The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is a 1995 one-shot comic book written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Doug Braithwaite. It was recommended to me by Lee who looks after the Quit Your Day Job blog. The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is one of the "What If...?" story lines, which hypothesise what would happen to various Marvel characters had some thing gone differently in their lives, they had taken a different path, were born with different powers, or had no powers at all. The "What If...?" stories are considered to exist separately from the mainstream Marvel Universe continuity. With that out of the way, lets get back to The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe...

The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe asks the question, what would happen if Frank Castle blamed the deaths of his family on the Marvel super powered community, and if so, how would he go about "punishing" them. The story begins with young Frank standing up for a young Matt Murdock, protecting him from some local bullies.

Skip forward some 20-30 years, Frank Castle's family are alive and well, and Frank has joined the NYPD SWAT team since leaving the marines. Cut to Central Park where some of Marvel's biggest names, X-Men and Avengers included, are battling some intergalactic bad guys. While the good guys win, the victory is not without consequences as a number of innocent civilians are killed in the cross fire. Among them, Frank Castle's wife and child. When Frank arrives on the scene he is finally met with a half hearted apology from the X-Men's Cyclops, which sets Frank off, shooting Cyclops from point blank range, before turning the gun on some of the other 'heroes'. He is then attacked by Wolverine, before being taken into custody. » Read the rest of the entry..

As a comic geek, I felt that it was my duty to go along and see The Dark Knight a second time. Since I loved it so much the first time, for my second viewing I decided to go big, and it doesn't get much bigger than IMAX. Needless to say, The Dark Knight blew me away for a second time, although this time it was on a much bigger scale!

In my opinion, Christopher Nolan has nailed the essence of Batman, and Heath Ledger's macabre and twisted portrayal of the Joker ensures that The Dark Knight sets a new standard for comic book movies. If you haven't seen the movie yet, stop reading this and get along to your local cinema. You won't be disappointed. » Read the rest of the entry..

'Messiah Complex' was the biggest storyline to hit the X-Men franchise since the 'House of M'. It's one of those "must read" story arcs if you intend to follow the adventures of any of the X-Men teams from 2008 onward. Messiah Complex is told over 13 chapters, beginning with the X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot, and then continuing in four of the X-Men monthlys, Uncanny X-Men #492-494, X-Factor #25-27, New X-Men #44-46 and X-Men #205-207. Following on from Messiah Complex, all four 'X-Books' underwent a relaunch, based upon the outcome of Messiah Complex.

To follow the events in Messiah Complex I'd recommend reading 'The House of M' arc as well as the X-Men 'Supernovas' and 'Blinded by the Lights' collections.

The Messiah Complex story really began at the conclusion of the House of M, and the event known as 'M-Day', in which a vast majority of the mutant population was de-powered. The X-Gene itself has all but disappeared, and there have been no new mutant births since M-Day. With mutants bordering on extinction, Messiah Complex begins with the explosive birth, literally, of a mutant. This sparks a race between the X-Men, Mr Sinister and the Marauders, the Acolytes, the Reavers, the Purifiers, and Predator X to see who will get to the child first. Clearly each group has it's own motivations, and the line between good and evil begins to blur in some cases. » Read the rest of the entry..

I picked up the hardcover version of the limited series The Hood, which collects the entire 2002 limited series, issues #1-6, on a whim. Actually, I ordered it because I thought the cover looked cool. Yes, I am that shallow. Fortunately this is another case where sometimes it's ok to judge a book by its cover. The Hood marks the first appearance of Parker Robbins, and was released under the Marvel MAX banner, which allows it to cover some decidedly more "adult" themes.

The Hood is very much an origins story, following the transformation of a young Parker Robbins into the costumed villain The Hood. This series is a must read if you are wanting to learn more about the character that looks set to replace the Kingpin as the number one organized crime boss in the Marvel universe, and are following the New Avengers series.

What makes The Hood an interesting read is that the story takes the traditional super hero formula of personal misfortune, power and the responsibility to do good, and turns it on its head. As the blurb says, in the case of Parker Robbins, "with great power... comes great opportunity".

Parker Robbins is a petty criminal. His late father was a soldier in the Kingpin's criminal army, his mother has been committed to an institution, and his girlfriend is pregnant. When Parker and his cousin, John King decide to take a job robbing a warehouse, they don't find the goods they have been promised. Instead they stumbled onto an abandoned mystical ritual, that appears to have resulted in the summoning of a demon (later revealed as the Nisanti). Parker shoots and apparently kills the Nisanti, a demonic, hooded creature, and, not wanting to leave empty handed, proceeds to steal the creatures weird looking hood/cape and boots.

Parker quickly learns that the hood and the boots possess some strange powers. The hood has the power to render its wearer invisible (so long as they are holding their breath), whilst the boots allow the wearer levitate.
» Read the rest of the entry..

