August 7

Hey there. Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Lots of stuff to discuss this week.

last Friday, I had been invited to a special sale at the comic shop that I go to in Bettendorf. They had received a big collection of back issues, many silver age, and they made it a special night for those of us who are on their pull list. We received invitations and had first crack at the books. It was such a cool idea and it was fun. Lots of others there, shoulder to shoulder, going through these boxes.

I picked up some fun stuff, such as some Marvel Team-Up early issues, a four issue mini-series featuring Shazam written by Jeff Smith (of Bone fame), Daredevil #45, almost the entire run of American Vampire 1976, a six-issue series called Powerless, Amazing Spider-Man #130, and number 1, 2, & 3 of a 1970s Marvel series called Spoof.

It was cool to be involved in this special night. One of the other customers came dressed as Dr. Doom. They had on the wall where they usually had the new books, the big ticket items that I knew I wasn’t getting. The standout there for me was Amazing Spider-Man #129 in the CGC slab, rated 9.4. It was up for $2300. When I was there today getting new books, the guy there working said it had sold yesterday.

This week I also picked up a bunch of Incredible Hulk books from Todd at Comic World. I had some excess space in my Hulk box so I rummaged through those to pick up some older Hulks.

Books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #9. Written by Joe Kelly and with art by guest artist Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. After Spidey got his butt handed him by Hellgate last issue, Peter is gun shy and not ready to come back as Spidey. Again, I have problems with this characterization because this feels very much opposite to who Peter Parker is as a character. I hope that by the end, that has straightened itself out.

One World Under Doom #6. “The Conscience of the King.” Written by Ryan North with art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. It is a worldwide debate between Doctor Doom and Reed Richards. I have to say, about half way through the book, I was feeling like I was on Team Doom. Thankfully, Reed had an ace up his stretchy sleeve from the other Avengers. This was a cool issue and showed the other side of the argument quite well.

Captain America #2. “Our Secret Wars Part 2” Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. I also picked up the negative space variant by John Tyler Christopher. The story of Steve Rogers initial return from the ice continues. We did not know that there had been a replacement Captain America at the time, and they went to Latveria on a mission to face off with Doom. Zdarsky is an excellent writer and this seems to fall right into a strength for him.

Red Hulk #7. “Lab Rat.” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Jethro Morales. Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Thunderbolt Ross is being tortured in one of the most horrendous ways possible. This book could be considered ‘body horror’ and it fits right in with some of the other Hulk books of recent times.

Something is Killing the Children #43. “All Her Monsters Part Three” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Werther Dell’edera. Dell’edera also did the virgin variant cover art. I picked up the foil variant cover too by Suspiria Vilchez (Gold Medalist). The flashback storyline with younger Erica continued as monsters are ravaging another small town with another young girl who saw it happen. I have really enjoyed this storyline with Erica as a younger person.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #11. “Birthday.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Happy birthday to Marc Specter!!! And it is a party! I liked this issue because it goes around with several of the side characters and they are speaking to someone who is with them. It feels like they are speaking to us (though it turned out to be Mon Knight’s daughter). Creative use of POV.

Blink and You’ll Miss It #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan and illustrated by Keith Browning. Cover art was done by Keith Browning with Brad Simpson. This was one of my favorite books this week. Certainly the best of the new books this week. It is from Boom! Studios and it has a very mysterious and creepy vibe to it. I was thoroughly engaged with it.

Project Chimera: The Hero Trade #1. Written by Matt Kindt and art by David Lapham. Cover art was done by David Lapham and Bill Crabtree. Another really good new book, this one from Bad Idea. There are twins who have some kind of super powers and they are being kept prisoners (unbeknownst to them) because of the dangers. We follow the story through the eyes of two of the people responsible for keeping them. It is presented in black and white, which helps create a definite tone for this book.

Uncanny X-Men #19. “Skin Condition.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. Deadpool and Outlaw make guest appearances in this book. I really have loved Gail Simone’s work on Uncanny. I love the characters she has, I love her new characters that she has introduced and I find the stories extremely fun, emotional and intelligent. I included a pic of this cover because Todd said he hated it. *Smiley face*

Hello Darkness #13. This has a several stories in this issue, all featuring a form of zombies. The cover I have is a variant done by Jenny Frison. My favorite of the stories this issue was entitled “Zag-Aftra.”

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1. “Chapter 1” Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. I do love me a heist film and this comic is setting up a huge heist. Cheetah & Cheshire stealing from the Watchtower. This started with some great character work and setting up what we are going to get. Very good new DC book.

Don’t Forget Yor Briefcase #2. Written by Eliot Rahal and art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. This is a ton of fun, but I have to say, there was a section in the book that was a flashback to Kabul, Afghanistan that seemed to have the characters featured as puppets. It was a weird little tangent inside the story about the missing nuclear ‘football.’ Who wouldn’t check in the dryer? Hm.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #3. Written by Charles Soule and art and cover art by Steve McNiven. One of the best comics of the week was Cold Day in Hell, the finale of the three-issue mini series featuring an old version of Daredevil battling older Bullseye. Frank Castle is here too (though he is in poor shape, to be fair). What a great story with a fantastic ending. Charles Soule outdid himself on this book. I am not a big fan of future stories, but this one is right at the top of the list.

Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice #3. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. John continues to try and keep his past behind him, despite a hallucination that he was having of a young super hero (an old sidekick perhaps) and Dr. Mayhem unleashing deadly viruses on a subway train. Has John finally reached the point of return?

Tama #1. Written by Adam Schlagman & Doug Pasko with art by Daniel HDR. Dustin Nguyen did the cover art. New independent book by Panick Comics. What happens when a grieving teen named Kit discovers a virtual pet named Tama that turns out to be more than what he expects? Lots of mayhem and chaos. This was an interesting first issue and a creative idea.

Return to Skull Island #2. Written by Simon Furman and art by Christopher Jones. Cover art by The Knott. Kong is in bad shape, but Monster Island has created a new alpha! Can Kong survive another fight?

Orla! #1. “Chapter One: The Ick.” Written by John Lees and art and cover art by Sally Cantirino. Orla is looking for love… or is she? Or is she just looking for loser guys to feed to her monster side? This was a fun book that kind of reminded me of a cross between Love Everlasting and Something is Killing the Children. Although it is more like Something is Eating the Adult Male Jerks. Another winner from Mad Cave.

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker and art by Griffin Sheridan. Another new Godzilla series. There seems to be a new one every week. However, this one does not have much panel time for Godzilla. We are in the Deadzone, which was a devastated Seattle, Washington by Kaiju. We are following a human monster with a tail.

