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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 11, 2018 1:15:32 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #6"In The Meantime, The In Between Times"Cover Date: May, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones Villain/s: Lord Immortus, Kang The Conqueror (past version), Space Phantoms, a mutant gila monster, and a mutant coyote Guest Star/s: The Avengers (Earth-9930--Thundra, Jocasta (and her baby), Living Lightening, Black Panther, Killraven & The Crystal Dynamo), Mourning Prey (and her "babies"), Two Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Night Rider, Ringo Kid, Rawhide Kid, Banshee, Steel, Thunder, & Nightwind Official Plot:Narrowly escaping a wave of negation erasing the timeline of Earth-9904, the Wasp and Captain Marvel take their Chronosphere back to Kang The Conqueror's Sphinx replica, floating in "non-space" outside the Timestream. As Rick Jones tracks them for docking, a series of images simultaneously appear on the monitors inside the Sphinx as well as outside in the surrounding void. Arriving on board, the trio confer. Rick cycles through the images, playing like an Immortus "Best Of" clipshow. They theorize that the time-lord's usage of the Forever Crystal necessitating their hasty exodus from the destroyed timeline triggered the montage of his other manipulations. While looking upon the cryptic vignettes as next-level clues to an ever-widening puzzle, the Avengers still remain unclear as to Immortus's master plan... In wartorn 21st Century New York City, the improbably-pregnant Synthezoid, Jocasta, comes upon despondent time-travelling Captain America kneeling in front of a decimated statue of the Founding Avengers. As she offers him a comforting word, the Black Panther and Cap's investigative partner, Giant-Man, inform them that all is in readiness for their immediate departure to Wakanda. Planning to strip what remains of the super-metal, Vibranium, from his home nation's mines, the Panther seeks to build a small fleet of attack ships and pursue the genocidal invaders to their staging ground on Mars. Once at the mines, the Avengers encounter a host of tiny golden insectoids with razor-sharp wings. While doing their best to fend off the primal territorial attack, Jocasta goes into unexpected labor as a reaction from attempting to phase through the creatures. As Dr. Pym "giants-up" to clear space for delivery, he creates a shockwave that takes out the insectoids' mama, a non-verbal butterfly woman named Mourning Prey. Collapsing, Cap rushes in on her but is halted in a mysterious trance. Shifting to the Avengers in 1873 Tombstone, Arizona, Hawkeye and the delusionally-unstable-yet-still-brilliant Yellowjacket argue outside a cave where Songbird stands guard over their three Space Phantom captives. She emerges shortly thereafter, urging they head to town and get their Chronosphere back from the contemporaneously villainous Kang. In Tombstone, the Two-Gun Kid gathers a gang of costumed gunmen in his alter ego's law offices. Assessing it's up to them to do something about the trance Kang's placed the townspeople in, they ride out guns a-blazin'. Before long, they come across an entire main street's-worth of the mesmerized, trying not to harm the innocent horde. Coming onto the scene from the opposite angle, Hawkeye and Yellowjacket's first response is to help the Old West heroes but Songbird cautions otherwise, reminding them that assistance will be lent by another group of Avengers. Taking advantage of the distraction, Songbird leads them around the revealed side of "Kang Hotel Saloon"'s futuristic citadel facade. The men begin to grow suspicious as Songbird's schematic knowledge of their foe's domicile exceeds any protocols known to the two veteran Avengers. Standing in the Chronosphere hangar bay, Yellowjacket puts an unspoken hypothesis to the test as he makes a blatant romantic pass at Songbird. As she responds uncharacteristically in kind, the younger Dr. Pym backhands her unconscious; Hawkeye looking on in shock! Cut back: As the Avengers close in on Cap and Mourning Prey, Thundra fires off a chain attack that Rogers repulses with his shield. He then compels his comrades to lower their arms and gather as Mourning Prey telepathically conveys her origin. While the Panther realizes that through Immortus's manipulations, Mourning Prey's children are dependent on the Vibranium for life, Giant-Man informs him that Jocasta is suffering seizures that can also be alleviated by the wonder-metal's unique properties. Cap succinctly puts it to Earth-9930's leader that he has a literal world-changing life-and-death choice on his hands... Tombstone: Hawkeye comes down on YJ, retaliating for the grotesque brutalization. Calming the Marksman, Yellowjacket explains his gamble, revealing with a bolt of his bio-blast that "Songbird" has been a Space Phantom since the cave. As the real Melissa Gold rejoins them, the Avengers board the Chronosphere and depart. Outside, the Space Phantom pleads pathetically about his failure to carry out his master's agenda. Wakanda, Earth-9930: Applying strips of raw Vibranium to Jocasta proves successful in easing her spasming. After a bit more effort, Giant-Man delivers the first-ever baby of two artificial beings through "natural" childbirth. Outside, Cap and T'Challa remark about the "convenience" of the entire unfolding scenario. Surfacing from the mines, Pym joins their conversation. The visiting duo call forth their Chronosphere as they implore T'Challa to go inside and rejoice in that he chose life this day, despite suffering such tragically bizarre machinations. Back at the Sphinx, the reunited Avengers share their respective findings. As Songbirds fends off Yellowjacket's advances anew, Giant-Man and the Wasp put forth a proactive initiative: storm Immortus's fortress in Limbo head-on! In unison, both Rick Jones and Captain Marvel express ill feelings about this course of action... Brodie's View: Of course, The Wasp and Captain Marvel survive their little cliffhanger at the end of last issue, and they quickly rejoin Rick Jones outside the timestream, who is being shown all of these little moments throughout Marvel history (and on other timelines) that Immortus had a hand in; some known, some unknown. This is, of course, leading to the most important issue in this whole thing, where Busiek does his damnedest to fix the various plotholes left by various writers over the years. Some of this involves the alien race known as The Space Phantoms, who we are slowly learning are minions of Immortus, and have been keeping tabs on The Avengers (as well as trying to lead them towards their master) at various points throughout their little time line adventures. Once again, this will become even more important later, but I will say that Hawkeye, Songbird, and Yellowjacket's little adventure in the Wild West ends with most of Marvel's late, great western line making cameos, as their encountering Kang (and his creatures) in the past led to certain team members (Hawkeye, Thor, and Moondragon) getting involved in the 616 timeline.....oh yeah, and Yellowjacket backhanding Songbird (!!! ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ). This "Songbird" is revealed to be a Space Phantom, and he, in the process of trying to lead the small team toward Immortus, ends up giving them the means to escape. This leaves one group. And this is where the best part of this issue occurs, as we get a nice ending to this whole "War of the World" timeline, or at least where Cap and Giant Man's part in it ends. The two Time Avengers, that timeline's Avengers, and the survivors of the Planet Earth end up heading to Wakanda to try and make ships (out of the remaining Vibranium) that could attack Mars the way the Martians had Earth. Meanwhile, that timeline's version of Jocasta, who had ended up getting knocked up somehow by the late (at least in that timeline) Machine Man, ends up going into labor as the heroes enter the Vibranium cave. The heroes are also attacked by small, but deadly, insects, whose mother winds up psychically convincing Cap to convince The Black Panther of that timeline to use his Vibranium to help both Jocasta to safely deliver her child, and the insect people, rather than trying to mount a revenge mission to Mars. In other words, to give up a possibly vengeance filled death mission in order to be a leader to his people, and....a hero. We see the Cap we all know and love peek out from this shattered Cap, and it's a great moment. With this being done, Cap and "current" Hank head back to join the others, who decide to stop messing around and take the fight to Immortus himself, which we see Rick and Captain Marvel being worried about what could come of this. In the next issue, we'll see the team try to take the fight to Immortus, who proves that he has many ways to try to destroy this team before they can become a real threat to him. ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 15, 2018 23:24:16 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #7"Into a Limbo Large and Broad..."Cover Date: June, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones Villain/s: Lord Immortus, Tempest, & Immortus' Time Army Guest Star/s: Libra & the "Limbo Bugs" Official Plot:Gathering in the hangar bay of Kang The Conqueror's replica Sphinx, the Avengers ready for a surprise assault on Immortus's fortress in the otherdimensional realm of Limbo. Engineering more easily-portable modules from one of the larger time-travelling Chronospheres, Giant-Man fashions equipment allowing them to make the journey while Songbird creates a solid-sound stealth glider as the team's "vehicle". Left behind again is Rick Jones, who must remain outside of Immortus's reach for still-unrevealed reasons. As the Avengers depart, Captain Marvel admonishes their young cohort quite sternly, if not cryptically, that no matter what, Rick is to stay in the Sphinx! Exiting the command ship and breaking through the dimensional barrier, the Avengers witness an array of images similar to the last set. However, these are more personal to the team, containing seemingly-contradictory declarations from Dr. Pym himself over the years regarding their erstwhile android teammate, the Vision. Hawkeye is momentarily taken aback as they witness a curious adventure from his future wherein the team is led through the origin of then-associate Mantis by a talking stick Immortus refers to as a "synchro-staff". Finally, the most vexing tableau appears as an escapade from the team's earliest days that no one remembers- including the three members of their party whom are also present in the "missing reel" apparition! Emerging in Limbo, the Avengers attempt an approach on Immortus's fortress, however given the impermeable nature of the dimension, its appearance is ever-changing. Finally landing on an outcropping, the heroes disembark with Yellowjacket utilizing his chronal anomaly detector from the Old West excursion while Captain Marvel recalibrates his Cosmic Awareness. No sooner getting their bearings, the corridor suddenly inverts in a disorienting "M.C. Esher-esque" fashion, spilling the Avengers off into multiply-improbable directions. Each lands in some manner of death-trap/dungeon/obstacle-maze. Hawkeye regains his footing in a darkened cavern. Igniting a flare arrow, he discovers he's surrounded by gigantic statues of himself from various points in time with some in ruins. Before given an opportunity to speculate the significance, Immortus's colossal brute henchman, Tempus, springs forth and attacks. Captain America appears in what looks like the bowels of a classic European-style castle. Attempting a locked door, Cap's attention is caught by the voice of his old friend, Nick Fury. As Fury tells Cap it's pointless to struggle, the Sentinel of Liberty counters with disbelief as to how the career master spy could possibly be there. Elsewhere in the fortress, Giant-Man and the Wasp battle severe winds and mysterious false echoes of conversations past to find one another. As his older, more gun-shy self and the woman they love endure their hardship, Dr. Pym's younger, amnesiac and mentally-unstable Yellowjacket persona has a startling realization. Instead of a physical and mental trial, he is cast into a control room full of monitors not unlike the one aboard the Sphinx. The screens depict several scenes from his future that unequivocally drive home what the others have been telling him all along: Yellowjacket didn't murder and replace Hank Pym. Yellowjacket is Hank Pym! Finally arriving at this self-evident conclusion, Yellowjacket decides to do something about it all the same... Songbird stands trial by ghostly apparitions of all the people in her life she's ever felt guilty about. As she begins to succumb to despair from her imagined torments, Captain Marvel comes upon her and urges her to fight. Helping her to focus on reality, Marvel impulsively kisses Songbird. Potentially overstepping himself, he then reveals that in his future the two of them are a romantic couple. Back at the Sphinx, Rick is growing impatient and unable to monitor the Avengers due to foggy interference. Taking Marvel's dogmatic cautioning as a rebellious dare, Rick makes for one of the remaining Chronospheres... In Limbo, as Tempus battles Hawkeye, the giant blasts the Archer with eyebeams meant to devolve an opponent. Although briefly exposing Barton, Tempus is undone, discovering that in his most recent past, Hawkeye possessed the size-changing abilities of Goliath. Evening-up the fight tremendously, Barton destroys Tempus with his own giant warclub. Cap continues his discourse with the complacently chameleonic Fury until he finally has enough. Disputing whether their various deeds over the years has truly meant anything, Cap finally storms off and rams down the immense door with his shield. Down a corridor not far away, Libra looks on in approval that Cap's successful struggle has righted "the balance"... In Immortus's throne room, Yellowjacket pounces on the time-lord from the rafters. Freezing Yellowjacket in midair, Immortus then seals him pleading in a stasis tube. The Wasp and Giant-Man manage to find one another, countless hordes of Immortus's "Army of the Ages" on his heels. Realizing their assault's a bust, the Wasp signals the others to rendezvous for extraction. The team eventually meets up and battles their way back to the portal. Once back at the Sphinx, they realize that not only is Rick no longer onboard but that Yellowjacket remains MIA in Limbo. However, all is not lost as Hawkeye reveals that while shrinking down and finding his belongings amongst the wreckage of his fight with Tempus, he also found the all-knowledgeable... Synchro-Staff! Back in Limbo, Yellowjacket cuts a deal: he'll help bring in the Avengers providing Immortus fixes things so Yellowjacket remains exactly how is now AND gets "the girl"... Brodie's View: Our Time Avengers attempt to take the fight to Immortus' castle at the mid point of this whole storyline, only to be assaulted in ways both physical and emotional. This turns out to be a good thing for Captain America, as he is confronted by one would assume to be a Space Phantom posing at Nick Fury, who tries to talk Cap into completely giving up, only to re-light the fire underneath Cap again. With his "Eye of the Tiger" fully back, Cap charges off to fight that good fight again, and we see that "Nick" was really Libra, who was using reverse psychology to try and knock Cap out of his funk, which works like gangbusters. However, certain characters aren't as blessed, as The Wasp, Songbird, and Yellowjacket are confronted by images and voices from their past/future. Wasp and Songbird are able to make it past (with Captain Marvel helping Songbird shake her torturous illusions, only to reveal that he and Songbird have a relationship in his future. Yellowjacket, however, when being confronted with his future, finally somewhat accepts the fact that he is Henry Pym. Of course, being that he's unbalanced, he decides to find Immortus himself, which doesn't take too long, as Immortus ends up capturing him. It's here that an interesting twist is dropped, as Yellowjacket offers to help Immortus take out the Avengers, but only if Immortus promises to alter time to make Hank Yellowjacket permanently ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) . Needless to say, this makes things very interesting for the next few issues, as now the team has a double agent within their ranks. But there are more mysteries to solve before we get that big reveal; we see some of them in this issue, as there are doubts thrown into John Byrne's retcon of The Vision and the original Human Torch being completely separate beings, along with other points throughout the history of the Avengers themselves. The next issue will really start to put this whole thing together, as we'll see Kurt Busiek doing his damnedest to fill all the various plot holes left by various creative teams throughout the years. It really is something to see, and it definitely makes some of the questionable things done by various writers over the history of The Avengers make a lot more sense on a grander scale. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 17, 2018 0:51:50 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #8"The Secret History of The Avengers"Cover Date: July, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones Villain/s: Lord Immortus & a Space Phantom Guest Star/s: A whole bunch of characters throughout the Avengers' history & The Time Keepers (all in flashback) Official Plot:Immortus' role in Avengers history is revealed, including his splitting of Human Torch into a second android that would become the Vision and the revelation that the team's every interaction with Space Phantoms was at his behest. Chief among his labyrinthine schemes, Immortus hoped to sow discord and confusion in an effort to keep the Avengers embroiled in earth-bound conflicts and out of the larger cosmic arena. Brodie's View: Lol. I guess whoever supplied the synopsis to this issue decided they weren't even going to TRY and go into all the things that are revealed in this issue, as The Avengers are given quite a bit of the answers they were looking for....and then some (whether they wanted it or not). Or to look at it in another way, this is Kurt Busiek performing sort of a service retcon for the entire history of the team up to that point, and as I stated in earlier issue reviews, filling in the many plot holes left by various writers throughout the years, but always while giving those contradictory occurrences some sort of importance in the overall story being laid down. Basically, it reveals that Immortus has been a willing agent of The Time Keepers, who have seen the danger human beings (and especially super powered human beings) pose to the universe and time stream as a whole, and so set Immortus to do what he can to keep both humanity and The Avengers from expanding into a galactic role. However, Immortus comes to respect and admire The Avengers, and the bravery they've shown through various conflicts, so, he tries to use various manipulations in order to satisfy The Time Keepers, while not completely eliminating the team that evidently poses such a danger to the rest of the universe. All of this