EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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February 14

So I am a couple of days late with the EYG Favorite Comic Covers post. Wednesday on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, there was a bunch of snow. We had around 8″ here and Dubuque was around 6″ so I did not venture out. Then, Thursday night, I already had tickets for Captain America: Brave New World in Davenport. That took a trip to Dubuque out of the cards for Thrusday.

I headed to Dubuque today after school and, about halfway there, suddenly there was snow everywhere. It was getting bad, mainly because of the wind, but I made to Comic World and got home as quickly as I could. It felt like I was coming home through a blizzard, but it may be that I am just not as used to driving in weather any more. Still, I am home safe and ready to award some medals.

Bronze Medalist

Immortal Thor #20

Cover art by Alex Ross

Last year’s champion, Alex Ross, returns to the medal podium this week with one of his classic Thor covers. It is an action packed cover with Thor dead center.

Silver Medalist

All-New Venom #3

Cover art by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin

The image of the All-New Venom on the cover, with that creepy grin, stands before the red background, causing the character to stand out even more. The reflection in Venom’s eyes are a cool extra feature.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10

Cover art by Mark Brooks

More red background this week and Spider-Gwen is looking awesome in this web. The web itself knocked the title off its place at the top. When I was going through my pile of books this week, this one jumped out at me. I had this one picked and the other two were the debatable one.

Captain America: Brave New World

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The fourth film in the Captain America franchise debuted this weekend from Marvel Studios. It has been a film that has had its struggles dating back to Covid, multiple reshoots and delays. Finally, it has arrived in theaters. As with other struggles, this film has had some middling reviews from critics. All of this made me a little nervous about the movie. I am pleased to say that I enjoyed this a great deal.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was still facing challenges of assuming the mantel of Captain America, but the new president of the United States, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) reached out to Sam with an olive branch and an offer to reform the Avengers.

Ross, who had done plenty of horrible things over the years, was trying to turn over a new leaf. However, an unexpected assassination attempt changed everything for the new POTUS.

Sam was completely confused when one of the attempted assassins turned out to be his friend and invitee Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), one of the original soldiers who was given the Super Soldier Serum and then experimented on by the government for years. Sam believed in Isaiah’s innocence and it created a chasm between Sam and the admnistration.

This film works well as a sequel to the Disney + series Falcon and the Winter Soldier and also, oddly enough, the Incredible Hulk. There are elements in the film that tied it to The Eternals as well.

Anthony Mackie is tremendous as the lead in this film. He showed that he was an excellent choice to take over the role of Captain America. He is charming and does a really great job with the dramatic moments as well. Harrison Ford, who took over the role of Thunderbolt Ross from the late William Hurt, looked to be having a ton of fun as President Ross who eventually turned into the Red Hulk. Harrison Ford is always exceptional, and he and Mackie have great chemistry. They are the standout of the movie.

You can tell at times that this film has been stitched together from reshoots, but it does a decent job of blending them together. With as many reshoots that this film had, it is amazing that this film is as coherent as it is. The film is a political thriller, but I would have liked even more of that.

The inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder had been added later. Esposito was great and cool, but he was not in the film very much. I hope that he has more to come down the road in the MCU because the little bit we get of Sidewinder in Brave New World is wonderful.

I loved Tim Blake Nelson returning as Samuel Sterns from the Incredible Hulk. He is another character that could have had more screen time. I loved the look of this character.

No spoilers here, but there is a cameo in this movie that I absolutely loved!

I thought the action scenes were really solid. The aerial action with Sam and Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) was a lot of fun as was the eventual Sam and Red Hulk showdown that we have seen in the trailers.

There are some moments where the film is a little messy, but none of that bothered me. I understood with all of the challenges this movie faced that it may not have been the most polished of films. Some of the first act exposition may have been too much, but there was a lot of material that the film had to provide to those who may not have watched the corresponding films/series.

In the end, Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford were great together and they carried this film. It may not be the best of the Captain America franchise, but, to me, it is a welcome addition.

