EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Doc

Week of 12/18/24

We have a couple of more weeks in 2024, and we have already named the cover of the year and the cover artists of the year. Congrats to Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant) and Alex Ross respectively.

That means that this week’s medalists are the old too late for the date. They will just have to settle for medalist presented this week.

Bronze Medalist

Plastic Man No More #4

Cover art by Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo

The Plastic Man series has had some excellent covers. The way he is melting is a very distinct look. The reflection of the timer in his goggles are very intriguing too. Close in to his face is very compelling too.

Silver Medalist

Parliament of Rooks #1

Variant Cover B

Cover Art by Abigail Jill Harding

This new book from Ablaze is a beautiful cover in black and white. Black and white is not used as often in cover art, but this is so wonderful with the creepy birds and some kind of creature behind the man on the stairs. It’s a beauty.

Gold Medalist

House of Slaughter #28

Cover art by Jorge Fornes

Broken glass is a very compelling image and the colors are fabulous. There is just so much to look at on this cover and it does not feel like a typical House of Slaughter book. I noticed this one immediately, and knew it would be this week’s gold medalist.

Skeleton Crew S1 E4

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Doc

Spoilers

“Can’t Say I Remember No At Attin”

The fun adventures of the Skeleton Crew moved on as the crew arrived at the coordinates given to them last week by Kh’ymm, only to discover that they had not arrived at At Attin.

Turned out that this was one of the other planets that was spoken about as the Jewels of the Old Republic. According to Kh’ymm last week, the Jewels of the Old Republic was a “group of planets of wonder kept hidden for their protection.” Apparently, At Attin was the only one that was saved and remained hidden.

The planet they landed on was very much like At Attin, only war torn and devastated, with the battling factions on the land.

Honestly, this felt a little rushed. I did like the use of Neel in this episode with Hayna, the daughter of the rebel force’s leader Beef. This did feel like it could have been two episodes and really mined this setting as a source.

However, we did find out much more about SM 33 and his backstory, and why he couldn’t “say I remember At Attin.” He repeated that several times through the episode and when he nearly went crazy, that scene was quite intense and scary.

This was Neel’s episode though as he came through big time in several moments. Fern was having a crisis of confidence as their attempts to find coordinates to At Attin.

The end of the episode came very suddenly and felt odd. Overall, I thought it was an entertaining thirty plus minutes, but it did seem cramped into the time frame. I would have liked more of an expansion of what we got.

2024 Year in Review: The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Doc

The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners: Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)

Every year brings us a ton of awesome cameos in movies. In honor of our beloved Stan Lee, we are continuing to honor those actors who show up as a surprise or a short appearance.

Runners-Up: We will touch upon a bunch of these movies. In The Fall Guy, there were three decent cameos. Jason Momoa showed up at the end as a replacement for Aaron Taylor-Johnson character and that was fun. Then we got Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, who, of course, were from the original Fall Guy TV show. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had the original Ghostbusters again, but the top cameo from this film I think was William Atherton as Walter Peck back, now as the Mayor of New York. Danny DeVito showed up in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but honestly, my memory of that one was lacking. There was a cool cameo in Wicked as Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowerth, who were the stars of the Broadway play version, were an awesome inclusion, even though my theater had no idea who they were. Then, Deadpool & Wolverine dominated the cameos this year. I am not sure I would count Westley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and Dafne Keen as cameos. They all were really important cast members, almost to the level of supporting actors. However, Henry Cavill is absolutely a cameo as the Cavillrine and it nearly won this award.

However, the winner of this award is…

Chris Evans (Deadpool & Wolverine)

Chris Evans appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine as Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four instead of Steve Rogers, despite the teasing that he was actually Cap. The theaters exploded when he said “Flame On!” Then he brought some great foul mouthed dialogue. He came a long way from “Language.”

This also ties Chris Evans with Stan Lee himself for three separate wins in this category. Evans won this award for Thor: The Dark World, when he played Loki playing Cap, and Free Guy, playing himself made over the use of Cap’s shield. It is amazing that Chris Evans has now tied Stan in the category that was named after him.

