is seeking a weapon of cosmic importance and understandably wants him stopped. Their Byzantine plan involves Logan going deep undercover with a potential rival to the Hand’s new Lord and even fighting old allies like Thor…

Fully immersed in his role and unwisely starting an affair with new comrade Pinch, Logan is fully in ‘His Own Skin’ (illustrated by Gerardo Sandoval) when the mission proper begins. This involves invading The Hand’s home base on the pirate island of Madripoor, where the Canadian Canucklehead revives his old identity of debonair rogue Patch – much to the astonished hilarity of his youthful posse…

The scheme to stop Sabretooth is a multinational deal and when Patch makes contact with already-in-place assets Faiza Hussain and Peter Wisdom of Britain’s paranormal spy agency MI-13 (outrageously aided and abetted by the Carry-On Team‘s Charles Hawtrey as technical adviser “O”!) Pinch realises with horror that her new man is a plant. Quite understandably she throws a major wobbly…

Forced to act precipitately, Logan goes after Sabretooth in ‘The Madripoor Job’ and is just in time to see him acquire the mysterious ultimate weapon and promptly lose it again to one of the thieving mutated monkeys infesting the island.

Giving chase Wolverine reunites with his extremely disappointed gang as the glowing orb defends itself by manifesting an army of Wolverines from different realities…

During the subsequent melee Sabretooth catches up and by the time our hero battles free of his doppelgangers the heartbroken and furious Pinch is in possession of the artefact. As Wolverine pleads with her to hand over the potentially planet-shattering globe, Creed makes her a counter-offer: give him the device and he’ll tell his Hand ninjas not to kill the baby daughter she had kept safely apart from her deadly lifestyle…

To Be Continued…

Tense suspense, non-stop visceral action, compelling mystery and superbly surreal comedy moments carry this gripping yarn from high-octane start to fraught finish and this splendidly devious “Man from M.U.TA.N.T.” espionage extravaganza also includes a beautiful gallery of covers-&-variants by Stegman & Edgar Delgado, Kristafer Anka, Katie Cook, Frank Kozik, Jerome Opeña and Greg Horn.
™ & © 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Origin II


By Kieron Gillen, Adam Kubert & Frank Martin (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-590-1

After years of mystery and imagination, in 2001 the perennially punching-above-his-weight feral fury Wolverine was finally accorded a definitive back-story in the miniseries Origin: the True Story of Wolverine.

The Canadian Wildman had captivated audiences from his earliest appearances in the X-Men comics, and did it all over again for a far larger audience in his movie incarnation, but the story when it came did not please or satisfy everyone.

Now writerKieron Gillen, artist Adam Kubert and colourist Frank Martin have collaborated on in-filling the next chapter and their 5-part miniseries Origin II (February to July 2014) makes an extremely appetising if perhaps controversial titbit to add to the canonical menu…

In Canada at the turn of the 19th century, 12 year old Rose was hired as the companion of sickly child James Howlett, on the palatial estate of his wealthy grandfather. Among the servants she befriended an all but feral child called Logan, abused son of the estate groundskeeper and general handyman.

Tragedy occurred one night as a murder-suicide shattered the uneasy stability of the gothic estate forever, forcing Rose and the Wolverine-to-be to flee for their lives. For years they lived life on the run, eventually settling in a quarrying camp where the harsh conditions and physical toil rapidly matured the sickly mutant.

However even here the repercussions of the Howlett Estate tragedy inevitably found them leading to a final, appalling confrontation in which a hasty unplanned unsheathing of bone claws cost Rose her life…

A few years later: It’s 1907 in the icy wilds of Canada. A man more beast than human runs with the wolves, fully accepted by the pack as one of them. Their harsh but happy life is destroyed however when a colossal white bear enters the territory. The creature doesn’t know how to eat like other bears and inexorably tracks the pack to its den before destroying the cubs.

The Wolfish Man’s peace of mind is shattered and after almost dying in killing the beast an even greater tragedy begins. The loss of his family has forced the not-wolf to start thinking again…

The Polar Bear was no unhappy wanderer, but introduced by men into the unfamiliar wilderness. Now showman Hugo Haversham, the trapper Creed and his disfigured woman Clara are scouring the icy wastes for other potentially profitable attractions. Creed and Clara share some strange secret; and react badly when their erstwhile employer – creepy English scientist Dr. Nathaniel Essex – turns up in the frozen frontier town.

He clearly knows something of her amazing affinity with animals and Creed’s uncanny healing abilities and is very angry that the entrepreneur has appropriated the butchered bear carcass for his circus show…

Haversham knows a dangerous rival when he sees one, too, and takes the first opportunity to leave when Creed announces they are heading out.

