August 7

Good morning all. Here is the first August edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Summer is flying by and I have been enjoying my time off. My friend Todd is off on an adventure to Connecticut to go to a comic convention in search of wild signatures ranging in price. Good luck, Todd.

This week saw a group of ashcans released at the comic shops and I picked up several of them. There was the Kai-Sei Era Preview: Godzilla, Dark Horse’s Canto: The Clockwork Chronicles, Any Given Smile/You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive from ID Dark, and Star Trek/Start Trek: Zero Point. Ashcans can be a fun little preview and, at times, surprisingly collectible.

Comic of the Week

The Omega Book #1

A new Mad Cave book came out this week with a couple of cool covers, both A and a couple of variants. Written by James Patrick and illustrated by Pauli Junquera, we have another new book that features a protagonist that is a priest. Of course, Ordained was a huge hit for Bad Idea, and if The Omega Book can reach that level of entertainment, we’ll be in great shape.

It feels very different from Ordained, however, as this deals more with a mysterious book that holds the secrets of the universe. There is a family tie in the story as well, grounding what could have been a wild cosmic ride.

Books this week:

Fantastic Four #15. “Somewhere, Something Incredible…” Chapter One. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover A art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up cover E by Kris Anka (Gold Medalist). IT FINALLY HAPPENED! THE REAL CELEBRATION OF THE FF’S 65 ANNIVERSARY… JOHNNY STORM GOT RID OF THE MUSTACHE!!!!!! I’ve hated that mustache and with Johnny getting rid of it, the FF book is perfect again. Okay, that may be a touch hyperbolic, but I am glad it is gone. Ryan North even used the end of the mustache as a major story bit. Hallelujah.

Endeavour #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art and cover art by Mark Laming. This might be the final DSTLRY book that started before the company’s troubles only to be delayed for months. This was one of my favorites before the shut down and I enjoyed this finale. This felt very much like Lord of the Flies on a deserted ship with a scary virus. The ending is nearly exactly like Lord of the Flies.

Uncanny X-Men #33. “Wild Ride,” Chapter One: “A Different Kind of Prison” Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. As Rogue and Gambit go to see Gabriel, Devil Hunter for help with the evil inside Remy, the New Mutants (formerly the Outliers) are struggling with the departure of their parental figures. Another strong new story arc from Gail Simone. Uncanny X-Men has been my favorite X-book for awhile now.

Queen in Black #2. Written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello & Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Frank Martin. After issue number one from last week, issue two followed up on the action with the Symbiote Intelligence. Dylan Brock is also front and center in this story as there is a coming of age arc inside the giant crossover.

The Smart Division #1. Written by Zack Kaplan and illustrated and cover art by John J. Pearson. A new mystery series from Dark Horse paired up an odd couple of FBI agents to investigate what seems to be the perfect crime. How does AI factor into this story? Set five minutes in the future, this is a clever book with a great premise.

Amazing Spider-Man #34. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. I also picked up Cover E by Simone Di Meo (Bronze Medalist). Spidey and Agent Griffyn team up again, this time to face off with Electro. Meanwhile, the new wrinkle in Peter’s life, Cormac, is getting closer with Aunt May as this series continues its march to #1000 Legacy.

Power Rangers: Green #1. “The Dragon’s Grave” Written by Paul Allor with art by Gustaffo Vargas. Cover C art was done by Chris Mooneyham and cover F foil was done by Tony Harris (Silver Medalist). I am not a big fan of the Power Rangers, but I did like the character of Tommy Oliver, so when I heard the green Ranger was getting the future apocalypse/loner treatment like Last Ronin did for the Turtles, I gave this a chance. Tommy was not as alone as I expected in the book, but it was a fun enough read to continue on with the Boom! Studios comic.

White Sky #5. Written by William Harms and art and cover art was done by JP Mavinga. Violet is in all kinds of trouble as she is in search of her father. The ghosts all around her are only getting more dangerous and the chance of a ghostly invasion increases. White Sky has been a great series so far and the personal note at the end of the issue from writer William Harms gives us even more insight into his mind when creating this story.

