Marvel Comics

Savage Avenging

| Costas Barbatsis

When I read the announcment that there will be a new Avengers title I wasn’t that thrilled, in my opinion there should only be one team and one title.

This new team would be called the Savage Avengers and feature Wolverine, Elektra, Punisher, Venom, Doctor Voodoo and suprisingly Conan!

Conan? How? Why?

What is he doing in Earth-616?

I definently have to catch up with my marvel history i’ve missed out on

Im very fond of his group, for each and every one of these characters I have a soft spot and I really like that they brought them all together.

But they are not truly Avenger material, yes they are savage but not Avengers

All of them are dark, brutal and lethal. They deal with the dark parts of the Marvel Universe in a violent way, they are anti heroes.

Obviously I was curious on how this new lineup will became an Avengers team and how well will these characters blend and interact with each other.

But what got me to pick up this comic book was the creative team of Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr.

I’m HUGE fan of Deodota’s art from way back in the ’90s and recently whenever I read a comic from Duggan I just loved it and I wanted to read more of it., l was confident that the two of them they make a good story

They did, from the very first pages I start reading the Savage Avengers: City of Sickles I was captivated, the art was stunning and as each character was introduced into the story they seemed true to how I knew them.

Each character showed the aspect wich made me fond of them, I enjoyed each and every interaction from fighting scenes to conversations.

The story was well thought out and although you thought it was a simple case of beating the evil it had an interesting twist at the end.

This new team of anti heroes are bound to each other from now on, Gerry Duggan found a very smart way to do this and I’m so glad he did and

And the art oh my so amazing!!!.

I do understand the title now it’s a smart one, Savage because they are savage and they came together as a team in the Savage land and they are Avengers because they have something to avenge.

They might have connections to our all favourite superhero team of mighty Avengers but they are not. This is a team that just want to avenge for what they went through in a savage way.

Read it you will enjoy it !

House of X: A house of greatness

| Costas Barbatsis


Jonathan Hickman has come back to Marvel and he has taken over the X-Men.

If you ever read his run on Avengers you know his stories are of epic proportions and that’s how it will be for the X-Men as well.

In a single issue he has taken the truth of what the X-Men are and expanded it to a level higher than what we fans believed it could ever happen. It’s revealed as the story unfolds in the first issue of House of X that our merry mutants have finally achieved greatness and they seem happy and serene!

They were outcasts and uncanny monsters who society feared and hated, they were scattered and hunted around the world and divided among themselves out of hope and fear on how they can fit in with the rest of mankind. Now they have chosen to become a nation of powerful individuals who separate themselves from the rest of the world in a peaceful way.

There is a “house” now that can shelter them and all can be part of, they feel safe.

They have matured and use their powers to advance as a nation for a better life for themselves and offer solutions for humankind. In return for what they offer to humans they demand to be recognized, accepted and left alone to prosper in a nation of there own, to be free and become what they always truly were, the new gods of this world.

This new era we are introduced by Jonathan Hickman is written with interactions and dialogues of how we would expect the various characters of the X-Men family to be, there is respect of who they are and they seem true to how we know them. All this is portrayed by artist Pepe Larraz in a wonderful way and Matre Garcia’s colours are stunning!

I do believe that the creative team of House of X has succeeded in making the X-Men to be yet again part of what Marvel truly represents, the House of ideas!

I strongly suggest for you to read it, there are great things to come along!

New Mutants: Dead Souls

| Costas Barbatsis

I’m a big fan of the New Mutants, I was 13 years old when I first read issue 4 of volume one and since then I have been following how their stories progress in different comic book titles. So obviously I had to read the newest limited series about them that came out.

New Mutants: Dead Souls is a 6 issue limited series written by Matthew Rosenberg, penciled & inked by Adam Gorham and coloured by Michael Garland. Issue one came out in May 2018 and issue six which was the final issue of the limited series came out in October 2018.

The limited series focuses on a new set of team members from the New Mutant history. This new roaster consists of Karma, Magik & Wolfsbane three of the original members, Boom Boom & Rictor who joined the original team along the way and are better known as members of X-Force, Strong Guy & Prodigy who are the newest additions. This wasn’t a roaster I was looking forward too especially as I did not see how these characters are linked and how they will interact with each other.

Luckily Rosenberg wove such a story rich with threads of the New Mutant and X-Men history. I was so glad how the characters seemed so true both as to what I knew of them and also in how they have matured and evolved without dismissing the continuity that has defined them.

The art by Gorham was very much to my taste, a bit of gritty/realistic as l like to call it. It has a lot of detail and cool face expressions and what l absolutely enjoyed was that each character had his distinctive look and style which made them different and recognizable. It’s not easy to achieve this.

I really enjoyed this limited series which I did not like at the beginning for the choice of its team roaster but I loved it for the character interaction and for the continuous history and true continuity mentions, it made a good story even better. But l wish it did not end the way it did. It seemed more of a cliffhanger for a next issue then a nearly tied up story.

Its not a comic book series for a jump on point for new readers or a fresh start of reintroducing the New Mutants but I do believe its a great comic book for long-standing fans.

I would definitely suggest it for hardcore New Mutant and X-men fans, you will absolutely enjoy it.

The Immortal HULK

| Costas Barbatsis

What I am currently reading on Marvel Unlimited is the Immortal HULK, written by Al Ewing and penciled by Joe Bennet with colours by Paul Mounts and inks by Ruy José Each issue has covers by Alex Ross! Up to now I have read three issues which I liked them so much that I though I should
spread the word.

Issue one of the Immortal Hulk was interesting although I did think I have seen this approach to the character before.

With issue two I had the impression on how the storyline would go, it had a darker feeling to it almost a touch of a horror movie which I liked a lot.

And issue three was simply entertaining!!! One story said by the point of view of four people which means each view was portrayed by the unique style of four different artists Leonardo Romero, Paul Hornschemeier, Marguerite Sauvage and Gary Brown with Joe Bennet doing the framing sequence! It was an amazing issue and I enjoyed reading every single page of it.

Al Ewing is reintroducing the dynamic duo personalities of Bruce Banner and Hulk in a way that I believe will entertain both old and new readers and Joe Bennet’s art is just perfect, defined and detailed!

I will be back for issue four and I strongly suggest for you to check it out.