Congrats to Chris Evans!

Year in Review: In Memoriam Part 3

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Doc

Kevin Sullivan

Akira Toriyama

Bill Hayes

Chita Rivera

Earl Holliman

Gavin Creed

James Sikking

James Robinson

John Amos

Joyce Randolph

Mary Weiss

Michael Zulli

Mitzi McCall

Peter Marshall

“Screamin'” Scott Simon

Shelley DuVall

“Psycho” Sid Eudy

David Soul

Teri Garr

Willie Mays

Robert MacNeil

Michael Cole

Tito Jackson

Lemon Drop Kid

2024 Year in Review: I See Kid Actors

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Doc

Once again, we have the award for the best child actor award from movie or TV. This award goes to the actor who must be 17 years old or under. If they turn 18, they are no longer eligible for this award.

I See Kid Actor Award

Previous Winners: Emjay Anthony (Chef), Jacob Trembley (Room), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Dafne Keen (Logan), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), McKenna Grace (Troop Zero), Jeremy T. Thomas (Antlers), Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical), Madeleine Yuna Voyles (The Creator),

These are the runners-up:

In the coming of age movie Didi, Izaac Wang played the lead role and he carried the film. He had to do a lot of emotional work and he was certainly in the running for this award. Elliott Heffernan was the main protagonist in Blitz, and his trials on returning to his mother through war torn London were thrilling. William Fitzgerald debuted as Ezra alongside Robert DeNiro and Bobby Cannavale, and he held his own. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever brought a couple of strong contenders for this award in Beatrice Schneider, who played the lead troublemaker Imogene Herdman, and Molly Belle Wright, who played Beth, the eyes of the audience and perhaps the heart of the film. Cailey Fleming matched up wonderfully with Ryan Reynolds in IF. Dan Hough had to perform without any words in Speak No Evil and he delivered a sensational performance.

However, when I saw this movie, I knew this was the winner of this award. She is the first ever 2-time winner of the I See Kid Actors Award….

Alisha Weir (Abigail)

Alisha Weir won this award a couple of years ago for her performance as Matilda in Matilda the Musical, and you couldn’t get further away from that role with her role as the titular child vampire. Alisha Weir’s dedication and commitment to this performance dominated the movie and she picked the whole film onto her demure frame. She was the key element to why this horror/comedy worked. I wish they had not spoiled the reveal of Abigail as a vampire in the trailers because I can’t imagine how effective it would be if I hadn’t have known the twist.

Year in Review: WWE Matches of the Year

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Doc

It ha been a top notch year in the WWE. I have enjoyed every show that they have put on and there have been years where I could not say that.

Because of that, there are a bunch of Match of the Year contenders. I would guess that there are plenty of matches that could make this list from NXT or RAW and Smackdown that do not stand out as much as those on the PLEs.

I have made a list of the Top 20 WWE Matches of the Year.

#20. Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes, Smackdown. Match number one of their best of seven series. Honestly, most of these matches between these two could have made this list.

#19. Axiom/Nathan Frazer vs. Andre Chase/Ridge Holland, NXT No Mercy. Axiom/Frazer are our tag team of the year, and this is one reason why. Ridge Holland turned on Chase U after their loss.

#18. Gunther vs. Sheamus, RAW. A King of the Ring tournament match and you never get a bad match between these two studs. They put on a BANGER… AFTER BANGER… AFTER BANGER!

#17. Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul, King & Queen of the Ring. Cody may not have had the greatest feuds of the year, but he put on some great matches. Logan Paul is a special star too.

#16. Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus vs. Kaiser, Survivor Series. Breakker defended his Intercontinental Championship in this hard hitting triple threat.

#15. Cody Rhodes vs. AJ Styles, Backlash. The French crowd may have helped this match, but these are two masters going at it. It was an amazing match-up, much better than their I Quit Match.

