Star Wars #11 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS No. 11, January 2016

Possibly far better known these days to “Star Wars” fans as the man who rescued a partially-digested Boba Fett from the Sarlacc pit in K.W. Jeter’s novelised trilogy “The Bounty Hunter Wars” than for his fleeting appearance in the 1980 motion picture “The Empire Strikes Back”, this fourth instalment of the “Showdown On The Smuggler’s Moon” story-arc provides the ‘capture or kill’ mercenary Dengar ample opportunity to show just how formidably ruthless the Corellian was during the “period of renewed hope for the Rebellion” immediately following the destruction of the (first) Death Star. Indeed almost half of the twenty-page periodical is dedicated to showing the pilot of the Punishing One somewhat simply out-brawl Chewbacca in a one-on-one rooftop confrontation, courtesy of a shock bolt, a concussion grenade, some well-timed kicks and punches, as well as a vibroblade.

Given just as much ‘screen time’ by Jason Aaron’s script as the disfigured "Payback", though arguably a far less satisfying affair, is Luke Skywalker’s gladiatorial bout with the gigantic “Kongo the Disemboweler”. Considering that the young aspiring padawan is supposedly “the last of the Jedi”, it seems rather illogical that Grakkus the Hutt, an obsessed “artefact collector” of the ‘long-dead’ order, would throw away such a valuable, prized possession simply to momentarily entertain a coliseum packed full of the planet’s ‘scum and villainy’, no matter how much money “they’re paying to watch you die.”

It’s also rather artificially inconvenient for the “veteran of many great battles all across the galaxy” to find himself facing a behemoth adorned with so much “augmented… deep-core drilling armour” that “it won’t be easy to hack” through and overcome his opponent, “not even with a lightsaber.” A situation which makes this rather action-packed brutal battle appear more like a contrived reimagining of the rebel’s (future) tussle with Jabba the Hutt’s Rancor in “Return Of The Jedi”.

Fortunately however the Alabama-born writer’s narrative does contain some notable surprises, of which the mighty Chewbacca’s defeat to the viciously enraged Dengar is but one. Luke’s noticeably swift downfall at the claws of the cybernetically-enhanced Kongo comes as no shock whatsoever, especially when the “boy” decides that ‘closing his eyes and using the force’ is the best option when faced with a rampaging killer of “giant man-eating lava eels.” But Grakkus’ Gamesmaster being revealed as Imperial Agent 5241 must have astonished many of this title’s 126,780 strong audience, as should have Han Solo’s last minute appearance to save the life of his co-pilot in the comic’s final few panels.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS" No. 11 by Stuart Immonen

Uber #18 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 18, September 2014

Despite being something of a stand-alone story and featuring none of the comic’s regular cast of characters, Issue Eighteen of “Uber” is a tremendously atmospheric read which ungrudgingly captures all the suspense and apprehension of American’s development of the atomic bomb during the last days of World War Two. In addition it also manages to convey to its slowly declining audience of 6,684 followers just how incredibly manipulative and dangerous Germany’s latest “Enhanced Human Spy” can be, with the petite blond-haired assassin effortlessly posing as George Kistiakowsky, Morris Jeppson, William Parsons and General Groves in order to bring the Manhatten Project to its knees.

Indeed as solo outings go, Kieron Gillen’s script depicting the subterfuge of the 'chameleon-like' Nazi operative is as enthralling an experience as any war-time obsessed bibliophile could want. Especially when the agent secrets herself on board the Enola Gay and manages to replace “certain key components” of the plane's perilous cargo in order to ensure the highly classified mission’s failure; “We should never have done it on board… We wouldn’t have dropped an atomic bomb straight into enemy hands…”

Quite possibly this narrative’s greatest strength however, is just how easily the British author avoids worrying about providing the comic’s fans with any explanation as to just how the nameless woman manages to fool those around her into believing she’s someone else and how callously calculating he makes the enemy infiltrator appear. In fact the super-powered mole’s guile and cunning, particularly when used to dispose of her ‘disguises’ via an explosives accident in the woods or faked suicide whilst having a bath, arguably makes the cold-blooded killer strangely somewhat appealing. Certainly to the point where her self-sacrifice at the heart of B Reactor’s “Critical meltdown” and desire “to be someone who lived” actually makes for a rather heart-saddening scene.

