EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Week of December 2

Well, this was an easy week to pick the medal winners.

See, I got to Comic World today and a huge section of the shipment was missing. Everything from Diamond was not delivered. Okay, apparently, there was an attempt at a delivery with a holiday driver that turned out very badly.

Making a long story short, I only wound up with four books this week. Two weeks ago I had over 40. If the Marvel, Image, Boom etc. don’t come til next week, I dread the pile for next week.

Until then, we have two DC books and one from IPI Comics as the medalists this week.

Bronze Medalist

Sherlock Holmes: The Dark Detective #2

Cover art by Dave Elsey

This is a really creepy cover with Sherlock looking out a dark window. He sure seems to be a dark detective.

Silver Medalist

Two-Face #1

Cover art by Baldemar Rivas

I picked this one up off the rack because I did not have very many books this week. This is a cool cover with the focus on the coin being flipped. Again, I love the white background with the red of his face and title.

Gold Medalist

Absolute Superman #2

Cover art by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola

The cool new Absolute Superman looks great and the Peacemakers all around him make a great counter. The cover creates a great bit of what is going to happen. Looks excellent.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #126

November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all get as much turkey as you possibly can and spend the day with the people who you care about.

Because of Thanksgiving break, I was able to head up to Comic World yesterday and spend part of the afternoon there. That meant I was able to get a head start on the reading of the books. Thankfully, it was not a massive 40+ book week as it was last week. I was then able to finish the rest of them last night which meant we get a holiday version of the Comic Cavalcade.

I did a new banner for the next stretch of issues. The special one for #125 was cool, but I did this one right after that.

This week’s books:

The Big Burn #2. Written by Joe Henderson and art and cover art by Lee Garbett. I think this might be my current favorite of the DSTLRY books. They come out so inconsistently that it feels as if they are forgotten. Not this one. The idea of pulling off a heist to try and get your soul back after selling it to Satan is such an original idea and I love the characters involved. This is truly a great books so far.

The Missionary #1. Written by Ryan Stegman and art by Jason Howard. Cover B art by Ryan Stegman. Another very strange story with another trip into Hell. I wonder if that is a general theme for DSTLRY moving forward. This was interesting and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

The Rocketfellers#1. Story and words by Peter J. Tomasi and story and art by Francis Manapul. Cover B art by Ivan Reis. A new book from the Ghost Machine imprint at Image, The Rocketfellers was a intriguing time travel type story with a family. There is a huge loss in the very beginning of the book that sets the stakes early. The Ghost Machine books have all been exceptional so far and I think this one could be in the same category.

West Coast Avengers #1. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey (Bronze Medalist). I also picked up the variant issue (featuring Blue Bolt) with cover art by Todd Nauck. I was always a fan of the West Coast Avengers and so I was intrigued by the return of the title, especially with Ultron a member of the team. I’m not sure how that is going to turn out considering the end of the book. The last couple of pages gave me that Thunderbolts #1 vibe.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4. “The Eyes of a Monster“. Written, art and cover art by Michael Walsh (Silver Medalist). This is the final issue of this adaptation of Frankenstein. It was a very emotional end for the Monster and the story as a whole. This continued the path of these excellent Universal Monsters books from Image. Sounds as if the next book will be the Mummy.

Amazing Spider-Man #62. “Out of Space.” Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. McGuiness & Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Spidey is being trained by astral plane Doctor Strange in magic to help him in his role as the earth’s new champion against the eight Scions of Cyttorak. Spidey recruited the Black Cat to do give some help, but she and Strange can only do so much.

Incredible Hulk #19. “City of Idols” Part Three. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein & Danny Earles. Cover art was by Nic Klein. This is listed as Legacy number 800 for the Hulk. I am curious what exactly they added in that Legacy number to get to it. Did they count the Hulk issues that were the She-Hulk? How about the Totally Awesome Hulk with Amadeus Cho? Anyway, there is also a group of backup stories including one with She-Hulk and one with Red Hulk.

Hyde Street #2. Creators were Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Ivan Reis did the cover art too (Gold Medalist). Pip “Pranky” Peabody is the focus behind this issue, which has some disturbing moments in it. There is also a lot of fire. This Hyde Street series has been excellent so far, yet another example of the great work under Ghost Machine imprint.

Uncanny X-Men #6. “The Change in Ourselves.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson were the cover artists. The new kids being taken care of by Rogue and the others have to deal with the new arrival, Becca Simon-Pinette and her issues. Oh, and Nightcrawler gets grabbed. Simone has been exceptional in this new X-series so far and I enjoy reading each of them.

