Category Archives: EYG Comic Cavalcade

EYG Comic Cavalcade #124

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November 15, 2024

It is time once again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade! It was a good week of books with some interesting new books.

On the eBay front, Tick #13 (aka Tick: The Pseudo Edition) came in the mail this week. It is a beautiful book that is in awesome condition. I also picked up the whole series (except one issue) of Marvel’s The Human Fly. That was a huge guilty pleasure when I was younger.

Books this week:

G.I. Joe #1. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. It has finally arrived. After several G.I. Joe books over the last six months to a year, the team book is finally released. It was a intriguing group of characters in the book, including the Baroness on the Joes. There is a cool wrap around cover. I enjoyed this one quite a bit even though I did not love all of the other Joes books. This one has a great start.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #9. “Gone Girl.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet & Emilio Laiso. Cover art by Emilio Laiso & Edgar Delgado and variant cover C art by Josemaria Casanovas (Silver Medalist). Story is still focused on the people at the coffee shop and we get some FF action.

Captain America #15. “And a Town Shall Rise.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Jesus Saiz. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. I have enjoyed this short arc featuring Cap, Spidey and Thor. The strength of this arc is the three of them and their interactions.

NYX #5. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and penciled by Francesco Mortarino. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the cover art. Ms. Marvel, Wolverine and other members of NYX face off with the public. And Sophie Cuckoo picks a side.

Uncanny X-Men #5. “Thunder in our Hearts.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art by David Marquez and Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). It is a brutal battle with Rogue and the other Uncanny X-Men versus Gaunt. The four new kids of this series (Jitter, Ransom, Deathdream and Calico come to the fight as well. Gail Simone’s book has been probably my favorite of the new X-books so far.

Amazing Spider-Man #61. “Inevitable Attraction.” Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. The new creative team takes over ASM as Zeb Wells departs the series. This also kicks off “The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man” storyline where Spidey is recruited by the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Doom to be his “hero.” I am not sure how I feel about seeing Spidey die a bunch of times, but I will, of course, give this new arc a chance.

Transformers #14. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Cover art by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. This could be entitled “How Starscream got his Mojo Back.” It’s not, but it easily could be. We get another issue focused heavily on the Decepticon Villain Starscream. It has been a very consistently good series. Anxious to see more crossover with this and G.I. Joe.

Tim Waits #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky & David Brothers and illustrated by Marcus To & Marvin Sianipar. Cover art is by Marcus To. It is time travel in the world created by Chip Zdarsky. Lots of action and some weird time events. Can the present day people stop those from the future? I guess we’ll have to see.

Absolute Batman #2. “The 200” Part Two of Five. Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art by Dragotta & Martin. Absolute Batman and Alfred team up and start a beautiful friendship…maybe. Oh, and we get the Absolute debut of one Selina Kyle.

Silence #1. Written by Evan K. Pozios and art & cover art by Alex Sanchez. A comic book artist needs a break after a major health scare. So he goes to a city named Silence. However, this does not seem like a good choice in the end. This mini series has not yet appeared in the CZL app, but it was an intriguing book from the company Afterlight Comics.

Sam and Twitch Case Files #8. Script by Todd McFarlane. Plot by McFarlane & Jon Goff. Art by Szymon Kudranski. Cover art is done by Raymond Gay & Mirko Colak. Sam and Twitch are finally back together after being separate for most of the series so far. Everything feels nicely wrapped up after this issue, though there is more coming for them.

Life #3. Written by Brian Azzarello & Stephanie Phillips and art by Daniel Žeželj. This has been a cool concept with this being a flip book, with two stories from different POVs. One story a heist and the other a prison break. DSTLRY has been releasing some really fun and enjoyable books so far.

The Mammoth #5. Written by Paul Tobin and art and cover art by Arjuna Sudini (Bronze Medalist). This series comes to a weird conclusion as the dead seem to find their place. This was a strange series that I am not sure had a overly satisfying ending.

Werewolf By Night: Red Band #4. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone tried to find a place where the overtly savage nature of the Werewolf by Night would not be bad. One would think that the Savage Land would be the place. It seems as if Ka-Zar may disagree.

Other books this week: Deadpool #8, Psylocke #1, Huge Detective #3, Domain #5 and Ultimate X-Men #9.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #123

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November 9, 2024

Happy weekend all. It is time once again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade #123. I got a bunch of books this week, both at Comic World and off eBay.

Just today, the five issue limited series Spaceknights from Marvel was delivered. This was the series following Rom, Spaceknight when Marvel lost the Rom copyright. I could have swore that I had this series, but when I finished my inventory last summer, I had only issue #4 in CLZ. I still feel as if I had them, but I do not know where they may have gone. Either way, I have the whole series now.

I have also picked up some added Amazing Spider-Man issues from vol. 2 including #5, 30 and 48. I am working on completing that vol 2 run of ASM, whether it be on eBay or from Todd.

Other books this week:

Mark Spears: Monsters #1. “The Return” Written and drawn by Mark Spears. Spears also did this variant cover B that I have. This is a hot new horror book that I picked up off eBay also this week. I love the realistic art mixed with the horror genre. Really solid work here, plus, I swear, the last scene was an homage directly out of Monster Squad.

Trick or Read 2024. Included Fantastic Four #1, Venom: Bedlam #1, Spider-Boy: The Webless Wonder #1, Kylo Ren #1, and Spidey and his Amazing Friends #1. Fun, free comics for that Halloween time of the year. Some were direct reprints and others have some original content.

One for Sorrow #1. Story, art, cover by Jamie McKelvie. A new series from DSTLRY and these seem to always be awesome. This has a very Thunderbolts!-esce twist at the end that really put a spin on everything that we had read before. I am intrigued to see how this will play out as the series moves forward.

X-Force #5. “One Second Later” Written by Geoffrey Thorne and art by Marcus To. Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo did the cover art. The cover is fairly misleading as it stated that X-Force dies. Perhaps one did. But the team fights and eventually teams up with an Avengers crew from a different world. X-Force has been okay, but it could be needing to pick up the story if it wants me to keep buying it.

Public Domain #10. “Tijuana” Written, drawn and cover by Chip Zdarsky, with additional art by Rachael Scott. This issue focuses on Syd and Candy’s marriage and what happened back in the 1980s. Secrets come out.

Absolute Superman #1. “Down in the Dirt” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). The third of the new Absolute comics from DC featuring Krypton’s favorite son was really pretty good. I liked the way that Superman appeared in the book for the first time and I did not mind the young boy on Krypton instead of the baby. However, I have to say that I am a little iffy about the new version of Lois Lane. We’ll see where it goes. Oh, and Jason Aaron is just really busy!

Saga #70. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and art and cover art by Fiona Staples. Squire is off on his own for some training and it is turning the family upside down. Saga has been just consistently so good over the run that I look forward to it every month. Glad it is back on a regular release schedule.

Venom War: Spider-Man #4. Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing with pencils by Greg Land. Cover art was by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata. The final issue of this crossover series sees Spidey and Jackpot fighting together again, making me really wish Peter and MJ would just get back together like they should be. It would even make me okay with MJ having super powers.

Plastic Man No More #3. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Boy, Plastic Man is really taking some steps that have to be considered “bad choices.” Even with his desire to save his son from sharing the same fate that Plastic Man is suffering from, some of what he does feels to be inappropriate. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Avengers #20. “Panther Gang” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Valerio Schiti and Federico Blee did the art for the cover. A Black panther centric issue as he goes into an alternate dimension to try and free a group of prisoners inside the Meridian Diadem. Not my favorite Avengers book recently.

The Human Fly #1. Written by Christopher Sequeira and art and cover art by Jan Scherpenhuizen assisted by Peter Lawson. The former stunt man based on a toy back in the 1980s (comic then done by Marvel) is now back in a company called IPI Comics. Human Fly was always a guilty pleasure of mine so I was excited about this new mini series.

X-Men #7. “The Iron Night” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Marte Gracia. A flashback issue with several scenes showing us how Cyclops and Magneto found themselves in the situation that they are currently in. The main X-books continue to be excellent since the end of the Kraokan storyline.

Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds #1. Three sections of the story, with three separate writers and artists. Cover art was by Afua Richardson (Gold Medalist). This is a Marvel Voices imprint as we are introduced for the first time to Kahhori, the Native American character that appeared in season two of the animated TV show, What If…?

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #4. Another anthology issue featuring several shorts. Cover art was by Mahmud Asrar & Romulo Fajardo. This is the final issue of this anthology series. I have enjoyed most of these shorts even though I prefer a full story in an issue.

Knights vs. Samurai #1-2. Story by David Dastmalchian and art by Fede Mele. Cover art for issue #1: Raymond Gay & Todd McFarlane. Cover art for issue #2: Gianenrico Bonacorsi and Fede Mele. How can you go wrong with Knights and Samurais? You can’t and this series is full of action and some awesome energy.

X-Factor #4. “The Nematode“. Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Greg Land, Jay Leister and Frank D’Armata did the cover art. X-Factor goes on a rescue mission into the center of the earth after a couple of scientists. They find some surprising creatures. The biggest problem… they left Granny Smite behind. NOOOOOOO!!!!

Spider-Society #4. Written by Alex Segura and art by Scott Godlewski. Cover art by Pete Woods. This mini series comes to a close with the heroic spider-people from around the Web putting a stop to evil Aunt May and her forces.

The Ultimates #6. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. The Hulk is here and he is fighting the Ultimates. The end of the book seems to indicate that the Ultimates have paid a huge price (but I’ll believe it when I see it).

Blood Hunters #4. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Robert Gill and Chris Campana. Ema Lupacchino & GURU-eFX did the cover art. The Bloodcoven continue their attack on the Blood Hunters as Miles takes off to prevent his own bloodlust from causing a problem. However, things are looking bad for Dagger.

Aliens vs. Avengers #2. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art and cover art by Esad Ribić. The Avengers are in some real trouble and an elder Tony Stark is faced with a decision that could change the tide of the battle… while deserting some friends.

Something is Killing the Children #0. “Before Archer’s Peak.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Werther Dell’Edera. Cover art by Jenny Frison. The prelude to the entire series shows us what Erica Slaughter was doing just before heading into Archer’s Peak. Erica Slaughter is a fantastic character and can really carry any story on her own.

Other books this week: Negasonic Teenage Warhead #1, Gilt Frame #3, Skin Police #2, Self Help #5, Headless Horseman 2024#1, Anansi Boys #5, and Creature Commandos #2.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #122

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November 2, 2024

Yesterday was my 44th year anniversary in collecting comics. I remember clearly the decision I made. I was at a staying over at a friend’s house for Halloween and we spent the night after trick or treating reading comics that he collected. He introduced me to Comic World in Dubuque and that following day I declared that I was going to start collecting comics too. I have been a collector since, though there were some down years around college years when I just did not have any money. I picked up certain books on and off, but not anywhere near where I am now.

I celebrated my anniversary buying some books on eBay.

I need to congratulate the newest inductees into the EYG Hall of Fame: Hero Games NGD Comic Creators Award wing. I take nominations and votes over at Hero Games Forum every year this time looking for the top three vote getters. This year our new HoF inductees are Gerry Conway, Jim Lee, and Marc Silvestri. Congratulations to the new HoF members.

I did not get as many books this week as I normally do. I don’t know if it was the fifth week of a month but there was just not very many issues released. That was okay as it was a very busy week in real life.

