X-Termination : Q&A with David Lapham, Marjorie Liu and Greg Pak

By Jim Beard (originally posted here at Marvel.com)

Age of Apocalypse #13
 cover by Greg Land
(click to enlarge)

Sometimes X-Men events get so big it takes more than just multiple titles to contain them; it requires more than one reality.

The universe-jumping X-Termination will spill out not only from its own Alpha and Omega bookend issues, but also into Astonishing X-Men, X-Treme X-Men and Age of Apocalypse beginning this March. We contacted Marjorie Liu, Greg Pak and David Lapham—the respective authors of the aforementioned X-titles—and posed a few questions to them about alternate realities, alternate points of view, and lots and lots of alternate X-Men.

New Photos From Marvel's Iron Man 3!

Robert Downey, Jr. stars as Tony Stark/Iron Man in "Iron Man 3"

Stop what you're doing, and take a peek at four new photos from Marvel's "Iron Man 3," in theaters May 3, 2013!

Hellblazer - The end of an Era.

First issue of Hellblazer, 1988.

I can say without a doubt that I have read every single Hellblazer comic and every single mini-series and graphic novel that has been put out by the DC, Vertigo Comics imprint. I didn't like the new John Constantine in Justice League Dark, or in DC's New52. Somehow it didn't feel right to me. As a comic reader/fan/reseller six months away from turning 40, I expected to grow old with John Constantine, as he has aged over the past 28 years. Unlike any other character in the comic industry in the last 50 years, John has grown old, going from 35 years old when he first appeared in Saga of the Swamp Thing - created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch - to an old guy in his late 50s.

Week In Review : All New X-Men #2 + Thor God of Thunder #2 + Witch Doctor Mal Practice #1

Hey folks, welcome to another new week of reviews! We've got three very exciting and anticipated titles for you today. Some surprising results and some great finds for you to check out as well as a surprise after the reviews, so let's get to it!

- Always Assistive Akshay

All New X-Men #1 (Marvel)

Story : Brian Michael Bendis

Art : Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

Well, it's finally here, the much anticipated (re)debut of Brian M. Bendis as the scribe for an X-Men book after he turned the mutant world upside down waaaay back in House of M in 2005. Now that catastrophe has been reversed thanks to the recent finale of the much-hyped but really mindlessly boring Avengers Vs. X-Men - which could have been so much better – and the world is replete with mutants again.

When last we saw Cyclops (a.k.a Scott Summers) in the genuinely awesome AvX: Consequences mini-series, he was torn on what path to take – to be a martyr or to keep fighting or to face justice for what he has done. It was really well handled and the closing moments of that series lay the base for this one with Scott having escaped thanks to Magneto and his new allies. This series picks up that thread and shows us a determined and motivated “Team Cyclops” who are now renegade, kicking arse and taking names. I quite liked that and had been waiting for it.

Week In Review : Edgar Allen Poe's The Conqueror Worm #1 + Judge Dredd #1 + Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow #19

Edgar Allen Poe's The Conqueror Worm #1 (Dark Horse)

Story & Art : Richard Corben

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Ah, what an intriguing concept. Turn one of Poe's acclaimed poems into a one shot comic book. Edgar Allan Poe lies in that rare literary hallowed ground where a writer/poet always yearns to tread but fears immensely to do so. For to do so would be to walk in the shadows of giants. Not everyone is ok with that. It invites comparison and critique from the highest circles and rounds of amateur barbs as piercing as they are uninvited. However you have to realize that most of this criticism is with good cause. You don't just touch a Poe poem and be done with it. You best be prepared to bleed a part of your soul into that work and make it shine real good. Cause if you don't. Then one of these nights you might just meet the master himself. And then you will bleed.

Week In Review : B.P.R.D 1948 #2 + Captain America #1 + Deadpool #2

Hey folks!! Welcome back to another week - we're running a little late, but here's some of our picks from the week past. 

New reviews of this weeks books will be here this weekend so stick around!

B.P.R.D 1948 #2 (Dark Horse)

Story : Mike Mignola and John Arcudi

Art : Max Fiumara

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Well awesome another BPRD book. I cannot get me enough of these books. They never disappoint and each book leaves me with the growing realization that the end of the world will be brought about when Hellboy breaks out of Hell and runs loose - on Mignola's schedule, not the Mayans'. But that is a personal view. Anyhow, 1948 serves as a throwback, taking us into a simpler time when The Professor was still a little green around the edges and Hellboy was a little monster learning the ropes from his army family. Which means it is a time when some major reveals can really happen. But alas, my hopes are undone.