Justice League Unlimited #1. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. I have to say that this concept of the JL Unlimited was interesting to me after I read last week’s Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. It is based clearly on the Justice League animated series where they did the same idea. I am seemingly buying a few more DC books than I have before and this one definitely pushes the right buttons. It is fun not knowing whom may show up in the book.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #1. “Round One.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. Speaking of buying more DC books, I like the idea of these lesser characters getting their own limited run. I am enjoying Plastic Man right now, Zatanna was a lot of fun and Black Canary feels like the next best example. Plus, Tom King is the writer and he has done some of my all-time favorite stories (particularly Vision). The whole Black Canary vs. Lady Shiva inside the squared circle is a cool idea.

Iron Man #2. “Move Fast and Break Things.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Yasmine Putri. Tony Stark is in trouble with his company once again as he is desperately trying to prevent a hostile takeover by AIM and ROXXON. Tony does not have access to his array of armor either, having to settle for a pieced together set.

Spider-Boy #13. “Late Entry” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado. Spider-Boy and Daredevil are on the road trying to catch up with Bullseye and Spider Girl. Who would guess that they would wind up in a special tournament… in Madripoor?

Bad Dreams in the Night. Written and art by Adam Ellis. This was a graphic novel that came out last week, but I just had too many books to pick it up then. I had Todd put it in my box and bought it this week. It is a series of short horror stories by Adam Ellis and they are tremendous. I loved this graphic novel as each of the stories had its own flair to it. It was a variety of tones and stories, and it had some distinctly creepy scenes. After each story, he had a little explanation of where the story came from and some of these were personal. I enjoyed this graphic novel very much.

Absolute Wonder Woman #2. “The Last Amazon Part 2.” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover B variant art was done by Joelle Jones. The absolute DC books continue with Diana meeting up with Steve Trevor and ending up facing off with a giant monster. This was a good book and I am pleased so far with the Absolute DC books.

Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #2-3. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Got caught up with this new Dead Eyes series. I do love this character, who does not feel like a traditional hero in any way. In fact, I would go on the record saying that Dead Eyes is anything but. This is very interesting as Dead Eyes returns to mess up his own life.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4. “Grit & a Stick.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Chris Burnham. Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Jason Aaron’s run on TMNT has been sensational. This issue, featuring Donatello, is close to the excellence of issue #1. Donatello goes through a bunch of trauma here and it sure seems as he may be losing his own grip on reality. He was speaking to a regular rat as if it were Splinter. These TMNT books from Aaron have been so good.

The Tin Can Society #3. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Mobili and Chris Chuckry did the art on the cover. This has been one of my favorite independent books since it was released. The investigation into Johnny’s death continues as we get some important info in a flashback.

Mystique #2. “Brotherhood.” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. Mystique is out after Avalanche, her former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants partner. Meanwhile, we have a group of SHIELD agents, even two Nick Furys, running around in pursuit of her as well. There are a lot of things going on in this series and it is a fast read.

Dazzler #3. “Tokyo Escape.” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Terry & Rachel Dotson did the cover art. After her last fiasco at her concert, Dazzler’s tour is in trouble. However, Lila Cheney and Dazzler head off for some fun in Tokyo to try and lighten the mood. That does not go well.

Feral #8. “The Cat House.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. Things turn real creepy as Elsie, Gigi and the kittens find Lord, but they are not pleased with the location. “The lady keeps us”… it is literally the crazy cat lady… what a creepy issue this was. Loved it.

Other books this week: Void Rivals #14, Batman-Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #1, Spirits of Vengeance, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #13, and Ultimate Black Panther #10.

The Changeling (1980)

The October 11 of 13

So The October 13 has been a little lower of quality than I would have preferred this year. However, we came across a good one today. The Changeling, starring George C. Scott, is one of the best haunted house movies I have seen.

The film grabs your attention immediately as it sets up the tragedy for George C. Scott’s character, composer John Russell. His wife and daughter are killed in a tragic accident and this sends him spiraling out of control. Renting a house in Seattle, John goes to hopefully work on his music.

However, once in the house, strange sounds and events started happening, leading John to investigate what had happened in the house’s past.

Honestly, the seance scene was one of the scariest seance scenes I have ever seen. The way that the psychic approached the actual execution of the seance was great. I had never seen a seance handled in this manner before and it really set the stage for the rest of the mystery that would be at the heart of the film.

There is also a horrifying scene with a young boy and a bathtub that I will not go into further description of because it is unsettling.

George C. Scott is a tremendous actor and his very presence in the film give it a credibility that a lot of these haunted house movies lack.

I am happy that this film made the October 13 list this year and I am happy that it has helped put the list back on track.