Daniel Gete’s artwork for this twenty-two page periodical is also noteworthy for adding to the saboteur’s unemotional attitude towards her work. The Spaniard’s spy quite clearly bears the facial features of notable German actress “Marlene” Dietrich with her high pencilled arching eyebrows, and the quality of his drawings, especially the panels showing the bomber’s bomb bay opening up over an unsuspecting Japan, shows why Gillen so warmly praises his contribution to the story’s telling in the comic’s afterword.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 18 by Daniel Gete

Secret Wars #7 - Marvel Comics

SECRET WARS No. 7, January 2016

Responsible for this mini-series’ expansion from eight to nine issues simply because the comic’s narrative was “too big”, at least according to Editor Tom Brevoort, “King Of The Dead” proves an incredibly exciting reading experience, which must have delighted its 177,019 fans and shows no sign of the strain its creative team were under due to “the whole piece… [having] to be restructured.” Indeed despite the fact that Jonathan Hickman’s script required something far more than just “taking the issue and breaking it in half” as “scenes were moved around so the two issues worked as issues themselves”, this twenty-page periodical undoubtedly delivers the “massive chaos” of a planet-wide battle which its mid-Eighties forerunner could only hint at.

Admittedly the South Carolina-born author’s storyline still predominantly concentrates upon the actions of a select few members of the Marvel Universe, such as the duplicitous Mister Sinister, the Goblin Queen, the scheming Maestro and the Black Panther. But now they’re at the head of vast armies of hapless clones, wretched creatures of the night, green-skinned Hulks, and the living dead; and all of them, along with God Emperor’s Doom’s own super-heroic Thors and Maximus’ impotent peasants, are shown tirelessly hurling themselves against one another in the name of the ruler of Battleworld.

Incredibly, despite the sheer grandeur and splendour of his biblical-sized plot, Hickman also still somehow manages to provide his audience with some comprehension as to an individual character’s motivations. Baroness Madelyne Pryor’s astonishment at “the Army of “Sinister” switching sides, Apocalypse’s fury at the injustice of his having to “bow before God Doom” and T’Challa’s ominous farewell to his friend Reed Richards, are all insightful well-written moments framed within an infinitely larger context.

Equally as good a decision as to extend “Secret Wars” run, has to be Brevoort’s determination to stick with just Esad Ribic as the series’ sole illustrator and not succumb to external pressures to “bring in other artists.” Whilst the delays incurred as “the better part of a week or two” were spent “reshuffling stuff” for this publication were “not by any stretch of the imagination an ideal situation”, the Croatian’s pencilled panels are mouth-wateringly sublime and genuinely manage to convey a sense of raw power, savagery and scale to the battle scenes.

The regular cover art of "SECRET WARS" No. 7 by Alex Ross

Uber #17 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 17, August 2014

Whether intentional or not, it’s hard at the start of Issue Seventeen of “Uber” not to hear the roar of a squadron of four-engined British heavy bombers mixed with an uplifting Ron Goodwin musical score as “Operation Daedalus’ dual missions” are launched upon the unsuspecting U-Boat bunkers at Elbe and Kilian in Germany. For Kieron Gillen’s tremendously tense opening, complete with Short Stirlings dropping a team of allied paratroopers into enemy territory during the dead of night, contains all the hallmarks of an Alistair MacLean wartime thriller such as “The Guns of Navarone” or “Where Eagles Dare”.

Indeed the first half of this comic is arguably faultless in its ‘mimicry’ of one of the Scottish novelist’s adventure books as its storyline focus’ upon a pair of cynical hard-nosed Tommies “devoted to their work”, who seemingly lead “the massed fire of the British Tank-Men” into a gruesome battle against their enhanced opponents… And somehow manage to best “unbeatable odds” by using their brains and close combat tactics as opposed to sheer brawn; “However, at the Elbe Raid the design flaw in the Heavy Panzermensch VI revealed itself. This changed everything.”