So far.

JENNIFER BLOOD Vol. 1

WARNING: Jennifer Blood is a Mature Readers Only series. 

Garth Ennis as far as I am concerned is possibly one of the most underrated graphic novelist. I know he is well known and has written some classic fiction in the past but as the final issue of The Boys reaches the stands I for one am looking forward to what he decides to do next. When The Boys was published under the Wild Storm (DC Comics owns it now) imprint Ennis and his artist, Darick Robertson were told by DC that they didn't want a mature series about superheroes as it would more then likely be against what DC wanted in their stable of titles. This left Ennis with the choice of taking the series, which had at that time only 6 issues. else where. Which as far am I am concerned it was good move. Both artist and writer then took the series to Dynamite Entertainment. Where the series has flourished over the past 7yrs.

By then there were talks about a The Boys feature film. Lots of interviews and discussion about a movie. which at the moment is still in the air. I have written a review on the first volume of The Boys. Which should be out soon. It is with Dynamite Entertainment that Ennis created his Jennifer Blood series.

Jennifer Blood, a pseudonym of the lead character, is a well crafted action thriller about a house wife who at night goes out to dish out her own justice on a family of Mob related criminals. The story is told through her own narration written in her journal. We follow this mother of 2 young children and a loving husband, Andrew, who are none the wiser as Jennifer. Every night Jennifer drugs her kids and Andrew, so that she can go about carrying out her vendetta on the local crime family. And like any other vigilante she leaves her calling card.

No matter what, Ennis writes, there is always a very strong first issue. And so in the first issue we follow Jennifer as she puts her family to bed and goes downstairs to the hidden enclave which houses weapons and spy equipment that might put James Bond to shame. Weapons from a simple glock pistol to a RPG (rocket propelled gun) and semi-automatic machine gun. Here in her hidden cupboard space she changes from a house wife to a black leather clad female Punisher. (NB: Ennis wrote several volumes of The Punisher through Marvel Comics Max imprint. The Punisher film starring Tom Jane was based on some of that series).
With a black wig to cover her blonde hair she takes off into the night in her Black SUV wearing dark sunglasses. And it is here that we start to see the very different character than the one while she was with her family. With her chosen weapon hidden away in the SUV, she drives to her first victims of her vigilante.

At first glance the first issue looks like a rip-off of a Punisher story. Jennifer Blood being the female Punisher. But its nothing like the Punisher. Jennifer Blood in her own right is a complex story about family, and the criminal under ground. Jennifer Blood is a strong female character. Which I like seeing in comics. Often to sell a comic book a first issue that is mature in content ends up having the female protagonist is over sexualised, but not so in Jennifer Blood. There is a good balance of mature content along with some of the crazy humor stuff Ennis is known for. But that does not take away from the story. I, for one really enjoyed the story.

This story like any many others that Ennis has written before or since Jennifer Blood, is worth the cover price. When you read through the first arc, Ennis only wrote the first volume on the on-going series, you will come to realise that Jennifer Blood is another original story that could easily be made into a movie, and I hope they do, because the whole first series can easily be adapted to a film script.
The artwork by Adriano Batista gives life to the series which the colorist, Romulo Frajardo Jr. clearly set out to show us to show the difference between Jennifer's day life and her night life, using light tones and colors for the Jennifer's day life and dark hues for the night activities. I found the art and color tones to be well planned out.
The first issue includes a two and a half pages of interview with Ennis about the series as well as  five pages of sketches showing the character designs. After Garth's 6 issue run the writing and art chores are picked up by Al Ewing and Kewber Baal. I had only bought the first 6 issues, all Tim Bradstreet 'Virgin Art' Retailer Incentive covers through my comic dealer. Having read all the issues this week, I hadn't even read the series until this week, I wish I had continued with collecting the rest of the series in print form.
If you are a fan of good crime action stories, then may I suggest that you read at least read Ennis' run. Al Ewing continues on with the series with the spirit of what Ennis began.

(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery ofIndians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as finishing off the lettering to his crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finish off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.