Other books this week: Napalm Lullaby #10, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #5, Marvel Rivals: Hellfire Gala #1, Secret Six #6, Thundercats #17 (Silver Medalist), w0rldtr33 #16, Superior Avengers #5, and Wolverine by Chris Claremont #1.

Quick Hits: Two Ultimate books this week as they continue to build to the return of the Maker. Ultimate Wolverine #8 featured the Ultimate Angel, who kicked ass, and the Ultimate X-Men #18. I missed Vision & Scarlet Witch #2 last month. Not sure how that happened, but issue two helped make more sense about issue #3 which I got last week. This week’s bronze medalist in the favorite covers of the week went to Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #4. Who would guess that Sonja and Ash would work together this well? Obviously Dynamite Comics would. More Dynamite was here with Silverhawks #6. Absolute Superman #10 and Absolute Green Lantern #5 were out this week too. I liked the GL book pretty well. Wolverines & Deadpools #2 shakes off the odor of too much Wolverine and Deadpool together to have a strong book. I think it is truly helped by Ellie and Laura’s presence. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #3 is setting up a big rematch between Superman and Godzilla. Todd got me The War #1 virgin variant cover that I debated about last week. I don’t know how a number one issue, reprinted from Hello Darkness, can have so many epic covers. The Thunder War continues in Storm #11. Mary Jane seems to have made a major decision in her life in All-New Venom #9. More ghost pirate action in Ghostbusters: Dead Man’s Chest #3. I grabbed AWA’s book Charlamagne Tha God Presents ILLuminati #1. It was surprisingly compelling. Finally Sisterhood: A Hyde Street Story #2 is setting up some sinister trouble at the sorority house.

July 31

July has just about come to a conclusion. It the world of comic books, this week is the fifth week of the month which means that many of the companies use it as a skip week. They drop annuals or not many huge books. There were still some good stuff released.

Books this week:

Spider-Man & Wolverine #3. “The Savage Hunt” Written by Marc Guggenheim with art by Kaare Andrews. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. I am still not happy with the way this book writes Spider-Man. I just do not feel that they understand the character of Spider-Man. His dialogue and actions just do not fit Spidey. Still, Spidey and Wolverine in the Savage Land is always fun.

Nightwing #120-125. I was able to finish reading the remaining post-Tom Taylor Nightwing run that I had picked up after I started collecting Nightwing with #126. While they are not equal to the Tom Taylor books, these were decent. I do like the character of Nightwing a lot.

One World Under Doom: G.O.D.S. #1. Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mortarino. Valerio Schiti & Federico Blee did the cover art. I collected the whole G.O.D.S. series but it was never a book that made a lot of sense. It was a tough read and so I was never connected to it. This was the first time that I really loved the characters from that book. Wyn and Mia were brought to life in the best way so far by Ryan North. I kind of would like a book with Wyn and Mia written by North.

The War #1. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Becky Cloonan. This is a reprint issue of the story The War from Hello Darkness. That part of Hello Darkness was not my most favorite story in that anthology, but it is definitely a premiere story. The covers on these are just spectacular. I nearly bought the main three covers, but I thought it was just too much for a book that was just a reprint. I left the Cover A on the shelf. Cover B was by Jay Shaw (Gold Medalist) and Cover C by Tula Lotay (Silver Medalist).

Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Sixteen #1. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Phil Noto. Terry and Rachel Dodson did the cover art. Superheroes and supervillains meet Hulu’s The Bear. Invites to all of these characters to come to the opening night of a new restaurant. Will it be a chaotic night or are they all just hungry enough to be on their best behaviors? This was a strange book.

Ultimate Spider-Man #19. Written by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto did the art. Marco Checchetto and Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Mary Jane is at her wits end and she is unhappy with Peter and Richard’s actions. She wants to be kept in the loop. That feels like some issue coming for the happy family.

Out of Alcatraz #5. “Boundary Bay.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art and cover art by Tyler Crook. This has been a fantastic comic book from Oni Press. The fifth issue wraps up the story of the escapees of Alcatraz. It was an excellent conclusion, wrapping everything up in a satisfying manner, which is not always an easy thing to do.

Werewolf By Night: Blood Moon Rise #1. “Nail in the Coffin.” Written by Michael Giacchino with art by David Messina. Tyler Kirkham & Arif Prianto did the cover art. I guess this is not bloody enough for a red band, like the previous Werewolf by Night book (honestly, that last WBN book did not need to be a red band book either). I did not know that this book was written by Michael Giacchino, who is the composer of so many classic films and the director of the Marvel Studios special feature Werewolf By Night. This is always fun with the Werewolf By Night (and Dracula, btw).

Speed Racer #1. “Life in the Fast Lane” Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Mad Cave is pulling it best Dynamite Comics imitation by bringing up an old cartoon IP in a new style. In fact, David Pepose has done a lot of those Dynamite books. I like this book because it brought a new feel to this character.

The Ultimates #14. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. We get the Ultimates debut of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. It feels very much like their appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Great battle with the twins and Captain America and Hawkeye.

The Thing #3. “The King of Yancy Street Part Three“. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Justin Mason. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. The Thing is out to protect a little girl that is wanted by the criminal underworld. Thing fights off Bullseye and the Wrecking Crew. Thing looked kick ass in this issue, though trouble is coming at the end with an appearance by Juggernaut.

Incredible Hulk #27. “The Falling Down Tree.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and penciled by Kev Walker. Nic Klein did the cover art. This was one of the best Hulk issues we have had in a long time. It had a different feel to it and I really enjoyed the depth of the story. Hulk and little boy. Good stuff.

Space Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover A art was done by Mark Spears (Bronze Medalist) and Cover B art was done by Joshua Middleton. Crossover between Space Ghost and Jonny Quest continues in this Dynamite Comics book as the kids swap places. Lots of Space Ghost villains appear too.

You’ll Do Bad Things #5. Written by Tyler Boss and art by Adriano Turtulici. Tyler Boss also did the cover art. Penultimate issue of this book places out people where they need to be for the big finale. Looked like the questions about our serial killer have been answered. We’ll see how it turns out next month.

Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1. Written by Marc Guggenheim & Mark Waid. Cian Tormey did the art for the cover. Time travelers are in trouble as the displaced heroes (and Jonah Hex) face the aftermath of the “We are Tomorrow” arc. I did like this crew together, including Plastic Man, Batman Beyond and Jonah Hex. This special did not feel like it wrapped anything up. In fact, it leaves things dangling for future books. We’ll see how things go for this group. I already get ore DC than I am used to.

