Tag: Marvel

Uncanny X-Force/Chaos War Day!

On By UncannyDerekIn Comic Reviews1 Comment

This week, I had only planned on picking up two comics. However, I completely forgot about – despite all the marketing – that Chaos War started today. As such, here are my reviews for two major-titles this week: Uncanny X-Force #1, and Chaos War #1.

These reviews may also contain spoilers.

Probably the most anticipated book since X-Men: Second Coming story arc, Uncanny X-Force blew into comic stores today, and I must say, did not disappoint. Written by Rick Remender with art by Jerome Opena, UXF delivered quality story-telling with superb art, and wonderful direction.

UXF1

X-Force disbanded at the end of Second Coming earlier this year, with Wolverine re-assembling it under the nose of Cyclops. The roster features Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool, and Fantomex, as they are on a quest to finally kill Apocalypse once and for all.

The story kicks off with some Deadpool heroics which sets up the rest of the story. My primary concern with the story would be separating both voices of Deadpool and Fantomex as I found both characters to be some-what the same in their humour and actions. I only felt this way as Bendis in the Avengers parent-title, has seemed to merge both Spider-Man and Hawkeye as one voice. However, this was not the case with Remender. We actually have two unique people adding significant character into the story. It was relieving to me.

The story goes into Archangel and Psylocke’s relationship and their concern for if “Death,” Archangel’s secondary mutation from Apocalypse, could take over. Although it was never really discussed in the prior X-Force comics, I can see how we are already being set up for future story arcs. I’m ecstatic. Plus Betsy and Warren are together. I love it.

Wolverine surprisingly does not have much to do with the main set up as the story. As the founder of X-Force, and it’s longest-running member since it’s most recent conception back in Messiah CompleX days, I can understand why they did not need to focus so much on Logan.

However, what the story does for the reader is wonderful. Brilliant colours and tones flush the pages, thanks to colourist Dean White. The comic has a mixed feelings of haze and impending doom with each turn. Opena’s art also stands out as nothing but spectacular. Wolverine versus a stone giant – who would not love it? Plus a wonderful final-page ending that leaves us all with “wtf” moments certainly will have us back for issue two.

Uncanny X-Force exceeded expectations and pushed out a grand story (with tons of variant covers) which will go down in to the comic history books.

Grade: 10/10

Chaos War is something Marvel has been teasing us with for awhile now. Since the death of Hercules and his sudden return, I know I have been asking myself, “why kill him off only to bring him back months later?” Chaos War is the reason why – and I believe that the killing-off/bringing-back formula worked well for this comic.

ChaosWar1

Written by Incredible Hulk great Greg Pak, and Fred Van Lente, Chaos War begins with King Chaos killing Nightmare in his realm and taking it over, showing us what sort of power the King possesses. It is followed by Hercules’ return to Earth – warning its heroes of the impending doom the Chaos King will be soon bringing to the planet. What is really good is how Pak and Lente show how all the heroes react to Hercules’ return – not considering it relevant as Herc has always been considered a buffoon. Not this time.

Hercules returns alive from an alternate universe with immense power, given to him by his best friend, the Prince of Power, Amadeus Cho. Teaming with Thor, Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and many others, Hercules divides his new-power between all the heroes and brings them up to Nightmare’s realm to stop the Chaos King. So begins the Chaos War.

The story, I would consider to be a building up immense destruction. Although the main story is only a five-issue run, there will be plenty of one-shots and limited-series connected to the Chaos War, such as Dead Avengers, Alpha Flight, and Dead X-Men. It will be interesting to see how it all ties together. However, the story itself revolves around the re-building of Hercules’ character and the convincing of all other heroes that he is not the imbecile he once was. That’s fine. It was done well. However, I felt a lot of filler in the story, such as an unnecessary battle with other gods. Although I can understand they were added for showing us the severity of the Chaos King – we did not need the mini side-plot.

Khoi Pham’s art though, should not be over-shadowed. Great detailing with Hercules, as well as Nightmare’s realm, really stood out as two unique points in the book. Nightmare’s realm being a disaster zone with death and chaos, was greatly drawn and I could personally feel the horror within the realm. And with Hercules, his body, his face, everything was immensely detailed and clearly displayed. Why I only say Hercules is because I felt as if the rest of the characters were somewhat thrown into the story at the last second. Once panel shows all the heroes flying upwards to Nightmare’s realm, and it is clear that only Hercules had the most attention put on him. I digress. . .