Wrath of The Spectre

Writer: Michael Fleisher

Artists: Jim Aparo, Frank Thorne, Ernie Chua, Mike DeCarlo, Pablo Marcos, Russell Carly

Collects: Adventure Comics issues 431-440, Wrath of the Spectre issues 1-4

Published by DC Comics

When I was a kid, my mom used to read me moral stories. Stories that would instill in me a basic sense of right and wrong. Someone (I can’t remember who, at this moment) said something like ‘In this universe, there is a right and a wrong, and that distinction is not difficult to make…lord knows he must have said it long, long ago, for we don’t live in a black and white world anymore – shades of grey prevail all over. I’ve always been interested in The Spectre…actually, scratch that – I’ve always been interested in characters whose basic costume is garish green – Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Poison Ivy, Count Vertigo, Swamp Thing – you get it. And The Spectre was one of them. After a short trade of the (criminally uncollected) Spectre series by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, I craved…no, make that hungered for more Spectre.

And with this volume, I got that, and a lot of other things, including the moral stories I write about above. This series combines a lot of things. It doesn’t have a lot of moral ambiguity (I’ll not fault them that, they came from simpler times) which was present in spades in the later series. Each Spectre series brought to the table something different. The Forties series (Jerry Siegel and Bernard Bailey) featured creepy, simplistic stories that worked. The late Eighties series (Doug Moench and Gene Colan) were eerie mystery stories, which had a weird charm of their own. The nineties series (John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake) intermingled real life politics and heavenly affairs. In the introduction to this book by Peter Sanderson, Mike says that he considers the stories as a kind of black comedy. I’d rather say that its Panchatantra meets Sherlock Holmes meets EC Comics.

Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Artist: Dave McKean

Collects: Black Orchid issues 1-3

Published by Vertigo

Beauty, like vanity is fleeting. That is, in a nutshell, the message of this story. It isn’t a story as much as it’s the feel of a story. It was something fresh and new at the time it was released, and I daresay, almost twenty five years later, it still holds up perfectly well – if you see it for what it is. And what was it? Black Orchid was a little known character from DC’s stable of supernatural heroes whom I couldn’t be bothered to look up, not because I had doubts regarding the quality of the classic material (and in these days of new 52s and AvXs, I find myself visiting a lot of classic material), it was just so that I always had things to read that I knew to be reliably…good. Also, this was Neil Gaiman’s first outing across the waters, just as it was Dave McKean’s.

Just when she is at the cusp of a revelation regarding underworld proceedings in an ongoing investigation, Black Orchid is discovered. So as not to fall victim to the familiar trope of villains boasting their schemes giving the ‘hero’ time to ‘loosen their bonds’ or somesuch, the head goon immediately shoots her in the head. Black Orchid survives, just to face a fire which eventually kills her. Or it would have, had she been really alive….because, to purists, there is a notable difference between the words grown, bred, and alive. If there is, I don’t know what it is.

Week In Review : Deadpool #1 + Earth 2 #6

...and more madness for this week as we play catch-up! Other reviews for the week are HERE and these two wrap up our picks of the new comics this week. 

Stick around and we'll have more coming hot and fresh to your plate asap!

Deadpool #1 (Marvel)

Story : Gerry Duggan & Brian Posehn

Art : Tony Moore

(Reviewed by Anant Sagar)

(Insert Morgan Freeman voice here) “A new era dawns upon us. Marvel has begun its reboot. Although Deadpool believes it is not a reboot.”

Deadpool finally gets his Marvel NOW issue #1, and I couldn’t be happier! Now you’re probably wondering, “What? How is Anant happy with a reboot?”

It’s simple:

1. Deadpool is here. Giving him this series means he isn’t getting phased out. (like all his other titles, I miss Deadpool Corps and Deadpool Team-Up.)

2. Deadpool is fighting ZOMBIES!!!! And not just any zombies, Presidential Zombies.

3. His healing factor is back!!

Week In Review : 47 Ronin #1 + Before Watchmen Moloch #1 + Colder #1

Pardon the belated posts this week folks, the festivites of Diwali (amongst other things) had us terribly short on time and we were not able to post these up sooner! 

47 Ronin #1 (Dark Horse)

Story : Mike Richardson

Art : Stan Sakai

(Reviewed by Anubhav Dasgupta)

There is a saying that the tale of the Forty Seven Ronin is the definitive Japanese story. From what I’ve gathered, it’s a tale that more or less commands a huge chunk of their culture, much like our myths of Ram and the Mahabharata.

“To know the tale of 47 Ronin is to know Japan.”

And that’s not far off from the truth. 47 Ronin feels like a very Japanese tale. There are some stories that just feel classy, that feel noble, like Seven Samurai, Citizen Kane, Kumonoso Jo and this comic feels like one of those stories. It doesn’t cheat you with gimmicks and cheap shocks, but simply tells a story, and a good one at that.