The scientist continues his own endeavours, using his paramilitary “Marauders” to disseminate a poison gas of his own devising in the deep woods, intent on finding what killed his white bear…

The tactic proves disastrous as the fumes drive a bizarre clawed aborigine to attack and butcher the gas-masked Marauders. Moreover the attacker seems utterly immune to the deadly vapours…

Essex’s remaining men pursue, driving the furious wild man straight into Creed’s traps. Although the snares don’t stand up to his claws, the human beast is helpless against Clara’s uncanny calming influence. To cruel Creed’s mounting fury the connection seems to be mutual…

Soon, suitably caged, the Clawed Man of the Woods is the star attraction of Hugo the Great’s Travelling Circus. Regularly tortured and baited by Creed and fawned upon by Clara, the no-longer mute beast-man has only one thought in his head: the sight of another beloved blond girl dying on his claws…

Essex is still in the picture too: following the show and trying to buy the feral exhibit for his ongoing experiments. When his frustrated patience finally expires so does Hugo – thanks to Essex’s gas – leaving the rapid-healing Clawed Man to undying agonies on the sinister scientist’s vivisection tables…

When all hope seems lost, Clara, having convinced Creed to help, breaks her new pet out and the trio flee into the night. Thanks to the torture – or perhaps Clara’s devotion – the poor, benighted creature who now calls himself Logan has begun to speak again…

A month later the fugitives are starving in New York City and Creed has had enough. He is not there when Essex’s men try to capture Clara’s wild lover and does not see history tragically, bloodily repeat itself…

He does however join the heartbroken, traumatised Logan in going after Essex, whilst happily concealing the true nature and extent of Clara’s powers…

The man who will be Mr. Sinister is unrepentant and working on his next project: an impossibly tempting solution that can lobotomise the imbiber and eradicate all painful memories…

The saga ends in more horrific score-settling before Logan escapes into the night and into history, but this tales still has a couple of shocking twists to reveal…

Brutal, visceral and compulsive; cleverly laying as much intriguing groundwork for future stories as answering long-asked questions, Origin II is a superior yarn that will delight true aficionados of the complex Canadian crusader and this engaging tome also includes an impressive covers-&-variants gallery by Kubert & Martin, Salvador Larroca & David Ocampo, Steve Leiber, Salva Espin & Pete Pantazis and Skottie Young.

™ & © 2014 Marvel. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK.

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Marvel Platinum: the Definitive X-Men


By Stan Lee, Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Grant Morrison, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Brent Eric Anderson, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Frank Quitely & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-599-4

Here’s another addition to the sterling Marvel Platinum/Definitive Edition series: a long-awaited treasury of tales reprinting certified landmarks from Uncanny X-Men #1, 141-142 and 281, Giant Size X-Men #1, Marvel Graphic Novel #5, X-Men volume 2, #1 and New X-Men #114-116 thereby providing a prodigious primer containing an immense amount of marvellously mythological mutagenic madness and Fights ‘n’ Tights fun.

Moreover, this mammoth tome offers a cover gallery by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky, Gil Kane & Cockrum, John Byrne & Terry Austin, Brent Anderson, Whilce Portacio & Art Thibert, Jim Lee & Scott Williams and Frank Quitely, an informative Foreword from editor Brady Webb, a vast text feature detailing the complex and convoluted history of the veritable army of heroes to have worn and Mike Conroy’s scholarly trawl through comicbook mythology in ‘The True Origin of the X-Men.

Cover-dated September 1963, X-Men #1 introduced gloomy, serious Scott “Slim” Summers (Cyclops), ebullient Bobby Drake AKA Iceman, wealthy golden boy Warren Worthington III codenamed Angel, and erudite, brutish genius Henry McCoy as The Beast.

These teens were very special students of Professor Charles Xavier, a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and achieving integration between the sprawling masses of humanity and Homo Superior: an emergent off-shoot race of mutants with incredible extra abilities.

Scripted by Stan Lee ‘X-Men’ opens with the boisterous students welcoming their newest classmate… Jean Grey (promptly dubbed Marvel Girl) – a beautiful young woman possessing the ability to move objects with her mind.

Whilst the Professor is explaining the team goals and mission in life an actual Evil Mutant, Magneto, is single-handedly taking over American missile-base Cape Citadel. A seemingly unassailable threat, the master of magnetism is nonetheless valiantly driven off by the young heroes on their first outing in under 15 minutes…

It doesn’t sound like much, but the gritty, dynamic power of Kirby’s art, solidly inked by veteran Paul Reinman, imparted a raw aggressive energy to the tale which carried the bi-monthly book irresistibly forward.