The X-Files S6 E9

Spoilers

“S.R. 819”

After a couple of lesser episodes, “S.R. 819” regained the feel of classic episodes of The X-Files, featuring a conspiracy level event.

The show begins with the apparent death of Walter Skinner, setting up the stakes for the episode.

Flashing back to before the ‘death’, we see the events leading up to the current situation and we learn that someone had poisoned Skinner, injecting him with nanobot tech.

Mulder and Scully raced against time to try and save the life of Skinner.

Of course, Mulder and Scully did not solve anything. They circled the truth, but the events were out of their hands. The final shot, of a now compromised Skinner with Krychek of all people was a kick. Especially after Skinner’s ‘deathbed’ confession to Scully that he regretted not being more of an ally to them.

This was a tough episode, but very enjoyable. It had that early X-Files feel to it and advanced the mythology along nicely.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Week of July 8

Welcome back to EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. I want to welcome anyone reading from the Comic World Newsletter. I offered my columns from EYG to Ben, the owner of Comic World to help get some more info into the newsletter about comics. We started last week with the newsletter and we will continue for the foreseeable future.

For anyone who has never seen this column before, I pick my favorite covers of any comic that I purchase this week. I do not include back issues, but if I picked up a late book, it would be eligible. I give out medals for Gold, Silver and Bronze places. It is completely my opinion.

So the favorite covers of the week.

Bronze Medalist

Kid Venom #1

Cover Art by Taigami &Richard Isanove

I don’t know much about this book as I have not read it yet, but the cover is extremely intriguing with the sider in the middle, Kid Venom’s creepy face and the imagery in the web behind him. It is a very busy, but fascinating cover.

Silver Medalist

Get Fury #3

Cover art by Dave Johnson

The image of Castle broken up with several pics from the book is a really cool way to show what is happening int he book. Add to the overall aesthetic the white behind Castle and the red title, well this is a lovely title for a brutal book.

Gold Medalist

Crocodile Black #3

Virgin Variant Cover

Cover Art by Gabriel Hardman

I typically am not a huge fan of the virgin variant covers, but there is no denying that this is a beautiful piece of art, with the focus on these crocodile boots, reflecting in the pool of water. The black and white coloring makes it all the more appealing.

The Detective Daniel Prophet Podcast

Welcome. This is the first ever EYG Podcast. I am a teacher at a middle school and we do a weekly squad. My squad was the Actor’s Guild and we would do some improv and acting exercises.

Then I took a class for license renewal that dealt with podcasts in the classroom, and i was inspired. I decided that the Actor’s Guild could do a podcast. I would write up a ficitonal “true crime” type story and we would record it.

I set the podcast in my ficitonal setting of Dalton hill, which is one of the books that I have written. We then spent our time in squads working on recording these scenes.

I am very please with how it came out. A goal was to get this on Spotify, and I am proud to announce that epiosode one is live on Spotify.

We are not professionals and a lot of the voices are kids, so there are some stumbles and some errors, but I am overall very pleased. If we had more time allotted to the recording, we could have really done a fabulous job.

There will be six episodes of this podcast, entitled “The Detetcive Daniel Prophet Podcast” being released over the next few months. I am very proud of these kids and I am proud of the podcast, warts and all.

Here it is…

EYG Comic Cavalcade #98

May 17, 2024

We are back with the EYG Comic Cavalcade this Friday night.

Made a bit of a mistake. I went to eBay to start working on filling out my New Warriors collection. I ordered several different issues, but I had looked at several of them. A few days later, I was sent an offer from a seller on eBay for the New Warriors Vol. 2 #1-10. I knew I had looked at this before, so I jumped at the offer.

Then, I received the package of the ten issues and they were great. I went to eBay to leave feedback and found out that on that first day, I had already ordered the Vol. 2 issues, and another set was on its way. They arrived this week.

This was my dumb mistake, so I decided just to keep the double set of issues and not go and try and return one of them. I just have two copies of these books.

Books this week:

Saga Vol. 4. Okay, this week I was able to read the fourth volume of the complete set of Saga I picked up at Free Comic Book Day. This continues to be a fantastic trade paperback. I hope to get some time carved out to continue reading this soon, but summer vacation is coming soon, and, if I have not finished it by then, that would be a great opportunity.

X-Men Forever #4. “No Hope” Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Luca Maresca. Cover art by Jim Rigg (Silver Medalist). Jean Grey as the Phoenix is back once again, but it comes at the end of the road for Hope.

