November 1

I am not done reading the load of comics from this week, but I really wanted to do a Comic Cavalcade because this is my anniversary for collecting comics.

I began in 5th grade, which, if I counted correctly, it would be 47 years. I spent a night staying over night at my friend Jeff Wagner’s house for Halloween. After we had trick or treated, we spent the night reading some of his comics. He had been collecting and he had a “folder” at Comic World in Dubuque. We read some Avengers and X-Men books, from the classic runs. I decided the next day that I would also begin collecting, by setting up a folder at Comic World. My dad worked at John Deere’s in Dubuque for years, so I had him pick up the folder every month.

Of course, I had been reading comics for my entire life. I had comics in the crib, literally. It was destiny.

I am going to do a second Comic Cavalcade either Monday or Tuesday to get the rest of the comics done. I have considered doing two Comic Cavalcade a week because of the number of books I have, but I have not made that decision yet. This is a special post because of my anniversary.

Because of that, I am saving the Comic of the Week for #228. However, we are doing a special pick for this special post.

Comic of All Time

Amazing Spider-Man #248

Now, trying to decide on one comic over the last 47 years is an impossible feat. So when I decided to do this, I decided that the first book that came to mind would be the book I choose.

That book is Amazing Spider-Man #248, which is only because of the back-up story, “The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man.”

It is one of the best comic stories I have ever read. It was beautiful, painful, sad, poignant. I remember the first time I read this story and thinking “Why is Spidey telling this kid all these answers?” When he pulled off his mask and reveal himself as Peter Parker, I was shocked. The final panel of the book was just crushing. I love this comic.

Some Books this Week:

Fantastic Four #18. “Magneto’s Body” Written by Ryan North with art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The Fantastic Four resumes their efforts to save Magneto by going into his body. The loss of memory of the foursome was a really fun little tidbit of this issue. It gives Johnny some love here, showing that he is more than just the blonde womanizer that he was portrayed as for years.

X-Men #40. “A Blade.” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Jay David Ramos. This issue has an interesting discussion between Cyclops and Kwannon, with some insight into why Cyclops made her the second in command. Magneto is back too, seemingly at full strength.

Heard #1. Written by Alex George Pickering with art and cover art by Joe Bocardo (Bronze Medalist). This new book from Keenspot was a very strong issue. It featured a boy who is on the Autism spectrum and the struggles of the parents to deal with this. The father takes the boy into the woods on a camping trip and bad things start to happen. I have a friend whose child is on the spectrum and I can see him in that story. I am curious to see where this one goes.

Groo: The Prophecy #3. Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier and illustrated by Sergio Aragones. I am wearing my new Groo t-shirt today, which is coincidental, but I do love me some Groo. This mini-series has taken that well used trope of Groo scaring people around him and turned it on its ear. Now, Groo is facing a prophecy of death from someone who never fails with the predictions. Groo can be a bit repetitive at times so the alteration makes me feel good.

Feral #27. “Chapter 27: Territorial” Written by Tony Fleecs with art and cover A art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover B art was done by Trish Forstner, Allen Passalaqua, and Tony Fleecs (Silver Medalist). Elsie is alone and in the woods. She comes across some wild cats that are not too interested in having Elsie around. The sickness has spread to humans and there is a scene at the end of this issue that is downright disturbing. bad things are happening.

Daredevil #8. “City Without Fear Part 1” Written by Stephanie Phillips with art and cover art by Lee Garbett (Gold Medalist). Mister Fear joins the story in Daredevil and this version of Mister Fear is the scariest version I think I have ever seen. He feels like a horrendous serial killer, much like the first run of Muse did in this title. Daredevil facing this type of villain works for me.

Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein #1. Written by Kelly Thompson with art and cover A art by Mattia De Iulis. Cover B art was done by Joshua Middleton and Cover J foil art was done by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau. We get the story of the Bride of Frankenstein despite the fact that she only appears in the original movie for like 5 minutes. I love these Universal Monster books from Image and this one feels like another winner.

Amazing Spider-Man #1002. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. Peter taps into a new level of Spider-Sense to do battle with his cousin, Cormac, aka Ravage. They continue to fight over Aunt May and Peter gives Cormac a beating, though he has to leave May in place for now. I am still not sure how I feel about this arc. I kind of wish this was more personal and less super hero.

The Dogsitter #4. Written by Jamie S. Rich and illustrated by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Megan Lewis and Nick Filardi. Gemma persists in her fling with Neal, even after Neal went on an overseas trip with Portia. The reunion between Gemma and Neal might be leading to them being caught. I have surprisingly been enjoying this romantic comic from Ignition Press.

