February 2, 2023

Welcome back to the Comic Catch-Up. I pulled out a series of books form the piles, but I avoided, this morning, reading any run of any one title. I wanted a flavor of the issues, giving me more to continue as February continues.

Apparently that troublemaker Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today meaning that there will be six more weeks of winter. That rat. Well, it just means that there may be more late starts at school (like tomorrow) to give me time to continue with my catch-up.

Today’s books:

Grim #1. “Chapter One: Don’t Fear the Reaper“. Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Flaviano (one name, like Cher or Madonna, I guess), Grim #1 finds a grim reaper taking the souls to death, only she loses her scythe to her last soul. When she goes to retrieve it back i the land of the living, she discovers that the living people can now see her, something that did not happen before. This was a interesting book with a good hook to make me look forward to the next issue. I really liked Flaviano’s art too.

Wakanda #3. “Color of Death“. The third issue of the anthology series now has a story featuring Killmonger. Continuing the Marvel Comics characters being made to be more like their MCU counterparts, Wakanda #3 was written by Ho Che Anderson and penciled by Sean Hill. There is yet another really short backup story with teh “History of the Black Panther Chapter Three” written by Evan Narcisse and drawn by Natacha Bustos. Mateus Manhaini gave us an excellent cover with Killmonger in full display.

Judgment Day #1. Written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Valerio Schiti, this first issue of the limited series featuring the Avengers, the X-Men and the Eternals was very gripping. I do not plan on following the countless crossovers while reading this series as they are always a waste of time. I am looking forward to reading this book as the storyline is rumored to be an inspiration for the upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty MCU movie.

Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1. “Absolute Power”. This theme for the Marvel books that I read today seems to be making the comics more like the MCU. Shang-Chi with the ten rings, the versions from the movie, were cool and it certainly makes Shang-Chi even more bad ass. Written by Gene Luen Yang with Marcus To providing the art, Shang-Chi is in good hands. Another awesome cover, this time drawn by Dike Ruan and Matthew Wilson.

Public Domain #2. “The Usual Spot“. This is an interesting book. It is not a super hero book. It is a book about super hero creators and the rights of those creators of their characters. There feels as if there is a lot of commentary directed at the lack of artists in particular receiving appropriate royalties for their work. I had been told that this was the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby story, but this issue feels less like that and more of the MCU (and other major film companies) not providing sufficient compensation for creators of these characters that are making millions (if not billions) of dollars at the box office. Chip Zdarsky is an amazing writer who is able to get me intrigued in a story about the comic book creator and his family.