March 26, 2023

Welcome to the one and only ‘Comic Cavalcade’ in the 21st century!

Today, I’m going to look at a specific title that came out in 2019 called The No. Ones. It was a six-issue series from Cave Pictures Publishing, which is a comic company that I had never heard of before.

I was introduced to this series during the pandemic as I was watching the YouTube show Fatman Beyond with hosts Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin. They were doing their show live, but on Zoom, as many YouTube shows were forced to do at the time. One of the features of the Zoom was they were able to get guests easily.

Kevin and Marc, both of whom were comic fans and comic creators at one time or another, had invited writer Jim Krueger on their show. Kevin and Marc interviewed (The interview begins around the 45 min mark) Krueger about his background, how he got into comics, and his work on Marvel’s Earth X.

During the interview, Kevin asked Krueger about a book he had created called The No. Ones. I was intrigued when I was watching the interview and I went over to Amazon and found the series. I ordered it and it arrived, but I never really read it. When I came across it in the piles, it went on the list to read. Today, I finally got to it, and I enjoyed it.

The No. Ones was a series about this super hero team that was celebrities and world renowned when something happened and they wind up being forgotten by the world at large. Literally one day later.

This was a difficult job in my opinion because it is a challenge to introduce an entirely new group of superheroes with powers and personalities and to get them connected to the audience in a short series, but Krueger does a very solid job of bringing the characters to the forefront. The book is truly a character piece and you find these characters very relatable. There are some great ideas in this series and it worked quite well.

The rest of the books involved in EYG Comic Cavalcade #3 are…

Sleeping Beauties #2. Based on the novel by Stephen King and Owen King. Adapted by Rio Youers and art by Alison Sampson. The sleep sickness continues to strike females and a few people discover the tragic results of what happens when they remove the cocoon-like coating from the women.

The Silver Coin #6. “High Score” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Michael Walsh. What happens when the mysterious cursed silver coin winds up being used in a video game? Major fatalities! I liked this issue quite a bit, though it came up short and they had a backup story that was not quite up to par as the first one.

Black Panther 13-15. Written by John Ridley with art by German Peralta. Cover art on all three by Alex Ross. I am now caught up with Black Panther only to discover that issue 15 was the final issue of the series. Ha. There looks to be another Black Panther #1 coming out soon (of course). This arc continued the T’Challa downgrade as he is exiled from Wakanda, thanks to Namor and the Atlanteans who made a deal with Wakanda to aid in the war against Jhai. Not going to lie, the ending felt a little anti-climatic and I am still not a fan of the way Steve Rogers was written in the book. Still, there are some intriguing ideas here and I like how they filled out the supporting cast and other characters (such as Buffalo Solder, whom I love).

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3. “Chapter Three: Modest, Calm and Quiet.” Written by Tom King and drawn by Bilquis Evely. I have to say, this was a weird issue, with Supergirl and her alien compadre Ruthye. They are on a planet with aliens called Purples and blues and it deals with a lot of class levels. They are continuing to unsuccessfully look for Krem.

I Walk With Monsters #4-6. Written by Paul Cornell with art by Sally Cantirino. Wrapped up this series, but I was not too fond of this conclusion either. Some of the areas that the early part of the book seemingly focused on were not what was wrapped up. They did go into more specifics about Jacey and David’s relationship and his power to be a weird dog like monster (among other things). I was into the first issue, but this one did not finish off strong for me.

Middlewest #4. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Abel and his friend the fox arrive at the carnival in search of the ‘mystical Magdalena’ only to get into trouble with the carnies and the little girl in charge when he was pickpocketing people for money to buy a funnel cake. Hey, you need a funnel cake. That just goes without saying. This continues to be fun and beautiful to read.

March 25, 2023

It is fairly awesome that I am almost caught up on all of the current books that I collect. I am still working on Black Panther and, technically, I have not started Nocterra yet. But other than that, I can read whatever new book comes out that Wednesday.

Of course, I have read all of the books from last Wednesday and next Wednesday I have parent/teacher conferences so I will have to wait until Thursday to get them.

This issue of EYG Comic Cavalcade features a couple of new independent books that are cool.

Black Panther #11-12. Written by John Ridley and drawn by German Peralta. The downfall of King T’Challa continues in these issues as we find out the person behind everything and it was a bit of a shock for T’Challa. He is also tossed from the Avengers because of his actions. I have a bit of an issue with the way Captain America Steve Rogers has been written in this series so far. It just does not feel like Steve. That is a minor complaint. I do like how they are deconstructing T’Challa to, hopefully, build him back up.

