Warhammer 40,000: Sisters Of Battle #1 - Marvel Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: SISTERS OF BATTLE No. 1, October 2021

Announced in May 2021 by its publisher as “the start of the next phase of Warhammer comics at Marvel”, Issue One of “Warhammer 40,000: Sisters Of Battle” probably lived up to most Games Workshop fans’ expectations with its “no-holds-barred action, mystery, and daemons galore.” Indeed, the twenty-page periodical doesn’t even manage to last a mere handful of panels before it’s portraying a Magistrate and his fellow legal experts being flung to death from atop a high-rise building; “Your heresy will not go unpunished. Repent while you still can. Save your soul. You are about to die.”

Surprisingly however, Torunn Grønbekk’s narrative doesn’t concern itself with a large swathe of the Adepta Sororitas though, preferring instead to simply settle upon the self-contained exploits of eight Sisters of Battle, as they seek to free an Inquisitor’s acolyte from the chaotic planet of Siscia. Such a limited number of characters may well disappoint those hotly anticipating reading about the Ecclesiarchy's massed armed forces pitilessly subjugating a large-scale heresy using all the vehicles and wargear at their command. But it does mean that the Norwegian author is better able to imbue a few of the elite group with some pleasing personality.

In addition, it soon becomes evident that every casualty is going to be crucial to the success of Canoness Veridyan’s covert mission – an element which really helps to ramp up the tension once the team encounter their first potentially deadly obstacle in the shape of two men carrying Stub Guns, and are forced to dive for what scant cover the tunnel within which they are racing along can provide. This sense-shattering shoot-out also gives Grønbekk a terrific opportunity to contrast Novitiate Ghita from the rest of her fight-savvy comrades-in-arms and demonstrate just how much the female Progena of the Schola Progeniums relies upon her faith in the Emperor to see her safely through the day.

Similarly as rewarding are this comic’s layouts by Edgar Salazar, whose ability to imbue this “all-new action-packed adventure” with plenty of dynamism helps enormously with its storytelling. The expressions on the various combatants’ faces are particularly convincing in presenting people’s emotions, with the almost blissful look upon Battle Sister Elsbeth as she suicidally ignites a grenade whilst in the spine-breaking clutches of a multi-tentacled chaos spawn, disconcertingly haunting most of this book’s audience for quite some time afterwards.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: SISTERS OF BATTLE" #1 by Dave Wilkins

Mighty Morphin #4 - BOOM! Studios

MIGHTY MORPHIN No. 4, February 2021

Absolutely chock-full of some truly outrageous action sequences, Ryan Parrot’s plot to Issue Four of “Mighty Morphin” must surely have worn out the majority of the superhero franchise’s fans with its mix of the utterly exhausting, city-levelling conflict concerning Lord Zedd's new Putty Prime, and the emotionally intriguing character-arc penned for Zelya of Eltar. Indeed, the twenty-page periodical arguably deserved to have been far more successful than just the hundred and forty-second best-selling title in February 2021.

For starters, the American author somehow manages to not only squeeze the humanoid battle robots Thunder Megazord and Tigerzord into this comic, but later arranges for the distinctly unique Dragonzord to make a truly, awe-inspiring appearance which momentarily appears destined to win the day for the Power Rangers. Such monstrous constructions genuinely help ‘sell’ the sheer scale of the Evil Space Aliens’ plans for the fictional city of Angel Grove, and similarly show just how disconcertingly powerful the invaders’ latest ultra-sized Putty Patroller is under the direct control of “the Emperor of all I see.”

Likewise, Parrot doesn’t just dwell upon the metropolis’ sense-shattering skyline skirmish, as his storyline also contains plenty of focus upon the individual combatants piloting the various fighting machines. In particular, one of this book’s best moments has to be the Red Ranger’s initially single-handed defence of the Megazord’s external hull against a veritable horde of Zedd’s featureless minions, whilst his team-mates desperately try to repair their disastrously-damaged Dinozord construct from within its chaos-filled cockpit; “Come on and get some, you glowy grey goblins! Let’s see if you can dethrone King Rocky!”

