Black Widow #13 - Marvel Comics

BLACK WIDOW No. 13, March 2022

As standalone, flashback adventures go, Kelly Thompson’s narrative for this second instalment to her “Die By The Blade” storyline must surely have delighted the vast majority of its audience by taking the Avenger’s fans back to “her days in Madripoor” and her “first encounter with the Living Blade.” Indeed, it is difficult to imagine just what else the Eisner Award-winner could do to make this twenty-page periodical’s pulse-pounding plot any more thrilling; “If running is not an option, then I have no choice but to go on the offensive.”

For starters, the comic’s impressively dramatic opening deals with the ordinarily ever-confident Black Widow encountering the shock of an opponent who is seemingly more than a match for her finely-honed close-combat skills. Admittedly, this is no way appears to hinder Natasha Romanoff’s famous determination to best the mysterious swordsman who disconcertingly can penetrate her defences at will. But the utter surprise etched upon her face when she suffers a devastatingly bloody knife wound to her shoulder from ‘out of nowhere’ makes it crystal clear that this book isn’t going to contain the usual tale of the ex-Soviet spy ultimately besting a super-villain.

In addition, the American author’s technique of allowing the reader to know what this publication’s titular character is actually thinking, courtesy of some excellently penned text boxes, really adds to the tension. It’s clear that the former-KGB agent really isn’t pulling any punches to escape the deadly attention of the Living Blade, and equally emphasises just how aware of her surroundings the heroine is, when she realises her mere presence is endangering the customers of a packed out night-club.

Rafael T. Pimentel’s dynamically-drawn pencils are also well worth noting, with the Brazilian illustrator’s ability to project Natasha’s raw emotions through her eyes ably amplifying Thompson’s sub-thread of Romanoff’s increasing alarm at being backed into the tightest of corners without any hope of either escape or clemency. However, it is perhaps the artist’s savagely violent, and oft-times desperate fight scenes, which really help hammer home the point that the Black Widow really is being pushed to the very limits of both her formidable fighting prowess and impressive physical abilities.

The regular cover art of "BLACK WIDOW" #13 by Adam Hughes

Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #104 - DC Comics

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT No. 104, March 1998

Focusing solely upon the final hour or so of the titular character’s battle against the murderous machinations of the Spook, James Robinson’s script for Issue One Hundred and Four of “Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight” certainly seems to show Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego at the top of his game as he deduces the cold-blooded killer’s partner-in-crime, whilst simultaneously fighting for the lives of the billionaire’s ‘house-guests’. In fact, the pulse-pounding pace of this comic’s storyline arguably never lets up as the Caped Crusader is shown consistently rushing through secret passages, stone fire places, hidden escape routes and even the inside of a fast-falling helicopter in an effort to disarm his white-cloaked, would-be assassin.

Happily however, this seemingly endless rush towards the book’s conclusion doesn’t make this three-part adventure’s ending any less enjoyable than its previous two, much slower-stepped instalments, and just confirms how formidably relentless an adversary the Spook is; “I’ll kill you all! One at a time or all together! I won’t be denied my vengeance! I won’t!” In addition, the British author’s penmanship actually suggests that Batman might truly be in physical danger, by having the World’s Greatest Detective be repeatedly outwitted by his faceless foe – whether it be by reinforcing the mansion’s wooden doors with “a hardened steel core”, or somehow outmanoeuvring the Dark Knight whilst being stalked along a winding, stone-walled corridor.

Just as well conceived are the clues which ultimately reveal to the cowled vigilante the identity of the Spook’s employer. Yates’ discovery of a hidden passageway in a room fast-filling full of suffocating gas must surely have ‘jarred’ with many within this publication’s audience, especially when the heavily choking industrialist claims he conveniently found it after he “touched some wood carving and the door in the wall slid open.” But it isn’t until the aforementioned punch-up inside a helicopter that the blonde-haired maniac really ‘puts his foot in it’ by mentioning that Bruce Wayne isn’t actually dead – something only the supposedly spectral slaughterer and his main associate would know.

Rather impressively helping this twenty-two page publication bound along are Paul Johnson’s prodigious pencils, which really help highlight just how close to death Batman might actually be during his tense tussle. Facing a seemingly deceased hitman armed with a submachine gun, the Dark Knight is persistently sketched diving for cover as his cape is ripped to pieces by bullets, or profusely bleeding from several slicing cuts to his chest, once the Spook decides to get in close with a seriously sharp blade.

Writer: James Robinson, Artist: Paul Johnson, and Colorist: Dan Brown

Star Trek: The Mirror War #3 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: THE MIRROR WAR No. 3, January 2022

Literally brimming with hard-thrown fisticuffs, desperate phaser exchanges, a tensely-penned covert mission deep within enemy territory, and even the complete destruction of an entire planet, there can be little doubt that Scott and David Tipton’s script for Issue Three of “Star Trek: The Mirror War” contained plenty of pulse-pounding action with which to please the science fiction franchise’s fanbase. However, many of these high-octane set-pieces could arguably be criticised as having been included in this comic simply so its considerable cast have something to do as Jean-Luc Picard’s grand scheme to become the new leader of the dwindling Terran Empire somewhat stalls in making much in the way of overall progress.

Indeed, the seemingly nonchalant manner in which the I.S.S. Enterprise’s captain dismisses his Away Team’s failure to acquire any pure Tri-Nitrogen Chloride, Neurocine, Chloraxine and Nyocene from the Gas Mines of Kayree debatably brings into question just what motivated the power-mad skipper to dispatch Commander William Riker and Geordi La Forge to the doomed planet in the first place; “We can get by without the material we were trying to acquire from Kayree Station.”

Equally as contrived is the notion that having conveniently obtained a (Romulan) cloaking device for the Galaxy-class starship ‘off-screen’, the state-of-art vessel is still unable to sneak past an enemy listening post, due to its invisibility screen leaving a problematic “hole that runs along the belly”. This unhelpful flaw means that Picard must instead send his officers off on another dangerous assignment to temporarily knock out Nopal Trem without the Cardassians realising their device was sabotaged. But considering that the tiny station is evidently staffed by gun-toting soldiers, who ultimately capture Miles O’Brien, it’s difficult to comprehend just how Jean-Luc thought his people’s presence and interference would ever go unnoticed..?

Disappointingly, even Gavin Smith’s artwork for this particular twenty-page periodical does not appear in parts to be up to the freelancer’s usual standard - most notably when he pencils a scene concerning Troi and Barclay trying to reason with Data that the android is perfectly capable of making selfish decisions. The line work on all three of these figures’ faces appears rushed and inconsistent when compared to the illustrator’s other panels, to the point where it appears the entire sequence has either been put together in a hurry to help pad out the publication, or another artist has actually sketched them as a last minute stopgap.

Writers: Scott & David Tipton, Artist: Gavin Smith, and Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff

Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight #103 - DC Comics

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT No. 103, February 1998

Following closely upon the shoulders of the titular character as he investigates the disconcertingly bizarre happenings inside a suddenly deserted, snow-surrounded mansion, James Robinson’s narrative for Issue One Hundred and Three of “Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight” definitely starts with a ‘bump in the night’ as the World’s Greatest Detective discovers that the entire house staff of servants and maids who earlier greeted his alter-ego’s guests, have all been savagely slaughtered. Indeed, this truly gruesome unearthing deep down inside the building’s cellar sets so disquietingly dark a tone for the rest of the twenty-three page periodical’s plot, that when the Caped Crusader later reveals that Bruce Wayne has purportedly been killed by the Spook whilst “off exploring” on his own, the odd reader will arguably momentarily believe him before the realisation that such a demise is an impossibility dawns upon them; “I found Wayne. His body at least. He’s dead. The killer got to him.”

Equally as well-penned as this comic’s all-pervading atmosphere of death and doom, is Robinson’s excellent technique to provide plenty of background as to the mass-murderer’s identity via the costumed crime-fighter reading the maniac’s journals. Interspersed with the vigilante’s own thoughts as to both the misguided ex-government operative’s motivation for setting up such an elaborate death-trap, as well as the mysterious assassin’s impressive military background, this four-page sequence debatably makes tremendously compelling reading despite its panels literally consisting of little more than numerous word-heavy, text boxes.

Likewise, artist Paul Johnson does an excellent job of depicting the sheer terror being experienced by the Spook’s hapless victims as they’re mercilessly murdered one by one. This ability to depict the open-mouthed fear being felt by the sizeable cast is especially well done when Wayne convinces the group of super-rich billionaires to tear the isolated stately home apart looking for a “high-powered radio transmitter”, and then later when Batman uses of the aforementioned ruse of Wayne’s death to cover the absence of his other self. In addition, the highlight of this book is surely the illustrator’s marvellous pencilling of Batman pummelling the Spook’s illiterate henchman with just his ‘hammers of justice’, and the Dark Knight’s subsequent unsuccessful tussle with spectral “the Ghost Man” himself.

Writer: James Robinson, Artist: Paul Johnson, and Colorist: Dan Brown

X-Men Legends #4 - Marvel Comics

X-MEN LEGENDS No. 4, July 2022

As entire comic book length battles go, Louise Simonson’s script for “Tools!” doubtless satisfied the best part of its 39,098 strong audience in June 2021, due to some truly sense-shattering action sequences involving numerous laser bolts, writhing hydraulic tentacles and a veritable avalanche of murderously metallic rectangular plates. Indeed, it’s hard to recollect a more intense fracas appearing upon the printed page as Apocalypse’s “deadly robot attacker” initially appears to have the upper hand over a frantically back-peddling original X-Men line-up, and actually threatens the very well-being of Marvel Girl’s infant son, Christopher Summers.

But due to this “all-new tale” being set just before the events of Issue Forty-Three of “X-Factor”, when an entirely intact team venture off into hyperspace together, any sense of Scott’s colourfully-garbed comrades-in-arms actually being in jeopardy during their confrontation against a mechanically-enhanced Cameron Hodge is arguably lost – even when two thirds of the way through the publication En Sabah Nur confidently announces that the super-heroes are about to die at the hands of their former public relations agent; “Brave talk. But the fight is all but over. Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, and Beast have fallen. Death and the infant are next.”

Fortunately however, the Atlanta-born author does try to make up for this debatable lack of tension, by posing the question as to just how the badly-battered mutants will ultimately overpower so seemingly invincible a robotic body as the one Apocalypse has conjured up for Warren Worthington’s old college roommate. The “metal monster” genuinely appears unstoppable at the start of the skirmish, with legendary artist Walter Simonson even pencilling Cyke’s ruby-red eye-beams harmlessly bouncing off of the towering brute’s armoured carapace and dangerously firing off wildly about the field leader’s surroundings.

In addition, “Weezie” pens an excellent insight into the psychological workings of Hodge’s mind, as he tries to seek his revenge upon an X-Factor who are wholly ignorant as to the true identity of their opponent. Cameron’s ability to mentally direct his behemoth’s physical properties in order for him to use his adversaries’ formidable abilities against them helps turn this comic’s narrative into more of an intriguing game of chess or cat and mouse, than an uninspiring, straightforward slugfest, and as result provides some surprising depth to the character's hatred of all Homo sapiens superior.

The regular cover art of "X-MEN: LEGENDS" #4 by Walter Simonson & Edgar Delgado