November 23, 2024

We have reached another milestone for EYG Comic Cavalcade. This is #125, which is always one of those major events for a comic book series. Truthfully, you do not see too many #125 issues any longer. Usually, these days, a series is rebooted well before it reaches #125, unless we are counting the “Legacy Numbering” which is a whole different can of worms. Anyway, I am pleased that we have reached #125 and look forward to the next milestone.

And, ironically, this week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY just inundated me with books. I got over forty issues this week just from the pull list, which, I believe, was the largest of all time. Whomp, was a load. It has a variety of books from across the spectrum of comic publishers and a huge plethora of characters and great storytelling. Having this number of books on issue #125 is fantastic.

Books this week:

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho #1-3. Of course, then I start off the week with a mini series that I picked up off eBay and not in the pile of 40+ books. I finished my re-watch of Bates Motel, and while on Wikipedia researching, I found a series from a comic publisher called Innovation and it was a movie adaptation of the movie Psycho. I was able to pick this up on eBay and it is gorgeous. The art inside is beautiful painting work and this is truly a fantastic adaptation. The cover of #2 is one of my favorite covers in a long time.

You Never Heard of Me #1. Written by Iolanda Zanfardino and illustrated by Elisa Romboli. A new Dark Horse 5-issue mini series that follows a young teen who is given the power to see the best and the worst moments of other people’s lives. How this was set up was nicely done and it grabbed my attention immediately. Dark Horse has had some good stuff lately and this seems like a winner.

Ice Cream Man #42. “Horror House.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran did the cover art. Any book that starts off with a trigger warning is okay to me. Ice Cream Man is consistently one of the best horror anthologies on the market and this one takes some risks in it storytelling. It might be a divisive issue, but I found it extremely compelling.

Wolverine #3. “Hunters and Hunted” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine is back in the wilderness, being pursued by Department H, and trying to fight a Wendigo. Oh, and Wolverine is trying to help the kid who has been changed into that Wendigo. One of the most intriguing uses of the character of Wendigo in a long time.

Mark Spears Monsters #2. Written, cover art and art by Mark Spears. Another horror book that is absolutely on fire right now. The covers are sensational. I have cover E and it is beautiful. I will be getting cover A soon too. This is an entertaining series with classic monsters throughout, including Gill Man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dracula. The art is stunning in this book.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26. “Birds of a Feather Part Four.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Miles and his new Wakandan costume kicked some Vulture butt here and Starling decided to put her grandpa in his place.

Living Hell #1. Written and drawn by Caitlin Yarsky. Another new Dark Horse book that was really enjoyable. The story does take an unexpected twist, flipping what you think was going on upside down. I found this one compelling as well.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2. “Reborn.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Marc comes clean with Tigra. He has a piece of knowledge that he had been holding back because he was not sure how she would respond… Hank Pym is alive.

The Department of Truth #27. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Alison Sampson. Cover art was by Martin Simmonds. The story of Marilyn Monroe comes to a close in this issue. It goes to show how this series can take anything and make it an intriguing conspiracy.

Geiger #8. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. The kids who helped out Geiger last issue takes him to their town, and Mr. Geiger finds that their father does not share some of the same ideas.

Jonny Quest #4. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover art by Chad Hardin. Jonny Quest and his family, including the old version of Jonny, come face to face with Dr. Zin. The future story is coming to a close next issue.

Scarlet Witch #6. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was by Russell Dauterman. Agatha Harkness is back and she has brought Wanda a new student for Wanda to train. Why doesn’t Agatha just train the girl herself? Well, could it be that the girl is a bit of a handful? Or was it because the girl was being pursued by The Eliminator? Maybe both?

Avengers Assemble #3. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. She-Hulk leads a team of the Aveng.e.r.s. against the Nightstalkers, who are out to kill vampires, even those that haven’t done anything wrong.

Spider-Man: Reign II #5. Written, illustrated and cover art by Kaare Andrews. Spider-Man returned to his own time to face off with Kingpin and attempted to save the future (or present… depends on your POV). Big twist at the end of this series, which comes to a conclusion here.

Space Ghost #7. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina (Bronze Medalist). Blip is the focus of this issue as he suddenly has the ability to talk and think like humans.

Storm #2. “Death by Voodoo” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Mateus Manhanini did the art for the cover. Storm is dying. And she is dying rapidly. As the clock counts down, Ororo looks for help from whoever she can, which leads her to Doctor Voodoo. I love the recent focus on Storm, both here in her own series and in the Avengers. Few deserve it more.