The Approach #2-4. Written by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley while the book is illustrated by Jesus Hervás and Lea Caballero. This new horror short series has been cool. I did not know this was still active and that #5 was coming out very soon. This has a big “The Thing” vibes (as in the John Carpenter film) as some kind of monster arrived on the plane that had arrived that had been missing for years. I do not know if we are getting that answer next issue about what happened with that plane. I hope to find out.

Ant-Man #4. “Ant-Man Forever” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Tom Reilly. I finally picked up the fourth issue of this series that I had started way back when. I read issues #1-3, but had missed #4. Now that I got it, it was a decent story with multiple versions of Ant-Man battling a futuristic version of Ultron. The story was fine, but getting the issue was more about completion than anything else.

Moon Knight #20-21. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art by Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg. This caught me up to the place where Moon Knight is currently at and I continue to truly enjoy this book. Moon Knight is being portrayed as a real bad ass and I believe that he is going to take anyone that comes against him. I am also enjoying the supporting characters that are being included in this series. Everything is going great here.

Moon Knight Annual #1. “Homecoming” Marlene makes a return when her (and Moon Knight’s) daughter is kidnapped in a play to get Marc. And the culprit behind the kidnapping… Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night. Hunter’s Moon plays a huge part in the story as well. I found the interaction between Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night to be excellent and I would love to see more of these antagonistic duo.

Primordial #6. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. The tale of the outer space monkey and his dog friends comes to an end. I really do not know how to feel about this issue, let alone the entire series. It is far from my favorite Lemire-Sorrentino book. Still, it is a beautiful looking book and I was happy to give it a chance.

Local Man #1. “Heartland” Created by Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs . Seeley, Fleecs, along with Brian Reber, did the art for the cover. I loved this new Image book. A down on his luck super hero, Crossjack, returns to his hometown to live with his parents after something happened with the super team he was on. It had created quite the controversy and gossip among the hometown population. There was also a backup story about the super team, Third Gen (which was the team that Crossjack was on, looking very much like a team created by Rob Liefeld. I am very intrigued by this book and I am excited to see the next issue.

March 22, 2023

Welcome back to the best ‘Comic Cavalcade’ of the 21st century. For issue two of EYG Comic Cavalcade, we are diving into NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!

Women of Marvel #1. This was a number one that I got today that, at first, I wasn’t going to bother with, but, after looking at the cover and seeing some of my favorite female characters involved, I decided to give it a shot. And you know what, I liked this. There was a framing device of Jen Walters in court somehow representing a group of female heroes who had teamed up in various pairs for adventures. It included Silk & Black Cat, Kate Bishop and America Chavez, and Photon and Ms. Marvel. I liked the light stories and Jen was a fun break between.

Clear #1. Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Francis Manapul. I have been buying many more independent books recently as I have discovered a fondness for many of them. That is why I grabbed this new book from Dark Horse Comics. Unfortunately, this one did not interest me much. I have not been a huge fan of those futuristic type independent books (and there seems to be a bunch of them).

Amazing Spider-Man #22. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. The story of ‘what exactly has been going on with Peter and MJ’ continued in this issue. I like the design of the god being that Spidey was fighting here, but I am not sure I like where it is heading. We’ll have to see what is next.

She-Hulk #11. Written by Rainbow Rowell with art by Andres Genolet. Jen Bartel did the art for the cover. We see She-Hulk existing within the Marvel Universe as she fights on with her Fight Club with Ben Grimm, Volcana, Titania and Luke Cage. She also helps out the Fantastic Four. Some of the best parts of this issue was the interaction with Jack Hart, aka Jack of Hearts, and his attempt at feeling normal since his powers returned.

Doctor Strange #1. “The Life of Doctor Strange.” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Pasqual Ferry. I have enjoyed Jed MacKay on Moon Knight so I am excited to see what he can bring to the Master of the Mystic Arts. This issue did two things really well. One, it sent us on little interludes with Doctor Strange across the Marvel Universe and we see him help out (or just interact with) Spider-Man, Black Cat, Daredevil, and Doctor Doom. Two, it looked like it was setting up a murder mystery by making Clea look like a killer. Aggamon is slaughtered at the end of the book after Clea was angry about him killing one of the refugees that she and Doctor Strange were trying to save. I wonder if this is meant to mislead or if it is more straightforward that I think. I’m looking forward to finding out.

Avengers: Rage of Ultron – Marvel Tales #1. Written by Rick Remender with art by Jerome Opeña. This is a reprint of an Avengers original graphic novel from 2015. It is a good story involving Hank Pym and Ultron. I have original hardcover book in my classroom library.

