February 8

Welcome to the Big Game Day! Patriots vs. Seahawks later today. Before we get to that, I want to get to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I am a Patriots fan so… good luck to them!

I have just about mined the full possible Marvel Team-Ups from the collection at In This Issue. I think there was one more available to me that I left behind because it was a little more expensive. I plan on picking that up next week.

Books this week:

D’Orc #1. “D’Orc Days Ahead” Story and art by Brett Bean. I picked up three covers. Cover A by Brett Bean, Cover B by Jorge Corona and Cover C by Jason Howard. This is my favorite new book of the week. This Image Comics book features the debut of D’Orc, a half-orc, half-dwarf, and he is hilarious. He has a talking shield and I really get a Groo the Wanderer vibe from this book. It is funny and written extremely well. It is really hot right now too. I love D’Orc.

Avengers #35. “The New Universe” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Sergio Davila. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman & Rachelle Rosenberg. The Avengers are on the precipice of a new universe in their struggle with Kang. Who knows where this cosmic tale is headed?

Amazing Spider-Man #21. Written by Joe Kelly and Penciled by John Romita Jr. and Todd Nauck. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. Norman Osborn has been taking his lumps as he tried to step into the shoes of Spider-Man. Fortunately for Norman, Peter Parker is back on earth!

Crescent City Monsters #1-4. Written by Newton Lilavois and art and cover art by Gian Carlo Bernal. This four issue series is also autographed by its creator Newton Lilavois. I saw an ad for this on TikToc with Lilavois himself selling it and it looked very interesting. The books are beautiful black and white, but I have not yet read them. I am looking forward to reading them as soon as I can find the extra time.

Batman #6. “Long Night” Written by Matt Fraction with art by Jorge Jimenez. Cover art was done by Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey. Batman is back out after the tough date night from last issue. Things do not get much better. There are some nice scenes with Jason Todd and Damien.

Ultimate Endgame #2. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Terry & Rachel Dodson and Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. I also picked up cover C by Lee Garbett and cover D by R.B. Silva. The big Ultimates universe crossover event continued with the Ultimates, Spider-Man, Killmonger, and the Master. Does the Master take over Doom? Is that a bad thing? No polybags this time!

All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #7. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Federico Blee. Gwen and Fabian sitting in a web.. k-i-s-s-i-n-g… that is until all the crap hits the fan. There is a very circular situation that seemingly happens in this issue that is a call back to Amazing Spider-Man #122. Or is it all Mysterio?

The Nice House by the Sea #7. Written by James Tynion IV with art and cover art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Cover C art is done by Javier Rodriguez. Here is another book that has been on the shelf for a long time. Issue six came out in March of 2025. Almost a whole year. However, this is tied to DC Comics new version of Vertigo so now is a good time to return to the comic shop, I guess.

Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four #1. Written by Josh Trujillo and art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. A powerless FF arrive on the Planet of the Apes and have to face off with the classic characters. What does the Red Ghost have to do with this? This issue is a lot of fun as the Marvel vs. 20th Century Studios faceoffs continue.

Wolverine #15. “Alpha Flight” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Mike Henderson. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. After teaming up with Silver Sable and just before they engaged in a little noogie noogie, Alpha Flight attacked Wolverine in an attempt to capture him. Wolvie should know that Canada is not the friendliest place for him.

Superman: Chains of Love #1. “Creepers” Written by Leah Williams and art by Ig Guara. Variant cover D art by Ig Guara and Arif Prianto. I loved this book. The Creeper is one of my favorite secondary DC characters and his relationship in this book with Livewire is a lot of fun. Super heroes (villains?) as podcasters is a funny idea.

War Wolf #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski (Silver Medalist). The truth about what really happened to Bear Bruin is coming to the front. What is the truth? It is coming to the front.

Magik & Colossus #1. “Bound by Blood.” Written by Ashley Allen and art by German Peralta. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. The Rasputin siblings get their own feature in the Shadows of Tomorrow arc in the X-Men universe. I am not sure who it is behind the troubles for Piotr and Illyana, but I have a guess….

Knightfight #4. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Batman is going through all kind of trouble with his battles with alternate Batmen… all seemingly for him to get back involved in the KO tournament. Not sure how that is fir, but I guess we’ll find out in DC KO #4 next week.

Uncanny X-Men #23. “Where Monsters Dwell” Part One. Written by Gail Simone with art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). In what felt like an intervention for Gambit, we get Elsa Bloodstone and a bunch of monsters including Morbius, Mummy and others.

Ripcord #1. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Aneke. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Ripcord is a new drug that will transform the user into mindless killers. Dillon, however, will not give up until she finds her sister. Great first issue from Ignition Press set in the Australian Outback.

Absolute Superman #16. “This Universe Will Break Your Heart, Kid” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra. Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola did the cover art. We get the debut of the Absolute Hawkman and I really like this version of that character. Absolute Lex Luthor also shows up as Brainiac tries to recruit him.

The Twilight Zone #4. “False Bottom.” Written by Written, drawn and cover art by Nate Powell. I also picked up variant cover B art by Francesco Francavilla. This Twilight Zone issue is one of the more tragic examples of a story. It felt like a real Twilight Zone episode you would have seen, but the unhappy ending was tough to handle.

Other Books this week: Event Horizon: Dark Descent #5, Marian Heretic #4, Absolute Green Lantern #11, Godzilla #7, Eat Your Young #6 and DC KO Boss Battle #1.

Quick Hits: The final issue of Dark Horse’s Space Scouts #3 dropped this week as the whole competition came to a finale. Cullen Dunn had another book released this week, which was The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #1. It felt like a sequel to something that I was unaware of, but it was pretty solid. Dunn is a top notch writer. Sam & Twitch Case Files #21 was the Bronze Medalist cover this week. Nova Centurion #4 showed off Richard Rider’s power and his intelligence as the last Nova. More conspiratorial action dropped in Department of Truth #35. Godzilla: Infinity Roar #1 sees the King of Monsters across the cosmos of the Marvel Universe. Maybe Godzilla is finally getting around to destroying the Marvel Universe as was mentioned in his previous book. The latest crossover comes to the forefront with Archie X The Army of Darkness #1. Archie Andrews and Ash Williams together? Seems like a match made in Hell. DC x AEW #1 brings the world of professional wrestling into the DC universe. High Strangeness #4 continues its weird story arcs through the decades. This one is especially odd. Ultimate Wolverine #14 is counting down until the end of the Ultimate Universe. One of the surprises of the week was Gargoyles/Darkwing Duck #1. I have been collecting Dynamite Comics Darkwing Duck book, but I did not think I would be buying this book moving on. It was way better than I thought it would be.