Chaos War will be an immensely popular series, I’m sure. It involves most of the Marvel U and is argued to be better than the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Where this will take us, I do not know. But I am interested to see how it will be executed.

Grade: 6.5/10

And Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, eh?

Keep on Space Truckin’.

Classic Comic Fridays: The Mighty Thor #338

On By UncannyDerekIn Classic Comic FridayLeave a comment

I figure that I’ll start doing something a little different. Every week, I’ll review a classic comic from my collection at random. Simple as that.

This week, I’ll kick off with the second appearance of Beta Ray Bill, Thor #338 from December of 1983, back when Jim Shooter was the EiC of Marvel. The art and story was also done by Walter Simonson, where he did Thor’s run from issue 337-367. Thor #337 was the issue which introduced Beta Ray Bill, meaning Simonson created him.

Thor338

What intrigues me most about this issue is that we finally see someone who is not god-like, nor Asgardian, take on Thor. On top of that, we learn that Beta Ray Bill is Thor’s equal. In issue 337, Bill steals Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer for its power (which until Bill, could only be lifted by Thor), and by issue 338, he is teleported to Asgard via the hammer by Odin.

Odin, confused on how Bill holds Thor’s hammer, summons Thor back to Asgard to discuss Bill’s appearance and why Bill wishes to have Mjolnir. Bill explains how his race was dying and needed to leave their galaxy for fear of death. In doing so, his race’s scientists bio-engineered Bill and merged him with the most ferocious carnivore of their empire, so that he may lead their exodus. With his warship the Skuttlebutt, he must save his race from alien invaders. Since Bill bested Thor in battle (by stealing the hammer in the previous issue), he believes he should wield the hammer to save his people.

By all means, Bill is not shown to a man with bad intentions, nor a villain of any sort. He just wants to save his people. Because Mjolnir finds Bill worthy to wield it and Bill believes he deserves the hammer since he took it from Thor, Odin decides that they duel to the death for Mjolnir.

Odin strips both men of their powers and sent them off-world so neither have an advantage. Both warriors fight equal blows with each strike. Their final blow knocks both unconscious on a rock bed riding down a lava lake, soon to be thrown down a waterfall of lava.

Bill awakens first and sees Thor still knocked-out. Being a noble man, Bill feels Thor is too brave to perish and instead tries to lift him to safety, only to be too-late and thrown down the waterfall. Falling, Odin teleports them back to his throne room for Bill to state at the books conclusion, “The hammer is mine!”

The story itself is wonderfully paced, especially for introducing a new character. Simonson makes Bill not just a worthy opponent for Thor, but a just one. Bill’s main drive is to fight off invaders from his people and just requires a weapon to defeat them. However, I did neglect the extremely minor side story involving the Warrior’s Three during the epic battle. Although it did not throw off the pace at all, it shows Simonson’s flawless transitions between stories.

BetaRayBill

Simonson was considered to be the savior of Thor comics at the time for not just introducing Bill, but for great dialogue, and exposing emotions and truths behind characters. Mixed in with his powerful art, Simonson had great imaginative ideas to play with – generating a new race, a new hero, and a brilliant plot point involving one of Marvel’s greatest heroes.

When I look back at other issues from the eighties, I seem to find them lacking substance. They involve characters which seem to get dumb-downed to reach a larger audience. In Thor, we have intellect, mixed in with powerful morals, as well as an enemy we cannot hate. Arguably advanced for its target-market, this issue was a powerful indication that Thor is not the only major power in the universe.

By the next issue, Odin creates “Stormbreaker,” a hammer equal to Mjolnir, and gives it to Bill for being noble by saving Thor. Both Thor and Bill become blood brothers, and help one another in their most desperate times of need. Recently, Bill arrived to Asgard during the Secret Invasion – saving Thor from the Skrulls showing us that blood brothers stretch beyond realms.

Grade: 8/10

Keep on Space Truckin’.

A Weak Week

On By UncannyDerekIn ReviewsLeave a comment

My pull-list this week was pretty Mutant-heavy, featuring Namor #2, X-Men Legacy #240, and X-Men vs. Vampires #1 of 2. Also, was Avengers: Prime #3 of 5.

I’d have to say, I was unexpectedly disappointed with X-Men: Legacy, while Namor and XvsV was a pleasant surprise. Of course, reviewing it all would take decades of work (maybe an hour), so I’ll mainly focus today on the bigger titles, Legacy and Avengers.