4.3 stars

Invincible S3 E1, E2, E3

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Spoilers

I did not finish season two of Invincible. I was not loving the show at that time. It felt to me that the show was just falling back on the blood splatter as the story. It was going too far for my taste. To be fair, I did not see the second half of the season so I do not know what it was like.

I had considered not watching season three either. It kicked off with three episodes dropping and they were longer episodes, so I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to get back into it. I decided that i would give it a chance.

I found these first three episodes of season three pretty good. There was still blood, but it did not feel as over-the-top as the last episodes that I watched.

I am not much of a fan of Mark’s new costume. I preferred the first one, but perhaps the new one will grow on me. The whole Invinci-Boy stuff was funny. Oliver is an interesting hero and kind of plays with Mark’s hypocrisy. His conflict with Cecil was based on basically the same idea, especially with Oliver killing the Mauler Twins.

The conflict between Mark and Cecil was rough and we saw how Cecil came to be with a backstory. I am not sure if any of them are in the right with this. Mark does seem to be overly erratic at times, but Cecil is totally condescending. We’ll see where this goes from here.

I did enjoy the arc of the Guardians over these first three episodes, with the conflict between Mark and Cecil splitting the team in half. I found this Guardians storyline to be a worthy addition to the stories going on.

I also liked the Mark-Eve relationship and how they have started to date. Admittedly, date might be a bit of a relative term, but I do like them together.

After watching the first three episodes, I feel as if I will keep giving the show another episode until I find myself feeling as I did during season two. So far, I would say, so good.

Dark Matter S1 E5

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“Worldless”

Dark Matter’s fifth episode was another banger.

Between this, Silo and Hulu’s Paradise, sci-fi television is hot again.

Jason and Amanda moved through different universes, learning along the way about what they need to do to try and find their way to Jason’s original world. Meanwhile, they are encountering a variety of worlds where that world’s Jason had something tragic happen.

One world was filled with a deadly disease, and Jason found Daniela sick and dying, after they took away her Jason. Another world, Daniela and Charlie reacted to Jason in a terrible way because their Jason was supposed to be in prison.

As they met Blair, from Amanda’s reality, they learned more about the Box. Blair had gone through so much inside the Box that she simply could not go back into it at that moment. She could not face the differing universes and the stress that built on her inside the Box. She warned Amanda that she needed to know what she wanted for herself, instead of just following Jason.

meanwhile, Jason 2 has been moving in and out of the Box easily, including returning to his home universe to grab some more of the drug. He told Leighton that, after he leaves the reality, Jason planned on sealing the Box’s entrance, essentially preventing anyone from coming into the universe. He knew that Jason and Amanda had made it into the Box a few days before and he is looking to keep Jason from finding his way home.

Four more episodes to go for season one.

The White Lotus S2 E1

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“Ciao”

I started the second season of The White Lotus on HBO MAX and we found ourselves in Italy. I discovered that the White Lotus is a franchise across the globe. And, just like last season, we started off with a dead body. Actually, several of them in an apparent drowning.

Once again, the show started off in present day and then flashed back a week in the past to show how they got there.

We get a whole new crew of guests arriving on the boat. Well, not completely new as Jennifer Coolidge resumed her role as Tanya McQuoid, who was meeting her husband, Greg Hunt, who was also reprising his role from season one, at the hotel. Tanya does not seem happy with her life.

Audrey Plaza joined the cast this season. She is always great so I am excited to see where her character goes.

Much of this episode was spent just slowly getting to know this group of people. The hook at the beginning with the bunch of dead bodies definitely is a strong start. We’ll see how things go from here.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E6, E7, E8

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“Duel with the Devil”

“Scorpion Rising”

“Tangled Web”

The next three episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man dropped on Disney + today and, boy, they were epic. I really liked how the three episodes worked together a story seeing Spider-Man get his butt kicked a couple of different times.

Daredevil showed up… and voiced by Charlie Cox. Spidey and DD fought, with Daredevil showing the inexperienced Spider-Man what a real fighter was like.

