Thor [2020] #8 - Marvel Comics

THOR No. 8, December 2020

Based upon the debatably bizarre premise that anyone in Broxton, Oklahoma can simply pick up “the famed hammer of the Thunder God… no worthiness required”, Donny Cates script for Issue Eight of “Thor” was probably never going to really win over that many of the comic’s readers. Indeed, Odinson’s behaviour throughout this entire twenty-page periodical is unusually odd, with the founding Avenger seemingly not even caring when an incredibly detestable Iron Man batters him straight across the face with Mjolnir itself; “For the vast majority of the time I have known thee… You have been a noble ally and friend.”

Furthermore, it doesn’t seem particularly clear just what the American author was actually trying to achieve with his storyline. True, this second instalment of “Hammerfall” does a first-rate job of depicting Tony Stark as a total jerk, whose holier than thou ego foolishly makes the billionaire industrialist momentarily believe that he has every right to both keep Thor’s hammer for himself and subsequently assault the Thunder God with it. But frankly, the inventor’s famous arrogance is obvious for all to see when he immediately starts threatening a bemused Adam Aziz for possession of the enchanted hand-weapon at the start of the comic.

Likewise, it seems somewhat anomalous that Jack Kirby’s co-creation would later willingly allow a local mechanic to wield Mjolnir and go so far as to teach him how to fly using its power. Of course, this sequence is actually rather endearing, as the elderly repairman exudes an utterly enchanting childlike excitement during his once in a lifetime lesson. However, apart from padding out the publication with some tongue-in-cheek humour, as well as planting the seed in the long-haired deity's mind to reset “the Uru hammer”, this silly scene disconcertingly jars with the serious nature of the titular character’s potentially catastrophic confrontation with Iron Man just moments before.

Frustratingly, guest artist Aaron Kuder doesn’t seemingly help ‘sell’ Cates’ tale either, courtesy of some rather lack-lustre pencilling. The heavily detailed panels depicting the titular character staring into the great Book of Kings at this comic's opening is incredibly atmospheric, and packed full of menacing intrigue. Yet, as soon the audience are whisked to present day Broxton, there’s arguably a noticeable drop in quality – not least of which is the design of Adam’s Asgardian costume.

The regular cover art of "THOR" #8 by Olivier Coipel & Laura Martin

Blade #2 - Marvel Comics

BLADE No. 2, August 2023

Perhaps somewhat disconcertingly reminiscent of the Wachowskis’ “Matrix” franchise more than Stephen Norrington’s 1998 American superhero movie “Blade”, Bryan Hill’s script for “Mother Of Evil” surely still provided its readers with plenty of high-octane set-pieces and gratuitous violence. In fact, the action rarely stops to allow this comic’s audience to catch its breath as the Daywalker repeatedly attempts to foil a series of assassination and abduction attempts on “a high-end supernatural arms dealer” turned hostile ex-girlfriend.

Foremost of these pulse-pounding predicaments is probably a gun-toting helicopter’s endeavour to riddle Tulip with enough lead to sink a steamship whilst the woman is busy bedding the dhampir in her high-rise Japanese apartment. Sporting a serious exchange of bullets between the two warring factions, the fracas does somewhat incongruously show Eric Brook’s favouring a demonically possessed machine gun rather than the titular character’s famous hand-made sword. But despite this ‘mismatch’, the sequence still packs an exhilarating punch – especially once Lord Daido’s armed forces pour in through the front door and blast Blade out through the bedroom’s already shattered glass window through sheer force of firepower.

Rather enjoyably though, this issue isn’t simply about the feisty gunrunner’s perilous plight either, as the American author also pens plenty for Rotha to do during this publication’s second half. True, the mystic cultist does spend much of this book’s storyline tied to a post in the Daywalker’s Minka. However, once she is released the angry ‘sidekick’ soon sets about Daido’s contingent of personal bodyguards with a flurry of well-aimed arrows to the head; “I really hope they were bad people.”

