Star Trek: Year Five #13 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 13, August 2020

Focusing upon ‘the Enterprise and her crew finally making it back to Federation space’, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly’s incredibly forced narrative for Issue Thirteen of “Star Trek: Year Five” doubtless had many devotees of the science fiction franchise’s original series shaking their heads in disbelief at the staggeringly huge plot holes on display within this twenty-page periodical. Indeed, the less generous readers of “Guide Of Fire” might even go so far as to describe the collaborative creators’ penmanship on this particular publication as disappointingly being some of the worst sort of fan fiction imaginable.

For starters, the pair suggest that because James Kirk has been away from Earth on his five-year mission “Starfleet's youngest starship captain” is so out of touch with how the Federation now operates that he didn’t even know that the service had changed its uniforms into those seen in the 1979 motion picture, nor realised that his constitution-class starship was already obsolete when compared to the sleekness of the new vessels which greet his arrival. Such a notion strongly insinuates the officer is completely incompetent when it comes to keeping up with the day-to-day developments of the organisation in which he is a high-ranking leader, and even goes as far as to state that costume designer Robert Fletcher’s new livery was only implemented to replace female miniskirts; “It was the women, Jim. We demanded pants.”

Sadly however, much worse is yet to come with this comic’s storyline, following the arrival of a single cloaked Klingon vessel which somehow manages to evade being detected by both the entire Federation fleet, as well as the home planet’s defensive network of border beacons. Admittedly, the warrior race’s stealth technology may well have been upgraded since Starfleet obtained their own version of the machinery in the television episode “The Enterprise Incident”, but instead of addressing the issue the astonished Flagship Thesus simply dismisses the fact that their recurring antagonists can now simply fly straight up to the Earth unnoticed as ‘one of those things’.

Equally as unpalatable is the premise that the firepower of Admiral Koraxi’s massive armada and nearby starbase is completely impotent when compared to the warhead of a solitary, newly-designed Bird of Prey. This contrivance seems to have been solely engineered simply to ensure an uncharacteristically submissive Kirk is readily beamed aboard the Gauntlet in order to keep the story moving, and arguably makes even less sense when the reason for the Klingon’s incursion is simply explained away as being due to their unhappiness at the Captain's role in the Organian Peace Treaty.

Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, and Artist: Angel Hernandez

Spacewarp #1 [Part One] - Millsverse Comics

SPACEWARP #1, July 2020

Produced by the legendary Pat Mills, this “one-shot, anthology sci-fi comic for readers of all ages” must surely have landed well with its audience in July 2020 considering the digital periodical contains plenty of action, memorable characters and the mind-bending machinations of various extra-terrestrials. Indeed, the weighty tome will immediately transport those familiar with “IPC Magazines” titles during the late Seventies and early Eighties back to their childhood, whilst undoubtedly hooking the current generation of bibliophiles with its straight forward story-telling, excellent advice for avoiding any skulking Tyrannosaurus Rex which happens to be in the audience’s neighbourhood, and the delightful editorials of Doc Zot.

Leading this veritable shoal of science fiction goodness is the British writer’s marvellous “Sfeer & Loathing”, which genuinely helps set up the entire publication’s premise of multiple Earths being manipulated by a super-powered host of tentacle-covered alien deities. This four-page parable introduces the fascinating “sheriff of the Galaxy”, Schlock, in a short-lived bloody engagement with a pack of slavering warp hounds, and literally pulses with energy thanks to some superb pencilling by artist Gareth Sleightholme.

Similarly as action-packed is Mills’ second tale “Jurassic Punk”. Quickly establishing 1977 as the year when dinosaurs returned to conquer Birkenhead in Merseyside, as well as crammed full of titanic close-quarter skirmishes between local archaeologist-turned-lizard-killer Joe Megiddo and a fascinating array of prehistoric monstrosities, this tantalising insight into the crazy professor’s determined effort to be reunited with his lost family genuinely pulls at the heart strings; especially when having finally got the solution to his estrangement in his sights, the Jurassic Man is forced to join the resistance for the greater good of humanity.