Joe Fixit #3. Written by Peter David and drawn by Yıldıray Çınar. I have been enjoying this series with Hulk in his Joe Fixit persona, even though I am not sure where in continuity this story takes place. A big part of that is probably how Spider-Man has been a major supporting character (some might even see him as a protagonist in the book). Kingpin is here causing trouble as well.

Monica Rambeau: Photon #4. Written by Eve L. Ewing with art by Luca Maresca. Lucas Werneck did the art on the cover. Photon is jumping around the universe as reality is shifting everywhere. Things of Monica’s life is different every second and she has to defend herself against Dr. Karla Sofen (aka Moonstone).

Grim #9. “Chapter Nine: Sympathy for the Guardian” Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Flaviano. This issue introduces us to a character that is implied to be the Devil and we see the past and the ultimate fate of Marcel.

March 21, 2023

Welcome to the brand new post series called Comic Cavalcade, the reboot of the Comic catch-Up series that has been running on EYG since the end of January. Since there was not a lot of “catch-up” happening right now, I thought this the perfect time to reboot and change things up.

I recounted the whole title drama that I went through in Comic Catch-Up #50, and I thought I was in the clear with Comic Cavalcade. However, my friend Todd, who works at Comic World & Games and is a recurring fixture in these columns, dropped a surprise on me.

Here is a screen shot from Facebook…

Todd made a comment about nothing being original. It was sad that there was a previous Comic Cavalcade already in the world. I considered calling it Comic Cavalcade 2.0, but I decided against that.

I figured, why do I have to change my column title because there was a comic titled the same thing in the middle part of the last CENTURY! Something that I had never heard of before. Sticking EYG in front of it adds all the more.

With the title of the column settled, all that is left is to kick off the first issue!

Iron Man & Hellcat Annual #1. “What Fresh Hell” Written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Ruairi Coleman. Logan Lubera & Rachelle Rosenberg did the art on the cover. As I was reading Hellcat #1 last week, there was a footnote in the issue referring to this issue, and I knew I had seen it during my searches through the piles. I decided to find it, hoping that it would give me more background for the new Hellcat series. It did too. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

Middlewest #3. Written by Skottie Young and drawn by Jorge Corona. Abel’s father, who we last saw as a tornado, reappeared and started looking for his missing son. Of course, Abel is nowhere to be found as he is off to look for help from The Marvelous Mystic Mind of Magdelena. This series feels like a present day fairy tale as we also got a troll in this issue.

I Walk With Monsters #3. Written by Paul Cornell and art by Sally Cantirino. We saw what happened to the father of Jacey. A massive heart attack freed her from a fate of being the ‘next thing on the menu’ and sent her out to the rest of her life. Of course, she is following after a politician of some kind whom she wants to kill. There is still a lot of mysteries in this series.

Moon Knight #18-19. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Federico Sabbatini. Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. Moon Knight has been a great series and these two issue were no exception to that. Moon Knight had a kick ass confrontation with the New York vampires that showed off how dangerous Moon Knight actually was. Then, Zodiac returned to the series, and Marc learned about something that would change his life.

Primordial #4-5. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. I have loved the Lemire/Sorrentino team, but, if I am being honest, I have no idea what is going on in this series. It has been fun to read, but you can’t ask me what is happening. It deals with three animals that had been sent into space on unmanned space missions by the US and USSR governments. After that, it is weird and I am both confused and enjoying it.

Newburn #2. “Chapter Two: Everything I Told You was True.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Jacob Phillips. Newburn continues in his job as problem solver for organized crime families, showing that he has no specific loyalties and that everyone understands that. This issue deals with Emily and her position as an assistant to Newburn. Newburn has been an intriguing book so far. We’ll see how it continues.

The Silver Coin #5. “Covenant” Written by Michael Walsh and art by Michael Walsh with Gavin Fullerton. Interestingly enough, this issue turned out to be a basic origin story for the mysterious silver coin that has been finding its way into the hands of the victims of the past stories. Curses. Black magic. Horrible betrayal and vengeance. This one may have been my favorite issue of this series so far. It also announced that it was going to continue with a rendition of Michael Walsh at the end of the book.

Black Panther #10. “Range Wars” Written by John Ridley and drawn by German Peralta. Alex Ross continues to do the coves for this series. Buffalo Soldier, who arrived at the end of last issue, proved to be a serious threat to T’Challa. This series seems to be humbling T’Challa and putting him in conflict as the leader of the Avengers.