October 8, 2023

Welcome back to EYG Comic Cavalcade. I started this week finally getting that final missing issue #3. I had a bunch of independent series that I missed issue #3 of and this week, I got The Seasons Have Teeth #3, which I then was able to read #4, that I had had for months. I did not even really believe issue#3 existed, even with Todd’s pics of the issue that he sent me. After reading it, I did enjoy these two issues.

Then, there was some intriguing events occurring involving signatures. First of all, Todd got me a signed copy of Local Man Gold, from creator Tony Fleecs. He went to a con last weekend where Fleecs was appearing. I have been a fan of his work on Local Man and Stray Dogs. It was a bit strange because he signed the book “AMF,” which is his initials. I guess it is just a quicker way to do it. Thankfully, he personalized it for me.

Then, I had purchased a copy of Howard the Duck #1 over eBay, and when I went to read it, I opened the first page and do you know what I saw? Two signatures at the bottom of the page. One was the writer Steve Gerber and the other was the artist, Frank Brunner. I was shocked as there was nowhere on eBay indicating that this was a signed copy, nor were there any pictures of the signatures on the site. The person had said that he was not an expert and that he had purchased this out of a large collection so my guess is that he never even opened the comic. I find this a treasure that I did not expect.

The rest of the books this week:

G.O.D.S. #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Valerio Schiti. Mateus Manhanini did the cover art. Jonatan Hickman’s newest creation for Marvel, deals with the mysterious Wyn and the world of magic in the Marvel Universe. This was an intriguing book with the typical Hickman convolution.

Parasocial graphic novel. Written by Alex De Campi and drawn by Erica Henderson. This is like the movie Misery meeting social media. A former TV star of show Rogue Nebula gets kidnapped by an obsessive fan and has to try to survive the situation. This was an easy read and quite the commentary on toxic fandom.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #3. “Chapter Three: The Rooftop Gambit.” Written by Chris Condon and illustrated by Jacob Phillips. How could you go wrong with a big standoff in the old West with a line gun? This book continues to be one of the more original books each month.

Doctor Strange #8. “The Doctor, the General and the Warlord.” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross does the cover art. Last issue it seemed as if Clea was betraying Stephen for General Strange. This issue, we see that she was not intending to betray him. Instead, she was going out of her way to try and help Stephen by going undercover. Looks like there is a big showdown next issue.

Red Goblin #9. Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Chris Campana. Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim did the cover art. The out of control Rascal takes on the Gold Goblin, trying to stop those things that make Normie sad. There is also a cameo by Normie’s father, Harry’s skeleton. Weird, I know.

Peacemaker: Tries Hard #6. Written by Kyle Starks and art by Steve Pugh. Kris Anka did the cover art. Peacemaker wraps up his series with the end of the story of the Red Bee and a birthday party for Peacemaker with a passel of special guest stars.

Ghostlore #5. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. This issue, we get a close look at where Harmony wound up. She finds herself with a group of people who can also see and talk to the spirits.

Transformers #1. Written and illustrated by Daniel Warren Johnson. A brand new series featuring the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. It wound up with what looked to be the death of Jetfire, which is sad for me considering he was one of my favorites ever. A new series from Image and a new shared universe.

Strange Academy: Amazing Spider-Man #1. “Solve for X” Written by Carlos Hernandez and art by Vasco Georgiev. Nick Bradshaw & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. This wrapped up the Solve for X storyline. Honestly, I did not find this conclusion that interesting and there was just not enough Spider-Man in it for me.

Fantastic Four #12. “Saur Winners” Written by Ryan North and art by Iban Coello. I have to say that I have really been enjoying this latest run on Fantastic Four with the team in Arizona. With this issue, the FF find themselves in an alternate dimension where everyone, including Tony Stark, Captain America etc. are dinosaurs.