Disappointingly however, such an enthralling experience must have been marred for some of this title’s 6,934 strong audience by Gillen’s rather arbitrary inclusion of profanities and expletives throughout the magazine’s dialogue. Granted the Allies’ attacks, heavily reliant upon the advantage of surprise, are extremely stressful and edgy events. But having ‘narrated’ the build-up to the missions without resorting to such vulgarities, it somewhat jars with the sensibilities when as soon as the soldiers have landed and start talking, they do little else but swear at one another.

Equally as perplexing is the British writer’s inclusion of some incredibly word-heavy discussions between Stephanie and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. This nine-page sequence, somewhat split in half by Operation Daedalus, proves somewhat tough-going towards the end. Especially when the scientist starts to talk about decoding “the alien documents I stole when I was undercover” and artist Daniel Gete resorts to illustrating this solely as a series of simple panels depicting her holding a page of gobbledegook and being surrounded by large word bubbles.

The variant cover art of "UBER" No. 17 by Daniel Gete

Invincible Iron Man #1 - Marvel Comics

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN No. 1, December 2015

Containing some intriguingly good action sequences depicting Madame Masque ‘liberating’ a number of technological devices for her nefarious ends, as well as presenting a somewhat softer, less disagreeably arrogant side to Anthony Stark, it is clear why Issue One of Brian Michael Bendis’ “Invincible Ironman” proved so popular upon its publication in October 2015. Yet just how the twenty-three page periodical became the month’s best-selling comic book by shifting an astonishing 279,514 copies is rather more difficult to fathom. Especially as there’s nothing within the ‘rebooted’ magazine’s narrative which is particularly innovative or new.

Admittedly the Cleveland-born writer’s attempt to inject his script with an underlying theme of industrialist espionage as Whitney Frost effortlessly breaks “into Castle Doomstadt in broad daylight” and Stark Tower in Osaka, Japan potentially harks back to Shellhead’s glory days during the Eighties “Armour Wars” multi-part story-arc. Whilst the edition’s climatic conclusion depicting a remarkably handsome, non-armoured Victor von Doom asking the billionaire playboy for help doubtless came as something of a surprise ending to the title’s enthusiastic audience. But even this miraculous healing of the Latverian monarch’s facial scars has been seen before in the 2010-2012 miniseries “Avengers: The Children’s Crusade” by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung.

A staggering third of this ‘Stark Innovation’ is even arguably squandered depicting nothing more than Tony having a supposedly romantic evening meal with Doctor Amara Perera and failing quite miserably when it becomes clear to his dinner date just how much of a “horndog” he is. Indeed it is only towards the end of the comic that the superhero don’s his famous red and gold metallic suit and sonic boom’s his way into a confrontation with “twenty-seven armed and harried gentlemen”.

Quite possibly this book’s biggest marketable asset therefore must be the superbly clean, yet highly detailed drawings of David Marquez. The primarily digital artist’s intricate and meticulous ‘pencilling’ of Frost’s golden mask is absolutely stunning, as is the sheer number of broken pieces of glass he depicts within a single panel when the daughter of the master criminal Count Luchino Nefaria smashes through it whilst escaping a group of ninjas.

The regular cover art of "INVINCIBLE IRON MAN" No. 1 by David Marquez & Justin Ponsor

Uber #16 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 16, July 2014

Reading more like an historical text describing real life events during the course of the Second World War than a fictional alternate narrative published by “Avatar Press”, Issue Sixteen of “Uber” is a frighteningly realistic read which must have delighted its 7,082 buyers in August 2014. Certainly Kieron Gillen’s script successfully conveys the terrifying scale of the Nazi’s Blitzmensch V1 threat to the Allies as the enhanced humans easily achieve “a blockade of the North Atlantic” by destroying America shipping at their leisure, and just as effortlessly bombard “the Allied-held Belgian port” of Antwerp.