is revealed by a Space Phantom (actually the original SP we saw back in the early days of The Avengers) that was posing as the time traveling Synchro Staff (who only shows his true form after Hawkeye threatens to break the staff over his knee...lol ![(rofl)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/rofl.png) ), and ends up spilling out the entire story. Much of this manipulation ends up concerning The Scarlet Witch, as she is revealed as being kind of a Nexus Being, due to her having her probability altering powers, and The Vision, who was basically allowed to be created (and is revealed to be born from the former Human Torch, as Immortus pulled a little magic to allow both to exist) in order to prevent Wanda from having children, due to her falling in love with an android. Of course, the whole "Scarlet Witch Having Children" thing ends up happening anyways, as Wanda uses her powers to allow her and The Vision to have children thanks to her powers, which then Immortus must clean up by basically creating the events that occurred during John Byrne's WEST COAST AVENGERS run. However, even with all of this work, The Avengers still end up venturing once again into intergalactic war (The Kree/Skrull War, and Rick Jones gaining his temporary powers is also mentioned) during OPERATION GALACTIC STORM, which Immortus ends up manipulating in order to bring about the shocking end to that story, as an Iron Man led faction of Avengers end up supposedly killing The Supreme Intelligence for bombing his own people (The Kree), which drove a rift within the team; a rift that is made worse, when Immortus concocts the whole scenario that happens to the team before they vanished into the HEROES REBORN dimension at the end of ONSLAUGHT. This was the period where Bob Harris, who was the EIC at the time, tried to X-Men-ize The Avengers by turning Iron Man heel (who kills/injures other Avengers, and tries to frame it on Hawkeye), and then temporarily replacing the current Tony Stark with a younger version from an alternate timeline ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ). There's a whole lot more information that gets dropped, but the team barely have time to take in all that they've been told, when they're blasted into unconsciousness by Immortus and a member of their team that has supposedly turned traitor.....Yellowjacket! (Double ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ) Holy Shit, right?!? Talk about what could arguably be called The Greatest Retcon Ever Done, as Kurt Busiek winds up explaining a lot of things that kind of pissed off long time Avengers fans over the years, while also making these events part of this whole over arching story that Kurt is trying to tell with this Mini Series. Of course, now that we've gotten some of our questions answered, the lead up to the big (and I do mean BIG) battle to come starts building in the next issue. However, it's not the build one would expect, as we end up getting even more answers about things, especially concerning Immortus and the focal character of the entire next issue.....Kang The Conqueror! (Triple ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ) GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 18, 2018 23:37:34 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #9"Break: Reflections of the Conqueror"Cover Date: August, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Kang The Conqueror Villain/s: Lord Immortus Guest Star/s: Rick Jones & The Supreme Intelligence (But a ton of people in flashback form) Official Plot:Licking his wounds from defeat in his "purgatorial beach house", Kang reflects on his life. The comprehensive "Origin Of" issue culminates in The Conqueror aligning again with Rick Jones and the Supreme Intelligence. Brodie's View: Dag....another great issue here that the synopsis writer doesn't even attempt to try to detail. Being as last issue dealt mainly with Immortus, and how he had manipulated The Avengers over the years, this issue deals with the younger version of Immortus, and his journey over the centuries, Kang The Conqueror, who spends most of the issue reflecting on his past (as he recovers from the ass whooping he received early on in this story at the hands of Immortus and his servant, Tempest). Kang's story starts in the future, as Kang (also known as an alternate reality decedent of Nathaniel Richards (and named the same), who, of course, is the father of the leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards, grows up in an almost Utopian future that has done away with all war and conflict. However, the media of the past exists, and Kang is envious of the "Survival of the Fittest" nature of the past, so, he designs a time machine (the Sphinx time machine that the Time Avengers had been traveling in through the last several issues) , and travels back in time to ancient Egypt, where he re-imagines himself as Rama Tut, and becomes the ruler of a section of Egyptians thanks to the advanced technology he brought with him. He ends up coming into conflict with The Fantastic Four, and later the Avengers, which like Immortus later, draws Kang's interest. We see him briefly taking the persona of The Scarlet Centurion before settling for his main role as Kang. We see various battles with The Avengers over the years, as well as time divergent Kangs created by the original Kang (which he can only assume he is, due to all the alternate timelines/Kangs created over the centuries) that Kurt Busiek uses to explain points where "Kang" acted out of character thanks to writers that never understood the character, or what made the character work. However, Busiek does. Boy, does he, and he actually creates the most kick ass, yet complex Kang that has existed throughout comic history. Kang lives for battle, and the conquering of various races/species due to both his military intelligence and superior fire power, but he also lives his life fighting a greater internal battle; the fact that he is fated to eventually become Immortus. This is why he ends up partnering with The Avengers in the first place, as well as joining up with Rick Jones and The Supreme Intelligence at the end of this issue, as the three will mount a final assault on Immortus' forces in order to free The Time Avengers (who Immortus captured, with the help of Yellowjacket, at the end of the last issue). We're setting up our big battle that will, of course, take place over the last couple issues of this mini series (and trust me when I say that it will be a BIG Battle), but first, we must check in on The Time Avengers themselves, who find themselves at the mercy of Immortus (and his army) in the next part of this great story. Oh yeah, we get some Guest Stars aplenty over these next few issues.....prepare yourself. The Destiny War is about to begin. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 20, 2018 0:59:07 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #10"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow... "Cover Date: September, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones Villain/s: Lord Immortus & The Time Keepers (Vorth, Ast, & Zanth) Guest Star/s: Kang The Conqueror, The Supreme Intelligence, Limbo Bugs, Jonz Rickard, & The Galactic Avengers Battalion Theta 4 (Hammer Troopers, Repulsor Troopers, Shieldsmen, Micro-Swarm, Bowmen, & Visonoids) Official Plot:The endgame begins! IMMORTUS has the Earth's Mightiest Heroes at his mercy, and the future AVENGERS battalion of JONZ RICKARD is poised to sweep the universe! The hope lies with KANG and the SUPREME INTELLIGENCE - but will the cure prove more fatal than the disease?! Brodie's View: Okay. Well, it looks like whoever was writing these synopsis's kind of just gave up at this point. Hell, we don't even have a blurb for the next issue, so, I'll have my work cut out for me. Anyways, after a couple of issues of explanation, we get a nice little battle at the beginning of this one, as our Time Avengers awaken (from being blasted into unconsciousness by the traitorous Yellowjacket, who cut a side deal with Immortus a few issues ago) to find themselves surrounded by Jonz Rickard and his Galactic Avengers Battalion, and thanks to an illusion created by Yellowjacket and the Limbo Bugs that YJ seems to have some control over, the Battalion see our heroes as the original Guardians of the Galaxy, who are freedom fighters (or terrorists, whichever you prefer) to them. Needless to say, a big ass fight breaks out, with the Time Avangers actually holding their own before being taken out by Yellowjacket and the Limbo Bugs. However, they don't get much of a chance to recover after that, as they are taken before The Time Keepers, and basically put on trial (as is all of humanity) by the three Creepy "Watchers" of the Time Stream, with Immortus actually having to serve as their Defense Attorney. The Keepers explain their origins, and then go into why humanity must be stopped by whatever means needed, bringing up the fact that humans had turned back Galactus, The Celestials, and a group of beings called The Infinites, who had yet to make their first actual appearance, but had in Captain Marvel's future. However, led by, of course, Cap, the argument is made that humanity turns oppressive in less than half the possible scenarios, which the Time Keepers reject, and then pass their judgement that many of the divergent timelines will be erased, which actually makes Yellowjacket decide to switch sides back to the White Hats. It's here that The Avengers are freed, and just as they are about to fight (and most likely lose against) The Time Keepers, a portal is opened by Yellowjacket/The Limbo Bugs, and Kang, Rick Jones, and The Supreme Intelligence come through (on a RTV of sorts ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) ), ready to kick some ass. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) Needless to say, the time for talk is over, and the final two issues of this mini series will be THE BIG FIGHT, and as I've said in earlier reviews, it will most certainly be a MASSIVE fight, with pretty much every Avenger from every divergent timeline, both representing good and evil versions of the super team, will throw down. Plus, we will definitely get some resolving of the whole Kang/Immortus conflict, which won't end quite like one would imagine. Oh, and at the end of things, we'll basically get the launch of a new comic book. How cool is that? ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 28, 2018 14:49:18 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #11"The Destiny War "Cover Date: October, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones ("current" and older version) Villain/s: Lord Immortus, The Time Keepers (Vorth, Ast, & Zanth), and tons of Evil Avengers from various timelines Guest Star/s: Kang The Conqueror, The Supreme Intelligence, Libra, "Limbo Bugs," and tons of Good Avengers from various timelines Official Plot:The Avengers take on...the Avengers? It's a Destiny War as Avengers across time fight each other to the very end. (Extra) Libra's observations reveal why he subconsciously chose these seven Avengers for this mission; Captain America's presence brought cohesion to the team, but due to his recent experiences with the Secret Empire, his weakened mental state due to his current lack of confidence prevented him from dominating it and making it too rigid. The Wasp led the team with strength and flexibility that gave them direction without exerting too much control, allowing them greater opportunity to improvise. Yellowjacket's current instability would drive him to betray the rest of the team, putting them into the right position to strike against the Time-Keepers. Giant-Man provided support while irritating and provoking Yellowjacket. Hawkeye's presence affected both Yellowjacket and Libra's own responses to the crisis. Songbird's skewed connections to Hawkeye, the Wasp and Captain Marvel in the past, present and future affected Captain Marvel's own decisions regarding Rick Jones's fate. Brodie's View: The Destiny War begins, as The Time Avengers (with the help of Kang (The Conqueror), The Supreme Intelligence, and Libra, who all help in their own ways) fight for not only their own sakes, but the sake of the most of the timeline, as The Time Keepers (the three alien beings that have been behind all of this) plan on eliminating every time line but the one that insures their creation. However, they (along with Immortus) teleport away, but the Good Guys (as well as a few bad guys) are in hot pursuit, and we finally get the beginning of our "Big Final Fight," but not before a shocking event happens. See, even though Immortus has been working for the Time Keepers, he's been doing it to ensure the survival of not only the time lines threatened by the Keepers, but The Avengers as well, as he's spent so much time ensuring certain paths would be followed by the team (while, in a way, protecting them as well), he balks at the Keeper's plan to eliminate the team, which causes him to be killed instantly ( ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ), shocking Kang, as he realizes that he's witnessing what appears to be his own death. To make things worse, the Keepers instantly take out Libra, and blast Kang with energy intended to force his eventual evolution into Immortus. Unfortunately, the Time Avengers can't help any of this, as they're too busy fighting a legion of Avengers from time lines where they turned evil, and even their heightened strength (due to residual Destiny Force) isn't enough to keep them from getting overwhelmed. It's at this point, however, where Captain Marvel pulls a surprise, and slams his wrist bands together, causing him to revert into the form he has been sharing, apparently, all this time, that with a quite aged and altered version of Rick Jones (Double ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ). This allows an opening for the team to be free to act, and Yellowjacket uses the Limbo Bugs to bring all the Avengers from time lines where they remained heroes....and the Fight is REALLY on. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) In the next issue, and the final issue of this story, we get a F*** ton of Avengers fighting each other (all lovingly drawn by Carlos Pacheo), and the final resolving of the Kang/Immortus story (at least for now), as well as, as one could imagine from a few sentences up, the creation of a brand new heroic team. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 30, 2018 0:53:03 GMT -5
Avengers Forever #12"Avengers Assemble"Cover Date: November, 1999 Writer: Kurt Busiek (With help from Roger Stern with the plot) Artist: Carlos Pacheco Featured Character(s): Temporal Avengers (Giant Man (Hank Pym), The Wasp, Goliath/Hawkeye, Captain America, Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), & Songbird), & Rick Jones ("current" and older version) Villain/s: Lord Immortus, The Time Keepers (Vorth, Ast, & Zanth), and tons of Evil Avengers from various timelines Guest Star/s: Kang The Conqueror, The Supreme Intelligence, Libra, "Limbo Bugs," and tons of Good Avengers from various timelines Official Plot:It's an Avengers war! Hundreds of Avengers from different reality fight to survive. Which reality will survive? Brodie's View: We come to the end of this kick ass little story with, of course, our big battle, as every Avenger that turned evil in various timelines fight every Avenger that stayed good (including our Time Avengers) for the fate of most of the time line. Meanwhile, another smaller battle goes on, as the Good Guys attempt to take out our main big bads for this story, The Time Keepers, who are still trying to take out a major asset for the heroes side, Kang The Conqueror, by forcing his transformation into his "future self," Immortus. This is halted before the transformation is complete, however, which ends up creating a scenario where both Kang and Immortus can exist, which makes Kang absolutely rapturous, as now his future is no longer written. He celebrates this new freedom by straight up killing The Time Keepers, and then vanishing before the heroes can make him answer for his actions. Shortly before this, though, and immediately after Kang kills the Keepers, he goes for the Forever Crystal, which had been abandoned when the former Immortus was executed by the Keepers in the last issue. However, Cap winds up getting the Crystal first, and is tempted, as most would be, with the power of the Crystal, as he sees how much sorrow and misery he could end by just wishing it so. But being the hero that he is, Cap destroys the Crystal (or seems to, as the very end of the story has the Crystal reforming in front of the Supreme Intelligence, who obviously would have some pretty sinister plans for said Crystal. Of course, I have no idea what ends up happening with that storyline, so, I won't go too much into it. The main battle ends with Rick Jones being badly injured, and Captain Marvel ends up revealing how he and the older Jones had been bonded in the first place, by bonding with this Rick, creating a new heroic duo. This would, of course, lead to the 2nd regular CAPTAIN MARVEL series, which would be written by the always solid Peter David. This series would last for a few years, but eventually the two characters would be separated again, with both characters eventually meeting their ends (but being as I don't know the full detail behind those deaths, or whether or not they'll be permanent (as comic deaths rarely are nowadays), so, once again, I won't say any more than that. The rest of the Avengers are returned back to their respective times, with only a few characters having the memory of the events of this mini series. However, those who read it certainly remember it, as it makes a fantastic companion piece to Busiek's AVENGERS run (which is also pretty great). Busiek's strength as a writer is that he has/d his feet planted both in the past and present (or at least 90's "Present"), and it very much showed in his work, and once again, props to Carlos Pacheco for his kick ass artwork, which I've been a fan of since his run on the non UNCANNY X-MEN book shortly before this series happened. Let's not forget Roger Stern as well, who was able to fill in many of the gaps in this story with his long term knowledge of both The Avengers team, as well as the Kang/Immortus histories, which Busiek was able to weave into gold during his "retcon" issues. In short, AVENGERS FOREVER kicks ass, and is very much worth seeking out for those who haven't read it. Speaking of kick ass late 90's runs, the next series of reviews will have us leaving the Marvel Universe and checking out a section of the then WILDSTORM universe, and seeing what had been, up to that point, a SHIELD rip off book, re-imagined and then later completely remade into another team. That's right, we'll be dealing with Warren Ellis' STORMWATCH/THE AUTHORITY run from the late 90's/early 2000's. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 2, 2018 22:56:02 GMT -5