#14. Bayley vs. Iyo Sky, Wrestlemania 40. The first of several matches from this year’s Wrestlemania saw Bayley get a big victory over her former Damage Control mate. Bayley deserved this big Wrestlemania moment.

#13. Gunther vs. Randy Orton, King and Queen of the Ring. This was a brilliant match between two of the best, that was tainted by a messed up finish. However, that finish was used later in storyline so it helps this out.

#12. Men’s War Games, Bloodline vs. Bloodline, Survivor Series. A great story involved with Solo Sikoa’s rival group and Roman’s shaky alliance with CM Punk. Brutal match that led to three big injuries, but also an unbelievable moment with Bronson Reed off the top of the cage, and some perfect timing for Punk and Roman to avoid the splash.

#11. Axion/Nathan Frazer vs. MSK, NXT Great American Bash. Two of the fastest and most creative teams battled right in the midst of the NXT/TNA talent sharing. Amazing work, and a Wes Lee heel turn as well.

#10. Ilja Dragunov vs. Ricochet, RAW. This was another first round match-up in the King of the Ring tournament on RAW and these two put on as show. I wish Ilja hadn’t gotten injured because he is one of the best wrestlers in the WWE.

#9. Braun Stroman vs. Bronson Reed, Last Monster Standing, RAW. What a main event. Stroman and Reed had been killing each other for weeks and this was the way to put this feud to rest. It also saw the return from injury of Seth Rollins. Big man slapping man meat!

#8. Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable, Clash at the Castle. It was for Sami’s IC title and Sami and Gable put on a classic matchup. Otis had enough of Gable’s behavior and headed for the hills, leading to Sami to defeat Master Gable.

#7. Ilja Dragunov vs. Dijak, NXT. A defense of the NXT Championship, Dragunov was brutal as ever and Dijak lost after some secret interference from Joe Gacy.

#6. Sami Zayn vs. Gunther, Wrestlemania 40. Sami Zayn ended the 666 day IC reign of Gunther at Wrestlemania. What a great match this was with Sami pulling out a top rope brainbuster into the turnbuckle that just looked sick.

#5. Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Money in the Bank. It is Tiffy-time as Tiffany Stratton won the ladder match for the contract. Chelsea Green took one of the big bumps from ladder through a table on the floor. Oh, and Iyo Sky nearly killed Zoey Stark… or else she should have. The women’s match really stole this show.

#4. Rock/Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes/Set Rollins, Wrestlemania 40. The first night tag team match that led to the night two match being contested under Bloodline rules. The Rock pinned Cody Rhodes. Seth was fighting through so much pain. This was such cinema. A great end of night one.

#3. Oba Femi vs. Josh Briggs vs. Dijak, NXT Stand and Deliver. An absolutely brutal match with three massive men. Oba Femi is a monster. Dijak deserved a lot better from the WWE. Oba Femi pulled off some insane power moves and this was epic. The NXT match of the Year for sure.

#2. CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre, Bad Blood. Inside the Hell in a Cell, Punk and McIntyre wrapped up their feud of the year with one of the best Cell matches ever. Bloody. Brutal. Hard hitting. And an amazing story. Most years, this would be the Match of the Year going away, but in 2024, it had to compete with the greatest feel good cinematic match ever.

#1. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns, Wrestlemania 40. Cody Rhodes finished his story as he finally defeated Roman Reigns after an almost four years title reign for Reigns. The match was contested under Bloodline rules and so we saw interference from Solo, Jimmy and Jey Uso, John Cena, “The Final Boss” The Rock, Seth Rollins and The Undertaker. Finally, Roman Reigns succumb to three crossroads and Cody celebrated with all of the babyfaces in a scene right out of Wrestlemania 10. One of the best displays of wrestling and entertainment ever. Perhaps the greatest Wrestlemania main event ever.

Carry-On

Posted on December 16, 2024 by Doc

Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman star in a New Netflix action flick called Carry-On, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who was known for The Shallows, Orphan, Non-Stop and Black Adam.

