X-Men: Asgardian Wars

Recent posts of some of the artwork done in this collection from Arthur Adams is what persuaded me after all this time to dig it out and finally read it. This trade paperback collects X-Men and Alpha Flight #1-2, New Mutants Special Edition and X-Men Annual #9. The Norse god of mischief, Loki is the villain behind all of these stories. 

In X-Men and Alpha Flight, Loki offers both teams of mutants the chance of a lifetime- to finally be human. Of course, both teams don't realize that it's Loki who's working behind the curtains. So at first, most of the heroes are eager at the chance at being normal; especially characters like Cyclops, Puck and Nightcrawler, whose mutant abilities and appearances make any chance at a normal life impossible. Obviously, Wolverine smells a rat and some of the Alpha Flight team don't want to lose what makes them individuals. Thus, when things don't go perfectly, Loki reveals himself and has a massive hissy fit!

New Mutants Special Edition starts off with the newest generation of gifted mutants enjoying a day at the beach. At this point in time, Storm of the X-Men, has lost her powers. Yet, she valiantly leads the New Mutants with bravery and bravado. This very much intrigues Loki who kidnaps Ororo. While under her spell, Loki offers her all the powers of a god, as long as she'll become his betrothed. 

The New Mutants are dispersed all through Asgard and placed in ideal situations in hopes that the youth will enjoy their new surroundings and forget the whole thing about their teacher getting taken. It seems to work at first. But as memories of their past on earth start breaking through, the teens manage to find themselves. But the collective whole of the New Mutants just isn't enough to take on Loki and his newly juiced up bride-to-be Storm!

The New Mutants story continues in the X-Men annual. Somehow the X-Men have been alerted to Loki's plot and still angry over the Norse deity's actions with Alpha Flight, the mutants are looking for payback.

Chris Claremont penned all 3 stories. They're reflections of his skill as a writer as well as his annoying tendency to turn mutant tales into soap opera fodder. Paul Smith and Bob Wiacek were the artists on the X-Men and Alpha Flight. Adams penciled the New Mutants story and the annual. While Smith and Wiacek's art was good, Art Adams work was light years ahead. Let's face it, Adams is a master and if he only had a body of work that equalled Kirby or Ditko, he'd be a serious contender for Mount Rushmore of Artists contention. 

A good collection of stories. Some of your favorite Asgardians guest stars in these pages. But no appearance from everyone's favorite. That's right; Beta Ray Bill is nowhere in sight. Neither is this golden haired impostor named Thor.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #159

As the Vengeance story comes to a close, 3 new segments appear in this book. Two are the beginning of multi-parters. One is a one-and-done short story.

The Vengeance story is on fire- literally! As great as the female Spirit of Vengeance known as Phantome is; this 4-parter is her only appearances in the MCU. Why hasn't she returned? This is a matter CB Cebluski needs to fix right away! Bring Phantome back and I'll start buying new issues of Ghost Rider monthly!

The Hawkeye story is actually more of a U.S. Agent and Force Works story. Hawkeye has gone rogue for some reason. Force Works has the chance to bring him in but they refuse. That is except for U.S. Agent who goes all half-cocked and decides to find the Avenger/Thunderbolt/former circus performer on his own.

The New Warriors story actually has New Warriors in it this time. First of all, I hadn't realized that the Namorita/Kymaera story had ended last issue. Oops. But it appears that having the whole team around makes for a much better story. Plus, Slapstick the living cartoon is involved! This looks to be a fun one!

The single issue story stars one of my personal favs- Nick Fury. Again, I don't understand why Wolverine gets over 100 issues of appearances and Fury only gets an occasional one-shot here and there. But it seems that the head of SHIELD can do about a dozen issues worth of action and adventure in just 8 short pages. Kudos to writer Glenn Greenberg (Star Trek: Untold Voyages) for making me feel like I experienced a blockbuster spy thriller with one of my absolute favorite characters!

An all-around fun issue. Full of action but nothing too preachy or sentimental for once. Plus, NO WOLVERINE!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #121

It's the penultimate chapter of the Wolverine/Venom story. It's been 5 chapters so far and really not much has happened except for a lot of mutant and symbiote backbiting. 

Yet, we get this 8-pager starring a minor Atlantean character called Andromeda and more happens in that story that 40 pages of Wolverine and Venom plus another 24 pages of a really weird adventure seeing Ghost Rider assisting Cloak & Dagger!

In the Andromeda story, the warlord Attuma has once again captured Atlantis and is about to lead an assault on the surface world. With Namor nowhere in sight, Andromeda and a bunch of bourgeois Atlanteans get together and overthrow one of Attuma's warlords by unleashing the Kraken! Literally!

In the other 8-pager, the Native American member of the New Mutants Moonstar. Recently, Moonstar discovered that she's got some Asgardian gifts and abilities after a recent adventure in Valhalla. Wanting to make sure Moonstar doesn't forget her heritage, a pair of Native American deities seek to test the young mutant by guilting her into forsaking the world of the white man.

Why is it that the one shot stories seem to get more done than the supposedly way better flip-cover stories starring Wolverine and Ghost Rider? I'm glad I didn't pay full price for these books back in the 90s. I think I would have been so peeved by the crappiness of the main lead stories that I never would have finished the complete run. Thus, resulting in missing out on a lot of really good short stories starring characters that I never would have known even existed.

Here's to Marvel doing an amazing job on its lesser known properties with a lot of up-and-coming talent. I just wish this extended over to the heavy hitter stuff.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Comics Presents #22

If you haven't seen the latest Marvel flick, Eternals, don't read this review.

If you do so anyway, don't blame me. Yes, I am spoiling something about the film. But I haven't seen Eternals either. 

This issue features an 8-pager by that latest darling of the MCU- Starfox. It's an off-the-wall tale that was refreshing considering how grim a lot of the material in MCP is. 

The Cyclops tale is about a terrible virus designed to wipe out the mutant population. The Black Panther story is about apartheid, racism and hate. And then there's the other 8-page one-shot starring Wolfsbane and Mirage of the New Mutants. It was about indigenous peoples and their loss of identity to white suppression.

For those of you who claim that today's comics from Marvel and DC are WOKE; let me just say Marvel Comics Presents was woke long before the alarm went off. 

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with these type of stories. It's just if you are looking for stories to cheer you up and feel good about yourself and maybe even humanity- only the Starfox story is gonna do that for you.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Fanfare #55

 As a kid, I hated Power Pack. Now, as an adult, not much has changed. I always thought they had stupid names, stupid powers, and were extremely bratty. Some may say “But that’s how kids are.” Well, I didn’t go for it. Thankfully, the Pack gets some help from New Mutants guest stars Warlock and Magik. So, the first half of Fanfare isn’t a complete loss.

  Then in the second feature, Wolverine’s storyline about a wannabe Dr. Moreau is concluded. Some pretty great actions sequences and as always there is a poignant ending that preaches against hate, bigotry, etc. AND it’s not too overly preachy either.

  Not my ideal read. But it had some pretty good moments and the art in both features was quite good.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.