Vision & Scarlet Witch #3. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta & Jacopo Camagni/ Russell Dauterman did the cover art. I like this book so far because it feels like a spiritual sequel to the Vision series by Tom King, which is one of my all-time favorite stories. With Vin Vision playing a role, this has some real emotion to it.

News from the Fallout #2. Written by Chris Condon and art by Jeffrey Alan Love. Cover art was done by Jeffrey Alan Love. What a great book this is. I love the mysterious story and the art absolutely keeps things uncertain and moody. Chris Condon consistently provides some original storytelling and books that are different than you are used to as this falls right into that category.

Nightwing Annual #1. “Death Trap.” Written by Dan Watters and drawn by and cover art by Francesco Francavilla. This annual spends time with Olivia Pearce and Commissioner Sawyer. No sign of Nightwing in the book, outside the final panel and some hints during some comics featuring the Grey Ghost. This was probably the best it was going to be without any sign of Nightwing.

Other books this week: Bring on the Bad Guys: Loki #1, Assorted Crisis Events #5, I, Tyrant #1, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1 Ashcan, and Missionary #3.

Quick Hits: The final issue of the Marvel/Disney What If…? books came out this week. What If…? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1 wrapped up this cute little crossovers. Anything but cute, Savage Wolverine #1 which is a one-shot (I believe) was very brutal and violent. Not the same as Goofy. The Terminator #9 returned after a length wait with a book that felt very much like T2: Judgment Day. Another returning book, but for different reasons, is The Lucky Devils #4. At the back of the issue, there was a conversation between Charles Soule and Ryan Browne about why the publication of this book stalled. Apparently, Ryan Browne suffered a stroke and was recovering. He still had trouble breaking the written word into a page to draw so they called in Zander Cannon to help with the art breakdown. Ryan Browne seems to be recovering, and they said the book would be released on a bi-monthly schedule to give them extra time. I certainly wish all the positive thoughts to Ryan Browne in his recovery. His art is still breathtaking and it was a shocking revelation. Get well soon! Moving on, Exquisite Corpses #1 released a third printing with an awesome cover, so I picked it up too. I am not sure I love this trend of reprinting books multiple times with amazing covers that make me want to spend more money on a book I already have. Diabolical! I picked up a book called 4th Rope #1 from a small company called Noir Caesar. It is about an intergalactic wrestling organization. Honestly, I love wrestling, but this issue did not appeal to me much. I am glad to own it. Crush Depth #5 and Dark Pyramid #5 both came to a conclusion this week with interesting issues. Both series from Mad Cave got weirder with each issue. Sam and Twitch Case Files #16 is pretty good as this arc seems to be coming to a conclusion soon. The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #2 featured the longest title of any book right now and included Dr. Jekyll. Zdarsky Comic News #13 came out, but I am missing #11 and #12. Not sure why they did not show up at my shop in Bettendorf. I’ll have to look again.

July 26

The last Comic Cavalcade of July is another biggie. There are a bunch of books this week that were A covers from Marvel books from last week that had not been delivered to Comic World. I had picked up most of them with variant covers last week. These included New Avengers #2, Ultimate Black Panther #18, The World To Come #2, Exceptional X-Men #11, Death of the Silver Surfer #2, and Spider-Girl #2.

Books this week:

Mark Spears Monsters #6. “No Such Thing as a Superhero.” Written, illustrated and cover art by Mark Spears. So, technically, this is one of next week’s books. This does not release until July 30, but I got it from Keenspot directly. This is ironic too because when I ordered #4 and 5 from Keenspot, it took FOREVER to receive the package of these books. With number six arriving early, it was such a neat surprise. I got the A, B, and C cover in the package.

Amazing Spider-Man #8. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. with Todd Nauck. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. I also got the retro vision variant version by Dan Panosian. Spidey’s battle continued on with Hellgate as Spidey struggled to try and stop the powerhouse.

Six Shots #1. “It’s Inside All of Us.” Written by Brian Phillipson & Jordan Lichtman with art and cover art by Alex Cormack. I got this via eBay this week. It is from a small time comic company called Bliss on Tap and Todd could not find it in Des Moines at all. It is a fascinating story involving a six gun and a demon. It is only a two part series so this is the first issue and the penultimate one.

X-Men: Age of Revelation #0. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia. Doug Ramsey is the heir of Apocalypse and this is a potential future that sees Doug, aka Revelation, joined the X-Men and seeing how things went badly quickly. This is leading to a huge X-Men crossover event in a few months. I will say, this was an interesting start.

Rocketfellers #7. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Francis Manapul and Siya Oum. Cover art was done by Francis Manapul. I also got the FF homage variant with art by Ramon Bachs. This story was a flashback…to the future??? Yes, this was a story that mostly took place in the Rocketfellers’ past, which would be the future to where they are now.

Runaways #2. “Think of the Children Part Two” Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Elena Casagrande and Roberta Ingramata. Cover art was done by Stephanie Hans. Chase is back and he brought the drama with him. Honestly, I found this to be an epic issue as the troubles between the Runaways was all over the place. This reminded me of the best of the Runaways.

Godzilla: Kai-Sei #1. Written by Tim Seeley with art and cover art by Nikola Čižmešija. Godzilla has been on fire in 2025, and this is yet another fun series from IDW. Tim Seeley has done some of my favorite books over the last few years and I am looking forward to seeing this progress. It feels like anew twist to a Godzilla story that we haven’t seen before.

Wolverine #11. “Only a Mother.” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza. Wolverine vs. Sabretooth brutally battles over Logan’s mother. The question about how Logan’s mother could be here was answered in a heartbreaking manner.

Look Into My Eyes #1. Written by and art by Rubine. Cover art is done by Rubine Francesco Segala. Suzie has disappeared. Conspiracy-obsessed teen RJ Nguyen wants to find out where she went. I love these weird small town stuff (like Twin Peaks, Stillwater etc.) and this was exciting. It also has several QR codes throughout to expand the storytelling. Creative new book from Mad Cave, who has been excellent lately.

Moon Knight #10. (aka LEGACY #300). “God of Gangsters.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was by Davide Paratore. Big Moon Knight issue as the comic reminds us how much Moon Knight kicks ass.

Sleep #3. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. Sleep has been exceptional so far and this issue shows us the chaos that happened while Jonathan is asleep. The brutality across the town is causing Jonathan to be anxious and scared about what exactly is happening to him. Sleep has been a great book so far and this is one of the more beautifully art designed books around today.

Minor Arcana #9. Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jeff Lemire. Theresa, against her better thoughts, opened the psychic store to the public and a line of people wanted to contact those who have passed.

