March 26, 2023

Welcome to the one and only ‘Comic Cavalcade’ in the 21st century!

Today, I’m going to look at a specific title that came out in 2019 called The No. Ones. It was a six-issue series from Cave Pictures Publishing, which is a comic company that I had never heard of before.

I was introduced to this series during the pandemic as I was watching the YouTube show Fatman Beyond with hosts Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin. They were doing their show live, but on Zoom, as many YouTube shows were forced to do at the time. One of the features of the Zoom was they were able to get guests easily.

Kevin and Marc, both of whom were comic fans and comic creators at one time or another, had invited writer Jim Krueger on their show. Kevin and Marc interviewed (The interview begins around the 45 min mark) Krueger about his background, how he got into comics, and his work on Marvel’s Earth X.

During the interview, Kevin asked Krueger about a book he had created called The No. Ones. I was intrigued when I was watching the interview and I went over to Amazon and found the series. I ordered it and it arrived, but I never really read it. When I came across it in the piles, it went on the list to read. Today, I finally got to it, and I enjoyed it.

The No. Ones was a series about this super hero team that was celebrities and world renowned when something happened and they wind up being forgotten by the world at large. Literally one day later.

This was a difficult job in my opinion because it is a challenge to introduce an entirely new group of superheroes with powers and personalities and to get them connected to the audience in a short series, but Krueger does a very solid job of bringing the characters to the forefront. The book is truly a character piece and you find these characters very relatable. There are some great ideas in this series and it worked quite well.

The rest of the books involved in EYG Comic Cavalcade #3 are…

Sleeping Beauties #2. Based on the novel by Stephen King and Owen King. Adapted by Rio Youers and art by Alison Sampson. The sleep sickness continues to strike females and a few people discover the tragic results of what happens when they remove the cocoon-like coating from the women.

The Silver Coin #6. “High Score” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Michael Walsh. What happens when the mysterious cursed silver coin winds up being used in a video game? Major fatalities! I liked this issue quite a bit, though it came up short and they had a backup story that was not quite up to par as the first one.

Black Panther 13-15. Written by John Ridley with art by German Peralta. Cover art on all three by Alex Ross. I am now caught up with Black Panther only to discover that issue 15 was the final issue of the series. Ha. There looks to be another Black Panther #1 coming out soon (of course). This arc continued the T’Challa downgrade as he is exiled from Wakanda, thanks to Namor and the Atlanteans who made a deal with Wakanda to aid in the war against Jhai. Not going to lie, the ending felt a little anti-climatic and I am still not a fan of the way Steve Rogers was written in the book. Still, there are some intriguing ideas here and I like how they filled out the supporting cast and other characters (such as Buffalo Solder, whom I love).

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3. “Chapter Three: Modest, Calm and Quiet.” Written by Tom King and drawn by Bilquis Evely. I have to say, this was a weird issue, with Supergirl and her alien compadre Ruthye. They are on a planet with aliens called Purples and blues and it deals with a lot of class levels. They are continuing to unsuccessfully look for Krem.

I Walk With Monsters #4-6. Written by Paul Cornell with art by Sally Cantirino. Wrapped up this series, but I was not too fond of this conclusion either. Some of the areas that the early part of the book seemingly focused on were not what was wrapped up. They did go into more specifics about Jacey and David’s relationship and his power to be a weird dog like monster (among other things). I was into the first issue, but this one did not finish off strong for me.

Middlewest #4. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Abel and his friend the fox arrive at the carnival in search of the ‘mystical Magdalena’ only to get into trouble with the carnies and the little girl in charge when he was pickpocketing people for money to buy a funnel cake. Hey, you need a funnel cake. That just goes without saying. This continues to be fun and beautiful to read.