As the decade proceeded the team was occasionally supplemented by magnetic minx Polaris and cosmic powerhouse Havok – although they were usually referred to respectively if not respectfully as Lorna Dane and Scott’s brother Alex.

After nearly a decade of eccentric, mind-blowing adventures, the masked misfits faded away in early 1970 as mystery and supernatural horror themes once again gripped the world’s entertainment fields, consequently causing a sustained downturn in costumed hero comics.

Their title was cancelled then revived at the end of the year as a modest reprint vehicle: the missing mutants reduced to guest-stars and bit-players throughout the Marvel universe. The Beast was made over into a monster to fit the fashion of the times.

Then in the summer of 1975, at the behest of Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum revived and refashioned the mutant mystique with a brand new team in Giant Size X-Men #1.

The big, big blockbuster details how the original team was lost in action, forcing the distraught Professor X to scour Earth for replacements…

Recruiting already-established old foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire – plus recent Hulk foe and Canadian secret agent Wolverine – most of Xavier’s time and attention was invested in unexploited and hidden new mutants scattered around the globe.

One such was Kurt Wagner, a demonic-looking German teleporter who would be codenamed Nightcrawler, whom Xavier saved from a religious lynch mob. Another was young Russian farm worker Peter Rasputin who could transform into a living steel Colossus and a third embittered, disillusioned Apache superman John Proudstar who was cajoled and pressured into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird.

The final replacement was Ororo Monroe, a young woman who comported herself as an African weather goddess and would be known as Storm. These raw replacements were all introduced in the stirring opening chapter ‘Second Genesis’…

‘…And When There Was One!’ found wounded team-captain Cyclops swiftly drilling the far from willing or eager association before leading them into primordial danger against the monolithic threat of ‘Krakoa… the Island That Walks Like a Man!’

Overcoming the phenomenal terror of a sentient mutant eco-system and rescuing the original team should have led to another Special, but so great was the groundswell of support that the follow-up adventure was reworked into a 2-parter for the rapidly reconfigured reprint monthly which became a bimonthly home to the team and began the mutant madness we’re still experiencing today…

The revision was an unstoppable hit and soon grew to become the company’s most popular and high quality title. In time Cockrum was succeeded by John Byrne and as the team roster shifted and changed the series rose to even greater heights, culminating in the landmark “Dark Phoenix” storyline which saw the death of arguably the book’s most beloved and imaginative character.

In the aftermath team leader Cyclops left and a naive teenaged girl named Kitty Pryde signed up…

Next in this compilation comes a brace of supremely impressive and influential issues. Uncanny X-Men #141-142 (January & February 1980) perfectly encapsulate everything that made the outrageous outcasts such an unalloyed triumph and touchstone of youthful alienation.

‘Days of Future Past’ by Claremont, Byrne & Austin depicts an imminently approaching dystopian apocalypse wherein mutants, paranormals and superheroes will have been eradicated by Federally-controlled Sentinel robots, who would then rule a shattered world on the edge of utter annihilation. New York will be a charnel pit with most surviving mutants kept in concentration camps and only a precious few free to fight a doomed and futile war of resistance.

The middle-aged Kitty is the lynchpin of a desperate plan to unmake history. With the aid of telepath named Rachel (eventually to escape that time-line and become the second Phoenix) Pryde swaps consciousness with her younger self in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the pivotal event which created the bleak, black tomorrow where all her remaining friends and comrades are being pitilessly exterminated one by valiant one…

‘Mind Out of Time’ sees the mature Pryde in our era, inhabiting her juvenile body and leading her disbelieving X-Men team-mates on a frantic mission to foil the assassination of US senator David Kelly on prime-time TV by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – super-powered terrorists determined to make a very public example of the human politician attacking the cause of Mutant Rights…

Fast-paced, action-packed, spectacularly multi-layered, bitterly tragic and tensely inconclusive – as all such time-travel tales should be – this cunning, compact yarn is indubitably one of the best individual stories of the Claremont/Byrne era and set the mood, tone and agenda for the next decade of mutant mayhem…

The series went from strength to strength and the franchise inexorably expanded. In 1982 a fresh generation of students enrolled in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Following hard on the heels of that X-line expansion with The New Mutants, Marvel capitalised on the buzz a year later by releasing a hard-hitting original Marvel Graphic Novel (#5) which emphasised the harsher aspects of alienation and bigotry which underpinned relations between Homo Sapiens and Superior in a stunningly effective modern parable starring the misunderstood mutants in a landmark tale truly worthy of the company’s hot new format.

