June 1

Summer is officially here as I am out of school and on break. I have the June Swoon 4 underway starting today, and more Dodgers baseball later tonight, but I am going to fit the EYG Comic Cavalcade into the mix.

I wanted to give a shout out to Pleasant View Comics on eBay. They had a special recently where they offered a “buy two, get two free” offer. Plus, they had only a $1.99 shipping cost and if you know anything about eBay, you know sometimes the sellers have some extremely high shipping costs. I have had one book and the shipping is listed as $6.99 or even more.

Any way, I had done two separate orders from Pleasant View Comics, one with some Power Pack back issues and the other with some back issues of Marvel Classic Comics. Without me asking, they took the two separate orders and combined them into one and refunded me one of the $1.99 shipping costs I had already paid. They shipped me a package of eight comics for just $1.99, and the packaging was well done. It arrived this week and I was very happy with their service. These are the type of sellers that give eBay a good name. Just thought I’d share…

Books this week:

Giant Sized X-Men #1. “The Mutant That Walks Like a Man” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin. There was a backup story called “Revelations: Superior” written by Al Ewing with art by Sara Pichelli as well. Ms. Marvel goes time hopping to the moment when the new X-Men faced off with Krakoa. I’m not sure how this is supposed to affect things or if this is just a What If type of situation. Honestly, the story was okay, but that was about it.

Uncanny X-Men #15. “As Close to Evil.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. The Dark Artery storyline continues here with The X-Men and the Outliers confronted Lady Henrietta, who wanted Deathdream to take her place as guardian of the city of the dead, Penumbra.

Hyde Street #6. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Francis Portela. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson. Mrs. Goodbody and Pranky have their own conflict while Mister X-Ray lured a group from a bus to the movies. Some seriously weird stuff going down on Hyde Street.

Pinupocalypse #3. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. Must be the week for horror comics to go to the movies as Roxy and Foxy take refuge in the theater. Of course, the zombies apparently like movies too. More satirical fun with this series.

Ultimate Spider-Man #17. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by David Messina. Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Harry is back and he is contacting Uncle Ben and Jonah. Another issue of Ultimate Spider-Man where we barely see Peter Parker. Yet it is very compelling. That tells you how strong the supporting cast is for Spicer-Man.

Predator Versus Spider-Man #2. Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art by Paulo Siqueira & Yen Nitro. Kraven is hunting the Predator as Spidey is in pursuit. Unfortunately, there seems to be a battalion of Predators on their way. Another surprisingly satisfying mash up.

You’ll Do Bad Things #3. Written by Tyler Boss and art by Adriano Turtulici. Tyler Boss did the cover art. I loved this cover by Tyler Boss and I almost picked it for the medal this week, but there were so many choices that this one fell to the side. Still is an impressive cover and an engaging book.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #2. Written by Charles Soule & Steve McNiven with art and cover art by Steve McNiven. Elektra showed up in this future story with Matt Murdock, who had just had his powers return for a short time.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers #1. Written by David Pepose and art by Eman Casallos. Cover art was done by Mark Spears. Here is another new Dynamite Comics series with a character that has no reason to be as good as it is. Captain Planet always just seemed like a joke of a character to me, but this was really solid.

Feral #13. “Cats and Dogs.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover B art by Tony Fleecs and Allen Passalaqua (Gold Medalist). This is a fantastic variant cover. The book does horror themed variant covers have been fun, but this issue, Feral the 13th, was the best yet.

Universal Monsters: The Mummy #3. Written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks with a cover art done by Hicks and Lee Loughridge (Silver Medalist). More background with Helen and Ankh-es-en-Amun. Creepy love stories.

The Goddamn Tragedy #1. Written by Chris Condon and illustrated and cover art by Shawn Kuruneru. I have been waiting for this one shot for awhile because of the awesome title of this book. I also love Chris Condon and his writing style worked well for this genre. A family story based loosely on the Donner party? Yes, please. I’ll take that any day.

West Coast Avengers #7. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. Simon Williams returned this week to confront Killerwatt’s adoption of the Wonder Man name. They did it in a different way that surprised me. West Coast Avengers has been excellent so far with this variation of the book.

Mr. Terrific: Year One #1. “Back to the Beginning.” Written by Al Letson and art by Valentine De Landro. Valentine De Landro and Marissa Louis did the cover art. I am exited about this book as I have not known much about Mr. Terrific and a “Day One” story will work well for me.

New Champions #5. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Ricky Yagawa did the variant cover art. I have enjoyed this group of characters combining into the New Champions. I would like more of a story for them than what we have gotten so far.

The Department of Truth #30. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Martin Simmonds. Will Lee Harvey Oswald make the country great again? The last scene of this issue opens up the possibilities to an amazing story. Department of Truth has been really a great book consistently.

