August 25, 2024

Welcome back to the Comic Cavalcade! This is a little later this week because school has started and it is more challenging to find the time available to read the large number of books I get during a week. Still, I got through the pile this week in decent time.

Todd returned from Connecticut where he spent time at Terrificon last weekend. He got a issue of Spider-Punk signed for me by Skottie Young. He had a bunch of signed books for himself as well as other patrons of Comic World. Thanks to Todd for the effort he put in.

He also brought back four issues of Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 for me. ASM #4, 6, 8, & 11. I have been working on my Amazing Spider-Man collection and Todd has been very helpful with that.

Books this week:

Gotham Central #1-4. I watched the new animated program Batman: Caped Crusader and I saw a YouTube show that was talking about it and they made a reference to a DC series called Gotham Central, which focused on the GCPD and kept the Batman in the background. That sounded very intriguing so I was able to pick up the 40-issue complete series on eBay. I started reading these and they were really interesting. The collection of police officers and detectives of the GCPD dealing with the world of Gotham and its crazy individuals (such as Mr. Freeze in issue one) is fascinating and watching them trying to do their jobs without the aid of the Bat is a great take on the Batman mythos. This series is written by Ed Brubaker who has done some epic crime comics over the years.

House of the Unholy graphic novel. And speaking of Ed Brubaker, he wrote this recently released graphic novel dealing with the past of a group of people who were known, when they were kids, as the Satanic Six. Drawn by Sean Phillips, House of the Unholy has a cool perspective and several twists that push the story forward.

Standstill #1. Written by Lee Loughridge with art and cover art by Andrew Robinson. This is a brand new series from Image Comics that gives us a protagonist who seems to be able to freeze time. I have to say, the book is very thick and the panels are larger than I am used to in a comic, but that entire presentation works extremely well. This was a great issue and I am very excited to see this one continue.

Black Cloak #7. Written by Kelly Thompson and art and cover art by Meredith McClaren. Black Cloak returned with its next story arc after a long break. It is five years after the event of the first story arc, specifically the fire that ended the last book. Essex was out of the Black Cloaks but she is pulled back in to work on a case by her former partner. This is a very extensive world and being able to return to it is a treat.

Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1-2. Written by Jay Kristoff and art by Tirso. Back up story written by Tom Taylor and featured art by Riccardo Federici. This is a DC Elseworlds series that I usually would not pick up, but the issue #2 intrigued me on the stand this week so I grabbed it and was able to find issue #1 too. This book does some awesome stuff dealing with black and white color design and the arrival of color is shocking. I do love Tom Taylor so his backup story was also a selling point.

Ultimate Spider-Man #8. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. It is a birthday party for Richard and May. The Ultimate Spider-Man books have been heavily dialogue based so far and I do love the characterization going on in this book.

Man Goat and the Bunnyman: Beware the Pigman #2. Written by Joe Brusha and artwork by Jordi Perez. Cover art was by Igor Vitorino & Ivan Nunes. Phil and Floyd are once more in the clutches of Baphomet and must battle the forces of the demon to try and save themselves.

Blow Away #5. Written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Nicola Izzo. Cover art by Annie Wu. This series comes to a close with Brynne determining what happened on that fateful night on the mountain, when she filmed what seemed like a mountain climber falling to his death. What she found out was that there was much more to the story. The covers on all of these five issues were always so beautiful.

Namor #2. “The Crimson Swim” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Cover art was by Alexander Lozano. Flashback to the youth of Prince Namor continue in this issue as we meet an important figure in Namor’s past that will now play a role in his present.

Redcoat #5. Creators were Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Cover art was by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson (Bronze Medalist). Redcoat has picked up business in this series. We find out the truth about the identity of the Grand Architect, and it is not whom we thought it was. I do like the use of historical figures in this series. It reminds me very much of the early days of Killadelphia.