Stormwatch #37"New World Order"Cover Date: July, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Henry Bendix--The Weatherman, Battalion, & Synergy), Stormwatch Prime (Winter, Fuji, & Hellstrike), Stormwatch Red (Fahrenheit, Flint, & Rose Tattoo), & Stormwatch Black (Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, & Swift) Villain/s: Father & Dr. Krug Guest Star/s: Blademaster, Cannon, Comanche, Union, Nautika, Sunburst, Undertow, & nameless others who are released from Stormwatch Official Plot:After Flashpoint's betrayal of the team, Henry Bendix decides to take a more active role in guiding world events. He regroups the superhumans of Stormwatch into three teams: Stormwatch Prime, Stormwatch Red, and Stormwatch Black, each intended to serve a different role in maintaining global order. Prime deals with superhuman threats; Red carries out acts of sanction against criminals; Black operates as a covert, secretive investigation team. Bendix also changes the roster of Stormwatch, introducing three new members: Jenny Sparks, a woman who can control electricity and has been alive since the year 1900 without aging; Jack Hawksmoor, a man who was the subject of numerous alien experiments in his childhood and now possesses many superhuman abilities which only function in an urban environment; and Rose Tattoo, a mysterious woman who is a superhumanly effective markswoman. Several members, including Union and Undertow, are dropped from the team. Others, such as Battalion and Synergy, are moved to administrative positions in Stormwatch. The UN Special Security Council begins to distance itself from Stormwatch and takes a distinctly antagonistic posture towards it. Afterwards, two of the new teams (Prime, composed of Winter, Fuji, and Hellstrike; and Red, consisting of Flint, Fahrenheit, and Rose Tattoo) are sent to Germany to deal with a rogue superhuman, who calls himself 'Father'. Brodie's View: So, for our next series of reviews, we leave Marvel for a bit to talk about a series that starts out in one company (Image), but changes both team name and company (DC) mid way through the run. This is, of course, STORMWATCH, which will eventually become a much more narrowed down (both in team members and focus) team called THE AUTHORITY. Part of this change involves a company crossover involving characters from film, but we'll get to all of that later. First, let me say that I've only read one issue of STORMWATCH before #37, and I'll be honest with you....I wasn't impressed. It, more than many other books both IMAGE and the imprint within it, Jim Lee's Wildstorm Productions, produced, suffered from a similar problem; solid to great art, but shitty stories/writing. I think after the decline in sales when the big comics boom of the early 90's deflated made Jim Lee realize that this formula was going to have to change, hence bringing Good/Great writers like Warren Ellis and Alan Moore (who would take over the writing chores on WILDCATS around this same time) into the fold, and allowing both to kind of blow up the basic concepts of the books they were writing. So, what was originally a SHIELD rip off with superhumans suddenly became a darker, more conspiracy/X-Files inspired book under Ellis' pen, and Ellis wastes no time changing the status quo of the book completely within this very issue. He does this by eliminating a lot of useless/cliche-ish characters, and pairing the cast down to 12 main characters, all in different teams that will get separate focus during the first several issues. He then introduces three very Warren Ellis type characters (Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, & Rose Tattoo) that will play a big part in the future of the story he is laying down (and two of them will go on far beyond that). Ellis also kind of hints at the fact that the man in charge of this whole operation, Henry Bendix (AKA The Weatherman), might not be playing with a full deck himself, and while this will simmer for a while, as we get to know our other characters, eventually his long term plans for what he wants Stormwatch to become will cause a major crisis within the team. That all happens as we get closer to #50, so, for now, we'll say that we kind of know we're into darker territory from the beginning, as two of the teams must deal with an insane experiment gone amok, a Nietzsche quoting monster named Father, who walks the German countywide, killing everyone he comes across. Eventually, under the order of the main combat leader, Winter, Father is killed (cut in half by teleportation ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ), letting us once again know that we're not in normal superhero territory here, and this will become even more clear as these stories continue. It's interesting to re-read this, as it's pretty clear that Ellis is just starting to come into his prime as a writer (his full prime will start to be revealed in the next year, as his, in my opinion, epic will begin, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, but we can definitely see the hints of the greatness to come here), and his writing is very interesting to read, as it seems like the work of a brilliant, yet kind of insane (and most likely drunk) writer. Uneven and terse at times, but still brilliant (and even more brilliant seeming after the crap that was issues 1-36), and Tom Raney adds to this whole feel, as it's pretty clear this isn't superhero business as usual all around. Even his JUSTICE LEAGUE inspired cover kind of lets us know right off the bat that we're into something different here, and different is ALWAYS good, especially when dealing with a lot of the Marvel/DC rip offs that many of the early Wildstorm/Image creations were. In the next issue, we'll deal with the fallout from a death that happens mid way through this issue, as it's revealed that there is a conspiracy of sorts in play against Stormwatch, and how both The Weatherman and his teams will deal with that revelation (which has long term repercussions for the team overall). ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: B+
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,881
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 3, 2018 6:41:39 GMT -5
I prefer Ellis' Stormwatch run to his Authority run.Both are damn good,but Stormwatch manages to hmmmm it's hard to describe be stay more comic book that "film storyboards that have word balloons added."
I just re-read all of Ellis' Stormwatch run. The crossover was a great idea. Introduce a new threat. That changes the entire universe. And use that to boost what was a 3rd tier,in sales and acclaim,book into the best selling and reviewed series under the imprint.
Moore's Wildkats run.....I didn't care for it. But I have never found any Wildkats stuff I have enjoyed. The early Lee stuff was posters,covers and pin up pages badly disguised as a comic.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 3, 2018 14:34:29 GMT -5
I prefer Ellis' Stormwatch run to his Authority run.Both are damn good,but Stormwatch manages to hmmmm it's hard to describe be stay more comic book that "film storyboards that have word balloons added." I just re-read all of Ellis' Stormwatch run. The crossover was a great idea. Introduce a new threat. That changes the entire universe. And use that to boost what was a 3rd tier,in sales and acclaim,book into the best selling and reviewed series under the imprint. Moore's Wildkats run.....I didn't care for it. But I have never found any Wildkats stuff I have enjoyed. The early Lee stuff was posters,covers and pin up pages badly disguised as a comic. Yeah, I will agree with the whole "Big Budget Movie in Comic Book Form" format that Ellis really kind of began with THE AUTHORITY being kind of a bad thing in the long term, as eventually every major writer started to see/write comics as that, rather than....y'know, comic books, but boy was it pretty awesome at the beginning. I'll talk more about that when I get to his AUTHORITY run, but I will definitely agree with your point on that one. As for Alan Moore's WILDCATS....I really dug it, as like Ellis with STORMWATCH, Moore really blew up the whole concept of the WILDCATS book, which up until then had been basically TRANSFORMERS with super humans and aliens instead of robots. He took those characters in interesting directions that few other writers would have even conceived of, let alone attempted, while also introducing new characters that would become important parts of the Wildstorm (and later DC) universe. I somewhat agree with your Jim Lee dislike, but I still love the dude's art, as, yeah, it may be true that his art is more pin up/poster art disguised as a comic than classic comic art, but it's friggin' beautiful pin up/poster art, so, I'll definitely give him the pass I wouldn't give other artists.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,881
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 3, 2018 15:15:28 GMT -5
