August 10, 2023

Whoa, I have been working hard on my comic collection. Bags. Boards. Boxes. It’s been insane. I decided the other day that it was time to dive into the piles of comics around here in an attempt to get everything boxed and boarded and organized. It is quite the chore.

I bought four short boxes at Comic World just yesterday and they are basically accounted for, though I am still filling one with completed series. The box I am working on right now has Web of Spider-Man (2021), Savage Spider-Man, Sinister War, The Conjuring: The Lover, Silver Surfer: Rebirth, Ben Reilly: Spider-Man, Namor, Heroes Reborn in it so far. The biggest challenge is finding these complete issues. I know I have them, but who knows where they are boxed.

I pulled out a short box last night and it had a ton of issues from other series in it, with no organization at all. I have a bunch of boxes to go through that are already bagged and boarded and some that are not.

When I get through with this, my hope it to go into the older part of the collection and re-box/bag/board those books as well. That however, is down the road. A long term goal, if you will.

Yesterday was also the last day this summer that I could go to Comic World on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and spend the afternoon reading and hanging out with the employees there. My friend Todd, who has been a regular character in the Comic Cavalcade, has made my Wednesdays a lot of fun. I’m going to miss it when I have to head back to school next Wednesday. Of course, I will head down to Comic World after school next Wednesday to pick up my comics. Still, it will not be quite the same.

Update: Good news this week because Haunt Your to the End #3 was in my box at Comic World. It was the most recent issue 3 that was out this week. It is a pretty decent horror story, with the characters in search of ghosts to prove their existence. However, the issue three trauma remains as I am still missing The Seasons Have Teeth #3. I have #4 in my hands right now, but three is still a mystery.

This week’s DC Knight Terrors issues were really good. Night Terrors #3 was really enjoyable despite one of the ugliest variant covers I have seem. Knight Terrors: Robin#2 was excellent with Jason Todd and Tim Drake working together. Knight Terrors: The Flash #2 was probably the weakest of the issues, but told a good story with Barry and Wall. Knight Terrors: Zatanna #2 was very good too. I liked the pairing of Zatanna and Robotman. Knight Terrors: Shazam #2 featured Mary Marvel and showed her strength. Finally, Knight Terrors: Green Lantern #2 was ok. Probably down with Flash this week.

By the way, the Marvel books this month are honoring the life of John Romita Sr. who passed away earlier this year. They have three pages at the beginning of their books highlighting some of his classic work. RIP John Romita Sr.

Here are the rest of the books this week…

Amazing Spider-Man #31. Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by John Romita Jr. & Emilio Laiso. Cover art was by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. This featured the attempted wedding of Robbie Robertson to Beetle. Crime lords of New York all were in attendance and things only went to crap. Very good story. There are also a bunch of shorts at the end of the oversized issue (the Legacy number was 925 so I guess it’s time for a celebration. All the shorts deal with things that are going to be happening in the Spider-family books over the next few months. My favorite was the one with Ms. Marvel and Spidey talking about her death.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #1. “Chapter One: The Bad Death of Bill Barley.” Written by Chris Condon and featuring artwork by Jacob Phillips. Set in the world of That Texas Blood series that I loved so much, I was really excited to see this new issue and I was not disappointed. The time frame was earlier than the other series, but this moved quickly as we learned about the man known as Montgomery Enfield and the death of Bill Barley. The best part of the comic was the design. It had a definite feel of an old time comic. The pages seemed like I was reading an old comic. it even had the smell of old paper. It was a cool reading experience.

Barnstormers #2. “Chapter Two” Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Tula Lotay. Bix and Tillie find themselves in trouble after they were found by her former fiancée. Until this moment, they had been bonding and falling for each other as they continued their air show. Big trouble arrives at the end of the issue setting up for a dramatic conclusion next month.

Damn Them All #7. Written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Charlie Adlard. Elle and her bad behavior returned to search for the coins that possess the demons from Hell. A new wrinkle has arrived though in the form of angels.

Swan Songs #2. “The end of… a Marriage.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Caspar Wijngaard. This anthology series about apocalyptic moments focused in on the falling apart of an actual marriage and how these two people fell in and out of love. And how they wind up fighting each other forever. Neat twist on this book.

House of Slaughter #16. “Alabaster Part One.” A new story arc for this book. I had a little difficulty getting into this one. Here’s hoping that I will be able to grab more of an interest as it moves along.

Ghost Rider Wolverine: Weapons of Vengeance #1. “Sympathy for the Devil.” Logan and Johnny Blaze team up to pursue a child possessed by some monster/demon. The child had come to see Professor X, but was turned away as he was not a mutant. We get some look at Logan and Blaze’s past and their beginnings.

Guardians of the Galaxy #5. “Last Stand at Torment Pass” Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing and illustrated by Kev Walker. Marco Checchetto did the cover art. The Guardians have come together and are trying to find a way to save Groot. Things do not look like it is going very well.

Ghostlore #4. Written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Leomacs. Lucas and Harmony are heading their separate ways… or at least that is what Harmony has decided. As she was writing a letter to her father, Lucas is dealing with a spirit in his church that was tied to a witch execution in the past.

Silk #4. Written by Emily Kim and art by Ig Guara. Dave Johnson did the cover art. Cindy Moon is out of the movie-inspired dream world and is facing off with the monster that Saya Ishii has turned herself into. Silk is doing a dream storyline too at the same time as DC’s Knight Terrors is happening.

Red Goblin #7. Written by Alex Paknadel and drawn by Jan Bazakdua with Rafael Pimentel. Normie can not control his symbiote, Rascal, who is out of control in his attempt to save Tim. Can Miles Morales help out?

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #9. “Spun Out Part Two.” Written by Cody Ziglar and drawn by Federico Vicentini & Federico Sabbatini. Dike Ruan & Alejandro Sanchez did the cover art. Miles and Starling go into a deep battle with Hobgoblin.

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #2. “Part Two: The Spooky Case of the Girl with the Pocket Portal.” Carol Danvers and a group of kids try to survive in space as the new villain Nada and Nitro are trying get revenge on Carol.

Children of the Vault #1. “Tomorrow’s Children.” Written by Deniz Camo with art by Luca Maresca. Variant cover by Betty Cola. My variant cover featured Loki’s Miss Minutes, which was fun, but not tied to the book at all. We got a bit of a team up with Cable and Bishop along with a group of characters that I did not know at all. I liked the MIss Minutes cover, but the rest of the book was iffy at best.

Spider-Man Annual #1. “Contest of Chaos: Part One.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Alberto Foche. R.S. Silva did the cover art. The Contest of Chaos is a storyline that will be carried over the annuals in Marvel. This one found a fight between Spider-Man and Wolverine over a mysterious orb. It is tied to the newly young Agatha Harkness. It looks to cross over with all of the annuals moving ahead.

Avengers #4. Written by Jed MacKay and art by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. The Avengers are facing off with the new force called The Ashen Combine, and they are being pushed to their limits.

August 7, 2023

Hey, new banner! I really like this new one, with the yellow background. I wanted to debut this one so this is a light edition.

In fact, I only have one thing to talk about here, but it is a wild one. It is an Eisner Award nominated graphic novel called Ultrasound, by Conor Stechschulte.

I see that it is also a 2021 movie of the same title, which now goes on my to watch list. I found it on Hulu and I played it on my watchlist. I hope to get to it sometime this week.

What a wild book this is.

This is what was written on the back of the graphic novel. “Following a strange sexual encounter, Glen and Cyndi become entangled in a web of gaslighting, mind control, deception and political intrigue in this dizzying thriller.“

“Who can you trust when your own memory becomes a tool for manipulation.”

This story was amazingly challenging to follow as you are never quite sure what is going on and if it is actually happening. Glen and Cyndi are fascinating characters that are easy to root for, but who are they really? How much of what happened to them actually happens to them? I’m still not 100% sure. I love that kind of uncertainty in my books.

This is an absolutely adult-themed books, with some graphic scenes of a sexual nature. However, that sex scene is vitally important to what goes on in this story. The artwork is good, but the coloring makes it really stand out.

It is 376 pages, but it reads very fluidly. It definitely feels like a graphic novel that could benefit from a re-read. This was a very compelling tale.

August 4, 2023

Big week in the world of comics. I helped my friend Todd move his ridiculously huge comic collection from one storage unit to another that had more room. He needed it. I saw some amazing comic books in that collection that made it (basically) worth the hard work and sore back.

I do have to say that seeing Todd’s collection and the piles of comics that he had in his unit, I felt much better about my own piles.

Plus, I was able to pick up some back issues myself. I picked up Devil Dinosaur #1, 2, 3,4, 6 (yes, not #5) which was written and drawn by EYG Hall of Famer, Jack Kirby. I looked through the books, which were in really good shape considering that they were put out in 1978. I have always liked Devil Dinosaur and this was a fun group of books to add to my own collection.

