February 15, 2023

It’s Wednesday and that makes it…NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

I actually got to see the books that were going to be in my pull box yesterday when went to Comic World. They always do the pull lists on Tuesdays, even though the new books do not become available for selling until the next day. So I knew that there was a pretty large bunch of books.

Here are the comics that I have read today from my pull box.

Spider-Man #5. “It’s a Spectacular Life“. Part five of the End of the Spider-Verse storyline from writer Dan Slott and artist Mark Bagley. Slott and Bagley are synonymous with Spider-Man, but the whole End of the Spider-Verse arc has not been one of my favorites. This story is an intriguing scenario involving Silk that was an okay read. I just have never been a fan of these alternate timeline/future tales. There is a more intriguing back up story featuring Photon.

House of Slaughter #12. Part Two of The Butcher’s Return continued written by Tate Brombal and drawn by Antonio Fuso. We see one of the kids that had been “rescued” by Jace, named Sunny, and his own progression toward the House of Slaughter. This book, along with the other books from the mind of James Tynion IV, are always so creatively designed and the layout of the pages and the panels are different and unique. The manner of the lay out helps infuse the story.

Mary Jane & Black Cat #3. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Vincenzo Carratù. MJ and Felicia are in Limbo, trying to retrieve the Soul Sword for Belasco. It is a weird story for sure, and I am not sure this would work if there was not such a fun chemistry between MJ and Cat. Black cat’s constant worrying over the secret that she and Peter have been seeing each other presents an uncomfortable dynamic for the two ladies. And S’ym’s presence does not help things.

Monica Rambeau: Photon #3. Written by Eve L. Ewing with art by Ivan Fiorelli and Luca Maresca. Photon has been fun so far in the short series and this issue is no exception. The story is confusing as we do not know exactly what is happening, but neither does Monica and that places us in a connection with Monica. And the final panel indicates that there may be something dramatic going on that we did not expect.

Fantastic Four #4. “The Baxter Initiative“. After three issues of the FF split apart without any indication of why, writer Ryan North and artist Iban Coello show us why. We discover that Reed made a split second decision in the heat of battle that affected the lives of Ben and Alicia dramatically, sending them off on their own. However, as always, the FF come back together because they are family and, even if they fight, family is there for each other. This new creative direction for the Fantastic Four has been very good so far and gives me hope that this quality can be maintained.

Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt #4. Written by J.M. DeMatteis and penciled by Eder Messias & Belardino Brabo as well as sections of the book drawn by Marguerite Sauvage and Travel Foreman. I find this book boring and I was very disappointed with it so far. I believe there is only one more issue and I’ll be glad when this one is done. I do like that Peter and Mary Jane are together (as it should always be).

Murderworld: Moon Knight #1. Written by Jim Zeb and Ray Fawkes with art by Luca Pizzari, Murderworld moves along with our final four characters attempting to survive the dangers in the game run by Arcade. Once again, our title ‘hero’ of the book does not actually appear. Moon Knight is just a facsimile from Murderworld. Our cast is whittled down to two remaining by the end, but a very real (or so it seems) cameo happens right at the end that promises to bring the excitement to the finale next issue.

Captain Marvel #46. Part Four of Revenge of the Brood. This has been a great return to form for Captain Marvel and shows how strong of a character she is, especially while interacting with her friends that are along on the adventure. Spider-Woman is great and Hazmat shows her power this issue. The dialogue is crisp and clever with a definite wit to it that works very well for these characters. This has been a consistently strong arc for carol.

Avengers Forever #14. “The Battle for the All and the Always” The seventh part of the Avengers Assemble arc rolls on with the battle with the multiversal Dooms taking center stage. We also have some strong moments from the groups of Steves. There is a fun interaction between Avenger Prime and Namor. The final panel brings the story into a new focus.

The Invincible Iron Man #3. “The Autobiography of Tony Stark Chapter Three” This issue features the background of the friendship between Stark and someone at Stark Enterprises, Zhong, who had killed himself. This backstory informed the main arc and brought us face to face with a second Stark (LMD, anyone???). The ending of the issue was nightmarish and sets up the next issue extremely well. This is written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Juan Frigeri.