I prefer Ellis' Stormwatch run to his Authority run.Both are damn good,but Stormwatch manages to hmmmm it's hard to describe be stay more comic book that "film storyboards that have word balloons added." I just re-read all of Ellis' Stormwatch run. The crossover was a great idea. Introduce a new threat. That changes the entire universe. And use that to boost what was a 3rd tier,in sales and acclaim,book into the best selling and reviewed series under the imprint. Moore's Wildkats run.....I didn't care for it. But I have never found any Wildkats stuff I have enjoyed. The early Lee stuff was posters,covers and pin up pages badly disguised as a comic. Yeah, I will agree with the whole "Big Budget Movie in Comic Book Form" format that Ellis really kind of began with THE AUTHORITY being kind of a bad thing in the long term, as eventually every major writer started to see/write comics as that, rather than....y'know, comic books, but boy was it pretty awesome at the beginning. I'll talk more about that when I get to his AUTHORITY run, but I will definitely agree with your point on that one. As for Alan Moore's WILDCATS....I really dug it, as like Ellis with STORMWATCH, Moore really blew up the whole concept of the WILDCATS book, which up until then had been basically TRANSFORMERS with super humans and aliens instead of robots. He took those characters in interesting directions that few other writers would have even conceived of, let alone attempted, while also introducing new characters that would become important parts of the Wildstorm (and later DC) universe. I somewhat agree with your Jim Lee dislike, but I still love the dude's art, as, yeah, it may be true that his art is more pin up/poster art disguised as a comic than classic comic art, but it's friggin' beautiful pin up/poster art, so, I'll definitely give him the pass I wouldn't give other artists. Lee's art is gorgeous. But it is as you said cover and poster stuff. To show how stupid I was back when Image formed. Lee was the guy of the original 7 I kept thinking "Why the hell get him?" Ellis did the widescreen thing well. But it ,like Gibbons panel geometry and Skienkewivz's shadowplay and hell Art Adam's crosshatching,got so over used it takes a bit of shine of it when done well. You summed up Lee's Wildkats perfectly. Never thought of it as Transformers but yea it was. There is so little Moore at Image I like. 1963 is the big one. His Spawn stuff I never liked. His Deathblow stuff IIRC was decent. Yep Alan Moore wrote Deathblow. The character created just so Jim Lee could ape Miller apeing Eisner. I get giving an artist a pass. I got a few I give a pass that others wouldn't. Awaiting to see how you react to some of the wackier things Ellis does in Stormwatch. How much pre-Ellis Stormatch did you read? I get that it isn't the best.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 3, 2018 15:35:30 GMT -5
Yeah, I will agree with the whole "Big Budget Movie in Comic Book Form" format that Ellis really kind of began with THE AUTHORITY being kind of a bad thing in the long term, as eventually every major writer started to see/write comics as that, rather than....y'know, comic books, but boy was it pretty awesome at the beginning. I'll talk more about that when I get to his AUTHORITY run, but I will definitely agree with your point on that one. As for Alan Moore's WILDCATS....I really dug it, as like Ellis with STORMWATCH, Moore really blew up the whole concept of the WILDCATS book, which up until then had been basically TRANSFORMERS with super humans and aliens instead of robots. He took those characters in interesting directions that few other writers would have even conceived of, let alone attempted, while also introducing new characters that would become important parts of the Wildstorm (and later DC) universe. I somewhat agree with your Jim Lee dislike, but I still love the dude's art, as, yeah, it may be true that his art is more pin up/poster art disguised as a comic than classic comic art, but it's friggin' beautiful pin up/poster art, so, I'll definitely give him the pass I wouldn't give other artists. Lee's art is gorgeous. But it is as you said cover and poster stuff. To show how stupid I was back when Image formed. Lee was the guy of the original 7 I kept thinking "Why the hell get him?" Ellis did the widescreen thing well. But it ,like Gibbons panel geometry and Skienkewivz's shadowplay and hell Art Adam's crosshatching,got so over used it takes a bit of shine of it when done well. You summed up Lee's Wildkats perfectly. Never thought of it as Transformers but yea it was. There is so little Moore at Image I like. 1963 is the big one. His Spawn stuff I never liked. His Deathblow stuff IIRC was decent. Yep Alan Moore wrote Deathblow. The character created just so Jim Lee could ape Miller apeing Eisner. I get giving an artist a pass. I got a few I give a pass that others wouldn't. Awaiting to see how you react to some of the wackier things Ellis does in Stormwatch. How much pre-Ellis Stormatch did you read? I get that it isn't the best. I read an issue or two, but maybe I picked the wrong issues, because it was pretty boring and bland. Really, the best of the early Image stuff, IMO, was SPAWN, WILDCATS, and CYBER FORCE (and even those were mostly good due to the artwork). The rest of it was meh to downright crap.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,881
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on May 3, 2018 15:47:18 GMT -5
Lee's art is gorgeous. But it is as you said cover and poster stuff. To show how stupid I was back when Image formed. Lee was the guy of the original 7 I kept thinking "Why the hell get him?" Ellis did the widescreen thing well. But it ,like Gibbons panel geometry and Skienkewivz's shadowplay and hell Art Adam's crosshatching,got so over used it takes a bit of shine of it when done well. You summed up Lee's Wildkats perfectly. Never thought of it as Transformers but yea it was. There is so little Moore at Image I like. 1963 is the big one. His Spawn stuff I never liked. His Deathblow stuff IIRC was decent. Yep Alan Moore wrote Deathblow. The character created just so Jim Lee could ape Miller apeing Eisner. I get giving an artist a pass. I got a few I give a pass that others wouldn't. Awaiting to see how you react to some of the wackier things Ellis does in Stormwatch. How much pre-Ellis Stormatch did you read? I get that it isn't the best. I read an issue or two, but maybe I picked the wrong issues, because it was pretty boring and bland. Really, the best of the early Image stuff, IMO, was SPAWN, WILDCATS, and CYBER FORCE (and even those were mostly good due to the artwork). The rest of it was meh to downright crap. For Early Image I stick with Savage Dragon,the only one of the 7 to really get it right,the Maxx,Keith's best work,1963 and Wildstar. Spawn was just Vigil's Faust but watered down. Cyber Force has turned out to be some much better than I figured.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 3, 2018 22:09:44 GMT -5
I read an issue or two, but maybe I picked the wrong issues, because it was pretty boring and bland. Really, the best of the early Image stuff, IMO, was SPAWN, WILDCATS, and CYBER FORCE (and even those were mostly good due to the artwork). The rest of it was meh to downright crap. For Early Image I stick with Savage Dragon,the only one of the 7 to really get it right,the Maxx,Keith's best work,1963 and Wildstar. Spawn was just Vigil's Faust but watered down. Cyber Force has turned out to be some much better than I figured. Never really got into SAVAGE DRAGON due to my dislike of Erik Larsen's artwork. Never really read THE MAXX comic, but liked what I saw of the cartoon. Never read the others. Yeah, SPAWN kind of went down hill after the first 20-30 issues, as one could tell Todd was just using it to try and sell his toys. Great art, though.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 5, 2018 23:00:29 GMT -5
Stormwatch #38"Reprisal"Cover Date: August, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Henry Bendix--The Weatherman, Battalion, Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoore, Hellstrike, & Fahrenheit) Villain/s: The U.S. Government Guest Star/s: Maya Royko & Karl Hansen Official Plot:Henry Bendix orders Fahrenheit and Hellstrike to investigate Undertow's death. Jack Hawksmoor assists them as they proceed. Battalion spars with Jenny Sparks to determine the extent of her powers; they far outstrip his own, even enhanced by his equipment. Karl and Maya Royko (Sunburst and Nautika), demoted to analysts last issue, assist in the investigation, determining that the explosive used in the bomb was only available to American Special Forces. The investigating officers discover that the security video of Undertow's apartment was edited; Bendix interrogates the building's security chief and discovers the location of the men responsible. The men are apprehended by Hellstrike and Farenheit, and their bodies dumped in the Oval Office. Bendix threatens a reprisal against the United States. Brodie's View: In the last issue, we got little moments that hinted at a larger conspiracy that was going on, even as Stormwatch was kind of being reborn as a concept/team, and in this issue we get to see that conspiracy starting to be unraveled. The most extreme moment of that hinting was a recently "future endeavored" Stormwatch employee named Undertow being incinerated by some sort of bomb as he was entering his apartment. The Weatherman sends Fahrenheit (an American woman with fire powers), Hellstrike (An Irish Ex Cop that is basically made up of Plasma Energy, and is contained within a humanoid force field-like costume), and Jack Hawksmoore (an American who was abducted by aliens and experimented on; he was given extra organs that gives him superhuman abilities, but thanks to this, he can only truly exist in cities) to investigate said murder. After hitting a wall when it comes to that investigation, they head over to "Clark's Bar" (making its first appearance here; a bar that caters to superhumans, and is owned by an older gent who might very well be the middle aged version of a certain Krytonian ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) ), where it is revealed to them that the device used to kill Undertow was a U.S. Military exclusive order. This leads the trio to discover that the security camera footage, which shows no signs of planting of said bomb, had been altered to erase those events. It's then put together that the U.S. Government, or at lease some sort of element working within it, was behind this whole deal, and has somewhat declared a secret war against Stormwatch (which is U.N. funded). The issue ends with Bendix threatening the President (which would have been Bill Clinton at the time, if the Wildstorm Universe timeline mirrors our timeline as it relates to politics) that going after Stormwatch is a REAL bad idea, as they definitely have the power to strike back, and then some. