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..

'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..

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..

The Wolverine: Origins movie is set to hit cinemas some time in 2009. Besides the release of a couple of official images as well as casting announcements, not a lot else about the movie has made it out... until now.

I was trawling through some comics forums when I found some screen shots taken from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine teaser trailer screened recently at Comic-Con in the US. I've done a little cropping of the photos and tried to tidy them up, with limited success. They are obviously screen captures from footage taken with a video camera, so don't expect pristine picture quality.

Let's start with a couple of shots of young Wolverine. These seem to be very close to a couple of the panels from the Wolverine Origin series. Take note of the bone claws.

» Read the rest of the entry..

There have been a couple of attempts now to bring Marvel's favorite band of mutants to the small screen in cartoon form. The latest incarnation is "Wolverine and the X-Men". With the Wolverine movie set to hit the big screen in 2009, it makes sense for the cartoon to try and cash in on one of Marvel's most bankable commodities.

The first full length trailer for the new "Wolverine and the X-Men" series is posted below. I have to say, I'm not all that impressed with the 'cookie cutter' standard of animation on show here. I was expecting a little more. Eagle eyed Marvel spotters will notice a brief cameo from the Hulk, which makes me wonder how many other Marvel characters will cross over. » Read the rest of the entry..

When New Mutants #98 first hit the stands in 1991 there was something that set it apart from the other comics around at the time. No, I'm not Rob Liefeld's absurdly over the top characterisations, bulging muscles, and proliferation of pointless pouches*. As you can see from the cover of New Mutants #98, drawing people does not appear to be one of Liefeld's strong points. Some would have considered this to be a major road block on the path to comics stardom. Not Mr Liefeld.

Whilst it is difficult to determine the exact number of atrocities committed on the comic community by Liefeld, it is important to remember that, in 1991, he was one of the most popular artists on Marvel's payroll. Furthermore, Liefeld's legacy is not all doom and gloom, without him, we would be without the teachings of Deadpool.

When we first meet the "Merc with the Mouth", he's a red suit wearing guy with skinny legs and weird feet (thanks Liefeld!). Granted, Deadpool's first appearance is a brief one. Deadpool is contracted to take out would-be world saviour Cable. After dealing out an ass spanking to Cable and a couple of other bit players (Boom Boom anyone?), Deadpool is unceremoniously stabbed in the back, literally, by Cable's on-again/off-again flame, Domino.

What can we learn from this?

Don't turn your back on a women that has a better than average chance at being able to throw knives and have them hit you in the back pointy end first.

Dodgy art work aside, copies of New Mutants #98 in excellent condition have been known to go for upward of $100US on eBay. With Deadpool due to make an appearance in the Wolverine Origins movie, his stocks are most definitely on the rise.

* If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings".