Friday, April 25, 2008

New Avengers – Breakout | Comics

In wake of a major prison break at Raft, Captain America assembles an unlikely band of heroes to form New Avengers.

When Scarlet Witch lost control over her reality-altering power, it caused a series of events that took the lives of Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Vision. With a few many broken members of The Avengers left but no funding to keep them running, their team has finally been disbanded and everyone went their separate ways from then on.

Six months later, lawyer Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson takes Luke Cage as their bodyguard to maximum-security prison Raft at Ryker's Island to see a client. They are greeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jessica Drew AKA Spider-Woman, who escorted them to inner levels underwater, all full of super-powered murdering maniacs and psychopaths.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Dillon is contacted by a guy in shadows at his cell to stage a prison break. Wearing his Electro costume, he unleashes his power that killed all generators on Raft, which frees almost every captive super-villain from their captivity and even caused a massive blackout that engulfed the nearby city of New York.

Back at his apartment, Peter Parker planned on having some free time with his wife Mary Jane Watson but his plan is cut short when everything goes dark and he sees a lightning bolt striking on Raft. So, he quickly dresses up as Spider-Man and latches onto a helicopter to get a fast ride there, which got suddenly got hit and he falls into water.

new avengers breakout marvel comics brian michael bendis david finch
New Avengers – Breakout | Comics

He swam through freezing cold water only to be greeted by Captain America on board, who also landed on that S.H.I.E.L.D. chopper. A second explosion goes off suddenly and they see Electro fleeing with someone. Surrounded by enemies, Spidey is thrown into a gauntlet of adversaries, lost his mask and got his arm broken by Jigsaw.

Murdock asks Jessica to take him to his client and they see a scruffy-looking loner inside that cell, whom he reveals to be The Sentry, most powerful super hero on Earth and are voluntary serving a sentence for allegedly killing his wife. As they try to convince him to help them escape right now, Carnage showed up out of nowhere.

To secure his friend Foggy, Murdock throws him into cell and he eventually managed to get Sentry back in action. Breaking out of his cell door, Robert Reynolds grabs Carnage and then rips him apart after taking him straight to space. Cage and Drew managed to take down Mr. Hyde before Hydro-Man slowly starts drowning them.

They still got out joining an ensuing fight alongside Cap and Spidey, which doesn't look good at all. Iron Man drops by to catch Cap mid-air when he was thrown away by Ironclad and join the party. Luke Cage comes across his arch-nemesis Purple Man, who orders him to first kill all his hero-buddies present there and then kill himself.

He was badly beaten down by Cage in response because he was sedated and his mind-power didn't work on him until he was stopped by Cap. Things wrapped up pretty fast when Sentry returns from his short trip and next day, Steve Rogers proposes to Tony Stark about forming an Avengers team with these newly assembled heroes.

One by one, he approached Cage, Jessica and Peter Parker to help him recapture 42 escaped prisoners. With an exception of Daredevil, everyone else gladly agrees to be part of his new team and meets at Stark Tower. They took Electro into custody and found clues that lead them to Savage Land, looking for Karl Lykos AKA Sauron.

Unable to access his S.H.I.E.L.D. file, New Avengers heads to the land of dinosaurs in a Quinjet that is stomped by a Tyranasaurus moments after their arrival. As they all got split up after that, Cage and Drew encounter X-Men member, Wolverine.

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Raft Prison Break

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New Avengers 01

New Avengers 02

New Avengers 03

New Avengers 04

New Avengers 05

New Avengers 06

Here is your links to buy "New Avengers – Breakout" from Marvel Comics on Amazon.

New Avengers – Breakout (Softcover)

New Avengers – Breakout (Hardcover)

Following events of "Avengers Disassembled", writer Brian Michael Bendis (House of M, Secret War) and artist David Finch (Moon Knight – Midnight Sun, Moon Knight – The Bottom) was hired by Marvel Comics to work on a spin-off series titled, New Avengers and "Breakout" is its first storyline that forms the foundation of their team.