Bear Pirate Viking Queen #1. Written by Sean Lewis and art by Jonathan Marks Barravecchia. I mean… that title? How could I possibly pass up Bear Pirate Viking Queen? It is a beautiful book with a cool story with a dangerous bear. I enjoyed reading number one. I believe it is a three issue mini series from Image and I am excited to see where this goes.

Ice Cream Man #39. “Decompression in a Wreck (Part One)” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love (Gold Medalist). One of the most interesting and creative concepts for an issue, Ice Cream Man #39 tells a five second story, going through a fatal car crash. Great issue.

Free Comic Book Day: MAD. It’s absurd…it’s inane… it’s… MAD. Todd picked this one up for me a few weeks after Free Comic Book Day and it was a hoot. It focused on DC Comics characters given the MAD treatment. EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragones did several of the bits. It also includes some Spy vs. Spy classics. Fun.

Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Justina Ireland and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Ferreira, Roberto Poggi & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The story continued from the Amazing Spider-Man regular series as Spidey teams up with Misty Knight and …The Lizard? to go in search of a missing Morbius… aka Dr. Mike. More vampire action than you can shake a wooden stake at.

Displaced #4. “Chapter Four: Go Our Own Way”. Written by Ed Brisson and illustrated and cover art by Luca Casalanguida. Displaced continues to be an excellent book. We see the group splitting apart which is causing some of them fade away. There is still a LOST vibe to this book and I am loving it.

Doom #1. “Days of Doom” Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Sanford Greene. Cover art by Ari Granov (Bronze medalist). This was strange. It was one of those potential future stories. I am never a huge fan of these and this one with Doom in space was not what I expected. I did like the inclusion of Valeria. I’m just not sure the purpose of this book.

Redcoat #2. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Redcoat is one of my favorite new comic series. Simon Pure has seemingly found himself a sidekick… Albert Einstein? And there was a new antagonist… Benedict Arnold. Creativity abounds in this new series.

Dark Ride #12. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrei Bressan. Cover art was by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas. The series comes to an end as things go fairly poorly for Arthur whereas his kids, Sam and Halloween get everything they ever wanted. As happy of an ending as Hell could provide.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #20. “Sibling Day” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Matt Milla did the cover art. Miles and his clone “brother” Shift take their little sister on a sibling trip. They meet up with Kamala Khan!

Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #3. “Reunions” Written by Iman Vellani & Sabir Pirzada and art by Scott Godlewski. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez and Jesus Aburtov. Speaking of Kamala Khan, this series sees her reunited with Red Dagger and we get a bit of a love connection. Also zombie Cyclops.

Something Epic #10. Written, Illustrated and cover art by Szymon Kudranski. The investigation into the death of Sherlock Holmes and the disappearance of Zeus continues as Noa goes in search of the first goddess. The imagery of this book is always gorgeous.

Fishflies #6. Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Lemire as well as Shawn Kuruneru. We find out the origin behind the creature and Helen has a shocking loss. Fishflies #6 is the penultimate issue of this run and it was one of my favorites of the series so far.

Ultimate X-Men #3. Written, art and cover art by Peach Momoko. Hisako and Mei get some more specifics in their powers, and they drop the word…mutants for the first time. I really like the way the Ultimate X-Men is very different than the regular X-Men. I love how the Ultimate X-Men are their own character and not just repeats of the normal team.

What If…?: Aliens #3. Written by Hans Rodionoff and art by Guiu Vilanova. Phil Noto did the cover art. I have been loving this new type of What If. You have the rights for Aliens so why not tell a What If story with these characters. Paul Reiser and his son Leon came up with the concept.

House of Slaughter #23. “The Butcher’s War Part Three” Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Antonio Fuso. Cover art was done by Nimit Malavia & Werther Dell’edera. The Houses come together to try to plan what to do about Jace Boucher.

Other books this week: Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #4, Napalm Lullaby #3, FCBD: Ultra Duck, What If…Venom #4, and the Energon Universe #1.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Week of April 29

It was a light week this week as there were only 18 new comics this week. I know, that does not sound like a light week, but compared to some of the recent weeks, 18 is like nothing.

Two of the three medalists this week are variant cover D books.

Three medalist this week…

Bronze Medalist

Blood Hunt #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover art by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau

A beautiful cover featuring Greer Nelson, aka Tigra. Todd gave me this because he thinks I love Tigra, but he mixes Tigra up with Hellcat. Still, this is a lovely cover and I do like me some Tigra.

Silver Medalist

Space Ghost #1

Variant Edition (Cover D)

Cover Art by Michael Cho

I love this Hanna-Barbera inspired cover with Space Ghost and the kids he saved. Just because there is a monkey, it does not make them Zan and Jana.