Enchantingly however, not every scene artist Marco Renna prodigiously pencils for this publication contains either a myriad of laser beams or a colossal, building-busting blow, as the bull-headed Farkas Bulkmeier manages to prove even more dislikeable midway through this tale, by illogically leaping to the conclusion that his best pal’s girlfriend is cheating on him. Bulk’s arrogant accusations at Candice clearly show just how much the High School bully cares for Eugene, yet they also suggest a highly anticipated comeuppance is on the cards for him once he realises that “Skull’s girlfriend… [is] an alien?”

Written by: Ryan Parrott, Illustrated by: Marco Renna, and Colored by: Walter Baiamonte

Iron Man [2020] #11 - Marvel Comics

IRON MAN No. 11, October 2021

Whilst Christopher Cantwell’s narrative for “Walking Away From Omelas” undeniably brings Tony Stark’s adventure upon the “remote planet where he’s been marooned” to a concise conclusion, it is hard to imagine many within this comic’s audience being particularly persuaded by the numerous contrivances which the Chicago-born writer utilises in order to do so. Sure, this twenty-page periodical also contains a thoroughly enjoyable bout of pulse-pounding pugilism between Iron Man and Stilt-Man, but once it becomes clear just what is motivating Wilbur Day to ‘kill off his own loyal subjects’ using Ultimos, even this brutal battle appears disappointingly unconvincing, and manufactured simply to give the book an epic-looking ending.

To begin with the American author would have this publication’s readers believe that the "competent" super-villain somehow managed to make his own way to the distant astronomical body from Earth with a premeditated plan, and subsequently created/adapted the Interference Beam used to kidnap numerous hapless colonists thousands of miles from their homes. He then fortuitously “learned how to reprogram” the millennia old alien robots inhabiting the world so as to use them to cull the settlement’s population down whenever he realised he’d abducted too many to control.

In addition, Day also remarkably heard Stark’s S.O.S. signal from outer space, and decided to bring his arch-nemesis down to his personal nirvana simply to show the billionaire inventor what a great job he was doing in leading the ramshackle colony. Such revelations are debatably utterly bizarre, even if it is made crystal clear that the former Emissary of Evil is barking mad. And none of this nonsensical exposition helps to explain why the Living Tribunal enigmatically ‘pops up out of nowhere’ to helpfully transport Shell-head to “the worldship of Galactus before Korvac has even arrived”; “I’ll go. But only if you send all the people on this planet home.”

Agreeably, at least Issue Eleven of “Iron Man” contains some prodigious pencilling by Angel Unzueta, who does an absolutely cracking job in depicting Stilt-Man’s aforementioned scrap with the titular character. However, the inclusion of “everyone’s favourite armoured Canadian hero, Avro-X” does lead to some confusion as the bearded Colin Richard is the spitting image of Tony when not encased within his personal battle-suit, and is disconcertingly not even that dissimilar in appearance to the Golden Avenger when the Major in the Armed Forces is wearing it.

The regular cover art of "IRON MAN" #11 by Alex Ross

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #12 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS No. 12, July 2021

Proudly proclaimed by “Marvel Worldwide” as featuring “the prelude story Target Solo, which leads into the Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event”, this particular twenty-page periodical certainly must have pleased the majority of its audience in May 2021 with its intriguing mix of a current-day space-battle and an historic gun-fight involving a certain out-of-favour Corellian smuggler. True, Beilert Valance’s flight through the Y’Toub System is a rather one-sided affair as the cyborg’s defenceless vessel simply attempts a series of hair-brained manoeuvres through an asteroid field so as to unsuccessfully escape Zuckuss’ deadly Mist Hunter. Yet even this headlong dash is imbued with plenty of tension by Ethan Sacks, as it’s never clear as to whether the former Chorin mineworker’s unhappy passenger, Dengar, will decide to kill him just to make peace with the tenacious Gand findsman pursuing them.

Indeed, arguably one of the highlights of this comic is the fractious relationship between a preoccupied Valance “and his reluctant partner”, as the pair are repeatedly thrown across their rapidly failing spacecraft’s cockpit. The American author’s ability to depict Dengar’s increasing horror at the insane chances his facially-disfigured “poodoo” pilot will take so as to avoid capture proves particularly enjoyable, with the increasingly battered bounty hunter’s persistent protestations about Beilert’s seemingly suicidal flying providing the plot with both an element of humour and suspense; “Just surrender and give them what they want… Your obsession with Solo makes you reckless. Why is that damn scoundrel so important to you anyway?”