With Fantastic Four out of scene and X-Men preoccupied, there is literally no one to stop any global threat and so, the assembled heroes formed a new team that aims to be a better version of Avengers. In the mean time, capturing escaped super-villains from Raft prison break keeps them busy until they come across some real threat.

new avengers breakout captain america spider-man iron man spider-woman luke cage wolverine sentry marvel comics brian michael bendis david finch
New Order of Avengers

Bendis successfully orchestrated a setting where some unlikely allies will assemble together for a single cause and bringing in 87 maniacal persona of Marvel Universe into that mix was a recipe that perfectly worked out for his plan. He also kept Spider-Woman's behavior somewhat mysterious to explore further in a later occasion.

Considering first story to debut a new series, "Breakout" spawns more secrets from friends and enemies than it actually resolves. Collecting first six issues of New Avengers monthly ongoing comic-book run, it is followed by "Sentry" up next that sees a long-awaited return of a classic superhero with a side order of a menacing terror.
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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Batman – Under the Hood | Comics

A buried past from many years ago comes back to haunt The Dark Knight as a brutal vigilante named Red Hood.

Years ago, when his first Robin, Dick Grayson was fired from duty for disobedience to his master (Nightwing – Year One), The Dark Knight started working alone again for some time. Even before when Tim Drake was drafted into this holy war against crime as The Boy Wonder, a brave, young boy from harsh streets of Crime Alley was recruited to a life-long crusade against crime.

That young boy, Jason Todd has eventually become the second Robin because of his unique potential after Batman apprehends him while trying to steal tire of Batmobile and soon Jason have learnt many feats of combat from his new mentor.

Though he was always overseen by Batman whenever they were on patrol, Jason was quite capable of defending himself on his own. However, the boy had a very bad-temper which would always get the best of him. Batman was afraid of this ever-so reckless attitude and often argued with him to rectify his mind-set.

Eventually, Jason got tricked and captured by The Joker in one instance and has nearly beaten him to death with a crowbar before leaving him for dead, rigged with explosives. Jason dies in an explosion before Batman could have ever reached out to rescue him in time (A Death in The Family).

batman red hood
Batman – Under the Hood | Comics

Years after, a mysterious figure suddenly starts terrorizing Gotham City criminal underworld that is currently dominated by a new crime-lord known as Black Mask, aided by right-hand man Li. This mysterious identity proclaims himself to be Red Hood and not only his actions have changed the tide of criminal underworld, it also drew Batman's attention.

He has been taking money from underworld goons and killing many of the drug-dealers in Gotham on occasion. To stop him for good, Black Mask starts assembling his men from everywhere and even enlists help from reputed super-villain Mister Freeze.

Meanwhile, Nightwing visits Gotham to accompany his mentor and they ended up following Red Hood, who led them to one of Black Mask’s secret shipment that turns out to be Amazo, an android that was originally designed to defeat every members of Justice League and now it has turned against The Dynamic Duo.

Although, this killer-robot is a pretty tough opponent and a force to be reckoned with, by working together, The Knight and his square managed to successfully take down Professor Ivo's amazing android and in the middle of this chaos, Red Hood managed to slip a crate full of Kryptonite to blackmail Black Mask.

Hiring Mister Freeze against Gotham's new vigilante menace proved less than effective. Plus, a timely intervention from The Bat and his second-in command has calmed the situation pretty quick. As Red Hood continues to hinder crime businesses all over the city, his true intentions and alignment still remains unclear to everyone.

In the mean time, the Clown Prince of Crime was sitting in the Fun House of an abandoned carnival, where Red Hood enters and savagely beats him down with a crowbar. When the latter finally removed his mask, it was revealed to be long presumed-dead Jason Todd.

For more information on Batman – Under the Hood storyline, you can check out these links below.

Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) Wikipedia


Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) DC Wikia


batman vs red hood
Red Hood's First Strike

Here is your links to buy "Batman – Under the Hood" from DC Comics in issues on Amazon.

Batman 635


Batman 636


Batman 637


Batman 638


Batman 639


Batman 640


Batman 641


Batman 645


Batman 646


Batman 647


Batman 648


Batman 649


Batman 650


Batman Annual 25


Here is your links to buy "Batman – Under the Hood" from DC Comics on Amazon.

Batman – Under the Hood Vol 01

Batman – Under the Hood Vol 02

Batman – Under the Hood

Released on 2005 from DC Comics, "Under the Hood" is a thirteen part storyline by renowned comic-book writer Judd Winick (Green Arrow, Green Lantern) and artists Doug Mahnke (Final Crisis, Justice League Elite), Eric Battle and Shane Davis, which ran into first monthly ongoing Batman comic series along with an Annual issue.