Week In Review : AvX Consequences #4 + Bedlam #1

It's been a big week folks and we had some great comics reviewed for you and now we bring the final new-release reviews for the past week - two monster reviews of books you really should be checking out in our estimation. Enjoy!

- Akshay the Amused

AvX Consequences #4 of 5 (Marvel)

Story : Kieron Gillen

Art : Mark Brooks

(Reviewed by Mayank Khurana)

Who knew that the mediocre AvX summer event could lead to such a fantastic series!

For me it was all marked by inscrutable agendas, out-of-character actions and an overdone “fight first-speak later” mentality. The entire event left a sour taste, despite it being a culmination of so many story lines that I've been following and collecting avidly these last eight years.

I'd almost decided to not read AvX : Consequences as I thought it'd be a cash grab from the “House of Ideas” and didn't think that it would matter. Shows how much I know! I only picked it up because of the writer attached to it, Keiron Gillen, the man behind the awesome Journey Into Mystery and a brilliant run on Thor. He once again rewarded my faith in him by making AvX Consequences THE story to follow if you are remotely interested in the mutant side of Marvel-U.

Week In Review : Avenging Spiderman Annual #1 + Happy #2 + Masters of the Universe: The Origin of Skeletor OS

Avenging Spiderman Annual #1 (Marvel)

Story : Rob Williams

Art : Brad Walker (pencils), John Livesay (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colour)

(Reviewed by Anant Sagar)

The Thing and Spidey have been teaming up quite a bit lately. That and Spidey has a good relationship with the FF so this team up makes sense.

The good part about this issue had to be the art. Its fluid and the characters are really well drawn. Spiderman looks fluid and flexible and seems to jump from panel to panel with ease.

Having a team up with the Thing and throwing in the “Richards Kids”, Franklin and Val, makes it fun. Those kids are fun to read. The dialogues given to them made me laugh.

Superman: Eradication - The Origin of the Eradicator

DECIPHERING DC

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway

Artists: Dan Jurgens, Kerry Gammill, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Dennis Janke, Brett Breeding, Art Thibert and Andy Kubert

Collects: Adventures of Superman issues 460, 464, 465, Superman issues 41, 42 and Action Comics issues 651, 652.

Published by DC Comics

Welcome to another edition of Deciphering DC as we continue our look into Superman as he runs through the nineties. The tone and feeling of the soap-opera stylings of a weekly book had been established some time ago to give us a more or less continuous story, as certain authors did carry on and advance a few plot points in their own series.
This would continue throughout the nineties, until every one of these creators would leave their titles. Jerry Ordway was the first to leave, then Roger Stern and finally Dan Jurgens, signaling the end of an era, all to be replaced by Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly, Stuart Immonen and Mark Schultz to begin the "new look Superman" (best epitomized by Ed McGuinness' version of Superman). But here, we're get ting ahead of ourselves.

Alan Moore -The Legend, The Myth pt 2 of 2

(for the first part of this article, click this link)

Opinion (conclusion)

Constantine movie poster

When Alan Moore began voicing his views on the Watchmen movie, comic books fans like myself were divided. Fans buy into the characters and heroes in comic books. They become our escape. And like Moore, some of us don't want to see the comic books become 'harmed' by those who want to cash in on these characters being 'cheapened' by film versions - despite how loyal (or not) the directors are to the comic books themselves, or not. By that I mean that their representation in other forms may take away their value to us. And sometimes their adaptation isn't as loyal to the comic books. Constantine is an excellent example of when something can go so wrong. I am not saying that the movie itself was bad, I loved it, but that it cheapened its comparitive-value to the comic series. Over the past two and a half years, as I began to think of comic books as a creator/writer/illustrator, and not just a fan or collector, I started to see the holes in what Alan Moore as a legendary creator/writer had been pointing out about his creations being portrayed in other mediums. 

Review : Tulsidas' Sundarkaand – Triumph of Hanuman

Campire comics takes on Tulsidas’s Ramayan and does a fairly good job.

They give a nice long introduction to Tulsidas and follow that by telling us the story so far, explaining it all crisply and completely.