Notably adding some extra “Thok” to the deadly bolts of the vampire’s Cambodian compatriot, as well as some impressive zip to all the gunshots sounding off throughout this comic’s layouts, is Elena Casagrande. The Italian illustrator does a particularly good job of imbuing Blade with all the athleticism a bibliophile would expect from Marv Wolfman’s co-creation, most notably when the anti-hero leaps aboard a soldier-filled rotorcraft and mercilessly guns down the elite, special forces inside at extreme close range within a single, mouth-wateringly good splash page. In addition, the artist does a stellar job of showing the wounds Eric incurs when his body plummets numerous floors to the sidewalk and is then savagely thrown back up into the air by the impact of the hitmen’s getaway car.

The regular cover art to "BLADE" #2 by Elena Casagrande & Jordie Bellaire

The Incredible Hulk [2023] #3 - Marvel Comics

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 3, October 2023

Clearly investing this particular twenty-page periodical with an utterly bewitching Stephen King vibe, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s zombie-packed narrative for Issue Three of “Incredible Hulk” would seem much more suitable for Skybound’s spinechilling “Creepshow” comic book anthology series than one of Marvel Worldwide’s range of super-hero titles. For whilst Bruce Banner’s green-hued alter-ego dominates the publication, he faces a veritable army of undead ghouls and the gigantic, antediluvian creature which the long-abandoned mining town’s decomposing population have been worshipping for untold aeons.

In addition, this continuation to “The Age of Monsters” storyline gleefully taps into the darkest corner of the Eisner nominated writer’s mind, by conjuring up an underground world where talking corpses and long dead folk religiously dig in the dirt with their lifeless limbs for Brother Deep’s emancipation. So truly macabre a scene is genuinely disturbing, with the ferocious heat emanating from the old god’s temporary tomb bringing a palpable rise to any reader’s temperature who dwells for too long on the panels depicting the debris of the settlement’s fallen church steeple and the wooden structure’s fiery plight.

Pleasingly however, this comic isn’t simply about its titular character beating the hell out of a huge, multi-eyed “monster unlike any he has faced before”, courtesy of some enjoyable backchat between the Hulk and new companion Charlie. The feisty runaway is understandably perplexed by her encounter with a village packed full of the walking dead. But eventually demonstrates the strength of personality she so naively claimed she had when this adventure first started, by kicking the place’s partially rotting sheriff to pieces at the end, when the ‘immortal’ lawman desperately tries to drag her back to his subterranean retreat; “Shoulda stayed in yer stupid hole!!!”

Just as enjoyable as this book’s penmanship though is Nic Klein’s pencilling, which manages to imbue Brother Deep’s domain with all the claustrophobic dread a bibliophile might expect from a province painfully dug from the very earth itself by the most primitive of hand-tools. Furthermore, the design of the Fractured Son’s towering opponent is excellent, with the giant-sized, tentacled gestalt appearing to have quite literally stepped from out of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos into our universe.

The regular cover art of "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" #3 by Nic Klein

Titans #2 - DC Comics

TITANS No. 2, August 2023

Despite not containing any notable super-villain action, unless readers count a short-lived flashback to a time when the Justice League of America easily defeated Brother Blood before the Teen Titans could even break through the door of the cult leader’s nefarious church, Tom Taylor’s narrative for “Out Of The Shadows” still probably entranced the majority of its audience with a number of perplexing puzzles. In fact, this entire twenty-page periodical appears to have been penned simply to provide any perusing bibliophile with a plethora of long-running riddles.

Foremost of these canny conundrums is unsurprisingly the murder of Wally West – albeit the bloody corpse littering the floor of the super-group’s new headquarters is thankfully revealed to be a future incarnation of the Scarlet Speedster as opposed to the team’s current lightning-fast member. Such a serious mystery would arguably dominate many a less well-written publication, but the Australian author actually goes a couple of steps better by throwing in a series of criminally caused large-scale ecological disasters into the mix, alongside the potentially treacherous behaviour of Tempest; “Which is why I’m so pleased that a Titan has chosen to join our ranks.”

