EYG Comic Cavalcade #100

June 1, 2024

Double-Sized Special Edition

Welcome to the 100th post in the EYG Comic Cavalcade! In comics, the 100th issue is always considered a major milestone, a big deal. Something is special about the number 100. Perhaps it is the roundness, the evenness of the number. Just like in the world of comics, we at EYG will be celebrating this massive landmark with an oversized entry. Plus, I love the special banner that goes along with this double-sized post. There will be a new one for next week too!

It feels like just yesterday when Todd was telling me that the name Comic Cavalcade was already used for a comic series from DC Comics from the last century. It was why I added the EYG in front of it. Fortunately, DC has not sent any lawyers after me just yet.

I said this was post #100, but it goes further back than that. In fact, when I started doing these posts, the title was Comic Catch-Up. Marvel had introduced Legacy numbering a few years ago to account for the overall issues in a series so they could reboot/restart different books at a new #1 and still have the large number that fans liked so much. It was a sales technique that allowed the House of Ideas to put out more #1s.

For us, there were 50 posts under the banner of Comic Catch-Up, so you could say that, with this post, out Legacy number is 150.

Actually, this will be post #380 under the category heading ‘Comics this Week’ on the site. That included some early posts I did on certain books, the favorite comic covers of the week, and the banners.

But, for me, the Legacy number is 150for a specific reason. In January 2023, my collection was a mess. I had unread books scattered in piles all over my room, some in the original plastic bag I purchased them in from Comic World. There was such a massive undertaking that it just felt as if there was no sense in even trying to organize. let alone read them.

I made a decision. Near the end of the month, I committed myself to reading at least one hour every day, trying to make a dent in the seemingly endless piles. To keep myself motivated and honest, I would write a post for EYG detailing the comics that I read. I would call that post EYG Comic Catch-Up.

That first post I wrote included the following comics: Fantastic Four #2, Joe Fixit #1, Photon #1, Amazing Spider-Man #17, Unwanted #1 & 2, Strange #10, and Wasp #1.

With this renewal to my devotion of reading the comics I already had, I started to see progress. In fact, as the post numbers increased, my piles began to dwindle away.

Then, it seemed like the column was less about catching up and more about adding new comics to the read list. I had discovered new series along the way such as Gideon Falls, Middlewest, That Texas Blood and so on (Thanks eBay!)

Because of that, I chose to make a change. I decided to end EYG Comic Catch-Up and reboot it as EYG Comic Cavalcade.

March 21, 2023 saw the first post for EYG Comic Cavalcade go live. Now, 14 months later, this is my 100th post under this category.

I am very proud of my collection. I no longer have piles of unread comics sitting around collecting dust. Now I have dozens of boxes filled with bagged and boarded books.

I have set a goal that I will have all of my comics rebagged, reboarded and reboxed before the end of the summer. I was originally going to start the process in the summer, but I have been working on the collection on and off over the last six months or so. I am down to around 6-7 long boxes remaining. It has been really fun seeing what I had in my collection as I put them in all new protective materials.

And I have been taking inventory on my phone with an app called CLZ. It has been a great tool to help me organize my collection in one place. It has allowed me to search through back issues of books and know what I need.

There us still a lot of organizing to be done for my collection, and that is a long term goal. I want to get all the books together and not spread out in boxes everywhere.

I am grateful that I have EYG because writing this column has inspired me to take care of my collection. I was ashamed before with how I disregarded the comics I bought and now I am much happier than I have been in quite awhile.

The plan is to continue with the EYG Comic Cavalcade, maintaining the current numbering system. With school now out, I will be spending my Wednesday afternoons, which are of course NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, at Comic World so the column should be posted earlier than before.

I also got several New Warriors from volume one this week. Again, thanks to Todd and his nose for back issues. I have New Warriors #63, 68, 72-74, Annual #1 and Annual #2. Of course, I did not need Annual #2. Todd had called me from a comic shop with the four annuals asking me what I had. I said I had #2 and #3. To my surprise, Annual #2 was in the pile of books I got last Wednesday. It was funny.

