Fantastic Four 492

Fantastic Four 492
Jan 2003

Sentient (Part 2 of 3)
By Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, Karl Kesel

The fight with the living equation, which turns out to be an expression, according to Mr. Fantastic, continues, rages on. When Sue and Ben aren’t looking the math looking thing dives into Sue’s communicator and transports it self to Johnny’s communicator.

Johnny is in the middle of a business meeting near a pool with supermodels in skimpy outfits. Someone is trying to sell him on the idea of licensing unstable molecules to a clothing designer. Johnny’s about to sign a business agreement when the living math expression materializes from his communicator. It wants to kill Johnny. They fight.

Catwoman (2002) 9

Catwoman (2002) 9
Jul 2002

Disguises (Part 4)
By Ed Brubaker, Brad Raider, Rich Burchett, Matt Hollingsworth

Catwoman talks to Detective Crispus Alllen. She lets him in on what she and Slam Bradley have cooked up. After stealing diamonds from the gangsters in the last issue they are now using the rocks as bait to snare the dirty cops who shot Holly.

In the end everything doesn’t work out exactly as planned or as I envisioned it. There is a nice twist in the tale that impressed me at a point when I thought the story had become a bit too predictable.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit 2.1

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol 1
By Motoro Mase

Episode 2: The Last Song

Act 1

There are two potential victims in this story. They are street performers, a musical act. Hidekazu Morio writes the songs and plays the guitar. Torio Tababe sings. They perform under the name Komatsuna for about a year before breaking up. Hidekazu thinks they need to continue to practice and refine their act. Torio thinks they are ready for the big time. They get approached by a representative of a record company one night. He expresses an interest in their music but he is only interested in signing Torio to a contract. Torio is tired of Hidekazu’s insistence that they need more practice and quits the group.

Fantastic Four 491

Fantastic Four 491
Dec 2002

Sentient (Part 1 of 3)
By Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, Karl Kesel

Reed is concerned about a couple mishaps in the past couple issues and has yet to figure out their cause. It occurs to him that he has tested Franklin his son but not Valeria his daughter for abnormalities in her DNA. Reed and Sue rush back to the Baxter Building. Reed conducts tests but finds nothing. Sue and Ben go to see a movie, Reed is too tired to join them. They are attacked by a living formula that escaped from Reed’s PDA or tablet.

Catwoman (2002) 8

Catwoman (2002) 8
Jul 2002

Disguises (Part 3)
By Ed Brubaker, Brad Raider, Rich Burchett, Matt Hollingsworth

This one is mostly action as Selina and Slam work together to pull a fast one on the dirty cops. Slam pulls his weight but it is her idea. There isn’t much in the way of fighting but it is all plot, not much in the way of character development.

I like the pacing and the way the story develops. There are a few pages narrated by Selina.

Marvel Team-Up 134

Marvel Team-Up 134
Oct 1983

The Boy’s Night Out
By Bill Mantlo, Ron Frenz, Mike Esposito

The Jack of Hearts narrates as he breaks free from his SHIELD minders and heads to Empire State University. He is looking for Marcy Kane, an old flame of his, and an acquaintance of Peter Parker. Jack crosses paths with Peter but the encounter is a brief one.

Jack’s SHIELD minders track him and do their best to apprehend him. Spider-Man helps Jack fight off his would-be captors until he discovers who they are. Jack ultimately decides to return home and allow to SHIELD to keep him there.

Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1

1970s - 1981
By Ed Piskor

This is a tough one to summarize except in very broad terms. There is no main character. The book is about the evolution of Hip Hop music, mostly in New York City, from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. The ending point is a 10 minute segment that ran on 20/20 in 1981.

There are lots of characters in this story. Some show up frequently, some not so much. Some names I know but most of them are new to me. Among the names I know are some whose names I recognize but don’t really know or cannot recall anything about. Many characters who show in the book at a point prior to when they hit it big in a mainstream sort of way, which is when I probably would have first heard of them.