Then the arrival of Scorpion led to Spidey getting beaten so bad that he was nearly killed.

Lonny kept his downward spiral towards Tombstone going as he imbedded himself into the 110 Street gang even more. Pearl discovered his involvement and things went poorly.

There were some great scenes with Nico and Harry as they begin to show some signs of a connection. The whole Nico drag racing scene was a lot of fun and teased the powers that Nico have.

Otto Octavius is arrested… by Iron Man? We get a hint at his future with the octopus arms working separately from Ock.

Having Norman Osborn do the “Great Responsibility” line and switch it around to make it “Great Responsibility – Great Respect” fits the character well. It is a really awesome, unexpected turn.

And we are just about to have the actual Spider-Man suit, as we got a giant tease at the very end of episode 8.

There are just two more episodes remaining in season one and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been an excellent Spider-Man animated show. It is well written and blended together well.

The X-Files S8 E4

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“Roadrunners”

I have to say that so far, I have been enjoying the second watch of John Doggett in the X-Files. My memory of these episodes when they first aired was that I simply was not a fan of them because he was not Mulder. I think that I was really being a hater toward Doggett because this was an awesome episode.

It was creepy as hell. It was so good that I was able to ignore how Doggett seemingly teleported from Washington DC to Utah during a commercial break. I have no idea how he made it across country so quickly. But the fun episode allows me to ignore the little things.

And this story was one of the creepiest X-Files episodes in quite a few years.

I believe the idea was to help solidify John Doggett as a good guy, and to help the audience accept him more. There is no doubt that I have that same issues.

I enjoyed the work from Gillian Anderson as she was just awesome. I was yelling at my screen when she gave her gun away. There is no way I was giving up my gun, if I were her. Her frustration of the events which changed to utter anger was fabulous. When she was threatening the cult members and calling them SOBs, it was tremendous.

So far season eight has been more consistent than season seven. The first four episodes I liked to loved. I am hoping that this continues in this manner.

Paradise S1 E5

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Spoilers

“In the Palaces of Crowned Kings”

What an intense episode. I love this show so far.

Paradise dropped its fifth episode on Hulu last night and I watched it this night, and it is just exceptional. Just when you think everything is clearing up, the show twists away from the story and takes the tale in a different direction.

Lots of flashbacks in this episode back to prior to Cal’s death, including a potential motive for the death of the president. We see his relationship with his son Jeremy and his father Kane Bradford. Gerald McRaney is fantastic as the president’s father, slowly succumbing to dementia of some form. His mistaking Jeremy for Cal lead to some powerful moments… including a huge WTF moment when it seemed as if Xavier’s daughter Presley was involved in everything.

I did not see that one coming.

Nor did I see the big cliffhanger… a message across the “sky”- THEY’RE LYING TO YOU.

That is because there is the possibility that there were survivors above ground. We know now that this is the reason “Sinatra” sent Billy Pace to the surface to kill the group of investigators.

I am not sure how many more episodes there are for Paradise, but I will be here for them moving forward. I even have a hope for a season two, especially with the possibility of survivors from above.

Dark Matter S1 E4

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Spoilers

“The Corridor”

The Apple TV + series Dark Matter episode four was on the docket tonight and we get a very cool display on the multiversal travel. It felt as if the corridor where Jason and Amanda found themselves after their harrowing escape from Leighton. They found their way into the Box and were transported to the corridor, with an infinite number of doors, and an infinite number of possibilities.

I was really wondering how they were intending on finding their way anywhere without it feeling random and coincidental. It seemed as if this was never going to have a reasonable answer to how to navigate the multiverse.

And then Jason figured it out.

So far, this has been great. I am still working hard to keep in focus on which Jason is which, and when they brought Leighton into the situation, I was even more confused (though I think I worked my way through it). The concepts here really work well and feel very tightly scripted. It had to be otherwise it would feel like a major issue.