Chachu #1. Written by Iman Vellani and art and cover art by Marianna Ignazzi. Written by Ms. Marvel actor Iman Vellani, this is the story of a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian girl who goes to California with Hollywood plans, only to meet up with her uncle, whose wife has disappeared. The pair team up to try and solve the mystery.

Minor Arcana #17. “The Lovers: Part Two” Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Jeff Lemire & Letizia Cadonici. The relationship between Teresa and Missy is investigated through a series of flashbacks as they search for Brad inside the Edgewater Hotel pocket dimension.

Ripcord #5. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Aneke. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Dillon has been searching the Australian Outback for her missing sister, Janelle, and trying to avoid the creatures that had been created by the drug called “Ripcord.” The series ended with this issue, leaving us on an odd final line from Dillon, insinuating that she was not going home despite saving her sister. Not sure what that was meant to imply, but the book has been a great read, especially with some of the best art/colors of any book on the stand.

The Deadman #3. “Helter Skelter” Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art and cover art by Martin Morazzo. Deadman takes a trip to Hell. The story is told in a remarkably original fashion very much in the style of Ice Cream Man. I have mentioned that before when talking about this series, but this issue is truly one that uses that style. Looks as if Deadman is heading in the opposite direction next issue, so there could be some fireworks.

Iron Man #8. “Attack of Whiplash” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. The villainous Whiplash is back to challenge Tony. There is a second Whiplash that showed up at the end of the book. And, who is the new Citizen V? Lots of things going on with the new Iron Man book which is also building toward Legacy #700.

Royals #5. Written by Derek Kirk Kim with art and cover art by Jacob Perez. Paul and Castor have been reunited in their attempt to rescue the other twins, Minah and Minee. Royals has been a lot of fun through five issues, and next issue will be the conclusion.

Ben 10 #4. “Man of Action” Written by Steven T. Seagle with art and cover art by Robert Carey. Ben and his family go to the circus. Nothing could happen there, right? Unless there is a giant scary clown as the main attraction of the circus… along with other weird bug type creatures. Add to the trouble that Ben is having his own struggles with the band and it all comes out with trouble.

She-Spawn #4. “How We Murdered Each Other” Written by Gail Simone with art by Ig Guara. Cover art was done by John McCrea. Our hero, Jessica Priest has to deal with the problem of the Terror Angels closing in on her and young Al. She also has to deal with the conversation of the future between the two of them. She-Spawn has been one of the biggest surprises for me this year as I never thought I would be this engaged in she-Spawn.

Fort Psycho #1. Written by Matt Kindt and art and cover art done by Brian Hurtt. An elite group of agents that had been formed by the government to prevent a major act of terror from the underground network called the Seven Seals, but the final conflict resulted in a terrible tragedy. Now the former operatives were sent to an island to serve their sentences. This was different than I expected, but I liked it a lot.

From Parts Unknown #4. Written by Adriano Ariganello with art and cover art by Daniel Caval. After the murder of Pietro, Bruno explodes and brutally attacks everyone around. However, this is exactly what the vampires wanted. Little did we know that death may not have held a finality for Pietro. The penultimate issue of this series was a bloody good time.

The Accessories #1. Written by David Dastmalchian and Leah Kilpatrick with art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Cover art was done by Lukas Ketner. Igor is tired of being overlooked by Doctor Frankenstein. Renfield is trying again to escape from the clutches of Count Dracula. Can the pair team up and accomplish what they have always desired? This is a clever idea and I really like the art in the book.

Captain America #14. “Hell’s Angel” Part 3. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Steve Rogers and Victor Von Doom persist in their attempt to recruit an army to do battle with Mephisto in Hell. Cap gets the bad news in this issue that one of the head people in Mephisto’s charge is the Red Skull.

Wade Wilson: Deadpool #7. “Badpools–Part 2” Written by Benjamin Percy adn art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. Wade Wilson is fighting against his body pieces. This is a weird and wild arc for Wade. He is still dealing with his own loss which is the more interesting part of the issue.