‘God Loves, Man Kills’ is a grim cautionary tale: one of the most disturbingly true-to-life in the entire canon and opens with the murder of two children. The “Purifier” zealots responsible then proudly display the bodies in the playground where they died with the placard “muties” around their necks.

When mutant terrorist/freedom fighter Magneto finds the bodies the stage is set for one of the X-Men’s darkest cases…

Fundamentalist preacher Reverend William Stryker is the demagogue of the hour: his evangelical crusade against unholy, ungodly mutants has made him rich and powerful whilst his sinister secret death-squads have enabled him to undertake the latest stage of his mission in the full, controversial glare of the public eye. He even has powerful friends and allies within the Government…

Stryker’s divinely-inspired mission is to incite a race-war and eradicate the entire emergent sub-species, using not only his television ministries to whip up public fear and hatred, but with a private army of merciless mutant-hating racist killers.

His next step involves taking out the X-Men and begins when Professor Xavier, Cyclops and Storm are seemingly assassinated after participating in a TV debate.

When news of their deaths reaches the test of the team, Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler track down the assailants and discover that their friends are captives of Stryker’s Purifiers, just as old enemy Magneto appears, proposing a temporary truce…

Meanwhile Colossus’s sister Illyana and Kitty Pryde have stumbled upon the captives’ fate and been attacked too. Kitty escapes and goes on the run with murderous Purifiers hot on her trail…

Stryker has been busy: whilst happily torturing his captives he has devised a way to use Xavier’s telepathic abilities to destroy mutants and all those with latent mutant genes at one genocidal stroke.

As the hate-peddler’s plans enter the final stage Magneto and the remaining X-Men prepare for their most important battle, but the showdown on live TV from Madison Square Gardens offers many surprises and reversals of fortune as Stryker, in his paranoid hubris, overestimates the power of blind prejudice and the underestimates the basic humanity of the common man …

This tale is perhaps the most plainspoken and shocking example of mutants as metaphors for racial abuse in society and the stark message herein, savagely delivered by author Chris Claremont and artist Brent Anderson at the very top of their game, made explicit the power of bigotry and the ghastly repercussions of allowing it to bloom uncontested…

Moving, scary and immensely influential, God Loves, Man Kills is the X-Men at their most effective and movie-going readers will recognise much of the tale since it formed the basis for the X-Men film sequel X2.

This moving epic is followed by the first tantalising snippet of another landmark extended saga. The team had grown in popularity and was split into Blue and Gold teams by Xavier; the division engendering the launch of another X-title.

In Uncanny X-Men #281 (October 1991) ‘Fresh Upstart’ by Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio & Art Thibert over a Byrne script saw new villains The Upstarts – led by Shinobi Shaw and Trevor Fitzroy – murderously target the Hellfire Club elite such as cyborg Donald Pierce and White Queen Emma Frost and her young protégés The Hellions, with Storm’s Gold team Archangel, Colossus, Iceman and Jean Grey unable to stop the slaughter.

The same monthClaremont, Jim Lee & Scott Williamsscored monumental sales with X-Men volume 2, #1 wherein Magneto is drawn out of self-imposed exile in ‘Rubicon’.

The weary freedom fighter had distanced himself from Earthly affairs but is gulled by ambitious, devious mutant firebrand Fabian Cortez and his band of Acolytes into renewing his defence of oppressed mutants by attacking Earth and stealing nuclear missiles.

Xavier and Cyclops’ Blue team – Beast, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue and Psylocke – were able to thwart his attempt but only pushed the master of magnetism further into the clutches of the murderously Machiavellian Acolytes…

New X-Men #114-116 (July to September 2001) wraps up this spectacular comics collection of comicbook X-cellence with a 3-part saga that changed the landscape of Marvel continuity and introduced psychic apex mutant predator Cassandra Nova in a globe-girdling yarn of primal terror.

‘E is for Extinction’ by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely – with Tim Townsend, Dan Green & Mark Morales – saw the creepy old lady gorily secure the DNA of the last surviving Trask (the troubled family which had first invented Sentinels) and cause the robotic nemeses to undergo uncontrolled mechanical evolution before eradicating more than eleven million mutants on their safe haven island state Genosha.

She then turned her attention to the Xavier school and met her match in Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Wolverine and Emma Frost – who was undergoing her own starling secondary metamorphosis.

In the aftermath Professor X made a personal decision which would change the nature of human/mutant relations forever…

Despite the minor quibble that the “Upstarts” story is unsatisfactorily incomplete, I can’t deny that what’s on offer here is of great quality and indisputably excellent examples of the mighty mutants at their most memorable and entertaining.

