March 31, 2024

Happy Easter.

I’ve been picking up back issues on eBay and at Comic World quite a bit recently. It makes it easier to pick up back issues when I know what comics I already own. It is why my current process of cataloguing my comics on CLZ has been a great thing.

I had enough back issues available to warrant another EYG Comic Cavalcade, so after finishing and posting #88 yesterday, here comes post #89.

Monster Graphic Novel. Monster was a novel by Walter Dean Myers and it was adapted into the graphic novel format by Guy A. Sims. Art in the graphic novel was done by Dawud Anyabwile. I purchased this GN because of a new curriculum that we are looking at adding to my literacy class. The curriculum is HMH and it included this graphic novel in a unit. I purchased this hardcover version which was an old library copy as well as a soft cover version. I was actually reading this during down times as I was waiting to see if I would be selected for a jury. It is a story of a court case for a young boy who was accused of being the lookout in a robbery that led to a death. As the boy was on trial, he was picturing it as if he were making it into a movie. A very captivating read and very intriguing as I sat in the courthouse waiting to see if I had to do my civic duty (spoilers: I was not selected).

Groo the Wanderer #34-40. Written and drawn by EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragones. This was a run of the Marvel/Epic series featuring the classic klutzy barbarian. Yes, Groo can be repetitive. They take the same ten jokes or so and do so much with them. It’s why Sergio is such an amazing talent. When I had inventoried my Groo box, I had realized that I was missing more of that original Epic series than I had thought. This was some of the ones that I was missing. I absolutely love Groo.

Unknown Soldier #1-4. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Kilian Plunkett. Another character I loved when I was younger was DC Comics’ Unknown Soldier. I knew of this short series from DC’s Vertigo by Garth Ennis, but had never owned it. After coming across my Unknown Soldier books in my inventorying, I ordered this on eBay. This was very much different than the Unknown Soldier that I remembered, but every bit as thrilling and compelling. Setting the Soldier as more of a dark, morally-challenged character was smart and really worked in this context. I would recommend this to any fan of war stories/thrillers/mysteries. This would make a fantastic movie too.

Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter trade paperback and issues #2,3. So this will take a little explanation. In yesterday’s Comic Cavalcade, I laid out the story of the first disappointment I had on eBay. This was actually a different kind of error from the site. I had ordered issue #4 of the original Count Crowley series. I had issues #1-3, and in fact, had included #1 in a previous Comic Cavalcade, but I was waiting to read the whole thing when I got the last missing issue. However, the seller who I had ordered #4 from did not send me #4, but, by accident, the trade paperback of all four combined (to be fair, they do share the same cover). I had contacted him about the error and he just said to keep the trade if I wanted. This was an error in my benefit, since I only paid like $3.99 for the trade paperback (yes, there was some shipping too). I went ahead and read the trade paperback, even though I am still waiting on a copy of issue four to complete my collection. This new horror book was written by David Dastmalchian (which is what attracted me to it in the first place), an actor who just starred in the excellent horror/found footage movie Late Night with the Devil. The art of the book was done by Lukas Ketner.

Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #1-2. The series by David Dastmalchian and Lukas Ketner continued where the original left off. There are werewolves, vampires, zombies (although called by a different name) and a host of a late night monster movie show. This has been a really creative and original concept and I look forward to the Dark Horse comic’s final two issues when they come out.

Marvel Chillers #5. “Cat and Mouse” Written by Tony Isabella and with art by Will Meugnot. Todd asked me if I wanted this book and the next one I’ll talk about. It was weird because both featured Tigra, who I like, but I was not a huge fan. I thought maybe Todd had mixed up Tigra with Hellcat, who I really do love. Truth, Tigra aka Greer Nelson was originally the Cat, the predecessor to Hellcat, so that might be what he was thinking. It looked like a cool addition to a collection so I said I would take it.

Spider-Woman #49. “Runaway.” Written by Ann Nocenti and penciled by Brian Postman. This was the other book Todd got for me that featured Tigra. This was in nice condition. A lot of times, these older back issues have paper inside that has faded from age. This story’s art inside still looked very good. This also had Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night in the book too.