Perhaps somewhat less frantically-paced, at least once two prisoners have successfully escaped from the demonic hosts of Dis - capital city of Hell, is the enthralling “Hellbreaker”. Firmly focused upon the pair of escapees and their disconcerting habit of executing Cosmic Law transgressors by literally melting them alive in either boiling pitch or “blood and fire”, this sophisticated-looking yarn has the additional hook of “cosmic assassin” De La Rue being romantically reminded by his nemesis of the beloved he tragically lost whilst absconding the horrors of the Ninth Circle.

Stories: Pat Mills, and Art: Gareth Sleightholme, Bruno Stahl & Ian Ashcroft 

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #1 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS No. 1, May 2020

Set during the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth, and advertised by “Marvel Worldwide” as “the bounty hunter adventure you’ve been waiting for”, Ethan Sacks’ thrill-a-minute script for this opening instalment to his “Galaxy’s Deadliest” storyline probably entertained the vast majority of its 61,941 readers in March 2020. But whilst much of this comic’s pre-publication hype focused upon Nakano Lash supposedly violently betraying the likes of Beilert Valance, Bossk and Boba Fett, the twenty-one page periodical’s plot arguably tells a somewhat different tale.

To begin with, Valance’s much-maligned mentor doesn’t actually deceive any of the mercenaries working for her on the outskirts of Coronet City, but rather simply slays “the crinkin’ heir to the deadliest crime syndicate in the sector” after the arrogant criminal seemingly slaughters an unseen target which the Nautolan clearly felt should have been left unmolested. This action obviously blows the entire mission, and puts Lash’s team in deadly jeopardy from the corrupt consortium’s retribution. However, from the way some of her colleagues react to the news of Khamus’ death, especially the highly unlikeable Fett, many bibliophiles would have thought Nakano had personally tried to gun them all down so as to claim the reward for herself: “Your mentor just got us all killed… I’m going to make sure I return the favour.”

Similarly as disconcerting is Sacks’ depiction of Jango’s son, who is portrayed as an incredibly arrogant killer who is as reckless as he is self-centred. Admittedly, this book’s opening is set some years in the orphaned clone’s past when the Mandalorian was still honing his skills and professional attitude. Yet it is still debatably hard to witness Boba rushing headlong straight into a heavily-armed fortification armed with little more than a hand-flamer, and then idly stand by whilst his back-up is shot to pieces right beside him simply so he can make a point to a facially-disfigured Valance that “you just get in the way.”

Happily though, such quibbles certainly don’t stop Issue One of “Star Wars: Bounty Hunters” from being a pulse-pounding publication, partly thanks to Paolo Villanelli’s layouts imbuing the comic with a furious pace that simply doesn’t stop until the book’s end when Slave-1 receives an incoming transmission concerning an “especially sentimental bounty” and its owner decides that Jabba can perhaps wait a little longer before the Hutt receives a certain Corellian smuggler encased in carbonite. The Italian artist seems especially good at pencilling frantic firefights, with Beilert’s battle against a gang of furious Devaronians proving particularly sense-shattering.

Writer: Ethan Sacks, Artist: Paolo Villanelli, and Colorist: Arif Prianto

The Last American #4 - Epic Comics

THE LAST AMERICAN No. 4, March 1991

Featuring a pulse-pounding firefight against an underground bunker riddled with automatic defences and a genuinely disconcerting exploration of a secret experimental test centre for autistic pregnant women, Alan Grant’s fascinating script for Issue Four of “The Last American” must surely have instantly captivated his readers just as soon as this twenty-eight page periodical begins. For whilst the Scottish writer’s plot does contain the odd sedentary moment as a thoroughly demoralised Ulysses S. Pilgrim’s ponders “the whole damn schmoozle” of life, death and the universe, the vast majority of this book focuses upon the solitary soldier’s faint hope that Melinda, or rather test subject Alpha Delta 99/017, might somehow have survived her horrific ordeal beneath the planet’s surface and still be alive scraping out an existence in the post-apocalyptic world.

Indeed, even when it becomes clear that the young mother’s child has finally succumbed to the girl’s claustrophobic confinement, along with many of the grisly establishment’s other unwitting inhabitants, this publication’s enthralling penmanship still provides the vaguest of hopes that the wonderfully innocent parent might have managed to claw her way through a “natural break in the sandstone, carved by the same water that kept Melinda and her friends alive just that little longer”, and resultantly found herself safe in the expansive Luray Caves.