There were five issues in the Knight Terrors series this week, all of them #2s. These books will continue through August and they continue to be pretty solid. The separate books are building toward the Knight Terrors #3 & 4. This week’s best issue was Knight Terrors: Batman #2. Then followed by Knight Terror: The Joker, Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy, Knight Terrors: Black Adam and then, bringing up the rear, Knight Terrors: Ravager.

Then, I picked up a trade paper back of Southern Bastards: Volume 1: Here Was A Man by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour. I had heard about Southern Bastards before but never picked it up. This trade paperback collected issues #1-4 of the award winning series. I knew I was in for something different on page one as we see a dog pooping. This was brutal and very well written. Earl Tubb came back to his hometown to wrap up his father’s old house because his uncle (who was living there since Tubb’s father had died)went to an old folks home. Earl Tubb cambe back into town to find that everything is being run by Coach Boss, the local football coach, and everyone is looking the other way. This was sensational and I might have to look into finding the full series, not just being happy with the trades.

Other new books this week:

Strange Academy: Miles Morales #1. Written by Carlos Hernandez and with art by Juann Cabal, Alvaro Lopez, and Guiu Vilanova. Nick Bradshaw & Edgar Delgado did the art for the cover. I love the Strange Academy, though this is a new creative team. I liked what I saw so far. Using Miles Morales in the book worked surprisingly well and who knew that the 2023 Multiversal Math Bowl would be so impactful.

Astonishing Iceman #1. “Out Cold Part One” Written by Steve Orlando and drawn by Vincenzo Carratù. Jesus Saiz did the cover art. I was afraid this was going to be one of those series that take place in the past (like another X-book I’ll talk about later), but I was happy to see that it was set after the Hellfire Gala. It seemed as if Bobby Drake had been killed in the Hellfire Gala book, but something else is going on here. It was interesting and I want to find out what is happening.

Fantastic Four #10. “The Long Way Home” Written by Ryan North and drawn by Leandro Fernandez. There is a page promoting the upcoming G.O.D.S. series that was written by Jonathan Hickman. The cover art was Alex Ross. This was a one-issue story arc with a group of aliens were aboard a ship and the Fantastic Four tried to help them out. The story was all about POV and it was nicely constructed.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Julian Shaw. I have the C variant cover of Wolverine (?) by George Perez. Not only do we see Hallows Eve back trying to get to Ben Reilly, but we also see this tied into the events of the Fall of X as Mary Jane’s Aunt Anna goes crazy from the poisoned medicine from Krakoa. RIP George Perez.

Love Everlasting #10. Written by Tom King and featuring art by Elsa Charretier. Joan Petersen has become an old woman in a nursing home. While there, she finds love and… after being in 1963 for a long time, she finds herself in a new place. And she does not take it well.

Moon Knight #26. Written by Jed Mackay (and Jonathan Hickman) and art by Federico Sabbatini. Stephen Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. We get a story centered around Hunter’s Moon.

Magneto #1. “Chapter One: Things Past!” I mentioned earlier about Astonishing Iceman taking place in current continuity… well, the new Magneto series does not. This takes place back with the New Mutants days when it seemed as if Xavier had died. I still am not a fan of these flashback series because they just do not feel important because if they were important, they would have told the story when it started. I do not think I am continuing with this Magneto series.

Nocterra Nemesis Special. Written by Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel with art by Liam Sharp. This looks to be setting this book up for the conclusion of the storyline with Nox and the darkness.

Warlock Rebirth #5. “Theory of Evolution.” Written by Ron Marz and penciled by Ron Lim. This flashback series finishes up with Adam Warlock and Eve Warlock teamed up to face off with the High Evolutionary.

Peacemaker Tries Hard #4. “Book Four.” Written by Kyle Starks and with art by Steve Pugh. Cover art by Kris Anka. Peacemaker vs. Snowflame (the cocaine-powered super villain). Nuff said. This book has the same awesome feel as the Peacemaker HBO Max series did.

Scarlet Witch #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta & Sara Pichelli. Russell Dauterman is the cover artist. Wanda gets a visit from her father’s clone, Joseph. And they go to Oz… off with the Wicked Witch of the West. Yeah, I’m not kidding.

X-Men #25. “From the Shadows.” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Stefano Caselli. Joshua Cassara & Marte Gracia were cover artist. Heavily focused on Kate Pryde and her identity within the X-Men. Haven’t seen Kate this brutal before and it sounds like she is going by the name Shadowkat once again. X-Men is currently fire with the latest Mutant Massacre by Orchis.

What If…? Dark: Venom #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and featuring art by Jethro Morales. Philip Tan, Jay Leisten & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. What happens when the Venom symbiote, after Peter Parker gave it to Reed and the FF, wound up hooking up with an angry Ben Grimm? Lots of trouble. This has been my favorite of the What If Dark issues so far.

Doctor Strange #6. “Life During Wartime.” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Juan Gedeon. There is another page focusing on G.O.D.S. that was written by Jonathan Hickman. Alex Ross does the cover art. We find out that Dr. Strange spent thousands of years fighting for the Vishanti against the Trinity in the War of the Seven Spheres. This turned Dr. Strange into a wild warhound and looks to be leading into a face off between two Dr. Stranges. Intriguing stuff here. Jed MacKay has been providing some top notch work for Marvel recently.

The Mildly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #2. Written by Tate Brombal and art by Isaac Goodhart (based on an idea by James Tynion IV). Cover art by Nick Robles. There is all kind of weird stuff going on with Christopher Chaos. There is Dracula Boy. There is The Wolf. The Helwing Corp. This was been fun so far.

Black Cloak #6. Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Meredith McClaren. The first story arc comes to an end here as Phaedra uncovers the total truth behind the murder of Frey. The truth behind the city’s magical power is also revealed and Phaedra takes a step that will change everything.

Grim #12. “Lost for Life” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Flaviano. Jessica is still trying to save her friend, and she may have to claim the role of the Grim Reaper. And what about her mother?

August 1, 2023

This is a special edition of the Comic Cavalcade as I have several graphic novels that I have picked up that I decided to group them together for this post.

For the first time last year, I looked over the list of graphic novels nominated for Eisner Awards and I purchased a bunch of them because they sounded interesting. I have been becoming more of a fan of the independent comics and so I have been more intrigued by the story,

So I did once again look at the Eisner Award lists and picked out several that I thought were really exciting to read.

However, there was one graphic novel that was left over from last year that is going to kick off this Comic Cavalcade.

Monsters. This was one of the Eisner Award winners from last year and, when it arrived, it looked like a textbook, a thick and overwhelming textbook. This a was a passion project by Barry Windsor-Smith that he had worked on, in one way or another, for decades. The story involved a program called Prometheus that the US military was running, a genetics program that came from Nazi Germany, that was trying to develop a supernatural force. The story follows a needy young man named Bobby who applied to the military, ending up placed into this program. The art is beautiful. The book is amazingly constructed and the story bounces around time involving multiple intertwined characters. Though it is 360 pages long, this book reads extremely smoothly, with a lot of visual storytelling. Monsters is an exceptional book and it is understandable why it won the Eisner last year.

Eight Billion Genies. Now, this was not a Eisner nominated book and it is not, technically, a graphic novel. It is a trade hardcover that collected the Image series Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne. I purchased this last week at Comic World. I had picked up Eight Billion Genies #1 back when it first came out and I was not impressed. I was not engaged in the story so I did not pick it up as a series. All I heard about what how great this series was after that. Recently, I considered looking back into this series and give it a second chance. When my friend Todd showed this book to me at Comic World, I thought this was a great opportunity to give it a second chance. I’m glad that I did because this was considerably better than I remembered back when I read #1. I am very pleased with this group of characters and how this unbelievable situation provided a ton of conflict and entertaining interactions. One of the most creative ideas in the last few years.

The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night Book 1. Back to one of the Eisner winners this year, The Night Eaters is the new horror graphic novel from Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, the team behind Monstress. Another book that was a really quick read because of some tremendous art work that build amazing suspense. They do a nice job of introducing these new characters and a fantastic set up of a plot in the house across the street. It’s a story of family and of legacy. Book Two is scheduled to come out later this year so we’ll have to see where this goes from here. It is an enjoyable start.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense. I have always loved Alfred Hitchcock movies. This graphic biography is a fun book. Written by Noël Simsolo and with art by Dominique Hé, this is a graphic novel that felt very much like a couple of other books from the last few years such as Twilight man, the book focusing on Rod Serling, and Legosi: The Rose & Fall of Hollywood’s Dracula. These books are interesting reads because of the main focuses of the books, but I have to say that the dialogue of the characters in this book is simply not the way people talk. The dialogue is more about passing along information about the person’s history instead of developing the story. The time frame of this novel jumps around a bunch and can be challenging to follow. If you are a Hitchcock fan, this is a fun read and looks at the master director.

Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith. However, this graphic novel, a biography of author/comic book writer Patricia Highsmith is a much more impactful manner of storytelling, giving us a great story as well as just presenting info. This graphic novel was created by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer. It was one of the winners of the Eisner Awards this year and I understand why. I thought this was a great way to present the story of Patricia Highsmith. Highsmith was known to hate the comic book writing that she did, preferring to focus in on her novel writing, such as Strangers on a Train, which would become one of Hitchcock’s top films. It is ironic that a woman who hated the comic book format stars in an award-winning graphic novel. She was also an inspiration for the LGBTQ community and her sexual orientation is a major aspect of this book too. It is another of these graphic novels that read extremely quickly/smoothly.

But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust. Three stories of true stories about children in one of the worst periods of human history. Three creative teams are first, Miriam Libicki and David Schaffer, second, Gilad Seliktar and Nico and Rolf Kamp, and then finally Barbara Yelin and Emmie Arbel. The images in this book are beautiful, basically pieces of art. The stories are also well told and told in a variety of ways, including one of the tales being a basic interview with the Kamp brothers. The Holocaust is a horrendous time with stories of survival that show the human spirit and how vital life is.

I am still waiting on a graphic novel called Ultrasound from Conor Stechschulte. That should be arriving later this week and it’ll go into a future Comic Cavalcade.

July 28, 2023

Another big week of comics. It seems as if every week the pile gets bigger and bigger. Lots of good stuff too.

Update: Big shocker… just when it seemed as if the mystery of the number 3s was ending, IT HAPPENED AGAIN! This week I got the missing #3 of Neighbors. I got the missing number three of No/One. And I got number four of The Seasons Have Teeth, without having received number three. Unbelievable.

The Knight Terrors continued through the DC books for the third week now. I doubted myself when I decided to commit to all 46 books in the run, but it has been solid so far, with a few exceptions. This week, we got the first #2 in the run, with Knight Terrors #2 featuring Deadman in batman’s body. Sandman joined them as well. There was a frightening inclusion of Red Tornado too. I really enjoyed Knight Terrors: Titans #1, Knight Terrors: Action Comics #1 and Knight Terrors: Detective Comics #1. Night Terrors: Harley Quinn was okay and I had little engagement during Knight Terrors: Angel Breaker #1. I have no idea who this Angel Break was, and so had a real difficult time caring at all.

The rest of this week’s books:

Hellcat #5. “The Season Finale“. Written by Christopher Cantrell and drawn by Alex Lins. Cover art done by Pere Perez and Marte Gracia. One of my favorite limited series of the year came to a satisfying end this week with Patsy coming to herself. My friend Todd also surprised me with Miss America #67 from 1954, featuring Patsy Walker, pre-Marvel version. It was a cool collectible. It was also funny that Patsy’s friend form the Hellcat series, Hedy, had a short story inside this 1954 book.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1. “The Hellfire Gala” Written by Gerry Duggan and art provided by a bunch of artists. Phil Noto did the cover art. I knew Kamala Khan was not going to be dead for long, but who would have seen her being resurrected already? Wasn’t Funeral for a Friend #1 last week? We now know that Ms. Marvel was a mutant with an unreleased mutant power. She is still part Inhuman, making her one of a kind. I am glad to have Kamala back and the rest of this book was pretty engaging. We’ll see where this goes with the Fall of X.

No/One #3 & 4. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato and drawn by Geraldo Borges. I have really become a fan of this No/One series. I may still try to check out the podcasts that you can find by going through the QV Code in the back of the comic. This mystery is awesome and I really love this book.

Avengers Beyond #5. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Greg Lano. This storyline with the Beyonder comes to its close, albeit a little anticlimactically. I’m glad this one is done and we can continue on with Avengers in their own book.

Daredevil & Echo #3. Written by Yaboo B. Earl and drawn by Phil Noto. Ghost Rider joins in with DD and Echo as it looks like poor Matt Murdock has to be sacrificed once again. Is this becoming a trend?

Indigo Children #5. “Chapter Five: Escape from Kabul” Written by Curt Pires & Rockwell White with art by Alex Diotto and Dee Cunniffe. This has been an interesting book, but I would absolutely like to know more about these Indigo Children than what we have gotten. It is difficult to know who is who at times. Still, it has been a good book so far.

Hallows’ Eve #5. Written by Erica Schultz and art by Michael Dowling. Janine wrapped up her first limited series by getting her masks back in a tough battle with the Beyond Corporation and Maxine Danger. This has been fun and it looks like Hallows’ Eve is going to continue on in Spider-Man books for the moment.

Newburn #9. Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Jacob Phillips. Newburn is back! And he is trying to handle the family problems. However, the relationship between Newburn and Emily seems to be on the edge of trouble. Glad we get another arc of this book.

I Am Iron Man #5. “Chapter Five: The Real Iron Man” Written by Murewa Ayodele and drawn by Dotun Akande. This was a fun series that seems to be done now too. I am not sure where this falls in continuity, if it does at all, but it gave Tony Stark some wild things including a standing clone order.

Spider-Man India #2. “Seva Part II” Written by Nikesh Shukla and penciled by Abhishek Malsuni. Pavitr is finding that being a Spider-Man is not easy as he is trying to stop a rampaging Lizard while the city seems to be hating on him. Still like the Across the Spider-Verse design of Pavitr better, but other than that, this has been great.

Invincible Iron Man #8. “You Can’t Stay at a Party too Long if You Don’t Go to the Party.” Tony Stark is on a downward spiral as Feilong continues his plans against Stark and the mutants. Tony helps out Emma Frost against the Stark Sentinels. Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Juan Frigeri.

Barnstormers #1. Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Tula Lotay. A noir style, post-WWI story featuring Bix and Tillie and their adventure. Tillie is running from her wedding and forces Bix to take her in his plane. Things go from there.

Tenement #2. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. We return to the Bone Orchard universe with seriously creepy imagery and storytelling.

Silk #3. Written by Emily Kim and drawn by Ig Guara. Dave Johnson did the cover art. Pirate Cindy Moon is here just as we learn that this is all in Cindy’s head trapped in a Dreamworld connected in a cinematic style. Silk has been exciting so far.

Incredible Hulk #2. “That Old Time Religio0n Part One.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and with art by Nic Klein. Hulk is heading back to its horror type roots as Bruce Banner and a young girl named Charlie comes across a horror-like cult and the Hulk comes out…

Avengers #3. Written by Jed MacKay and art by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. Lod Ennui is one creepy villain and he has unleased the Impossible City on the earth. However, there is the new Avengers there to meet them.

Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1. Written by David Pepose and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Rod reis did the art for the cover. Moon Knight tries to save the young boy Khalil. It is also the debut of the new version of The Scarlet Scarab, like we saw in the Disney + series. Big things are happening for Moon Knight around Marvel and this feels like a start for that.

She-Hulk #15. Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Andres Genolet. Jen Bartel did the cover art. She-Hulk and her fight club try to stop the invasion of the city, while in search of a bomb set to detonate by Scoundrel. By the way, Jack of Hearts is a stud.

Amazing Spider-Man #30. Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Ed McGuinness. Doc Ock battles Spidey-Ock. Doc Ock is trying to corrupt Norman Osborn and at the end of last issue is seemed as if he was going to do it, but Norman said, “Nuh uh!”

Ultimate Invasion #2. “Chapter Two: Down the Rabbit Hole” Written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Bryan Hitch. The Master recruits Howard Stark and brings him to the Immortus Engine. I was a little uncertain about what was happening here, but I liked what I saw.

The Neighbors #3-5. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and drawn by Letizia Cadonici. This Boom! Studios series wrapped up with a tough story with the family. A story of sacrifice and anguish. It was a good script.

Wordltr33 #4. Written by James Tynion IV and featuring art by Fernando Blanco. This story is told with both current action and flashbacks (of sorts). Gabriel sister is the naked killing woman. This is a real mind-blowing series that is a challenge to read. I’m still processing it.

Klik Klik Boom #2. Written by Doug Wagner and drawn by Doug Dabbs. Sprout, the mute photo taking protagonist. Things are shaping up around this issue and it reads very quick and was very entertaining.

Ghost Rider #16. “Night Rider” Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Chris Campana. Bjorn Barends did the cover art. A new story starts with Johnny Blaze, Robbie Reyes and Danny Ketch.

What If…? Dark: Spider-Gwen#1 Plot by Gerry Conway and Jody Houser with script by Jody Houser. The art was done by Ramon F. Bachs. Cover art by Greg Lano & Frank D’Armata. A What If comic featuring Gwen Stacy not dying at the bridge with the Green Goblin, but Spidey dies instead. Listing this as Spider-Gwen is a bit off since she is never Spider-Gwen in the book. She does don a Spider-Man costume though. This was better than the Loki What If recently.