After all that, reflecting back over 100 posts and beyond, we still have other new books this week:

Drawing Blood #2. “Metropolis and All the Jazz” Script by David Avallone and artwork by Ben Bishop. Cover art was by Kevin Eastman. Bookman has all kind of troubles from the Lithuanians he owed money, his Broadway play and too much sake. And whose funeral is it?

W0rldtr33 #10. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Fernando Blanco. We get to see how things started off with Azzy and Gabriel. This continues to be a weird book that can be difficult to follow. It is that high level of rigor that you always know you are going to get with James Tynion.

Black Panther: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Cheryl Lynn Eaton and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Andres Sorrentino (Bronze Medalist). T’Challa battles against the hunger that is overtaking his new vampire form and Shuri attempts to help him. Black Panther is a major force in this Blood Hunt storyline across all of Marvel.

Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Bryan Hill and art by German Peralta. Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez did the cover art. Blade seems to be the big bad of this crossover, but Johnny Blaze wonders what is going on. So he recruits Danny Ketch and Victoria Montesi to see what they can figure out… or destroy Blade in the process.

Fall of the House of X #5. “Now and Forever” Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & David Curiel. Jean Grey-Phoenix. NUFF SAID!

Night Thrasher #4. “Whose Streets? Our Streets.” Written by J. Holtham and art by Nelson Daniel. Cover art was by Alan Quah. I believe this short series came to a close here as it certainly felt like a wrap up. Night Thrasher, Silhouette and O.G. end up together ready to make life better in Harlem. This was a short and quick series, but I would not be opposed to adding some more former New Warriors and doing this right.

Jackpot & Black Cat #3. Written by Celeste Bronfman and drawn by Emilo Laiso & Giada Belviso. Pablo Villalobos did the cover art. MJ has figured out what is happening with Felicia and comes to have dinner with her and Felicia’s new love, Amelia.

X-Men: The Wedding Special #1. As the wedding of Raven Darkholme and Irene Adler approached, there are a bunch of X-Men who have their own concerns or issues with the happy couple. There are multiple artist and writers doing part of this book. I do like the wedding scene but a lot of the rest of the book is okay, at best.

Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. This short series comes to an end, leading directly into another Scarlet Witch #1 coming soon. I liked the inclusion of Pietro in this series but there is no really reason this couldn’t have been a story arc in the previous Scarlet Witch series. The absolute definition of Legacy numbering happening here.

Hellverine #1. “Resurrection” Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Julius Ohta. Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia did the cover art. What the flaming hellfire adamantium claws was this? I was not a fan of this comic.

Pine & Merrimac #5. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated and cover art by Fran Galan. With Parker killed last issue, this was going to be an issue about grief. However, something weird happened in the end of the book that was totally unexpected and ended this final issue of the series in a HUGE cliffhanger. What happened? I don’t know but I love this comic and I hope this means that they intend on picking it back up in the future.

Avengers: Twilight #6. “The World is Watching” Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Daniel Acuna. Alex Ross & Daniel Acuna did the cover art. The future Avengers come to a conclusion against the Red Skull as Thor and Hulk square off in a final battle. This has been a very satisfying series and it wraps up nicely. I am never a huge fan of alternate futures, but Chip Zdarsky always does great work.

Spider-Boy #7. “And His Amazing Friends.” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Cover art (variant) by David Baldeón (Gold Medalist). Spider-Boy is in his final showdown with Madame Monstrosity and he gets some back up. Hoo-boy does he get some back up. It is a beautiful black and white variant cover this week.

Ultimate Spider-Man #5. Written by Jonathan Hickman and guest artist David Messina. This issue focuses on Harry Osborn and how he came to be this ultimate universe Green Goblin. In fact, I’m not sure Spider-Man is seen in the book.

Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #2. Written by Dan Watters and Ram V with art by Matthew Roberts. Cover art was by Matthew Roberts and Dave Stewart (Silver Medalist). I really loved the first issue of this book, and this second issue is just as good. Gill Man is causing a ruckus. This is a beautifully drawn book and is a fun read.

Saga Vol. 6 & 7. The sixth and seven volumes of the nine volume collection continue to be exceptional writing by Brian K. Vaughn. There was a terrible loss in these two volumes as one of my favorite characters seems to be gone for good. This has been a brilliant series so far and with only two volumes left, I am excited about finishing it.

