August 15

This is the final EYG Comic Cavalcade before I go back to school next week. It has been so great being able to read the comics with plenty of time and still get this out early in the weekend. That will change as the time will become limited and, with the number of books I buy, I can’t see me getting this done until late Sunday, if not early next week. Still, I am dedicated to getting this post out as soon as possible.

Comic of the Week

Cult-De-Sac #1

This week’s Comic of the Week is the new horror based comic by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Fico Ossio for Ignition Press.

We have seen the idea of a Homeowners Association being evil before such as the X-Files episode Arcadia, but making it into a cult was a cool twist.

What I liked most about this issue is how much time they spend setting things up, including introducing characters and observing the setting. They could have immediately jumped into the cult, but the story takes time to establish what they needed to in order to build the suspense and the concern for the Hanson family, moving into this new world. Great stuff.

Books this Week:

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1. “Level 1: Sins of the Father.” Written by Bryan Edward Hill with art by Nico Leon. Cover art was done by Simone Di Meo. The foil cover variant was done by Pere Perez (Gold Medalist). Miles returned to his black outfit as a new volume kicked off for the youngster. Miles has to take the concept of the movie Speed to a whole new level to keep a person from exploding. It is great to have Miles back in his own book.

Spider-Versity #5. “Most School Spirit.” Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly with art by Pere Perez. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Edgar Delgado. In order to save one of the students, Norman Osborn takes back the symbiote that turned him into Red Goblin, forcing the Spiders to stop him. The end of the book saw Jessica Drew with the remainder of the symbiote, hinting at something new for her.

Infernal Hulk #10. “The Riddle Game.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. I picked up a Spider-Man: Brand New Day variant cover by Mauro Cascioli. This is the final issue of the Infernal Hulk, but the story is continuing on through a series of one shots, leading to a major Hulk story arc. This monstrous Hulk has been very fascinating as this story progressed and I do like what Phillip Kennedy Johnson is building here.

Barbara Gordon: Breakout #4. “The Reason and the Why.” Written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Amancay Nahuelpan. Cover art was done by Karl Kerschl. Variant cover E art was done by Mark Spears. Officer Myrna Shelton is now in the prison for backup for Barbara Gordon. It is a good thing as Barbara needs it badly.

Absolute Batman #23. “The Straw Man Part 5.” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. Clayface makes his presence known in a brutal way, shape shifting into Batman and killing Tim Drake of the Robins. By doing so, he is framing Batman in the public eye. The book recreated the iconic moment where Batman held the dead body of Robin in his arms (though it was originally Jason Todd who he held).

D’Orc #7. “A Bit Bogged Down.” Written, drawn and cover art by Brett Bean. D’Orc is reeling form the discovery of the truth of his father and he comes across a nice woman who is seemingly wanting to help him. Sadly, she is a succubus and Bog-Men are at her beck in call. D’Orc is a consistently entertaining book that I look forward to every month.

Fury of Firestorm #5. “The Fury” Part 5. Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Rafael De Latorre. Cover art was done by Rafael De Latorre and Marcelo Maiolo. Firestorm is facing with dual time periods as Firehawk tried to reach Robbie while Hawkman and other JL members try to stop Firestorm. I think only Jeff Lemire can tell this story without it being overly convoluted.

X-Men #35. “A Gift.” Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. This issue served as a prelude to the upcoming DNX arc. We have an existential crisis for Hank McCoy, and he believed that Illyana Rasputin is someone who could help him. Hank had to face the fact that the leader of the 3K is just another version of himself and Illyana’s own Darkchilde made her the perfect foil for Beast.

The Twilight Zone #10. “A Life Well Lived.” Written by Rosemary Soule & Charles Soule with art and cover art by Sean Peacock. A couple of girls find their way to an underground bunker where their arrival puts the entire world in jeopardy. These individual stories in The Twilight Zone book have done a great job of creating the mood and the feel of the original series.

The Punisher #7. “Collateral Damage.” Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Guru-eFX. Frank Castle goes head-to-head with the new villain Collateral Damage. Collateral Damage was a victim of a shootout Frank had had in his past and C.D. was back with some awesome specialty bullets to try and finish off Frank.

Showdown #3. Written by Dave Wielgosz and illustrated by Tadd Galusha. Cover art was done by Steve Lieber & Jack Cole. Trisha is preparing for her massive showdown with Harvey, but she was beginning to doubt whether or not the revenge was worth it. I do like it that they are making this deeper than just a revenge story.

Rascal Randy #2. Written by Tyler Boss and featuring art and cover art by Dylan Burnett. Who could guess that a cartoon creation named Rascal Randy could cause such problems for its creator, Elias Friedman? The origin of the assassin from Exquisite Corpses rolls on with the second of five issues in this mini series. I like the different format of the story, with the flashbacks told in a different color/shade.

Venom #260. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Frank D’Armata. Cover B cover art was done by Tim Seeley. In this Queen of Black crossover, Venom #260 focused on the history of Dylan Brock and his relationship with Eddie Brock.

Seven Wives #3. Written by Zoe Tunnell with art by Tesslyn Bergin-Dicoi. Cover art was done by Keyla Valerio. The mystery of who killed cult leader Matthew Dunn wrapped up in this short mini series. It was an interesting end to the story, but I am not sure it was completely satisfying. This felt like it was too short of a series and this story could have used another issue or so.

