February 14, 2023

Ah, Valentine’s Day. My favorite completely worthless, made up holiday. Oh…sorry. I didn’t mean that… completely.

Actually February 14th has more significance around EYG as one of the original founders of Embrace Your Geekness has a birthday today. Happy birthday to my brother geek, Shane.

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning so that gave a an opportunity to stop by Comic World and Games and pick up some boxes and bags and boards. The fact that I have been dipping into the piles around my house with the Catch-Up also means that my piles of now read books are getting larger. I have to take some time to get things organized.

I am also still in search of Hulk #7, which kind of puts the Thor catch-up on hold since I am in the middle of the Hulk-Thor team up/fight. I’ll keep looking. I have an idea where to look next…

None of these books work very well for Valentine’s Day. That’s okay.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #2 & 3. I was able to pick these up today at Comic World. I did like the first issue so I was happy to see these back issues available. Jaime is being attacked by multiple other Beetles and he is having issues with his own scarab. This has been fairly interesting and there have been a nice mixture of DC guest stars such as Starfire, Batman, and Ted Kord aka Blue Beetle. This limited series has been written by Josh Trujillo and drawn by Adrián Gutiérrez.

That Texas Blood #9 & 10. Creative team is Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. The story of what happened in 1981 continues in these books, and it is completely fascinating. I am as intrigued by Joe Bob telling the story of what happened in 1981 as anything that is going on in the current timeline. I believe that there are two more issues in the current story arc and I am excited to see where this story will take me.

Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #4. “Game of Rings Part 1” More issues with the ten rings. Now, Shang-Chi has to be entered in a contest with a bunch of other people to see who is most worthy to be considered the owners of the ten rings. Again, more fun Shang-Chi action with a bunch of characters that sound as if they come from Shang-Chi’s past and rogue’s gallery.

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #5. This is the conclusion of the Kate Bishop storyline included the actual guest star appearance by our texters from the entire series, America Chavez and Cassie Lang. I have really enjoyed the use of this character and the way Kate is able to work her way through the case. And also…Lucky the Pizza Dog! Written by Marieke Nijkamp and drawn by Oren Junior and Roberto Paggi.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #4. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly. The art is by Carmen Carnero. Steve and Bucky talk and show how much of a connection they have, even after everything that has happened and everything Bucky has done. I am not sure if at this time, if the book has revealed yet that Bucky is a member of the Outer Circle or if I know that because I have read something out of order. Either way, there are some problems on the way.

Stillwater #12. Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Ramon K. Perez. I mean, it feels like every issue of Stillwater has a shock twist in it that just keeps evolving this series. This one has to do with Daniel and a shocking surprise of what happens to him at the end of the book.

Grim #4. “All on Black” Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Flaviano. Jessica and her crew arrive in Las Vegas with the scythe of Death, itself. Jessica is in search of Death to learn about her past and she comes face to face with the entity. I found this issue to be excellent and I am excited to see where it takes me next.

The Department of Truth #7. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Tyler Boss. I used to love this book, but to be fair, it was a difficult read. There was a lot of exposition early and you really had to pay close attention so, while I did love it, it was easy to push off. Now, I have started the process of catching up with this book and I am very pleased I did because this issue about the Men in Black and a Doctor who is not a doctor was awesome. It had an X-Files vibe to it and it was great. Plus, any book that has Lee Harvey Oswald as its main protagonist has to be something unexpected, right?