However the British author’s true strength seemingly lies within the consummate ease with which he is able to thread the fears and doubts of some of the war’s more notable personalities ‘in and around’ these world-changing, albeit entirely fantastical, military events. Indeed one of this publications many highlights has to be Joseph Stalin’s keen interest in ‘Katyusha’ Maria’s miraculous ability to generate “the red muck” as an alternative to Russian knowing the secret of the catalyst’s creation, and evident terror at the woman’s power of transmutation; “Molotov… She’s a long way from here, yes?”

Just as impressively handled is the introduction of “the paranoid Yanks… higher-level activation” subject Vernon, an African-American soldier who Gillen apparently ‘considered’ killing off almost as soon as the former computer game journalist presented him if the comic’s ‘Afterword’ is to be believed. Fortunately the Stafford-born writer would appear to have resisted such a temptation, even if “it would certainly fit the banal horrible nature of the war that Uber’s aesthetic leans on” and instead has the son of one of the Harlem Hellfighters survive a halo-effect augmented Kriegsmarine attack upon his ship. In fact the emergence of the water-logged trooper from out of the sea at the conclusion of the magazine makes for a fittingly optimsitic conclusion to the book. One which is most welcome considering how bleak and depressing so much of the news on the numerous allied fronts seems to be…

Undoubtedly adding to this periodical's success, is Daniel Gete’s artwork, which is extremely polished throughout the comic book. The Spaniard’s pencilling is especially sharp when depicting the sinking of several heavy transporters by a German submarine armed with just five Blitzmensch, and only overshadowed by his excellently-drawn double-splash of several British Tank-Men bloodily encountering their significantly heavier Third Reich counterparts.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 16 by Daniel Gete

Journey To Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Shattered Empire #3 - Marvel Comics

JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - SHATTERED EMPIRE No. 3, December 2015

Utterly relentless in its breath-taking depiction of the Rebellion’s “ongoing combat operations against the shattered Empire”, this mini-series’ third instalment arguably provided its 105,496 buyers with an almost faultless “Star Wars” reading experience; even if Greg Rucka’s narrative does possibly rely a little heavily upon the nostalgia of “The Phantom Menace” in places. Indeed the opening third of this twenty-page periodical simply doesn’t let up for a moment, as General Han Solo leads a successful raid against an Imperial Security Bureau Black Site on “The Wretch of Tayron” and the San Francisco-born writer (once again) has this title’s audience guessing as to whether or not Sergeant Kes Dameron is going to survive his latest shoot-out with a seemingly endless swarm of Stormtroopers.  

Admittedly it seems inconceivable that the American author would have one of his main protagonists disposed of quite so ignominiously as to be killed by a lucky shot from a scout trooper’s hold-out blaster pistol. But until the timely and savage intervention of a rather enraged wookie, there’s a palpable tension within the sequence’s panels as the rebel’s position becomes increasingly exposed and vulnerable. Certainly ‘Strike Four’ seems to attract an awful lot of enemy laser fire for a two-person team; albeit they do single-handedly take down an AT-ST walker and “opened a door for us, [on the secret ISB base] southeast side.”

Just as unclear throughout “Shattered Empire” is the fate of the Pathfinders’ wife, Lieutenant Shara Bey. Having been “assigned a light duty, acting as pilot and escort for Princess Leia Organa”, Po Dameron’s mother soon finds herself confronting an Imperial-class Star Destroyer and its “complement of seventy-two TIE fighters” in nothing more than a twenty-year old Naboo spaceship. The resultant battle as she tries “shooting shiny things until there aren’t any more” is wonderfully tense, especially when her damaged craft loses its starboard hydraulics and falls into the gun sights of two enemy vessels…

All of this action is incredibly well-illustrated by Marco Checchetto and Angel Unzueta. The sheer pandemonium of Solo’s strike upon the Imperial base is fantastically frantic with explosions erupting all around the “Marvel Worldwide” artist’s characters, and is only bettered by the colourful ‘laser show’ of Bey’s space battle alongside Leia and Queen Soruna.

The variant cover art of "JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS - SHATTERED EMPIRE" No. 3 by Mike Deodato, Jr.