Legacy240

I’ll tackle this bad-boy first. X-Men: Legacy #240 is part three of a story-arc, entitled Collision and revolves around Rogue, Magneto, Indra, Anole and Loa. But I’ll need to give you some back story first. There have been some weather disturbances in Mumbai, and coincidently, Indras brother has fallen ill. The five go there to check it out, and for Indra to see his brother. Once there, things get a bit nutty. We find out that the weather is caused by the Children of the Vault sapping energy from Earth, while we discover that Indra is now forced to take his brothers place in an arranged marriage, as per their arrogant father. So that’s pretty much where we’ve been at.

Then comes #240, and its continued plot by Mike Carey, with art by Clay Mann. Last issue left us off with a mutant from the Vault named Luz coming to Earth to escape said Vault. Unfortunately for her, she was pursued, and 240 kicks us off with a pitiful battle between Vault members and Rouge and Magneto. Losing, they are taken back with Luz, to the Vault as captives.

Meanwhile, Anole, Loa, and Indra find out the two were kidnapped. They want to go and save them – as any friends would. However, Indra’s arrogant father demands that Indra does not break his promise to get married tomorrow. So Indra one-ups him and says that he will just get married now and be done and over it.

Yeah. . .

So the issue revolves around panels with Magneto and Rogue getting beaten, while Indra gets married while Anole and Loa watch in disgust. Because of the marriage, the book is terribly paced with Rogue being in the process of execution and Indra’s wedding ceremony which his father wants as a full-ceremony. So this issue brings us family, rice, and Rogue being bashed by gravitational forces.

Needless to say, the issue does try and end on a high-note. Indra’s wife-to-be, in the middle of the ceremony, transforms into Luz, who teleported herself into his fiancées body, followed by a “wtf” moment on the final page.

Unfortunately, because of the ridiculous pacing of the comic between battles and a wedding, I felt no sense of dread, nor did I care about the wedding either. This has been one of Legacy’s weakest stories, I believe, since after the Messiah Complex arc (which goes back a long time), and the art from Mann unfortunately does not bring the comic up from its poor writing.

Grade: 5/10

Despite Legacy, this week was definitely a win Avengers: Prime #3.

Avengers: Prime is unfortunately a bi-monthly titled done by Brian Michael Bendis and godly artist Alan Davis. It takes during the end of Siege and follows Thor, Steve Rodgers, and Tony Stark being “accidentally” zipped away to an unknown realm, and separated from each other.

AvengersPrime3

Rodgers ends up meeting some Elven people, Stark gets caught up with Orges and the dragon Fafnir, while Thor discovers that the Enchantress is the reasoning behind the whole thing! Then at the end of issue #2, we discover Hela has been watching the whole thing unfold! It’s a lot to take in, eh?

Luckily for us, this is Bendis’ best work with an Avengers title since the beginning of The Heroic Age. While the parent title and New Avengers are seemingly lacking in proper pacing and characterization, we get it perfectly in Avengers: Prime. Stark – without power to his armor – makes hilarious quips throughout the story which he lacks in the parent title, while Rodgers is the well-rounded hero (as always), making his way through the unknown realm without much trouble. Thor on the other hand gets into a fight with Hela as the Enchantress watches on – surprised that Hela was in the realm.

Near the end, we see Stark saved from Fafnir by Rodgers, and they discover a defeated Thor, unsure where Mjolnir is, but certain that the three are indeed in Hel itself.

Due to wonderful spreads by Davis, including some wonderful spreads of Fafnir and a full-page spread of Hela striking Thor, this comic is consistently strong in both art and direction. It’s truly a shame that the limited-series-bi-monthly title is arguably the best Avengers storyline.

Grade: 9/10

As for Namor and XvsV, Namor’s storyline has thickened with a battle beginning. There is a sense of dread surrounding the Atlantian people, while it is ever-so clear that the enemy has them outnumbers. With XvsV, we get a slew of minor stories from various writers and artists, plus a first-half re-print of Uncanny X-Men #159. The most notable story is done by James Asmus with art by Tom Raney (who seems to be involved in almost everything now), and aptly titled “From Husk til Dawn,” involving Husk versus Vampires as she turns herself into wood.

Any how, check back soon for another fantastic blog from your fantastic blogger. I’m assuming that’s me.

Keep on Space Truckin’.