Batman #12. “Verity” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. We have the debut of Verity Pennyworth, the niece of Alfred and Verity has arrived to take her uncle’s place beside Batman. She wins over Damian, which was never a certain.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight #7. “House Hunting” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg. Moon Knight recruited the new Midnight Sons to help him retrieve his friends and allies from the Mansion Ravenous. However, I guess you can never trust Moon Knight as he turned Daredevil, Blade and Ghost Rider over to Achilles Fairchild in exchange. I did not see that coming.

Absolute Superman #22. “Metallo” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Juan Ferreyra & Ulises Arreola. Superman must fight the Absolute Metallo, who was the former Peacemaker Christopher Smith and the Kryptonite in Metallo is causing all sorts of trouble for Superman. All this with Brainiac on the outside looking in. This was a strong issue with Superman having to use more than just his power to stop Metallo.

Neighborhood Watch #4. Written by Sarah Gailey and illustrated and cover art by Haining. Bianca and Val are trying to protect Jill as past lies and her abuser catch up with her. We learn that Jill’s husband Erik may have been abusing her and could be the reason she is in a coma now. Bianca got caught by him as she looked for evidence in Jill’s house.

What If…? Captain America #1. “What If Captain America was Revived in 2099?” Written by Marc Guggenheim and art by Ron Lim. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Steve Rogers was not found by the Avengers in this tale from Uatu the Watcher. Instead, he is revived in 2099 with the heroes of the time battling against Alchemax Stark-Fujikawa (the A.S.F.) and Steve faces off with the president of the United States… Red Skull!

Other Books this Week: Marvel Tokon First Strike #1, X-Men of Apocalypse: Omega #1, Marvel Rivals: Origins of the Hood #1, Lost Fantasy #11, 100 Bullets: The US of Anger #2, Bludwire #2, Conan & Dragonero #4, and Absolute Green Lantern #17.

Quick Hits: This week we saw the completion of the latest BBC Doctor Who book with Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker-Dawn of the Daleks #2. It featured the iconic Doctor villains, The Daleks, and their …origin? I’m not sure the time frame of this book, but I do like this snarky Doctor. Comics! The Magazine #6 is out this week with the Violence & Mayhem issue. The magazine featured an interview Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt about the new Oni Press book Fort Psycho. The Other/Half #4 sees the reunion of Henry and Ethan. Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #5 concluded with a group of characters from Hyde Street. I love the handbook style Ghost Machine gave us and this issue had an interior different than the others. It is 65 years of Fantastic Four comics so to celebrate, Marvel released the Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers #1. It is an interesting book that does give us all of the FF covers from their first issue from the 1960s. There are several stories from the life of Mary Jane Watson in Mary Jane: Face It Tiger #1. MJ is one of my favorite NPCs so I love that she gets the respect that she deserves. Bad Idea is at it again with a weird book called ReALLIGATOR #1. I did like this one more than the banana one from a few weeks ago, but this is certainly weird. Queen in Black has only one side book this week and it featured Eddie Brock. In Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #1 we follow Eddie in prison. There are just so many symbiotes in the Marvel Universe, I would not be opposed to limiting those down to one or two. Gotham Academy: First Year #6 ends its run with this book, which still sets Batman up as an antagonist for Olive Silverlock. MASK #3 was released, continuing the Energon Universe. Punchline and the Vaude-Villains vs. Violante #1 from Hero Tomorrow Comics is back, which apparently was a former book as well. Then, Babylon Cove #3 came out this week. The protagonist of this book, Heather, is not a very likeable character, and her hometown is getting a reminder of that. However, there seemed to be something more going down than just Heather’s rants. Dead Teenagers #5 wrapped its run this week with a “kind of” happy ending.

July 18

Welcome to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I am getting tired of repeating myself every week when I call it “another big week” of comics. It seems as if every week falls into that category. I really do pick up a bunch of books every week.

In fact, when i added the Comic World batch of books to my CLZ, I realized that I was eight books away from 22,222 in my collection. So I decided to find eight more back issues to reach that number. Todd helped me pick out these eight books: Storm Vol 2 #1-6, Son of Satan #4, and Hercules #11 (from Modern Comics). I left Comic World that Wednesday with the exact number of 22,222.

It lasted one day as I bought some more books at In This Issue on Thursday.

