January 12

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade! It was a big week this week especially with the back issues.

Last week I had purchased the first five issue trade paperback of Sex Criminals and I really enjoyed the book so I went to eBay to search up for the series and I found the whole series, #1-30 and #69, available. I will say that when they came in that big box, I was not prepared for the covers that were on these books. I was needing a fan to cool off. The quality of this book was high and that should not be a surprise considering it was done by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky. I have not yet read all the books, but I am looking forward to it.

Another reason I got a nice influx of books this week was because Comic World added four $1 boxes of books and I could not avoid the sale. I picked up a bunch of Ed Brubaker Captain Americas, most of vol. 2 of Challengers of the Unknown, some issues from Neil Gaiman’s 1602, as well as an Avengers Annual from 1999.

Back to eBay, after this week, I am down to just five remaining Groo the Wanderer books from Marvel/Epic that I am missing. The late issues of that book are difficult to find because they were low printed at the time.

Other books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #65. “Signifying Nothing.” Written by Joe Kelly and art by Cafu. Mark Bagley & Richard Isanove did the cover art. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man continues with Spidey taking on the challenge of Callix & Cyra, the twins. Phil Coulson makes a guest appearance, which is not the best of things considering he is now the Infinity Stone Death Stone guardian.

Uncanny X-Men #8. “Finale.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. Cover art was by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. The crossover with X-Men finishes up in this issue as the two X-teams face off again over what they should do with Xavier. The issue continued to tease Inmate X, who is apparently not Xavier as I thought.

New Champions #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli with Ig Guara. Cover art was done by Gleb Melnikov & Edgar Delgado. A new group of young heroes form under the name New Champions and they kick off their first issue. Some of these characters were from the recent Spider Woman run and they are an intriguing group. I do enjoy young heroes and I liked previous versions of Champions so I hope this will be a fun book.

All-New Venom #2. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura Martin did the cover art. The mystery of the identity of the all-new Venom deepens this issue as they seemingly eliminated Luke Cage as a possibility. I am not clear on how they did it, but Dylan Brock stated it at the end of the issue, so I guess that is meant to be the case. Luke Cage was one of my favorites to make the new Venom, but now I am not sure. I can’t see Robbie or Madame Masque being the new Venom, but Rick Jones feels too obvious. I am curious where this is headed.

Return of the Living Dead #1. Written by S.A. Check and James Kuhoric and art by Andrea Arcari. Cover art by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). When a toxic gas is accidently released at Peddler’s Point, the reaction of nearby people seem a touch ghoulish. How do you survive a new outbreak of zombies out for brains? The new book from American Mythology Productions is hot, big reason is because of the Mark Spears cover.

Marley’s Ghost Graphic Novel. Based on the story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this graphic novel came about after nine pages of an adaptation done by legendary Harvey Kurtzman was found. The adaptation was expanded upon by Josh O’Neill and Shannon Wheeler with illustrations by Gideon Kendall. It is a beautiful and faithful adaptation of Dickens’ classic from Ablaze.

Transformers #16. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art was by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer. The Autobots and Decepticons fight on both on earth and on Cybertron, but just wait… he’s coming! It is just a matter of time before the big man himself, Megatron, finds his way back.

Sentinels #4. “We Assembled Him in the Kitchen.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Justin Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. This story centered around the character of Justin Seyfert, a young boy who was able to control a Sentinel. This character was around back in the days of the Avengers Academy and I always liked him. His death in Avengers Arena saddened me and this fate made it all the worse.

The Blood Brothers Mother #3. Written by Brian Azzarello and art and cover art by Eduardo Risso. It has been awhile since the second issue of this DSTLRY series came out. In fact, looking at CLZ, issue two was released in the first week of September. I love these DSTLRY books but the time between release really make it difficult to keep the story in my head. This Western tale was enjoyable, but a closer release schedule would help me considerably.

Wolverine #5. “The Call of the Adamantine” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza did the cover art. This new story involving Wolverine and other characters with adamantium in them is off to a very interesting start. I am also happy that our new Wendigo, aka Leonard, is still very much involved. I love the new Wendigo so here is to more with him.