Gold Medalist

The Blood Brothers Mother #1

Cover art by Eduardo Risso

New Western series from DSTLRY, the cover wraps around the book and it has some layered feel to it. It really is a gorgeous piece of art and the extra large book makes this standout even more. Great cover.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #94

April 28, 2024

It was a regular week of comics, and yet there are still a pile of them to get through. I really do collect a ton of books from the different companies.

There are also a couple from eBay this week as I had seen an advertisement for these two in one of the Dark Horse books that I had read (I think it was the Count Crowley book) and I was interested in them. Dark Horse has been a company that I have not paid as close of attention to as I have Image or Boom! Studios when it comes to independents, but I think that is changing.

Todd also continued to pick up back issues of Amazing Spider-Man for me. He grabbed me issue #199 and #331. He did not try to price gouge me this time though. 🙂

This week’s books:

Superior Spider-Man #6. “The Greater Good” Written by Christo Gage (from a story by Dan Slott) with art by Mark Bagley. Bagley & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. The Doc Ock-Spidey team up to stop Supernova continues as the enemies are forced to work together, but they are anything but copacetic. Things are also going poorly for Spider-Boy and a bunch of people in New York City.

Borealis #1-3. Written by Mark Verheiden & Aaron Douglas with art by Cliff Richards. Borealis is one of the mini series I saw advertised and I dug the concept. It had a True Detective: Night Country vibe to it as a current trooper returned to her home in Qinu. The series included organized crime and mystical spirits. This was a quality story that I was captivated by.

Lunar Lodge #1. Written by Tyler Marceca and art & cover by Mirko Colak. This was the other Dark Horse book that I picked up on eBay and this was another hit. The first issue has a lot of set-up, but it is very intense and there is a real feel that something horrible is about to happen.

Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art by Russell Dauterman and variant cover by Romy Jones (Gold medalist). I bought two copies of this, specifically for the one cover, which I loved. Wanda and Pietro are still fighting with each other, but the Wizard is still a problem. Thankfully, Vision is there as an impartial observer.

Something is Killing the Children #36. “Road Stories: Part One” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. This felt like a one-shot issue of Erica Slaughter’s past and I liked it a lot. Just Erica helping a kid fight off a monster. The basis of the story. I wonder if the “Road Stories” arc will deliver more like this or if it will end up as an overarching tale.

Ultimate Spider-Man #4. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by guest artist David Messina. Cover art by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. What an amazing issue. This was literally a dinner meeting between Peter and MJ and Harry Osborn and his wife, Gwen Stacy. The interactions between the four adults brought as much drama as a slugfest with a super-villain. Ultimate Spider-Man has been a spectacular Peter parker story so far.

Amazing Spider-Man #48. Written by Zeb Wells and art by guest artist Todd Nauck. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. Ben Reilly, Hallows’ Eve & Dr. Kafka are all involved going after the Winkler device which Spidey and Betty Leeds also want. It might be able to clear Ned Leeds’ name, and motives are everywhere.

Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #1. Written by Dan Watters and Ram V and illustrated by Matthew Roberts. Roberts and Dave Stewart did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Thought eh Creature from the Black Lagoon may not be my most favorite of the Universal Monsters, this issue was fantastic! I liked it way more than the Dracula book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am totally in on this new Universal Monster series.

Drawing Blood #1. Story by Kevin Eastman & David Avallone with artwork by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the cover art. This was quite a story. Last week, I had, what I thought, was this issue in my pull list. It looked weird, as it was wrapped in a plastic covering. When I opened it (which I considered not doing as the collect in me), it turned out to be just a series of fliers of this issue’s cover. I assume that was meant as promo material for the store and since I was down for the book (maybe the only one?) they assumed this was the book. That got all straightened out and this came out this week. It is an interesting story of a cartoonist.

Man’s Best #2. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote and illustrated and cover by Jesse Lonergan. Our three animal characters are trying to find their way home while avoiding the Klangers. The two dogs and a cat have issues with listening to each other which puts them all in danger. This has been a intriguing Boom! Studios book so far.

The Infernals #3. “Chapter Three: Covenant” Written by Noah Gardner & Ryan Parrott. Art by John J. Pearson with Lola Bonato. Pearson & Sam Wolfe Connelly did the cover art. More demonic offerings from Sam and Jackal as they are being pursued by Saturday and Sunday, the Devil’s assassins. Wild storytelling in this series.

X-Men: Forever #2. “Quiet Council” Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Luca Maresca. Cover art was by Mark Brooks. The X-Men, including Hope, look to resurrect those killed, but the biggest force they look to bring back…the Phoenix!