Week of October 24th Reviews : Bravest Warriors #1 + Deadpool #63 + Talon #1

IT'S TIME! ONCE AGAIN! FOR EVERYBODY!! TO COME ABOARD THE ZEROOOOOOO-DAY TRAIN!!!!
...so enjoy folks. Cheers.
- A-bit-embaressed-by-that Akshay

Bravest Warriors #1 (Boom Studios)

Story : Joey Comeau

Art : Mike Holmes

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

Well it's safe to say I've never read a comic quite like this one. (And I picked this out of the 4 inaugural covers because I'm a huge Star Wars – original trilogy! – nerd...)

I should start by saying, “FANS OF ADVENTURE TIME, REJOICE!” For you see, this series is also created by Pendleton Ward, the brains behind that cult favourite series. And a pretty entertainingly bizarre creation it is indeed! We follow a teen-age interstellar/galactic super-group that is as kooky and quirky as any I've ever seen.

I've never really dabbled in Adventure Time, so this was a bit of an experiment for me and an exercise in trying out something out of my regular sphere – a good habit for anyone to have.

Iron Man 3 Trailer Post-Mortem and Dissection!

Yesterday we got the 1^st official trailer for much anticipated April 2013 release, Iron Man 3. Unfortunately without revealing much.

Click to enlarge!

The part emotional, part action-packed teaser trailer was pure brilliance and here are a few of the moments and things you may or may not have missed during the trailer of what fans are calling Marvel’s darker take on this superhero in a story inspired by the iconic Extremis storyline by Warren Ellis and where we finally get to see the cinematic encounter with arch-nemesis, The Mandarin!

Marvel NOW Review: Uncanny Avengers #1 + Red She-Hulk #1

The big world-changing, ground-breaking, soul-shaking (yadda, yadda, blah, blah, insert more standard hype here, etc...) event that has been building over at the House of Ideas is finally here!Marvel NOW officially launched last week with the first of the new wave of titles - Uncanny Avengers and Red She-Hulk.

Today our own dynamic(-ish) duo of Mayank and Akshay take us through them both to see whether these measured up to all the hype!

Red She-Hulk #1

Script : Jeff Parker

Art : Carlo Pugalayan & Wellington Alves (pencils), Val Staples (colours)

Mayank says:

The second release under the “Marvel Now” banner for last week. The focus of Hulk shifts from father to daughter, from Red Hulk (RULK) to Red She Hulk (Betty Ross), while Rulk moves to the new team of Thunderbolts (along with Elektra and Punisher.. man that’s gonna rock!). Jeff parker continues to play around with the concepts he introduced and I gotta say man, I am loving this book. This title isn’t going to change your life, it’s not going to make you think or try to prove its relevance by using real world scenarios or create pseudo-reasons for a hero vs hero fight... but this is the most fun I had reading a comic book in quite some time.

Week In Review : Cyber Force #1 + DC Universe Presents #13 + G.I.Joe:Snake Eyes #18

Another new week and more new comics! Welcome back and here's our picks of the weeks from amongst the flood, enjoy!- Editor

Cyber Force #1 (Image/Top Cow)

Story : Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins

Art : Khoi Pham

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

It's interesting to see the relaunch of Cyber Force in the wake of all the other Top Cow Universe titles being given the revamp after all the madness over in Darkness, Witchblade and Artifacts.

I've been a big fan of most of the Top Cow books for a long time, but somehow Cyber Force never quite caught on as much – I keep meaning to sit down and reread the lot properly or some such, but never gotten around to it and now I'm glad!

This new volume of creator (and Top Cow founder) Silvestri's flagship team-book actually is off to a very promising start.

THE GOOD in all this is that we've got an intriguing new storyline that I think would be fun regardless of whether or not you've ever read the series before – creating a dystopic new future for us all that carries echoes of concerns we all have about the future of our world and society and throwing in a healthy amount of intrigue, mystery, twists, action and concepts. By the end I was very much wanting

Superman: Exile!

DECIPHERING DC

Writers: Roger Stern, Dan Jurgens, George Perez, Jerry Ordway

Artists: Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Kerry Gammill, George Perez, Mike Mignola, Curt Swan, Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, John Statema

Collects: Superman issues 28-30, 32, 33, Adventures of Superman issues 451-456 and Action Comics issues 643 and Annual 2

Published by DC Comics.

Welcome to another chapter of Deciphering DC! After a lengthy gap comes the next collection in the monthly Superman series, made even more profound by the fact that the only Superman collection before this one, when it came out first, was the original Man of Steel collection....the other volumes were collected much, much later. There's a lot of catching up to be done from where we left off.