Books this week:

Captain America #14. “To Be or Not To Be, Broxton” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by Taurin Clarke. I liked this new direction for Cap after that last arc with the demons. This is a story of friendship as well as one of adventure as Cap, Spider-Man and Thor get involved together.

Namor #4. “The Feeding of the Beast” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lims. Alessandro Cappuccio did the variant cover B art (Gold Medalist). This continues to be a very fascinating story that splits time between the current world and flashing back to a young, pre-king Namor. I do enjoy the flashback parts of the story, seeing how Namor was then compared to how he is now. Jason Aaron always seems to bring the goods to these books.

Amazing Spider-Man #60. This is an oversized issue featuring the final writing of Zeb Wells on ASM. There are several back up stories as well. The cover I have is a variant cover B featuring Black Cast and Jackpot which was drawn by Adam Hughes. This issue had an interesting interaction between Peter and May, as May seems to finally accept why Peter is the way he is.

Venom War: Spider-Man #3. Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing with pencils by Greg Land. Cover art was done by Greg Land and Frank D’Armata. I picked this off the stand this week. I had picked up the first two issues and I did not pick up #3 when it was released recently. However, the completionist in me felt the need to keep on getting this crossover series. I am not buying the Venom War so I was a bit confused, but I do love me some Spider-Man.

Uncanny Valley #6. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Dave Wachter. Cover art was done by Dave Wachter. This remains one of the most bizarrely creative books on the market. The cross between real world and cartoon world is impressive and this issue uses that public domain use of Steamboat Willie very well. More background on where our hero came from and the end is just mind blowing.

Deadpool Team-Up #3. Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld. Cover art was done by Rob Liefeld & Juan Manuel Rodriguez. Wait… did the Hulk just kill Crystar? That would not make me happy as Crystar was one of the selling points of this issue for me so far.

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #3. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Andrea Broccardo. Mark Bagley & Dean White did the cover art. Chasm is being manipulated by Eternal Druig and he takes on his “brother” Kaine.

Devour #1. Creators are Maytal Zchut & Leila Leiz. Cover art is a variant cover B by Leila Leiz. This was a story that happened on Hyde Street, but I did not think that I was going to enjoy this one. Just looking at the cover made me not anxious to read it. It was the last book I read this week, and it was way better than I thought it was going to be. A horror issue dealing with weight loss. Didn’t think this would be good, but it was very good.

The Nice House by the Sea #4. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno. While I have not been as into this series as I was in the first one, this continues to be interesting. This issue had a lot of discussion among the characters, feeling as if it was setting up what is next for the series.

Predator Versus Black Panther #3. Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Chris Allen & Sean Damien Hill. Cover art was done by Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez. This crossover series has been okay, but I definitely enjoyed the Wolverine vs. Predator more than this one. This could be considered a Wakanda vs. Predator instead.

Redcoat #7. Creators are Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Cover art was by German Peralta (Bronze Medalist). We get a time shift from last issue and we get to see Simon Pure go talk to Albert Einstein. Except now, Einstein is old and on his deathbed. This is a tremendous character story featuring these two who had worked together when Albert was young. Really great.

NYX #4. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and art by Enid Balan. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the cover art. Ms. Marvel is in trouble, with the traitorous Sophie and Prodigy steps up, despite not really wanting to, to help out. NYX has given me more story with Ms. Marvel and that will always be appreciated.

Feral #7. “Chapter 7: Sheltered Cats” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner. Cover variant B art was done by Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs (Silver Medalist). We get a group of kittens living in a barn trying to avoid the Bad Kind. Feral remains to be anxious and nerve-wracking.

Other books this week: Ultimate X-Men #8, Phases of the Moon Knight #3, and Blood Squad Seven: Strikefile #1.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #121

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October 24, 2024

I had a sick day from school today which gave me the opportunity to get my books from NEW COMIC BOOK DAY yesterday, read. It was great just resting and reading during the day. I feel better right now, so I want to get the EYG Comic Cavalcade out.

I have gotten a bunch of back issues this week, specifically some early Amazing Spider-Mans. The earliest was Amazing Spider-Man #47 with Kraven the Hunter. I also picked up Daredevil #52 and Avengers #19. Neither are in fabulous shape, but they are both decent enough considering they are both 1960s books.

Other New Books:

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #3. “The Heart of a Lover.” Written, drawn and cover art by Michael Walsh. This issue’s focus was around Elizabeth, who was the fiancé of Henry Frankenstein. The Monster was going to be destroyed, but got free and continued his rampage. This has been another top comic from the the Universal Monsters run.

The Tin Can Society #2. Written by Peter Warren and Francesco Mobili. The cover art was done by Francesco Mobili & Chris Chuckry. I really like this series and I have been impressed how well the writers have introduced the characters within. Many comics struggle to introduce a large cast of all new characters, but this book has been great at it so far.

The Masked Macher #2. Written by David A. Goodman and art by Alex Andres. He is the Masked Macher (which means ‘Big Shot’) and he is wrestling a bear. Oh, by the way… that bear can talk. Didn’t see that coming.

Werewolf By Night: Red Band #3. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell has been losing control of his wolf form more recently, leading to a deadly problem for the people in his vicinity. He came up with a great idea… he would go to the Savage Land! Elsa Bloodstone went with him to help him. Of course, Ka-Zar was not as big of a fan of this idea. This has been my favorite issue of this series so far ( I do like me some Ka-Zar), but it continues to not feel as if it were much of a red band.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House #5. Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn and cover art by Javier Rodriguez. This mini series drew to a close and I finally figured out a time frame for it. From the last page. I enjoyed the Zatanna series, but I was never sure where this was supposed to fall in continuity (if it were at all). It’s my own fault since I am not as familiar with the DC books as I am with Marvel.

Incredible Hulk #18. “City of Idols” Part Two. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein & Danny Earles. Variant cover B by Ryan Brown. The current run of the Incredible Hulk has been fine. This book is the same way. This is way better than when he was a spaceship, but it pales in comparison to the Immortal Hulk, which this feels as if they want to use that as a homage for this run. This is okay. Big issue #800 next month, if I am correct.

X-Factor #3. “Project Paperclip.” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Greg Land, Jay Leister & Frank D’Armata did the cover art. Standout character in this issue… no doubt is Granny Smite. The immortal granny with a death wish. I loved her.

Scarlet Witch #5. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. A fun single issue story featuring Wanda teaming up with Daredevil. It is a team-up that we have never seen before. Final page: Agatha!

The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1. Written by Hannah Rose May and art by Vanesa Del Ray. Variant cover B art done by Jock (Gold Medalist). This is clearly a series that I was drawn to because of the great covers. I love the Jock cover, but the others were very attractive as well and so I picked this up because of them. The story was very fascinating too, although the actual exorcism part feels like a slow burn. I found the presidential stuff and the way that the president’s kids were affected to be very interesting. There is definitely something more coming with it too.

Standstill #3. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson. I am going to say, once again this week, that the layout of the panels in this comic makes this feel different than all the other books out there. There are some fun spy action in the book too, but it looks so original that it makes it a treat to read.

Void Rivals #13. Written by Robert Kirkman and art and cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. Darak goes face to face with his father and things do not go very well. And we get more from Pythona, who has some strange tie to Cobra-La.

X-Men #6. “Bark.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Variant cover C art by Derrick Chew. Temper and Magik go to see a young girl whose mother was involved in a protest against the mutants… a young girl who may be a mutant herself.

Avengers #19. “A Desert, and a Temptation.” Written by Jed MacKay and art from Farid Karami. Valerio Schiti & Federico Blee were the cover artists. New Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Doctor Doom, summons the Avengers for a chat and he asks them… why they are such wussies. Well, that may have been paraphrasing, but it is the gist.

Duck and Cover #2. Written by Scott Snyder and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. This book is wild. It takes place squarely in the Cold War between the US and USSR, but what seems to have happened is just the beginning. This book has a B-movie/sci-fi feel to it, like it is a sci-fi film right out of the 1950. And it is a lot of fun so far.

Spirits of Vengeance #2. Written by Sabir Pirzada and penciled by Chris Campana. Josemaria Casanovas did the cover art. Johnny Blaze is struggling with his Ghost Rider persona, and a trip to Atlantis was never going to help him out.

Skin Police #1. Written by Jordan Thomas and art by Daniel Gete. Gete & Jason Wordie did the cover art. Picked this up because of a recommendation on Comics Heating Up, but it was really cold for me. I did not enjoy this issue much at all as it struggle to keep my attention. Not a huge fan of futuristic sci-fi stories in comic books.

The Bunnyman: Furry Nightmare #1. Written by Nick Bermel & Joe Brusha with art by Unai De Zarate. I do love Floyd, but I am not sure why they decided to leave Man Goat out of this book and replace him with the sidekick, Jack the Jackalope. Still, always fun with Bunnyman!

Spider-Boy #12. “The Devils’ Due” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Cover art was by Paco Medina & Rachelle Rosenberg. The second guest appearance of the week for Daredevil as he comes across Spider-Boy, who apparently he had trained at one point. We also get Bullseye and his own sidekick, Spider-Girl!

Hello Darkness #4. Once again, this is an anthology series with several horror shorts in it. There is a preview of the upcoming series, In Bloom in here. Variant cover art B was by Jenny Frison (Gold Medalist).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3. “The Way of the Ganges Mud Turtles.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Cliff Chiang. Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque (Bronze Medalist). We meet up with Leonardo as he is on the Ganges River trying to sync up with the Ganges turtles. Meanwhile, the ninjas are after him. These Jason Aaron TMNT books have been top quality so far and we have three of the solo turtles down with only Donatello to go.

DC Horror Presents #1. Two stories featuring the Deadly Dollhouse and Wonder Woman done by a series of creators including David Dastmalchian, Leah Kilpatrick, The Boulet Brothers, Cat Stagss, Butch Mapa, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Kristian Rossi.

Rook Exodus #6. Created by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. The final issue of the first arc of the Rook Exodus storyline comes to a close with issue six. Rook is able to finally master his control over the birds, even without the helmet by understanding what he needed to know. We meet the bird named Poe here too.

Spider-Society #3. Written by Alex Segura and art by Ruairi Coleman. Pete Woods did the cover art. Things continue to look bad for the Spider-Society as they a getting crushed by the Sinister Squadron. However, Madama Web aka May Parker, and Green Goblin, aka Gwen Stacy, have a disagreement over power which may give our spider-heroes a sliver of a chance.

Iron Man #1. “Capital Strike.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art by Yasmine Putri. The new Iron Man series kicks off as Tony discovered that Roxxon Oil was in a hostile takeover of Stark Industries. Poor Tony, just got his company back only to lose it again, perhaps. Melinda May appears in this issue.

Dazzler #2. “Live in Studio”. Written b Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Terry & Rachel Dotson did the cover art. Dazzler, hot off her controversial concert which included a fight with a super villain, goes to London to appear on a TV talk show that was absolutely NOT Graham Norton. More trouble for Ms. Blaire.

Absolute Wonder Woman #1. “The Last Amazon.” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Variant cover C art was by Wes Craig. The second of the new DC Absolute books with a very intriguing new back story for Diana. It seemed as if they took some of Diana’s new origins from the classic tales of Hercules, but who’s complaining. Decent book.

Other books this week: Animal Pound: Pen & Ink #1, Alien Romulus #1, AEW Origins (freebee) #1, The Power Fantasy #3, Moon Man #5, and The Moon is Following Us #2.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #120

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October 18, 2024

It is time again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. A little early this week since I had today off from work since we had to have parent teacher conferences the last two days. Today was a comp day. I left school last night at 8 PM feeling really brain dead. I enjoyed reading through these books today.