Geiger #16. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Eamon Winkle. Cover art is done by Gary Frank and Brad Anderson. The Glowing Man is in bad shape and there are some major explosions. Still, this felt like a mid-issue preparing for the big trial starting out next issue.

Space Ghost Annual #1. Written by David Pepose with art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. This annual seems like it ends the first group of issues while leading into the next series. Space Ghost has been a solid book for Dynamite and I am a fan of it.

West Coast Avengers #9. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanovas. I have really enjoyed this team of West Coast Avengers. The group of heroes that they have brought together have been intriguing and mix nicely. The idea of a heroic Ultron is awesome. I have heard this one is ending with #10, but I hope that is not the case. This has been really good.

Star Trek: Red Shirts #1. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Megan Levens. Variant cover art by JJ Lendl. I like Star Trek, but I would not call myself a fan. However, this idea of having the lead of this book be part of the “red shirts” which was the canon fodder of the show, those that would die on missions, made me interested in seeing what this would be about.

Feral #15. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover art by Trish Forstner and Passalaqua (Bronze Medalist). Feral has been very tense and filled with some of the best horror writing in comics. There are amazing scares in this book even with the main characters being cats.

Blue Palo Verde #2. Written by Ray Fawkes and art and cover art by Rimanti. Kris is back from prison and trying to contact her father, who is on a sick bed. However, the town seems to want her to leave. This has been very compelling so far. Like a couple of the other books this week, the weird little town is one of my favorite sub-genres and this one is playing right into it.

Exquisite Corpses #3. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with James Tynion IV and art by Valentine De Landro with Michael Walsh. I got three different covers for this book. Cover A was Michael Walsh. Cover B by Valentine De Landro. Cover D is the stealth variant also by Valentine De Landro (Gold Medalist). More excitement from the tournament. This has been one of the best books of the month every month since it had been released.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers #2. Written by David Pepose and art by Eman Casallos. Cover A art was by Chad Hardin while cover B variant was done by Jae Lee & June Chung. We spend some more time with the Planeteers as they are starting to discover their powers. I do like this book quite a bit so I am glad it seems like it is finally on a regular release schedule.

TexArcanum #1. Written by Christopher Monfette and illustrated by Miguel Martos. Who is cowboy arcanist Avery Belle? He has traveled the land in battle with ghosts, demons, spirits and gods. Another new book with a really creative concept. This is a Dark Horse book and it was a fun read.

Hero Hiro #1. Written by Jeff McClelland with art by Michael “Gecko” Adams. Cover art is done by Michael Adams. I had not known anything about this book from Keenspot and, when I saw it on the wall in Bettendorf, I gave it a shot. The main superhero is called The Hero and my first thoughts of that character was that he reminded me of Captain Amazing from Mystery Men. Interesting premise for this book too with a power transfer from The Hero to a kid named Hiro. This felt lighter than some of the other independent books lately and I thought it was a good change of pace.

The Voice Said Kill #1. Written by Si Spurrier and art and cover art by Vanesa Del Rey. Speaking about the darker independents, this is an example of that. Murder and bloody violence in the Louisiana Bayou. This is a crime story with an intriguing protagonist.

Uncanny X-Men #18. “Corn Dogs and Carnage.” Written by Gail Simone with art by Luciano Vecchio. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. New Orleans and friendship… what would be better than having a carnival! This was a fun switch as the city is starting to celebrate the mutants instead of what we are used to.

Ice Cream Man #44. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. Okay, so I think, this was an origin story for the Ice Cream Man himself. It was an intriguing story of Craig Alabaster and the troubles he faced at his job.

Storm #10. “Thunder War Begins” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art by Mateus Manhanini. The last two pages of this book is what rally stands out. Man Storm is a kick ass right now.

Phoenix #13. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Cable is here with his step-mother Jean with the truth about the supposed resurrection of Jean’s sister and why it is a terrible thing.

Hornsby & Halo #8. Storytellers for this book are Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art is done by Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz. Zach and Rose join a school play. This was a fun story that was featuring the characters. I liked this as it felt like a break from the book.

The Last Boy #4. Written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Alessio Avallone with assistance by Alberto Canale. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Peter Pan is out to make new allies and lead Captain Hook’s old crew? Whoa? Oh and it looked like Peter may have lost a hand.

The Department of Truth #32. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. More about the mysterious Hatman. Another original style to tell this story. The Department of Truth has experimented with different ways to tell a story and this one is new again. I love the way this book keeps you on your toes.

Justice League Unlimited #9. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. This is listed as the “We Are Yesterday Epilogue”. I think I am ready for this time travel story to be over. They are able to save Air Wave.

The Great British Bump Off: Kill or Be Quilt #4. Written by John Allison and art by Sarin. This is the final issue of this Dark Horse book. It was a silly book with a mystery that was kind of fun. It had some humor and funny writing, but it turned out to be nothing major.

Other books this week: New History of the DC Universe #2, Blade Forger #5, Fantastic Four Presents Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius #1, Seasons #6, Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse #3, Dark Honor #3, Absolute Martian Manhunter #5, and Mr. Terrific Year One #3.

Quick Hits: Insurgent Iron Man #10 brings that series to an end. Iron Man sounds like he will be back in the Age of Revelation event with a book with Emma Frost. Speaking of Emma, Emma Frost: White Queen #2 is also out this week. A story back in the old days prior to the Dark Phoenix saga. Things are getting messy in Eddie Brock: Carnage #6. Predator versus Spider-Man #4 brought this new Predator mini series to an end from the 20th Century Studios imprint. Vanishing Point #3 continued the sci-fi anthology book. The silver medalist cover winner this week was Vampirella Armageddon #1. Mark Spears did the cover with his characters from Monsters on the cover. Vampirella took her place on Monsters #6 cover C in an exchange. Mark Spears also had a 3rd printing of Mark Spears Monsters #2 this week. How many reprints will there be? How many will I keep buying? With the big movie coming out this week, Fantastic Four Fanfare #3 was released and had some Thing-centric stories. Silverhawks #5 finally returned after several problems from Dynamite and Diamond. Last night, Absolute Wonder Woman won the Eisner Award for Best New Series so Absolute Wonder Woman #10 is out this week. Absolute Wonder Woman also made news at San Diego Comic Con when we learned that this book was going to feature the first meeting of Wonder Woman and Batman in the Absolute universe. Doom’s Division ended its five-issue series with the return of Sunfire. Psylocke #9, Lost Fantasy #3 and Void Rivals #21 wrap up the week. Wooooo what a week.

June 21

Hey. It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. It seems like I should stop saying that it is another big week this week since it seems as if every week has a ton of books any more. It’s lots of fun.

