Battle Scars #6

Last review for the night is the final issue of the Battle Scars mini-series... Now, I read this comic before I typed up this review(which I normally don't do), so I'll refrain from saying anything else until we get to the “Thoughts” section of this issue, because there's A LOT to talk about!

Battle Scars #6(of 6):

Summary: While Orion is torturing Nick Fury in order to keep him distracted long enough for Orion's telepaths to tear the info about the new SHIELD from Fury's head, Marcus Johnson is sneaking through Orion's base, stealthily taking Orion's goons down out. Orion manages to get the info he wanted out of Fury's head, but gets shot in the head by Marcus while gloating(luckily for Orion, he was wearing a helmet!). That pisses Orion off so he attacks Marcus, but that's exactly what Marcus wanted, as the building suddenly shakes with several explosions, explosions set up when Marcus sabotaged Orion's ammunition bunkers before confronting the villain. The explosions take out Orion's computers, which causes him to lose all of the information he had gotten from Fury's mind. With that, Orion has had enough and moves in to kill Marcus, at least until his friend Cheese and the Avengers(!) burst onto the scene. During the fight, Orion decides to make a break for the door, and Marcus, not wanting the man responsible for murdering his mother and turning his life upside-down to escape, lunges at Orion, affixing a grenade to Orion's chest... You can guess what happens next. Marcus, being close to the blast, ends up going unconscious, but blacks out with the satisfaction of knowing he had accomplished his mission. Some time later, Marcus wakes up in the hospital, with Nick Fury standing there. Fury tells Marcus that Marcus had two choices... Go into hiding and hope that no other villains of Fury's try to hunt him down, or get into the game himself and hunt down the scum before they came for him. With that, Fury has a quick bonding moment with Marcus, telling him that he too was an army ranger, before gracefully heading off into the sunset. As for Marcus? It turns out his birth name was actually Nicholas Fury, Jr, and the newly named Nick Fury joins up with SHIELD to carry on the family name.

Thoughts: Okay, I KNOW I'm going to take A LOT of heat for saying this(although not as much heat as I took for that Iron Man/Magneto fight... I'm STILL puzzling THAT out!), but I LOVED turning Marcus into a total rip-off of the Samuel L. Jackson version of Nick Fury(right down to his name!). Most casual fans only know Nick Fury from the movies anyway(it's only us more hardcore fans who know the LOOOONG history of the 616 Fury), so why not make the change? The fact that this mini-series was really strong helps make the change more palatable for me too. If this mini-series sucked I'm sure I wouldn't be so willing to forgive the switch, but this mini WAS really good! It made Marcus into a character I wanted to root for. He's a good guy. He does the right thing. He's likable. His history is easy to understand and isn't as convoluted as the 616 Nick Fury's. Seriously, if you would have told me 6 months ago that Marvel was going to swap out the 616 Nick Fury for the Ultimate/movie version, I'd have told you I hated the idea. But as it is, I not only like the idea, I'm extremely interested to see where Marcus pops up next and look forward to seeing him rise through the ranks of SHIELD to claim his rightful position as director.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Sweet, they even gave Marcus Cap's awesome Super-Soldier outfit!

Battle Scars #5

First up today is the penultimate issue of the thus far, WAY better than expected Battle Scars mini-series. Last issue ended with a hell of a cliffhanger, let's see what this issue gives us. Oh, and one thing before I get started... Why is the “Shattered Heroes” banner STILL on top of this(and other) Marvel books?! Since most of the major players who “died” during Fear Itself are back and/or on their way back, what's there to be shattered about?

Battle Scars #5(of 6):

Summary: Nick Fury tells Marcus about how he used to work with Marcus's mother during his CIA days. Fury and Marcus's mom apparently did more than just missions and nine months later, Marcus was born. Wanting to protect her from his various enemies(since he had been named SHIELD director by this point), Fury gave Marcus's mom a new identity(as a school teacher) and pledged never to see her again. From there, Fury tells Marcus that an old enemy of his called Orion had been trying to find Fury, since he needed the Infinity Formula in Fury's blood to stay alive, and somehow learned of Marcus's existence, which would explain the bounty on Marcus's head. Hearing all of this, and learning that everything he thought he knew was a lie pisses Marcus off, so he does the only sane thing there is to do, attack Fury. Fury stays on the defensive, at least until he realizes that Orion's agents had followed Marcus, at which time Orion's men storm Fury's safehouse. Fury manages to down a few of them, but they gas the room, knocking Fury and Marcus out. The two wake sometime later, hanging from chains. Being unconscious seems to have brought some clarity to Marcus(wha?), as he tells Fury that he believes his story and probably is Fury's son. At this time Orion is wheeled into the room and has one of his men tear out Marcus's eye, so he'd look more like Fury... HA! Fury manages to get free during that macabre action and shoots a few of Orion's goons. However, some bullets hit the chains holding Marcus up and he takes a long fall into the sewer system below. Eventually Fury is brought down, at which time Orion gives himself a blood transfusion from Fury's blood, restoring himself to his former strength. Since Marcus's body continuously produced samples of the Infinity Formula, Orion sends some of his men into the sewers, hoping to find Marcus alive. The goons find Marcus more than just alive, as this issue ends with Marcus killing the two goons and swearing vengeance on Orion.