Absolute Batman #1. “The 200.” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Oragotta. Cover art was done by Oragotta & Martin. The new Batman story in the DC’s Absolute books is an interesting read. I did enjoy the new take on Batman, but especially Alfred. I am giving these new Absolute books a chance to see if they will hook my interest. I found this to be a good book, and I may want to give it a few more issues.

Mystique #1. “Intelligence.” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. Mystique is involved in a mission involving Maverick. A lot of action and shape shifting. Nick Fury Jr. appeared in the book too, and there was a shocking end to this book. Something that I did not see coming.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #1. “New Moon.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. Mister Knight and Achilles Fairchild face off in a tense war of words over a new drug being sold by the latter. The new Moon Knight series kicked off with a reintroduction of Mr. Knight and the Midnight Mission.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25. “Birds of a Feather, Part Three.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Black Panther comes to give some help to try and help Miles with his vampire tendencies. New suit, by the way.

Avengers Assemble #2. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Scot Eaton. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr were the cover artists. Cap, Hawkeye, Herc and Night Thrasher went to a small town being beseeched by ghost apes. The story brings the Red Ghost into the mix.

Uncanny X-Men #4. “The Eye of a Hurricane.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the art for the cover. This has been a really great new X-Men book so far. Rogue goes to rescue Logan, and stays behind to do battle with Sarah, the frightening creature that has a background with Charles Xavier.

Ultimate Spider-Man #10. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by David Messina. Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Ben and Jonah are investigating a story that brings them into conflict with Harry Osborn. Who is behind Kingpin?

Big Guns Stupid Rednecks #1. Written by Austin Allen Hamblin and illustrated by Mariana Meira. Cover art was done by Kurt Belcher. From Band of Bards, this is a strange new series that followed retired detective Clint search for his white trash brother. It made me think of Mojo some, and it was a very bizarre issue.

Spectacular Spider-Men #8. “Triage” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Emilio Laiso & Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. After the trauma inside the Arcadium, the people who had been taken joined together for some group therapy. That included Peter Parker and Miles Morales.

Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #4. “Descending” Written by Jay Kristoff and art by Tirso. The second story is written by Tom Taylor and art by Riccardo Federici. Cover art was also by Tirso. Rose caught up with Slade and bad things happen.

House of Slaughter #26. “Azure: Part One” Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was by Jorge Fornes and Werther Dell’Edera. New story arc in this series. Honestly, this has never been my favorite of these series. I much prefer the Someone is Killing the Children series. Still, there are some interesting things going down.

Blood Hunters #3. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Robert Gill. Ema Lupacchino & GURU-eFX did the cover art. The Blood Hunters are in some real danger as a bunch of vampires are swarming them. Dagger is in bad shape. Miles is trying to contain his vampire side.

The Department of Truth #26. “Deviation Seven: Fictional Women.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Alison Sampson. Cover art by Martin Simmonds (Silver Medalist). The book takes yet another turn… this time to Marilyn Monroe. Is she real? Or is she like bigfoot? Only in this book.

Spider-Man: Reign 2 #4. Written, drawn and cover art by Kaare Andrews. Peter finally gets rid of the big white beard! YES!!! However, things are not going great for him otherwise. He has discovered that he is not able to save Mary Jane and he is preparing to head back to his own time because his presence can jeopardize the reality. I believe there is one more issue in this mini series.

Profane #5. Written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Raul Fernandez. Cover art by Javier Rodriguez. This series comes to a close with the mystery of the murder of Spud Coltrane solved and Profane returned to the land of fiction. This was a fun series with an intriguing hook.

Wolverine #2. “Blood and Debt.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza did the cover art. This issue of Wolverine gives us a bit of a twist on the character of Wendigo, which is one of my favorite characters as is. I really liked how they used Wendigo here.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #4. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling & Ivan Fiorelli. David Yardin & Romulo Fajardo Jr. are the cover artists. This mini series ended with Elektra and the new Punisher teaming up after fighting each other.

The Creeping Below #1. Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated and cover art by Vanesa Del Ray. I am not sure what this is, to be honest. I might have to give this one another read because I am just not sure what is happening.

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1. Written by Kyle Starks and art by Piotr Kowalski. Piotr Kowalski with Vladimir Popov did the cover art. This new series is a follow up to the Dark Horse book from a few years ago involving a group of serial killers and monsters living together in a neighborhood. They’re in a cull-de-sac now with the former agent from the last series.

Grim #20. “Strangelove.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Flaviano. Cover art by Flaviano (Bronze Medalist). Lots of weirdness going on as we see Death and his relationship with Jess’s mother. Lots of soap opera-like drama in the hell dimension.

You Won’t Feel a Thing Ashcan. The DSTLRY upcoming series released an ashcan, which, funnily, is a smaller, undersized book, unlike the oversized normal issues from DSTLRY. There is also part of the new series from James Tynion IV, The Cit Beneath Her Feet, in this ashcan.

Local Man #25. Story and art by Tim Seeley & Tony Fleecs. Hold on a sec… #25??? Um… what happened to issues #14-24? This is the final issue of the series (for now?) and there is a time jump in the story, but why change it to issue #25? I don’t know, but I always did enjoy the series so it will be missed.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Halloween Special #1. Cover art by David Talaski (Gold Medalist). Several short stories featuring the main characters of the regular series. There was some fun stuff in here with creators including Tate Brombal, James Tynion IV, Soo Lee, Morgan Beem, Isaac Goodhart, and Fernando Blanco.

Other books this week: Sam and Twitch Case Files #7, Domain #4, Crypt of Shadows #1, Black Cloak #9, Anansi Boys #3-4, and The Mammoth #4.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #119

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October 10, 2024

Another Saturday night and I am getting the Comic Cavalcade out. It has been a very busy time as I have a bunch of new movies, a ton of TV series, the Dodgers and, of course, school. I have to look for the opportunity to squeeze the reading into my schedule.

Books this week:

Ice Cream Man #13. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. I have cover B with art by Wes Craig. This was the final issue of Ice Cream Man that I needed and it took forever for it to arrive from eBay. It is one of those gimmicky books that it seems Ice Cream Man specializes in. It is a palindrome, meaning it could be read forward or backwards. It was a fun gimmick and I love the creativity of Ice Cream Man. I am glad to have finally finished off the complete series in my collection.

Groo the Wanderer #8. This is another series that I was able to fill out as this is the final issue of Groo’s Pacific Comics run that I needed. Todd was able to obtain this book for me and I was very pleased to get it. Now I just have a handful of issues of the Marvel (Epic) run to complete my Groo collection.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #2. Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier are the creators on this Groo book. I have been enjoying this current take on Groo, as the story focuses on the story told by the Minstrel and his daughter, Kayli. I do love a rhyme and there is plenty of that in here.

Fantastic Four #26. “Blood Brothers” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was by Joshua Cassara & Dean White (Gold Medalist). Johnny and Reed come across something paranormal in Ben Grimm’s Aunt Petunia’s house, where the FF have been living. They go through a ton of trouble trying to put the genie back in the bottle, figuratively.

Exceptional X-Men #2. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Some mutant drama taking place at a high school soccer game and Kitty Pryde is smack in the middle. She’s not a high school student (perhaps it is a college game. Not sure). Kitty and Emma Frost are being set up as the opposites of the same coin, kind of like Xavier and Magneto were.

The Terminator #1. “Out of Time” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by Luke Sparrow with Colin Craker. Dynamite Comics has had some real winners lately and I did enjoy this Terminator book. It did not feel as if it were a story that would continue over several issues and that the next one would be a new story. Still, I am curious about what they do now.

Jonny Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. I got cover C and the cover art was by Anthony Marques. More action with Jonny and the crew in an attempt to find their way back to their own time. Unfortunately, certain problems are blocking that from happening. Again, I am not as familiar with Jonny Quest and some of these characters are probably ones that a fan of the show would recognize. I still am enjoying the book so far.

Space Ghost #6. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. This is the third straight Dynamite Comics book in the Comic Cavalcade. Space Ghost takes on the fires of Moltar and the dynamic between Space Ghost and Jace has been damaged from last issue. This issue deals with that relationship as the story is narrated via Jace’s journal.

Seance in the Asylum #1. Written by Clay Mcleod Chapman and art by Leonardo Marcella Grassi. Andrea Mutti did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). A fascinating new series from Dark Horse that looks at the idea of spectral therapy and the ways into the spirits beyond this world. It is a very interesting looking book with some art and coloring that really emphasizes the tone.

Amazing Spider-Man #59. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. It is a brutal throwdown between Spider-Man and Tombstone as Spidey is determined to not allow Tombstone to kill his daughter. Very brutal in the story as it is nearly all fighting in the issue.

Phoenix #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art is by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Captain Marvel hang out together during a celebration of the Kree-Skrull alliance. Meanwhile, Carol gives Jean some spacefaring advice.

The Ultimates #5. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover artists were Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. Captain America goes to chase after the individual who claimed the arrows Iron Lad made after Clint Barton rejected the idea. This mean there is a new Hawkeye in the Ultimates. And I liked her.

Minor Arcana #2. “The Fool: Part Two”. Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire. Theresa tried to do a reading for one of her mother’s regular customers, and things go weird for her. She travels to a different plane of existence and meets Gene. All this was too much for Theresa as she went to hit the bottle. Jeff Lemire is right near the top of my current favorite comic book writers and just about anything he does is something I want to read.

Geiger #7. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson (silver Medalist). Mister Geiger has been having some troubles lately as he has been showing how violent he could be. Still, he is out saving animals and kids. Geiger has been one of the most solid of the Ghost Machine imprint.

Sentinels #1. “Necessary Monsters.” Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Justin Mason. Cover art was by Mason & Federico Blee. This new X-book has a group of characters who I did not know and have some weird tie to the Sentinels. Honestly, this X-book did not grab my attention much, but I’ll probably give it another shot before skipping it. It will need to be better than this issue.

Transformers #13. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer did the cover art. I liked this book as we get an origin story for Starscream, who has always been one of my favorite Decepticons. They also tied him to Jetfire, one of my favorite Autobots. This Image run of Transformers has been very solid so far.

Blade: Red Band #1. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa & Federico Blee. Blade returned for the first time since the Blood Hunt took over Marvel this summer and he is involved with a new baddie called Spellguard. Again, these Red band books are not that bad. It just means Blade can cut off a few heads.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #5. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. Speaking of cutting off heads, Edwyn is back in the finale of this series, seemingly riding off into the sunset with his blow-up doll, Virginia. However, the last page of the issue really leaves a question in my mind.

Other books this week: Life #2, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #3, X-Force #4, Public Domain #9, Crocodile Black #5, and Conquest 2099 #1.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #118

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October 4, 2024

It will be a busy Saturday this week, with a couple of movies, Badd Blood from the WWE, and a Dodger post season game, so with a smaller number of books this week than recently, my goal was to get this Comic Cavalcade out on a Friday instead of the weekend. I just finished reading, even with a couple of new arrivals from eBay.

Books this week:

Storm #1. “Grand Opening.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. I go the variant foil cover with the art by Jerome Opena. Storm is seeing quite the upswing of popularity as she is just recently in the Avengers and now with this new series. This is the fifth volume of Storm which surprised me, and she is one of my favorite mutant characters out there these days.

Hyde Street #1. Storytellers are Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis. Cover art was by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki and Brad Anderson did the cover art (Gold Medalist). This is the new series joining the Ghost Machine imprint from Image. It is very creative concept and it gave me an Ice Cream Man type flavor. This one is going to be very interesting.