Rajat's Random Ramblings: The Jungfrau Encounter

SPECIAL NOTE:  On this festive occasion of the wedding of our royal couple Saifeena (or however you spell it) we are proud to present this review based on a movie starring the beautiful couple that's captivated our nation's collective hearts! 

Nah - scratch that. This is Comic Addicts, not movie addicts! No bollywood superstars or buxom bimbos here, only talented artists, writers with some real imagination instead of monkeying Hollywood or Tollywood scripts! So forget that and continue if you wish to get addicted...

[BREAKING NEWS!] NYCC 2012: He's Alive!! Agent Coulson Lives in Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.

I want this T-shirt!

At the recent "Marvel Television Presents" panel at New York Comic Con, Head of TV Jeph Loeb announced that Clark Gregg would reprise his role as Agent Phil Coulson in the live-action pilot “Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D.” Gregg previously played Coulson in “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” as well as Marvel One-Shots “The Consultant” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer.”

NOTE: If you haven't watched those last 2 videos, go to youtube and watch them now, great little mini's made by Marvel and watchable for free, made to fit in between the other Marvel movies and the Avengers!

- Always Aware Akshay

Alan Moore -The Legend, The Myth pt 1 of 2

From page 1 of Absolute Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 

Recently, a lot of stuff is being said about Alan Moore's latest addition to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen opus (Century 2009), and how it has a Harry Potter type character in it. After reading his comments about it and the latest round of Before Watchmen books, I thought I would take a wider look at Alan Moore's works. I have already read a lot of the graphic novels he has written and like millions of other fans I love Watchmen, From Hell and being a Socialist I love V for Vendetta.

This week in Comics : Deadpool 62 + Phantom Stranger 1 + Batman 13

Another week, another set of reviews by team Comic Addicts..... did we pick your favourite comic for review? check out below...

Deadpool 62
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Ale garza , Sean Parsons et al
Reviewer : Anant Sagar

So the new saga begins.
As mentioned last issue, our boy Wade is having some issues with a certain retired FBI agent who
wants him dead because she got caught in his line of fire when she was undercover.
So she goes so far as to resurrect T-Ray and Slayback. Talk about a party.We see they’re no match for a simulated Wade, and have a lot more training ahead of them.

Meanwhile Deadpool stumbles onto Taskmaster. After a good old fashioned, shoot first – talk later. We find out that Wade isn’t after Tasky because he sold him out, he needs a job.After a bit of talking Taskmaster ‘gives’ Wade some info.

Dredd 3D movie .. Was it worth it?

Finally we get on the bandwagon and present our take on the Judge Dredd new movie...
here. I suggest checking out that review before reading the following review. >

I've been waiting to watch Dredd 3D for nearly a year, since I heard that it was being made last year. Judge Dredd is not your average 'good guy/'hero'. He is the epitome of a true anti-hero. He might even have been the first comic book character to be a anti-hero.

Marvel NOW ! What's coming your way..

With the release of Uncanny Avengers #1 this week Marvel NOW is officially here. To help you fine folks to keep tab on the relaunches ( "Refresh " as Marvel would have us say) we at comic addicts have  prepared a handy list of Marvel Now titles coming your way in next few months..

Marvel NOW Montage

Which NOW series are you most excited for , sound us off below..

Manga Madness Presents: The Sci Fi Parade.

Man has gone to the moon and returned. Even as I type out this statement a machine built on Earth trudges about on the surface of Mars. Doing our bidding, We live in the Space Age. But no...live is not the correct term. Not yet.

No, we crawl in the Space Age. In an era when Man's achievements and drive have finally unlocked the final frontier we still indulge ourselves in traditions and rituals that should have by all means been eradicated by now. War, poverty, greed still rule this world. Crushing humanity's dreams under its heel. We are two worlds now. One striving ever outwards, striving to attain humanity's place in the stars and then there is the other. The world created from the collective memories, fears and nightmares of two millenia of human conflict and misunderstanding. The anchored world. The world that shuns change, shuns novelty, shuns anything that might break the patterns and shatter the illusions of control. Which is a damn shame considering it is already 2012. And by Arthur C Clarke's schedule, we are way behind.

Mankind has been infatuated with Space for a long time. It was the pioneers of Science Fiction who first kindled the dreams of space travel in our hearts. Sci Fi as a genre exploded and solidified in the glory years of space exploration and has been on the wane since then. But it is the prediction of this humble reviewer of manga that Sci Fi is about to come back in a big way. After all like I said, its 2012 already. So in preparation of the resurgent wave of Science Fiction, I shall be presenting to you some absolutely not to be missed Manga set firmly in the realm of Science Fiction.