Deadpool #9. “Heart to Heart.” Deadpool and Valentine’s relationship is front and center but Valentine has a bit of a new look by the end. The new Deadpool series has been very fun so far and this story arc looks like it will be concluded next issue.

July 19, 2023

Forty-two is the answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?”.

It is one of the numbers from LOST (4, 8, 15,16, 23, 42)

It’s the retired number across all Major League Baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson.

And today, it is the 42nd edition of EYG Comic Cavalcade on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY (which also happens on National Hot Dog Day!)!

UPDATE: We are down to two missing independent comic issues #3: No/One #3 and Neighbors #3 (got Neighbors #4 today, which was missing last week). Blue Book #3 was in the books this week.

There were only five Knight Terrors books this week, continuing the 46-issue run in DC Comics with the villainous Insomnia causing terrifying nightmares for the DC Heroes and Villains. This week the five issues included: Knight Terrors: Wonder Woman #1, Knight Terrors: Superman #1, Knight Terrors: Nightwing #1, Knight Terrors: Catwoman #1, and Knight Terrors: Punchline #1. Wonder Woman, Superman and Nightwing were all really good. The Punchline one was a character I did not know at all, but it was still okay. I did not like the Catwoman issue at all. So far, the overall enjoyment of the Knight Terrors event has been good. I have enjoyed most all of the 17 books so far, with Catwoman being the sole flop for me. Next week should bring us to about the halfway point.

Then… what a shock! I could hardly believe it…

A Vicious Circle #2. Written by Mattson Tomlin and art by Lee Bermejo. I can’t believe it. This large scale book from Boom! Studios came out after issue #1 was released on December 14, 2022. Yes, I said 2022. There have been a couple of times when I was looking at my pull list and I came across the title A Vicious Circle and I had no idea what t was. As I was reading #2 today, I could not tell you much of anything about #1. What do I remember about #1? I remember the spectacular artwork that it featured and that part of it was in black and white. I should probably re-read it at some point. However, issue #2 was phenomenal. The art, once again, was breathtaking. The story was awesome with two characters, Sean (who I do remember from issue#1-though I remember nothing about him) and some other guy and these two are jumping across time. Some absolutely stunning visuals in the book and, while I may not necessarily say that it was worth the wait, I am absolutely happy that it is finally here and I hope I do not have to wait until 2024 for the next installment.

Something is Killing the Children #31. “Showdown at the Easy Creek Corral: Part One.” Written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Werther Dell’edera. It has also been awhile since we have gotten a new SiKtC issue too (while nowhere near as long as A Vicious Circle). It is setting up a huge showdown between Erica Slaughter and Charlotte Cutter. It was good to see this one again.

Deadpool: Badder Blood #2. Script by Chad Bowers and story/pencils by Rob Liefeld. Deadpool finds himself in a weird situation, fighting… Shatterstorm?… and then Killville (which is not “a hallucinogenic-torture chamber/fun house where super people with a price on their heads are taken to die.”) Fun Deadpool action.

Blade #1. “Mother of Evil: Part One.” Written by Bryan Hill and featuring art by Elena Casagrande. The Daywalker is back in his own series finding himself stuck in several plots that are meant to help save the world. And he’s not happy about it. Some fantastic artwork in this new issue with some wonderful full splash pages that jump off from the book.

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #5. Written by Emily Kim and penciled by Kei Zama with Geoffo. This short series came to a close with all of the Spider-Gwen clones coming together to help. Fact is this issue did not keep my attention. I am not a fan of clone stories and this one is one that I am glad is over. I did not hate the issues leading up to this one, but I just did not find it engaging today.

New Mutants: Lethal Legion #5. “Vampire Heist II.” Written by Charlie Jane Anders and penciled by Enid Balám. Here was another short story where this finale did not grasp my attention much. I have struggled with knowing who these character were the entire series and this continued. I did kind of like their giant dragon that they took to Krakoa. Otherwise, this was a meh.

All Eight Eyes #4. Written by Steve Foxe and featuring art by Piotr Kowalski. However, this Dark Horse short series brought it to the finale. No ‘meh’s or lack of attention in this one. This had some great artwork, some visceral imagery and a very cool wrap-up to the story of Reynolds. Great conclusion.

Guardians of the Galaxy #4. “The Star-Sheriff.” The Star-Sheriff is Rocket and we find out where he has been and what he is trying to do to replace his connection with Groot (who has become the Grootfall). Looks like Rocket is reunited with the Guardians and they are teaming back up to help their wayward friend.

Big Game #1. Written by Mark Millar and drawn by Pepe Larraz. The Mark Millar Universe of characters all come together for a five-issue series that is pretty fun. I did struggle with who some of these characters are, but I did know the Ambassadors and Kick Ass. This is an interesting beginning.

Black Panther #2. “Reign at Dusk Part 2.” Written by Eve L. Ewing and penciled by Chris Allen. Issue two of this new Black Panther series was a struggle to get through as well. There are a lot of characters that I am not sure about and not quite enough T’Challa. Still, I expect this to pick up as we go.

Blue Book #3. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Michael Avon Geming. This series has been weird to read. I read it in the following order: issue #1, issue #4, issue #5, issue #2, and then issue #3. It was all connected to the story of Barney and Betty and so the differing order messed things up a bit. Still, the individual issues were engaging and I do like UFO stories.

July 17. 2023

I was able to finish up that large group of comics that I got at last week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. It was the largest week of new books that I can ever remember getting.

Kicking off with…

Killadelphia Vol. 5 There’s No Place Like Home. The trade paperback that reprinted Killadelphia issues 26-30 was full of shocking moments. The battle between the dark and light forces in Philadelphia claimed a huge amount of victims from out regular cast. I did not expect to lose everybody among the group of Detective Sangster, John Adams, Abigail Adams, George Washington, Jupiter, Toppy and Brittany was harsh. And then, to end the book with the arrival of Spawn…. Spawn? I thought issue #30 was the final of the Killadelphia series, but obviously there is going to be more with the guest star Spawn involved. Not sure how I feel about that.

Joe Fixit #5. Written by Peter David and with art by Yildiray Çınar. The cover art was by Cully Hamner & Jordie Bellaire. I discovered that this issue was missing from my collection. Perhaps it was among the exploding books from a couple of months ago, but I ordered a copy off eBay and it came today. I enjoyed this series quite a bit, mainly because of the inclusion of Spider-Man. This wrapped up with Spidey and Joe taking a trip to a Penn & Teller show.

Deep Cuts #3. “K.C. Blues.” Written by Kyle Higgins & Joe Clark with art by Diego Greco. The tales about the blues continue in Deep Cuts as we see a man who was at one point an amazing bassist, who now had to struggle to get by with a family of his own.

Superman: Lost #5. “The Republic.” Written by Priest and penciled by Carla Pagulayan. Lee Weeks with Elizabeth Breitweiser did the cover art. I’m not sure how I feel about how this series is seemingly taking the character of Clark Kent. This Green Lantern named Hope is not exactly what I feel works in this book. We’ll see where it goes from here.

Star Signs #3. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Megan Levens. The people with the powers from the missing constellations continue to show up and seem to be drawing sides. Mister Duke was revealed to be the Ares character with a bunch of power behind him.

Red Goblin #6. Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Jan Bazaldua. One of Normie’s friends has been taken by the new Goblin Knight, as ordered by the Goblin King, who seems to be having some physical trouble. Then, Normie and Rascal have been having their own issues since the whole Carnage thing.

X-Men: Days of Future Past Doomsday #1. Written by Marc Guggenheim and penciled by Manuel Garcia. Geoff Shaw and Edgar Delgado were the artists on the cover. This is a prequel to the classic X-Men story from the 1980s and expanded it into more of the Marvel Universe. There were some sad moments, even though I knew that this was all just a possible future. It was a decent read.

Warlock: Rebirth #4. “Soul Mates.” Written by Ron Marz and penciled by Ron Lim. This kicked off with a fun little scene between Spider-Man and Daredevil sharing a Turkey and cheese sub. Now, this scene had zero to do with the overall story, but I always love Spidey. The rest of the book was fine.

Rogue & Gambit #5. “Power Broke.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Carlos Gomez. Steve Morris did the art on the cover. The final battle with Power Broker and his mind controlling remote control. Things do not go well for Power Broker. However, Rogue does something at the end of the book to make me question her decision making skills.

July 13, 2023

Welcome back to EYG Comic Cavalcade, our fortieth edition. This past NEW COMIC BOOK DAY was the largest pile of new comics that I have ever gotten in a single day. There are still seven books and a trade paperback that I have yet to get to since Wednesday afternoon. I have completed 24 books for this edition of EYG Comic Cavalcade.