Similarly as successful as the desperate need this comic generates to discover just what occurred to the bunker's occupants, is Grant’s all-pervading atmosphere that at any moment Pilgrim might be lethally set upon by a horde of cannibal scientists. Alpha Delta 99/017’s diary entries make it crystal clear just how desperate the centre’s administrators quickly became to find food, and resultantly the threat of some half-starved hairy fiend leaping out at the US Army Captain and his robotic guardians with their insatiable fangs palpably lurks inside every one of the derelict installation’s ominously shadowy corridors.

Artist Michael McMahon also deserves a major congratulatory slap on the back for his fantastic pacing of this concluding storyline. Whether it be Ulysses suddenly finding himself surrounded by a hail of bullets from the complex’s faulty computer-controlled weapon system, or later desperately searching for Melinda’s next clue as to where she fled to with her dwindling friends, the former “Judge Dredd” penciler’s panels are absolutely packed with dynamic action and an urgency to discover what happened next…

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner, Artist: Michael McMahon, and Letterer: Phil Felix

Batman: The Adventures Continue #4 - DC Comics

BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE No. 4, May 2020

Firmly placing Robin at the centre of this comic book’s plot, Alan Burnett and Paul Dini’s narrative for Issue Four of “Batman: The Adventures Continue” must have thrilled long-time fans of the Boy Wonder by pairing Tim Drake up with Deathstroke in a stupendous confrontation with the “pyrotechnics expert turned super-stalker” Firefly. True, Garfield Lynns himself doesn’t actually make an appearance, except in flashback, until near the end of this digital first publication, but the presence of the “pyro-merc for hire” is palpably felt throughout this tale courtesy of the criminal launching a host of Asian giant hornets upon Slade Wilson and his new “back-up” at Gotham City’s Entomology Pavilion.

This shift in attention away from Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego really does read very well indeed, as it depicts just how quick thinking “the third character to assume the role of Batman's vigilante partner” can be when the situation requires it, as well as how skilled the young martial artist has become under the Dark Knight’s tutorage. Managing to sneak up upon ‘The Terminator’ to the point where “had you been an assassin, you would have had me dead to rights” is no easy feat, yet impressively Robin manages to later trump this achievement by being the one to save the pair from Firefly’s insect-infested ambush by using his brains, his cape and a handy fire extinguisher; “The foam makes them too heavy to fly.”

Delightfully however, this second instalment to “Mentors” doesn’t keep Batman in the shadows for the entirety of the comic, and delightfully pits the Caped Crusader against his old adversary the Mad Hatter, in an incredibly dynamic, though all-too brief, battle over some stolen new circuity for Jervis Tetch’s mind control devices. This action sequence is also noteworthy for progressing the title’s long-running theme of the Bat-Family being watched by a mysterious observer, and even goes as far as to show the costumed crime-fighter desperately trying to intercept the ‘spy’ after he catches sight of “the tiniest flicker of light” from a nearby rooftop.

Bringing all of these sense-shattering shenanigans to vivid life is Ty Templeton’s marvellous artwork and Monica Kubina’s colours. The layouts of Deathstroke’s forced entry into the enormously elaborate ‘bug museum’ and subsequent exploration of its vast displays are particularly well-drawn, with the Pavilion’s giant sculptures of both scorpions and praying mantis’ casting some highly atmospheric shadows across the corridors and cast.

Writers: Alan Burnett & Paul Dini, Artist: Ty Templeton, and Colorist: Monica Kubina

Leave On The Light #3 - Antarctic Press Comics

LEAVE ON THE LIGHT No. 3, August 2020

Absolutely packed full of vicious murders, pugnacious prison break-outs and grisly bodily mutilations, Bradley Golden and George Aguilar’s ferociously fast narrative for Issue Three of “Leave On The Night” will most assuredly delight any fans of the horror comic book genre. In fact, many readers will probably struggle to comprehend the sheer scale of this thirty-two page periodical’s death count, as Thomas Lassey embarks upon a momentous slaughter spree which not only sees both Detective Gary Marshall and his partner Sarah McKinney being badly mauled by the Undead phantom, but a staggering number of ‘innocent’ family members getting cut, slashed and terrifyingly torn asunder as well; “This city has suffered tragedy after tragedy, but the attack on Catelin Hospital is by far the most disgusting act of violence I have ever witnessed.”