Carry-On is like Die Hard 2 meets Phone Booth. It is an exciting action movie with some preposterous situations that should not work. However, everything is so thrilling and dramatic that you excuse the improbable and embrace the excitement.

Egerton played Ethan Kopek, a down on his luck TSA agent whose girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) is pregnant. Kopek, who was denied his dream job of joining the police force, is going through the motions at his TSA job at the airport. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Kopek gets blackmailed by a man (Jason Bateman) who wants him to make sure a carry-on case gets through the security check and he says that if he does not, Nora will be killed.

Most action movies requires a lot of suspension of disbelief and this is no exception. However, the film is very exciting and everything is put together so well that even on those time when it feels like the film has stretched credibility, you are okay with it because of the well done story.

Egerton and Bateman carry on a conversation over a headpiece for much of the film and they are very engaging during this time. I did not expect Bateman to be able to play such a cold monster as he does in this film, but he does it exceedingly well. Egerton is a perfect foil for Bateman as he played the young, lacking confidence hero beautifully and we see him slowly gaining more strength as the risks pile up.

It does a good job of building the tension in each scene and the anxiety of the situations. The over the top scenes are still set up and executed well. If you have to pick apart the situations, a lot of the film would not hold up, but you could say that about most action/adventure movies, especially this type of action movie like Die Hard.

There is one scene involving a car crash that has some wonky special effects, but most of the movie is practical effects and looks pretty solid.

And I suppose we could argue about this being a Christmas movie.

Carry-On is a lot of fun and brings an electric action thriller despite some of the most implausible moments. Egerton and Bateman were excellent and carry the film on their backs.

3.75 stars

2024 Year in Review: WWE

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Doc

What a big year for the WWE! Their business is booming and the creativity is at a huge level. Vince McMahon is completely gone, and Paul “HHH” Levesque as head of creative works so much. Just a few years ago I was getting ready to not watch wrestling as much, but now it is can’t miss.

Male Wrestler of the Year: Cody Rhodes. Runners-Up: Gunther, Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Jey Uso, LA Knight

Female Wrestler of the Year: Liv Morgan. Runners-Up: Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax, Bayley, Iyo Sky, Chelsea Green, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill.

Tag Team of the Year: Axiom & Nathan Frazer. Runners-Up: Motor City Machine Guns, Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill, DIY, Street Profits.

Manager: Paul Heyman. Runners-Up: Paul Ellering, Adam Pierce, Nick Aldis

On the Mike: Drew McIntyre. Runners-Up: Kevin Owens, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman

Feud of the Year: Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk. Runners-Up: Bloodline vs. Bloodline 2.0, Kevin Owens heel turn, New Day turns

Underused Performer: Shinsuke Nakamura. Runners-Up: Otis, DIY, Piper Niven, Chad Gable

Comeback of the Year: Roman Reigns. Runners-Up: Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, Drew McIntyre

Saddest Comeback: AJ Styles, who is promptly injured on his return.

Celebrity of the Year: Jellyroll. Runners-Up: Dwayne Johnson, Logan Paul, Jesse Ventura

Moment of the Year: The Wyatt Sicks “murder” Chad Gable and backstage crew.

Heel of the Year: Drew McIntyre. Runners-Up: Gunther, Solo Sikoa, Finn Balor, Dominic Mysterio, Liv Morgan

Face of the Year: Cody Rhodes. Runners-Up: Sammy Zayn, Bianca Belair, Jey Uso, LA Knight

Entrance Song: I Believe in Joe Hendry (Joe Hendry). Runners-Up: Kingdom (Cody Rhodes), Burn it Down (Seth Rollins)

Storyline of the Year: The Final Boss/Bloodline vs. Cody Rhodes. New Day Turns on Big E, Bloodline vs. Bloodline.

