June 4

It is summertime and this week’s EYG Comic Cavalcade is coming out on a Thursday night. Whoo-Hoo! I do not think this will be a regular occurrence, but this week it worked out perfectly.

I picked up a bunch of fun foil covers this week as I was at In This Issue early Wednesday morning for New Comic Book Day. This included Junk Punch #1, Batman #10 (Bronze Medalist), The Deadman #1, Iron Man #6, and a Ben 10 blind bag foil variant.

Comic of the Week

Royals #3

I had intended to give this honor to Junk Punch #1 this week, but then I read Royals #3 and it was such a shocking issue. There were multiple twists in this story this week with Castor and Paul that caught me totally off-guard and moved this book right to the top of the list this week… without anyone getting punched in the junk.

Royals has been an entertaining book each week with this being the best issue as of yet.

Books this Week:

Junk Punch #1. Written by Paul Tobin and art by Carlos Javier Olivares & Colleen Coover. Cover art was done by Carlos Javier Olivares & Francesca Vivaldi. At the end of the day yesterday, this was going to be the Comic of the Week, but Royals #3 surpassed it. Junk Punch is literally the story of a woman who has a “chemical affliction” making her “compulsively punch people in the junk.” Another funny book that I am excited to see where it goes. Will the joke run its course? Probably, but it seems great right now.

The Deadman #1. “Chapter One-The Definite Article.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran (Silver Medalist). This book featured Deadman in a book with the flavor of Ice Cream Man. It makes sense since the creators of Ice Cream Man are the creative team on this mini series. Deadman has always been a favorite DC character of mine, and I love the Ice Cream Man aesthetic so this one is a winner for me.

Only the Savage are Left #1. Written by Zack Kaplan and illustrated and cover art by Stefano Raffaele. A future world where a virus has been released in the world that, when exposed, changes people into monsters. This is basically a zombie apocalypse story but featuring monsters instead of zombies. This issue introduces us and focuses in on Ryder and Oaklynn and their survival in this rugged new world. This has a lot of potential to be an excellent series from Dark Horse as number one is very compelling.

The Ring: The Man Who Beat the Man #1. Written by Gail Simone with art by Elisa Romboli. Cover art was done by Oliver Barrett. I was first attracted to this book because the boxer on the cover looked like Ric Flair. What kept me from skipping it when I realized that he just looked like The Nature Boy was the presence of writer Gail Simone, who has been doing some excellent work recently. I am here for The Ring moving forward.

Cyclops#5. “Seeing Red” Part 5. Written by Alex Paknadel with art by Rogê Antonio. Cover art was done by Federico Vicentini & Marcio Menyz. Cyclops’s survival in the woods, trying to save Mei from Donald Pierce concluded with this issue. I enjoyed this Scott Summers solo arc with his optic blasts taken away because of control issues. Of the individual X-books, this one was right near the top.

Wade Wilson: Deadpool #5. “A Way Forward” Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Geoff Shaw. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. Deadpool and Hammerhead fight over the omens of the future that, shockingly, came from Blind Al. The relationship between Wade and Blind Al is developed here more than what we have seen before and it is kind of sweet… at least for Deadpool.

Uncanny X-Men #29. “A Prison and a Pyre.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. Things get work out a bit in this issue as we find out what these New Mutants are and the Outliers return to the present. Gail Simone had a big week with three books released. This is one of the best and most consistent every month.

Amazing Spider-Man #30. Written by Joe Kelly with guest art by Pete Woods. Cover art was done by Mark Bagley & Dean White. We get a big reveal with the Peter Parker’s cousin storyline that has been out there recently. He showed up at May’s door and announced that he was Ben Parker’s son… and the son of May too. Is it possible? May faints at the end, saying that he looked just like her Ben. Huh?

Fantastic Four #12. “Si Fueris Romae…” Written by Ryan North and art by Pat Boutin. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up the Marvel Dimensions variant by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). Reed and Johnny get sent back in time to the Roman Empire and they have to try and find their way back without screwing up history. Can they do it? It is another fun issue of the FF from Ryan North. He has done a sensational job with this comic over the last couple of years.

Iron Man #6. “Iron Man Team-Up” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Juann Cabal. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. When you get Tony Stark and Norman Osborn in the same room, there is due to be sparks fly. How does Spider-Man become the adult in the room as he tried to keep to two geniuses from tearing each other apart?

Groo: The Prophecy #2. Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier with art and cover art by Sergio Aragones. The world seems to be turned upside down as everything Groo does, which normally destroys villages and frightens off villagers, turns out helpful and heroic. Groo is the hero of the village? Idolized. Looked up to. Believed in. Can this be true or are they just bidding their time until Groo unleashes his typical chaos? I like the change in the story happening here so far.

What If: The Uncanny X-Men #1. “What If Cyclops Stayed with Madelyne Pryor?” Written by Gerry Duggan with art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. This is the first of a new run of What If…? books from Marvel. This one returned to the Watcher as the main narrator, which brought me back to the early days of What If and it was a welcome return. It was also back to the tragic endings that were a staple of the first two volumes of What If…? There are a bunch of #1s coming over the next couple of months with other Marvel Universe stories and I hope the Watcher continues in this role as he was suppsoed to be.