Batman & Robin Year One: Dynamic Duos #1. Written by Mark Waid with art by Chris Samnee. Variant cover D art was done by Hayden Sherman. This issue featured the cult of Barbatos, which funny enough, I had never heard of until recently when I watched the second season of Batman: The Caped Crusader on Amazon Prime. This also included Catwoman with another girl alone on the streets.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #2. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle with art by Fran Galan. Variant cover C art was done by Hayden Sherman. The Clayface book has been very solid so far, and I actually felt bad for some of the side characters we met in this issue. Of course, the book is meant to help build toward the DCU movie Clayface that comes out in October, and I think it has accomplished that goal.

Wolverine #25. “Eruption.” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. The final showdown with the doctor who stole Logan’s healing factor, Alpha Flight and Wolverine takes place on the edge of an active volcano. Never a good place for a fight. It is nice to get this story over with so Logan can be back to his normal way with his healing factor. I don’t mind stories like this, but it was so obvious that he was getting the healing factor back that it took away most of the stakes.

X-Men United #6. “Shadow Play Pt. 2.” Written by Eve L. Ewing & Evan Narcisse with pencils by Tiago Palma & Eduardo Pansica. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. The X-Men have to face off with a dark and evil version of themselves as the team is trying to reunite.

Transformers #35. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Jason Howard. Variant cover C art was done by Jason Howard & Annalisa Leoni. Optimus Prime responds to a fierce fight involving Cliffjumper, Shredhead, and the Combaticons. General Flagg and Doctor Arkeville stabilize Shredhead using spare parts from Onslaught. I have a feeling that those spare parts from a Decepticon will not turn out well.

The Trillion Dollar Kid #2. Written by Geoff Johns with art by Peter J. Tomasi. Variant cover C art was done by Stefano Simeone. The crossover with Hornsby & Halo and the Rocketfellers concluded with this issue as they are able to prevent the early start of the Robot War and the saving of Tommy’s friend robot, Sterling. Tommy has not found his parents yet, but it seemed as if he was continuing his search via other “Unbelievables.” I like Tommy, but, again, this felt a little short for a crossover event. I do appreciate Ghost Machine’s efforts to do a crossover though.

Generation X-23 #7. “Homecoming.” Written by Jody Houser and art by Marco Renna. Cover art was done by Partha Pratim Sarkar & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Wolverine (without his healing factor) showed up coincidentally where Laura and the others were hiding out. I have started to enjoy this book more with each issue and this one might be my favorite of the series so far. I like the use of Wolverine here and I like how he did not have the healing factor, keeping things in continuity.

Tyler Rake: An Extraction Story #4. Written by Ande parks and illustrated by Ronan Cliquet. Cover art was done by Declan Shalvey. . In this chapter, Tyler and his team arrive in the Philippines to face a heavily fortified city controlled by a hostile adversary named Molina. Tyler Rake has been an enjoyable mercenary in this book so far.

The Dogsitter #2. Written by Jamie S. Rich and illustrated by Megan Levens. Variant cover B art was done by Cully Hamner. I grabbed the second issue of this book this week after not being sure what this book was going to be about. I expected issue one to have some twist, but it turned out to be basically a romance comic. However, I have liked reading this, and I suppose you could say that a different genre of comic that is not apocalyptic, vampire or techno is a good thing.

Other books this week: Ghost Pepper #13, Honor and Curse: Eternal #5, Blood & Thunder #16, Gastronomique #1, X-Men ’97 #3, Malevolent #6, Did You Hear About Mimi Green? #3, Planet Atmos: Exordium #4, and The Nice house By the Sea #11.

Quick Hits: Godzilla finds himself in the Roar of the Worlds #1, the latest Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater book from IDW. I saw Gail Simone express her admiration for Godzilla books lately on BlueSky and she is right. Godzilla seems to be able to fit into any story well. Vertigo’s Bleeding Hearts #7 sees more zombie action and the strange POV of Poke. I don’t usually pick up facsimile books and I pick up even less Archie books, but the covers for this week’s Archie Facsimile Edition #16 (Laugh #166) featured two covers parodying the covers of two of my all-time favorite Beatles albums, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road. I was just unable to turn them down. Of the Earth #4 was back among the medal winners in this week’s EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week with a bronze medal. Charles Adlard has been a very exceptional cover artist for that series, medaling several times. Dark Horse had a couple of books out this week that were fun and intriguing, that being The Shaolin Cowboy: Staying A.I. Live#2 and Beast of Boriken #2. Another number two this week was Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #2 by Liam Sharp. This book feels just so epic and the art is breathtaking. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little confused with the story though. Queen in Black: Thor #1 gives us a dual story of Sigurd Jarlson and Beta Ray Bill. More Asgardian adventures fill up the Doctor Strange #9 book as Strange continues his mantel as Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard. Hank Howard returned with more noir pizza adventures in Hank Howard Pizza Detective in The Fair Play #1 from Bad Idea. I grabbed a beautiful B cover of this book that came up short on the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, but is still a lovely piece of art by Mico Suayan. More drama from beneath the earth’s surface goes down in Innards #3. Then, Just Brutal #5 from Ignition Press keeps the pressure on the ascension of these kids into the new heroes of the book.