Thoughts: This issue was okay. It was a perfectly acceptable comic. We got the reveal out of the way, learned how Marcus came to be, and set the stage for the showdown next issue. Nothing spectacular happened here, but this one was a good read, so we'll simply move on.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Is it really that easy to pluck somebody's eye out?

Battle Scars #4

It's Tuesday, and I am scraping the bottom of my new comic pile. Two final reviews for the week on tap tonight, with the first one being the forth issue of the, thus far, pretty good Battle Scars mini-series.

Battle Scars #4(of 6):

Summary: We get started with the old man we've had glimpses of in the past dying. The doctors manage to resuscitate him, at which time he hops out of bed and begins demanding Sgt. Johnson's blood... And so the plot thickens... From there we head to Johnson, who is trying to fight off the Serpent Squad. He lasts all of 15 seconds before they have him down and defeated... You know, I'll hit on this in the “Thoughts” section, but I REALLY liked this scene... Anyway, before the Serpents can kill/capture Johnson and collect the bounty on his head, Deadpool comes into the room guns blazing since he still wasn't sure if Johnson was a bad guy or not. Seeing a chance to get some information, Johnson drags Taskmaster(who was taken down last issue) into a back room and demands some answers. After some coercing, Taskmaster drops the name Orion. Before Johnson can learn more, somebody wearing the Scorpio costume enters the room, knocks Taskmaster out and warns Johnson to leave the country and start a new life for his own good. Scorpio then puts Johnson's lights out and disappears. By now, SHIELD has arrived on the scene, which causes the Serpents and Deadpool to scatter. Johnson is dragged to safety by his friend, Cheese. Later on, Cheese tells Johnson to drop his investigation and go to SHIELD or the Avengers since things were obviously spinning out of control. Realizing Cheese was right about how dangerous everything had become, Johnson knocks Cheese out and leaves him behind for his own good. While Johnson is driving away from the motel, we see that Scorpio was spying on him, and seeing Johnson leave, Scorpio heads to his hidden base... Where he is sneak attacked by Johnson, who obviously knew Scorpio was watching him. With that, Johnson beats the hell out of Scorpio and demands answers, pulling off Scorpio's mask to reveal Nick Fury(!!!). This issue ends with Nick telling Johnson that he(Johnson) was a Fury(!?!)!

Thoughts: This was a VERY good read. Before I go too much further, let me address that scene I mentioned earlier, Johnson vs the Serpents... As I was reading this comic, and Johnson was battling the Serpent Society, I have to admit, I was ready to get a bit pissed... You see, the Serpents have been a team for a long time now, and while they're always defeated by the likes of Captain America, they ARE a team and ARE super-powered. They SHOULD have easily dispatched Johnson, and they did, so kudos to Chris Yost, Cullen Bunn and Matt Fraction for writing that scene perfectly. The Deadpool/Serpent battle was awesome, and some of Deadpool's lines were laugh out loud funny. For that I'll give the props to Yost since he scripted this issue. And the reveal/cliffhanger at the end? Awesome stuff. I can't wait to hear the explanation as to how Johnson is a Fury... The next two issues should be great.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Deadpool's dialogue here is SO Marvel vs Capcom 3!

Battle Scars #3

We'll head back to Marvel for the last comic reviewed tonight... Um, after 18 reviews over the course of the past 6 days, this is about as much of an introductory paragraph as I can muster!

Battle Scars #3(of 6):

What Happened: Johnson and his friend Cheese manage to get a bead on one of Taskmaster's safehouses and Johnson decides to try to find Taskmaster since Taskmaster seemed to have some idea as to why there was a price on Johnson's head. Johnson and Cheese take separate safehouses and Johnson spots movement in the safehouse he was watching. Johnson enters and discovers Deadpool there(!). Pool tells Johnson that he'd been hired to kill him because Johnson had murdered his mother, which was blatantly untrue. Johnson tells Deadpool as much, and since Johnson wasn't even in the country at the time of the murder, Pool tends to believe him. Before Pool can leave with Johnson to get some answers, Pool is impaled from behind by Taskmaster, who renews his attack on Johnson. Johnson manages to lure Taskmaster into a trap on the roof and actually gets the upper-hand on Taskmaster thanks to this chicanery. Johnson demands answers from Taskmaster, and Taskmaster cryptically tells Johnson to ask his father for answers, which annoys Johnson since he thought his dad was dead. Taskmaster tells Johnson that he doubted Johnson's dad COULD die, and that he was hired by an enemy of Johnson's dad to get Johnson. Taskmaster recommends that Johnson should run away from this whole messed up situation before he ends up any deeper in it, but before Johnson can do anything, the Serpent Society(or are they the Serpent Squad now?) show up on the scene to collect the price on Johnson's head.