Just as entertaining though, albeit for its pulse-pounding pace and artist Paolo Villanelli’s phenomenally dynamic, laser-packed shoot-out, is Sacks’ elaborate series of flashbacks to Abregado-Rae Spaceport, where a penniless Valance desperately agrees to join “the mysterious Caviness Thorn” and his men in killing the assassination crew’s latest target. Doubtless few of this book’s bibliophiles were even slightly surprised at the revelation that the target is the Millennium Falcon’s captain, Han Solo. But that doesn’t make the subsequent firefight any less dramatic, especially when having warned Chewbacca’s partner of the deadly ambush, Beilert goes toe-to-toe with his irate employer atop the space port’s walkway, and the Corellian's Wookie-in-crime is disconcertingly blasted in the shoulder at close range.

The regular cover art for "STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS" #12 by Mattia De Iulis

Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Two #1 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE SEASON TWO No. 1, August 2021

Featuring an excellent ‘guest-star’ appearance by Deadman during its reimagining as to just how Batman discovered the presence of the Court of Owls “buried under the streets of Gotham”, it is arguably easy to see just why this opening instalment to “DC Comics” seven-issue long second season of “Batman: The Adventures Continue” purportedly sold an impressive 40,000 copies in June 2021, making it the sixty-ninth best-selling comic of the month. Indeed, considering that this twenty-page periodical’s plot starts with the shockingly gory demise of Mayor Hamilton Hill, the book debatably makes good on its creative team’s aim to excitingly insert the secret society into one of the “gaps in the original Batman: The Animated Series”.

Foremost of these intriguing hooks has to be Boston Brand’s relationship with the storyline’s murderous Talon, who perturbingly seems able to both clearly see the undead acrobat, as well as successfully resist the ghost’s usually formidable ability to “possess any sentient being.” This disconcerting conundrum repeatedly causes the deceased thrill-seeker to seek alternative solutions to his investigation’s problems, such as inhabiting General Vreeland’s daughter so as to fend off the owl-influenced assassin with a desperate display of swordsmanship, and even momentarily causes the 'Sentinel of Magic' to dwell within Bruce Wayne so as to inform the Billionaire’s alter-ego that Hill’s mysterious assailant is actually a zombie.

Just as engaging is Alan Burnett and Paul Dini’s decision to give the titular character plenty of clues with which to demonstrate his own detective ability. Of course, the pair still pen the Dark Knight trading blows and batarangs with the seemingly unstoppable Talon. But for much of this comic the Caped Crusader is shown in the role of a dogmatic sleuth, matching claw marks at the scene of the crime with a glove in Vreeland’s “Nineteenth-Century collection on the legendary Court of Owls”, and deep-diving into his metropolis' disturbingly dark history.

Impressively taking this book’s bibliophiles back to the Nineties and the days of “Warner Brothers Animation” is Ty Templeton’s artwork, which really helps sell the deadly athletic prowess of the nameless Talon. In fact, the Canadian illustrator is debatably at the ‘top of his game’ when pencilling both Batman and Deadman desperately engaging the Court of Owls’ lethal minion in close combat; “Sorry, girl. But I don’t have many choices here. I just hope you’ve been keepin’ up with your Pilates. Very good. Socialite poise with army-brat combat training. But will that be enough to stop him?”

The regular cover of "BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE SEASON TWO" #1 by Riley Rossmo

Master Of Kung-Fu #18 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 18, June 1974

Brilliantly bookended by two bouts of compelling close combat between the titular character and a highly-skilled Dacoit, Steve Englehart’s narrative for Issue Eighteen of “Master Of Kung Fu” certainly manages to suggest the international scale of Fu Manchu’s criminal organisation. Indeed, whether it simply be the vengeful interest of a former British Police Commissioner for Burma and his prejudicial agent, or the staggering scope of Shang-Chi’s malevolent father to brainwash “all of America” within the space of three months, the Indianapolis-born writer is not shy in showing the sheer scope of this ongoing series’ felonious machinations.

