April 27, 2023

Once again, yesterday was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and I got a bunch of new books. I also had a personal day from school so I was able to spend a couple of hours sitting and doing some reading at Comic World. It had a feel of the summer, when every Wednesday finds me at the table with my newly purchased books and the plethora of customers, some I know and other I don’t.

I did miss Todd yesterday as he was substitute teaching. While I do enjoy the company of the others at the store, there is just something about the back-and-forth between Todd and me.

Wednesday was a wonderfully relaxing day. I got to go out for breakfast and lunch, saw Evil Dead Rise at Phoenix Theaters (where I was the only audience member… one of my favorite things) and finished the evening off helping the school fundraise at our local pizza joint. Overall a really good day.

Kicking off…

Phantom Road #1-2. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Gabriel H. Walta. Jeff Lemire has become one of my favorite writers in comics today. The new Phantom Road series seems to fit right in with some of his other awesome books. There is a fun set-up that blends The Walking Dead with a Stephen King book. This started out with some definite questions that are piquing my curiosity.

Strange Academy Finals #6. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Humberto Ramos. This series comes to an end with the big final conflict between Emily Bright and the Strange Academy students, led by Doyle. This was a great conclusion that brought us some exciting moments and one major shock of a death. Strange Academy has become one of my favorite Marvel books and I sure hope that it will return sooner than later.

Daredevil #10. “The Red Fist Saga Part 10.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Marco Checchetto. Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has been just epic and this continues that trend. Daredevil and Elektra facing down with members of the Avengers is just awesome. Of course, I loved the interactions between Daredevil and Spider-Man that happen in this book. It feels as if Zdarsky has a really solid grasp on Spider-Man as well. I’d love to see him get a chance to write that book too. This has an amazing last couple of pages and I have no idea where it is heading next. What great storytelling.

Deep Cuts #1. Written by Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark while the pencils are done by Danilo Beyruth. This is a cool new book. It is an anthology series (I Believe) and this issue focuses on New Orleans in 1917. It is the story of a young black boy looking to be able to join a local musician and play his clarinet. We follow the story through several moments and it is a deep look at jazz and the power of music. I am excited to see what comes next.

Wasp #4. Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Kasia Nie & Carola Borelli. Tom Reilly did the cover art. Janet Van Dyne and Nadia break free from the strange alternate world and are able to bring down the Creature from Kosmos. I have to say the whole alternate world came and went really quickly and felt like it could have been explored a little longer. I guess they had to get the story to fit inside the four issues they had. A fifth one might have helped the flow of the book. It was still an enjoyable read as both Wasps are fun characters that I like a great deal.

Hulk #14. “Hulk Planet Finale” Written and penciled by Ryan Ottley. The saga of Planet Hulk comes to an ending here. I have not been much of a fan of this run of the Hulk, but the conclusion was fine. Titan caused some problems and Banner was able to reconnect with the real green goliath and bring down the rotten side of his mind. Of course, at the end of the book, everything was fixed and back to normal for Banner. I am not sure anything that happened during this series mattered in the long run. I am looking forward to the new direction for Hulk, though.

Money Shot: Comes Again #1. Written by Tim Seeley and drawn by Gisele Lagace. Not sure how to describe this. It might be considered a satire. It could also be considered a sci-fi dark comedy with plenty of sexual innuendo (and actually not a ton of innuendo). The biggest problem I had was that Todd did not get me the dirty cover (ha ha).

Mary Jane & Black Cat #5. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Vincenzo Carratù. Paul Siqueira & Erick Arciniega did the cover art. MJ and Felicia have their final confrontation with Belasco in Limbo. This has been an odd series and what saves it is the interactions between MJ and Felicia. They are a pair of wonderfully likable characters that the audience just want to read about.

Monica Rambeau: Photon #5. Written by Eve L. Ewing and penciled by Luca Maresca. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. This is yet another of the Marvel series that came to an end this week. Monica had the help from a Starfox from a different universe to straighten everything out. This series did help get me excited for the MCU film The Marvels that will include Monica Rambeau later this year.

Captain America: Symbol of Truth #12. Written by Tochi Onyebuchi and with art by R.B. Silva. Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are together again and trying to prevent the machinations of Bucky Barnes, hoping to keep him from slipping into full fledged villainy. There is more with Ian and with Dimension Z as well as this is the continuation of the Cold War storyline.

Doctor Strange #2. “Dream Evil” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross did the cover art. Moon Knight guest stars as Strange and Clea try to help a young boy by confronting Nightmare. It is great to have Stephen Strange back and working together with his wife Clea. Things look to really pick up starting next issue as the death of Aggamon will come into play.

The Neighbors #2. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and featuring art by Letizia Cadonici. Variant cover by Stephanie Hans & Zu Orzu. I do have one of the variant covers (cover B -21) and it is absolutely stunning. Things are continuing to build in the story as our main characters have more interactions with their neighbors and the problems that they are going to cause.

Avengers Beyond #2. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Greg Land. Avengers are in trouble all over the place and the Lost One is on its way to Earth to hunt down the Beyonder. Can the Avengers prevent this major danger? Not too much to this series so far, but I like all of the heroes involved so I hope it will pick up.

The Invincible Iron Man #5. “The Autobiography of Tony Stark: Conclusion.” Feilong has taken over Stark Unlimited and left Tony with almost nothing. So Tony goes to learn what he can about the mutant-hater. Big things are happening though as Feilong has constructed the Stark Sentinel!