UPDATE: The Independent Conspiracy of the Missing #3s seemed better this week. I received the missing Hairball #3, and Deep Cuts, Ghostlore, Something Epic, and Star Signs all had third issues out this week and I got them all. I am still missing Neighbors #3 (and 4), Blue Book #3, and No/One #3. Here’s hoping that the Issue three curse is now over.

This is the second week of the Knight Terrors books from DC Comics. I have committed to purchasing all 46 issues of this event series and we are now about a quarter of the way through it. So far I have enjoyed it for the most part. I have never been a huge DC fan despite liking most of their characters. This was quite the commitment for me. This week we had Knight Terrors #1, Knight Terrors: Robin #1, Knight Terrors: The Flash #1, Knight Terrors: Zatanna #1, Knight Terrors: Shazam #1 and Knight Terrors: Green Lantern #1. Of these books, my favorite this week is probably the Knight Terrors#1 since they have focused in on Deadman and I have always liked that character.

I did enjoy Shazam, Robin and Zatanna quite a bit. Green Lantern would have been next and Flash was the low of the week, but they were all enjoyable. I do like the Insomnia villain that is behind the trouble and I have found this very creative and visually stunning.

Six more next week.

Other books in this massive pile…

Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel #1. Writers included G. Willow Wilson, Mark Wai & Saladin Ahmed. Artists included Takeshi Miyazawa, Humberto Ramos and Andrea Di Vito. Kaare Andrews was the cover artist. This was a beautiful issue featuring a service for the loss of Ms. Marvel and Kamala Khan. Yes, they are the same person, but they have separate khatam ceremonies for them keeping the secret identity intact. There is a QV code on the last page that takes you to another comic page, featuring Cyclops, who is late to the ceremony and he implies there is a reason. My guess is that he is working on a way to use the X-Men resurrection ability to bring Kamala back. Despite that I have no doubt whatsoever that she’ll be back alive sooner than later, this was a lovely issue with some real emotion.

Fishflies #1. Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. I loved this issue. I saw this during Free Comic Book Day and I have been a big fan of Jeff Lemire, so I have been anticipating this new book. And this just knocked it out of the park. It has beautiful art, a story that moves at a perfect clip and a mystery that is totally compelling. This one was a great read.

Antarctica #1. Written by Simon Birks and art by Willi Roberts. Hannah Curtis loved her father but when he was lost somewhere in the Arctic, her life took a distinct change. This was another awesome new book with a story that was so easy to read and beautiful to look at. If not for Fishflies, this would be the best new book of the week.

Groo In the Wild #1. Written by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier and drawn by Sergio Aragonés. Groo is back with Rufferto in search of food to eat while everyone who comes in contact with him immediately panics and is afraid that Groo is going to cause their lives to be destroyed. While Groo is always fun, the plot of this book seems to be similar to all of the other Groo books out there. Still love him though.

Amazing Spider-Man #29. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Doc Ock’s old arms are looking to bond with Spider-Man and, since Otto and his new arms have captured Norman Osborn and this is the only way Peter can come up with to find Norman, he is going to let them. However, Otto may have another horrible idea involving Norman Osborn.

Dark Ride #7. Written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Andrei Bressan. Joshua Williamson is the main mind behind the Knight Terrors series at DC and he brings the horror vibe to the front here at Devil Land the amusement park. Arthur Dante and his children have a big time conflict and things get heated. Dark Ride continues to be an excellent read each issue.

Haunt You to the End #2. Written by Ryan Cady and drawn by Andrea Mutti. The investigation into the haunted house begins on the mysterious Isla Lodo. This book does an excellent job of creating a mood and keeping the reader a little shaky. Horror comics are hitting some great strides recently and this one fits right in to the club.

Moon Knight #25. “Danse Macabre.” Written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Partha Pratim, Alessandro Cappuccio and Alessandro Vitti. The cover was drawn by Rachelle Rosenberg. Listed as “Enormous 25th issue” this Moon Knight book is very large. It includes Black Spectre (at least the new one), Zodiac, 8-Ball among others. Moon Knight has been outstanding in this series and this 25th issue continues that excellence.

Scarlet Witch #6. Written by Steve Orlando and featuring art by Lorenzo Tammetta & Sara Pichelli. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. Wanda takes a monk of the Archsisterhood named Ganymede to see her son Wiccan and his husband, Teddy aka Dorrek-Vell, the King of the Skrull/Kree alliance.

Hairball #3-4. Written by Matt Kindi and art by Tyler Jenkins. This story concluded with Anna first trying her best to murder the cat Bestie because she believed it was a demon and then trying to find it again when she believed it was not dead and was an ancient demigod. This series took a weird twist, but I loved it.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #8. “Spun Out Part One.” Miles and Starling come across and get into a battle with the Hobgoblin. Miles has been taking a beating lately, coming out of the Carnage storyline and this is the worst time to come across a goblin. The cover pays homage to the classic Amazing Spider-Man #238.

Blue Book #2. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Michael Avon Oeming. This cover art (which is the B cover) was done by Josh Hixson. Betty and Barney and their UFO encounter takes center stage again as we see how this alien encounter affected their lives. I do love Tynion’s work.

Something Epic #3. Written and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski. Something Epic continues to live up to its name every issue. This book looking at the life and imagination of Danny is utterly gorgeous and may have the best art work on the market currently. There is also a time shift near the end of the book, taking the series into a darker path. Love this book.

The Great British Bump-Off #4. Script by John Allison and art by Max Sarin. This is also Cover B so the art on the cover is from Benjamin Dewey. This extremely fun and funny series comes to a close as we discover that Shauna is actually a better detective than we thought. Good thing too because she is not a good chef.

Ghostlore #3. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. Harmony and her father are trying to use their ability to talk to the dead to talk to Emily, her mother and his wife, who died when they gained this ability. No luck, but there are other spirits that come to talk t them. Harmony is more ready to listen and help than her father is. But there is something horrible coming…

Loki #2. “The Liar: Chapter Two.” Loki survived last issue’s apparent decapitation but finds HERself in trouble again. Loki heads off in search of the rest of the pieces of the cursed ship Nagliar. The ship is apparently the narrator of this story too.

What If…? Dark: Loki #1. Written by Walter Simonson and penciled by Scot Eaton. Walter Simonson & Laura Martin did the cover art. This definitely felt like an old school What If…?. Dark and tragic, with characters dying that would never actually die in the actual Marvel Universe. Loki brings about the destruction of everything in this issue.

July 6, 2023

Welcome back to EYG Comic Cavalcade.

We are looking into the MYSTERY OF THE MISSING INDEPENDENT ISSUES #3.

Last week, I discovered that I was missing several issues of Blue Book as #5 had come out that week and I only had #1. I thought this was an anomaly, but it may be a trend. As I was boxing up some of the other books I got last week, I spotted No/One and Hairball and I thought to myself, ‘geez, it’s been awhile since I got one of these.’ Again I did not think anything of it since independent comics are notorious for their release schedules and I do not have a location like I have for Marvel.com that shows me when certain issues are comng out.

So when I was at Comic World yesterday for NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, I saw on the stand Hairball #4 and No/One #4. I thought, ‘Hm, weird. I did not think these books were that far.‘ I sat down and ran through the past issues of EYG Comic Cavalcade and I could not find a review of either of those issues. I found the write up for #2 of both issues.

I am also missing Neighbors #3, a fact that I just now investigated (#4 too, BTW).

There was the trouble I had a few months ago with Where Monsters Lie #3. There was White Savior too (but that was a #4, so it does not fit the pattern 😦 )

There seems to be some kind of deep seeded conspiracy with issue #3. I see that The Seasons Have Teeth #3 (though the Image website claims this should have come out on June 28th) and Deep Cuts #3 are due out soon so there may be some continued trouble.

What is it about Independent comics and issue#3? What is the weirdness going on? Marvel and DC never seem to have the same problem. Only Image, Boom and other independent books. Coincidence????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Moving on, I have committed to the GIGANTIC DC crossover, Knight Terrors that will be out in July and August. This is unlike me as I am not much of a DC Comics collector, but I read and enjoyed the Knight Terrors book given out during Free Comic Book Day and I decided I would go ahead and read all 46 issues of the crossover event. I have enjoyed the horror style books and I have always enjoyed the DC characters even though I have never been a huge fan of their actual comics.

Yesterday, the first six of 46 came out. This included the Knight Terrors: First Blood #1, Knight Terrors: Batman #1, Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1, Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1, Knight Terrors: Ravager #1, and Knight Terrors: The Joker #1. I read them together and I was reasonably pleased with what was here.