Dead Eyes #1-4. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Here is the eBay series I just recently purchased. A few week ago, I picked up Dead Eyes: Empty Frames and the book felt as if it were a sequel series, and, after a quick trip to eBay, I confirmed that truth. The Dead Eyes series arrived in the mail today. I loved this first series. Read them all in one sitting tonight.

Ultimate Black Panther #9. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Stefano Caselli. Cover art by Stefano Caselli and David Curiel. I have not done a write up for this series recently and it is because it has been my least favorite new Ultimates series. That is still the case, but we get a issue that is heavily featuring Storm and Killmonger and they do make a good team.

Daredevil #14. “Introductory Rites” Part Fourteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art this issue was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (Bronze Medalist). Matt Murdock has to face off with Elektra and she is not having it. To say that she is spurned is an understatement. However, there is little time for hurt feelings as they are in search of the missing kid from the halfway house.

The Power Fantasy #1-2. Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Caspar Wijngaaard. This is a series that I missed the first issue of and I had heard positives about, so I got #1 on eBay and read these two. Only a handful of superheroes on the earth and they are causing trouble. How about one Kieron Gillen has done a solid job with that.

Immortal Thor #16. “Fire and Stone.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. If I am being honest, this was a fairly pedestrian issue of Thor that was saved by a new group of villains and a shocking final page. I am excited to see where this goes from here.

Deadpool #7. Written by Cody Ziglar & Alexis Quasarano and art by Andrea Di Vito. Tauron Clarke did the cover art. This was okay, but I am not sure how I feel about the daughter of Deadpool taking up his mantel. I do like how they are keeping Wade’s body around with sunglasses on it expecting a resurrection.

X-Men #5. “Psychic Rescue in Progress” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Psylocke and Quentin Quire heading on a psychic mission together was a joy. I am a fan of Quentin Quire because he is such a little jerk. And I love it.

Redcoat #6. Creators are Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch. Variant cover art is by Francis Manapul. For awhile in this book, it was feeling like a end of the series as things were wrapping up with Benedict Arnold. However, there is another issue coming as George Washington has reared his wigged head. Next issue is entitled “Epilogue” so does that mean next issue is the final one? That would be sad as this has been a consistently entertaining book.

The Deviant #8. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. The penultimate issue of this series really sets this one up for a huge finale. The mystery of what is exactly happening is great.

Plastic Man No More #2. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Plastic Man is taking a huge step to try and solve the problem of his rubbery body falling apart, afraid that his son may wind up the same way. Unfortunately, it leads to a bad situation for the Metal Men.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6. “Haunted” Part 6. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen Stacy joined up with one of my favorite female Marvel characters, Jessica Jones, and I loved it. I could always enjoy the appearance of Jessica Jones.

Get Fury #6. Written by Garth Ennis and art by Jacen Burrows. Cover art was done by Dave Johnson. The finale of this series is just as brutal as this series has been. Nick Fury is downright unbalanced. This was a series that I did not initially plan on getting, but after re-reading the first issue again, I was in and I have enjoyed it each month.

Other books this week: Creature Commandos #1, The Nice House by the Sea #3, Robbie Reyes: Ghost Rider Marvel Voices Special #1, All In Special #1, and Wolverine: Deep Cut #4.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #117

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September 28

New banner! Always enjoy making a new one of these.

Last weekend was Batman Day and there were some cool free comics given out. I picked them up which included Joker: The World #1, Batman: The Long Halloween Special Edition #1, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures #1 as free books. I also picked up the book Batman/Elmer Fudd Special Noir Edition #1 too. These were cool, even though I am not the biggest Batman fan.

I also got the variant cover of Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 with art by Mitsuhiro Arita, which wound up as the Gold Medalist this week.

Here are the new books this week:

The Blood Brothers Mother #2. Written by Brian Azzarello and art and cover art by Eduardo Risso. It has been awhile since number one of this series so I was pleased when this new issue came out. This Western series continues to be a lot of fun and beautifully drawn. I have been enjoying several of the DSTLRY books.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #2. Written by, drawn by and cover art by Michael Walsh. The story of Frankenstein’s Monster continues with new pieces of story mixed with the classic original story. These Universal Monster comics at Image have been exceptional and this one is right in line with this.

Saga #69. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and drawn by and cover art by Fiona Staples. The Saga kept going on with the continual story of The Will and Gwendolyn and their personal loss of their daughter and the pair dragging each other down. There is a surprise cameo within as well that shocked me. This is just always really epic every issue.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House #4. Written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn and cover art by Javier Rodriguez. John Constantine is here and trying to bring Zatanna back to the world. This series continues to be weird and wild and Zatanna seems as if she may be ready to step back to the forefront of the DC Universe.

Avengers Annual #1. Written by Derek Landry and art by Salvador Larroca. Larroca and GURU-eFX did the cover art. Thanos is here in an attempt to reclaim the infinity stones from the current Stone Bearers have different plans. The Avengers (or at least Captain Marvel and Thor) try to keep Thanos from grabbing them all from the Infinity Watch. The storyline from all of these other annuals wraps up here as Coulson and the death stone meets up with the rest of the Infinity Watch.

NYX #3. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Francesco Mortarino. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the cover art. The mutant Anole makes his way back to where he began… with the Morlocks. Meanwhile, there seems to be a traitor inside the team with Ms. Marvel and Wolverine.

Feral #6. “Patchwork” Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. Feral is back after an hiatus and we see more of the spread of the rabies among some of the characters that we have come to know over the first five issues. This is a surprising emotional tale of a group of cats and other animals and the danger that they are in.

Amazing Spider-Man #58. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Morry Hollowell. Spider-Man and Tombstone begin what is to be advertised as one of the most violent fights in Marvel Comics. Spidey is trying to stop Tombstone from killing his own daughter for turning him in. It does kick off with some blood and more brutality than you would expect in ASM. This is the penultimate issue of Zeb Wells ASM run.

Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #1. “Claws of the Chimera”. Created by Christopher Sequeira. Phillip Cornell, Dave Elsey, and Jan Scherpenhuizen. Cover art by Dave Elsey (Bronze Medalist). I saw this on the Midtown website and I was disappointed because I missed it in Previews. So I was really excited when I saw one copy of this at Comic World. I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes and was happy to be able to pick it up.

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #2. Written by Steve Foxe with art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Leinil Francis Yu & Dean White. Druig is here, controlling the Mole Man, as Chasm and Hallows’ Eve try and get him loose, while Kaine continues to search for his ‘brother.’ This is an interesting series with several Spider-Man adjacent characters.

Uncanny X-Men #3. “The Inside Man” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. The four young mutants that arrived recently start their training, trying to retrieve a belt, held by Nightcrawler. Things do not go as expected.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #3. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling & Ivan Fiorelli. David Yardin & Alex Sinclair did the cover art. Silvermane and Nefaria face off with Elektra and end up sending her to attack the new Punisher.

Werewolf By Night: Red Band #2. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. Elsa Bloodstone is wanting to help Jack Russell discover why he may have started his brutal killings. Elsa went to the Midnight Mission to seek help from Moon Knight, or at least look for info from Khonshu. I really do not think this comic needs a “Red Band” label, nor the bag it comes in to prevent people from looking inside. Some heads cut off, but nothing too out of bounds.

Drawing Blood #6. “The Cat’s Meow.” Script by David Avallone and pencils by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the cover art. “Books” in Hollywood with all kinds of shenanigans going down.

Deadpool Team-Up #2. Written and penciled by Rob Liefeld. Most of this issue featured the hero vs. hero battle between Deadpool and Wolverine facing off against Crystar in Weirdworld. Crystar showed himself off as a bad ass in this battle. Then, at the end of the issue, with the three heroes together finally, a dragon requires the arrival of the Hulk!

Man Goat & the Bunnyman: Beware the Pigman #3. Written by Joe Brusha and artwork by Taylor Esposito. Cover art by Mike Krome & Ivan Nunes. Phil and Floyd wrapped up their battle with Baphomet as their latest mini series comes to an end. However, there was a clear cliffhanger at the end indicating that there will be more Man Goat & Bunnyman in the future (YAY!).

Ultimate Spider-Man #9. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Peter wants to change costumes so there is no question about Tony Stark being able to trace him. Otto Octavius, who worked for the Osborns, tries to give Peter a version of the Iron Spider outfit. Peter wants something less. Ultimate Spider-Man has been the most consistently good Ultimate books so far.

Hello Darkness #3. Once again, this is a horror anthology with a variety of stories by a group of writers and artist. Erica Slaughter returned this issue with a James Tynion IV penned continuation of the story. Cover art was by Paolo Rivera (Silver Medalist).

Phoenix #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art was by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Corsair takes on the Black Order over a group of exiled Asgardians who had attempted to overthrow Odin. I have enjoyed this cosmic Phoenix stories that we have gotten so far in this new series. I like Jean as Phoenix and not being seen as the villain.

Namor #3. “And God Moved Upon the Face of the Waters.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Alexander Lozano did the cover art. More flashbacks to the past life of Namor as we see him very brutal as the avenging warrior of Atlantis. I am finding this series to be very well done. Jason Aaron has done some wonderful writing in this series.

Standstill #2. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson. This is such a cool comic. Spy action but what I really love about the book is the size of the panels in the book. These panels are extra large and it really makes the story jump off the page more than a typical comic.

X-Force #3. “The Walking Man” Written by Geoffrey Thorne and art by Marcus To. Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo did the cover art. X-Force vs. Nuklo. Nuklo is a giant and he was truly difficult to battle.

Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #1. Written by Gerry Dugan with art and cover art by John McCrea. I really enjoyed this issue. It was an unsuspecting protagonist that the story seemed to imply had been around awhile. It made me think that there was another series featuring this Dead Eyes. I went to eBay and, sure enough, there was a 2019 series from Gerry Duggan. I promptly ordered it. I liked this one a lot.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #4. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. We learn more about the dark and bloody backstory of Edwyn. There is a truly disturbing scene with his mother. I can certainly see why he cuts off heads and put them in plastic bags. This has been a really wild book.

Other books this week: Phases of the Moon Knight #2, Predator vs. Black Panther #2, Black Cloak #8, Moon Man #4, Kill All Immortals #3, Nights #11, and Self Help #4.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #116

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September 21

Another big week of books. Of course, it has become a regular occurrence for me to have this amount of books as my collecting has expanded over the years. Lots of new independent books this week.

I enjoyed the two new comic based TV shows, Agatha All Along on Disney + and The Penguin on HBO Max. This will make the middle of the week all the more enjoyable moving through the spooky season.

I have received two of the final three issues of Ice Cream Man that I was missing from eBay this week, and the final issue that I need will be arriving some time soon. I have been trying to fill out the Ice Cream Man series, which I have really enjoy. Todd told me that the issues have been elevating in price recently because a potential TV show based on the IP. I did drop some $ on these final three issues that I was missing, but I am happy to have the series filled out.

Books this week:

The Tin Can Society #1. Story by Peter Warren & Rick Remender. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art by Francesco Mobili and Chris Chuckry. My favorite new book of the week. This is a murder mystery among a group of old friends…the victim which was a handicapped man with a power armor that was missing. I was hooked immediately.

X-Men #4. “Upstarts” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Variant cover art by J. Scott Campbell & Tanya Lehoux. The X-Men face off with Trevor Fitzroy and the Upstarts. The issue ends with the reappearance of an old Age of Apocalypse villain that I used to have an awesome action figure of… Sugar Man!

