February 25, 2023

It is a busy day today with “Cocaine Bear” on the schedule. I’m very excited for it so I needed to get the comics done this morning.

Originally when I committed to the Comic Catch-Up plan for February, I had intended to carve out an hour a day to read comics every day. Truthfully, I have far exceeded that every day. In fact, I do not think t here has been a single day that I have limited myself to a single hour. This morning, it was closer to that actual time frame. That meant that I have a fewer number of books to go through today.

Here are today’s output…

The Last Book You’ll Ever Read #4. Written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Leila Leiz. Once again, I am not really sure what I am reading here. This is a bizarre story about sex and gore and debauchery. And I am not sure, but did the end of the issue indicate that our protagonist, Olivia Kade is an evil creature? Or am I just reading into it too much. At this point, reading this book feels like watching a car that has wrecked alongside the road. I am not sure that I can look away, but I am not sure that I am enjoying it.

Black Panther #3. Main story: “The Long Shadow Book Three” Written by John Ridley and drawn by Juann Cabal with Ibrahim Moustafa. There are actually several back up stories in this extra sized anniversary issue. It is the “Legacy” number 200 for Black Panther. We get a guest star appearance by Storm and a few of the X-Men as T’Challa headed to Mars. Again, I am not sure that I like the character choices T’Challa is making in this book. He feels like the problem and not the solution. We’ll have to see how things progress.

Thanos: Death Notes #1. This is another multiple write/artist book as we go through the lifetime of Thanos, introduced to one of his loves of his life, besides Lady Death, I mean. Thor is looking into the background of the Mad titan, which ties into “The Legacy of Thanos” story arc happening in Thor’s own book right now. The cover art was done by Andrea Sorrentino and Matthew Wilson.

Thor #30. “The Legacy of Thanos Part Two” Speaking of this, here is the next part of the arc with Thor. Written by Torunn Grønbekk with art by Nic Klein, Thor is still in pursuit of Corvus Glaive and Thor’s little sister, Laussa. By the way, there is something really creepy about this Laussa. I am not sure what it is (and I really do not know where she came from in the first place) but she fits every bit of the creepy child trope from horror movies. Plus, it seemed as if Corvus Glaive was eaten by Thor’s lightning wolves. Yeah, that is what I said. And then…Dr. Doom? Maybe I should try and read some of the other Thor issues so this makes more sense.

The Thing #3. “The Next Big Thing Part 3” Written by Walter Mosley and drawn by Tom Reilly. Um… this is another book that is making me feel a little bit awkward. Not only does The Champion of the Universe show up, but Ben Grimm gets lucky too. That always blows my mind. Then, I am also getting a creepy kid vibe in this book too as Bobby is just strange. There is an iron glove that Ben uses too that I am not sure how it appeared. The front page says that Bobby provided that for Ben. What is up with these weirdo kids?

Moon Knight #8. “Scarlet“. So… here is a Moon Knight book without Moon Knight in it. Somewhere between last issue and this issue, Moon Knight was taken away or arrested. The footnote indicated that it was during the Devil’s Reign series, which I read a long time ago. This issue featured Hunter’s Moon taking Moon Knight’s place at the Midnight Mission and he battled the personification of a story. Yeah, that was hard to grasp too.