The Twilight Zone #7. “The Taxidermist.” Written by Tony Fleecs and penciled by Andy Price. Cover art was done by Andy Price. I also picked up the B cover by Juni Ba. Another great Twilight Zone story that feels like it fits perfectly in with the series from the 1950s. Tony Fleecs brings another great story to life as it morphs from a nice love story into a horrible chaotic hellscape.

Rook Exodus #10. Creators are Geoff Johns & Jason Fabok. Cover art was done by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson. I picked up Cover C (the connecting one) done by Kael Ngu. It is great to have Rook Exodus back after a bit of a intermission. We are back with Rook trying to keep Stag from going rogue and killing Bloodhound. I am pleased that this is back, but this is one of those books that makes it hard when it takes such a long break to remember everything that was going on before the break.

Batman #10. “Money and Blood” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cover by Jorge Jimenez. Vandal Savage has been turning the tables on the Batman family recently, both with the police chasing him as a vigilante, but also in the media, running the bat down. This issue, Batman starts to fight back. This was an awesome issue where Batman decided that he had had enough and set the plan into action.

She-Spawn #2. “Road Trip” Written by Gail Simone with art and cover art by Ig Guara. I read last issue and I was surprised how much I liked it. I came into this issue ready to be underwhelmed and decide that She-Spawn was not for me. However, once again, I found this to be an excellent book. Gail Simone had three winners this week and I couldn’t be happier.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight #5. “Reunion” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg. Moon Knight entered a strangely powerful house in search of his people (Tigra, 8-Ball, Hunter’s Moon, Soldier and Reese). Unfortunately, Moon Knight is betrayed… by his sword, which turned into a dragon. Wild stuff from Moon Knight these days.

X-Men ’97 Season 2 #1. Written by Steve Foxe with art by Salva Espin. Cover art was done by Todd Nuack & Rachelle Rosenberg. With the X-Men scattered across time, the X-Factor arrived to step it up and take in dangerous mutants. Havok, Strong Guy, Polaris, Wolfsbane and Multiple Man appear and join the remaining mutants. Meanwhile Bishop is ready to go searching for the X-Men.

Doctor Strange #7. Written by Derek Landy with art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Alex Horley. Doctor Strange realized that he would not be able to do what was necessary to defeat Atho-tet so he reaches into himself and releases Lord Strange, even though Angela was not too thrilled.

From Parts Unknown #2. Written by Adriano Ariganello and art and cover art by Daniel Caval. The traveling Lucha Libre wrestlers Bruno and his brother Pietro get into major trouble as they accidentally killed another wrestler at this independent booking. However, the dead wrestler may not be as dead as we think… or he may be a different type of dead. What have Bruno and Pietro gotten themselves into and can they get out of it?

The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace #3. Written by Hannah Rose may with art and cover art by Kelsey Ramsay. Our second Exorcism book wrapped up with this issue as the future King of England Theo is possessed and our crew come together to try and save him. I like how it did not go like the previous series at the White House and that there was a different twist. I also enjoyed the ending team-up which makes me anxious to find out where the next possession in this universe is going to take place.

Other Books this Week: It’s Jeff!-Brand New Week #1, Godzilla: Infinity Roar #5, Godzilla (Kai Sei Era)11, FML #8, Absolute Green Lantern #15, and X-Men of Apocalypse #4.

Quick Hits: One of my favorite moments this week came at Comic World as I was talking about the J. Scott Campbell J.S.C.: Just Spectacular Collection #1. Todd told me that J. Scott Campbell had died of cancer, which confused me completely considering I had just read the interview with JSC in the book. Todd said this was just a collection of his pin-ups he had done before his death and I was sure that I had read that JSC was excited about doing these pictures and he spoke about the order in which he had drawn them. Todd is usually well spoken about this kind of thing so I did not understand. Finally, Todd looked it up and he realized that he was confusing JSC with a different artist. I was relieved that my reading skills were not totally wrecked, and that it was just Todd’s memory that was in question. 🙂 Sam and Twitch Case Files #24 is still a very entertaining read. I am surprised how many Spawn books I read even though I am not a fan of Spawn. This is the week for Comics: The Magazine #4 to come out. There are interviews and articles about Sophie Campbell, Skottie Young and Kyle Starks. We got the next Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #3. this features characters from the Unbelievables (including Hornsby & Halo, The Rocketfellers, The Trillion Dollar Kid Etc.) Transformers: The Movie #1 is a new adaptation of the movie that crushed the spirits of all the kids of the 1980s (right up there with Neverending Story). Conan the Barbarian #31 sees Conan in a fight with the Son of the Tooth. It’s brutal. The Lucky Devils #8 takes a turn this issue as devils come to earth in a wild attack (sort of). Estuary: A Ghost Story #3 is extremely spooky and making things tense. Finally Storm #5 looked to be the final issue of this series and I am down with that. I love the character of Storm, but I have not enjoyed the story they are currently telling with her. I hope things get straightened out with Ororo soon.