Other books this week: The Six Fingers #4, Torpedo 1972 #3, Nights #7, Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #4, Project: Cryptid #9, and The Bloody Dozen #6.

So this brings to a close for the EYG Comic Cavalcade #100. I have loved rededicating myself to a hobby that I have done since I was in 5th grade, and here is to another 100 posts moving forward.

Doctor Who S14 E5

S14 E5, S1 E6???

SPOILERS

“Dot and Bubble”

Wow, what an ending.

At first, I thought this was going to be an episode with a theme about the dangers of social media, but it became so much more in the last five minutes.

Lindy is our main protagonist in this world called Finetime. She was very unlikable but the Doctor and Ruby tried their best to help her avoid being eaten by a large bug-monster creatures. These bug-creatures are just really creepy and seeing them devouring the people of Finetime was unnerving.

Most of the episode had the Doctor and Ruby appearing on screens inside the ‘bubble’ , the screen-like function that went around their heads and allowed them access to the social media world. They did a great job without being in much of the episode.

Lindy became even more unlikable as the episode progressed and when Ricky September showed up and she tossed him to the wolves, I really started to want to see her pay for her meanness.

Only it got even more.

The last five minutes revealed that Lindy was a racist and she made implications that she wouldn’t go with him because he was different. It did not come right out and said it was because he was black, but that is absolutely what she was referring to in that ending.

Going back for a minute. In the Bubble, the Doctor and Ruby see whom Lindy said was her mummy, but it was the same actress who has been in all the other previous episodes. She is played by Susan Twist, and this episode, the Doctor and Ruby realized that they recognized her face from previous episodes.

I think this is an episode where a second watch, after knowing the ending, makes the rest of the episode look differently than it did on the first view.

Another strong episode with a very creative story.

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

The third annual June Swoon got underway this morning with an Oscar winning foreign film that I had missed from 2023. Anatomy of a Fall received a lot of Academy buzz earlier this year as it was nominated in several major categories, oddly enough except for Best International Film.

Anatomy of a Fall tells the story of a couple and their 11-year old son. The couple had been having troubles since an unfortunate accident that led to their son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner),when he was four years old, losing much of his vision. Moving back to his hometown, Samuel (Samuel Theis) struggled to write, battled his guilt over Daniel’s accident and resented his wife, Sandra (Sandra Hüller).

So a day after an especially violent fight, Samuel was found outside of their home, dead from a fall out of the third story window. Isolated as they were, Sandra became the prime suspect in the death of Samuel and she is placed on trial for the murder.

This may be a spoiler, but I do love how the case is resolved (or not so much), storyline wise. I find that an intelligent manner of storytelling and allows you the viewer to add to the tale being told.

There were some excellent performances. Sandra Hüller received an Oscar nomination as Leading Actress in a Feature, and it was well deserved. Hüller brought plenty of emotions to the role, from an icy response to passionate rage. Milo Machado-Graner was just as excellent as the visually-impaired Daniel. Daniel had to go through a lot of pain and anguish during the film, and had to perform as a visually-impaired child too. He may have been the I See Child Actors Award winner at the EYG Year in Review section had I seen this film last year instead of during the June Swoon. His work was exceptional and every bit as compelling as any of the adults in the film.

The film may be slow for some, but I was engrossed from the first moments of the film, wondering the whole time what the truth of the story would be. The court scenes were fascinating too, as this was the first time I had ever seen a court case portrayed from a French court. The differences were striking from the US courts that I am more familiar with.

Anatomy of a Fall is beautifully constructed as a mystery, as a courtroom drama and as a personal story of a family filled with pain just trying to get by. Great performances fill the two hours and thirty minutes of the film and I can certainly understand why it had received as many Oscar nominations as it did.

Jim Henson Idea Man

Director Ron Howard brought the new documentary of EYG Hall of Famer Jim Henson to Disney + today, and it was lovely, showing the magic that this amazing man brought to the world through his creations.

