January 6, 2024

The first EYG Comic Cavalcade of the new year! Happy New Year! 

Kicking off things this week, I have completed my collection of Howard the Duck Vol. 1 with issues #5 and #8. There are more Howards to get from future volumes, but I am pleased that I’m done with that one. I have a bunch of Vol. 2 What Ifs on the way from eBay as well. 

I have been working on inventorying my comics with the app CLZ. I have passed 5300 comics at this point with plenty of boxes remaining. It has been fun going through the collection. 

Books this week:

Captain America #5. ”Sigils, Moxie and Chopped Demon Liver.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Lan Medina. Cover art was done by Taurin Clarke. The story continued with the present day battle with the demon and the past time against the Nazis. This has been a great story arc so far. 

Pine & Merrimac #1. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. The new Boom! Studios book with Linner & Parker. They are the married couple at the heart of the book. Pine & Merrimac happens to be the street corner where their detective agency was found. I enjoyed this debut very much. It was a good read and I loved the relationship with Linner and Parker.

Amazing Spider-Man #41. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz did the cover art. The Gang War continues as Kingpin and Tombstone battled with each other over their respective children. Spidey and She-Hulk were funny with the interactions with Typhoid Mary.

Ghostlore #7. ”Babe at the Threshold.” Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. The cover art (which was the cover of the week) was from Reiko Murakami & Vincenzo Riccardi. A storm is coming. And it is going to be a danger for Harmony.

Thanos: Smash of the Titans #2. ”Yesterday’s Lovers Never Make Good Friends.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Luca Pizzari. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. The Illuminati recruited the Hulk to take on Thanos, to keep the Mad Titan away from Roberta. And the ending was a shock.

Silver Surfer: Rebirth Legacy #5. ”The Devil You Know.“ Written by Ron Marz and penciled by Ron Lim. The Silver Surfer does battle with Mephisto with help from Eve Warlock and Genis-Vell. This flashback series came to a conclusion, but there seems to be something being set up for Eve Warlock and Nova (Frankie Raye). 

Love Everlasting #11. ”Just West of Love” Written by Tom King and art by Elsa Charretier. This new arc seems to be revealing to us the origin of the Cowboy. 

Fall of the House of X #1. ”The Trial of Cyclops“ Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Lucas Werneck. Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia did the cover art. The Orchis storyline is coming to a head as Cyclops refuses to put up a defense. This are definitely happening in the X-verse.

Doctor Strange #11. ”Circus.“ Written by Jed MacKay and art by guest Danilo S. Beyruth. Alex Ross did the cover art. Dr. Strange and Clea take Clea’s new sister to the circus and all kinds of chaos breaks out. 

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1. ”Reese.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. David Finch did the cover art. Marc Spector is dead. Or is he? Quite an intriguing new issue with the staff of the Midnight Mission stepping up for the loss of Moon Knight. Who is the new Moon Knight? I am excited to find out.

Fantastic Four #15. ”The China Brain.” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art by Alex Ross. The Baxter Building and the children make their return after a year of absentee. This run of FF has been excellent and I am glad to see the group happy once again.

Beware the Planet of the Apes #1. Written by Marc Guggenheim and art by Alvaro Lopez. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. A prequel to the original Planet of the Apes movie from 1968. It was an interesting issue. I’m not sure if I plan on continuing with the series, but I did like the first issue. I may have to try issue #2.

Kid Venom Origins #1. Written & drawn by Taigami. This is a collected version of the original five-page sections of the Kid Venom story from Death of the Venomverse series. I enjoyed the art of the book and I kind of liked the character. There is another series coming from this character. I’m not sure whether I liked this enough to read it, but I will certainly see number one.

Other books read this week: Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man 2099 #1, Marvel Meow #1, Destiny Gate #4, Nights #4, Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood #4, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #6.