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) We do get a bit of side action/character development in this story, as we see Battalion (an American with both telepathy and telekinesis (which he can use to create psychic bullets of a kind) trying to train one of Stormwatch's new recruits, Jenny Sparks (a British woman who is 96 years old, but stopped aging in her early twenties, and can control/become electrcity), which....doesn't go well for him, as she ends up messing him up with her power, and then slapping him in the head for making her drop her bottle of beer, as she REALLY liked getting drunk ;P . We get quite a few of these little character moments in these next several issues, as there is a need to give some much needed solo time to the crapton of cast members we're working with here, as well as building a larger story that will be fully revealed as we approach #50. In our next issue, we'll see the continuation of this "Cold War" of sorts between the U.S. Government and Stormwatch, as Stormwatch Black will be deployed to deal with police brutality against minorities in the heartland of that country. ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) Needless to say, if you enjoy seeing racist cops getting f***ed up, then this is your issue. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 7, 2018 23:27:20 GMT -5
Stormwatch #39"Black"Cover Date: August, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney & Pete Woods Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Henry Bendix--The Weatherman) & Stormwatch Black (Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoore, & Swift) Villain/s: Corrupt Lincoln Policemen/The U.S. Government Guest Star/s: None Official Plot:Stormwatch Black, the special-operations team consisting of Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, and Shen Li-Min (Swift), are sent to Lincoln, Nebraska, in the United States. There have been numerous reports that the police department in the city has been recruiting superhuman criminals to abuse ethnic minorities; Stormwatch Black has been sent to verify these reports and to deal with those responsible. The Stormwatch officers move through the city, neutralizing superhuman police officers as they commit acts of brutality against various minorities. The UN Special Security Council threatens Bendix if he interferes further in American activities. It is discovered that there is a rogue activator at work in the world, as the superhumans in question were comet seedlings but were not activated by Synergy. Brodie's View: Stormwatch vs. The United States Government comes a little bit closer in this issue, as Henry Bendix (AKA The Weatherman) finally gets to use his Stormwatch Black covert unit to take care of a problem in Lincoln, Nebraska. However, Bendix is able to skirt around the order delivered to him by the UN to stay off American soil, as there are legit human rights violations being committed there. Long story short, someone that is not Synergy (SW member) has been activating latent superhumans in Lincoln, and then those people have been becoming cops, whose chief job is bringing their collective fist down on minorities, immigrants, any counter culture figures, and basically anyone else perceived to be disturbing the order in Lincoln. Stormwatch Black: Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoore, and Swift (a Tibetan woman with the wings and claws (or claw-like fingers) of a bird) are sent to Lincoln, and after a bit of conferring (and banter), they get to the mission of kicking some corrupt cop ass, which they do with gusto. Finally, the cops are rounded up and put in Stormwatch's cryo-prisons, using many of the same methods that these cops were using on the populace they were hired to protect. And while, yeah, two wrongs don't make a right (and, once again, it does hint at the fact that Henry Bendix, with all his talk of making a better world, isn't that much better than the forces he supposedly fights), but it is pretty satisfying to see racist/corrupt cops getting the shit kicked out of them by Jenny, Jack, and Swift. Plus, as I stated at the beginning of this review, we get an ever deepening of the animosity between Stormwatch and the U.S. Government. Of course, surprisingly, this doesn't ever really get paid off during Ellis' run, but rather during Mark Millar's (who took over after Ellis left THE AUTHORITY) run much later on. However, you can definitely see the seeds for all of that being planted here. This gets continued somewhat in the next issue, as we see various Stormwatch members dealing with the aftermath of a quite horrific terrorist attack on a small town, and we get our best issue of this run so far. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 9, 2018 23:21:02 GMT -5
Stormwatch #40"Mutagen"Cover Date: October, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Henry Bendix--The Weatherman), Stormwatch Prime (Winter, Fuji, & Hellstrike), & Stormwatch Red (Fahrenheit, Flint, & Rose Tattoo) Villain/s: Kaizen Gamorra Guest Star/s: None Official Plot:Stormwatch Prime is sent to England to investigate the bombing of an airliner. They discover that a number of the corpses have been mutated horribly by Gen-Factor material released from the bombs. The Gen-Factor was rendered gaseous by the explosion, and is moving through the countryside towards the town of Little Brook. Stormwatch Prime enters the town, only to find many more victims of the mutagen. They encounter a church that has been completely engulfed by mutated humans; they find that the Gen-Factor's victims had forced themselves together into a shield to protect those few townspeople who had not yet been exposed. After the survivors are evacuated, Hammerstrike fighters destroy the town. Interspersed with this story, a Stormwatch analysis team discovers that the mutagenic material has been altered to only create unstable mutations that kill their carriers, and identifies its source as Gamorra. Bendix contacts Gamorra, only to find that John Colt (Yon Khol of the Kherubim) has been deposed and the real Kaizen Gamorra restored to power. Gamorra mocks Bendix and reveals that the source of his altered Gen-Factor was indeed the American military-industrial complex (Gamorra's stocks of Gen-Factor having been destroyed during the Fire From Heaven incident). Bendix puts Skywatch into "Quiet Storm" mode, deactivating all recording and observations devices on the station and over Gamorra Island. He sends Stormwatch Red to punish Gamorra; Flint and Fahrenheit are instructed to destroy buildings and infrastructure, while Rose Tattoo is ordered to kill exactly two hundred thirty three people--the number that died in the plane bombing incident. Brodie's View: When your issue's first page is a crashed plane (with all aboard seemingly killed) with the captions, "It threw its guts up over Middle England and then dropped down dead on a forest. Two Hundred and Thirty Three people have just found out that there's no God.," you know you're in for something very different, and the story doesn't disappoint. Basically the returning (see above) Kaizen Gamorra has decided to stage a terrorist attack on a small English town to let the world know he has returned. He does this by unleashing a mutagen aboard a plane, causing it to crash, and the mutagen, which is airborn, causes instant mutation (and most likely, death) on impact, and it flows down wind from the crash site into the town itself. This causes scenes of horror that can only be brought to you from someone like Warren Ellis (with Tom Raney as his willing accomplice), as Stormwatch Prime (Winter (an Ex Russian Agent with energy absorbing/redirecting ability, and the "combat leader" of Stormwatch), Fuji (a former sumo wrestler turned gaseous entity that is contained in a giant robotic suit), and Hellstrike) survey the damage. Finally, they come to a church that is covered with a strange substance that turns out to be mutated human skin ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) (!!!). It seems that in their last act, people that were mutated in a church formed basically a skin shield over the uninfected in their last act, complete with a beacon made of fingers (Double ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) )(!!! x 2). It's after this that Bendix figures out that the mutagen could only have come from Gamorra, but after a tense confrontation with Gamorra, it is revealed that the mutagen came from....surprise, surprise...the U.S. Government, continuing, even in a small way, that subplot. Gamorra also brings up the fact that the U.N. has forbidden Stormwatch from interfering in other countries, which Bendix responds to be sending Stormwatch Red (Fahrenheit, Flint (a Kenyan woman with unbreakable skin and super strength), and Rose Tattoo (a assassin of unknown origin who might very well be the "Goddess of Murder") to Gamorra on a mission of payback. Rose is ordered to kill the exact number of Gamorans that Kaizen Gamorra killed in England; no more, no less, while the other two cause structural damage. However, we see that Fahrenheit and Flint aren't too happy with their mission, and we see one more example (although for the greater good somewhat) of our Weatherman's instability. This was the best issue so far, as we really got some Ellis horror in with this super hero tale (hell, it even connects to the larger Wilstorm Universe, as Gamora had been a big issue in the most recent FIRE FROM HEAVEN crossover), while continuing the subplot/ongoing villain that Warren has been building since #37. We see a little more build for another subplot in the next issue, as Synergy goes to recruit/activate a new superhuman for Stormwatch, only to get some very nasty surprises. ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) x 3 ![](https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/31666/874739-rose_1.jpg) (Sorry, that was the only good pic I could find) GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 13, 2018 2:51:22 GMT -5