The story of Charlie’s twin brother was very emotional and how his family honors him (Max) is quite lovely. It is also something that I am not sure if Jason 2 knows about and could be something to trip him up eventually.

Jason 2 is taking some big life changing steps as he occupies Jason’s life. Quitting a job and going full in on the Box, with Leighton’s help, of all people. It was interesting how Charlie had been picking up some vibes from Jason 2. Charlie knows something is not right, but he would never in a million years be able to come up with a theory of why.

Dark Matter is some outstanding sci-fi so far, even if it is a slow burn. I am loving it so far.

No Title

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By Unknown

Once upon a  time there was a girl named Razzy with brown hair, long lashes and rosey cheeks who loved to make new friends and loved to play volleyball. It was her everyday thing to practice in her backyard and go to her games because she was on a travel team so she loved to practice a lot. Traveling teams are fun because you get to travel and see new things and meet new people and maybe go out to eat after, and also get cool colorful jerseys. 

One day she was at her volleyball game and her and her whole team was so happy because they won their game and her mom offered to take the whole team out to eat. Razzy and her volleyball team went out to eat at Chuck ‘E’ Cheese and were sitting down and eating pizza in a hurry so they could all go play some games and  get a lot of tickets so they could get cool toys with them when the lights went out. Everyone was in shock and couldn’t see anything and then the lights went back on. Everyone was confused why the lights went out for 20 sec and then went back on, but they ignored it and continued to eat their pizza so they could go play some fun games to get a lot of tickets.

Later that day when it got dark and they were done eating and playing games, they were all getting their prizes and saying ‘bye’ and  ‘thank you’ on their way out to the people who worked there, Razzy’s mom, and Chucky the mascot, and while Razzy’s mom was paying and then they were walking out the door, Chucky yelled, “Wait let me walk you guys out.” Jen thought he was just trying to be nice and said “okay”. As they walked out the door Chucky said “ I hope everyone had fun,” 

Razzy smiled and walked to the car. When they got to the car they were walking to the other side to get in and, as they opened the car door, Chucky quickly kicked a rock by the tire and grabbed a needle out of his pocket and popped the tire and it made a big *BOOM* and everyone jumped, even Chucky, as he went down to look at the tire. Jen went over to the other  side of the car to look at it and she said “Oh no, the rock popped my tire.” She looked stressed.

  Chucky said, “I can call someone for you if you would like?” 

Jen nodded and said “ that would be nice thank you” 

“ Of course,” Chucky said and walked inside and called someone to help her with her tire.

After the tire was done Chuck came to tell them bye while he waved and went back inside to close up. Razzy and her mom waved bye back and went home 

The next day Razzy woke up to her mom making pancakes,eggs, and bacon for breakfast so she hurried to her room to get ready really quick so she could go and eat breakfast. After getting ready, she sat down at the table ready to eat.  After she was done eating she went into her room to watch Tiktok on her phone for a little  but videos of Chucky kept coming up. She ignored it and was making a Tiktok video, and after she was going for a walk the all the sudden this random girl she didn’t know with long blond curly hair ,green eyes, and jeans on with a pretty white shirt that was whiter than milk, says, “ You’re the girl people are talking about aren’t you? Is your name Rozzy?” 

Rozzy was in shock because she didn’t know her.

 “Uhhh yeah? What do you mean? What are people talking about? And also do I know you? “

  “Oh yeah, sorry about that. My name is Sally and it was about just how you took your whole volleyball team after the accident there.” 

“What accident?” Razzy looked at her confused.

 “Well this girl our age and her mom were kidnaped by him and they found them in his basement. They weren’t hurt or anything but if they hadn’t gotten them out soon they didn’t know what would’ve happened. I don’t know if he would always try to keep them there for longer by doing stuff like hiding their car keys under the car or something like that when he saw them. And he just got out of jail” she is in shock while Sally said “Well gotta go bye,” 

Rozzy was thinking about how their tire popped that one time and ran home to tell her mom and her mom called the cops to tell them just to keep a lookout, and their    life went back to normal after that and never went there again. The end.