I have dived into Nightwing and I am awaiting an order from eBay where I picked up the Tom Taylor run (#78-113). I also picked up a few back issues from the Bettendorf shop, all at cover price. Awesome.

I’m trying to stay focused but there is a cricket cricketing like crazy in my room right now and it is driving me nuts. I do hate crickets so I may have to pause to go murder it soon.

Books this week:

Toxie Team-Up #1. Written by Mark Russell and art by Richard Pace. Cover art was done by Fred Harper. Blasphemy at its finest! Toxic Avenger teams up with the one and only Jesus H. Christ. This was such a lot of fun, even if I’m going to Hell. There are some really funny moments in this if you have a sense of humor.

Wolverine #10. “All Happy Families” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Javier Pina. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza. Logan goes into his childhood house looking for Sabretooth. This is actually one of my favorite issues of the week. Logan’s “voice over” is really great and I loved the script.

They Choose Violence #1. Written by Sheldon Allen and illustrated by Mauricio Campetella. Cover art was done by Rahzzah. Fun new series by AWA. Interestingly enough, this has been recalled by the company because one page is reprinted, I assume, accidentally in the story. I am not sure if there was a page missing where the one page was there again. It was weird when I read it, and then I saw the recall.

Emma Frost: White Queen #1. Written by Amy Chu and art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. This story took place in the past of continuity during the time when Emma Frost was in the Hellfire Club as the White Queen. I would have rather this book tell a present day story of Emma Frost, who we have come to love over the last several years. Still, there is a fun X-Men appearance.

Psylocke #8. “Into the Snow.” Written by Alyssa Wong and art by Moises Hidalgo. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. Kwannon goes to the land of where she was born. We have some major flashbacks going on.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #1. Script by Tate Brombal and art by Isaac Goodhart. Cover art is by Noah Dao. This feels like a re-introduction of Christopher Chaos and the rest of the Monster Club.

Iron Man #9. “Part Four: Great-Power Competition.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Michael Dowling, Julius Ohta & Guiu Vilanova. Cover art by Yasmine Putri. Bucky, Black Widow, The Winter Guard guest star as Iron Man faces the challenge of providing weapons for Doom.

Vatican City #3. Written by Mark Millar and art and cover art was done by Per Berg. The vampire storyline comes to a dramatic conclusion with this three-issue story. Vatican City has been a pretty fun run and this wraps up nicely.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #9. “Clinical Trial” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. Moon Knight and his group are reforming, getting ready to go after Fairchild. This sets up the major battle next issue, I am guessing.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #3. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillyard & Michelle Madsen. This has been a great book so far. This issue initially left me with hope that Rennie would be able to get away from her killing, even though it was clear the signs were pointing at she could not do it.

Blood & Thunder #2. Written by Benito Cereno with art by E.J. Su. Cover art was done by E.J. Su & Msassyk. We get more in this issue of the relationship between Akeldama and her gun, including some background on her father. This has been a fun series so far and I do like how they have developed relationships moving forward.

Past Time #3. Written by Joe Harris and art by Russell Olson. Mark Chiarello did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Baseball and vampires go hand in hand, don’t they? It really works in this series and sets up a dramatic end for the issue. Very creative using these two story types in one.

Avengers #27. “Masters of Evil” Part 3. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art by Valerio Schiti & Federico Blee. Black Panther and Captain America have to team up against the new Masters of Evil while the Mad Thinker sets his true plan in motion.

Vanishing Point #2. “The Tomorrow Family: Life in the Year 2100. Tonight’s Episode: You Leave Me Breathless.” Written by Mark Russell and art by Ryan Alexander-Tanner. Robert Hack did the cover art. Any fans of Hanna-Barbera’s classic cartoon, The Jetsons? This parody issue is for you. Vanishing Point is an anthology sci-fi series and it has been great so far.

X-Men #18. “Invitation” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Emilio Laiso. Ryan Stegman & Marte Garcia did the cover art. 3K is making some major moves in this issue, including making an untimely offer to Beast. Lots of mutant shenanigans going down here.

Godzilla vs. Avengers #1. Written by David F. Walker and penciled by Georges Jeanty. Lee Garbett did the variant cover art (the versus cover). This takes place in the New Avengers time so we have Luke Cage and Spider-Man and Spider-Woman in the Avengers along with Cap and Iron Man and Wolverine. It is kind of a fun way to tell the story as we also get an Ultraman type character.

West Coast Avengers #8. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Ben Harvey did the cover art. It was a bad day to be an Avenger. The West Cast Avengers try to take on the cult of Ultron. Things don’t go well.

Los Monstruos #2. Written by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Cover art was done by Jesus Merino & K.J. Diaz. The noir story continues as our werewolf lead, Private Investigator Perry Cutter, heads into the Egyptian section to deal with mummies! Los Monstruos has been excellent so far, feeling very much like an old time movie from Universal.

Benjamin #1. Script by Ben H. Winters and art by Leomacs. The cover art was done by Christian Ward (Bronze Medalist). I loved this issue, as we dive into a mystery and the issue spends time trying to figure it out. Who is this writer and how is he not dead? Create use of the medium.

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #1. “Chapter One: Krypton” Written by Ryan North and art by Mike Norton. Jae Lee & June Chung did the cover art. Ever want a deeper dive into the origin of Krypto? Well here you go… all told by Ryan North, a writer whom I have loved from Fantastic Four.

Exquisite Corpses #2. Written by Michael Walsh with James Tynion IV and art by Marianne Ignazzi with Michael Walsh. Cover A art by Michael Walsh. I also go Cover B by Marianne Ignazzi (Gold Medalist). I love how this series is setting things up. Where it could have dived into a huge battle and slaughter fest, this book is taking things slow, with just one more death. This has been a huge winner so far.

Amazing Spider-Man #6. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz. Spidey and Black Cat find themselves working together on a potential heist… at least that is what Black Cat wants. They run into Hellgate, the new Spider-Man villain on the final, massive page.

The Ultimates #13. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. There are a lot of things going on in this issue, but everything feels as if it is building to something huge. The Ultimates has become on of the best Ultimate books around.

Absolute Flash #4. “The Trials of the Flash” Written by Jeff Lemire with art by A. I Kaplan. Nick Robles did the cover art. The Absolute Flash has become one of my favorite of the Absolute run. Probably a big reason being Jeff Lemire. I am a Lemire fan and his work on this book has been top notch.

Nightwing #127. “Other Part 1” Written by Dan Watters with art by Dexter Soy. Cover art was done by Dexter Soy and Adriano Lucas. I am just starting to learn about Nightwing. For example, I did not know Dick Grayson had a sister. I have been enjoying starting to learn more about a character that I always liked before.