I completed the Daily Read that I started this week with Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #1-6. Starting on Monday, I read an issue a day until I completed the book. It was by Liam Sharp and it was a wonderful sci-fi/fantasy story with Merlin, Arthur and a woman named Amber who was from present day and she narrated it with references to all sorts of cool pop culture mentions including The Princess Bride, other comics, Grant Morrison among many others. I picked it up because I had purchased Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #1 a couple of weeks ago and I did not want to start it without reading the first series.

Comic of the Week

The Ring: The Man Who Beat the Man #2

This was am unexpected pick this week, but I was just really engaged with this issue of the mini-series from Gail King at Dark Horse. Issue one came out last month and, truthfully, it was fine. I was not as into that first issue as I thought I would be.

However, this issue, focusing on two different boxers, I was fully into and I was just entertained fully. It was one of the last handful of books that I read this week and it was such a treat.

Books This Week:

Mark Spears Monsters #11. “Chapter 11: The Council of Monsters” Written by Mark and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears (Cover C-Bronze Medalist). This issue found all of the monsters on the Council discussing who should be in charge and what they should do about Dracula. This discussion was amazing and with the arrival of Malik and the Slayer. It ended in the weirdest place though as I was just confused, wondering if they had left out a page or two.

3W/3M: Foundations #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer with art by Mike Huddleston, Mike del Mundo, and Jerome Opeña. Cover art was done by Mike Huddleston. Four of the top creators in comics band together to provide a new comics universe and some straight up science fiction. It is an interesting book and I am curious to see how it progresses moving forward. The over-sized book does make it feel more special.

A Mischief of Magpies #1. Written by Simon Spurrier and art and cover art by Matias Bergara. DSTLRY feels as if it is back on track fully as we get the first number one since the company took several months off to attempt to fix the problems they were having with Diamond and their money. A Mischief of Magpies is another sci-fi epic where our protagonist, Mar, as he slipped out of the world into a mechanical city. It is another book where the format is very original and feels like a big swing.

Kingdom of Earth #1. Written by David Dastmalchian & Leah Kilpatrick with art and cover art by Soo Lee. We have another post-apocalyptic book where humans have two paths, either as livestock or being slaughtered. Our protagonist Frankie escaped being livestock and now is trying to survive in a monstrous wasteland. Dark Horse has another winning formula here. David Dastmalchian continues his horror success.

Nightwing #140. “The Dive” Written by Dan Watters with pencils by Denys Cowan. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Nightwing is investigating the bar called “Divebar” while the city prosecutor has given him a deadline to turn himself in. The issue also brought us a new character called “Cannibal Colm” and this guy is creepy.

Captain America #13. “Hell’s Angel”-Part 2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and variant cover (Marvel Dimensions) was done by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). Cap and Doom are in Hell, trying to round up a crew to help them take on Mephisto. Meanwhile, Spider-Man comes to sit at the comatose Captain America’s bedside.

Something Epic #13. Written, illustrated, and cover art (all variants) by Szymon Kudranski. I loved this book, but it has been on hiatus for nearly to years. I was excited to see it back and I loved the various homage covers that the variants were displaying. Noa and D-Ductive are back and investigating the Land of Horror after a tragedy. They find yet another dead (?) body at the very end of the new issue. I am a fan of Szymon Kudranski and I love that this is back in the rotation.

Punisher vs. Amazing Spider-Man #1. “Professional Differences” Written by Dan Abnett with art by Matteo Della Fonte. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. This featured the relationship between Spider-Man and Punisher, which makes one wonder why that is. They actually have some things in common, except for their methods, which is a area of contention in this book. It takes place early after Punisher and Spidey meet the first time in ASM #129.

Avengers Armageddon #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio (Silver Medalist). The big Marvel series gets its number two as the Avengers and Fantastic Four look to try and stop the Red Hulk’s democracy rampage. Colton and Red Hulk go one-on-one and Colton seemed to flip his head. There is a huge feel of danger and suspense in the series so far.

Junk Punch #2. Written by Paul Tobin with art by Carlos Javier Olivares and Lin Visel. Junk Punch continues to be a comic that makes me laugh. I still wonder if the joke of punching someone in the groin area will remain as funny, but I did like this issue. We are introduced to several new characters in the Junk Punch world. Let’s see how this moves on.