The Moon is Following Me #1. Written by and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson. Cover art is done by Mike Spicer. This new Image book is interesting. It has a strange. kind of fantasy-like setting, but there is something at the end that throws everything that happened in the story into a different thought.

Dazzler #1. “Out and Proud” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art by Terry & Rachel Dodson. Dazzler is back from the dead and back on the stage and an attack by Scorpia gets worked into the show. This is a nice return to the world of mutants for Alison.

The Masked Macher #1. Written by David A. Goodman and art by Alex Andres. An actor on his way to an audition winds up in the wrestling ring as the Masked Macher, a hooded wrestler who had just died. His wife needed someone to step through the ropes… and here we are.

Deadpool #6. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Rogê Antonio. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. As Wade is slow to heal, Taskmaster takes Deadpool’s daughter Ellie and Princess on a mission. Then bad things are happening to Deadpool.

X-Factor #2. “We Could Be Heroes” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Greg Land, Jay Leisten & Frank D’Armata do the cover art. Havok and Polaris had issues between the Mutant Underground. Is Polaris a spy? Which direction will Havok go? This new series is focused on this couple’s story through the first couple of issues.

Spider-Society #2. Written by Alec Segura and art by Scott Godlewski & Andres Genolet. Pete Woods did the cover art (Silver Medalist). The Sinister Squadron is up to take on the Spider-Society and we see an evil version of Madame Web leading them. And it was a familiar face beneath that Madame Webb mask… it was who everyone thought of when we first met Madame Web way back when.

Avengers #18. “Impact” Part Two. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Valerio Schiti. Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX did the cover art. Hyperion is on a literal crash course with earth and the Avengers look to try and stop him in any way they can. Thor resigns from the Avengers this issue too.

Spider-Boy Annual #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Carlos Nieto. The individual Infinity stone holders are coming together as the arch across the various annuals are to its penultimate annual. And how cruel to take poor Coulson’s burger.

Ice Cream Man #41. “Spy Story (Or My Best Graham Greene Impression).” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art is done by Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran (Gold Medalist). A secret agent story with some weird monstrous creature involved. Ice Cream Man is some of the most creative comic horror stories around.

The Graveyard Club #1. Written by R.L. Stein and illustrated by Carola Borelli. Cover art was done by Miguel Mercado. This is a big first issue of this Boom! comic. A group of outcasts are involved in a ton of strangeness centered around the graveyard. Some of these characters are not very likable.

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2. There are three shorter stories in this issue centered around the time when Peter wore the symbiote. Daredevil guest starred in one of the stories as they take on Bullseye in a snow storm. This cover art is done by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Edgar Delgado.

Incredible Hulk #17. “City of Idols” Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art and cover art by Nic Klein. The Hulk is on his way to try and save Charlie, but he did not know that approaching the Eldest mean that Hulk could not save Charlie without sacrificing himself. This was a much better issue of the Hulk than the last few have been.

Ultimate X-Men #7. Written, drawn and cover art by Peach Momoko. This is a very different book than anything else in the Ultimate Universe and I really like that. Peach Momoko is quite a talent with the cover art, but I do enjoy her work on this series too.

Dark Knight of Steel: Allwinter #3. “Bat Country.” Written by Jay Kristoff and art and cover by Tirso (Bronze Medalist). This Elseworlds series continues along with Slade taking the kid to the city and running into a Batman-Superman type of amalgam. I’m not sure why Bruce seems to have Superman powers. I wonder if this is a return to this setting from another series where some of these things have been introduced prior. I have been liking this a lot though.

Sam and Twitch Case Files #6. Script/plot by Todd McFarlane and Jon Goff was the co-plotter. Art was done by Szymon Kudranski. Cover art was by Mark Spears & Thomas Nachlik. Twitch is in deep trouble as there are dead bodies everywhere. I do like this down to earth take on a detective series in the Spawn universe.

Spirits of Vengeance #1. Written by Sabir Pirzada and art by Sean Damien Hill. Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim does the cover art. Ghost Rider returns as does Vengeance. Vengeance was hanging in a corm field as a scarecrow? That has to be the scariest scarecrow of all time.

Other books this week: Wolverine: Deep Cut #3, Deathlok #50, Gilt Frame #2, Lawful #4, and Huge Detective #2.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #115

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September 14, 2024

Not much to say this week. Jumping right in to the books I picked up.

Duck and Cover #1. Written by Scott Snyder and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. An interesting new book from Dark Horse. This gives us an alternate reality of 1955 and the story of a group of teenagers, that have been instructed to “duck and cover” as a way to protect themselves from a nuclear bomb. When the bomb goes off and the teens come out from beneath those life-saving desks, they find a post-apocalyptic world that they need to survive. Pretty good start to this new series. Hope you’re happy, Todd.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #1. Written by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier and illustrated and cover art by Sergio Aragones (Bronze Medalist). The Minstrel and his daughter Kayli are traveling the land, singing about the misadventures of Groo. I love the Wanderer.

Amazing Spider-Man #57. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Morry Hollowell. Tombstone is in jail. He does not stay there long. He is out trying for revenge on the person who put him there… his daughter Janice.

Time Waits #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky and David Brothers and illustrated by Marcus To & Marvin Sianipar. Marcus To was the cover artist. I have been enjoying the books coming out of DSTLRY, and the new Time Waits is another excellent start. This is told in a fascinating manner, with flashbacks that just appear in the narrative and kind of do not make sense. I am looking forward to the next issue.

Geiger #6. Creators Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Cover art by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson (Gold Medalist). A story focusing on Barney, the two headed dog that has been an important piece over the last couple of issues. Barney and a bunch of the other animals involved in this issue. Good stuff.

Transformers #12. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. Optimus Prime makes a major decision. Cybertron or Earth? There are some major issues among the Autobots here too.

Spider-Man: Reign 2 #3. Written, drawn and cover art by Kaare Andrews. MJ has the Venom symbiote. Miles and Peter face off. I have to say that Peter’s gigantic white beard is somewhat distracting, but the discovery of what happened was powerful. This has been a good series, even though I am not a huge fan of these alternate stories.

Captain America #13. “The Last Stand of the Front Door, Part 2” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. I have not been a fan of this arc of Captain America, but this finale of that arc was okay. Cap was definitely kick ass here, but I am glad the comic moves on to another storyline next issue (which looks like it will co-star Thor and Spidey).

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #9. “The Killing of Moon Knight” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Devmalya Pramanik. Davide Paratore did the cover art. This issue brings to a close the “new” Moon Knight, aka Shroud. Khonshu wants Shroud dead and he ordered Marc Spector to do it. This is the final issue of this series as we get a new Moon Knight title coming soon.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2. “Super Mutant Turtle Power Go!” Script by Jason Aaron and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. I really loved the first issue of Jason Aaron’s TMNT book, but issue two is not as amazing. It is still good as we focus on Michelangelo and his new career as an action actor.

Red Before Black #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Goran Sudžuka. Val and Leo have a throwdown in a cafe over breakfast. Yet they end up somewhere completely different. This new book has some cool moments and some originality.

Uncanny X-Men #2. “Red Wave” Part Two. Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. We get introduced to the Outliers, a new group of mutants that Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee and Nightcrawler have to deal with. We also have a new character named Sarah that is somehow tied to an early Charles Xavier. Gail Simone is an outstanding writer and she has a cool concept working with this version of the X-Men.

Ain’t No Grave #5. Written by Skottie Young and art by Jorge Corona. Ryder challenges death in this series finale issue. It is a real jaw-dropper of an issue. I did not expect the conclusion of this story to happen the way that it did. I was very impressed with the way this mini-series concluded.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #5. “Haunted” Part 5. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen is out to try an help Chameleon, whose powers have gone haywire. Plus, they were being pursued by forces, as well as having to battle Vermin.

Blood Hunters #2. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Robert Gill. Ema Lupacchino and GURU-eFX did the cover art. Elsa Bloodstone seems to be fairly unhinged and she is anything but happy about vampire Miles Morales. However, she is forced to work with him against the Bloodcoven.

Jonny Quest #2. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Chad Hardin did the cover art. The new Dynamite comic of Jonny Quest is once again a great book, as we get past Jonny and the future Jonny try and find a way to get the Quest family back where they came from. This has been a solid start to this series so far.

Space Ghost #5. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. Another Dynamite book that has been awesome. Space Ghost is desperate as he tries to save Jan and Jace from the clutches of Zorak. Then, Jace drops a bomb at the end of the issue.

Avengers Assemble #1. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Cory Smith. Cover art by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. The new Avengers Emergency Response Squad starts to assemble under the leadership of Captain America. It is nice to see Jarvis once again and it is fun to see the plethora of the heroes arriving, answering the call of the Avengers. There is also a battle with Sin.

Fantastic Four #25. “Star-Crossed” Written by Ryan North and drawn by Carlos Gomez. Joshua Cassara & Dean White did the cover art. Okay, this is a love story. And a weird one with Johnny Storm falling in love with an alien. And Star-crossed is a good example of the story here.

The Department of Truth #25. Written by James Tynion IV and drawn and cover art by Martin Simmonds. There are actually a series of other artists who worked on this issue, which details more about the life and ties of Lee Harvey Oswald and may even insinuate that the assassination of JFK was done by the fictional woman. The Department of Truth is always full of wild ideas in storytelling.

Wolverine #1. “In the Bones” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo (Silver Medalist). Logan is running with a pack of wolves. The whole X-Men thing was weighing on Logan and Nightcrawler came to try and get him back. Cyber is there hunting Logan too.

Other books this week: The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #12, Profane #4, Wonderland: Return to Madness #3, Domain #3, and Ultimate Black Panther #8.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #114

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September 6, 2024

Friday afternoon and I am diving into the EYG Comic Cavalcade for the week.

This weekend, I am heading up to Dubuque to the Dubuque Comic & Toy Show this Sunday at the Five Flags Event Center. I went last year and had some fun. This year WWE Hall of Famer Honky Tonk Man is in attendance. Not sure I am going to do anything with him, but he does connect back to my childhood. I know Comic World will have a presence at the event, so I will probably go to their table as well.

Books this week:

Exceptional X-Men #1. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Carnero & Nolan Woodard did the cover art. Another new X-book, this time featuring Kate Pryde, who has apparently stopped demanding that people call her Kate and reclaimed the name of Kitty. Thank goodness. I was very tired of that little bit of character development. I am very pleased with Kitty becoming a somewhat happy person again.

Plastic Man No More #1. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). Plastic Man has always been a comedy character, but this new take on him brings a more serious tone to him as he is starting to break down. Can he escape the Justice League’s laughs to help himself or save the fate of his son?

Minor Arcana #1. Written, illustrated, and cover art by Jeff Lemire. The brand new series from the creative mind of Jeff Lemire appeared this week, focusing on the daughter of a local psychic who returned to her hometown to try and take care of her mother. Of course, there are more things going down than just that as any Lemire book can tell you.

Daredevil #13. “Introductory Rites, Part Thirteen” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Chris Campana. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove did the cover art. Daredevil is facing off with the demons that have been torturing him over the last thirteen issues as things are coming to a head. And you see the Kingpin unlike you have ever seen him before.

The Ultimates #4. Written by Deniz Camp and guest artist Phil Noto. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon are the cover artists (Gold Medalist). Doctor Doom of the Ultimate universe is trying to reestablish the Fantastic Four, but there has not been a huge success as of yet.