G.I. Joe #8. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. The Baroness is tired of the training, and so she needs 48 hours for a personal trip to Paris. They send Cover Girl with her. And they get in trouble right away.

Other books this week: Aliens vs. Avengers #4, The New Gods #7, Weapon X-Men#5, Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse #2, Doom’s Division #4, and Bloodletter #1.

Quick Hits: I finally got the new Sam and Twitch Case Files #14 after missing it a couple of weeks ago. Shout out to this book for still only being $2.99. More comics should be cheaper to try and help build the hobby. Bytch Craft #1 came from Mad Cave, but this one was not one of my favorites. I was not interested in this Mad Cave book. Another new mini series that I think I will be skipping is Jeff the Land Shark #1. I have picked up the It’s Jeff one shots over the last year or so, but this one does not interest me either. Power Man: Timeless #4 brings this short mini series to a close. I had kind of lost interest in this one too, after being really excited about the early couple of issues. The Keenspot book Don’t Run With Scissors #2 is really a weird book and has some art that keeps with that tone. Phantom Road #13 continues with the weird world of Jeff Lemire. The first of the new Marvel one-shot series called Bring on the Bad Guys: Doom #1 came out too. I have a cool Dr. Doom cover but there is a fun variant cover featuring the new villain Sister Sorrow. Connected with Dr. Doom, he goes to Valera’s birthday party in Fantastic Four Fanfare #2. There are three stories inside this book. Bug Wars #5 is, I believe, the big penultimate issue of this series from Jason Aaron. Another penultimate issue is the Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt #3. This is actually pretty funny this issue. Finally I have Zatanna #5. Honestly, I am having a harder time getting into this than the last Zatanna book, but I do love the art by Jamal Campbell. Zatanna must think she is She-Hulk as we get a big meta moment in the middle of the book.

June 13

Happy Friday the 13th to all of the horror movie fans out there. It has been awhile since I was able to get the EYG Comic Cavalcade out on a Friday, but summer’s here and some extra reading time is available.

I also have a brand new computer chair that I put together (with only some swear words) last night. It is nice and comfy as I type this week’s Cavalcade post.

Books this week:

Death of the Silver Surfer #1. “Chapter 1: Here” Written by Greg Pak and art by Sumit Kumar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan. As readers of the Comic Cavalcade know, I am not much of a fan of alternate future stories and this is a new one from Marvel. However, this book, written by Greg Pak, who I do like a great deal, is really decent. I was very engaged when I was reading it and I think this will be one of those future stories that will work for me.

Star Hunters #1-7. This is a group of seven books, the full series, that Todd made me buy. JK. He did recommend it. I have not actually read the full series, just skimming the first issue a bit, but I am happy to have it. Issue one had cover price of $0.35 which jumps up to $0.50 by the final issue.

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #1. Written by Jeff Lemire with art and cover art by Dustin Nguyen. Jeff Lemire is the reason I picked up this number one, and I am very pleased that I did so because it is an exceptional story involving the eventually tragic Robin, Jason Todd. I have always been a fan of Robin and, while Jason Todd is not a personal fav, this book takes that character into a new level.

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1. “Marvel Girl“. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Rod Reis. Ms. Marvel and Legion insert themselves into the Dark Phoenix Saga after being in the recruitment of the new X-Men in the last issue. I am not sure what this Ms. Marvel group of books is meant to do, but the stories have been fine.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9. “The Way of the Rotted Rat.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. With Donny behind bars, the remaining Turtles try to keep from killing each other in an attempt to save their brother. Things are not going great for them.

Lost Fantasy #2. “Book One: A World Beneath.” Created by Curt Pries & Luca Casalanguida. A new hunter comes into play while Henry fights for his life. Lost Fantasy has been a great read so far and the ‘giant size” regular book is awesome. More books should provide more pages of story than what they have been doing recently.

Nightwing #126. “By the Book- Finale: Bad Cop/Good Cop.” Written by Dan Watters and art by Francesco Francavilla. Cover art was done by Adriano Lucas. I have been a fan of Nightwing since his debut in Teen Titans, and Dick Grayson prior to that as Robin. I decided to give Nightwing a chance and grabbed this issue off the shelf. Of course, it was a finale of a story arc, but even with that, the story was understandable and interesting.

Something is Killing the Children #42. “All Her Monsters Part Two” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. I also picked up cover B variant with art by Tyler Boss (Gold Medalist) which was a glow-in-the-dark cover. Erica is back as we continue to see into the past of the young monster slayer.

Far Down Below #3. Written by Chris Condon and art by Gege Schall. Cover art was done by Jacob Phillips. Brian, Jeff and Brian’s grandfather continue their trek beneath the surface of the earth and find all kinds of dangers and obstacles. And they found someone else!

The New Avengers #1. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Tony Lima. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. The New Avengers … or The Thunderbolts! Bucky and Black Widow are on a mission and they need to find some “team members.” They start off with Laura Kinney Wolverine and Namor. More to come.

Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1. “Crisis on Infinite Corgis.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Belen Ortega. This was a fun, little time travel story with Trinity along with a couple of other versions of her from different times, are out to retrieve a group of time traveling corgis. Weird book, but always fun thanks to Tom King.

Avengers Academy Assemble #1. Written by Anthony Oliveira and art by Carlos Lopez and KJ Diaz. Steven Byrne did the cover art. This looks like it is collecting the Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic #1-6, which I believe is on the Marvel Unlimited digital series. This is my preferred way to read comics, with the floppy copy. I do like a lot of these young characters and I was a fan of the old Avengers Academy books, so this was fun.

Runaways #1. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Elena Casagrande. Cover art by Stephanie Hans. I also picked up a variant cover by Elena Casagrande with a wrap-around cover of the original Runaways. I was a fan of the Runaways and Doombot was one of my favorite characters so with Dr. Doom running the world, it was just a matter of time before he tried to reclaim his property.

One World Under Doom #5. Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey did the cover art. Doom and the Avengers find themselves on the same side against the dread Dormammu. Of course, this is something that the manipulative Doom will take advantage of as he groomed his reputation and image as a world wide savior.

Geiger #15. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. The battle between the Glowing People comes to an explosive finish in this issue. Geiger continues to be high quality in the Ghost Machine imprint.

Spider-Girl #1. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and with art by Andre Risso. Variant cover B art was done by Peach Momoko. From the pages of Spider-Boy, we get the new heroine who had teamed up with Bullseye to fight in a tournament. Here she has to face Vermin.