D’Orc #6. “Fate is Fickle” Written, art and cover art by Brett Bean. Speaking of consistently funny, D’Orc is one of my favorite books every month. We learn this issue why Gloinspear is, as D’Orc said, “….such a dick?” Surprise, surprise. Gloinspear is D’Orc’s father. Okay, so it wasn’t as big of a surprise as say, Vader and Luke, but it was fun.

Smile: For the Camera #5. Written by Hannah Rose May with art by Miriana Puglia. Cover art was done by Skylar Patridge. This mini-series based on the movie series, Smile, came to a close with this issue and I have to say that I really liked the wrap up of the story. It did not end as I expected and I do like to be surprised. It felt like the ending was earned for our main character.

Mister Nemo #1. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. This new book from Mad Cave was one of the best of the week. The art was fabulous and we get a current day adaptation of Captain Nemo, including the Nautilus. The first issue was a really cool start as we are introduced to the concept and our new hero.

Inglorious X-Force #7. “As Luck Would Have It.” Written by Tim Seeley with art by Michael Sta. Maria. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & David Curiel. Cyclops and Quentin Quire come to have a talk with Cable and the X-Force. Scott and Nathan are, of course, father and son, while Quire is still dealing with past issues with Akihiro (whom he knew as Daken).

War Wolf #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Bruin goes to the leaders and tells them what he is going to do. This penultimate issue of the series is here to set up the finale, Father vs. Son, Bruin vs. Worldkiller.

Assorted Crisis Events #9. Written by Deniz Camp with art and variant cover C art by Eric Zawadzki. “The issue centers on a kid named Chuckie who uses “TEMPS”—the first cross-temporal employment app—to secure quick cash in a pointless, cross-time war where untrained temp workers from all of human history are sent to fight. ” (Brooke, AIPT). It has been six months since we had an issue of this sci-fi/satire series from Image Comics. This one is a lot of fun.

Fantastic Four #14. “Irrational” Written by Ryan North and art by Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. This issue, featuring Jo-Venn and N’Kalla Masters-Grimm, the adopted kids of Ben and Alicia, proved the dangers of MATH, specifically the dangers of pi and its never ending digits. It is clear that math is the true villain in the world today, especially in the world of 616. We’ll see if Todd actually reads these posts.

Spider-Versity #4. “Most School Spirit” Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly with art by Pere Perez. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. Norman’s sneakiness is out in the open to Spider Woman, but there are more troubles than the double-dealing Osborn. The Carnage symbiote is free and has possessed one of the Spider-Versity.

X-Men #33. “Anomaly”, Part 3. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Variant cover C was done by Matteo Della Fonte. The X-Men’s science team discovered the answers to the anomalies that were plaguing the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It came from the unconscious mind of Schwarzchild, member of the 3K. Ben and Quentin went inside the mind to try and stop the horrific anomalies.

Minotaur #1. Written by Si Spurrier with art and cover art by Mike Dowling. Ignition Press has been hot as can be over the last six months to a year, putting out some excellent mini-series. The latest is a sci-fi series called Minotaur. Gloria Monday was the protagonist of this series as a photojournalist who does not seem to have much empathy. She is documenting people who are haunted by outbreaks of the future.

The Rocketfellers #13. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Francis Manapul. Variant cover C art done by Francis Portela. Tommy Townsend III and his robot Sterling, along with Rose & Zach, come to the door of the Rocketfellers, who are in the middle of trying to celebrate Rachel’s birthday. Part 3 of 4 in The Unbelievables? crossover sees our typical hero on hero fight and a betrayal by Sterling.

Absolute Green Arrow #3. “The Longbow Killer”-Chapter 3. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo. Dinah is on the case of who exactly is the Longbow Killer, and along the way, she comes across the absolute version of Solomon Grundy. Absolute Green Arrow has been extended from six issue mini series to a 12-issue series, which is great because Green Arrow has been a great read and the mystery is engaging.