What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel #1. “The Awesome Origin of Minnie Captain Marvel” Written by Luca Barbieri and art by Giada Perissinotto. Cover art was by Perissinotto & Lucio Ruvidotti. The Disney Marvel mash ups continue with Mickey’s better half becoming Captain Marvel and doing battle with Peg Leg Scorpion. Scrooge McDuck makes an appearance too.

Daredevil #15. “Introductory Rites Part 15” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (even though it is a misleading cover with Kingpin appearing on it, despite no Kingpin in the issue). Daredevil is lost, doubting his faith, and he searches for help from Father Javi.

Standstill #4. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson and Alex Riegel. More time shenanigans going down in this beautifully illustrated Image book. It is one of the more fascinating books each month.

Exceptional X-Men #3. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Carnero & Nolan Woodard did the cover art. Kitty and Emma have a conflict over the proper manner in which to train the new kids, who end up picking super hero names. Iceman makes a cameo at the very end.

The Immortal Thor #17. “The Son of Thor” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). We finally discover what The Enchantress wants All-Father Thor to do for her. It is not bring back Iric. It’s another son of hers from a different timeline… a son she shared with Thor.

The Terminator #2. “Apocalypse Then: Part One.” Written and cover art by Declan Shalvey and interior art by David O’ Sullivan. The Terminator in Saigon. Hmm, interesting thought.

Ultimate Spider-Man #11. Written by Jonathan Hickman and guest artist David Messina. Marco Checchetto did the cover art. We get the first appearance of Ultimate Black Cat. Meanwhile, Mister Negative is causing some problems for Spidey and concerns for MJ. Can she handle the new lifestyle of her husband?

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. “Death on my Doorstep.” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. I have always enjoyed the DC character The Question, so I grabbed this issue #1 to check it out. Little did I know this was a new Question… who turned out to be former Gotham police officer Renee Montoya and she was given the job of running the JL Watchtower. Hmm… curious.

Kill All Immortals #4. Written by Zack Kaplan and art by Fico Ossio. Oliver Barrett did the cover art. Frey and Leif got away from Frey’s family and seemed to be on their way to publish the info that the immortals wanted protected. This final panel of this issue was shocking.

Lawful #5. Written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Diego Galindo. Qistina Khalidah did the cover art. Sung is forced to do something that he does not want to do in order to get his mother’s medicine. He is also nearly fully covered in scales from his breaking of the laws. Has Sung taken that step over the line that he will never be able to come back from?

House of Slaughter #27. Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art by Jorge Fornés and Werther Dell’Edera. Not sure I am into the new story arc “Azure.” I am having a difficult time following it. House of Slaughter has been a step down from Someone is Killing the Children since it debuted. Still looks great and I almost gave a medal to the cover.

Duck and Cover #3. Written by Scott Snyder and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Weird and wild stuff here. Krakens? Movies? Movie soundtracks that can blow up Krakens? This is a bizarre issue. Ended with yelling at a giant dog.

Masked Macher #3. Written by David A. Goodman and Alex Andres did the art. The Masked Macher makes an enemy of the Sheik, and Benny the bear is having personal troubles. MM convinced a gossip columnist that the MM was a more famous movie star. Another weird Dark Horse book.

Sentinels #2. “Let Me Take You Down.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. The Sentinels team heads after Sebastian Shaw, and things get tough. I liked this issue a little better than #1, and next issue features Magneto so maybe things will pick up even more.

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #4. Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Andrea Broccardo. Mark Bagley & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. This mini series comes to a conclusion with Chasm and Hallows’ Eve together and Kaine off on his own. We get a couple of throwdowns between the “brothers” here as this Spider-series was fairly fun.

Minor Arcana #3. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa is feeling the guilt over her lying to the old woman about her husband. Will she get this guilt off her chest?

Phoenix #5. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo & Marco Renna. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Eternity shows up to try and get Jean to fully embrace her Phoenix power. That’s not always a good thing. Certainly Gladiator doesn’t think so.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #7. “Haunted Part 7” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Von Randal. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen takes on the Black Tarantula, but is there more there than just superhero/super villain.

Predator versus Black Panther #4. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Chris Allen, Sean Damien Hill and Lee Ferguson. The final issue of this series sees Black Panther blow up the Predators but the vibranium (or as they call it the Godmetal) made it to their home planet. Predators with vibranium? Whoa.

Other books this week: Phases of the Moon Knight #4, Black Cloak #10, The Power Fantasy #4, Venom War: It’s Jeff! #1, Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #3 (Gold Medalist), The Moon is Following Us #3, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #5, and Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #2.