August 15

This will be the final Comic Cavalcade that comes out early because I return to school as of Tuesday next week for inservice work. I have enjoyed getting this column out on Fridays or early Saturday, but with the vast amount of books I get a week, the time to read will be cut with school underway. We are looking at best case scenario moving ahead as getting the post out on Sunday afternoon or early the next week.

I got my first order from Midtown Comics in the mail on Wednesday. It was just about a week from order to delivery, which I think is fantastic. I got a bunch of books that were signed by creators. This included Exquisite Corpse #1 Cover B signed by James Tynion IV, Strange Adventures #1 signed by Tom King, The Lucky Devils #1 Cover L signed by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, You’ll Do Bad Things #1 Cover F signed by Tyler Boss, We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us #1 Cover M signed by Matthew Rosenberg and Exquisite Corpses #2 Virgin Cover D signed by James Tynion IV.

I picked up a whole bunch of back issues of Mad Magazine in the #410 range. There were some fun things in these and I think I may look into this as something new to buy. gabbed

I grabbed a few series too this week. At Comic World, I picked up Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1-3 and a Peter Parker series #1-5. Cover on issue two of that Peter Parker series is done by Skottie Young, which was lovely.

Books this week:

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1. Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. This series introduces a new group of Kryptonite colors and Superman wants to test them out on himself so see how they affects him. He goes to get help from Batman. This is a new Superman series from the creators of Ice Cream Man and it was great.

Pinupocalypse #5. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. Pinupocalypse is such a hoot. Every issue is getting better with each issue. This is the penultimate issue of this series and Foxy and Roxy are back together. I will miss this one when it is done.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #5. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillard and Michelle Madsen. The finale of the series turned out great as Rennie wrapped things up, saving her roommate Sofie. Sofie’s discovery of Rennie’s actions may be a surprising take. I really enjoyed this series from Image.

Giant-Size X-Men #2. “What You Are.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin. The whole Ms. Marvel/Legion timeline shenanigans storyline came to an end. So the answer to whether they were changing history is answered here. Kamala remembered what happened, but the world at large does not. I am not sure why that was done. Most of these felt inconsequential. It’s fine.

Bug Wars #6. “Lost in the Yard.” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. Another series that came to an end this week as Bug Wars wrapped its story of the front yard up. Bug Wars was decent, but not my most favorite work from Jason Aaron. Lots of world building required.

Batman: Dark Patterns #9. “Pareidolia Part Four” Written by Dan Watters and art from Hayden Sherman. Variant cover B art done by Ashley Wood (Gold Medalist). This storyline wrapped up with the truth about what was happening. This issue is tremendous. Really enjoyed this arc.

The Slasher’s Apprentice #4. Written by Justin Richards and art and cover art by Val Halvorson. Riley is looking for ways to make the Hopton Valley Killer more relevant, not something that is thrilling HVK. She is online looking for ideas of other killers. One more issue of this series and I expect it to be a great finish.

X-Men #20. “A Civilized Discussion.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia (Silver Medalist). Cyclops and Lundqvist wind up in a jail cell and have it out over their troubles. Definitely a lot of fun.

Lovestruck #1. Written by MC Foley & Don Handfield and illustrated by Alonso Molina. A surprising new series from Amp Comics (never heard of them before). The main protagonist accidentally runs down a man dressed as Cupid, and Cupid haunts her after that. It was an interesting start to the series.

Space Ghost #1. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Variant cover art was done by Alex Ross (Bronze Medalist). A new volume of Space Ghost kicked off with a new arc. Space Ghost has been a great book in the first book at Dynamite and I think this started off well.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #36. “God War Part V” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. I am very happy that this whole God War storyline with Miles, as well as the plot point of Miles as an avatar for the god Anansi has come to an end. It has not been my favorite arc for Miles.

The Unchosen #2. Written, drawn and cover art by David Marquez. After picking up the first issue of this series, I was underwhelmed. However, it did look good so I was going to give it another issue try. Issue two was so much better and I was much more entertained and engrossed with this issue. I am pleased with the way this has gone.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #3. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. This issue included the Ultimate X-Men in a book without the art by Peach Momoko. I do love Peach Momoko, but these characters looked so much better with them meeting Miles Morales.

Daredevil #24. “Rites of Reconciliation“ Part Five. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. Honestly, the story was fine, but this has the most boring cover of the week. Daredevil and Elektra are working together.

The Ultimates #15. Written by Deniz Camp and guest artist was Von Randal. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. It is the Ultimate Iron Fist! He is very much like Shang Chi too. She-Hulk is ready to do some Hulk ass kicking. The Ultimates are building towards the Maker.

Cul-De-Sac #1. “Chapter 1: All That Eat Get Eaten.” Written by Mike Carey and art by Jonathan Wayshak. New book from Bad Idea Comics and, so far, these books have been hits for me. This was a very difficult book to find. Todd was only able to find a couple of copies in all of Des Moines. I’m glad he got it.

New Champions #8. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Ivan Fiorelli & Arthur Hesli. This is the final issue of the New Champions. I liked this book but it was iffy with some of these characters. Too many that were just kid versions of the main heroes. Still, I would keep buying this if they continued.

Fantastic Four #2. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The time spanning FF adventure continues, and they try to get back to Doom. However, things do not go that well.

Other books this week: Transformers #23, The Power Fantasy #11, The Powerpuff Girls: Supervillain Summer Spectacular #1, Blood Type #3, We Don’t Kill Spiders: Season of the Witch #1, and Blood & Thunder #4.

Quick Hits: Another Godzilla book released this week with Godzilla: Here There be Aliens #3. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar team up. Captain Planet and the Planeteers #3 is working really well at Dynamite. The next book in the bad guys series is Bring on the Bad Guys: Red Skull #1. It is down to just to more of these books including Dormammu and Mephisto. Conan the Barbarian #23 came out with more excellent Cimmerian action. This week’s Zdarsky Comic News #14 was taken over by Ryan Stegman and he changed the title to Steg Man’s Health. The creepy story of Buried Long, Long Ago #4 really picked up more. I had been slipping away from this series a bit, but this issue pulled me back again. Laura Kinney: Wolverine #9 brings back Gabby for more action. Magik #8 keeps Illyana and Dani together despite some struggles. I had not planned on buying the series, but after I bought Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #1 I might have changed my mind. More corgi rescue action in Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #3. This felt like Groundhog Day. Baseball and vampire finished up in Past Time #5 with yet another great cover. Muse in Eddie Brock: Carnage #7 is great. I love Muse as a villain and he feels like a perfect villain for Carnage. I got a back issue from Todd of Silver Surfer #1 from December 1988 which is from Epic Comics. Disney/Marvel cross events continued with Uncle Scrooge: Earth’s Mightiest Duck #1. Finally, my least favorite Spider-Man book, Spider-Man & Wolverine #4 is out. I have really found this to be a weak series overall.