Most importantly this is another perfectly-designed literary device to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnations too. Filled with non-stop tension and blockbuster action, this the ideal tool to make film-goers into funnybook fans and another solid sampling to entice and charm even the most jaded lapsed reader to return.

© 2014 Marvel Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK.

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Avengers World: A.I.M.Pire


By Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spenser, Stefano Caselli, Rags Morales & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-596-3

Post-Infinity, the reshaping of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes into an unbeatable legion of justice continues in the new title Avengers World which serves the function of a core title from which other associated series would derive direction. Of course, that’s pretty much irrelevant if all you want is high stakes, high octane Fights ‘n’ Tights fun in the traditional Summer Blockbuster manner…

Scriptedby Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spenser with art by Stefano Caselli, Avengers World: A.I.M.Pire collects the first five issues (cover-dated January to June 2014) and includes a pertinent portion from one-shot All-New Marvel Now! Point One which nicely sets the ball rolling for the unending rollercoaster ride to come.

The drama begins as Captain America and Bruce Banner attempt to restore relations and rebuild bridges with peacekeeping security organisation S.H.I.E.L.D. by doing a favour for long-suffering Director Maria Hill.

During the Origin Bomb bombardment by planetary sculptor-turned-probationary Avenger Ex Nihilo (see Avengers: Avengers World and The Last White Event), large parts of the planet were subjected to forced, random and rapid evolution, and now Hill needs a team of seasoned metahumans to go into a transformed area of Canada which has already cost the lives of national superteam Alpha Flight.

However in a frantically fast-changing world she supersedes her own request when news comes in from the rogue state of Madripoor. Apparently the pacific island is burning…

An espionage stealth team consisting of Shang-Chi, The Falcon, Black Widow and Wolverine are soon in play but the bloody civil unrest only masks a deeper problem.

In the meantime Avengers Nightmask, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman and Starbrand are dispatched to Velletai in Italy when the entire population vanishes. Soon after arriving all contact is lost with the team…

At S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ Banner has been crunching data and pinpoints the newly autonomous nation known as A.I.M. Island as the crux of the cluster of strange crises. He also realises the island is changing shape and size and Cap reacts by sending relative neophytes Cannonball, Sunspot and Smasher in to investigate…

On Madripoor Shang-Chi has divined the reason for the unrest: mystic ninja clan The Hand, at the behest of most recent Master The Gorgon, have enacted a ritual whose collateral effects have enflamed the populace. The true purpose, however, was to awaken the unbelievably vast dragon the island rests upon. Tragically the Avengers are too late to stop the creature taking flight wearing Madripoor as a hat…

In Velletai, things are going badly too. The heroes have found a City of the Dead beneath the surface and the frantic departed are all screaming in Starbrand’s head…

The third prong of a triple threat manifests over A.I.M. Island as Smasher, Sunspot and Cannonball are easily captured by the techno-terrorists and delivered to the Scientist Supreme in his grand new capital city Barbuda: soon-to-be hub from where A.I.M. will rule the world…

The second chapter begins with the trio languishing in Barbuda even as the island continues its exponential growth. Whilst Captain America readies his rescue team, Smasher – latest Superguardian of the Shi’ar Empire and granddaughter of Golden Age hero Captain Terror – is being given a guided tour by Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson. His honeyed words are a mere trick to lull her suspicions before he turns her into the nation’s latest super-weapon with the aid of the cabal’s hidden ally: a cosmic force designated The Entropic Man…

High over Southeast Asia, in Mardipoor, Shang-Chi valiantly challenges the Gorgon to single combat only to be cruelly beaten and tossed over the edge into the void, whilst in Velletai the heroes are attacked by undead monsters and Kevin Connor is forced to confront the hundreds of classmates and neighbours who died when the White Event explosively transformed him into Starbrand…

On the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier Director Hill addresses the Avengers’ glaring lack of a mystic member by seconding neophyte wizard Sebastian Druid whilst Cap prepares an away-team to rescue the prisoners of A.I.M. island/continent.

Druid divines the nature of the Velletai situation: the location is a spirit trap built by the Entropy worshipping Cult of Yagzan. What he doesn’t know, however, is that control of the City has been usurped by infernal Avengers’ arch-foe Morgan Le Fay…

Events spiral out of control as Cap and Iron Man try to draw reality-warping former team-mate Manifold back into action, only to discover that the Australian is still trying to repair his abilities, which were damaged during the Infinity crisis.

