February 10, 2024

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. It was another solid week of comics this week and I am excited about sharing my thoughts on them.

I have received some Groo the Wanderer issues from the Marvel/Epic run during the 1980s this week from eBay. I go issues #61-70, #25 (which I was surprised was not among the books I already owned) and the final Marvel/Epic issue, #125. When I re-bagged and reboarded my Groo the Wanderers, I did not have as many of these issues as I thought I did. I thought I had a complete set of Marvel/Epic Groo the Wanderer issues, but I was actually missing quite a few. This is probably my next search to fill these issues because I do love Groo.

Since I am currently working on re-bagging. re-boarding and re-boxing all my comics (and inventorying them on CLZ), I wonder if it is going to turn out that I am missing more comics than I thought. I may have, in my head, thought that I had certain issues that I do not actually own. It is an interesting job.

New comics this week: 

Ultimate Black Panther #1. Written by Bryan Hill with art by Stefano Caselli. The next series from Marvel’s new Ultimate universe has arrived, with Black Panther taking center stage. This was a really strong introduction for the character and I loved the design of Killmonger. The Ultimate Universe feels as if it is off to a hot start.

The Sensational She-Hulk #5. Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art (which was in the top six of the covers of the week race). This was a lot of fun as She-Hulk, Captain Marvel and my girl Patsy Walker aka Hellcat battled some demons at Patsy’s favorite bar and Damian Hellstrom, the Son of Satan showed up. I am not sure where my unreasonable love of Hellcat has come from, but I love that character so much.

Pine & Merrimac #2.  Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. Linnea and Parker find their investigation leading them to as island that has a dark and dirty secret and the couple are there to bring it down.

Captain America #6. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and penciled by Lan Medina. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. The story arc with the present day and past day Steve Rogers wrapped up in this issue as we see the ever heroic Steve Rogers save the day twice. I loved this dual story and I will miss it as the past time frame clearly led up to the recruitment of Rogers for the Super Soldier program.

Doctor Strange #12. ”Ghost Story“. Written by Jed MacKay and art by guest artist Danilo S. Beyruth. Alex Ross continued with his awesome Dr. Strange covers here. This story focused on Bats the ghost dog as he could smell the evil that was inside the Sanctum Santorum. That evil was Victor Strange, the ghost from the recent Crypt of Shadows #1. I was worried for Bats the entire issue. 

Daredevil: Gang War #3. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Elektra is out on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen doing what she can to protect the people from the Gang War ravaging the neighborhood. She winds up battling the new villain Bellona. IS she a Wolverine clone? Sounds that way.

Avengers #10. ”Twilight Dreaming” Part Four. Written by Jed MacKay and art by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. Myrddin confronts Kang the Conqueror, who is now awake and blaming the Avengers for not protecting him better. Meanwhile, Thor and Wanda are speaking with Nightmare. Lots of stuff going on here.

X-Men #31. ”The Passenger“ Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Phil Noto. Joshua Cassara and Marte Gracia did the cover art. X-Men members Shadowcat, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Ms. Marvel, and Psylocke, along with Spider-Man, fight Nimrod as the mutants prepare to invade the earth.

Fantastic Four #17. ”Salvaged from the Wreck of Ages.” Written by Ryan North and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. A quick FYI, Indiana Jones does not appear inside this issue, despite making a cameo on the cover. This is a fun time travel story that allowed the FF to find the bones of one of their members who apparently died in prehistoric Arizona. I have loved these single issue stand alone stories Ryan North has tossed in during his run on Fantastic Four. It shows that every comic does not have to be multiple issue story arcs to be successful.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #1. ”Blindsides Galore! (or the Set-Up)” Written by Chris Claremont and art by Edgar Salazar. Philip Tan & Sebastian Cheng did the cover art. Another short series set in the Marvel Universe past, this included a team up from Logan (as Patch) with Captain America and Black Widow. Psylocke and Jubilee were here too, but the big three were the featured trio.

The Cull #5. Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Mattia De Iulis. This brought this series to an end. It is extremely different now than when the series started off. I am not sure I loved how it went. The art is beautiful though. It also pulled off a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending leaving a surprising END? to the series.

Other books this week: Antarctica #8, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Ghostlore #8, Love Everlasting #12, and Thanos #3.