January 1

Happy New Year! On the most recent NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, there was a small number of books. DC Comics did not put out anything at all and Image only had a handful of books. That made the day a little lesser.

There were a couple of MAJOR events this week though that led to me picking up a variety of covers.

I traded some of the duplicates of the Mark Spears Monsters #8 with a few of the others at Comic World. I have 29 separate covers of that book as of right now.

X-Men: Age of Revelation-Finale #1. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman with Netho Diaz. Cover art is done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia. I also picked up Cover C with art by Marcus Martin (Gold Medalist). The last three months have been dominated by this X-Men future story and it was brought to an end with this issue. It left off with a mystery as the Beast whose mind had been believed to have been brought into the future with Cyclops was not the Hank McCoy that we knew. This mutant story was interesting and looks to still be threatening our regular Marvel Universe.

The Lucky Devil #6. Written by Charles Soule with art and cover by Ryan Browne. After quite a break for this series, Lucky Devils are back to cause more trouble for the humans that they are whispering to from their shoulders. The art in this book continues to be one of the best of all independent books.

Ultimate Endgame #1. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Terry & Rachel Dodson and Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. I picked up a blind bag of this book where I got a cover by CAFU. I also grabbed the foil by Derek Chew and a Spider-Man/Wolverine variant by Dan Panosian. The story of the return of the Master and the downfall of the Ultimate Universe begins in this issue with some major things that happen.

The Ultimates #19. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. The story focuses on the Ultimate Wasp and Ultimate Hank Pym and their background. It also brings us the debut of the Vision, who promptly rips the brain out of Nick Fury (who I believe is a LMD).

Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #5. Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira, Daniel Picciotto, and Brent Peeples. Cover art was done by Leinil Francis Yu & Matt Milla. We get Iron Man suits for Wolverine and Spider-Man in order to stop the Predators. Too bad Kraven doesn’t get one. This series comes to a close.. for now.

Marvel Zombies: Red Band #4. Written by Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan with art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Greg Land and Rachelle Rosenberg. Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Ultron and Doc Ock meet up with the New Avengers… and Spidey is guilted into revealing his identity to everyone. Meanwhile, zombie Reed Richards gets his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet. SNAP.

The Punisher: Red Band #4. Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Julius Ohta. Variant cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. Punisher is on his way to Tombstone, and is leaving a path of blood and brains along the way. One of the better uses of the Red Band polybag is this Punisher book.

Harley Quinn x Elvira #1. This came in a Mystery Variant Blind Bag from Dynamite. I picked up one where I got a cover by Amanda Connor (Bronze Medalist) and another where it was the cover from the #1 by Mark Spears (thanks Todd). Blind Bags are just a lot of fun… unless you get the same basic cover out of nearly every bag (sorry Todd).

Feral #19. Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was done by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner. I also picked up the horror homage cover B done by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner & Allen Passalaqua (Silver Medalist). Feral continues to be one of the best books every month. The drama inside the Pet Store is coming to a head as Elsie heads out of the store on her own.

Sorcerer Supreme #1. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Bernard Chang. Cover art was done by Leirix. Stephen Strange is gone. Doom is dead (for now). That leaves earth without a Sorcerer Supreme. Not for long… Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch takes the mantel for herself, the hell with anyone else. The Vishanti may have something to say about that.

The Undead Iron Fist #4. Written by Jason Loo and art by Fran Galan. Cover art was done by Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair. Danny Rand completed his mission and returned to his death… although it sounded as if he might be called back to the real world again in the future. This series ended with this issue. I did enjoy this book and I wish it would have had a longer shelf life.

Tin Can Society #9. Written by Peter Warren with art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Francesco Mobili and Chris Chuckry. This Image book put out its final issue as well with this one. I have to say that this series felt like it kind of sputtered to the end, though part of that could have been the release schedule for it. I have to say that I was less excited for this finale than I was for the series in the first half of the books.

Other Books this Week: The World to Come #5, Escape #5, Lost Fantasy #6, Marian Heretic #3, and Mary Sue #3.

December 28

We are up to the final Comic Cavalcade of 2025. The next NEW COMIC BOOK DAY is New Year’s Eve and, even with a smaller pull list as it looks to be, there is no way to finish it up before the clock strikes midnight.