His salvation only begins after a strange and painfully close encounter with Captain Universe who is still somewhat trapped in her role as “Mother of Creation”…

With time running out for Earth on three fronts, Manifold then teleports back to gather the remaining Avengers and transport then to the most significant battle of their lives…

To Be Continued…

Rounding off this action-packed, tantalising teaser tome is ‘Short Term Fixes’ by Nick Spenser & Rags Morales from All-New Marvel Now! Point One which reveals the background to Smasher, Sunspot and Cannonball’s mission to A.I.M. Island and the devious backroom dickering between Hill and the Sentinel of Liberty which led to the current relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers…

This collection also offers digitally-diverting extra content for tech-savvy consumers courtesy of AR icon sections all accessible through a free digital code and the Marvel Comics app for iPhone®, iPad®, iPad Touch® & Android devices at Marvel’s Digital Comics Shop as well as a plethora of astounding covers-and-variants by John Cassaday& Laura Martin, Jung-Geon Yoon, Morales, Mike Deodato Jr., In-Hyuk Lee, Art Adams, Milo Manara, Skottie Young, Carlo Barberi, Chris Samnee, Simone Bianchi, Agustin Alessio, Ron Garney & Steve McNiven.
™ and © 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Avengers: Adapt or Die


By Jonathan Hickman, Salvador Larroca, Mike Deodato Jr., Butch Guice, Esad Ribic, Steve Pugh & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-583-3

Following an unending string of universe-shattering crises, Iron Man and Captain America swallowed old animosities and united to reshape The Avengers into a planetary defence force more army than voluntary association, with more than twenty active members – human or alien or something less clear cut – whose specialities range from stealth and counter-intelligence to sheer, blockbusting stopping power.

The posture and attitude also changed as the new group actively sought out potential disaster points rather than waiting for trouble to start.

Collecting Avengers volume 5 #24-28 (covering December 2013 to April 2014), the ongoing Big Picture series as scripted by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated Salvador Larroca, Mike Deodato Jr., Butch Guice, Esad Ribic & Steve Pugh continues to lay down the law, beginning with a Christmas present from 3030AD…

From that distant tomorrow comes a far-futuristic iteration of the Armoured Avenger bearing a timely warning of danger to interrupt a much-needed decompression barbecue on top of Avengers Tower.

Inside the building Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are working. Following twin invasions by the extra-galactic Builders and Thanos of Titan plus a mutagenic plague of new metahumans triggered by the Inhumans (Infinity and Inhumanity), the master strategists are readying the latest design of their “Avengers Machine” for safeguarding mankind…

On materialisation Iron Man 3030 panics. This cannot be the right place or time. There are heroes present that history never recorded as Avengers…

After the mandatory clash of arms the situation settles enough for the assemblage to take heed of the time-traveller who warns that a ‘Rogue Planet’ has been aimed at the Earth like a giant bullet…

With time to prepare, the heroes relocate to their frontier outpost on Mars and enact a truly original solution which leaves Earth with a monolithic secret weapon for future emergencies…

A chilling murder mystery then begins when size-changing savant Hank Pym is found dead amongst a mass of slaughtered New Yorkers in ‘Carve a Hole… Climb Inside’. With an Avenger murdered, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill makes the case her topmost priority…

As the investigation proceeds, the truth slowly comes out. Resurgent techno-terrorist cabal A.I.M. has been unwisely exploring the fringes between universes and plucked a sextet of Avengers from their own Earth in the moments before it died as part of the ongoing collapse of the multiverse.

As previously established, Reality is composed of discrete universes all held apart by an infinite crimson underspace dubbed the Superflow. Now that immemorial barrier is somehow fragmenting, with the timeless alien engineers who maintain it helpless to stop the carnage whenever an Earth drifts into contact with another Earth. On those occasions at least one is always obliterated…

A.I.M. has no grudge against their rescued finds and lets them loose upon the world as they prepare for the next phase of their research into other dimensions. Unfortunately General America, Thorr, Iron Monger, Ant-Man, Wasp and their lobotomised Hulk are no heroes and establish their credentials by slaughtering an entire district of annoying New Yorkers…

In ‘Look Around… There’s No Way Out’ Director Hill’s suspicions prove unfounded as the real Avengers go into action and the true facts unfold.

Months ago A.I.M., using genetic material stolen from the World’s Mightiest Heroes, upgraded their latest design of Super-Adaptoid, intent on tasking the six uncanny mechanoids with exploring the void between universes. The crazy scientists unwisely made their creations autonomous, self-aware and able to draw on an armoury of Avenger abilities: well able to mine the multiverse for technological treasures.