Amazing Venom #2. Written by Jordan Morris with art by Luke Ross. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. I was considering not getting this series, but I do like Fred Myers, the former Boomerang. The first issue did not blow me away, but it wasn’t that bad either. I decided to give this one at least another issue to woo me. Issue #2 was considerably more engaging for me than issue #1. The whole Fred/Johnny Storm relationship was unexpectedly fun. I will probably try #3 as well, but I have not committed to anything permanent.

Punisher vs. Amazing Spider-Man #4. Written by Dan Abnett and art by Alvaro Lopez. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimaraes. The distance between Spidey and Frank maintains to grow as the pair have their own methods that conflict like crazy. Frank is able to defeat Spidey (which I am never a believer in) because Spidey was conflicted on his feelings for Frank.

Void Rivals #35. Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Conor Hughes. Cover art was done by Lorenzo De Felici. We get more Rom, more action among the group of heroes and others, and Proximus, who reveals himself as Solila’s brother. Oh, drama.

Crimes Against Nature #2. “A Couple of Bad Bananas” Written by Eliot Rahal with art and cover art by Mattia Monaco. Dr. Groedan and Amigo are having their own troubles. Specifically, Amigo having bitten the head off of a mobster that had come to attack them. How is he getting out of this? You’ll see.

The Department of Truth #39. “Chapter 24: My Country Tis of Thee” Written by James Tynion IV with art and cover art by Martin Simmonds. Synopsis: “Lee’s new Department of Truth (DoT) is under heavy pressure, squeezed between Cole Turner’s White Hat on one side and Martin Barker’s Black Hat on the other, while trying to navigate a chaotic government bureaucracy” Meanwhile, poor Bob…

Dispatched #4. Written by B. Clay Moore and art by Daniel Gete. Cover art was done by Daniel Gete & Lee Loughridge. Morgan is still involved deeply in this Die Hard-inspired story. We get a little more background on the mysterious delivery driver who is taking out the villains one by one.

Flash #38. “The Speed Was Power and the Speed Was Joy- Part VIII.” Written by Ryan North and illustrated and cover art by Gavin Guidry. The Flash is facing all kinds of trouble. Not only from the Justice League, who are confronting him over his new powers, but also from the powers too, as Red Tornado tells Wally that using the Speed Force the way he was is killing him. This went from the JL being paranoid to Wally being out of control real quickly.

Mister Nemo #4. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. Nemo discovered a former Unity Ultima outpost. On this outpost, there is a madman after secrets of a lost future. That madman sent some missiles toward the Nautilus. This started a new arc for Mister Nemo, which has been an entertaining book so far.

Showdown #5. Written by Dave Wielgosz and illustrated by Tadd Galusha. Cover art was done by Steve Lieber & Dillon Snook. Here it is. The final showdown between Trish Sullivan and Harvey Marlowe. This series has been building up to this climatic showdown for the first four issues and this one will finally resolve the conflict between the two of them… probably.

That Texas Blood: Hell Comes to Allison Ranch #2. Written by Chris Condon with art and cover art by Jacob Phillips. The brutal showdown at Allison Ranch starts off with Joe Bob and Willy facing undeniable odds, but with little hope for backup. Meanwhile, the book heads over to see the troubles of Travis Terrill as well. I have been a big fan of That Texas Blood and Chris Condon’s writing style. This keeps the thrills up.

Denver #3. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray with art by Pier Brito. Cover art was done by Amanda Connor. This is the third and final issue for this mini-series. It felt as if it were done very quickly as I am not even sure that I could tell you about the main characters. The cool concept carries this book for the three issues, but I would have liked more than three to really delve into the characters more.

Captain America #16. “Hell’s Angel, Part 5” Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Well, the wildest twist has happened. Dr. Doom, who has been fighting alongside Cap and the others in Hell, has succeeded in overthrowing Mephisto (who escaped… it was actually more of a deal with Mephisto and Doom) and now Doom is the leader of Hell. By the way, at the end, Doom releases all the contracts between anyone and Mephisto and we get a single panel of Spider-Man. Could this mean that the “One More Day” storyline has now been tossed out? If so, maybe Peter and Mary Jane have a chance to reunite and fix one of the biggest errors Marvel has ever made. If so, thanks Doom. Appreciate it.

Other books: Ghost Pepper #16, Lost Fantasy #13.

Quick Hits: I don’t have any of the books to put here as I still have a bunch to read. However, I did purchase a couple of sets at Comic World the other day, which I can mention in this section. First one was X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6. Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Trevor Hairsine, this deals with a team of X-Men that Xavier had recruited prior to recruiting the iconic team from Giant Sized X-Men #1. I hope to read that series during a Daily Read sometime over the next several months. The second mini-series set I grabbed was Super Skrull #1-4 which came in the Annihilation story arc. Javier Grillo-Marxuach wrote the series and it was drawn by Gregory Titus. I had never heard of either, but the cover art, by Gabrielle Dell’Otto was sensational.