The Department of Truth #38. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. The dinosaurs living in Florida is the latest Fiction making its way around the world as Hunky is on the case. He discovered at the end of the issue that his father, Huck passed away. Is that the truth? Not sure. Who ever knows the truth in this book?

If Destruction be Our Lot #3. “I Would Rather Be a Little Nobody Than to be an Evil Somebody” Written by Matthew & Mark Elijah Rosenberg with art by Andy MacDonald. Cover art was done by Andy McDonald and Francesco Segala. Abe comes across a human being, and this little girl runs from him. Abe tries to pursue but only gets himself into more trouble.

Absolute Flash #17. “Gorilla City- Part 2 of 2” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Haining. Cover art was done by Nick Robles. Wally keeps his search going for Grodd, as Wally convinces the Rogues, whose mission is to kill Grodd, that it was not Grodd causing the problems, but actually Grodd’s father. Unfortunately, that just meant that the Trickster wound up shooting Grodd’s father in the head, killing him.

Space Ghost Annual #1. Written by David Pepose with art and cover art by Jonathan Lau. Space Ghost is ready for it all to be over, perhaps giving up the mantel of Space Ghost. First, he and the twins need to defeat Magnus. Space Ghost has to deal with the death of future Jace, Space Spectre. This annual leads into a crossover with the Herculoids.

Infernal Hulk #9. “Flash Magic” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Banner and Doctor Voodoo head inside a soul cage to confront the Hulk, in an attempt to get the Hulk power back. Banner offers up Voodoo as a prize in a contest, the Riddle Game.

GI Joe #24. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Baroness has discovered the undercover Zartan, who has been posing as Hawk. This was after working with Destro to escape their troubles.

Tigress Island #5. Written by Patrick Kindlon with art and cover art by Ephk. This mini-series form Image ended with this issue, as out surviving women are able to escape form the island. There are lots of explosions and deaths in this issue as everything is wrapped up, although there’s one who floated away, potentially alive.

Other Books This Week: Dungeon Crawler Carl #0, Arcadia #6, End of Life #4, M1: Monster Racing League #2, John Le Carre’s The Circus: Losing Control #3, and Alien: King Killer #4.

Quick Hits: This week we kick off the Quick Hits with Of the Earth #3. This series from Chris Condon continues to be one of the more engaging books each month. We got an interesting What If…? Jessica Jones #1 where Jessica gets bitten by the radioactive spider. I liked this, but I did think the identity of the Green Goblin in this issue was painfully predictable. That did hurt the overall book. More inside the house drama is going down in Fall of the House of Slaughter #3. I loved the cover on this book, but since it was a huge week for covers, it did not achieve a medal. On a normal week, this cover by Sam Wolfe Connelly surely would have been in the top three. I will say that I was kind of disappointed with Banana Number One #1 from Bad Idea. It was goofy as all get out, but that was not the problem. The Banana Number One part of this book was maybe the first third. The rest of the book was other stories that I did not want to read. I wanted more banana. More anthropomorphic animals arrive with the Super Mondo Mega Mutts #1 from Oni Press. Honestly, I found this one to be average at best. I guess you can reach a limit with your anthropomorphic animals. Who knew? Antarctic Press Comics released Horror Comics #1, which I grabbed. I like horror comics, but this is really more of an art book with each page being a cool horror drawing by several artists. There was one short story in the book which went about three or four pages. The rest would be pin-ups with horror themes. It was great art, but not what I expected. Murder Podcast #8 brought this Ignition Press comic to an end. Honestly, this was another one that I found a little disappointing. For as creative of an idea this was, the conclusion felt very typical. Kill Switch #3 is placing our body jumping characters into some real troubling situations. Tankers vs. Ancient Aliens #2 still is more focused on dinosaurs, but it looked like those pesky ancient aliens are coming next issue. Megalith: The Olympus Saga #0 continued the weird trend of Bad Idea books releasing issues #1 and 2 and then releasing issue #0. Dynamite ended Ursula #5 which was one of the bigger surprises for me this year. No way I enjoyed this series… but I did. Star trek: The Last Starship is setting up a big confrontation between Kirk and Captain Sato. Finally, there is a book called The Last Ronin: Training Day #1 from IDW that takes place between gaps in the Last Ronin saga.