May 26

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Memorial Day today. This is a day to remember and hold those who have passed on close to your heart. If you go to a cemetery to place flowers, be safe and be thankful that you are alive.

We lost one of the greats this weekend with the passing of Peter David. I was always a fan of Peter David, in particular for his run on the Incredible Hulk. He wrote one of my favorite mini series of all time in Future Imperfect. He had been battling illness for awhile now and there is a whole can of worms about how comic companies do not provide for their creators. It really is something that needs to change, but that does not affect the massive loss of such a talented writer. RIP Peter David.

Books this week:

Moonshine Bigfoot #2. Written by Mike Marlow and Zach Howard and penciled by Steve Ellis. This has been a really fun book so far. It is like the X-Files meets Dukes of Hazzard. Aliens. The Chupacabra, and a moonshine making bigfoot. This is such a hoot of a book after the first two issues.

Absolute Flash #3. “Of Two Worlds” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Nick Robles. Cover art by Haining (Silver Medalist). I have loved the Absolute Flash so far. I love how the story has been introducing Wally so far. This may be my favorite of the Absolute books so far.

Sleep #1. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. The new series from Image is excellent. Jonathan woke up and discovered that a horrendous event had take place and the community is on high alert. How does this connect to Jonathan? It is a new horror story that is a great slow burn.

Amazing Spider-Man #4. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia (Bronze Medalist). The Spider-Man vs. Hobgoblin match up continues with the drugged drink. The new round of ASM has been pretty solid so far.

World’s Finest #39. “Deadly Reunion” Written by Mark Waid and art by Clayton Henry. Variant cover art by Lucio Parrillo. I was disappointed by the previous installment of this We are Yesterday crossover with Justice League Unlimited. It was World’s Finest Annual and I questioned if this was going to be worthwhile continuing. However, this was a lot of fun with time travel, even if it was a bit confusing at times. This helped bring me back into the story.

Spider-Man & Wolverine #1. “Duality.” Written by Marc Guggenheim and art and cover art by Kaare Andrews. I also picked up a foil variant cover by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio. Peter and Logan come together in this series. Mysterio is here too, I think, as any sort of hallucinations are floating around. They even Civil War Winter Soldiered Wolverine with Peter’s parents. What is happening? Can’t wait to see.

Out of Alcatraz #3. “Redding Part 2” Written by Christopher Cantwell and illustrated and cover art by Tyler Crook. Our escapees race to try to get away while the FBI pair follow their tracks. Who would have guessed that this alternate past history could be so compelling. This has been so good.

Vision & Scarlet Witch #1. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman. This issue feels like a direct sequel to the Tom King Vision series, which is one of my personal favorite maxi-series of all time. We get the return of the Grim Reaper and return to the white Vision.

Fantastic Four #32. “The Fantastic One.” Written by Ryan North and penciled by Cory Smith. Joshua Cassara & Dean White did the cover. Valera has ideas on how to save Ben and fix the Fantastic Four. It requires alternate realities. Of course it does. Oh, Franklin Richards as Galactus? Huh?

Redcoat #12. Creators are Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Variant cover C art by Raymond Gay & Brad Anderson. Simon Pure meets up with the Northerner. Apparently, Simon is one of the keys to the result of the Civil War. Of course he is. Redcoat has been one of the most consistent of the Ghost Machine imprint books.

Mark Spears Monsters #1- 5th Printing. I typically do not pick up reprinted books. However, Mark Spears kind of changed that whole idea as it seemed that every time he puts out a new print, there is a new, awesome cover. This one is no exception as it was the Gold Medalist this week with Dracula. I also love how the issue makes it look like an old version with the border around it. I have more to say about Mark Spears later in the Quick Hits section.

Ghostbusters: Dead Man’s Chest #1. Written by David M. Booher and art by Aviv Or. Tyler Crook did the cover art. I am a fan of the Ghostbusters, particularly the first movie. I have not bought many in way of comics featuring the GBs. I grabbed this issue just for the heck of it. It was okay. It featured the cast of the recent movie in an adventure that leads to the ghost of Captain Hook. Arrrrr!

Vatican City #2. Written by Mark Millar and art and cover art by Per Berg. The vampires outside of the walls of Vatican City have a plan to flush out the survivors, but will it work or will it get turned around? There is surprisingly only one more issue of this series so I guess we will find out quickly.