2025 has been a great year for comics. With this last week’s load of books, I passed 20,000 comics in my personal collection. That was a cool thing. It was just a few years ago that my collection was in such a mess that I had no idea how many comics I had. Now, after several years of work, my books are all bagged, boarded, boxed, and counted. Sure, there are books where I am unsure where they are still, but it is certainly progress.

I received my order of Mark Spears Monsters #8 this week. I picked up 24 blind bags from Keenspot and I wound up with 19 new covers. I only had 5 duplicates, which I am considering a huge success. I also got three foil covers and three glow-in-the-dark covers in the blind bags. I am pleased with the delivery, even if it felt as if the package was never going to get here.

Books this week:

Sleep #7. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. The penultimate issue of Sleep came out this week and it continues to be one of the best, most creative books on the market. I am anxious to see what surprises we are going to have in store for us in the finale next month.

Red Book #3. Written by James Tynion IV with art and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. More UFO stories from the Soviet Union and, setting up, China for next month. Tynion IV writes this as if it is the truth and that it is out there.

The Will of Doom #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by CAFU. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. Dr. Doom is gone (yeah, right) but the Doombots are causing trouble. One issue with the Doombots is that they always believed that they were the true Doom. This one-shot feels important as Chip Zdarsky is heading toward the big event next summer. How will this fit into that?

Orla #5. Written by John Lees with art by Sally Cantirino. Cover art was done by Sally Cantirino & Dearbhla Kelly. Orla was a fun book that seems to believe in true love, even over that desire to murder and eat your lover. This is the final issue of this Mad Cave series.

DC KO: Red Hood vs. The Joker #1. Written by Scott Snyder & Joshua Williamson with pencils by Dustin Nguyen & Giuseppe Camuncoli. Cover art was done by Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern. I also picked up cover C by Guillem March (Gold Medalist). This was the most interesting of the first round match-ups in the KO tournament because of the history between Red Hood and Joker. Many of the other match-ups did not have much background to them, but this one was firing on all cylinders.

Gunpowder Profits #3. Written by Justin Jordan with art and cover art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Marley and Huck got in trouble for their murder of the motorcycle gang last issue, but it seemed as if the gang was not going to let death stop them. Just an excuse for Marley to be even more violent. Meanwhile, America has been snatched away.

Sisterhood #5. Written by Maytal Zchut and art by Leila Leiz. Cover art was done by Leila Leiz with Alex Sinclair. The final issue of this Hyde Street story sees the weird end to the friendship as one person is arrested for the crime. Was it the right person though?

Rocketfellers #11. Written by Peter J. Tomasi with art and cover art done by Francis Manapul. The Rocketfellers have been running through time to avoid Raina Rocketfeller, Roland’s sister. However, Raina has caught up with the family which lead to, apparently, a tragic result. I did not see this coming.

Justice League Unlimited #14. Written by Mark Waid with art and cover art by Dan Mora. The Terrific Ten storyline continues as yet another of the out-of-time heroes bites the big one here. That means that they are down to six.

Absolute Superman #14. “Son of Nowhere, Nothing and No One” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Big finale between Superman and Ra’s Al Ghul. The last panel brings the character a little closer to his true look. Thanks Ma.

Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #6. “What’s the Point of a Corgi?” Written by Tom King with art and cover art by Belen Ortega. With the time travel shenanigans going on in this series, we now have Trinity gain a chance to meet her father, Steve Trevor. Admittedly, it is only via the clay molding manner which does not sound nearly as fun.

Justice League Red #5. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Clayton Henry. Cover art is done by Clayton Henry & Arif Prianto. Black Adam is throwing shade to Red Tornado. Is the mind behind the Justice League Red actually plotting against them? As I am not as much of an aficionado of DC, am I supposed to know who the Crimson Cloud is?

Tama #5. Written by Adam Schlagman & Doug Pasko with art by Daniel HDR. Cover art was done by Ashley Witter. Tama continues his brutal path of killing people. Can the video game creature be shut down before it becomes the ultimate monster? Spoiler: Answer is no.

Detective Comics #1104. “The Courage That Kills Part Four” Written by Tom Taylor with art and cover art by Mikel Janin. Batman is in a race against time as he has now become symptomatic with the virus that he has been fighting against. How does the Scarecrow fit into this?

Amazing Spider-Man #18. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. I also picked up the variant cover by Simone Di Meo, featuring Mary Jane. Norman Osborn and J. Jonah Jameson sit down to talk about their connection to Peter Parker.