Amazing Spider-Man Giant Size #1. Four separate Spidey stories written by Kevin Smith, Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky and Mitsuyasu Sakai. The four artists involved were Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mark Buckingham, Cafu & Gerardo Sandoval. Spidey is out looking for a fix for his torn costume, he meets Wyn from G.O.D.S., and they introduce the new character Rapid, who can slow down time.

Conan the Barbarian #21. “Slaves of the Magi” Written by Grim Jim Zub and art by Ferocious Fernando Dagnino. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Another book I grabbed off the stands to give a try. I used to collect the Conan books that were recently at Marvel and I thought I would try this Titan book. It was fairly decent. Certainly looked great.

New Champions #6. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Gleb Melnikov & Arthur Hesli. The young New Champions team up with the Avengers in a battle against a new Super-Skrull. Oh, and Moon Knight shows up and scares Moon Squire.

Exceptional X-Men #10. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero & Federica Mancin. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Kitty, Emma and Iceman are here to help their trainees, but Axo has to come to the rescue instead. I thought this might be the end of this series, but I am glad it looks like it is moving on.

Jumpscare #3, 4. Written by Cullen Bunn and art and cover art by Danny Luckert. I finally got Jumpscare #3, which was a suddenly difficult book to find. Todd was able to find it in Des Moines (although he then tried to hid it from me…. ). I was starting to believe that issue three was just a urban legend. I do enjoy this book and I am glad I am currently caught up.

Absolute Batman #9. “Abomination Part One” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. The Absolute Universe debut of Bane. And Bane is badass!

Eddie Brock: Carnage #5. Written by Charles Soule and art by Juanan Ramirez. Cover art was done by Iban Coello & Frank D’Armata. Carnage and Eddie are having their internal struggle for control as Eddie is trying to help a crashed plane’s passengers. Misty Knight may be in over her head.

Phoenix #12. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck (Bronze Medalist). This issue spends most of the time with Sarah Grey, in both present day and flashbacks. It sets her up as a possible mutant, but Cable does not seem too pleased.

Batman: Dark Patterns #7. “Pareidolia” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. The new arc of the Dark Patterns series kicks off here and it continues to be an exceptional take on an early Batman.

Star Wars #2. “Smoke” Written by Alex Segura and art and cover art by Phil Noto. Luke takes off, leaving Rynn behind and winds up in search of a Jedi artifact called the Crown of Verity. This issue featured Luke’s travels and his confrontations as he searched for the McGuffin.

Magik #6. “The Road Back Home.” Written by Ashley Allen and art by Jesus Hervas. Cover art was done by Pablo Villalobos. Trouble brewing in Limbo, so Illyana meets up with Madelyne Pryor to cause sparks to fly between the two powerful Limbo masters.

Other Books this week: Frankenstein New World: The Sea Forever #4, The Loose Ends #4, Huge Detective #5, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #3, Marvel United: A Pride Special #1, Marvel Rivals Ignite #1, and Deadpool/Wolverine #6.

Quick Hits: Todd had gotten a group of Superman Unlimited #1 issues signed by Dan Slott through Midtown Comics and I was able to get one of those. It was cool because I swear, Dan Slott is the only comic book creator whose signature is readable. Optimist Prime is still in some bad shape in Transformers #21. EC Blood Type #1 was another off the stands book to try out. It wasn’t bad even though there are a surplus of vampire stories right now. Blue Palo Verde #1 is also new and I had never heard of it before, but I feel as if Mad Cave deserves the benefit of the doubt right now and I did love this book. Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #8 is one of the least regularly released books currently coming out that is not from DSTLRY. No Black Panther in Ultimate Black Panther#17, but it might have been better with the focus on Killmonger and Okoye. Sister Imperator #4 closes that series out. I am not sure if I will miss it. W0rldtr33 #15 has the silver medalist this week for Fernando Blanco. Hello Darkness #11 continues to have great covers too and a potpourri of horror short stories. Finally Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men #16 is here and is still the most original Ultimate books available.

June 8

Good day. It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade.

This past Wednesday was the first NEW COMIC BOOK DAY of the summer months so I got to spend the afternoon at Comic World, reading my books and waiting for the late arriving Diamond order to be divvied out. Good news, Comic World is going to be finally done with Diamond. Here’s hopin’ that Penguin will be more consistent than Diamond has been the last six months or so.

Books this week:

X-Men #17. “Visitor” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Ryan Stegman. Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Piper’s twin vs. Magneto (inside and controlling a Sentinel). At least it appeared as if they were able to find Kid Omega and that he was not dead.

Mark Spears Monsters #5. Written, illustrated and cover art by Mark Spears (TIED- Bronze Medalist). Monsters continues to be an amazing series of cover art as well as some of the best interior art around. Mark Spears has been a star this year and this book, which has ties to Monster Squad, is highly entertaining.

Amazing Spider-Man #5. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Pepe Larraz. Cover A art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. I do love it when the cover art incorporates the title in some creative manner. I also picked up cover C, whose art was done by Joelle Jones & Rachelle Rodriguez. The poisoned Peter arc wrapped up as Spidey faces off with the Hobgoblin.

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #1. Written by Brian Buccellato and art by Christian Duce. Christian Duce & Luis Guerrero did the cover art. This is a sequel to the previous mini-series featuring an alternate world where the JL fought the big two monsters. Things are back with more trouble for the Justice League.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz #5. Adapted and illustrated by Otis Frampton. I was upset by the end of this book because there was a note inside saying that they were going to have 15 more issues to tell this story, but from now on, it would be only available digitally, or in a trade paperback. I had enjoyed this series through the first five issues and this made me very disappointed. I do not like digital comics. I want to hold it in my hand (as the book called it … a floppy). This made me mad and disappointed.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #1. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art (foil version) done by Kael Ngu. I grabbed this lovely foil cover featuring Miles Morales fighting the Spot. Miles finds himself in the Ultimate universe. Is he home? What does this mean for the 616?

Be Not Afraid #1. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and illustrated by Lisandro Estherren. Cover art was done by Reiko Murakami. I grabbed both the A cover and the virgin cover for this new Boom! Studios book. This is a dark horror story dealing with a family and a frightening spirit out for something dastardly.

Imperial #1. “One” Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Iban Coello & Federico Vicentini. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Marte Gracia. Jonathan Hickman brings his sweeping epic to the cosmic world of Marvel. Lots of characters involved including Nova, Star Lord, Hulk, Gladiator and the Shi’ar, the Skrulls & Kree, just to name a few. It feels like another future story, but I was interested so far.

All-New Venom #7. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura martin did the cover art. All-New Venom has to face off with Agent Venom, so it is MJ vs. Flash Thompson. Plus, there is more with Rick Jones who still thinks Robbie is the new Venom.