The Muppets have been one of my favorite IPs for decades. I remember coming home from elementary school to watch the Muppet Show. It was a seminal show for my childhood, and Jim Henson was the driving force behind it.

The loving manner in which Ron Howard moved us through the early years of Jim Henson right up to his death was beautifully conceived and joyous to watch.

With interviews from the Henson kids, Frank Oz, Rita Moreno, Jennifer Connolly, and other Muppet performers combined with older and newer clips of Jim Henson himself, the documentary does an excellent job of giving the story of genius.

The section of the documentary that spoke about the death of Jim was especially affecting, and the clips from the funeral from the group of speakers was very emotional and seeing Big Bird sing “It’s Not Easy Being Green” was an amazing tribute. I was unaware that Henson passed away at age 53, which is simply too young. The mind boggles at what this creative genius could have accomplished if he had spent more time on the earth.

The doc went into his time on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and his feature films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Some of his early short films were fascinating to see and illustrated what a creative force Jim Henson could be. It was a wonderful love letter to the legacy of this man who was responsible for so much entertainment during his life.

The doc pushes all of the nostalgia buttons while still providing an engaging look at his life and career and how much he affected the world. This is an excellent documentary on an amazing individual.

4.6 stars

Bates Motel S1 E9

Spoilers

“Underwater”

Poor Norma.

She has had a rough time. Finding the cadaver in her bed only started her stress. She was clearly afraid that this was the start of something worse, and she was very apparently correct.

The scene with Norma in the car with Jake in her backseat telling her to bring him the money that Shelby owed him was tense. Poor Norma had no idea what he was talking about, but she was stuck.

And she needs help but there is not much that Sheriff Romero could do and his comments to Norma with the flowers was completely understandable, even though she was 100% right.

Norman is still slowly descending into his craziness and I know it is heading toward his teacher getting the death treatment. Norman is showing the cracks in his life, especially when he trots into the house with his stuffed dead dog.

This is the penultimate episode of season one and it is again kind of a feeling of set up than a full story. It is a solid episode but it is not the same as the first half of this season.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

For Week of May 27

Good evening. We have just one school day left before the end of the school year. That really does not have anything to do with this article, but I am just excited about it.

Bronze Medalist

Black Panther: Blood Hunt #1

Cover Art by Andrea Sorrentino

The Blood Hunt crossover event has had some solid covers (even if they are selling some variants of a blood red cover only). This one was from Andrea Sorrentino who has done some great rt in other horror series, especially teaming up with Jeff Lemire. He has a great cover of vampire T’Challa.

Silver Medalist

Universal Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #2

Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart

These Universal Monsters books from Image have solid cover art every week and it has a bunch of excellent Variants too. I love this one with the creature spying on what is going on in the shadow.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Boy #7

Variant Cover B

Cover Art by David Baldeón 

I proclaimed to Todd that this was probably the winner this week, and sure enough, it secured the gold. Love this black and white variant with Spider-Boy in a black and white Venom-like costume. It is lovely.

The X-Files S5 E8

Spoilers

“Kitsunegari”

In a sequel to the third season episode “Pusher,” Robert Modell returned to the show to play more mind games with Mulder.

Modell went by the nickname Pusher because he could ‘push’ his will on other people, in a mental control kind of way.

Modell came out of his vegetable state and escaped from prison. But Mulder felt there was something different than the last time he confronted him. Even when the prosecutor who had convicted Modell was found dead from drinking gallons of blue paint that he was also covered with from head to toe, Mulder could not shake the feeling that there was something else going on.

Turned out that Modell had a sister who could also do the “push” thing and she was playing the game. She was married to the prosecutor, but she had married him after two days and it seemed as if it was for revenge.

While this does not match up with the quality of “Pusher” from season three, this is still a decent episode. I did like how the main characters were all uneasy with each other and had a hard time believing what was going on. It felt as if all of them were being manipulated.

This is the way mental powers are supposed to work.

Bates Motel S1 E8

Spoilers

“A Boy and his Dog”

Compared to the rest of the episodes so far in season one, this episode felt like a transitional one. There are some good scenes, in particular between Norma and Jake Abernathy (Jere Burns), but much of the episode felt as if it were setting other things up.