I have always liked Deadman and his presence in First Blood was entertaining as well as his interactions with Batman. The main book was written by Joshua Williamson. My least favorite of the six was Black Adam#1. It seemed just like the beginning of the movie and I kind of sped through it. Ravager #1 was decent, but I did not know who this character was. G. Willow Wilson wrote the Poison Ivy issue which was intriguing taking a Stepford Wives tone. The Joker issue was kind of weird, but I want to see where it goes because it seemed to pick up near the end.

Overall, I would give the first 6 issues a combined B+/B so far which is a solid start. We’ll see what next week brings.

Other books this week…

Daredevil #13. “The Red Fist Saga Part 13.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Marco Checchetto. Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil run is coming to an end soon, and he is wrapping up his brilliant work on the character with some more jaw-dropping work. Matt has to die to save Foggy, and he will take the risk. The final page is something else.

Doctor Strange #5. “The Infernal Marriage.” Doctor Strange and Clea Strange are off to attend a wedding, but it is not the type of wedding you would expect. Or maybe this is exactly the type of wedding you would expect that would invite Dr. Strange and Clea. Dormammu is officiating the service. The mysteries of the recent murders continue in an extremely entertaining book written by Jed MacKay and illustrated by Pasqual Ferry. Alex Ross added the art on the cover.

Swan Song #1. “The end of…the World.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and drawn by Martin Simmonds. I believe this is a new anthology series with stories taken place just before the apocalypse. This was a good story about a boy going to retrieve a magazine to read to his sick mother. This one was really good.

Fantastic Four #9. “Art is Long-and Life is Short.” Written by Ryan North and illustrated by Ivan Fiorelli. Alicia Masters-Grimm steps up in a big way as the narrator and one of the main protagonists as a mind controlled Reed and Ben try to kill her and Susan. I have really enjoyed this newest run of FF and Ryan North really has a good grasp on these characters, bringing out the family aspect once again.

Captain America #750. Multiple stories from Tochi Onyebuchi, Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Stephanie Williams, J.N. DeMatteis, Dan Jurgens, Cody Ziglar and Gail Simone with art by R.B. Silva, Carmen Carnero, Rachel Stott, Sara Pichelli, Dan Jurgens, Marcus Williams and Daniel Acuna. Short stories from both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson’s world. These were easy reads and had some solid emotion behind it.

Spider-Man #10. “Maxed Out: Part Three- Shocking Behavior.” Written by Dan Slott and drawn by Mark Bagely. Peter has maxed out his Spider-sense so he senses danger for EVERYONE and he has to battle Electro. Thankfully, he is not alone. Spider-Boy!!! I do love this new character and I look forward to the mystery surrounding who he is and where he came from is revealed.

X-Men- Before the Fall: The Sinister Four #1. “Lonely Hearts Club.” Written by Kieron Gillen and featuring art by Paco Medina. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. This give a background look at Doctor Stasis and Mother Righteous. I liked this more than last week’s Before the Fall book, but it was the last book I read today so this X-event has some work to do to engage me.

Peacemaker: Tries Hard #3. Written by Kyle Starks with art by Steve Pugh. Poor Chris is going through the emotional wringer here. This felt very much like an episode of the HBO series so that is a good thing.

Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest #1. “Part One: The Curious Case of the Exploding Man.” Written by Ann Nocenti and drawn by Paolo Villanelli. Mike McKone and Jesus Aburtov did the cover. New Captain Marvel series kicked off with a solid issue as Carol has to deal with a weird space anomaly that winds up sucking her and a group of others into a portal. Started off with a cool cold open with Carol sving a boat in a storm, the normal way!

Phantom Road #5. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Gabriel H. Walta. This continues to be one of the better apocalyptic comics on the market. And there is no doubt that there is a totally weird arrival of a furry guest. This ended Book One and I am excited to see it continue. It also avoided the curse of the independent #3s.

Love Everlasting #9 . Written by Tom King and drawn by Elsa Charretier. Joan has been in the same location for awhile now. There are several things that have been happening to her (kids, marriage, etc.) that hadn’t happened before because she would snap away or be killed by the cowboy when she fell in love. She was never in love with her husband Don here, and the newest thing she is facing is the death of him. What happens next?

Thor Annual #1. “Mythos.” Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing and featured art by Ibraim Roberson. Adam Kubert & Matt Milla did the cover art. Thor takes on the new villain, M.Y.T.H.O.S. who is a face that we recognize.

Grim #11. “Chapter Eleven: Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Jess and Edward are trapped in a prison beneath the river Styx, with screaming souls above them. Adira comes to ask for help.

X-Men #24. “Once an X-Man.” Written by Gerry Duggan and featuring art by Joshua Cassara. This issue crosses around with lots of mutants. Sunfire to Otherworld? Jean and Scott with a interactions between them. The X-Men battling at Gameworld. Lots of stuff.

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #5. “The Past Haunts Us All Part 5.” Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Edgar Salazar. Kalman Andrasofszky did the cover art. This short flashback series finished up with this issue. Kingpin showed up and Laura and Jordan get themselves out of trouble. This was a reasonably fun series.

July 2, 2023

I finished up the remaining books from last week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY tonight and I have to say that there were several of the books that were either disappointing or difficult to get into. That is a shame, but there were also a few that really stood out from this group of comics including yet another collection of past issues.

Which was, of course…

Killadelphia Vol. 4: The End of All. Collects Killadelphia issues #19-24. Killadelphia has been an awesome trip over the last month. Each week I have picked up another of the trade paperbacks collecting issues from the Image series. Each week I looked forward to sitting down and reading through some of the most original vampire storytelling I have seen in ages. In this volume, we have already seen John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, but now we get George Washington! I know this sounds cheesy, but it is anything but. And then, as all of the vampires, led by Abigail Adams, who I had become used to looking on as the villains, joined up with our protagonists (and the werewolves) this volume shook what I knew about this series. They also brought in the Haitian general Toussaint Louverture as an opposition to the vampire crew and everything is up in the air. Love it. Comic World was out of volumes, though, apparently Vol. 5 is out very soon and I have a copy of it ordered. Very excited to see where this goes. I am sure I will not expect it.

Damn Them All #6. Written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Charlie Adlard. The first arc of this series comes to a close here. While this was the one book this post that was not from last week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, it was also one that did not disappoint me. It has Ellie Hawthorne as one of the least trustworthy protagonists around. She is manipulative and secretive and doubting her own morality. Damn Them All has been a tough read, but it is very much worth it.

Silver Surfer: Ghost Light #5. “Part Five: Secret Journey.” Written by John Jennings and illustrated by Valentine DeLandro. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Okay, so here is the first book that was not very entertaining this week. This entire short series has been disappointing for me. I have always enjoyed a good Silver Surfer series, but I just found this one to be lackluster. This is the final issue for this series and it is one that I will not be sad to see go.

X-Men-Before the Fall: The Heralds of Apocalypse #1. “Genesis and Revelations.” I had zero interest in reading this after the first few pages. I believe this is the set up for the next giant mutant crossover, but I hope it is more interesting than this because I just did not find it engaging at all.

Worldtr33 #3. Words by James Tynion IV and art by Fernando Blanco. Each issue of this has been a challenge to read. I have found it difficult to follow off the start, but I have liked what I have read. This issue was the one that I found the most understandable. I do love James Tynion IV’s work so I am sticking with this as it moves along. It might require a re-read at some point.

The Riddler: Year One #5. “Blinded By the Light.” Written Paul Dano and art by Steven Subic. This was one of the most original books I have seen in quite some time. Written more like a journal or a case file, this gives a glimpse into the mind of this version of The Riddler.

Thor #35. “Blood of the Father Finale” Written by Torunn Grønbekk and penciled by Sergio Davila and Juan Gedeon. Nic Klein did the cover art. This series of Thor comes to an end with this issue. I will admit that this Thor book has not been my favorite, so I am looking forward to the upcoming Al Ewing Immortal Thor series. This wrapped up everything nicely, finally sending Odin off to Valhalla.

Ghost Rider #15. “Dragged out of Hell” Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Cory Smith. Bjorn Barends did the cover art. Johnny Blaze has to take a huge risk in order to save Danny Ketch. He has to let the Ghost Rider head into Hell to retrieve the spirit of vengeance that had been torn out of Danny.

June 30, 2023

Happy Friday! I have a bunch of books that I read on Wednesday at Comic World and some fun stories to go with them.

So I was at Comic World looking at the books that were released this week and I was completely shocked. Right there on the table was James Tynion’s Blue Book #5. NUMBER FIVE! I have been waiting for the next issue of Blue Book since number one which I had asked to go on the pull list. I assumed that this was just one of those independent books that was taking a long time to come out. Independent comics are notorious for not following their deadlines perfectly.

Now I discovered that all of issues were now out, as it was a five-issue series. There was issue #4 in the shop too, and Todd told me he would get me #2 & 3 as well.