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #3. “Black Widow: Spy” Written by Chris Claremont with art by Edgar Salazar. Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). Black Widow takes center stage inside Madripoor as Wolverine and Captain America stay in the background ready to help when needed. These three characters really work well together and make for an enjoyable series so far.

Feral #2. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner. Fleecs and Forstner teamed up for the cover art. The three cats are stuck in the woods with a bunch of rabid animals chasing them. Can they escape from the danger and find their way back to their home before something eats them?

Jackpot & Black Cat #2. Written by Celeste Bronfman and art by Emilio Laiso & Giada Belviso. Adam Hughes did the cover art. Jackpot is forced into trying to steal something from the White Rabbit and her friend Black Cat tags along to help. However, there is more to the story than you would expect (although I had it figured out not too long into the story).

Daredevil #8. A oversized special edition of Daredevil with several stories contained. Some focus on Matt Murdock, some focus on Elektra and others are them together. Writers include Saladin Ahmed, Ann Nocenti, D.G. Chichester, Elsa Sjunneson and Erica Schultz. Artists include Tommaso Bianchi, Stefano Raffaele, Ken Lashley, Eric Koda and Jan Bazaldua. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove did the cover art.

Pine & Merrimac #4. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated and cover by Fran Galan. Parker and Linnea are stuck on an island with a cult and they have been discovered. They are desperately trying to escape from their clutches, which leads to one of the most shocking final panels of the book.

Avengers #13. “Hit Back: Part Two” Written by Jed Mackay and art by Francesco Mortarino. Cover art is by Joshua Cassara and Marte Gracia. The Avengers continue their battle with the Stark Sentinels and MODOK/3D man. However, little did we know that Black Panther has a plan.

Blade #10. “Mother of Evil: Finale“. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Elena Casagrande. Casagrande and KJ Diaz did the cover art. Blade faces off in a showdown with the ancient evil called Adana in this volume’s final issue.

Other books this week: GODS #7, W0rldtr33#9, The Six Fingers #3, Project Cryptid #8, Rare Flavours #5, The Bloody Dozen #5, and Night Thrasher #3.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Week of April 15

Last week, a shipment of comics heading to Comic World was lost in the mail. Only Image books came in last week. That meant that there was a MASSIVE amount of books this week. A large number to narrow down to just three medalists. It was a tough decision as I had about ten that I had in the finals, finally moving down to the top three. No Image this week.

Bronze Medalist

Fantastic Four #19

Cover art by Alex Ross

One of the greatest cover artists of all time received another medal this week as Alex Ross brings an awesome cover featuring Sue Storm in a very original looking issue.

Silver Medalist

Blue Book: 1947 #3

Cover Art by Michael Avon Oeming

Blue Book has been one of the consistently beautiful covers, using the colors of blue and black every issue. The Dark Horse comic does a lot with a little.

Gold Medalist

Blow Away #1

Cover art by Annie Wu

Brand new comic from Boom! Studios. Much like last week’s winner, Phantom Road, less on this cover is more. The beautiful blue ice makes this feel very special while the character is in the distance, showing on how much this character has to go through. It is a lovely piece of art.

A few honorable mentions this week considering I got 38 comics this week: Night People #2, Something Epic #9, Black Widow/Hawkeye #2, Spectacular Spider-Men #2, and Avengers: Twilight #5.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Week of April 8

So we have a strange week this week. My comic shop had their new comics lost in the mail. No one knows what happened to it. The only books that came out this week were Image/DC. I had nothing from DC which meant this week’s comic cover medalists are out of five Image Comics. Next week will be a large one.

Bronze Medalist

Rat City #1

Cover art by Zé Carlos

I don’t know anything about this issue except that sure looks like Spawn on the cover. I picked it up as a curiosity and because I liked the cover. I am interested to see what it is about.

Silver Medalist

Napalm Lullaby #2

Cover art by Bengal

I like this cover quite a bit with this new title from Image. Love the background on this cover as our main protagonists stand in front. I love how everything around them seem to leap off the cover. The title stands out beautifully too.

Gold Medalist

Phantom Road #10

Cover art by Gabriel H. Walta

I love this cover. Truthfully, it is not as much the art of the cover that stands out, but the coloring. This green makes this such a compelling cover. You remember the color because you do not typically see something like this.

Congrats to the all-Image week.

Moonlighting S5 E1

Spoilers

“A Womb With a View”

The final season of Moonlighting kicked off with a big musical number and one of the jokes in the song was that they were determined to make 22 episodes this season, but the critics claim that they would only get to 16. Funnily enough, they do not get to 16, they only make thirteen.