Spider-Man ’94 #4. Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Jim Towe. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. Spidey and Kraven take on the powerful Morlun. Somehow, it sure looked like Morlun turned into Swamp Thing on the final page. Marvel should watch out for copyright lawsuits.

X-Vengers #3. Written by Jason Loo with pencils by Sergio Davila. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Morry Hollowell. The X-Vengers X-ssembled! Or something like that. This is another of the Age of Revelation books that was fun, but felt unneeded. It just gave a flavor to the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Cloak or Dagger #3. Written by Justina Ireland with art done by Lorenzo Tammetta & Edoardo Audino. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Rachelle Rosenberg. This was another fun book as we get a chance to see Cloak and Dagger’s daughter kick some butt during the Age of Revelation.

Undeadpool #3. Written by Tim Seeley with art by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by E.M. Gist. I liked this book at first, but I am not sure if I enjoyed its conclusion during the Age of Revelation. Deadpool got himself got it appeared. Still lots of death X Years Later.

1776 #2. “Our Sacred Honor” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with pencils by Sean Damien Hill. Pete Woods did the art for the cover. Okay, Spidey and Cap together with the revolutionary war soldiers is a hoot. I love their little hats. Clea vs. Morgan Le Fey is a bigtime throwdown.

No Man’s Land #4. Written, drawn and cover art by Szymon Kudranski (Silver Medalist). This awesome story of a murder mystery that could lead to major troubles between the US and the USSR comes to a close. While the mystery is not a great one (considering we did not really have a list of suspects), the resolution is epic. The scene with the showdown was amazing and I actually had my jaw drop with the presentation of it. I loved this four-issue series.

Hello Darkness #17. Variant cover art was done by Jenny Frison (Bronze Medalist). Another strong issue with multiple horror stories. There is always a great deal of variety in this Boom! Studios book.

Absolute Wonder Woman #15. “The Mark of Hecate” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire. After over a year of publications, the Absolute Universe has finally crossed over. In this book, we get the first ever team-up between Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Batman. The story will continue in the next Absolute Batman book.

Other books this week: Masterminds #3, Godzilla Escapes the Dead Zone #5, Blink and You’ll Miss It #4, Titans #30, Absolute Martian Manhunter #7, Fire and Ice; Nekron #1, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #4, Gray Lady #1, Immortal Legend Batman #5, Return to Sleepy Hollow #2, and Red Vector #5.

Quick Hits: Final Boss #2 is back with more hand to hand fighting in the style of the classic video games. In the spirit of the awesome blind bag trend, I picked up an Image Christmas Blind Bag that was supposed to guarantee me a incentive comic of one of Images books. I got the 1:25 version of Assorted Crisis Events #5, which was a cool cover. Hornsby & Halo #13 featured a battle with an angel and devil in search of our heroes. The crime comic called American Caper from Dark Horse is, once again, a very enjoyable book. Dynamite put out The Lion King #2 as Simba was on the case of a missing elephant baby. The Marvel Winter Break Special #1 follows up the Marvel Swimsuit special from earlier this year. Still silly, but some fun art. Expatriate X-Men #3 was my least favorite of the Age of Revelation books this week. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #6 sees our heroes and the big titan monsters in bad shape. Is that supposed to be a monster version of Cheetah? The Quintesson War has begun in the pages of Void Rivals #25. Ignition Press comics gave us Voyeur #3 this week as we get even more adult comic action. I received Hero Hiro #2 from Keenspot this week along with the Monsters book. While this is a little young, I do like the story that they are telling. Finally, it is Star Wars #8 as Luke is doing his best Spidey under the rubble routine.

December 14

EYG Comic Cavalcade is here again, with a new banner. I do love making these banners.

Ordained #1. Written by Robert Venditti and art by Trevor Hairsine. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes (Silver Medalist). This was the book I was looking most forward to this week and it did not disappoint. The early characterization was spot on and I loved how the story kicked off.

Ultimate Spider-Man #23. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. The penultimate issue of Ultimate Spider-Man brings Peter into conflict with Kingpin and Mister Negative.

Infernal Hulk #2. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art and cover art by Nic Klein. The new version of the Hulk heads to Atlantis and into conflict with Namor. This new Hulk is still quite violent and deadly.

Amazing Spider-Man #17. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. We are back in space with Peter and his crew of oddballs. Peter has to face off with one of the underlings of Hellgate. Pete will have to face off with his failure.