They never considered that new experiences might reshape their creatures’ programming or desires and foolishly despatched the Adaptoids to capture the extra-dimensional Avengers as they ran amok on Earth. In the resultant clash Ant-Man was killed and the enslaved Hulk broke free and fled…

Reverting to Bruce Banner the trans-dimensional fugitive made for a safe house he hoped his doppelganger also secretly maintained, whilst at A.I.M. HQ the Explorer Class Adaptoids took advantage of their newly-won free will and seized control of their own destinies…

‘Only Dirt… Six Feet Deep’ opens with Dr. Banner coming face to face with his other-Earthly counterpart and taking a very uncharacteristic chance even as on A.I.M. Island the Scientist Supreme reacts very badly to the news that his prime experiment is completely out of control. The variant Avengers have made savage contact with this Earth’s heroes and a devastating battle is wrecking the Big Apple. He wants all evidence of A.I.M. involvement eradicated…

The battle is just going the good guys’ way when an utterly out of control Hulk turns up and attacks everyone, giving the A.I.M. units a perfect opportunity to step in and surreptitiously extract the evil Avengers…

In the aftermath Bruce confronts Tony Stark, carrying ‘The Case’ and claiming to have deduced the billionaire inventor’s long-term goals. In a tense stand-off he reveals that he – not his double – was recovered by A.I.M. forces and has subsequently ensured that the evil Avengers will not be back.

Even as Captain America was agreeing to surrender the rampaging out of control Hulk to Maria Hill’s custody, Banner was learning from the Scientist Supreme that all the universes are dying – a fact Stark has concealed from his team-mates.

The rogue physicist reasoned the how and why of Iron Man’s recent actions and drive to reshape the Avengers. He also deduced that Stark had reformed the intellectual star-chamber dubbed The Illuminati to make all the really hard decisions and take those actions his fellow heroes would baulk at…

As Stark admits everything and makes Banner a shocking offer, in the trans-dimensional void the free will Adaptoids meet something strangely familiar and begin their next evolution…

To Be Continued…

A spectacular Fights ‘n’ Tights overload that will delight and astonish lovers of cosmic Costumed Dramas, this tome also offers a stunning 28 covers-and-variants gallery by Ribic, Deodato Jr., Agustin Alessio, Simone Bianchi, Joe Quinones, Carlo Barberi, J. Scott Campbell, Daniel Acuña, John Tyler Christopher, Lee Garbett, Tom Scioli, Walt Simonson, Art Adams, Michael Allred, Kris Anka, Alex Ross and Dustin Weaver, as well as digitally-diverting extra content for tech-savvy consumers courtesy of AR icon sections all accessible through a free digital code and the Marvel Comics app for iPhone®, iPad®, iPad Touch® & Android devices at Marvel’s Digital Comics Shop.
™ and © 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Mighty Avengers volume 2: Family Bonding


By Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Greg Land, Jay Leisten & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-607-6

The colossal Infinity storyline detailed a staggering two-pronged threat to humanity: intergalactic eradication via all-out attack by an impossibly ancient race dubbed The Builders and – whilst the Avengers mobilised most of their assemblage off-planet to thwart that armada – a separate savage invasion at the behest of Thanos of Titan, who took advantage of the dearth of metahuman defenders to crush mankind…

In the Avengers’ absence, family man Luke Cage led a spirited superhero resistance movement and in the aftermath as the planet rebuilt itself, elected to keep his Mighty Avengers together as a decidedly different kind of crusading team…

Opening a storefront operation in his old Gem Theatre office, Cage’s intention was to bring the Avengers back to ordinary people.

His bold new idea: opening the heroic volunteer brigade to the public who can come to them with meta-related problems or issues of injustice or help the costumed folk in any way they feel able.

The core empowered team comprises The Falcon, Monica Rambeau (formerly Captain Marvel and Photon but now calling herself Spectrum), sidelined and forgotten 1960s black superman Dr. Adam Brashear AKA Blue Marvel, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, old comrade Iron Fist and a couple of promising if troubled new kids: Víctor “Power Man 2.0” Álvarez and Ava Ayala, the latest mortal to become the godly avatar White Tiger.

Also helpfully hanging around is a mystically savvy mystery hero who helped out in an early case and now borrows the hand-me-down guise and gear of masked marauder Ronin…

Scripted by Al Ewing, Mighty Avengers volume 2 #6-10 (April-September 2014) opens with the first shots rendered by Valerio Schiti for a sinisterly seditious saga wherein Falcon tracks a far-right radical who has just torched an anti-capitalist bookshop.

Elsewhere Cage is having an uncomfortable conversation with Brashear.

Required in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy to cease public activities lest his example harm the already torturous pace of racial integration in America, Blue Marvel has only recently returned to public life; stirred from a lengthy self-imposed exile due to the impending and building crises threatening Earth.