Best Broadcaster: Michael Cole. Wade Barrett, Pat McAfee, Joe Tessitore, Corey Graves

Breakout Star: Jacob Fatu. Runners-Up: Braun Breakker, Chelsea Green, The Wyatt Sicks, Tiffany Stratton

Heel Turn of the Year: Kevin Owens. Runners-Up: New Day, Shinsuke Nakamura, DIY

Shock of the Year: New Day turns on Big E. Runners-Up: Wyatt Sicks debut, The Rock shows up on WWE TV, #WeWantCody

Faction of the Year: Wyatt Sicks. Runners-Up: Judgment Day, Bloodline 2.0, Original Bloodline

NXT Male Wrestler of the Year: Oba Femi

NXT Female Wrestler of the Year: Roxanne Perez

Battlestar Galactica S3 E15

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Doc

Spoilers

“A Day in the Life”

This was a really solid episode dealing with Adama and his relationship with his ex-wife Carolanne. It was his wedding anniversary and the show tells us that Adama does a lot of reflection on this day, so much so that he would imagine being able to talk to and visit with the spirit of Carolanne.

Meanwhile, Chief Tyrol and Cally get stuck in an air lock that had a leak. This came after a fight between them over the amount of time that they had to devote to Galactica in comparison to their baby son. The air was dropping in the air lock, making this a life v. death struggle.

The rescue attempt by the pilots was really tense and filled me with doubt. I could see something happening to one or even both of Tyrol and Cally. The rescue mission was a success, but Tyrol and Cally were in pretty bad shape from decompression sickness.

We get some good scenes between Adama and Lee as they share their own POV of Carolanne. Lee had a much more negative memory of her as her actions were very difficult to deal with after Adama had left.

The episode continues to tease a potential relationship forming between Adama and President Roslin, and, to be honest, I am here for it. I think they make a very interesting pairing. I’m just not sure that they will ever be able to get past their jobs or themselves to make a relationship work.

Silo S2 E4, E5

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Doc

Spoilers

“The Harmonium”

“Descent”

Boy, some big things went down on Silo over the last two weeks.

I did not realize that I was a week behind when I pulled up the series on Apple TV +, but there they were. Then all the crap happened.

The Mayor killed Judge Meadows. Poisoned mushrooms. I knew fungus should not be eaten.
Solo is going crazy…okay, maybe he is already crazy.
Knox and Shirley framed for the murder of Judge Meadows.
An angry mob chased after Knox and Shirley.
The whole Juliette going underwater to go find a suit was tense and crazy.
Juliette collapses from her infected injury on her arm.
Is Solo the real Solo? Who is the Solo that Juliette knows?
Sims is made a Judge. Not Bernard’s shadow though.

Things are building for a really exciting second part of the season. I can’t imagine what is happening with this rebellion when Juliette makes it back to her home silo.

2024 Year in Review: Comic Cover Artist of the Year

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Doc

This year, we started a weekly post called Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. I wound up giving our Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist every week for the best comic covers (in my opinion) of the week.

I decided that we then could give out the Comic Cover Artist of the Year and use what we have done this year to determine our medalists.

I kept track of the medal winners each week. If they received a Gold medal, they earned 3 points. Everyone listed as working on the cover each got three points. If they received a Silver medal, they got two points and a Bronze would earn them 1 point.

If there was a tie, the number of gold medals was the first tie break and the second tie break was how many artists worked on the cover. A solo artist gets the edge over the duos.

Spoiler alert, both of those tie breaks came into play.

Year in Review: Favorite Comic Covers of the Year

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Doc

2024

In 2024, I started something new. It was a weekly feature in which I would choose the best comic cover of the week on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. After a few weeks, I adjusted the concept so that I was giving three awards, and I connected them to the Olympic medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). That way I could honor more of the great covers that was coming out every week.

I reviewed my list of winners and I picked out the best of the best and gave them the year end medal.

I decided I would give out the top three regular covers (Cover A) and I would give the top three variant covers from the gold medalists from this past year. Then, I would give an overall medal (Platinum) for the Best Cover of the Year.