And we begin this awesome compilation with...

Planetes.

Ominous

Superman: The World of Krypton

DECIPHERING DC

Writers: John Byrne, E. Nelson Bridwell, Dennis O'Neil, Cary Bates, Marv Wolfman, Elliott S! Maggin, Paul Kupperberg, Martin Pasko, Bob Rozakis
Artists: Mike Mignola, Rick Bryant, John Byrne, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Gray Morrow, Dave Cockrum, Michael W Kaluta, Dick Dillin, Marshall Rogers and Gil Kane
Collects: The World of Krypton 1-4, part of Man of Steel issue 1 and back up features from Superman issues 233,236,238,240,248,257,266,375 and Superman Family issue 182
Publisher: DC Comics

Welcome to yet another edition of Deciphering DC. Today, after a long hiatus, we take a look at the continuing saga of Superman's early years (earlier looks at post COIE Superman can be found here and here).

Some time after Superman made a splash with the explosive Man of Steel miniseries, John Byrne wrote three more mini series, with different artists, each chronicling a part of the Superman mythos. The World of Krypton was the first of the three, with breakdowns by Mike Mignola and finishes by Rick Bryant.

The Dark Knight Rises - Prodigal

DECIPHERING DC

Writers: Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Alan Grant
Artists: Mike Gustovich, Ron Wagner, Phil Jimenez, John Cleary, Lee Weeks, Graham Nolan, Bret Blevins, Mark Bright

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Welcome to the final edition of Deciphering DC's coverage of the colossal and epic Knightfall saga. Though Knightfall ended with KnightsEnd, the good people at DC saw it prudent to use this opportunity to bring forth the long out of print, perennially in demand Prodigal, where we see Dick Grayson donning the cape and the cowl as Batman for the first time.

Crossed: Badlands (Garth Ennis story arc) Mature Readers Only

Warning: Mature Readers Only!

Crossed: Badlands sees Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows return to the franchise-series they started, with a tale about love lost. Set in the highlands and lowlands of the Scotish Isle, the story opens with a group foraging for food and trying to stay ahead of a group of Crossed. Badlands is told through the narration of Ian, a bookshop worker. Ian tells us how tragically he lost his wife, Penny, while in a town.

Badlands group of misfits consists of a pregnant girl and her boyfriend, a paramedic and a young man with a bandaged face who may or may not be Prince Harry. Ian laments about the pregnant girl forshadowing a tragedy to come later in the series.

Week In Review : Deadpool #61 + Happy #1 + Invincible #95

CAPTAIN! ICE-BERG AHEAD!!! ...no not really, it's actually just some awesome new comics, including the much-awaited return of super-scribe Grant Morrison to creator owned writing – so keep reading and enjoy!
- Akshay the amused

Deadpool #61 (Marvel)

Story : Daniel Way

Art : Ale Garza (pencils) + Sean Parsons (inks)

(Reviewed by )

YEAH BAY-BEE!! Hit Monkey’s back.

So this first issue after the Blacklisted saga, we see Wade explaining himself to what seems like somebody 'off-camera'.

So this issue is all about a ex-FBI agent who has a vendetta against good ol’ Wade.

What’s awesome is how eloquent Wade seems to sound when he’s trying to stop HIT MONKEY from KILLING him.. Yes I’m excited. Hit Monkey is awesome. If only I did all my reviews with this intensity.

Hit Monkey holds a special place in my heart, and in the hearts of many a Deadpool fan. Although what pissed me off was the lack of him in the issue and why he’s going ballistic.

So anyway back to the former agent. Yeah, so she was caught in Wade’s line of fire back when she was undercover, now she’s disabled. And, of course, wants DP dead.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises - KnightsEnd

DECIPHERING DC

Writers: Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Dennis O'Neil, Jo Duffy
Artists: Mike Manley, Graham Nolan, Bret Blevins, Tom Grummett, Ron Wagner, Jim Balent, Barry Kitson

Hello and Welcome to yet another edition of Deciphering DC. This time, we take a look at the conclusion of the Knights Saga, KnightsEnd. Of course, Bruce comes back to regain the mantle of the Bat. Subsequently, Dick Grayson takes up the Bat costume, albeit for a short time, in the next arc, Prodigal.

Special Alan Moore Update : Rants and Comic Announcements

Welcome to a special news update edition of the Wayfarer folks!