The Beauty #2. Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley with art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Cover art was done by Jeremy Haun & Nick Filardi. The virus known as The Beauty continues to spread around the nation. This has been a really strong start with Ignition Press.

Crownsville #2. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. Into the asylum we head with ghosts all over the place. This has been another great new book, this one from Oni Press.

C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #4. “Chapter 4” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art was done by Daniele Di Nicuolo & Rain Beredo. The kids are off to England to get training with their new, possessed weapons.

Unbreakable X-Men #3. “Like Drowning in the Dark.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Mario Santoro with Luciano Vecchio, Tiago Palma, Davide Tinto & RB Silva. The Age of Revelation series comes to a close with the death of Gambit but the return of Rogue. Gail Simone has done osme top notch work with these characters.

Absolute Batman #15. “The Joker.” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock. Cover art by Nick Dragotta (Gold Medalist). I picked up the B variant cover with art by Jock. The hottest book of the week is once again Absolute Batman. This week because we get the origin of the Absolute Joker. Huge book.

Assorted Crisis Events #7. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Eric Zawadzki. Another wild story of Tom, who, for some reason, has dead bodies appearing around him… all of them identical to himself. It was a weird story felt like it could be in Ice Cream Man (including a literal ice cream truck).

Sinister’s Six #3. Written by David Marquez and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was done by David Marquez & GURU-eFX. We learn who the Venom in this series is and the death of yet another character in this timeline. In this case, Havok. Once again, these extra books feel like a What If …? book.

Nova Centurion #2. “Deep Space Drifter, Pt. 2” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alvaro Lopez & Matteo Della Petit. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg. Rich Ryder’s Nova takes on the powerhouse who is Ravenous.

Iron & Frost #3. Written by Cavan Scott with art by Avairi Coleman. Another tragic end for this series. Emma and Tony, whose relationship was more than anyone thought, both died in the conflict.

Ultimate Wolverine #12. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Matteo Della Fonte & David Curiel. Wolverine heads into the Rasputins’ hive to find the… Ultimate Phoenix? What?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13. Written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Freddie E. Williams II. I picked up a couple of the blind bag version of the book. This is the new creative team. I started collecting this because Jason Aaron was so good in issue #1. I was uncertain what I wanted to do with this book now. I was not impressed with this book. It may not be long for my collection.

Geiger #19. Written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank. Ashley Arden is out looking to help children in the lawless land. And the surprising end sees a cameo by Redcoat! I love that as this book was missing Geiger, and yet I did not miss him that much.

Marvel Knights: The Punisher #3. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art and cover art by Dan Panosian. Everett Ross was able to get Frank out from the cartel’s control and had to take time to get Frank off the zombie drug.

New Avengers #7. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Cover art by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. This has some questions about Natasha and what he motives are… or if she is actually Natasha. Is she part of the Killuminati?

Zdarsky Comic News #18. The final issue of this little magazine from Chip Zdarsky. I will miss this fun little, free, magazine. Zdarsky is most likely leaving this because of the huge Marvel stuff he was doing.

Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #1. Written by Dan Dido and art by Alex Sanchez. Marco Santucci did the cover art. Flash Gordon, Ming the Merciless, Lothar and the Phantom are together in serious trouble. They are tied up and getting ready to be burned to death. This was fun.

Other books this Week: Death to Pachuco #3, Mad Magazine #47, DC KO: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo #1, The End 2099#1, Blood & Thunder #8, and Darkness #1.

Quick Hits: We have Spider-Man & Wolverine #8 where we got some kind of combo between the two of them. This series has been up and down for me. All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #5 saw Gwen and Flash back in that prison with the symbiote. Good fun here. Man Cave had two books this week here with It Killed Everyone But Me #4 and Look Into My Eyes #5. We got another Mad Cave book Pop Kill #1 which, I believe is a reprint of the original Pop Kill #1, but with a different cover (which get the Bronze Medalist this week). The other Age of Revelation book this week was Longshots #3, which is probably my least favorite of these books. Transformers #27 featured several other Transformers, such as Jetfire, one of my all-time favorite Transformers. More drama from Jeff Lemire in Minor Arcana #12. I enjoyed the Han Solo: Hunt for the Falcon #4 was one of the better Star Wars books I have read. One more penultimate book with Ultimate Black Panther #23 came out this week. Terminator Metal #3 found some Western jib in the book.