I can understand why. The first episode of season five introduced us to Baby Hayes, played by Bruce Willis and visited by angel Jerome (played by Joseph Maher). Jerome introduced Baby Hayes to his mom and dad and showed him some of the best and worst parts of the world.

Then, in a remarkably cruel twist, Jerome claimed that the “Creator” has decided that Dave and Maddie were not going to be parents and took Baby Hayes away to let him be born to a different set of parents.

I remember being upset with that decision when I first watched the episode. It was like everything we as an audience member went through in season four was rendered a waste of time with one quick twist of fate… and they did it with another musical number.

They gave Dave and Maddie a three minute scene tacked on the end of the episode to deal with their grief and their loss. It just felt so wrong. Clearly they had decided that the show could not handle a baby in the cast and they went out of their way to fix it. I wonder how many viewers they lost with this stunt?

It made no sense and was a weak way to try and get around a prior season full of narrative. No the best way to kick off a new season.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #76

January 6, 2024

The first EYG Comic Cavalcade of the new year! Happy New Year! 

Kicking off things this week, I have completed my collection of Howard the Duck Vol. 1 with issues #5 and #8. There are more Howards to get from future volumes, but I am pleased that I’m done with that one. I have a bunch of Vol. 2 What Ifs on the way from eBay as well. 

I have been working on inventorying my comics with the app CLZ. I have passed 5300 comics at this point with plenty of boxes remaining. It has been fun going through the collection. 

Books this week:

Captain America #5. ”Sigils, Moxie and Chopped Demon Liver.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Lan Medina. Cover art was done by Taurin Clarke. The story continued with the present day battle with the demon and the past time against the Nazis. This has been a great story arc so far. 

Pine & Merrimac #1. Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. The new Boom! Studios book with Linner & Parker. They are the married couple at the heart of the book. Pine & Merrimac happens to be the street corner where their detective agency was found. I enjoyed this debut very much. It was a good read and I loved the relationship with Linner and Parker.

Amazing Spider-Man #41. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz did the cover art. The Gang War continues as Kingpin and Tombstone battled with each other over their respective children. Spidey and She-Hulk were funny with the interactions with Typhoid Mary.

Ghostlore #7. ”Babe at the Threshold.” Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Leomacs. The cover art (which was the cover of the week) was from Reiko Murakami & Vincenzo Riccardi. A storm is coming. And it is going to be a danger for Harmony.

Thanos: Smash of the Titans #2. ”Yesterday’s Lovers Never Make Good Friends.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Luca Pizzari. Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho did the cover art. The Illuminati recruited the Hulk to take on Thanos, to keep the Mad Titan away from Roberta. And the ending was a shock.

Silver Surfer: Rebirth Legacy #5. ”The Devil You Know.“ Written by Ron Marz and penciled by Ron Lim. The Silver Surfer does battle with Mephisto with help from Eve Warlock and Genis-Vell. This flashback series came to a conclusion, but there seems to be something being set up for Eve Warlock and Nova (Frankie Raye). 

Love Everlasting #11. ”Just West of Love” Written by Tom King and art by Elsa Charretier. This new arc seems to be revealing to us the origin of the Cowboy. 

Fall of the House of X #1. ”The Trial of Cyclops“ Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Lucas Werneck. Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia did the cover art. The Orchis storyline is coming to a head as Cyclops refuses to put up a defense. This are definitely happening in the X-verse.

Doctor Strange #11. ”Circus.“ Written by Jed MacKay and art by guest Danilo S. Beyruth. Alex Ross did the cover art. Dr. Strange and Clea take Clea’s new sister to the circus and all kinds of chaos breaks out. 

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1. ”Reese.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. David Finch did the cover art. Marc Spector is dead. Or is he? Quite an intriguing new issue with the staff of the Midnight Mission stepping up for the loss of Moon Knight. Who is the new Moon Knight? I am excited to find out.

Fantastic Four #15. ”The China Brain.” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art by Alex Ross. The Baxter Building and the children make their return after a year of absentee. This run of FF has been excellent and I am glad to see the group happy once again.

Beware the Planet of the Apes #1. Written by Marc Guggenheim and art by Alvaro Lopez. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. A prequel to the original Planet of the Apes movie from 1968. It was an interesting issue. I’m not sure if I plan on continuing with the series, but I did like the first issue. I may have to try issue #2.

Kid Venom Origins #1. Written & drawn by Taigami. This is a collected version of the original five-page sections of the Kid Venom story from Death of the Venomverse series. I enjoyed the art of the book and I kind of liked the character. There is another series coming from this character. I’m not sure whether I liked this enough to read it, but I will certainly see number one.