Delightfully however, such homicidal mayhem isn’t simply crowbarred into this publication to help pad out its plot or sate the odd bibliophile’s bloodlust, with the vast majority of these slayings actually helping progress this comic’s central storyline involving the Butcher making enough sacrifices with which to draw a demonic entity onto our plane of existence. This surprising twist genuinely elevates the initial premise of a supernatural criminal solely exacting his revenge upon the cops who sentenced him to death into something much grander, and rather enjoyably turns the mini-series into an entertaining prelude of further stories to come as the distraught police officers decide to “hunt the creatures” who slaughtered their loved ones at the book’s end.

Helping this comic along with it’s incredibly high body tally is Adam Fields’ artwork, which really does a good job of showing just how utterly merciless a serial killer Lassey can be. The lead illustrator of “Midnight27 Studios” doesn’t waste a moment in his build-ups to depict the ghostly ghoul stabbing his victims with a truly-terrifyingly large hunting knife, even when sketching the potential demise of this title’s lead characters such as McKinney and the shocking death of Marshall’s hapless son inside Saint Dominic’s Church. In addition, this comic’s prodigiously pencilled contents is noteworthy for containing the likenesses of some of the supporters of the title's “Kickstarter” campaign, who financially pledged a little bit extra so as to appear within this magazine’s third instalment as secondary characters.

Script: Bradley Golden & George Aguilar, and Artist: Adam Fields

The Immortal Hulk #35 - Marvel Comics

IMMORTAL HULK No. 35, September 2020

Bogged down in the aftermath of the Hulk’s war against the Minotaur and lacking any discernible action whatsoever, the storyline to “A Certain Amount Of Light” arguably must have proved a somewhat sedentary experience to the majority of its audience. Indeed, apart from Bruce Banner’s alter-ego inadvertently crushing a wooden roof beam during a lack-lustre press conference staged by the Georgeville Mayor, all Al Ewing’s penmanship seems to promote is just how grateful humanity apparently is that “Jade Jaws” saved them from Xemnu and his mind-altering Magic Planet show.

Of course that isn’t to say that Issue Thirty-Five of “Immortal Hulk” is entirely devoid of some interesting concepts, with the Devil Hulk’s incarnation being mentally incarcerated inside an enormous iron maiden proving to be a particularly intriguing notion. But this fascinating view of the Atomic physicist’s fragmented psyche soon debatably flounders once another version of “the big dumb ape” sets foot upon the mindscape and floods numerous panels with some wearyingly word-heavy speech balloons; “Hulk is Hulk. Hulk knowing Hulk is Hulk saved all Hulks -- even puny Banner. Puny, stupid Banner! Banner who think him not Hulk like rest! Hulk is Hulk because Hulk know Hulk is Hulk --”

Disappointingly, the former “Judge Dredd” writer’s portrayal of Bruce’s relationship with his estranged wife also debatably seems to be going around in circles within this twenty-page periodical, as the scientist once again unsuccessfully tries to speak to Betty without his spouse’s personality being confined inside the anti-heroic Harpy. If General Ross’ daughter insists on speaking to the real man she married in order to discuss their marital problems, it seems extremely unreasonable that she in return then won’t actually talk to him as the woman he loves rather than as “a creature of rage” who is covered in crimson-coloured feathers.

“On a brighter note” this comic’s artwork is at least pleasantly drawn by guest penciller Mike Hawthorne, who does a great job of imbuing Banner with plenty of pent-up anger during his aforementioned argument with an unrelenting Harpy. The physicist’s face during this scene is positively pulsing with passion, and at one stage it looks almost certain that he’ll transform into the Hulk to either fend off Betty’s cowardly attack upon him from behind with her clawed foot, or at least throw a well-deserved punch in the direction of Doc Samson for arrogantly interfering in Bruce's private conversation with Betty.

Writer: Al Ewing, Penciler: Mike Hawthorne, and Inker: Mark Morales