Avengers #26. “Masters of Evil” Part Two. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and Federico Blee. Captain America stands alone against the new Masters of Evil and Sam shows off his ability.

Justice League Unlimited #7. “Rise of Gorilla Grodd.” Written by Mark Waid and art by Travis Moore. Cover art was done by Dan Mora. This story arc has felt up and down to me and this one is another bit of a down. I am not sure I am vibing with what they are doing here. I will say that the Justice League that shows up on the last page of this issue makes me curious.

Infinity Watch #5. Written by Derek Landy and art by Ruairi Coleman. Variant cover art by Inhyuk Lee. I’m not sure if I enjoyed the finale of this short series as much as I had thought I might. I enjoyed these characters, but I am not sure if what happened with them is what I would be happy happening. I hope we get some more of the Infinity Watch somewhere down the road.

Magik #5. “Fate Unbound.” Written by Ashley Allen and drawn by German Peralta. Cover art was done by J. Scott Campbell & Tanya Lenoux. This book felt weird at the beginning…as if we missed out on something big between the end of issue four and the beginning of five.

Minor Arcana #7. “Wheel of Fortune: Part One-Temperance” Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jeff Lemire. I found this issue’s relationship between Theresa and Officer Brad to be extremely well written and it helped to develop these two characters to a point where I wanted more from them. It feels as if there is a big arc coming for this book and I am all in as I am a big fan of Jeff Lemire’s work.

Kill Train #5. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and art by Martina Niosi of Outclass Studio. Skylar Patridge did the cover art. This fun Mad Cave series ended with this issue as Vanessa and Kay fought to escape from the Kill Train. Vanessa certainly ended up as a bad ass in this series.

Uncanny Valley #9. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Dave Wachter. The variant cover B art was done by Tony Fleecs. Oliver is in real trouble, but fear not, his mom is on the way, as she is reclaiming her cartoon side. This has been a remarkably creative book so far and it looks like this is a penultimate issue of the series.

Crush Depth #3. Written by David “DB” Andry and Tim Daniel with art and cover art by Alex Sanchez. Told in flashback format, this gives us even more background on the characters and the horrors that they have found themselves caught in. There is some horrifying imagery in this book that really help create a tone.

Hornsby & Halo #7. Storytellers are Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art by Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz. Zach and Rose are going out of their way to try and deny or avoid the information that they were presented last issue. Meanwhile horrifying things are going on around them.

G.I. Joe #7. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and variant cover art by Andrea Milana (Bronze Medalist). We get a Beach Head issue here and it was good. I love the die cut cover gimmick this book has as a variant.

The Last Boy #3. Written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Alessio Avallone. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Peter pan’s problems in Neverland continue to grow as the boy still denies the death of Hook. The Phantom King is a creepy villain that Tinkerbell and the other fairies had to save Peter from. Wendy’s black and white arc continued as well with a bunch of kids and a pond.

Werewolf by Night: Red Band #10. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila with the cover art done by E.M. Gist. This edition of Werewolf by Night comes to its close after a battle with Lilith. Sorcerer Supreme Victor Von Doom also makes a cameo as a Deus ex machina.

Who are the Power Pals?#3. Written by Duane Murray and art and cover art by Ahmed Raafat. The issue spends most of its time building a rift between our two main protagonists so that when trouble comes, they are separated. One must wonder why these tow completely different people have been friends for so long.

Other books this week: Venom: Original Sin #1, The Power Fantasy #9, Mommy Blog #1, Assorted Crisis Events #3, Rogue The Savage Land #5, Doom’s Division #3 and Darkwing Duck #4.

Quick Hits: I had an unexpected book in my box this week, but it is because Todd is taking care of me. Green Lantern #23 has a cool Mark Spears cover (even though it did not make the medals this week). I do love me some Mark Spears. Deadpool/Wolverine #5 was out this week with Cable guest starring. I do think I may have reached my limit with Deadpool and Wolverine team ups. Dark Honor #1 is new from Image and it is a sci-fi type book that needs another issue or two to see what I think of it. Dark Pyramid #3 took a truly bizarre turn this month. In the book, We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #3, something weird is going on with Annalise. There is more to her story than what we have been told so far. Disney What If issues are back with What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man. These Disney What If books all feel fairly similar. Metamorpho #6 breaks the fourth wall to beg the audience to write to DC to get more Metamorpho books. Weird and fairly brazen. Absolute Wonder Woman#8 and Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 were both kind of meh this week. And speaking of meh, Void Rivals #19 missed out on momentum from last issue and instead went to the planet of Junkion. They did it without “Dare to Be Stupid” playing in the background. If you know, you know. Eddie Brock: Carnage #4 puts Eddie through the ringer and Spider-Boy#19 sees Spider-Boy disappointing Spider-Man, setting up the final Spider-Boy issue next month.