Captain America is dead, but that doesn't mean that this is the end. Captain America: The Death of Captain America Vol.1 collects issues #25-30 of the Captain America comic. Having brought back Captain America's World War 2 sidekick, the long though dead Bucky Barnes, as the Winter Soldier, legendary scribe Ed Brubaker found a way to ramp things up another notch by killing a comic legend.

Issue 25 of Captain America picks up at the conclusion of the Marvel Civil War, with Steve Rogers having surrendered to authorities and about to stand trial. As an underground Nick Fury, the Winter Soldier and Agent 13 (Sharon Carter), plot to free Captain America from custody, his old nemesis the Red Skull is plotting to have him killed. The death of Captain America is somewhat of an anti-climax in that, while he dies "heroically", it is not the usual superhero death you may have expected. Shot by a sniper as he's being escorted into Court, Steve Rogers dies on the way to hospital. That's it, no big explosions, no dying to save the world from a Nuclear Holocaust, just an average bullet.

Rogers death throws the lives of those around him into chaos. The Winter Soldier is hell bent on tracking down the killer, while Agent 13 struggles to come to terms with a "shocking" discovery.

You would think that a comic would struggle to maintain momentum after it's title character is killed off, but surprisingly this isn't the case. The Death of Captain America picks up pace if anything and it's no big surprise to learn that Bucky is the guy most likely to pick up the Captain America mantle.

Captain America: The Death of Captain America, Vol. 1 is a solid story, although it has to be said, there is a lot of set up for future plot lines in this six issue collection, as Brubaker establishes Bucky Barnes as the central character. This is recommended reading if you intend to follow the Captain America series, but would also be a good time to drop off if the death of Captain America was the only thing keeping you around. » Read the rest of the entry..

I've decided to give phase one, stage one, of the latest linkback project a go. So here it goes...

If this sort of thing isn't your bag, check out these posts:

• screen shots from the Wolverine Trailer
• Watchmen review and preview of new trailer
• Batman: Turning Points - a look at the short run series exploring the relationship between Gordon and Batman.

» Read the rest of the entry..

World War Hulk was the first major cross over story line to be published by Marvel comics since the conclusion of the Civil War arc. World War Hulk consisted of a five issue main series, written by Greg Pak and illustrated by John Romita Jr., as well as three other limited series, World War Hulk: Frontline, World War Hulk: Gamma Corps, and World War Hulk: X-Men, and appearances in other regular Marvel series.

World War Hulk picks up from where the one-shot World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker finishes. The plot is a culmination of a series of events spanning the preceding 12-15 issues of Incredible Hulk, in which the Illuminati (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Black Bolt and Dr. Strange), trick Hulk into being sent into space and subsequently exiled to the planet Sakaar, as seen in the Planet Hulk series. Planet Hulk is a must read, particularly if you want to figure out what is going on in World War Hulk. » Read the rest of the entry..

Batman: Turning Points was a five issues mini-series focusing on the symbiotic, yet sometimes strained, relationship between Batman and Commissioner Gordon. The five issues have been collected in trade paper back form.

The five issues cover five distinctly different stories and time periods throughout Batman's career. The first issue finds Batman attempting to build up a level of trust with Gordon. The second involves Gordon attempting to reconcile in his own mind the moral implications of allowing Batman to take on a younger side kick, Robin.

The third, and perhaps most interesting story takes place shortly after the events of the classic one-shot "The Killing Joke" in which the Joker had shot Gordon's daughter in the spine, paralysing her, in an attempt to prove his point that anyone can be driven to insanity if they have "just one bad day". In this story, Batman is having trouble dealing with the guilt associated with these events, ignoring his "obligations" whilst a serial killer roams free in Gotham.

The fourth issue takes place after the events of Knightfall, in which Batman is recovering from a heavy defeat, and Azrael is temporarily standing in as Batman until Bruce Wayne can get back on his feet. This story had a couple of flaws, the major one for me being that for some reason Gordon wasn't able to identify that the 'new' Batman, was not the one he had been dealing with for years.

The fifth issue connected back to the first story, however, to be blunt, not a lot happened.

Overall Batman: Turning Points was an average collection. DC clearly called in the who's who of writing talent with Rucka, Dixon, and Brubaker all contributing, which is perhaps the most disappointing aspect with regard to Turning Points. Even with all that talent on board, they still only managed to turn out an average collection. The artwork is most definitely "old school". The cover is a good indication of what you'll find inside. If that annoys you, look elsewhere.

What did I learn? Sometimes you really should judge a book by its cover.

Would I recommend it? I wouldn't recommend this to the casual reader or Batman fan. Arguably this collection is for the Batman 'completests' only. » Read the rest of the entry..