Incredible Hulk #16. “Lament for a Fallen Crown, Part Two“. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earls. Nic Klein is the cover artist. This weird Hulk story arc continued this issue and I have just not been much of a fan of what is happening so far. I remain optimistic that things may pick up.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #24. “Birds of a Feather, Part Two.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Newly vampired-up, Miles is desperate to maintain his bloodlust, but his anger is loosed upon The Vulture.

What If…? Donald Duck Became The Mighty Thor #1. “Donald Thor vs. the Stone Ducks of Saturn.” Variant cover art by Walter Simonson & Laura Martin. The fun Disney/Marvel mishmashes return with Donald Duck this time finding the enchanted walking stick that would transform into Mjolnir and change Donald into the Mighty Thor.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #7. “The Kitchen Sink.” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. Peter and Miles bring down K.N.A.I.V.E. (which stands for New Artificial Intelligence Villain Extreme… the K is silent).

Animal Pound #5. “Who’s A Good Dog?” Written by Tom King and illustrated by Peter Gross. Variant cover art by Jorge Fornes. This thrilling series brought to a conclusion with plenty of shocking moments. Animal Farm mixed with the ins and outs of current day politics brings you this amazing series. I have no idea who Piggy is meant to represent (hmm… it ain’t Tim Walz).

Spider-Boy #11. “Massive Course Correction.” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Paco Medina and Edgar Delgado did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Bailey Briggs is back in the memories of the world after spending the last three years out of their minds. The memories bring Bailey’s mother back into the mix, and her parenting style may be shunting his buzz.

The Immortal Thor #15. “Return of the King.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. Thor has taken in the power of Zeus… and it may be too much. And how does Loki play into this? Thor is the King of Asgard and he has some power.

Scarlet Witch #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jacopo Camagni. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman. Wanda vs. Griever battle to see if Wanda can come back alive. Quicksilver and Polaris play huge roles in the adventure too.

Public Domain #8. “New Life.” Written and drawn by Chip Zdarsky. More drama surrounding the creation of the new Domain comic book. How fun is it to hire a new letterer? Find out here.

Uncanny Valley #5. Written by Tony Fleecs and art and cover art by Dave Wachter. Oliver is facing off with The First, with a little help from his mother and his grandfather Pecos Pete. This has been a remarkably creative series so far and this penultimate issue sets up a powerful final.

Rook Exodus #5. Creators Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok. Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson did the cover art. Rook is having problems connecting with his flock because of his own deep seeded traumas. Can Pumba help Rook straighten things out? Rook Exodus has been a really solid part of the Ghost Machine imprint.

Moon Knight Annual #1. Written by Dan Watters and artist Marco Renna. Salvador Larroca & Edgar Delgado does the cover art. The Mind Stone is playing havoc with Colleen Wing. And Nightmare does not help the situation at all. Moon Knight steps up and tries to help out.

Get Fury #5. “As Flies to Wanton Boys.” Written by Garth Ennis and penciled by Jacen Burrows. Cover art was done by Dave Johnson. Frank Castle has finally found Nick Fury in the Hanoi Hilton… or at least what remains of Nick Fury. There are some actually disturbing images of Nick Fury in this book. There is a reason it is listed as ‘explicit content.’

Other books this week: Venom War: Spider-Man #2, The Boy Wonder #5, Spider-Man: Homeroom Heroes #1, Marvel Zombies: Dawn of Decay #1, Arkham Horror #2, and The Infernals #5.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #113

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September 1, 2024

2024 is flying by. We’ve reached September already, and, before you know it, we’ll be ringing in 2025.

We are currently running the EYG Hall of Fame ballot on the main page. As I was thinking about that, I realized that I should have announced the EYG Hall of Fame Comic Wing Inductees for 2024 in the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I inducted the following earlier this year: Avengers Annual #10, Saga #54, Future Imperfect #1-2, New Mutants #98, Top 10 #8, The Boys #1, and Tales of the Teen Titans #44. Congratulations to this year’s class.

EBay pick ups this week included The Tick #11 from the original run of comics from New England Comics. I am down to just two Ticks from that first series missing in my collection. I also had some trouble with an eBay seller who apparently couldn’t find two of the books that I had purchased from him. He wanted to replace the books with a couple of other books. This was the second time this had happened, so, just because I was annoyed, I said fine. In the end, he did find the two books I wanted and he also sent me the Amazing Spider-Man variant #666 for free. In the end it turned out acceptable and I got the Amazing Spider-Man books (#554, 632,659,660, and 662) I had ordered.

Books from this week:

Something is Killing the Children #40. “Road Stories Part Five” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’Edera (Bronze Medalist). This might have been my favorite book of the week as Erica goes through the memories of one of her most traumatic monster fights that ends with an unspeakable tragedy. This “Road Stories” has been some of the best stand alone issues of the series so far.

Last Mermaid #6. Written and drawn by Derek Kirk Kim. The final issue of Last Mermaid, for now. This book has been an amazing one, with beautiful art, with sweeping imagery filling each page. The very end of the book lists a “To Be Continued” tag so it tells me that we may not be done yet with the story of the Last Mermaid.

Life #1. Written by Brian Azzarello and Stephanie Phillips with art and cover art by Danijel Žeželj. DSTLRY have been doing some of the most creative and original books. Admittedly, the release dates of them have been a bit… scattered, shall we say. However, Life#1 has two stories and two covers and brings some solid sci-fi storytelling to comics.

Hello Darkness #2. This anthology series continued this month with a bunch of stories from the horror genre. My favorite one this issue is probably “The Clown” by Azam Raharjo. I love the stylistic black and white this story is presented in. There are other stories from Frederik Hornung, Wes Craig, Robert Hack and Garth Ennis.

X-Men #3. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Cover art is by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Marte Gracia. Scott Summers has a meeting with Agent Lundqvist in a little coffee house and they have an intense discussion about the X-Men and the future. Scott end the issue looking as if he were having a panic attack. The new X-books have all been very solid to start and I hope they can maintain this quality.

Aliens vs. Avengers #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art and cover art by Esad Ribić. I wonder if Jonathan Hickman can ever write a Marvel story inside of continuity? With the resurgence of the Xenomorphs on the big screen, a conflict with the Avengers feels right. This book was pretty good too.

NYX #2. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and art by Francesco Mortarino. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the art on the cover. Young mutants are being lured to the control of the mysterious Mr. Friend and Laura wants to do something about it. A surprising villain is shown as being behind Mr. Friend.

Fantastic Four #24. “If It Wasn’t Forever…” Written by Ryan North and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art by Alex Ross. Marvel’s First Family continued with the adventure from last issue by trying to help save a little tentacled alien that was choking Johnny Storm. I was not as fond of this space story as I have been of the rest of this run of FF. It was still a competent read.

Saga #68. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and drawn and cover art by Fiona Staples. There are so many awesome characters in Saga that you could go issues without seeing them and not miss out on anything. Saga is one of the easiest and yet most involved reads every month and I am so glad that it has come back to a regular release schedule… hopefully for the foreseeable future.

The Nice House By the Sea #2. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Alvaro Martinez Bueno 9Gold Medalist). The group of people together at the end of everything continue to interact and show more about their characters. They are doing that while wild things are going on around them. Tynion IV still one of the best writers working today and this is a great example of his work.

Deadpool Team-Up #1. Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld. Liefeld and Juan Manuel Rodriguez did the art for the cover. Deadpool fighting dragons? Yes please. But I will be honest and say that the biggest draw of this series is the appearance of Crystar, Lord of Crystallium. I was shocked when I saw him on the cover back in the Previews because I knew he was based on a toy and I did not know that Marvel had the rights to the character. I bought the Crystar books when they first came out and I like the character a lot.

Universal Monsters Frankenstein #1. Written, drawn and cover art by Michael Walsh. This is the third series of Universal Monsters from Image, following Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Frankenstein is one of the most iconic of all monsters and this fresh take blends the classic bits of the story with some new takes that really work.

Amazing Spider-Man #56. Written by Zeb Wells with art by John Romita Jr. Cover art was by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. This is Legacy number 950 for Amazing Spider-Man. I still wish they would just leave the legacy number as the number of the issue, but who am I? I love it when Peter shows how smart he is and he does so when Tombstone tries to deliver a message to Spider-Man by killing his “friend” Peter Parker.

Captain America #12. “The Last Stand of the Front Door, Part 1” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Jesus Saiz. Taurin Clarke did the art for the cover. I am not a fan of this Cap and the demons and this weird door story that has been going on through the Captain America series recently. I hope the “Last Stand” doesn’t take them too long.

X-Force #2. “Igubu Lika-Anansi” Written by Geoffrey Thorne and art by Marcus To. Phil Noto did the variant “Disco Dazzler” cover art. X-Force heads into Wakanda to confront someone claiming to be Black Panther. I do like this new team, but I really do not know the characters very well. I hope to learn more about them as this series progresses.

Ultimate X-Men #6. Written, drawn and cover art by Peach Momoko. Shadow King makes his appearance in this book and it takes an intriguing turn. I am not 100% sure I know what happened, but I do like the seemingly bizarre twist that the book took. I still love how this book is so different than any other X-Men book we have and how this Ultimate book is not just the same X-Men in a different setting.

Drawing Blood #5. Written by David Avallone and art by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the art on the cover. Shane “Books” Bookman is facing all kinds of troubles. Now the FBI wants a piece of him. Books has to try and weave through the Lithuanians as well as keep his comic publishing company afloat. Oh, and he has to go to Hollywood. While this series originally was not one I looked forward to, by now I am into it and I have enjoyed the last several issues quite a bit.

Void Rivals#12. Written by Robert Kirkman and art and cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. I just complained last issue that things were starting to feel repetitive with this series. So this issue, Solila and Darak head in their own separate directions, with their own missions to complete. We get a powerful goodbye between these two who have spent the last eleven issues together and have developed something more than just friendship.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #4. “Haunted, Part 4” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen is going through some troubles in 616 universe. It seemed as much of it was coming from Chameleon. Is it though?

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Andrea Broccardo. Leinil Francis Yu & Dean White did the cover art. Ben Reilly is back and the focus of this new series which includes his “brother” Kaine. There is also a intriguing appearance from the Eternal Druig and the Mole Man. Lots going on here.

Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1. This featured a ton of writers and artists as Wolverine and Deadpool’s head take a special tour of the Museum of Heroism in the 85th Century. We get several shorts featuring such characters as Ms. Marvel, Spicer-Man, Excalibur, and a Moon Knight. Koore Andrews did the cover art.

Incredible Hulk Annual #1. Written by Derek Landry and art by Geoff Shaw. Cover art is by Salvador Larroca & GURU-eFX. What more could you want besides Hulk vs. Thanos for the Mind Stone? And you may be surprised who winds up with it. This also includes the sixth chapter of the Death Stone Saga written by Derek Landry and art by Sara Pichelli. Fury and Coulson vs. Nighthawk.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House #3. Written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Javier Rodriguez. Variant cover by Tula Lotay. The Zatanna series is getting stranger by the issue as we get a woman with rabbit ears and we follow her down the Bunny Well. This has been a weird series so far, as a book about using and not using magic should be. And it is only going to get weirder as John Constantine shows up on the last page.

Phases of the Moon Knight #1. “The Once and Future Knight” and “Crusader“. First story written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Manuel Garcia. Second story written by Benjamin Percy and art by Rod Reis. Cover art was by Mateus Manhanini. This is an anthology series that will tell stories of the different Moon Knights over the years. This one starts with the Shroud and ends up with the Moon Knight of the Old Crusades. It is an intriguing concept. I’m not sure there is enough to sustain this over time, but we’ll see.