Such as:

  • Therapy for Norman
  • Dylan taking a step in the criminal organization
  • Dylan and Remo’s work relationship
  • Building Norman’s taxidermy hobby.
  • Building Norman and Emma’s relationship.
  • Another side to Sheriff Romero as he put Norma in her place.
  • Abernathy’s mysterious business.
  • A possible connection with Norma and Dylan

Of course, everything was leading up to that horrifying end sequence with the corpse in Norma’s bed. It seemed obvious that it was Zach Shelby in the bed, because of the scar on the face and the badge on his chest. It also seems fairly apparent who put it there. How did it happen was another question.

Overall, this was the weakest episode of the first season so far, but there was a lot of solid character work that will pay off down the line.

The X-Files S5 E6, E7

Spoilers

“Christmas Carol”

“Emily”

The two part story dives into Scully’s desire to be a parent, something that had apparently been taken from her when she was abducted.

The first episode was Scully-centric, with only one quick cameo appearance by Mulder. Scully gets a mysterious phone call when she had returned to her family for Christmas and Scully believed that the voice on the phone was that of her deceased sister, Melissa.

The call led Scully to a house where a woman had seemingly committed suicide. However, there was more to it than that.

What was at the center of this was the woman’s daughter, Emily. Turned out that Emily was an adopted daughter and, as we find out at the very end of the episode, that Scully was her mother.

This dated back to the time frame when Scully had been abducted and had her eggs removed.

Gillian Anderson did some fine work cycling through all the emotions in these two episodes. The final scene where she laid on the bed beside Emily in the hospital was painful and beautiful at the same time.

Oh, but I have to say, Scully’s brother is still a jerk.

Strangely, I do not remember this two part episode. I can’t imagine that I missed it when it first was broadcast, but I did not recognize any of the scenes. The only child I remember for Scully was later on in the series run.

The Jinx Part Two S2 E6

Spoilers

Season finale

“It Takes a Village”

After Bob Durst was convicted in California, but before he could appeal, Bob Durst died.

It seemed as if Bob Durst was still evading justice, right up to the end.

Because he died before he could appeal, the conviction would be negated. It is a California law.

This led to Kathie’s family, The McCormacks, deciding to sue Bob’s estate for wrongful death. So we get to hear more from Debrah, Bob’s wife.

We also hear from Bob’s siblings, and they were some kind of rotten. I just found them to be such a group of monsters, to varying degrees.

There was no final, surprising confession at the end of season two as there was in season one. Instead, they make it appear that Debrah really won in the long run. She has fought the McCormacks the entire time, and still is doing so. With some legal machinations with a trust, most of Bob’s money is salted away. Debrah refused interviews. She said that everything was worth it.

And the Durst family had never once offered any help or assistance to the McCormacks.

Sounds as if Bob wasn’t the only horrific person in this story. Perhaps he is the sole murderer.

These two seasons of The Jinx is one of my all-time favorite documentary series that I have watched. Andrew Jarecki does a tremendous job of both of these seasons.

Bates Motel S1 E6, E7

Spoilers

“The Truth”

“The Man in Number 9”

The Deputy Zack Shelby storyline came to a dramatic conclusion in episode six as Shelby wound up in a gunfight with Dylan after he discovered the Asian girl in one of the motel rooms.

The whole situation came to a head with Shelby as he showed off his violent side, including smacking Norma a couple of times. This set off Norman.

The gunfire was tense as Dylan and Zack fired at each other. Zack ended up dead outside on the front steps of the house.

It also led to one of the big reveals of the early season. As we see Norman go into a blackout with Shelby, we learn from Norma that Norman had blacked out once before, and ended up killing his father Sam. Norma made it look like an accident and Norman believed that story.

Strangely, Sheriff Romero, who responded to Norma’s 9-1-1 call, upon finding the dead body of his deputy on the steps, listened to the story and then told the Bates clan what the actual story was going to be. That was odd considering how gung-ho Romero was to arrest Norma at first.

The show does not let us hear what Norma tells Romero. She said that he knows it all now about Shelby. How much that actually was would be interesting to know. Did she tell Romero about the rape? Or how she murdered Keith? I’m not sure we ever found out.