 Following the release of controversial "A Death in the Family" storyline in 1988, Jason Todd dies in action and after more than a decade in the wake of “Infinite Crisis” crossover event, he is brought to life in "Under the Hood" storyline as a new anti-hero of Gotham. Bringing Jason back in a new avatar really did wonders for his character as people really liked him as Red Hood more than his time as Robin.

red hood vs joker
The Joker Gets Payback

Events of this storyline was slightly hinted in previously released “Batman – Hush” and “Batman – As the Crow Flies” story arcs from the same publisher. Those tragic panels from "A Death in the Family" storyline is re-created again in an homage with the characters in reverse roles, serving The Joker as a victim to Jason Todd's vicious torture this time.

Script of this book was later adapted into a DC Universe Animated Original Movie titled, Batman – Under the Red Hood, releasing in 2010 and it was a nice adaptation. Actor Jensen Ackles portrayed Jason Todd's role through his voice-over work and it was impressive.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008

New Avengers | Comics

Following events of "Avengers Disassembled", Captain America formed a team of New Avengers during a massive "Breakout".

For long, The Avengers have been a group of superhero friends working together to save the world and always watched each other's backs. They often survived against impossible odds till the very day when Scarlet Witch's mental breakdown brought a series of unforeseen tragedies on all of their lives and they were finally "Disassembled".

Breakout
Years of fighting against evil as a team officially came to an end but when Electro shut down power of maximum-security prison Raft, it caused a massive prison break of 42 super-villains and thus Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and The Sentry came to form an alliance of heroes to contain them.

Cap proposed to Tony Stark that they re-assemble The Avengers once again but proposed to work on their own this time. He then approached Jessica Drew, Luke Cage, Matt Murdock and Peter Parker to join his cause. Except for Murdock, everyone else happily gathered in to Stark Tower and their adventure led them to Savage Land.

As soon as they landed, their Quinjet was crushed by a Tyranasaurus and come across feral X-Man Wolverine Before they could catch up; a group of Savage Land mutates suddenly ambushes and overwhelms them. All of them are riled up in front of Brainchild, who hired Electro to get Karl Lykos AKA Sauron out of Raft at that night.

They went there looking for Lykos and Tony manage to free them right away. Logan immediately gives him a chase but then he transformed into Sauron by feeding his mutant power before getting headshot by second Black Widow, Yelena Belova.

new avengers marvel comics brian michael bendis david finch
New Avengers | Comics

Sentry
Shortly afterwards, Iron Man goes to meet his friends at Illuminati in secret to talk about Robert Reynolds AKA The Sentry but no one seem to know anything about him or even heard of him. Reed Richards apparently has no recollection of sending Murdock to meet him at Raft and none of his files have anything on him, which deeply worries him.

Jessica takes Luke, Spidey and Wolverine to apprehend Wrecker of the Wrecking Crew in Long Island. When they finally wrap up, Tony calls them all to gather at Connecticut, where member s of Fantastic Four, Inhumans, New Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and X-Men have gathered to approach Bob Reynolds only to be attacked by The Void.

Mutant telepath Emma Frost tries to reach a troubled Bob out and discovers that his memories were altered by former Brotherhood of Mutants member Mastermind on behalf of a person who is an arch-nemesis of superhero Sentry. He managed to overcome his demons and agreed to join New Avengers by helping when he could.

Secrets & Lies
On quest of arresting all Raft escapees, Captain America visits Matt Murdock to talk about Keniuchio Harada, whom he recognizes as Silver Samurai. Harada was kept at Ryker's Island maximum security prison and escaped during breakout with help from The Hand but Murdock believes it was probably Clan Yashida who flew him out.

When asked for help, he clearly declined Cap by pointing out his current public image due to his secret identity being revealed. However, he suggests that someone similar can help them find Harada and Cap briefs this new ally about their mission.

Looking for Silver Samurai, they went to Japan and a mysterious person called Ronin joins their team in taking down The Hand only to encounter Madame Hydra. Spider-Woman managed to bag her and then helped her to escape, which raised suspicion of her true motive but Cap eventually vouched for her after hearing her full story.

The Collective
New Avengers stepped in on a call from Maria Hill following Alpha Flight's failed attempt to stop a mass energy Collective born in M-Day's aftermath. None of them were powerful enough to oppose the energy being and Sentry was called in but Ms. Marvel showed up instead to confront it, which restored her long-lost cosmic power.