Today we bring you some highly entertaining and some exciting news from the much-revered, ridiculed, confusing, scary, god-like but undeniably talented and legendary scribe you all know as Alan Moore. His series like Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell showed his literary power and made people start looking at comics more seriously - Watchmen still being among the top books recommended to new converts. He's also known for his remarkable re-imagining of established characters like Superman (For the man who has everything), Batman (The Killing Joke), Supreme, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, etc, etc... He even did a 3-part series called Lost Girls along with his wife that was pretty amazing, albiet skirting the very edges of artful vs. pornographic story-telling.

DC Animated : The Dark Knight Returns (Part 1)

THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS - PART ONE

It's that time of year again, when DC's animation house releases its next movie - this time around it's a legendary story that is beloved by fans and is the first to be split into 2-parts, adapting the legendary series into this first part and the follow-up graphic novel as the second.

I know I’m preaching to the choir but I’ve gotta say it. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is one of the greatest Batman stories ever. It’s right there in the top 5, oscillating between positions one and two, because this is one story that you can’t rate lower. Heck, we’re talking about a comic-book that changed the world here. 

The Dark Knight Rises - KnightQuest: The Search

DECIPHERING DC

Welcome to yet another edition of Deciphering DC. We continue our look at Knightfall, now focusing on KnightQuest: The Search. It follows Bruce Wayne and Alfred in their quest for Jack Drake and Shondra Kinsolving. This phase of the Dark Knight has never been collected, and chances are, it still won’t be.

The storyline crosses over three titles –

- Justice League Task Force issues 5 & 6 written by Dennis O’Neil (incorrectly solicited as David Michelinie on one cover) and art and covers by Sal Velluto

- Batman: Shadow of the Bat issues 21-23 written by Alan Grant, art by Bret Blevins and covers by Brian Stelfreeze

- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight issues 59-61 written by Dennis O’Neil, art by Ron Wagner and covers by Norm Breyfogle

Nish's Notepad: Naruto 600 (Review + Spoilers!)

Naruto 600: How Come Until Now?

(なぜ今まで, Naze Ima Made)

Author: Masashi Kishimoto
Arc: Shinobi World War Arc
Volume: Uncategorised

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[RECAP]

#599 finally revealed Tobi's identity. Even if you missed it, Kishimoto is such a genius that just by reading the title of the chapter (Obito Uchiha), you'll get to know that >.<

Christopher Nolan’s "The Dark Knight" trilogy : The Comic Connections

With The Dark Knight Rises having stormed theatres around the world and the epic trilogy coming to a close, there is a lot of discussion on various sites and pages about how much this trilogy is loyal to its comic book counterparts.
Well the good news is that it is to a large extent.

This article tries to prove how well the researched the trilogy was by showing all the cues, characters, story points and details that Christopher Nolan and his fellow writers adapted from various iconic comic stories/arcs to create a whole new Batman for a new age!

Click to Enlarge!

(It will either prove that, or that I'm an utter and total nutter who see's things everywhere that are just not there!)

I've tried to break these elements down and give you the titles of the stories/graphic novels/collections where they seem to have originated, of course only the movie-makers can know what's true and what's not.
But here, I ask YOU - think you know your caped crusader? Check this out and see what you knew and all the stuff you might've missed, the inspirations for some great movie moments.

Comic Review : Aveon 9 (volume 1)

The Plot

Humans have left Earth and moved to another planet called Aveon 9 because Earth was left uninhabitable by natural disasters. Here, over a period of time, humans have ensconced themselves as the ruling class, surpassing the native species' and have carved out dynasties among themselves. Their kingdom however is not peaceful nor does the entire native population support their rise. The story begins with the unfortunate accident of Counselor Zane of the House of Lunus in the city of Vexadus. It then shifts to follow the endeavours of Zane's son Tez, as he tries to find his way to the city to locate his father. This volume ends with Tez minutes away from entering the city.

And now on to the review. 

The Dark Knight Rises - KnightQuest: The Crusade (Batman and Catwoman)

DECIPHERING DC

Welcome to yet another edition of Deciphering DC. Continuing our look at KnightQuest, this time we focus on the issues featured in the monthly title Batman and Catwoman. This review covers Batman #501-508 and Catwoman #6 & 7. All issues of Batman are written by Doug Moench and art by Mike Manley. The Catwoman issues are written by Jo Duffy and the art is by Jim Balent. All Batman covers are by Kelley Jones, while Catwoman covers are by Jim Balent.