Likewise, the Inkpot Award-winner doesn’t fall into the tempting trap of simply depicting this comic’s lead protagonist as some sort of superhuman fighting machine, who boldly enters his pater’s hidden headquarters in New York, and readily defeats the numerous minions teeming inside. Instead, this book portrays a thoughtful warrior, who realises “the foolishness of [a] frontal assault” against his parent’s “Empire of Evil”, and instead tries to predominantly remain out of sight of his enemies, striking only when he must.

This thoughtful approach to his mission really helps sell Shang-Chi as both a highly-skilled, yet all-too mortal martial artist, who whilst capable of great feats of stealth, such as secreting himself aboard a cargo plane to Florida, is also vulnerable to a well-prepared ambush or fume-filled trap. Such susceptibilities really help sell the sense of suspense needed to make the warrior’s tense investigation into Fu Manchu’s murderous manoeuvrings all the more exciting, and it’s a credit to the America author’s penmanship that the Crime Lord’s latest scheme is actually thwarted by the actions of a disillusioned subordinate, rather than the Master of Kung Fu himself; “The man killed himself, because death was preferable to life for him! And my father made his life so unbearable!”

Just as captivating as this eighteen-page periodical’s plot are the layouts by Paul Gulacy and inker, Al Milgrom. The aforementioned punch-ups between Shang-Chi and the “adherent of Burmese strangler cult” are tremendously well-drawn, especially once Fu Manchu’s cold-blooded assassin has received four drops of a deadly chemical which bestows upon him “super-human speed”. But in addition, the creative collaboration are able to show off their truly imaginative side by creating a sensational splash page showing the hallucinogenic effects of the plant, Mimosa, upon the mind.

Author: Steve Englehart, Artist: Paul Gulacy, and Inking: Al Milgrom

Future State: Harley Quinn #2 - DC Comics

FUTURE STATE: HARLEY QUINN No. 2, April 2021

Fascinatingly focusing far more upon the titular character’s ability to outthink her opponents, rather than simply batter her way out of a problem with her infamous baseball bat, Stephanie Phillips’ plot for this particular twenty-two page periodical probably pleased the majority of its audience when it initially hit the spinner-racks in February 2021, and arguably deserved its spot as the month’s thirty-eighth best-selling comic. In fact, the American author presents such an intriguingly different insight into just how this 'psychiatrist from the Multiverse' operates that it comes as no surprise “DC Comics” consequently gave her the reins of “the ongoing Harley Quinn series” a short time later.

For starters, the anti-hero manages to play a masterful game of wits with the Scarecrow and Roman Sionis. Both of these terrifying criminal masterminds are absolutely nobody’s fool, yet Harleen Quinzel appears able to quite beautifully play them off against one another so as to ensure that the Black Mask’s murderous machinations throughout Gotham City are brought to a swift end. Moreover, the Cupid of Crime also enacts a little revenge of her own upon Jonathan Crane by persuading the supposedly reformed government official to once again don his fearful mask, and then subsequently steal the phobia-inducing device to ensure her escape from the Professor’s custody; “Harley… Did she? She… She did this… All of this… Harley Quinn has ruined me.”

Of course, that isn’t to say that Phillips’ incarnation of the Joker’s former-squeeze simply relies upon psychological one-upmanship to get her way, as agreeably Issue Two of “Future State: Harley Quinn” still contains plenty of brutal head-bashing and smart-mouthed action once the chemically-coloured woman finally decides to get physical with her wooden bat. In addition, this publication’s macabre death of Senator Hanssen in a lavish, skyline restaurant will probably give anyone slightly squeamish nightmares for at least a fortnight.

Helping push this comic’s creativity up an extra notch or two, is undoubtedly the almost animation-like art-style of its illustrations by Simone Di Meo and Toni Infante, which definitely imbues some of Quinn’s most earnest blows with some additional bone-crunching heaviness. However, occasionally this pencilling panache debatably gets in the way of the actual storytelling, and can cause moments of confusion, such as when Sionis is suddenly shown in a couple of panels as a blonde-haired man in dark clothing during the Scarecrow’s initial assault upon the sadistic super-villain’s senses.

The regular cover art of "FUTURE STATE: HARLEY QUINN #2 by Derrick Chew