Iron Man attempting to communicate with the Collective revealed a name that no one could relate to and then Sentry came into scene to take it to outer space. After lots of tossing and turning between them, everyone decided to allow it to go its own way and everyone was lead to a barren husk of former mutant utopia known as Genosha.

There, the Collective repowered former master of magnetism, Magneto but was incapacitated by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson before he could do much. Iron Man and Sentry then carried the remaining energy to disperse in sun after containing it.

Civil War
After a reckless act of young adventurer team New Warriors killed many in "Stamford Incident", people become paranoid of superheroes and a Civil War broke in. Cap formed Secret Avengers to oppose Superhuman Registration Act after being declared fugitive by S.H.I.E.L.D. but Tony sided with government, which did not sit well with many.

Luke Cage sent Jessica Jones to Canada before things gone south and is attacked by "Cape-Killers" agents in Harlem but he fought back and fled when Cap arrived to take him in. Spider-Woman was hounded by Maria Hill and Hydra came into her rescue but she double-crossed them and come back to join the resistance in New York.

Torn by seeing his friends fighting over principles, Sentry takes a break from heroism and seeks tranquility on moon. There he had an encounter with The Inhumans and he stayed with them until Iron Man came seeking him on their doorstep.

For more information on New Avengers comics series, you can check out these links below.

New Avengers (Comics) Wikipedia

New Avengers (Comics) Marvel Wikia

new avengers assemble
New Avengers Assembled

Here is your links to buy "New Avengers" comics from Marvel Comics on Amazon.

New Avengers Vol 01 – Breakout

New Avengers Vol 01

New Avengers Vol 02 – Sentry

New Avengers Vol 03 – Secrets and Lies

Young Avengers Vol 02 – Family Matters

New Avengers Vol 02

New Avengers Vol 04 – The Collective

New Avengers Vol 05 – Civil War

New Avengers Vol 03

New Avengers Vol 06 – Revolution

New Avengers – Illuminati

New Avengers Vol 04

New Avengers Vol 07 – The Trust

Secret Invasion (Softcover)

Secret Invasion (Hardcover)

New Avengers Vol 05

New Avengers Vol 10 – Power

New Avengers Vol 11 – Search for the Sorcerer Supreme (Softcover)

New Avengers Vol 11 – Search for the Sorcerer Supreme (Hardcover)

New Avengers – The Reunion

New Avengers Vol 06

New Avengers Vol 12 – Powerloss

Siege (Softcover)

Siege (Hardcover)

New Avengers – Siege

Avengers – Next Avengers (Softcover)

Avengers – Next Avengers (Hardcover)

Avengers – Infinity Quest (Softcover)

Avengers – Infinity Quest (Hardcover)

New Avengers Vol 01 – Everything Dies (Softcover)

New Avengers Vol 01 – Everything Dies (Hardcover)

New Avengers Vol 02 – Infinity

New Avengers Vol 03 – Other Worlds (Softcover)

New Avengers Vol 03 – Other Worlds (Hardcover)

New Avengers Vol 04 – A Perfect World (Softcover)

New Avengers Vol 04 – A Perfect World (Hardcover)

Right after Marvel Comics put an end to their long-running monthly ongoing comic-book series The Avengers, a spin-off series based on their longest running superhero team, New Avengers was launched but with a revised roster of characters. When it became successful, Marvel continued its publication alongside the mainline series.

Original idea of the team was conceived by writer Brian Michael Bendis (Age of Ultron, Civil War II) and artist David Finch (Brightest Day, Forever Evil), who started the series that later added up more heroes into their group to fight bigger threats.

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Avengers of Tomorrow

Artists Billy Tan (Darkness/Tomb Raider, Elektra/Cyblade), Leinil Francis Yu (Inhumans Vs. X-Men, Secret Empire) and Stuart Immonen (Superman – End of the Century, Superman – Secret Identity) has also joined to contribute on latter issues.

In post-Civil War period, Steve Rogers was killed off and his long lost war-buddy Bucky Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier took mantle of new Captain America as leadership of the team. Other heroes like Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Mockingbird, Moon Night, Ms. Marvel, The Thing and Victoria Hand joined alongside its existing members.
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