February 12, 2023

Super Bowl Sunday. I do believe this is the main reason why there were so few movies in the theaters this weekend. You would basically lose a ton of business on Sunday and it would be hardly worth it. Of course, it still allowed me to get plenty of reading done this morning.

Honestly, there have not been very many times in February so far that I have only read for the one hour that I had intended to read. Most of the time it has been over an hour, if not considerably over an hour.

I am looking forward to watching the Super Bowl tonight, even though my favorite team is not involved. I do expect that there will be some great trailers coming (maybe for Guardians Vol. 3 or even The Marvels).

Continuing to work on catching up as much as I can…

Avengers #64 & 65

Avengers Forever #12 & 13

I have caught up with the Avengers books. Of course, I had thought that Avengers #65 would bring an end to the Avengers Assemble storyline, but I was wrong about that as it is carrying on after. I was right about being spoiled about the identity of Avenger Prime by an online website. It was my own fault I guess, but their spoiler warning did not keep me from seeing the truth. Disappointing as I may have really loved the reveal had I not known it was coming. Anyway, I am ready for the Multiversal Avengers to get wrapped up soon. It has been fun, but it is time to finish this story.

Truth: Red, White & Black #1-7. Written by Robert Morales and drawn by Kyle Baker. Okay, I found this iconic series on eBay and decided to order it. I was introduced to the character of Isaac Bradley on the Disney + series Falcon and the Winter Soldier and I loved it. I had always planned on finding this book. Now that I have read it, I have some definite thoughts. The story was remarkably powerful and filled with drama and terrible truths. Unfortunately, I found the art to be so cartoonish that it constantly undercut the powerful story that was being told. I was very disappointed with how the story looked. It deserved to be a better art style than this. I did love almost all of the covers.

Thor #24 (Legacy number 750). “The Second Son of Asgard” This huge anniversary issue of Thor featured the Funeral of the All-Father, Odin (despite Odin not being fully dead). It also featured a who’s who of Thor artists and writers over the years taking a part in telling pieces of the story. There was Donny Cates & Nic Klein, Walter Simonson, Dan Jurgens, Jason Aaron & Das Pastoras, Al Ewing & Lee Garbett and J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel. It does a good job of setting up the next adventure for Thor to head out on.

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #3. Written by Marieke Nijkamp and drawn by Enid Balám. Kate Bishop continues to try and make it through a case in search of a special ring, while a group, that appeared to be the Circus of Crime, is trying to stop her with mind controlled party guests. Kate is trying her best to make it through the case while dealing with her older sister and carrying on a text chain with America Chavez and Cassie Lang (oh, and Clint Barton is in there too). Continual fun from Kate Bishop.

Ms. Marvel & Venom #1. Writer: Jody Houser. Artist: Dave Wachter Cover Artist: Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee. The third team-up book in this little series of books where Ms. Marvel teams up to try and stop these little tracking bots. This time we got the new Venom (not Eddie Brock). With guest stars by the other comic issue stars, Wolverine and Moon Knight, this was a good wrap up.

Ghost Rider #7. “Shadow Hunters” Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Cory Smith and Kael Ngu doing the cover art. Talia Warroad arrives and she is looking for a new partner, and she is going for Johnny Blaze. Meanwhile, Blackheart continues to make his presence known.

Midnight Suns #4. “What Lies in the Mist” We discover the actual force behind the conflict in the story and I really liked how they brought it around from other aspects of the story. Clea also sent the G’uranthic Guardian after the Midnight Suns (in their new black and red, sparkly armor outfits Tony Stark made for them). Ethan Sacks wrote this book and Luigi Zagaria was the artist. David Nakayama drew the cover.

That Texas Blood #5 & 6. The first arc of the story is brought to a close as Joe Bob figures out the killer of Travis but not before his brother Randy takes justice into his own hands… brutally. This series has been just exceptional so far and I am anxious to see where it goes from here. The creative team was Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips.