October 10, 2024

Another Saturday night and I am getting the Comic Cavalcade out. It has been a very busy time as I have a bunch of new movies, a ton of TV series, the Dodgers and, of course, school. I have to look for the opportunity to squeeze the reading into my schedule.

Books this week:

Ice Cream Man #13. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. I have cover B with art by Wes Craig. This was the final issue of Ice Cream Man that I needed and it took forever for it to arrive from eBay. It is one of those gimmicky books that it seems Ice Cream Man specializes in. It is a palindrome, meaning it could be read forward or backwards. It was a fun gimmick and I love the creativity of Ice Cream Man. I am glad to have finally finished off the complete series in my collection.

Groo the Wanderer #8. This is another series that I was able to fill out as this is the final issue of Groo’s Pacific Comics run that I needed. Todd was able to obtain this book for me and I was very pleased to get it. Now I just have a handful of issues of the Marvel (Epic) run to complete my Groo collection.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #2. Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier are the creators on this Groo book. I have been enjoying this current take on Groo, as the story focuses on the story told by the Minstrel and his daughter, Kayli. I do love a rhyme and there is plenty of that in here.

Fantastic Four #26. “Blood Brothers” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was by Joshua Cassara & Dean White (Gold Medalist). Johnny and Reed come across something paranormal in Ben Grimm’s Aunt Petunia’s house, where the FF have been living. They go through a ton of trouble trying to put the genie back in the bottle, figuratively.

Exceptional X-Men #2. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Some mutant drama taking place at a high school soccer game and Kitty Pryde is smack in the middle. She’s not a high school student (perhaps it is a college game. Not sure). Kitty and Emma Frost are being set up as the opposites of the same coin, kind of like Xavier and Magneto were.

The Terminator #1. “Out of Time” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by Luke Sparrow with Colin Craker. Dynamite Comics has had some real winners lately and I did enjoy this Terminator book. It did not feel as if it were a story that would continue over several issues and that the next one would be a new story. Still, I am curious about what they do now.

Jonny Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. I got cover C and the cover art was by Anthony Marques. More action with Jonny and the crew in an attempt to find their way back to their own time. Unfortunately, certain problems are blocking that from happening. Again, I am not as familiar with Jonny Quest and some of these characters are probably ones that a fan of the show would recognize. I still am enjoying the book so far.

Space Ghost #6. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. This is the third straight Dynamite Comics book in the Comic Cavalcade. Space Ghost takes on the fires of Moltar and the dynamic between Space Ghost and Jace has been damaged from last issue. This issue deals with that relationship as the story is narrated via Jace’s journal.

Seance in the Asylum #1. Written by Clay Mcleod Chapman and art by Leonardo Marcella Grassi. Andrea Mutti did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). A fascinating new series from Dark Horse that looks at the idea of spectral therapy and the ways into the spirits beyond this world. It is a very interesting looking book with some art and coloring that really emphasizes the tone.

Amazing Spider-Man #59. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. It is a brutal throwdown between Spider-Man and Tombstone as Spidey is determined to not allow Tombstone to kill his daughter. Very brutal in the story as it is nearly all fighting in the issue.

Phoenix #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art is by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Captain Marvel hang out together during a celebration of the Kree-Skrull alliance. Meanwhile, Carol gives Jean some spacefaring advice.

The Ultimates #5. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover artists were Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. Captain America goes to chase after the individual who claimed the arrows Iron Lad made after Clint Barton rejected the idea. This mean there is a new Hawkeye in the Ultimates. And I liked her.

Minor Arcana #2. “The Fool: Part Two”. Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire. Theresa tried to do a reading for one of her mother’s regular customers, and things go weird for her. She travels to a different plane of existence and meets Gene. All this was too much for Theresa as she went to hit the bottle. Jeff Lemire is right near the top of my current favorite comic book writers and just about anything he does is something I want to read.

Geiger #7. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson (silver Medalist). Mister Geiger has been having some troubles lately as he has been showing how violent he could be. Still, he is out saving animals and kids. Geiger has been one of the most solid of the Ghost Machine imprint.

Sentinels #1. “Necessary Monsters.” Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Justin Mason. Cover art was by Mason & Federico Blee. This new X-book has a group of characters who I did not know and have some weird tie to the Sentinels. Honestly, this X-book did not grab my attention much, but I’ll probably give it another shot before skipping it. It will need to be better than this issue.

Transformers #13. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer did the cover art. I liked this book as we get an origin story for Starscream, who has always been one of my favorite Decepticons. They also tied him to Jetfire, one of my favorite Autobots. This Image run of Transformers has been very solid so far.

Blade: Red Band #1. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa & Federico Blee. Blade returned for the first time since the Blood Hunt took over Marvel this summer and he is involved with a new baddie called Spellguard. Again, these Red band books are not that bad. It just means Blade can cut off a few heads.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #5. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. Speaking of cutting off heads, Edwyn is back in the finale of this series, seemingly riding off into the sunset with his blow-up doll, Virginia. However, the last page of the issue really leaves a question in my mind.

Other books this week: Life #2, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #3, X-Force #4, Public Domain #9, Crocodile Black #5, and Conquest 2099 #1.