Let’s kick it off with the…

Medalists for the Regular Covers (Cover A)

Bronze Medalist for 2024

Ice Cream Man #38

Cover Art by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Silver Medalist for 2024

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz

Gold Medalist for 2024

Zorro: Man of the Dead #3

Cover art by Dan Panosian

Medalists for Variant Covers of the Year

Bronze Medalist for 2024 Variant

Namor #1

Cover art by Alex Maleev

Silver Medalist for 2024 Variant

Hello Darkness #4

Cover Art by Jenny Frison

Gold Medalist for 2024 Variant

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2

Cover art by Mitsuhiro Arita

Platinum Medalist (Best Overall Comic Cover of 2024)

Congrats to all of our Medalists.

Runners-Up: (Cover A) Get Fury 34, Swan Song #6, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Uncanny X-Men #1, Fantastic Four #26, (Variant) Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3, Spider-Boy #7, Resurrection of Magneto #1, Ice Cream Man #39

EYG Comic Cavalcade #129

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Doc

December 14, 2024

Comics were delayed again this week. I did not expect them to be in on Friday so I had decided that I would go to Kraven the Hunter at a 4:20 PM show. Todd gave me a call as I was on the way to the movie with the news that the books had arrived Friday after all. I couldn’t turn around and head to Dubuque as I was on the way to the Quad Cities.

However, Saturday was going to bring us some icy weather and I was not sure when I could get to the shop. I made a decision. After I would get done with Kraven, I would leave Cinemark and drive to Comic World to get the comics that night. I left the theater at about 6:47 PM and wound up at Comic World before 8 PM. I made good time, with only a minimal amount of speeding.

As I said, there was ice coming today and I had nowhere I planned to go in the morning and I was able to sit down and read the comics. It was a nice morning and I made it through the week’s books.

Here are this week’s books:

Grommets #3-6. I picked up these books from eBay and I have really enjoyed the series. It took a darker turn as our young skateboarding heroes wound up at a party that got out of control. The series has taken time to dive into these kids feeling and desires and I have found it to be very compelling so far. There is only one more issue to go and I am excited to finish this series off.

Space Ghost #8. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover B art was by Jae Lee & June Chung. General Metallus is here, with his Thanos-like plans bringing a terrible memory back to Space Ghost. Sadly, Space Ghost got his butt handed to him.

Storm #3. “Impending Doom” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art was by Mateus Manhanini. Storm is dying, but Doctor Voodoo helps her with some magic. But magic has a cost and she cannot use her powers for seven days. So she decides to sleep with Wolverine. Um… oh, yeah, and Dr. Doom comes calling.

Dazzler #4. “Homecoming” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was by Terry and Rachel Dodson. Dazzler’s world tour is coming to an end with a concert in New York City! We discover the person behind the sabotage of her shows before and guest stars NYX help her wrap thing up. This is the final issue of this Dazzler series which was fun, if lgithweight.

Batman: Dark Patterns #1. “We are the Wounded Part One.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. A new Batman series which tells a story from a past time in the Caped Crusader’s life. Alfred is still there and James Gordon was only a Lieutenant. It included a weird and wild villain that I had never seen before involved in some kind of serial killing. I am worried that I have been picking up more DC books than I have before. I already get a ton of comics a month. However, this issue was solid.

The Terminator #3. “Apocalypse Then: Part Two.” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by David O’Sullivan. Cover C art by Cat Staggs (Bronze Medalist). The story from Vietnam concludes as the Terminator chased Duggan across the land and even into a helicopter.

Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque. We follow Nick Fury and we meet the members of the Council. They all do not seem to have the best of intentions. There is a couple pages at the end of the book featuring a prologue of Ultimate Wolverine.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1. Written by Christos Gage and art by Eric Gapstur. Leonardo Romero did the cover art. This is the prequel series for the upcoming Disney + animated series of the web head. This is meant to be a very young, just gaining his powers Peter Parker. There were some differences to the origin, laid out here, that may alter the character.