Other books: Kill All Immortals #2, Nights #10, Killadelphia #35 (Silver Medalist), The Mammoth #3, and The Butcher’s Boy #4.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #112

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August 25, 2024

Welcome back to the Comic Cavalcade! This is a little later this week because school has started and it is more challenging to find the time available to read the large number of books I get during a week. Still, I got through the pile this week in decent time.

Todd returned from Connecticut where he spent time at Terrificon last weekend. He got a issue of Spider-Punk signed for me by Skottie Young. He had a bunch of signed books for himself as well as other patrons of Comic World. Thanks to Todd for the effort he put in.

He also brought back four issues of Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 for me. ASM #4, 6, 8, & 11. I have been working on my Amazing Spider-Man collection and Todd has been very helpful with that.

Books this week:

Gotham Central #1-4. I watched the new animated program Batman: Caped Crusader and I saw a YouTube show that was talking about it and they made a reference to a DC series called Gotham Central, which focused on the GCPD and kept the Batman in the background. That sounded very intriguing so I was able to pick up the 40-issue complete series on eBay. I started reading these and they were really interesting. The collection of police officers and detectives of the GCPD dealing with the world of Gotham and its crazy individuals (such as Mr. Freeze in issue one) is fascinating and watching them trying to do their jobs without the aid of the Bat is a great take on the Batman mythos. This series is written by Ed Brubaker who has done some epic crime comics over the years.

House of the Unholy graphic novel. And speaking of Ed Brubaker, he wrote this recently released graphic novel dealing with the past of a group of people who were known, when they were kids, as the Satanic Six. Drawn by Sean Phillips, House of the Unholy has a cool perspective and several twists that push the story forward.

Standstill #1. Written by Lee Loughridge with art and cover art by Andrew Robinson. This is a brand new series from Image Comics that gives us a protagonist who seems to be able to freeze time. I have to say, the book is very thick and the panels are larger than I am used to in a comic, but that entire presentation works extremely well. This was a great issue and I am very excited to see this one continue.

Black Cloak #7. Written by Kelly Thompson and art and cover art by Meredith McClaren. Black Cloak returned with its next story arc after a long break. It is five years after the event of the first story arc, specifically the fire that ended the last book. Essex was out of the Black Cloaks but she is pulled back in to work on a case by her former partner. This is a very extensive world and being able to return to it is a treat.

Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1-2. Written by Jay Kristoff and art by Tirso. Back up story written by Tom Taylor and featured art by Riccardo Federici. This is a DC Elseworlds series that I usually would not pick up, but the issue #2 intrigued me on the stand this week so I grabbed it and was able to find issue #1 too. This book does some awesome stuff dealing with black and white color design and the arrival of color is shocking. I do love Tom Taylor so his backup story was also a selling point.

Ultimate Spider-Man #8. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. It is a birthday party for Richard and May. The Ultimate Spider-Man books have been heavily dialogue based so far and I do love the characterization going on in this book.

Man Goat and the Bunnyman: Beware the Pigman #2. Written by Joe Brusha and artwork by Jordi Perez. Cover art was by Igor Vitorino & Ivan Nunes. Phil and Floyd are once more in the clutches of Baphomet and must battle the forces of the demon to try and save themselves.

Blow Away #5. Written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Nicola Izzo. Cover art by Annie Wu. This series comes to a close with Brynne determining what happened on that fateful night on the mountain, when she filmed what seemed like a mountain climber falling to his death. What she found out was that there was much more to the story. The covers on all of these five issues were always so beautiful.

Namor #2. “The Crimson Swim” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Cover art was by Alexander Lozano. Flashback to the youth of Prince Namor continue in this issue as we meet an important figure in Namor’s past that will now play a role in his present.

Redcoat #5. Creators were Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Cover art was by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson (Bronze Medalist). Redcoat has picked up business in this series. We find out the truth about the identity of the Grand Architect, and it is not whom we thought it was. I do like the use of historical figures in this series. It reminds me very much of the early days of Killadelphia.

Wolverine: Revenge #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Greg Capullo. Cover art was by Capullo, Tim Townsend and FCO Plascencia. I was kind of looking forward to a new start with Wolverine, but this looks to be a series that is more like Avengers Twilight and is out of continuity. I am not as interested by that considering I have never been a big fan of that type of story. Still, Hickman is a solid writer and I may give this one another chance, but honestly, number one did not really do it for me.

Spider-Woman #10. “Say it Like You Mean It.” Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ig Guara. Leinil Francis Yu & Rachelle Rosenberg did the art for the cover. The latest series featuring Jessica Drew comes to a close with this issue. Jessica is out to help the kids of the Assembly and do whatever she could do to find and help her missing son, corrupted by Hydra. I will miss Spider-Woman as it has been a consistently well done book.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual #1. “On the Road.” Written by Cody Ziglar with art by David Baldeón. The main story of the annual sees Miles heading to Puerto Rico to visit his abuela, Gloria. This story saw zero use of the Spider-Man costume and had Miles just as Miles. And it was great. I really enjoyed this unlikely tale of Miles and his extended family.

Scarlet Witch #3. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Russell Dauterman & Jacopo Camagni. Cover art was by Russell Dauterman (Silver Medalist). Wanda faces off with Lore trying to get back t her life. Quicksilver, Polaris and Darcy are around too.

Deadpool #5. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Andrea Di Vito. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Deadpool faces a huge threat named Death Grip and he does not seem to be able to heal any longer. That makes it difficult when his arm is cut off. Deadpool’s daughter Elle is showing that she is quite capable too.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #3. Written by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. We are learning more about the past of Edwyn and why he may have a certain obsession about decapitation. This has been a very entertaining series so far, as any series can be with its protagonist sawing off heads.

Phoenix #2. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Jean Grey is very busy in the realms of space trying to redeem the reputation of the Phoenix. However, her mission is not helped by the arrival of her father-in-law, Corsair, especially as he seemed to be naked in much of this issue. That makes for an awkward conversation with Scott.

Red Before Black #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Goran Sudžuka . Red Before Black is a new series from BOOM! Studios that features two women and a whole bunch of twists. It was a challenging read, but I was very entertained while doing so.

Huge Detective #1. Written by Adam Rose and drawn by Magenta King. Cover art by Paul Pope & Lovern Kindzierski. We are introduced to the characters of Detective Tamaki and Gyant. Tamaki is human and Gyant is a Huge, which is basically a giant. They are working together to solve crimes. This has a noir crime/mystery feel to it and the book does a great job of setting up this new world to adventure within.

Get Fury #4. “Like All the Other G.I. Joes” Written by Garth Ennis and penciled by Jacen Burrows. Dave Johnson did the cover art (Gold Medalist). Frank Castle continues his mission inside Vietnam to either rescue or assassinate Nick Fury. This is a violent book (as it should be considering the characters and the situation) but Ennis does a great job of building the characters around Frank and providing with tense moments.

Giant Size Thor #1. “In Medias Res” Written by Al Ewing and art by Brian Level. Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair were the cover artists. Plucking eyes out lose its power if you can just heal them back. This issue not only has Thor surpassing his father Odin by plucking out both of his eyes, Thor and Hercules must face the antagonist literally known as Giant Size Thor. Massively mega.

Daredevil: Woman Without Fear#2. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling. David Yardin & Romulo Fajardo Jr are the cover artists. Elektra (don’t call her Lady Daredevil) takes on the new Punisher and they do not seem to be too anxious to team up afterwards. When you have two characters like this, this is how they should interact. No buddy-buddy. Just trying to kill each other.

Predator Versus Black Panther #1. Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Chris Allen with Sean Damien Hill, Craig Yeung and Lee Ferguson. I really enjoyed the Predator vs. Wolverine from last year, and this, to its credit, felt completely different from that.

Other books this week: Local Man #13, Lawful #3, Blood Squad Seven #4, Crocodile Black #4, Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance #6, and Self Help #3.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #111

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August 15, 2024

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. This is the last Comic Cavalcade before I go back to school. I have, once again, truly enjoyed the summer break when I could head up to Comic World every Wednesday and spend time reading the new comics in the afternoon. I looked forward to every Wednesday and I will miss it.

One of my favorite parts of going to Comic World on Wednesday is seeing my friend Todd. He is a former teacher who has been collecting comics since the early 1960s. He was not at my last day this summer because he took off for Terrificon, a comic convention held in Connecticut. There are a ton of comic luminaries in attendance (from Walter Simonson to Chris Claremont to Jim Lee, among others). Todd and a friend was driving up to the convention that started on Friday. Good luck at the con, Todd. Drive safely.

Photo from Telegraph Herald, taken by Michelle London .

Comic World was featured in an article in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald this past Sunday, including a picture of Ben, Pat and Todd. The article was about graphic novels and it was a fun read. It also featured comments by Loras professor Kenny Loui, ho himself had written two manga-inspired graphic novels, which I purchased on Amazon after reading the article. The graphic novels included books called Life Lessons from a UFO Catcher: An Autobiographical Manga and There is No Shrimp… And Other Lies My Mother Told Me. Telegraph Herald article can be found online at the following link: https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/features/article_b24a7f7a-4f78-11ef-98ba-83149323b470.amp.html

So, here are the books this week:

Werewolf By Night: Red Band #1. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. Cover art was done by E.M. Gist. Marvel has been playing around with “red band” comics during the Blood Hunt. This issue came in a polybag to keep the gimmick going. The red band was just to draw more blood than you would see in a normal Marvel Comic, but you see more blood in an episode of The Boys or Invincible. I do like the character of Jack Russell so this was fun, but I see no major reason for the red band label.

Fantastic Four #23. “Johnny Storm Gets Choked By an Alien in this One.” Written by Ryan North and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art is by Alex Ross. The best title of a comic this year. It was also a focus of the issue as Johnny Storm served as the issue’s narrator and told the story of the FF shrinking down and heading into a microscopic dimension with aliens of course. The FF is one of the most consistently enjoyable books of the year.

Amazing Spider-Man #55. Written by Zeb Wells and art by guest artist Emilio Laiso. Cover art was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz (Silver Medalist). Peter Parker goes on a date, but we know the Parker luck means that that date was due to be interrupted by super villains. Peter takes an unconventional step. This was a fun, palate-cleanser after the Blood Hunt stuff.

Jonny Quest #1. Written by Joe Casey and drawn by Sebastian Piriz. Variant cover C art by Tom Raney (Bronze Medalist). I had not intended on picking this up, though I was somewhat interested in the book, especially after enjoying the take on Space Ghost this year from Dynamite Comics. So when there was an issue available at Comic World yesterday, I picked it up. And wouldn’t you know it, it was epic. I have never been a Jonny Quest fan, but this was truly fun and enjoyable and filled with a really compelling story.

Judgment Day #1. Written by Aubrey Sitterson and line art and cover art by Megan Hutchison. This book is 2024’s White Savior #3. What I mean by that is I had ordered this awhile ago, but it just never arrived or it went to other people or whatever. I got issue #2 and #3, but never this one. I was joking that this issue did not exist. Finally this week, Judgment Day #1 arrived in my pull box to a minor celebration. Archie Andrews in a world overrun by demons. Sounds right.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3. “Haunted Part 3” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Federica Mancin. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen is in universe 616 and an evil doppelganger is running around causing trouble, and Gwen is showing some new and unsettling powers.