Catwoman (2002) 7

Catwoman (2002) 7
Jun 2002

Disguises (Part 2)
By Ed Brubaker, Brad Raider, Rich Burchett, Cameron Stewart, Matt Hollingsworth

Selina takes Holly from the scene of the crime. She’s in pretty bad shape. She got shot through the shoulder. Selina leaves Holly with Dr. Thompkins and goes looking for Slam Bradley. She finds Slam in his apartment. She convinces him to lend a hand. He has a contact inside the GCPD, someone he can trust, Detective Farrucci, who isn’t on the take.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit 1.3

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol 1
By Motoro Mase

Episode 1: The End of Vengeance

Act 3

Yosuke tries to burn Shimoyama using lighter fluid and a zippo but Shimoyama fights back. Yosuke does cut his opponent’s hand pretty badly with the knife.

After the fight he doesn’t feel any better. He starts to see the futility of his actions. I thought for a moment there he was contemplating suicide but he doesn’t. His thoughts get interrupted by a blast from the past. He sees a kid getting beaten up in a park by some other kids, presumably his classmates. After the other kids run off Yosuke tells the kid not to wait for things to get better. He tells him to fight back now.

Jack of Hearts 2

Jack of Hearts 2
Feb 1984

Heart to Heart
By Bill Mantlo, George Freeman

Jack is free but pursued by those who were his keepers (SHIELD) and by aliens who seek to capture him. Jack understands SHIELD’s motivations and Marcy explains to him who the aliens are and why they are after him. They are from Contraxia, the same planet that Jack’s mother and Marcy Kane came from. Marcy reveals her true appearance and her origin and then proceeds to tell Jack, with the help of some Contraxian technology, all about her home world.

She-Hulk

I got curious today and started to do some research about She-Hulk. I read about 2 years worth of She-Hulk, when Dan Slott was writing the book in the early 2000s. I also remember she was a member of the Fantastic Four when John Byrne was writing and drawing that book. Aside from that I really didn't know that much about her.

Secret Identity: Jennifer Walters
First Appearance: Savage She-Hulk 1 (Feb 1980)

She-Hulk's first appearance outside of her own comic book was in Marvel Team-Up 107 (Jul 1981). She also appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Annual 15 (1981) that year. Savage She-Hulk was canceled after 25 issues in Feb 1982.

Catwoman (2002) 6

Catwoman (2002) 6
Jun 2002

Disguises (Part 1)
By Ed Brubaker, Brad Raider, Cameron Stewart, Matt Hollingsworth

Holly is the focus of this chapter. It opens with her taking a personality test. The results of the test are a recurring theme that Holly thinks about as she goes about her business. She works for Selina now, hunting down leads. She's also a recovering heroin addict and that also plays into the story.

Two worlds collide for Holly when she visits her girlfriend, Karen. Someone interrupts them to tell Holly where she can find David G, a drug dealer. Karen gets angry at Holly. She doesn’t know that Holly is working for Catwoman, only what she just heard and that Holly told her she was clean.

Holly makes up a story which is partly true. Karen seems satisfied.

Holly goes looking for David G. She finds him but he rubs her the wrong way. She’s convinced he’s a cop. She follows him. He meets up with a couple men. They are cops and her hunch turns out to be correct, he is a cop. The men get into an argument. It isn’t entirely clear what the argument is about but David G winds up dead, shot in the back of the head, execution style.

The cops hadn’t noticed Holly but after she sees what went down she panics and unintentionally reveals her presence. They come after her guns a-blazing. She gets shot through the right shoulder and it doesn’t look good for her as the chapter ends.

Selina is on her way. Holly called her before she started eves dropping but it isn’t clear how far away Catwoman is.

I like the change in focus. I like Holly. I like the visual story telling. It doesn’t blow me away but it works.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit 1.2

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Vol 1
By Motoro Mase

Episode 1: The End of Vengeance

Act 2

Yosuke decides to get revenge on some of his former classmates. He takes a knife from home and surprises Kaori. Four years ago she took pictures of him with his pants down while he was being bullied. She shared them and they spread them throughout school. She barely remembers him now. He catches her off guard in a park at night and rapes her. He takes pictures and then leaves her there.