April 9, 2023

I was looking over my graphic novels this morning, I spotted one that I had not read. It was Man-Eaters, the first volume which reprinted the series issues #1-4. Then I saw the writer on the spine. It was Chelsea Cain.

I loved Chelsea Cain. There have been two major feeling of betrayal I have felt from Marvel Comics over the years I have bought comics from them. The first was when it was revealed that Ben Reilly was actually not a clone of Peter Parker, but he was the actual Peter Parker. The Peter Parker that I had ALWAYS watched since I was reading Spider-Man comics, my absolutely favorite super hero, was the real clone. A fake. That is, to this day, the worst moment I have ever had while reading comics.

The other moment of betrayal was when I found out that Mockingbird, which included issues 1-8, was being canceled. Mockingbird is one of my favorite series of all-time and I felt crushed when Mockingbird was gone. And then to hear a lot of the negative aspect behind the end of the series was very disappointing.

Chelsea Cain had become one of my favorite writers. Then she did a mini-series called Spy Island that I picked up simply because she was the writer. She had elevated things for me where I will purchase a book solely because her name is on it. I know there are people who do not like her work because she is such a strong voice for feminism, but I find her funny, extremely creative and willing to take the comic genre in different ways.

Back to this morning. So I took the graphic novel Man-Eaters Vol. 1 and read it through. It was wild story of teen girls changing into killer cats because of a virus that almost everyone on earth had contracted. It was so awesome with a ton of metaphors and the format including amazing advertisements for the different products that kept the transformations at bay. They even had a long section (probably issue #4) that gave us background info and reports and medical details. It was more of an informational pamphlet than a comic book. It was glorious.

I am excited to see the rest of the series that I went to eBay to find immediately. I have stated that independent comics are more about the story/writer than the characters. This is a perfect example. If I see Chelsea Cain’s name on a comic, I am buying it.

The rest of this issue’s books:

Dead Day #1-5. Written by Ryan Parrott and art by Evgeniy Bornyakov. There comes a day when the dead rise from their graves and head out to try and go back to spend time with their loved ones. When Brandon meets a beautiful teen girl who was a member of the Revivalists, he and his friend Zack sneak out to meet up with her on Dead Day. I liked this self-contained story about Dead Day and how it affected Brandon’s family. At the core of this book is the family aspect and that was why it worked.

Middlewest #5. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Mike Huddleston did the cover. Abel keeps trying to find someone at the carnival that would help him become normal again. Meanwhile, his father, who we keep seeing how abusive he could be, is searching for Abel. Middlewest continues to be a beautiful book to look at.

Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker #5. Written by Greg Pak and drawn by Manuel Garcia. The cover art was done by Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Chris Sotomayor. I am so grateful that this one is done. Did not enjoy the finale of the series that I did not like. Just another throwaway alt-future tale.

Silver Coin #7. “Tzompanco” Written by Ram V. and drawn by Michael Walsh. This issue of the anthology horror series that follows a mysterious silver coin found its way back to Vegas and into the hands of a gambler who did not have a lot of success, until now. This was another interesting story in this series, but not one that I will remember a month from now.

X-Men: Unforgiven #1. “Cure for Pain.” Written by Tom Seeley and drawn by Sid Kotian. Kyle Holz & Dan Brown did the cover art. The team called the Forgiven, a group of vampires, team up with the X-Men to take on a vampire by the name of the Curator. This Unforgiven series of books (previously with Spider-Man) are okay, but I have not been able to really get invested in the characters of the Forgiven yet. Next issue is Captain America so we’ll see how that goes.

Newburn #3. “Chapter Three: We’ve All Lost Men” Newburn is on the case of an apparent serial killer that is targeting men from the different crime families. This was probably my favorite issue of Newburn as of yet. I really enjoyed this self-contained story that was wrapped up within the issue.

Year Zero #1-4. Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Ramon Rosanas. I have been meaning to read this limited series for awhile now (and then I realized that I am missing the final issue #5). I hope it is somewhere in the piles, because I thought this was great. I especially enjoyed how the story bounced around the planet as the zombie apocalypse was breaking out. We spent time with a long list of different characters and saw how they reacted to what was happening. Got to find number five.

Image! 30th Anniversary Anthology #1. Cover design by Michael Busuttil. I had bought issue #8 of this series recently to see a short story featuring World Tr33, a short intro to the upcoming James Tynion IV book. There were a bunch of shorts in that book that were like part 8 and such. SO I went after the earlier of this anthology series. Issue one had several fun shorts in it, my favorite probably being Geoff John’s The Blizzard.

Ghost Rider #13. “My Brother’s Keeper” Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Cory Smith. Björn Barends did the cover art. We get some info on what is going on with Danny Ketch. Johnny Blaze and Talia is on his trail to try and understand why Danny is doing the horrendous things that he is doing.

Rogue & Gambit #2. “Throw it Girl.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Carlos Gomez. Steve Morris did the art on the cover. Rogue and Gambit are in search of the missing teleporter Manifold while Black Panther is trying to bring in Gambit and Rogue to question them about the same thing. Plus, the mutants’ powers are going all wonky. So far, this has been an entertaining couple of issues. I have always liked the pairing of Gambit and Rogue so this worked well for me.

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #2. Written by Emily Kim and drawn by Kei Zama. Cover art was by David Nakayama. Spider-Gwen and Gwen Ock battle SandGwen in an attempt to get the whole clone thing under control. I am having terrible flashbacks back to the Clone Saga. I’m not sure why all Spider-titles need their own clone, but Gwen is an enjoyable character and she had some nice interaction with Gwen Ock. The Ghost-Spider outfit is just one of the best costumes designs in comics.