DC vs. Vampires: World War V #1. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and art and cover art by Otto Schmidt. This was another book I picked up off the stands yesterday as DC has their very own Blood Hunt, I guess. Except, of course, this is not normal continuity. I was curious about issue number one, but I do believe I have had my share of superhero v. vampire for the time being.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23. “Birds of a Feather Part One” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Miles struggles with his new bloodlust since becoming a vampire in the Blood Hunt. The new emotions are coming out of Miles in unexpected ways as he is becoming angrier and more violent.

Elric the Necromancer #2. Adapted by Julien Blondel & Jean-Luc Cano. Script by Julien Blondel and art by Valentin Secher. Elric and the Queen confront Arioch. Though this may be my least favorite cover of the year, the story inside is excellent and the tale of Elric continues on strongly.

Spider-Society #1. Written by Alex Segura and art by Scott Godlewski. Pete Woods was the cover artist. A group of Spider-men from across the Spider-verse join together to try and find Miguel O’Hara, who has been taken by someone. But beware, there is a traitor among the Spiders.

Spider-Boy #10. “Spider-Boy Versus the Spider-Verse!” and “A Bailey Reminder” Written by Dan Slott and art by Nathan Stockman and Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Median & Edgar Delgado. Miles is still lost among the Spider-verse as Madame Web is trying to find him and bring him back. There is a funny one-page “ad” as Miles gets caught in a Mostess ad (a parody of the old Twinkies ads from comics).

X-Factor #1. Written by Mark Russell and drawn by Bob Quinn. My goodness, what an unexpected issue this was. They introduced the new team of X-Factor working for the government, but, at the end, killed off some of them. I had to read over it a couple of times just to make sure I saw what I saw.

Iron Fist 50th Anniversary Special #1. Speaking of surprises, this anthology issue featured the final story for Danny Rand. At least, it sure looked like the final story for Danny Rand as they killed him off on the final page. Then the waxed about the character at the very end with the writers and editors. I know Danny has not been Iron Fist for awhile now, but this was still an unexpected and not necessarily happy result.

The Butcher’s Boy #1-3. Story by Landry Q. Walker and Pannel Vaughn. Script by Landry Q. Walker and art by Justin Greenwood. Greenwood with Brad Simpson did the cover art. This Dark Horse book was one that I missed earlier, so they all arrived yesterday. It is the story of a group of friends and their trip to a ghost town, plagued by a serial killer. I was surprised how much interaction there was between characters and I certainly found this fascinating.

Sensation She-Hulk #10. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Andres Genolet. Dee Cunniffe did the cover art. The final issue of the Sensational She-Hulk saw Jen decide about her career as an Avenger and her relationship with Jack of Hearts. I have enjoyed She-Hulk over the last few years and I am sorry to see her book go.

X-Men #2. “Invasion” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Scott, Magik and Psylocke head after a new mutant whose powers are developing much later in life, a trend that they had been seeing lately. This group of X-Men do work well together, especially with the Juggernaut-cannon. It was like the ultimate fastball special.

Wonderland: Return to Madness #2. Written by Alec Worley and art by Giulia Pellegrini. Cover art was by Guillermo Fajardo (Gold Medalist). The adventures inside Wonderland continue with Violet, in search of a way to resurrect her mother. Can Violet protect the human girl Bonnie, who has some connection to the fate of Wonderand?

The Ultimates #3. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. This was my favorite Ultimates book so far as Iron Lad, Thor and Sif go to an island that had been devastated by Gamma radiation, the site of the Ultimates Hulk. The issue was more emotional than I expected and is setting up an awesome confrontation.

Geiger #5. Creators Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Frank & Brad Anderson did the cover. Another unexpected emotional issue with the glowing man and his dog. Very powerful. In fact, the cover of this book was really missed during the cover of the week contest. It probably should have placed among the medalist, if not actually won it. This one was really strong and the entire book is one of the best of the week.

Ultraman x Avengers #1. Written by Kyle Higgins & Mat Groom. Art was by Francesco Manna and cover art was by Dike Ruan & Neerja Menon. I got this because it was a Marvel #1, but I found myself unexpectedly enjoying this issue a lot. Perhaps because it focused on Miles Morales and included Peter Parker Spider-Man as well. This was fun and I want to see more.

Transformers #11. Written by Danie Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art was done by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer. Optimus Prime launches a rescue mission to save Cliffjumper and Jazz. Things do not go well.

Immortal Thor #14. “The Wheel” Legacy number 775 for Thor. Written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. Thor vs. Zeus. ‘Nuff Said.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #8. “Three Moments” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Marc Spector returned to the Midnight Mission after his resurrection in the Blood Hunt.

Other books this week: Anansi Boys #2, Domain #2, Napalm Lullaby #6, Gilt Frame #1, Wolverine Annual #1, and Venom War: Spider-Man #1

EYG Comic Cavalcade #110

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Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. We have a new banner this week. I do love putting together the new banners when it feels as if it is time. This one has several of the more recent books represented. This is the first non-special banner that did not have some variant of Spider-Man on it.

Books this week:

Refrigerator Full of Heads #1-6. This DC series was written by Rio Youers and drawn by Tom Fowler. I picked up a couple of these issues a week or so ago at Comic World because they looked interesting and I like horror books and then I filled out the remaining part of the six-issue series on eBay. This was a real hoot. I loved the story and the fact that there were decapitated, talking heads inside a refrigerator? What’s not to love. An awesome appearance by a chopped off shark’s head too. This was a lot of fun and shows a whole lot of creativity. One wonders if this series inspired the Plastics: Death and Dolls creators. By the way, the guy on eBay who I ordered the series from also sent me Heart Eyes #1 for free. It is from Vault Comics and I enjoyed it enough that I purchased 2-5 on eBay.

Uncanny X-Men #1. Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art by Marquez and Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). I love Gail Simone. She is extremely engaging and entertaining on X and she writes a beautifully powerful story for this new iteration of Uncanny X-Men. It also contains perhaps the best lineup of all of the new X-books with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and Rogue at the heart. This starts out hot!

Spider-Man: Black Suit and Blood #1. This has four stories contained inside and three of them are okay. The first story in the book, focusing in on a small time crook named Joe Face, is a wonderful story of redemption and humanity. The first story was written by J.M. DeMatteis, who always seems to have a really strong grasp on Spidey and the people in the web-head’s orbit.

Avengers #17. “Impact Part One” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Valerio Schiti. Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX did the cover art (Silver Medalist). New regular artist joins the Avengers and brings along Storm! Sam Wilson goes to find Storm and asks her to be the mutant representation on the team while the rest of the team struggled with their successes/failures during the Blood Hunt.

Incredible Hulk #15. “Lament for a Fallen Crown”: Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earles. Cover art by Nic Klein. I also picked up the Disco Dazzler variant cover by Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg (Bronze Medalist). Not sure I cared much for this issue of the Hulk. I am not sure what is going on and I’m not sure I am enjoying the path this book has taken.

The Last Starry Night: Vincent Van Gogh graphic novel. Written and drawn by Jamison Odone. This is a lovely graphic novel detailing the final days in the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh in a style of The Last Starry Night, one of the artist’s classic painting. The graphic novel is beautifully illustrated and dives deeply into the last days of Van Gogh, a physical and psychological investigation. I’m calling it now. Keep your eyes on this one for next year’s Eisner Awards.

Spectacular Spider-Men #6. “Fulfillment” Written by Greg Weisman and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Peter and Miles continue to battle robots in Arcadium. The robots, now with hammerhead at the lead, are the crimelords of the world, including Black Cat, which makes Peter uncomfortable.

Space Ghost #4. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina. This series has been awesome so far. It has done an amazing job of taking these characters that I only really know via the Space Ghost: Coast to Coast animated series, which made them all comedic, and turn them into serious characters. In this issue, we get Zorak and he is completely terrifying. He’s not just singing with Brak. He is monstrous and an epic villain that puts the fear of death into Space Ghost. Amazing.

Arkham Horror: The Terror at the End of Time #1. Script by Cullen Bunn and art by Andrea Mutti. Cover art was by Rafael Albuquerque. This new Dark Horse book is the next horror comic and it was interesting. It started off feeling kind of like a noir/period piece, but the horror comes quickly near the end of the book.

A Vicious Circle #3. Written by Mattson Tomlin and illustrated and cover art by Lee Bermejo. To be honest, I have not read this one yet. I could not believe when I saw this advertised in Previews because #2 had been released so long ago that it was one of those that I just never thought we’d see again. In fact, I looked up the release date for #2 and it was July 2023. Over a year ago. That is quite the gap in publication. Because of that, I want to go back and look at the previous issues to recap what was going on. What I do know is that this has some of the best art I have ever seen in comics/graphic novels. It is breathtaking how beautiful it is and perhaps this is the reason the release date was so spread out. I am looking forward to reading this with some prior knowledge restored.

Doctor Strange #18. “Deathless“. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Pasqual Ferry . Cover art was by Alex Ross. This feels like the final issue for Doctor Strange as he was coming to grips with the fact that he is no longer Sorcerer Supreme, a title he had to give up to Doctor Doom in order to save the planet during the Blood Hunt. I assume Doc will be back at some point.

The Big Burn #1. Written by Joe Henderson and drawn by Lee Garbett. Cover B was done by Tula Lotay. Carly and Owen met one day as they were both trying to rob the same bank. They fell in love and began a crime spree together. When they were finally caught, the Devil showed up to offer them a way out, if they sold him their souls. When they agreed, they realized that selling their souls cost them even more than they expected. After a near death experience where the Devil taunted him, Owen decided to recruit a team of thieves for the ultimate heist, to steal their souls back from hell. This was a fantastic first issue from DSTLRY and I am excited to see the next issue.

Venom War #1. Written by Al Ewing and art by Iban Coello. Coello & Frank O’Armata did the cover art. This is the new giant crossover among the Venom books. I am not a Venom collector, but I did glance through this issue. There were some moments with Spider-Man that I found intriguing, but I do not plan on following this whole new crossover with Venom.

Ain’t No Grave #4. “Depression” Written by Skottie Young and art and cover art by Jorge Corona. This book literally has two words in it. The entire book is told visually with the stunning artwork from Jorge Corona. “Hello, Ryder” are the only words in the whole script. That is an amazing accomplishment, to keep the energy of the book alive without any words at all.

Daredevil #12. “Introductory Rites” Part Twelve. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove did the cover art. Daredevil has to square off with the possessed Kingpin in a violent battle for his own life and faith.

The Deviant #7. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Joshua Hixson. This has been a consistently awesome series as they take a look at a serial killer in the most original way. There is a lot of discussion among these characters but it is never dull. This is another classic Tynion story.

Blood Hunters #1. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Robert Gill. Cover art was by Ema Lupacchino and GURU-eFX. From the pages of Blood Hunt comes a group of heroes out to take out the vampires of the world… Elsa Bloodstone, Hallows’ Eve, White Widow and Dagger… adn their first target… Miles Morales?

Spider-Man: Reign 2 #2. Written and drawn by Kaare Andrews. Brian Reber did the cover art. Old Man Spidey is back in time trying to desperately save MJ. This continues to be compelling, but I am never a fan of seeing Spider-Man who is willing to kill. That is so opposed to the character that it just does not fit, no matter what he has gone through. Still, the story is gripping and I hope it leads to Peter facing what he has become and reclaiming his humanity.

Other books this week: Public Domain #7, Free Agents #2, Cruel Universe#1, Ultimate Black Panther #7, Wolverine: Deep Cut #2, and The Boy Wonder #4.