Stormwatch #41"Activator"Cover Date: October, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Michael Ryan Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Synergy & Battalion) & Stormwatch Prime (Winter, Fuji, & Hellstrike) Villain/s: Samuel John Fleisig & a Mystery Rogue Activator Guest Star/s: None Official Plot:Christine Trelane (Synergy) investigates Samuel John Fleisig, a secretive young man who lives with his mother in Washington State, to determine his suitability for activation and recruitment for Stormwatch. She discovers that he is a serial killer; she tracks him to a bar, but discovers that someone else has activated him first. Christine subdues Fleisig after a fight, and deactivates him. She sends him to Skywatch for interrogation to determine the identity of the rogue activator. Brodie's View: We get a side plot developed a bit further in this issue, as the main focus of this issue is Stormwatch's Official Activator of Latent Superhumans (people who gained a latent superhuman ability due to radiation from a comet that passed by the Wildstorm's Earth's atmosphere), Synergy. She's assigned to seek out a certain person, a young man named Samuel Fleisig, who is slowly revealed to be a serial killer. Once this is revealed, Synergy/Christine calls for backup, but before they arrive, Fleisig is activated by our mysterious Rogue Activator, who is shown to be a woman (assumingly) with black hair. Synergy attempts to deactivate the now much larger and stronger Fleisig, but is overtaken by the much more lively than assumed rising serial killer. However, she takes advantage of the fact that recent activations are always very sensitive, and ends up taking Fleisig down, and finally taking away his super human abilities, and Bam(!)....Stormwatch has a major lead to the person responsible for making racist cops superhuman a couple issues ago (and God knows who else?!? ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ). There is a bit more in the middle of the issue I do want to mention, though, as Synergy/Christine has a bit of "down time" with her boyfriend, fellow Stormwatch Agent, Battalion/Jackson, where they discuss the recent actions of the current Weatherman, Henry Bendix. This is the first rumblings from within the team that their overall leader might not be playing with a full deck, or at the very least, his methods have been quite extreme lately (with last issue's ordering of Rose Tattoo to kill 233 Gamorians in retaliation to their leader's killing most of a town). We'll see much more of that doubt as the issues continue, but in the next issue, all of Stormwatch's ground teams will be needed to stop a superhuman Doomsday cult that is trying to tear Tokyo apart....literally. ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 15, 2018 1:56:13 GMT -5
Stormwatch #42"Kodo"Cover Date: November, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney Featured Character(s): Stormwatch (Henry Bendix--The Weatherman), Stormwatch Prime (Winter, Fuji, & Hellstrike), Stormwatch Red (Fahrenheit, Flint, & Rose Tattoo), & Stormwatch Black (Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, & Swift) Villain/s: Raifu Waaku Guest Star/s: None Official Plot:Stormwatch is called into Tokyo, which is being destroyed by a cluster of siamese triplets with massive psionic power. They learn the culprit behind the whole ordeal is the leader of a cult called Raifu Waaku. Fuji is able to stop him and his reign of terror. Brodie's View: We get a little taste of the type of GRAND super human threats/battles Warren Ellis will later gloriously deliver when Stormwatch morphs into The Authority here, as a Japanese based Doomsday Cult known only as Koda, unleashes genetically created super human triplets on Tokyo. These triplets combine/amplify their telekinetic powers to the point where they can literally topple buildings, which forces The Weatherman to summon all three Stormwatch teams in order to try and stop them from destroying Tokyo and beyond. We get quite a bit of big action scenes in the first half of the issue, as Flint, Jenny Sparks, and Rose Tattoo are able to take out half of the threat, but it's due to the actions of Fuji that the threat is ended. See, Fuji, of course, is Japanese, so, he takes the stopping of Koda as a mission on honor, as he knows that it is sprung out a resentment by some of the citizenry over the de-militarization of Japan at the end of World War II. His theory is partially right, as the leader of the cult, a man who was born with no eyes after his mother witnessed the atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki, is doing this in order to show up the Japanese government for needing the intervention of outside countries (or an entity like Stormwatch), as it has no military/superhuman force to defend itself against such threats. In short, the cult leader (Raifu Waaku) hopes to embarrass Japan, which Fuji will not allow. At the end of the story, Fuji basically shows Raifu how worthless and pathetic his mission always was, and basically hints that Raifu should take the honorable way out, which the cult leader apparently does at the very end of the issue, putting an end to the threat (and the remaining triplets, who die without Raifu's influence to guide them). This was a pretty cool story that allowed Fuji to get a little focus time, which is what Ellis has been subtly (or not so subtly in some cases) letting most of the main characters of the book have a "focus issue," so, an audience that hadn't really read the book up until Ellis took over (like me) the chance to get to know the cast of the book. The next issue will be another of these issues, as Jack Hawksmoor will be in search of a serial killer that may or may not be the spawn of a certain late President and a certain late bombshell actress. ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) ![](http://www.randyelliottart.com/Images/OtherComicPort/Stormwatch-42-cover.gif) (Couldn't find any pics from this issue, so, I'll submit a rough version of the cover) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on May 22, 2018 2:12:33 GMT -5
Stormwatch #43"Jack Hawksmoor"Cover Date: December, 1996 Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Tom Raney Featured Character(s): Stormwatch Black (Jack Hawksmoor) Villain/s: The Serial Killing Bastard Son of JFK and Marilyn Monroe/The U.S. Government Guest Star/s: None Official Plot: A timely little story about the lengths the underbelly of the Secret Service will go to protect a deep dark secret. Add a celebrity look-alike, a series of unsolved murders and Jack Hawksmoor into the mix, and you've got yourself a disturbingly haunting tale. Brodie's View: ^ Indeed. The next few issues will be even more specific "character issues" than the ones we've seen previously (well, other than the Synergy issue), and will go into detail (well, the first two will) on the characters Warren Ellis created for this run. This issue focuses on Jack Hawksmoor, the product of alien experimentation that was custom designed to exist only in cities. However, not only can Jack exist in cities, but the extra organs given to him by the aliens that abducted him give him super human abilities; many of which come into use in this story, as Jack tries to uncover a series of politically (or appearing so) motivated killings. However, as Jack quickly learns, there is more to this story than it seems, as both the police and the Secret Service seem intent on making sure this is a killer that is never caught (and are willing to do whatever they have to do to keep things a secret). One of the Secret Service agents assigned to cover up these crimes has had her appearance surgically altered to make her look like the one person that can bring this psycho under control, Marilyn Monroe ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) . Of course, this makes sense when the killer's identity is revealed as the illegitimate (and psychotic) son of (assuming) John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, and the reasoning behind keeping both his existence and his murders secret is the trauma it would cause America to find all of this out. As a matter of fact, even Jack is reluctant at first to bring this man to justice, as it would make things even worse between the U.S. Government and Stormwatch, but finally, he realizes he has no choice but to stop this "Presidential" killer. A fight breaks out between the two, as "the other Jack" tries to take out our Jack, who ends up having to kill this psycho, causing him to be hung on Live television, interrupting the nightly news (as their fight took place over the set the newscasters were delivering their news on) in the process. This was definitely a crazy issue that showed that there was no Sacred Cows Ellis wasn't willing to topple over (and set on fire if need be); we'd see even more of this in TRANSMETROPOLITAN. The next issue will end up topping #40 as the best one in this run so far, as we will finally learn the secret history of the "Spirit of the 20th Century," Jenny Sparks. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) GRADE: B+
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