Incredible Hulk#20. “Wolves of the Old World” Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earles. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Werewolves are everywhere and Hulk and Charlie are having to deal with them. Jack Russell is here too.

The Infinity Watch #1. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was by Salvador Larroca and GURU-eFX. The Infinity Stone Bearers come together to form their own team, but things do not go well immediately. I wonder if the shocking final page sets us up for what this series has up its sleeve. Love having Coulson in the book though.

Uncanny X-Men #7. “No Walls Can Hold Us” Written by Gail Simone and penciled by David Marquez & Edgar Salazar. Cover art by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). Rogue’s team of X-Men are heading into Graymalkin after their two team members but Cyclops really wants them to hold off. What this lead to? That’s right… big mutant fight!

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #1. “All the Places You Will Go.” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Cover is the Variant Cover Logo issue. New series featuring Laura Kinney was a great start. I enjoyed this first issue with Laura. The issue does a fantastic job of giving us insight into the character of Laura and what drives her. This was a great start.

Amazing Spider-Man #63. “Tick Tick Tick.” Written by Justina Ireland and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man rolls on as the constant fight as the Champion is getting to Peter Parker. He actually yelled at Aunt May. The Scions of Cyttorak have been watching him, trying to figure out what makes him tick.

The City Beneath Her Feet #1. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Elsa Charretier. This is a love story… as we are told at the very beginning in a fourth wall break… but not that kind of love story. This was a bizarre story that was quiet entertaining and unexpected. I am a big fan of James Tynion IV and the writing of this was great. Elsa Charretier’s work is very much similar to her work on Love Everlasting.

Scarlet Witch #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman (Silver Medalist). Wanda, Amaranth, Tommy and Billy go to New Salem to try and save the town from a curse. Turns out that there is a tie to Agatha Harkness in the town.

Minor Arcana #4. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa takes her mom for her cancer appointment, and sparks fly. She then winds up back in the magical realm after doing another tarot card reading. She realizes that it is tied to her deceased grandpa. Mainor Arcana is a fascinating book and Jeff Lemire is always great in his creativity.

X-Factor #5. “Prisoners of the Fun Room” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was by Greg land & Frank D’Armata. X-Factor has to fight off the terrorists led by Darkstar known as X-Term. This series has shown to be a very deadly one as another of the team winds up dead in this issue.

Phoenix #6. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Marco Renna. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Phoenix teams up with Nova, but she is having a crisis of faith, doubting that her arrival in space was the right move to make. Oh, and Thanos.

Other books this week: Skin Police #3, Petpool Pool Party#1, Spirits of Vengeance #4, Ultimate X-Men #10, Deadpool Team-Up #4, Alien: Paradiso #1, and Transformers #15.

2024 Year in Review: Comics

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Doc

It was a big year for comic books. The massive amount of independents were out, Marvel and DC both found great success with their “Ultimate” and “Absolute” books respectively, and some of the best artists and writers plied their trade across the companies.

EYG continued our post EYG Comic Cavalcade looking at a bunch of books over a week period, and we added the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, giving out a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal each week.

There were a lot of difficult choices to be made for these Comic Awards. The Comic Cover of the Year and the Cover Artist of the Year will be coming at a later date. However, here are the comic awards for EYG this year.

Best Marvel Series: Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter and MJ happy with children? Yes, please. More of that. This has been a solid series all year long as Peter finds his fate in the spider costume.

Best DC Series: Absolute Batman. One of the hottest, most successful selling books in a long time, the story is also solid.

Best Independent Comic: The Deviant. This was the single most difficult choice to make because there were so many potential choice. Saga returned. Feral. Something is Killing the Children is always a classic. Grommets. Ice Cream Man. But I finally settled on the James Tynion IV penned book about a serial killer and a man trying to make a comic about it. It has kept readers off balance all year.

Best Character: Erica Slaughter, Something is Killing the Children. Eric has been consistently one of the best characters in comics since her debut. Some of the flashback issues this year have really helped give even more perspective to Erica.