Iron Man #8. “The Deadly Rhythm of the Production Line.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta with Michael Dowling. Variant cover art by Adam Pollina. Tony Stark is trying to go back into weapons manufacturing as a way to stop Doom, but he has to face off with his greatest challenge yet… striking union workers.

Incredible Hulk #25. “God of Thunder, Son of Wrath.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein. Variant cover B art Chris Giarrusso. It is Hulk vs. Thor. What more could you want? How about a cool cover by Chris Giarrusso, who just did the tribute covers to the Marvel Handbook last month, that is a tribute to Incredible Hulk #181?

Doom Academy #4. Written by Mackenzie Cadenhead and art by Pasqual Ferry & Joao M.P. Lemos. Cover art was done by Pablo Villalobos. The kids from Strange Academy are here trying to rescue their friend from inside the fairy tale book. Lots of creativity in this series and I have been a fan of these characters from the early days of Strange Academy.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu # 8. “Dragonslayer.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. The cover art on this issue was one of the runners-up for the Favorite Cover of the Week this week. Very powerful image. Moon Knight shows once again what a bad ass he is as he takes on Carver and manipulates a god.

Exceptional X-Men #9. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Kitty, Emma and Bobby bring their fight to Mister Sinister to try to save Axo.

The Terminator #7. “The Engine.” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by David O’Sullivan. Variant cover B art by Edwin Galmon. The Terminator arrives in the Holocaust. A powerful issue of the Dynamite book that may not necessarily take you where you might expect.

Bug Wars #4. “The Son of the Jim” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. Slade Slaymaker has been taken by Wysta the Spider Witch and is taking him to see the spiders. As if that is a good thing.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell #5. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Valentina Pinti & Sergio Davila. Elektra is in Hell and trying to stop Muse, while still saving the woman Muse has possessed and shaped into a copy of himself. This issue has quite a moral conundrum for our hero. I do love Muse too.

The Ultimates #12. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. The Ultimates find the truth from Doom, and it is not pretty. Plus, there is a mole inside the Ultimates and I never would have guessed who it was.

Superman Unlimited #1. “In the Blink of an Eye.” Written by Dan Slott and art by Rafael Albuquerque. Cover art done by Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo. This new Superman book looked like something I wanted to try, but I just was not into the book.

The Thing #1. “The King of Yancy Street Part One” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Justin Mason. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. The blue-eyed lovin’ Ben Grimm makes his way into a solo title as he disrupts things in Yancy Street. This brings The Thing in the sights of Kingpin!

Whatever Happened to Crimson Justice? #1. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. Yet another intriguing Mad Cave book as we are introduced to a world of heroes that is missing one of its greatest. The opening scene, which is very reminiscent of Batman and Commissioner Gordon, sets the story up brilliantly. I love this first issue and I am looking forward to seeing where this takes us.

Hulk & Dr. Strange #1. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by German Peralta. Terry & Rachel Dotson did the cover art. Bruce Banner comes to the Sanctum Santorum in search of aid from Doctor Strange. He wanted to know… if he were a good person. There was also one of my favorite scenes of the year as Bruce Banner needed a bathroom break. LOL

Other books this week: Superior Avengers #2, The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or be Quilt #2, The New Gods #6, It’s Jeff! Jeff Week #1, Weapon X-Men #4, The Killer: Affairs of the State II #1, and The Creeping Below #3.

Quick Hits: The Curse of Sherlee Johnson #1 is new from the Spawn Universe and I gave it a chance since the premise sounded intriguing and I do like the Sam & Twitch series. This one, not so much. DC’s Zatanna #4 keeps people guessing, even with backwards spells. Another new independent book I tried this week that I was not a fan of was RoboWolf #1 from Dark Horse. Bucky dominates in Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #5, which will lead into a new Thunderbolts series. I picked up Doctor Strange of Asgard #3 after missing it from Diamond a few weeks ago. Hey Diamond…*sticks out tongue*. Sister Imperator #3 came out last week and I just now got it too. Don’t think I can blame Diamond for that… oh, why not. Hey Diamond… *flips the bird*. Blade Forger #3 had an awesome cover. I picked up New Warriors Vol. 3 #1, 2, 3, & 6 off eBay this week. I only need Volume three, #4 and #5 to complete my total New Warriors collection. And FINALLY, I received a package from Keenspot this week with my four variant covers for Mark Spears Monsters #4 and my Free Comic Book Day Mark Spears Monsters #0. This included one of the best covers of the year so far, the Mark Spears clown cover. It is so beautiful! See…