Thoughts: This was a pretty good, fast, read. We are getting tantalizing tidbits of information regarding Johnson, which is fine since we're at about the halfway point of this mini. I'd expect a few more pieces of the puzzle to drop next issue, with the majority of the mystery of Johnson's life being revealed by issue #5. From what we learn from Taskmaster, Johnson's father, who Johnson had always thought was dead, has an enemy, who has apparently put the massive price on Johnson's head. Who is Johnson's dad? Or for that matter, who's Johnson's father's old enemy? We don't know yet, but my interest is definitely piqued. Here's hoping the eventual payoff is worth the ride.

Score: 7 out of 10.Good to know!

Battle Scars #2

Wow, so the comics I reviewed yesterday were pretty sub-par... Let's hope that trend reverses and the comics I read today are awesome...

Battle Scars #2(of 6):

Summary: Captain America and SHIELD(which we learn was being reformed with Daisy Johnson as the director) move in to rescue Marcus Johnson from the Taskmaster. SHIELD spirits Marcus away, while Cap fights Taskmaster and we learn later that Taskmaster managed to escape Cap, thus making these last two weeks the WORST two weeks I've ever read for Cap!!! Seriously, in the past two weeks, he's lost to Deadpool, Evil Deadpool, Venom, Cable and Taskmaster managed to give him the slip. Thankfully I only have one Marvel comic left to read this week, so Cap probably won't be made to look like a loser there as well... Anyway, SHIELD takes Marcus to a secret facility, but refuse to tell him why he had been brought there or what was going on. Tired of all of this secrecy, Marcus manages to escape from the SHIELD facility, give SHIELD the slip when they track him down and remove the tracer SHIELD placed in him. Now realizing that he had somehow stumbled into some seriously messed up stuff, Marcus calls his old friend from the Army Rangers named Cheese. Marcus tells Cheese about what's been happening to him and enlists Cheese to help him track down the man who may have some answers for him... Taskmaster.

Thoughts: Well, this issue sure stunk. I REALLY enjoyed the first issue of this series(I gave it a 9 out of 10), but this one didn't actually give us anything... Marcus gets taken in by SHIELD, he beats up some SHIELD agents, escapes, beats up some more SHIELD agents, escapes from them, goes into hiding and decides to track down Taskmaster. That's all that happened here!Seriously! Besides that, his plan, which is to track down Taskmaster, makes no sense, seeing as that you'd think that SHIELD was already trying to find Taskmaster since he escaped from Cap and SHIELD earlier this issue. So basically, by going after Taskmaster, Marcus is putting himself exactly where SHIELD is headed. I get that he really doesn't have any other leads as to what the hell was happening in his life, but that plan just seems dumb. So the mediocre comic reading streak continues...

Score: 5 out of 10.Sweet! It's Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3!!!

Battle Scars #1

I haven't the foggiest notion as to what this mini-series is all about, but figured I'd give it a shot since it's supposed to be spinning out of the Fear Itself event. Since that's about all I know about this one, I guess I should get reading...

Battle Scars #1(of 6):

Summary: This issue gets started in Afghanistan during the Fear Itself event where we meet Sgt. Marcus Johnson of the US Army Rangers. The fear effect being sent out by the Serpent reached Afghanistan and as such the place is more chaotic than usual. After managing to repel a Taliban attack on his base, Marcus gets word that his mother was killed back in the States. He heads home to Atlanta and attends his mom's funeral, where Steve Rogers(Captain America) and Sharon Carter are observing him from a distance. From there, Marcus heads to his mother's house, where he is met by a police officer who explains that during the Fear Itself event there were widespread riots and violence for no apparent reason and that his mother was a victim of that seemingly random violence. Marcus heads into his mother's ransacked house and notices a Russian armor piercing bullet amongst the carnage and immediately realizes that something here didn't add up. Marcus heads outside to tell the cop what he had found when he spots a sniper scope from a distant window taking aim at him. Marcus reacts instinctively and tackles the cop, taking cover behind the cop's car. From there three armed Russians charge Marcus and attack him, but Marcus manages to use his superior training to take the three men down, demanding answers from the one who was still conscious. Before he can get any answers though, Marcus is attacked by the Taskmaster(!!!), who easily takes Marcus apart. Before he's able to kill Marcus though, Captain America and several military units arrive on the scene demanding Taskmaster to surrender while Marcus watched in utter confusion.

Thoughts: You know, I knew this comic was developed by Matt Fraction, Cullen Bunn and Chris Yost. If I would have known it was scripted by Yost, I can guarantee you I wouldn't have bothered buying it, due to my undying hatred of Yost for his treatment of the Academy X students... But with that said, you know what? This was a hell of a good comic book! I mean I hate to compliment Yost(trust me, I do...), but the story here was engaging, and Marcus was a character who was very easy to like. Add crisp art, Taskmaster and an intriguing mystery and you've got a recipe for success. Of course Yost had to kill over 125 people in this one issue(because he can't seem to tell a story without a massive body count...), but I guess that's just Yost being Yost... At least I can continue reading this mini-series with the knowledge that Marcus won't be getting killed since it seems Marvel has plans for him. Here's hoping that no teenage mutants show up in this mini-series though, because you KNOW how much Yost loves killing THEM off!

Score: 9 out of 10.Awesome, it's the Taskmaster!!