Next, was Silk #1. I saw Silk#2 on the Marvel web site on Tuesday night and I was shocked. I did not even know that Silk #1 had come out. I get all Marvel #1s so I was surprised that this was missing. I wondered if it were among the comics that had been burned in the wreck last month, but apparently it was not. I just missed it. I ordered it off eBay and picked up #2 at Comic World.

So….

Silk #1-2. Written by Emily Kim and drawn by Ig Guara. This has been the best two issue I have ever read involving Silk. Silk is being held by Saya Ishii and her brother Max sending her through some kind of weird dream-worlds. It kind of reminded me of Westworld on HBO. We get Western train robber Silk in issue two and noir Silk in issue one. Next issue seems to be pirate Silk. This was a quick read and was very engaging. Glad I picked it up.

Blue Book #4-5. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming. I have the B cover on both books, with #4 being done by Elsa Charretier and #5 by Marcos Martin. These were fun too, and they seemed to be connected. I did not think these were intended to be crossing over, but both issues featured Betty and Barney and their abduction story. I am curious to see what issues #2 & 3 bring.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #1. Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Isaac Goodhart, from an idea by James Tynion IV. This was a fun surprise. I had no idea what this was, but Tynion’s name pulled me in. A kid who brings trouble with him, talking about all his troubles to a pigeon (though it felt as if he were braking the fourth wall). His crush turned into a werewolf and killed. Very nice kick off to this series. Dark Horse has been having some good stuff lately.

Klik Klik Boom #1. Written by Doug Wagner and featuring art by Doug Dabbs. Another series that I hadn’t heard of before and grabbed issue one to check it out. And it was fascinating. A mysterious woman who cannot speak, but geos around taking Polaroids of the people around her as a way to communicate. Oh, and kick ass. It was a compelling issue one and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes from there.

Amazing Spider-Man #28. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by Ed McGuiness. Doc Ock is back with some brand new, kick ass tentacles that can do way more than just grab people. He is kicking Peter and Norman around. I do love Spider-Man and it is nice to get Otto back to the bad guy again.

Deadpool #8. “Under the Skin.” Written by Alyssa Wong and with art by Luigi Zagaria. Martin Coccolo & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. This was a great issue of Deadpool with wade waking up without his scars on this body. Why is that? Why are Spider-Man, Wolverine, Domino and Cable making him breakfast? And how does all of this connect to Deadpool’s dog? I have enjoyed this Deadpool run so far.

Avengers Beyond #4. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Greg Land. It is the Avengers vs. the Bootleg Avengers! What? Bootleg Avengers? And things go poorly for the Beyonder. This was a lot of fun with the two Avengers groups.

Local Man #5. Written by Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley and drawn by Tony Fleecs. Jack brings the story about the murder of Hodag to a close as the big final battle goes on. But the story takes a new twist at the end, apparently setting up the next chapter, and Pepper the dog is apparently a kick ass dog.

Captain America: Symbol of Truth #14. Written by Tochi Onyebuchi and drawn by Zé Carlos. This felt like a wrap up of Sam Wilson’s Captain America book. They are promoting Captain America #750 at the end and Sam seemed to be making things right with Joaquin. This is listed as Legacy issue 749 so I am not sure where things go from here.

She-Hulk #14. “Girl Can’t Help It: Part 4.” Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Andres Genolet. Dee Cunniffe did the cover art. She-Hulk and the FF are trying to determine what the Scoundrel is up to. He picks up She-Hulk for a date. However, he has some other plans as well.

Carnage Reigns Omega #1, Written by Cody Ziglar and drawn by Julius Ohta & Rogê Antônio. Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Edgar Delgado did the cover. Miles Morales and Tony Stark are able to stop Carnage , bringing the crossover event to a close. This was a good conclusion, but since I did not read all of the issues, I did feel a little lost. Still, I enjoyed Miles’s efforts.

Warlock Rebirth #3. “Savior” Written by Ron Marz and penciled by Ron Lim. Doctor Strange has to go into Weirdworld in order to try and snap Adam Warlock out of his funk. He wants Adam to go after Eve Warlock and retrieve the Soul gem.

Indigo Children #4. “Chapter Four: Miracles and Providence.” Written by Curt Pires & Rockwell White and art by Alex Diotto nd Dee Cunniffe. The group of Indigo Children head to Kabul to search for the next Indigo child… the Ghost of Kabul! And things do not go well for them.

Daredevil & Echo #2. Written by Taboo & B. Earl with art by Phil Noto. Daredevil & echo face off with the Demagoblin. They are dealing with something that happened back in 1835, and we get flashback to it as well. So far this has been interesting.

June 26, 2023

Welcome back to the Comic Cavalcade! Thirty-six posts comprised of dozens of comic books. I am happy that I have gotten back into actually reading these books instead of just buying them.

Once again, most of these books are the ones that were left over from last week’s pull list. I really do have a lot of book I read in a week since I have gotten into the independents.

Start off with…

Killadelphia Vol. 3: Home is Where the Hatred Is. Written by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Jason Shawn Alexander. The third volume of Killadelphia, which collected issues 13-18 of the Image series. This is the third consecutive week that I picked up a new collection of Killadelphia and they have only gotten better. The last two weeks have ended with moments that caused me to shout out in suspense… wishing I could read the next one immediately. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are running around as vampires and we get what we’ve been waiting for… werewolves! This has been an excellent series.

Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #5. “Thou Art More Near They Death.” Written by Tini Howard and featuring art by Vasco Georgiev. Erica D’Urso and Matthew Wilson did the cover art. This short series comes to an end as Betsy gets the better of Morgan Le Fey. I have to say that I am glad this one has come to an end because I have not been enjoying this much over the last several issues.

Damn Them All #5. Written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Charlie Adlard. This is, of course, one of the books that I did not buy last week. I have been working on the first six issues of this series and I think this one has been my favorite so far. It is a tough read, dense with writing and filled with difficult character names. I have to work to know what is going on, but I do think it is worth it. Ellie has been showing to be a kick ass character.

The Vigil #2. “Weather Warning” Written by Ram V and art by Lalit Kumar Sharma. I was not sure how I felt about issue one last month and I decided I would give this a second issue to try it out. I gave it a chance and it has come up wanting. I will not be continuing this one after this issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy #3. “Hunt of the Spartax.” Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing with art by Kev Walker. This cover art was done by Marco Checchetto. The Spartax Empire sent Captain Sagittar of the First Arcana to go on a hunt… for Grootfall. I am intrigued by the events that have led to Groot being this new persona.

All Eight Eyes #3. Written by Steve Fox and drawn by Piotr Kowalski. This issue, we get some new information on Reynolds and some frighteningly good spider action. I was unhappy at the end though when it said that next issue would be the conclusion. Conclusion? Only four issues? That was a disappointment. It’s been a great series so far.

New Mutants: Lethal Legion #4. “When I Was a Lad” Written by Charlie Jane Anders and penciled by Enid Balám. The team of New Mutants really came together in this issue and stepped up against the Lethal Legion. I am still learning who some of these mutants are, but I like them a lot. One more issue for this series too.

Bloodline: Daughter of Blade#5. Written by Danny Lore and drawn by Karen S. Darboe. Yet another series coming to an end with this issue. Brielle is the daughter of Blade and she does a really great job kicking vampire ass. I would like to see more from Brielle down the road.

June 21, 2023

It is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and I have a brand new banner for EYG Comic Cavalcade. The new one included several new pics from the comics including ‘boobs and nipples.’ Ah, always fun.

Ultimate Invasion #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman and Penciled by Bryan Hitch. Reed Richards from Universe 1610, aka The Master, escapes from his prison. and intends to somehow return to his own universe. He actually offered Miles Morales to go with him. The Master taunts the Illuminati with his plans, showing that they could not stop him. This was a really good issue, though I was not too anxious to buy it three times (thanks Todd).

The Bone Orchard Mythos: Tenement #1. Written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Andrea Sorrentino. We start off the next horror series from the Bone Orchard Mythos universe. We start off by being introduced to seven characters who love together in this tenement building and they have some kind of connection.

The Avengers #2. Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cove art. The Avengers spend a chunk of this issue saving normal people that Kang has told them are doomed. And Carol Danvers waits to see if Kang the Conqueror survives to give the details about what had happened and what was about to face the Earth.

The Incredible Hulk #1. “Age of Monsters” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art from Nic Klein. The Hulk is back and the new series is returning to the horror concept that we got with the Immortal Hulk. Thankfully, the Hulk is no longer a spaceship! This first issue was very good and I am much more excited than the previous story arc.

Hellcat #4. “Soulmates” Written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Alex Lins. I love Hellcat! This has been a fantastic series so far. We get the reveal of much of what happened and what Damien Hellstrom is wanting to do. The book keeps heading back to Patsy’s teen years to mix this story together. Next issue will wrap this excellent series up and I will be sad to see it go.