Similarly as engrossing though is the way Donna Troy is suddenly elevated to group leader whilst Dick Grayson is busy investigating the Flash’s demise. This sequence cleverly provides the comic with both some tense action as the likes of Beast Boy, Raven and Cyborg battle a devasting forest fire in Borneo, as well as potentially fans the flames for some conflict between Wonder Girl and Starfire as to which protagonist is more suited to supervision. For now, the matter appears to be resolved by Koriand'r acknowledging her friend as a “brilliant tactician”. However, the fact the Amazonian felt the need to question the alien princess in the first place debatably suggests that “Troia” has some issues about the situation in her own mind at least.

Just as good as this book’s storyline is Rachel Scott’s pencilling, which does an excellent job of selling the significantly sized cast’s emotions with some wonderfully expressive facial expressions. This ability, most notably demonstrated when Logan helplessly witnesses a family of orangutans burning to death before his eyes, is highly persuasive that the characters in the comic are ‘real people’ with ‘real feelings’, and resultantly adds an additional connection to the heroes as they enter this “new era for the Titans”.

The regular cover art of "TITANS" #2 by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok

Terrorwar #4 - Image Comics

TERRORWAR No. 4, July 2023

Badly bogged down with some incredibly word-heavy, discussion sequences, it’s clear that Saladin Ahmed was extremely keen to ensure that this comic’s audience fully understood just why Representative Ronali had selected some “little rent-a-crew from the Lower Quarters” to be her civilisation’s saviours. Indeed, the “Eisner Award winning American” even goes so far as to introduce the highly talkative Doctora Z into his already colourful cast of characters, just so the prominent researcher can arguably repeat the same message just spouted by Blue City Central Command.

Frustratingly though, this earnestness results in a somewhat slow and sedentary script, which appears to seemingly swing around in circles for seventeen-pages until Muhammad Cho’s team finally come face-to-face with one of the massive Terror attacks everyone has previously been speaking about. This confrontation however, is arguably just as disappointing as all the babble before it, as the specialist contractors simply deploy some state-of-the-art ghost traps smack in the centre of their jump point and then effortlessly gun down the trio of terrifying ectoplasmic monstrosities that foolishly manifest.

Much more successful is debatably this book’s cliff-hanger conclusion, which depicts the squad’s leader rather stupidly failing to follow his own good advice and single-handedly attempting a rescue mission for a kid supposedly trapped in the ruins of a local settlement. Sadly, the “Boss-man” deciding to suddenly act like the Lone Ranger and ordering his colleagues to stay behind, does smack of the narrative needing to have him tackle the threat alone so he’ll need saving himself. But at least this one moment provides the publication with a genuine sense of threat for its central protagonist, apart from Ronali’s gun-toting guards constantly waving their firearms around whenever their ‘guests’ suggest they won’t take on her suicide mission.

Disappointingly, Dave Acosta’s sketches are debatably just as lack-lustre as the penmanship, with all the comic’s numerous characters looking rather roughly hewn from panel to panel. In addition, whenever a figure is required to emphasise a particular speech or emotion, the illustrator pencils them as a somewhat cartoony caricature, with Cho’s red beret wearing, muscle-bound female friend suffering from this artistic affliction the worst.

Written by: Saladin Ahmed, Pencils by: Dave Acosta, Inks by: Jay Leisten, and Colors by: Walter Pereyra

The Incredible Hulk [2023] #2 - Marvel Comics

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 2, September 2023

Arguably a somewhat perplexing twenty-page periodical for its opening half, any fans of “the Jade Giant” must surely have enjoyed Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s storyline for Issue Two of “Incredible Hulk” once they were transported to the George A. Romero inspired horror haven known as Red Creek. Indeed, the quiet little town’s genuinely terrifying church congregation provides this comic with an utterly enthralling band of undead antagonists, who are as captivating to read about as their emaciated limbs are decaying.