He doesn’t welcome veiled accusations that his past capitulation actually hindered progress and justice for his fellow African-Americans, but before the discussion can get anywhere meaningful, a cosmic alarm calls the mighty Marvel away …

All conversation is shelved when Ava joins the gathering. She has suffered intolerable personal losses in recent days, heaped atop a long-unsatisfied desire to avenge her murdered family and the chilling pact she has recently made with the primeval Tiger God who supplies her strength, speed and martial arts mastery – for a price. She cannot remember the last time she rested…

On Liberty Island Spectrum and She-Hulk are testing the junior Power Man’s limits before returning to base, but the evening goes into overdrive when Falcon radios in that his book burner was working for army renegade and paramilitary extremist Gideon Mace.

On a lonely rooftop Ava Ayala overhears that the man who slaughtered her family has been released from the psychiatric institution which kept him from her, and the White Tiger cries out to her broken soul…

The story resumes as the fury-filled girl allows her predatory patron deity to take full control of their shared body in return for the promise of justice. Her Avenger friends quickly mobilise to stop her from crossing a line there’s no coming back from, but Victor and Iron Fist are no match for her feral feline rage…

Mace has been adopted as the spokes-figure for a shady but powerful hard right lobbying organisation called the American Policy Research Initiative, and their despicable lawyers make it clear that should anything happen to their poster-boy, the repercussions would be litigious and catastrophic for the store front champions.

With no choice but to play bodyguard to a bloodthirsty, bigoted maniac, the Avengers are waiting when White Tiger attacks. Ava almost defeats them all before finally succumbing to overwhelming force.

She awakens securely bound in Kadesh – Brashear’s undersea super-science fortress – with her friends desperately trying to contact one of their numerous supernatural allies to loosen the Tiger God’s grip on her.

Although Blue Marvel compliantly vanished from America for fifty years, Brashear covertly carried on the good fight under a number of aliases in Europe, Asia and the greater universe. Now a distress call comes in alerting him that techno-terrorists and old enemies W.E.S.P.E. have sponsored an extra-dimensional incursion of devastating force. When the old soldier hurtles off to fix it, he is accompanied by Spectrum and She-Hulk.

Behind the catastrophe is flamboyant, novice mad scientist Dr. Positron who has a deeply personal score to settle with Brashear…

As the away team tackle his deadly robo-insects and the remaining Avengers bicker on over how best to help Ava, in her cell the indomitable captive White Tiger takes her fate into her own hands and finally puts her manipulative power-patron in his proper place…

On Positron’s base Brashear faces shock after shock as his deranged foe opens a portal to the astounding Neutral Zone (where matter and anti-matter collide yet somehow co-exist), liberating Marvel’s long lost son Kevin from a ghastly, torturous imprisonment…

Issue #9 (illustrated by Greg Land & Jay Leisten) opens with enigmatic eldritch warrior Ronin targeted by an increasingly varied army of ninja were-beasts, whilst on the island of Dr. Positron, Kevin Brashear – mutated to monstrous size and shape – gradually oozes though a cascading dimensional portal and Blue Marvel shares his most tragic secret.

From the 1970’s until the early years of the new superheroic age, “Doc Brashear” and his super-genius son clandestinely combatted a host of uncanny evils until one day their arch-nemesis Evald Skorpion opened a hole into infinity and Kevin was sucked into it.

To save the world, a doting parent resolutely sacrificed his son…

Now as the colossal thing that was Kevin ponderously squeezes out of the wormhole, the terrifying effects of that sojourn in other-space can be fully seen, compelling heroes and villain to unite in putting the tragic victim back there at all costs…

In New York meanwhile a flock of were-roosters and snake-ninjas have succeeded in battle against the mystery hero, exposing his shocking identity to the world as a prelude to their expediting the coming of the appalling Age of the Deathwalkers…

The epic adventure concludes – for now – with an intoxicating Original Sin crossover (another mega-major publishing event which disclosed many of the Marvel Universe’s most closely guarded secrets) as Blue Marvel is summoned to the moon to comply with the last wishes of a dead friend.

Whilst Cage and Co. resist mounting mystical menaces in New York, Adam ponders an impossible situation. Over his many years of isolation and ostracization, the seemingly immortal superman somehow became close to the aloof, remote and unshakably distant cosmic entity known as Uatu the Watcher.

Now the omnipotent sidereal witness has been murdered by agents unknown and the deeply shaken defender of the Earth is further astounded and gratified when Uatu’s significant other Ulana gives their baby into his safekeeping…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Land & Leisten Family Bonding is a fast, furious, fabulously inventive and fantastically offbeat collection combining eerie horror, amazing action and outrageous humour into an unforgettable frolic no Fights ‘n’ Tights fanboy could possibly resist.
™ & © 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.