Other books read this week: Miguel O’Hara: Spider-Man 2099 #1, Marvel Meow #1, Destiny Gate #4, Nights #4, Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood #4, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #6. 

Blue Eye Samurai S1 E5, E6, E7, E8

Spoilers

“The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride”

“All Evil Dreams and Angry Words”

“Nothing Broken”

“The Great Fire of 1657”

I finished season one of Blue Eye Samurai today with the final four episodes. This is such a great show, with amazing animation, perfectly executed fight choreography, and some of the best character work around. It is absolutely a high bar for the next season to reach.

Specifically, episode five was an amazing format, with the story being told with a narrated puppet theater. It was one of the most imaginative style choices that seemed to fit perfectly with the tone and style of the show.

Everything led to a huge confrontation between Mizu and Fowler as the city burnt down around them. I am not sure if I loved the way the cliffhanger unfurled, but I am willing to let season two play out to see what happens. I think I would have preferred for Mizu to have killed Fowler instead of trying to use him.

Plus, with Mizu and Fowler on a boat to London, does that mean that our cast of supporting characters Ringo, Taigen, and Akemi are going to be sidelined in season two?

It was a sad end for George Takei’s character Seki, shot to death retreating from the fire. His was a character that showed his true allegiances through the year… and it was to Akemi.

This was such a joy to watch and I am very glad that I took the suggestion from a couple of the YouTube content makers, saying that this was one of the best shows of 2023. It certainly was epic.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #72

December 7, 2023

I was able to spend this past NEW COMIC BOOK DAY at Comic World as I used a personal day from school. Once again, it was wonderful. I was able to sit at the back table at Comic World and read most of the new books this week. I do love being able to do this.

It also appears that the curse of the number three in independent books is officially over. I have five #3s this week and they were all in my pull box. Mercifully, the long nightmare is finally over!

Books read this week:

Fantastic Four #14. Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Alex Ross did the cover art. The Fantastic Four returns to the site of the Baxter Building with the expectation that it would reappear after it was sent into the future. They discovered people (super villains actually) constructing something on the location.

Thunderbolts#1. “Worldstrike” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and art by Geraldo Borges. Terry Dodson did the cover art. A new team of Thunderbolts head out to take on the Red Skull. Included Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter, Val and Red Guardian. I liked the interactions between these characters.

Amazing Spider-Man #39. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Romita Jr, Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Gang War is underway! There were some awesome interaction between Spidey and She-Hulk. Tombstone is up. This is a great arc so far.

Daredevil #4. “Introductory Rites” Part Four. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by German Peralta. John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Daredevil confronts the Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich. We fins out why Ben has been acting as he has been.

The Sentry #1. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Luigi Zagaria. Ben Harvey did the cover art. The book had me immediately when Jessica Jones showed up. She is one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe. The recently murdered Sentry’s power seems to have been split up among a group of other people. Intriguing for sure.

Invincible Iron Man #13. “The Mysterium Marauders” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Juan Frigeri. Kael Ngu did the cover art. Ironheart. Starfox. Tony Stark and Emma Frost. On the way to find the mysterious metal called Mysterium.

X-Men #29. “House of Doom.” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Joshua Cassara. X-Men head into Latveria to attempt to recruit the Latverian mutants. They end up having dinner with Dr. Doom.

Blood Commandment #2. Written and drawn by Szymon Kudranski. Vampires, werewolves and absolutely beautiful art work. It is a shocking book filled with some amazing imagery. It is a remarkably designed book.

Transformers #3. Written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson. Big battle between Optimus Prime and Starscream. Watching Optimus beat Starscream with his own removed arm was epic. And a shocking moment with Spike.

Nights #3. “Never Knows Best.” Written by Wyatt Kennedy and art by Luigi Formisano. Vincent started off the book with a bit of a stain… it surprised me when I saw it. This book is a oddball coming of age story that looks at some supernatural as well.

Alpha Flight #5. “Divided We Stand Part Five” Written by Ed Brisson and art by Scott Godlewski with David Cutler. Leonard Kirk and Edgar Delgado did the cover art. The conclusion of Alpha Flight as they come together to save as many of the mutants from Krakoa North. I liked this book.

Avengers #8. “Twilight Dreaming” Part Two. Written by Jed MacKay and art by C.F. Villa. The Avengers have to confront Nightmare in order to get back to Vision and Scarlet Witch who were battling the Twilight Court. I loved what Thor does near the end with Nightmare. Otherwise, I do not have a great connection with the Twilight Court.

Other books this week: Destiny Gate #3, Midlife (or How to Hero at Fifty) #3, Project: Cryptid #3, The Avengers Voices #1.