Another new story started in episode seven with the mysterious salesman who showed up claiming to have a standing reservation of room 9. He was definitely creepy and a riddle. Then he booked all the rooms for the first week of every two months. What is going on here?

Norman’s sex life took a turn as he talked with Bradley and she let him down as easily as she could, but we could see Norman turning into Norma as he walked away. Her kind hug brought him back, but it was spooky.

The arrival of a stray dog Norman named Juno brought another tragedy to Norman as a car accidentally ran over the dog. This is leading to the knowledge for Norman of taxidermy as he wanted to take the dog’s corpse to Emma’s father.

Norman feels very much on the edge. I’m not sure how he made it through five seasons. Bates Motel has been just an excellent show so far.

The X-Files S5 E5

Spoilers

“The Post-Modern Prometheus”

We have come to an episode of the X-Files that would be one of my top ten episodes of the series. After watching it again tonight, I have an even greater appreciation for “The Post-Modern Prometheus” than I had when I first saw it.

Mulder and Scully came to a town where a woman claimed to have been impregnated by a monster in her home, without her consent. The woman, who seemed more intent on making the Jerry Springer Show, stated that her 18-year old son Izzy was conceived in the same manner.

Turned out that Izzy was the writer of a comic book that followed the adventures of the Great Mutato, a local legend and the Great Mutato fit the description of the supposed attacker/rapist.

Shot in a beautiful black and white, this episode took the story of Frankenstein and turned it about to fit into an episode of the X-Files. Much of the stylistic choices of the episode fit right into the type of old fashion horror movies, like Frankenstein. The episode was striking with its mood, creating a fantasy style and a surreal element of the tale.

Music of Cher was used throughout the episode, including a majestic version of “Walking in Memphis” at the very end. There was a reference made to Cher’s movie, Mask, where Cher played the mother of a disfigured boy, something to which the Great Mutato could relate.

I read that some people believe that this episode takes place outside of X-Files continuity since the episode begins and ends as if it was a story in a comic book. This is an interesting idea that does make sense with what was provided. It allowed the creators a freedom to be able to bring a different style of mood to this episode.

Over-the-top actor John O’Hurley, known as J Peterman from Seinfeld, played the “mad scientist” Francis Pollidori. His style of acting fit perfectly in this fantastical story.

This is one of the best X-Files episodes of the entire series, and it was epic to get a chance to see it once again. It is a beautifully constructed and filmed fairy tale that is a love letter to the Universal Monsters from the 1930s/1940s.

Bates Motel S1 E4, E5

Spoilers

“Trust Me…”

“Ocean View”

Things are heating up among everyone in Bates Mote.

So much happened in these two episodes it was truly epic.

  • Norma is arrested for the murder of Keith Summers
  • Keith’s hand was found with carpet fibers from the motel.
  • Norman confided in Dylan.
  • Norman had sex with Bradley.
  • Emma and Norman found the missing Asian girl on Summers’ boat.
  • They took the girl back to the motel where Norma found them.
  • The girl told Norma that Zack was behind her kidnapping, keeping her for sex.
  • Dylan’s partner lent him $5000 to get a place for Dylan and ‘his bro.’
  • Dylan’s partner was shot in the neck.
  • Dylan ran down the shooter with his truck.
  • Zack steals the carpet fiber and the case against Norma is dropped.
  • Norman told Emma about his night with Bradley. She claimed it was just a hook up.

So much going down in these two episodes that it is just packed full. Norma’s manipulations are coming back on her, but Zack is certainly being shown as someone who is not just a good guy trying to help someone he loved. He is a control freak and he is out for Norma. The whole fishing scene with Norman was really tense and uneasy.

Norman’s own mental illness took a back seat in these episodes as his relationship with Dylan appeared to be getting stronger as his relationship with Norma took a hit. She was mad at Norman for being out ‘getting laid’ on the night she was arrested, but that was just another way to attempt to control him.

Bates Motel continues to be excellent, creating a ton of intriguing stories wrapped around these characters. Dylan is one of the most engaging characters included in the show.