The Tick #6. “Villains Inc.” Written and penciled by EYG Hall of Famer Ben Edlund. Todd surprised me with this book in my box. He picked it up this weekend and wondered if I wanted it. I did. I do not have much in way of Tick comics, but I love the big, blue force of justice. This is a very early issue too, with a story that was adapted in the pilot of The Tick cartoon from the 1990s. Thanks Todd.

Wonder Woman #800. Honestly, I bought this as a collectible. I skimmed through it and saw a bunch of Wonder Woman stories. I got the C cover, out of a WHOLE BUNCH of variant covers. Mine is by Brian Bolland. I’m not sure why I picked this up. I skipped Flash #800 last week. Oh well.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #7. Written by Cody Ziglar and featuring art by Federico Vicentini. Dike Ruan and Alejandro Sanchez were the cover artists. Miles continues his battle with Carnage. Iron Man showed up in this issue too. I have to say that I am still confused because I have not been reading the whole Carnage Reigns arc. I’ll be happy when that ends soon.

Wild’s End #1. Written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard. I saw an ad for this book in one of Boom Studios’ other books (it may have been Ghostlore #2) and it looked interesting. I picked up the virgin cover, but I did not like it. I did not get engaged with the story and I was just not interested. Do not order this one for me, Todd (running joke).

I am Iron Man #4. “Chapter Four: Limitless” Written by Murewa Ayodele and drawn by Dotun Akande. I enjoyed this issue of I am Iron Man quite a bit. Tony Stark is seeing giant creatures but no one else can see them. The first few pages where Tony is trying to find anyone who could see what he was seeing was a lot of fun.

Scarlet Witch Annual #1. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Carlos Nieto. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. The prelude to Contest of Chaos. Wanda and Agatha Harkness sit down for tea. That is just the start. It was an interesting story. At one point, it felt as if Wanda was in control of the situation, but it looked like Agatha had her own motive.

Hallows’ Eve #4. Written by Erica Schultz and drawn by Michael Dowling. Janine continues to use her monster masks to battle Maxine Danger and the Beyond Corporation. Maxine’s lackeys are able to get some of Janine’s masks and we look like we are prepping up for the next issue finale.

Edge of Spider-Verse #3. “Nobody Knows Who You Are” Written by Dan Slott and drawn by Humberto Ramos. There is a back-up story here too, but I bought this because of the first story involving Spider-Boy. We see Spider-Boy unmasked for the first time (I think) and his name is Bailey Briggs. I’m still not sure what is going on here, but I am in on Spider-Boy.

June 19, 2023

I had some time this afternoon. I considered watching some more Twilight Zone episodes as the Daily Zone moves into season three of the show, but I chose, instead, to finish off the comics from last week’s comic haul before new comic book day on Wednesday. Tomorrow is fairly packed with things for me, so I thought the time was right.

BY the way, wild Kraven the Hunter trailer released today. Not sure how I feel about it though since Sony is behind it and Sony’s track record, outside of Spider-Verse animated movies, is not great. Morbius? Venom?

Anyway…

Killadelphia Vol. 2: Burn Baby Burn. Written by Rodney Barnes and drawn by Jason Shawn Alexander. Six months after the events of the massive slaughter of people in Philadelphia by the vampires led by John Adams, trouble gets stirred up once again, this time by a different Adams, Abigail Adams. More history, this time featuring Thomas Jefferson, as well as other historical moments. This volume ended at a horrible point… making me ready to see Vol. 3.

Damn Them All #4. Written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Charlie Adlard. Ellie takes the fight to reclaim the demons right ahead with a new idea. She has a way to get the advantage without using the demons that have been stuck in the coins. And I loved her choice, which was so unexpected.

Rogue & Gambit #4. “Killer Tech” Written by Stephanie Phillips and drawn by Carlos Gomez. Steve Morris sis the art for the cover. Power Broker has technology that he is using to control a group of super villains and this leads to him also taking control of Rogue. Gambit arrives to try and help, and has to wind up battling against Rogue.

Ghostlore #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. Lucas and Harmony face some frightening new ghosts. Lucas especially has to face some horrifying creatures wanting to tell him their story. Then, someone unknown shows up at the end, leading into where the story is heading. Some excellent imagery in this issue.

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #4. “The Past Haunts us All Part 4” Written by Erica Schultz with art by Edgar Salazar. Kalman Andrasofszky is the cover artist. Laura is working for Kimura and attempting to do it without killing anyone. It does not go well for her. Oh, and Kingpin is here.

Superman: Lost #4. “The Edge of Forever” Written by Priest and drawn by Carlo Pagulayan. Superman is still trying to find his way back to earth. He is still in his bright white outfit that stores the solar power.

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #4. Written by Emily Kim and penciled by Kei Zama. David Nakayama was the cover artist. The origin of the different Gwen clones are revealed here as Doctor Lyla Bennett was out to kill all Gwens in all the multiverse.

June 14, 2023

Yes, it is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY so there are a bunch of new books again this week. I’m happy to say that Todd was able to see this week. Progress.

It was cool today as Todd brought a bunch of his art pages from his collection. It was awesome to see some of these.

New books this week…

Something is Killing the Children Pen & Ink Issue One. This is a version of the first issue of Something is Killing the Children in pen & ink, no color. It is spectacularly gorgeous. There are also notes at the bottom of each page from artist Werther Dell’edera. This is an awesome collectible. Boom is sure taking advantage of this book as much as they can.

Something Epic #2. Written and illustrated by Szymon Kudranski. Another wonderful issue. Beautifully illustrated and a lot of details about Danny and his mom. I have to say that this is one of my most favorite new books.

Doctor Strange #4. “U.X.O.” This issue gives us some information on W.A.N.D. and Wong’s involvement in said organization. It’s great to see Wong getting some attention and, plot wise, someone or something is killing evil magicians and monsters. This book has done a solid job of building anticipation and suspense.

Amazing Spider-Man #27. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by Ed McGuiness. Peter and Norman try to deal with their own guilt over the death of Kamala Khan last issue. Meanwhile Doctor Octopus is back trying to figure out the problems with his arms’ betrayal. ASM is always consistent and is one of the first books I read every time.

Black Panther #1. “Reign at Dusk: Part 1” Written by Eve L. Ewing and penciled by Chris Allen. Taurin Clarke was the cover artist. The new Black Panther series kicks off with T’Challa still hanging out in the shadows of Wakanda after being banished in the last series. Black Panther follows a young lawyer, N’Yobi. We follow the character of N’Yobi through much of this issue and I am intrigued on why T’Challa is following him because the conversation between the pair was interrupted by a new, cool looking villain.

The Great British Bump-Off #3. “Bloodshed Berry Cheesecake” Script by John Allison with art by Man Sarin. Another attempted poisoning sends the cast into chaos as they are to make a cake that shows their favorite movies. I knew the movie that Shauna chose (Under the Skin- starred Scarlett Johansson). This Dark Horse comic continues to be entertaining every issue.

Haunt You to the End #1. Written by Ryan Cady and featuring artist Andrea Mutti. This issue was fun, but it was basically a set-up issue. We met some characters and set them up to go to this haunted house on an island that was to be the most haunted isle of the world, An isle that is going to be overwhelmed by water in a couple of days. Set the timer and place everyone in position. Looking forward to the next step in this one.

Captain Marvel #50. “Marvelous.” Carol is dealing with her loss of Binary during the Brood story arc and her friends throw her a party, a party they knew Carol would hate. Spider-Woman then took Carol to Dr. Strange to help her deal with her pain. Lots of Marvel cameos through this book as Kelly Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel comes to a close.

Moon Knight #24. “Ill Met By Moonlight” Written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Federico Sabbatini. Steven Segovia & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. Why does Marc Specter look exactly like peter Parker as he is grilling? That distracted me the whole time during this section of the book. Morpheus is here, but not in the best shape ever. He drops a name to Moon Knight about who is behind it all.

Spider-Man: India #1. “Seva Part 1” One of the coolest characters from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse gets a comic all of his own. Pavitr Prabhakar is Spider-Man: India and we get a bunch of his life shown to us in Earth-50101, in Mumbai, India (not Mumbattan like in Across the Spider-Verse) and I think I liked the costume design in the movie more than what we get here. Still, I enjoyed this first issue and wonder where it will go.

Captain America: Cold War Omega. “Part 6” The Cold War story concludes here with Cap and Sam confronts the White Wolf, Bucky and Ian in Dimension Z. The control of Dimension Z is up in the air and gets wrapped up in this issue. Btw.. the battle between Peggy Carter and Sharon Carter was pretty epic. This is leading into the big Captain America #750 (legacy numbered).