March 15

I went to the bi-yearly sale at In This Issue Comics this weekend and stuffed three bags full of a bunch of comics. It was such fun going through the boxes, looking for those gems of back issues. I got a bunch of Thor books, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1s, a run of Incredible Hulk with amazing covers that I had never seen before as well as a bunch of independent books. I wound up with over 250 books in those three bags. Great deal!

Comic of the Week

Alias: Red Band #1

This week’s Comic of the Week reminded me how much I enjoyed Jessica Jones as a character. The hard-drinking, rough housing, foul-mouthed character was having a difficult time fitting in as the First Lady of New York and the stress is causing some tension with her husband, Mayor Luke Cage. Not only that, but the murder in her old building that she has been forbidden to investigate is building that tension as well. I do love this noir style as Jessica Jones narrates the comic, giving you insights into her character.

Excited to continue this series moving forward.

Books this week:

The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace #1. Written by Hannah Rose May and art by Kelsey Ramsay. Cover art was done by Kelsey Ramsay & Heather Breckel. It was not that long ago when we had an exorcism story set in the White House. Now we take the idea across the pond to Britain and Buckingham Palace as the soon-to-be King of England has his own demons to deal with. But are they just found in a bottle or is there more to this story. Great first issue and I am excited this concept is back.

Ordained #2. Written by Robert Venditti with art by Trevor Hairsine. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes (Silver Medalist). It has been several months since Ordained #1 came out and was one of the hottest books at the time. This issue picked up right away from the long break back into the action and it is clear that Father Roy is not one to mess with.

Mark Spears Monster #9. “The Tell-Tale Heart… but why will you say that I am mad?” Written by Mark Spears and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears. Cover C (Bronze Medalist), Cover D (Gold Medalist). The Mad Hatter is being interrogated at the police station and that sounds like it is not going to go smoothly.

Crownsville #5. Writtenby Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. The mini-series closes with a cool wrap up. The killer kids are unstoppable, but, apparently not. I enjoyed how Crownsville finished up and left it open for a potential future.

X-Men United #1. “Welcome to Graymatter Lane” Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. The White Queen is trying to reunite the X-Men. Cyclops ain’t happy about it. I’m not sure how this series affects Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, but it is intriguing to see these characters back together again. Even whiny Cyclops.

D’Orc #2. “Time to Die!” Written, art and cover art by Brett Bean. I was excited to see if D’Orc #2 would be able to maintain the huge momentum that the first issue. I am pleased to say that it absolutely continued its strength and thoroughly entertaining storytelling. This still reminds me of a combination of Eight Billion Genies and Groo.

Magik & Colossus #2. “Sisyphean” Written by Ashley Allen and art by German Peralta. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. It has been too long since we had interactions between Illyana and Piotr Rasputin. The brother-sister vibe of this book makes it intriguing.

Tigress Island #1. Written Patrick Kindlon and art and cover art by Ephk. This was an intriguing new book. I am not sure what is going on with this book. It was not anywhere what I expected to be. I will be continuing to look at it, but I am not sure what this is about.

Comic: The Magazine #1. The next attempt and putting out a comic magazine came out this weekend. After the Zdarsky newsletter went away, this stepped up and I liked the first issue. I think there are a lot of different ideas that could wind up in this magazine.

Black Cat #8. “Fortress of Magnitude” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Gleb Melnikov. Adam Hughes did the cover art. Felicia and Mary Jane are inside the Negative Zone in search of a video tape. The pairing of MJ and Black Cat has always been fun, and with MJ now as Venom, it makes things all the more weird.

A Quiet Place: Storm Warnings #1. Written by Phil Hester with pencils and cover art by Ryan Kelly. This is a new story with the creatures from A Quiet Place and this is an interesting story. I liked the time they spent this issue building our human characters because they are a vital part of the tale.

The Other/Half #1. “Dinner and a Diamond.” Written by Jim McCann and art by Joe Eisma. Cover art was done by Joe Eisma. Henry is a private investigator and Ethan is a socialite and they are married. However, there is a mystery that is going to require them to get into roles that they are not used to. Interesting new book from Ignition Press. The key is the relationship between Henry and Ethan.

Venom #255. Written by Al Ewing with art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Frank Martin. I usually do not buy the Venom series (which is up to #255…wow, I did not think Marvel let books get that high any more). However, this is part three of the Death Spiral story where Venom and Spider-Man team up so I had to pick it up.

51 #1. Written by Curt Pires with art and cover art by Jok. Another book that was hot this weekend was 51 from Mad Cave. I like this one more than the Tigress Island book. This sends a group of individuals into Area 51 to try and maintain the secrets and clean up after they lose those secrets into the world. And what if it was the president’s son? This was fun.

Bleeding Hearts #2. Written by Deniz Camp with art and cover art by Stipan Morian. The first issue of this new Vertigo book did not win me over. It was fine, but I did not think it was great. However, you can throw that all out the window because I thought issue two of this series was fantastic. It was a real turn around for me and that made me very happy.

Absolute Batman #18. “The Seventh Kingdom-Part 2” Written by Scott Snyder with art by guest artist Eric Canete. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. Batman’s conflict with Poison Ivy comes to a dramatic close and Batman does something that no one expects. It is taking this Absolute Batman on a distinctly different path. I am not sure how to feel about it, but it absolutely is a shocking step.

Transformers #30. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Speaking of shocking moments, there is one in the Transformers book too. The Transformers get themselves a brand new Prime! It is not Optimus any more.

Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four #2. Written by Josh Trujillo with art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. I am surprised how well the Apes from Planet of the Apes and the FF mix together. This has been very entertaining so far in the first two issues.

Imperial Guardians #1. Written by Dan Abnett with pencils by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art is done by Sean Izaakse & Nolan Woodard. A group of space heroes reform the Guardians, through the Imperial banner with Marvel. We get Gamora, Captain Marvel, Darkhawk, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Brawn.

Other books this week: Godzilla vs. Portland #1, Harley Quinn X Elvira #5, Masterminds #4, Sonja Reborn #6, The Seasons #9, Spider-Man: Meals to Astonish #1, Marian Heretic #5, Absolute Green Lantern #12, and Blood & Thunder #12.

Quick Hits: Space Ghost #9 is the first book this week in Quick Hits. This is a consistently good series from Dynamite. Another Dynamite book this week is Archie X The Army of Darkness #2. The book is able to get Archie and his friends into a cabin in the woods. The final issue of High Strangeness #5 is full of weirdness. No Place #4 continues its Oz based story. Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2 has been a bit over my head so far. I love Storm so I will be sticking to it moving ahead, but it is not the most interesting storyline so far. Another series that has come to an end as 1776 #5 is finished. It was a strange book with the Revolutionary War, but I like big swings. Escape from Skull Island #2 keeps the Kong action going. Doctor Strange #4 keeps up with the Asgard storyline. It is another one that I have not loved, but I think it is okay. I missed Where Does the Rainbow End? #2 when it came out so I picked it up this week with Where Does the Rainbow End ?#3 was released.