April 19

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade with issue #149. This week, I was able to purchase my final two issues of Groo the Wanderer, #114 & 115, which completed the series of Marvel/Epic Comics run, #1-120. I have been searching for these for about a year and a half, and I was able to complete it off eBay this week.

I also picked up a bunch of the Zdarsky Comic News issues. These were fun and were free! That made me very please and I liked the format.

And happy Superman Day everyone! I have never been a huge fan of Superman, but I do respect him and think that he could be done well with the proper writer. There were several freebies on Superman Day and a reprint of All-Star Superman #1 with the most beautiful foil cover.

Books this week:

Ghost Man #1. Written, drawn and cover art by Raymar Brunson. I have been searching for this for a month or so. It has been so tough that I was starting to believe that this was just a rumor. Todd checked in Des Moines and some of those shop owners had never heard of it. I finally saw it on eBay, but it was over 30 dollars and that was too much for me. I found another one at a much more reasonable level and I bought it. Then on Friday, it arrived. It existed! And it was great.

X-Factor #9. “Lost Causes.” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata (Bronze Medalist). This is the penultimate issue of this series, which is ending with issue 10. What does this issue give us? More Granny Smite! I love Granny Smite! Oh, there is some Archangel too.

Sam Wilson: Captain America #4. “Better Angels Part 4” Written by Greg Pak & Evan Narcisse and penciled by Chris Campana. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. With floating cities above most black cities of the Marvel Universe, Sam and his crew look to stop Eaglestar. Thunderbolt Ross is here too. What happens when he becomes the Red Hulk?

Exceptional X-Men #8. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Mister Sinister is here. Trouble is in the leaves for these characters.

Summer of Superman #1. “The Past, the Present the Future.” Written by Mark Waid, Dan Slott and Joshua Williamson with art by Jorge Jimenez, Belen Ortega and Dan Mora. Variant cover art by Alexander Lozano. I only picked this up because of the cool Supergirl cover, but I read the story and I really enjoyed it. These are three immensely talented writers on this special so I can understand why this worked for me.

Superior Avengers #1. “The Everlasting Gaze“. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Luca Maresca with Kyle Hotz. Cover art by R.B. Silva & Jesus Aburtov. Variant cover art by Joshua Cassara (Silver medalist). Doctor Doom needed an Avengers squad and he found a bunch of alternate universe “heroes” to form this group. Fun group.

Buried Long, Long Ago #1. Written by Anthony Cleveland and art and cover art by Alex Cormack. Mad Cave has been on fire lately and this is another new and fantastic book from this comic company. It was dark and disturbing, and I loved it.

Spectacular Spider-Men #14. “Home and Hearth.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Mark Bagley & Edgar Delgado. Peter and Miles have to take on the Lizard to help out the Connors family.

Wolverine #8. Two stories written by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Martin Coccolo. A third story written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson. Cover art by Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza. This is the Legacy number 400 of Wolverine as the war with Adamantine continued. I was also sad as the new Wendigo, aka Lawrence, was cured. I liked the new Wendigo and I was sorry to see him go even though it was nice to see the kid overcome his curse.

Godzilla vs. the Hulk #1. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. Cover art was done by Lee Garbett (Gold Medalist). Ever wonder what a Gamma-powered Godzilla might be like? Wonder no more! I am not a huge fan of this version of the Hulk, but he is always awesome against other massive monsters.

World’s Finest #38. “Chapter One: Superior Species.” Written by Mark Waid and art by Clayton Henry. Variant cover B by Adrian Gutierrez & Matt Herms. This is the first issue of the World’s Finest/Justice League Unlimited crossover. We face off with Gorilla Grodd in this issue. Grodd takes over Superman’s mind. That is a bad thing.

Ultimate Wolverine #4. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Frank Martin. This was a fascinating issue with most of the issue using a wolf battling a bear. However, it is more than what it looked like. This has been a solid Ultimates book so far.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8. “Fighting our Way to Nowhere.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferreyra. Variant cover B art by Kevin Eastman. This Jason Aaron run on TMNT has been spectacular. It is so full of character development and interactions between the Turtles themselves. This issue featured Donnie and Leo mainly.

Redcoat #11. Creators are Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Cover art was done by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson. Redcoat continues to be one of the best reads of the month. This issue brought us a tale during the Civil War and we see the debut of the Northerner.

Absolute Flash #2. “Of Two Worlds Part Two” Written by Jeff Lemire with the art and cover art by Nick Robles. This Absolute book, after just two issues, may be my favorite of the Absolute books from DC. I love the look of the book with the art and the design of each panel and Jeff Lemire is one of the best writers in comics.

Challengers of the Unknown #5. “Rock & a Hard Place.” Written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Sean Izaakse & Amancry Nahuelpan. Cover art by Sean Izaakse & Romulo Fajarod Jr. This short series of the Challengers came to a close as the mystery of what was happening was revealed… sort of.

Sister Imperator #2. Script by Corinna Bechko and art by Puste. Cover art was done by Mikael Eriksson. This new Dark Horse book has been really good so far. What is it like to be fired out of a cannon at a circus? Here you go.

Iron Man #7. “Bow Down to your Doom.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Yasmine Putri. Tony Stark is trying to do what he could to prevent Dr. Doom from continuing to control the world. Victorious showed up here too.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell #4. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Valentina Pinti & Jose Luis Soares. Cover art done by Paulo Siqueiro & Rachelle Rodriguez. Elektra vs. dark Elektra. Muse vs. Muse. This one has all kinds of conflict.

Other books this week: The Hive #3, Web of Venomverse: Fresh Brains #1, Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #3, Zatanna #3, Power Man: Timeless #3, Frankenstein New World: The Sea of Forever #2, The New Gods #5, and Arkham Horror #4.