Somewhat frustratingly though, before entering this rancid, long “abandoned coal mining” settlement the audience must first penetrate a series of befuddling dream sequences and a slightly awkwardly penned camp-fire scene in which Bruce Banner’s new friend Charlie declares her motivation for siding with the scientist’s alter-ego at a time when “every eldritch horror and primordial being has its eyes set” upon the founding Avenger; “Sometimes heroes need partners, and… then sometimes their partners grow up to be --”

Happily however, just as soon as the fly-infested Sheriff William appears, this publication transforms into an unputdownable fright-fest, which is strangely reminiscent of Marcus Nispel’s 2003 remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as the two lead characters are supposedly transported to a place of safety in the patrol car of an evidently evil police officer. This sequence proves especially captivating, as it’s made clear almost from the start that the law enforcement agent means the fleeing pair harm. But his fake sincerity and professional politeness doesn’t give them any cause to run for their lives and risk a bullet in the back.

Similarly as successful as this comic’s spine-chilling factor, are the wonderfully detailed layouts of Nic Klein. The German illustrator is particularly good at pencilling the living dead, using a few tiny, winged insects or a frail form beneath ill-fitting clothes to suggest a person has already shuffled off this mortal coil, rather than just resorting to grotesque, physical injuries. Furthermore, colour artist Matthew Wilson deserves a ‘shout out’ for his bleached grey palette – something which adds an additional sombre touch to the pale-skinned parishioners and subsequently makes the vividly green glint of the Hulk’s emergence all that more impactive.

The regular cover art of "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" #2 by Nic Klein

Predator #6 - Marvel Comics

PREDATOR No. 6, March 2023

Rather succinctly bringing this six-issue series to a conclusion, whilst simultaneously leaving matters open enough for some follow-up adventures, this final instalment to Ed Brisson’s “Day Of The Hunter” storyline probably still didn’t land quite as well with its fanbase as its New York City-based publisher had hoped. True, Theta Nedra Berwick does finally succeed in taking her revenge upon the Yautja who savagely slew her parents fifteen years ago. But the manner in which the ‘sole survivor’ achieves her lifetime ambition is arguably a little contrived and dissatisfying; “Hey. Over here! It’s me you want. I’m the one who’s been killing all of you b@$tards.”

For starters, the rather naïve and disconcertingly forgiving Paolo Silva suddenly saves his former prisoner’s life by wounding the latest Predator with a well-aimed laser-beam to the extra-terrestrial’s waist. This sensational shot by a dazed Chief Scientist who has literally just been blasted to the ground by his spacecraft’s catastrophic destruction, could admittedly have been aided by the hand-weapon’s targeting device. However, considering that the man fired at a target who was busy man-handling Theta at close quarters, this debilitating volley is debatably highly unlikely.

Furthermore, the Joe Schuster Award-nominee’s handling of Captain Ferrier is similarly unconvincing, with the Astar Industries Commander illogically blaming his captive for the destruction of his ship and crew, even though the young woman has been repeatedly warning him about a Yautja revenge attack since the moment she first regained consciousness. This complete disregard for the consequences of his own inaction makes the senior officer’s character utterly dislikeable, especially when he savagely strikes Berwick following his people’s demise at the hands of the killer extra-terrestrial, and resultantly many a bibliophile may well take some satisfaction in the man’s grisly death when he’s literally torn asunder just moments later.

Undeniably providing this edition of “Predator” with plenty of ‘bang for its bucks’ is Kev Walker, who imbues the comic’s numerous detonations with some insane-looking flare-ups which genuinely radiate all the forceful heat a reader would expect from such devastating blasts. Disappointingly though, the British illustrator doesn’t quite seem to ‘hit the nail on the head’ when it comes to pencilling the combatants’ final moments, with the alien appearing disconcertingly thin in silhouette and colorist Frank D’Armata perhaps going a bit overboard when it comes to obscuring the cast with almost impenetrable black shadows.

Writer: Ed Brisson, Artist: Kev Walker, and Colorist: Frank D'Armata