Blood Hunters #5. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Chris Campana & Robert Gill. The team up to rescue Dagger came to an end this issue with the Blood Hunters heading in their own ways. It was nice to see Cloak make his triumphant return to the side of Dagger in this issue. I have been a fan of Cloak & Dagger since their debut way back in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man.

Absolute Batman #4. “The 200″ Part Four. Written by Scott Snyder with art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta. Cover art was by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. We get some flashbacks to a young Bruce Wayne as he was starting to become whom he is. This Batman has been very fascinating as he is different yet similar to the Batman we know.

Namor #6. “The Wyrd of the Waves” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Cover art was by Alexander Lozano. Namor battles himself, literally, as he continues to move toward reclaiming the throne of Atlantis. Meanwhile, the kings of the sea are all preparing for all out war.

What If Galactus Transformed Gambit #1. Written by Josh Trujillo and art by Manuel Garcia. Ron Lim & Israel Silva did the cover art. This was a much better issue of “What If Galactus Transformed…” than last issue was. This one felt like a complete story as the last one did not. Even better yet… this issue marked an appearance by Uatu the Watcher! He has been sorely missing from these special What If books and I was ecstatic that he was included here. Uatu should be in every What If book, period.

What If Mickey and Friends Became the Fantastic Four #1. “The Fantastic Four vs. Mole Pete.” Written by Riccardo Secchi (plot by Steve Behling) and art by Lorenzo Pastovicchio. Cover D variant art was done by Skottie Young. For example, the Watcher is not in this What If book, but why couldn’t he be here? I would love it if the Watcher was here and maybe even played by a Disney character.

Geiger #10. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank (Silver Medalist). Mister Geiger is in bad shape and he is losing control of his powers. Is he a danger to everyone? Can Junkyard Joe help Geiger at all? Crossovers are happening in the Ghost Machine imprint.

NYX #7. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Enid Balan. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee. Synch vs. Prodigy… but not to the death as the cover seems to indicate. There is also problems forming for Ms. Marvel as some of the other mutants around are getting after her for keeping a secret identity. Is this leading to Kamala Khan revealing her true self soon? Feels like that.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell: Red Band #1. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Valentina Pinti and Jose Luis. Elektra battles to protect Hell’s Kitchen while Muse is finding a way of getting his spirit out of Hell and possess another disgruntled artist. With Muse scheduled to be one of the main villains in the MCU upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again, it was time to bring him back in the Marvel Comics Universe.

The Lucky Devils #1. “First Circle: Limbo.” Written by Charles Soule and art and cover by Ryan Browne. It is a new, fun series from the creative team that brought us Eight Billion Genies. The Lucky Devils has the same flair, the same feel to it as that series. The Little Devils themselves are a very cool character design and I am excited to see where this story goes. It should be wild.

Green Hornet/Miss Fury #1. Written by Alex Segura & Henry Barajas and art by Federico Sorressa. Cover art by Francesco Francavilla. Dynamite Comics has been on a huge roll lately with their adaptations of older, classic characters and this time they are taking the Green Hornet and Miss Fury, teaming them up in their own book. I loved the noir feel of this book and the way they brought these characters into the present day of comic book presentation. Another big win for Dynamite.

Parliament of Rooks #2. “Summer” Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and art and cover art by Abigail Jill Harding (Bronze Medalist). The love story hiding in a horror story finds its footing as this book moves on. The town is getting more and more scared over the monster they believe is loose but Princess Seraphina and Darius are still meeting in secrecy. This is dark and beautiful, another solid book from Ablaze comics.

Ultimate Black Panther #12. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Stefano Caselli & David Curiel did the cover art. It is the face off between Black Panther and Moon Knight of the ultimate universe, but will T’Challa lose himself in this final showdown? Not if some guests at the end of the book have anything to say about it.

Batman: Dark Patterns #2. “We are the Wounded.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. Batman is investigating the Wound Man, and the twist of this issue is quite well done. This feels like an older version of Batman and I really have enjoyed the book so far.

Other Books this Week: Magik #1, Napalm Lullaby #8, Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #2, and Moon Man #6.