Wolverine: Revenge #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Greg Capullo. Cover art was by Capullo, Tim Townsend and FCO Plascencia. I was kind of looking forward to a new start with Wolverine, but this looks to be a series that is more like Avengers Twilight and is out of continuity. I am not as interested by that considering I have never been a big fan of that type of story. Still, Hickman is a solid writer and I may give this one another chance, but honestly, number one did not really do it for me.

Spider-Woman #10. “Say it Like You Mean It.” Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ig Guara. Leinil Francis Yu & Rachelle Rosenberg did the art for the cover. The latest series featuring Jessica Drew comes to a close with this issue. Jessica is out to help the kids of the Assembly and do whatever she could do to find and help her missing son, corrupted by Hydra. I will miss Spider-Woman as it has been a consistently well done book.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual #1. “On the Road.” Written by Cody Ziglar with art by David Baldeón. The main story of the annual sees Miles heading to Puerto Rico to visit his abuela, Gloria. This story saw zero use of the Spider-Man costume and had Miles just as Miles. And it was great. I really enjoyed this unlikely tale of Miles and his extended family.

Scarlet Witch #3. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Russell Dauterman & Jacopo Camagni. Cover art was by Russell Dauterman (Silver Medalist). Wanda faces off with Lore trying to get back t her life. Quicksilver, Polaris and Darcy are around too.

Deadpool #5. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Andrea Di Vito. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Deadpool faces a huge threat named Death Grip and he does not seem to be able to heal any longer. That makes it difficult when his arm is cut off. Deadpool’s daughter Elle is showing that she is quite capable too.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #3. Written by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. We are learning more about the past of Edwyn and why he may have a certain obsession about decapitation. This has been a very entertaining series so far, as any series can be with its protagonist sawing off heads.

Phoenix #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Jean Grey is very busy in the realms of space trying to redeem the reputation of the Phoenix. However, her mission is not helped by the arrival of her father-in-law, Corsair, especially as he seemed to be naked in much of this issue. That makes for an awkward conversation with Scott.

Red Before Black #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Goran Sudžuka . Red Before Black is a new series from BOOM! Studios that features two women and a whole bunch of twists. It was a challenging read, but I was very entertained while doing so.

Huge Detective #1. Written by Adam Rose and drawn by Magenta King. Cover art by Paul Pope & Lovern Kindzierski. We are introduced to the characters of Detective Tamaki and Gyant. Tamaki is human and Gyant is a Huge, which is basically a giant. They are working together to solve crimes. This has a noir crime/mystery feel to it and the book does a great job of setting up this new world to adventure within.

Get Fury #4. “Like All the Other G.I. Joes” Written by Garth Ennis and penciled by Jacen Burrows. Dave Johnson did the cover art (Gold Medalist). Frank Castle continues his mission inside Vietnam to either rescue or assassinate Nick Fury. This is a violent book (as it should be considering the characters and the situation) but Ennis does a great job of building the characters around Frank and providing with tense moments.

Giant Size Thor #1. “In Medias Res” Written by Al Ewing and art by Brian Level. Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair were the cover artists. Plucking eyes out lose its power if you can just heal them back. This issue not only has Thor surpassing his father Odin by plucking out both of his eyes, Thor and Hercules must face the antagonist literally known as Giant Size Thor. Massively mega.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear#2. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling. David Yardin & Romulo Fajardo Jr are the cover artists. Elektra (don’t call her Lady Daredevil) takes on the new Punisher and they do not seem to be too anxious to team up afterwards. When you have two characters like this, this is how they should interact. No buddy-buddy. Just trying to kill each other.

Predator Versus Black Panther #1. Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Chris Allen with Sean Damien Hill, Craig Yeung and Lee Ferguson. I really enjoyed the Predator vs. Wolverine from last year, and this, to its credit, felt completely different from that.

Other books this week: Local Man #13, Lawful #3, Blood Squad Seven #4, Crocodile Black #4, Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance #6, and Self Help #3.