Best Writer: Jason Aaron. Jason Aaron has had a great year including Absolute Superman, Namor, Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime, and he may have written the best single issue of any comic issue this year, in my opinion, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.

Best Artist: Mark Spears. I wasn’t sure whom to pick for this award, so I asked Todd, and he suggested Mark Spears. As soon as he did, I knew that was the proper pick. He has had a great year this year, hotter than most any other artist and his Mark Spears Monsters book is as sought after as any.

Best Graphic Novel: Bad Dreams in the Night. I only have seen a handful of graphic novels this year and that makes things tough for this category so I chose a recent one that was a series of horror shorts that were extremely entertaining. This was a great graphic novel.

Best Issue #1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. As I mentioned in the Jason Aaron award, I think this is the best single issue of the year. I was not a reader of TNMT, but I grabbed number one because of the buzz and I LOVED that issue. It had me completely hooked and I continued collecting the series. That is what a number one is intended to do.

Best Surprise: Blade was behind Blood Hunt. I did not see that one coming. Sure, it turned out Blade was controlled, but it did not dull the shock of seeing Blade bury his fangs into Doctor Strange’s neck. Blood Hunt was a surprising crossover and this kicked it off on the right note.

Under Appreciated: Ryan North. I have not heard enough about this writer, who has been on the Fantastic Four this last year and has given us some of the best FF issues in a long, time. He was also the writer on Deadpool Wolverine Weapon X-Traction #1 which was really fun. North has been great and I want to see him with other Marvel heroes as his career moves on.

Best One Shot: Doom #1. I was actually not a big fan of this issue, but I know it was a huge hit and, because of that, I think it deserves this award.

Best X-Book: Uncanny X-Men. Gail Simone has brought some of the best X-books to the franchise in years. Plus, she has one of the best lineup of characters around with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and the leader Rogue. I look forward to Uncanny every month.

Relationship of the Year: Tony Stark and Emma Frost. Yeah, I know a lot of others did not like this, but I really enjoyed this pairing. So much so that I was sad when they left each other as you knew they would. Emma and Tony had a great chemistry and held each other in a deep regard, more than either wanted to admit.

Crossover of the Year: Blood Hunt. This was just going to be an excuse for Marvel heroes to fight vampires, but it turned out more entertaining than that. With Blade as our villain and with Doctor Doom taking over as Sorcerer Supreme, there are some definite major implications for the Marvel Universe. Oh and Miles Morales was turned into a vampire too.

Trend of the Year: Horror Comics. Horror comics have always been around, but this year horror seemed to explode. Books such as Mark Spears Monsters, Ice Cream Man, Hello Darkness, DC Horror Presents, Creature Commandos, Displaced, The Deviant, the Universal Monsters series, Blood Hunt, Feral, Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House By the Sea, House of Slaughter, Dark Ride, Arkham Horror, Killadelphia, Plastic: Death and Dolls are just some of the books available in 2024.

Comic Character MVPs for 2024: Batman, Miles Morales, Redcoat, Deadpool, Space Ghost, Blade, and Frankenstein.

Best Individual issues (in no particular order)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Uncanny X-Men #1

Swan Songs #6

Ice Cream Man #39

Big Burn #1

Grommets #6

Fantastic Four #17

Something is Killing the Children #37

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Doc

Week of 12/9

It is Friday night and my usual Wednesday night post of the comic cover of the week is finally out. Yes, there was more difficulties with the shipment from Comic World, as well as several other shops in the area. The shipment did not arrive until today so I was able to get the books tonight (except for the DC books, which were on time…Transformers too oddly).

With the holidays, I am sure that is a big part of the issue with the delivery, so I would not be surprised to see this happen a few more times in December.

However, be on the lookout for the special Year in Review Favorite Comic Cover of the Year, which is coming soon. We will present Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for both the best regular covers and the best variant covers. Then, we will name the best cover of the year. That is coming soon.

Here are this week’s medalist…