Marvel Knights: The World to Come #1. “Part One: The Death of Kings” Created by Joe Quesada and Christopher Priest. Cover art by Joe Quesada. We have another possible future story, and this one has created a huge wave of controversy as they have introduced a white man as the new Black Panther. Oh my….. As if Quesada already doesn’t receive enough hate for his Marvel stuff.

Return of the Living Dead #4. Written by S.A. Check & James Kuhoric with art by Andrea Arcari. Cover art was done by Mark Spears (Gold Medalist). This was an explosive finale for this remake of the Return of the Living Dead. This was a fun zombie series from American Mythology Productions.

Daredevil #22. “Rites of Reconciliation.” Part Three. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares and Carlos Nieto. Black armor Daredevil discovered the answer to the dangerous spores that were being sent around by our villain. Too bad Joel and Ellie did not know about it.

Immortal Thor #24. “The Death of the Immortal Thor.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jon Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). It appeared that Thor had made it through the huge battle against the prophecy. Thor expected to die in a heroic sacrifice. He did not. Everyone is happy. Oh… and then Loki stabbed him in the back.

The Terminator #8. Written by Declan Shalvey and art by Colin Craker. Cover art was by Declan Shalvey (Tied- Bronze Medalist). Kind of a review of what has happened so far in the Terminator. It is a very original way to showcase what has gone before.

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #7. “My So-Called Perfect Life, part 2” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Laura broke out of the “perfect life” she had been trapped in to face off with the Badoon.

Storm #9. “Sinister Schemes of the Stars and Stripes Part Two” Written by Murewa Ayodele with art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art by Mateus Manhanini. Storm is in trouble with the federal government for her aid to Professor X in escaping custody. Jennifer Walters is on the case.

The Slasher’s Apprentice #2. Written by Justin Richards and art and cover art by Val Halvorson. Riley makes a pitch to the Hopton Valley Killer (which she will call HVK, because it is easier to say) to join him and learn from him on how to be a serial killer. This Mad Cave book feels very warped so far.

Pop Kill #4. Story by Dave Johnson and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Juan Santacruz. Cover art is by Dave Johnson. This is the final issue of the soda pop wars as the twins face off over the formula that would have forever fizz. Dina is struck in the middle.

Ultimate Wolverine #6. Written by Chris Condon and guest art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Frank Martin. Logan looks as if he has been snapped out of the mind control forced on him as the Winter Soldier. He is the best at what he does…

Other books this week: Buried Long, Long Ago #2, The Moon is Following Us #10, The Secret Six #4, Plague House #3 and Let This One Be a Devil #4

Quick Hits: Mad Cave comics has another new number one that I picked up. It is called Endless Night #1 and it was okay. I have really liked the Mad Cave books recently and I think it is worth taking a look at them. Godzilla Heist #5 is out this weekend. There are a bunch of Godzilla comics. Almost as many as Batman. I picked up the Dynamite Comics book Giant-Size Wacky Races #1. That was a silly book. I always liked Mumbly from the Laff-A-Lympics from my childhood. I think this was a one shot but I doubt that will be a regular book on my list if it continues. Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #14 has Gwen still with King Loki in space. I would like her to get back to earth soon. I do enjoy the Dark Horse book You Never Heard of Me #4. There is one more book in that series. Absolute Superman #8 starts a new story arc and brings Superman into the orbit of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson. Absolute Green Lantern #3 has some fun things going down with our Lanterns. I am very intrigued by Hal Jordan and his dark hand. The final issue of the series of The Atom Project #6 featured an end to the troubles of the different Atoms.

June 1

Summer is officially here as I am out of school and on break. I have the June Swoon 4 underway starting today, and more Dodgers baseball later tonight, but I am going to fit the EYG Comic Cavalcade into the mix.

I wanted to give a shout out to Pleasant View Comics on eBay. They had a special recently where they offered a “buy two, get two free” offer. Plus, they had only a $1.99 shipping cost and if you know anything about eBay, you know sometimes the sellers have some extremely high shipping costs. I have had one book and the shipping is listed as $6.99 or even more.

Any way, I had done two separate orders from Pleasant View Comics, one with some Power Pack back issues and the other with some back issues of Marvel Classic Comics. Without me asking, they took the two separate orders and combined them into one and refunded me one of the $1.99 shipping costs I had already paid. They shipped me a package of eight comics for just $1.99, and the packaging was well done. It arrived this week and I was very happy with their service. These are the type of sellers that give eBay a good name. Just thought I’d share…

Books this week:

Giant Sized X-Men #1. “The Mutant That Walks Like a Man” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin. There was a backup story called “Revelations: Superior” written by Al Ewing with art by Sara Pichelli as well. Ms. Marvel goes time hopping to the moment when the new X-Men faced off with Krakoa. I’m not sure how this is supposed to affect things or if this is just a What If type of situation. Honestly, the story was okay, but that was about it.

Uncanny X-Men #15. “As Close to Evil.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. The Dark Artery storyline continues here with The X-Men and the Outliers confronted Lady Henrietta, who wanted Deathdream to take her place as guardian of the city of the dead, Penumbra.

Hyde Street #6. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Francis Portela. Cover art was done by Ivan Reis & Danny Miki with Brad Anderson. Mrs. Goodbody and Pranky have their own conflict while Mister X-Ray lured a group from a bus to the movies. Some seriously weird stuff going down on Hyde Street.

Pinupocalypse #3. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. Must be the week for horror comics to go to the movies as Roxy and Foxy take refuge in the theater. Of course, the zombies apparently like movies too. More satirical fun with this series.

Ultimate Spider-Man #17. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by David Messina. Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Harry is back and he is contacting Uncle Ben and Jonah. Another issue of Ultimate Spider-Man where we barely see Peter Parker. Yet it is very compelling. That tells you how strong the supporting cast is for Spicer-Man.

Predator Versus Spider-Man #2. Written by Benjamin Percy and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art by Paulo Siqueira & Yen Nitro. Kraven is hunting the Predator as Spidey is in pursuit. Unfortunately, there seems to be a battalion of Predators on their way. Another surprisingly satisfying mash up.

You’ll Do Bad Things #3. Written by Tyler Boss and art by Adriano Turtulici. Tyler Boss did the cover art. I loved this cover by Tyler Boss and I almost picked it for the medal this week, but there were so many choices that this one fell to the side. Still is an impressive cover and an engaging book.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #2. Written by Charles Soule & Steve McNiven with art and cover art by Steve McNiven. Elektra showed up in this future story with Matt Murdock, who had just had his powers return for a short time.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers #1. Written by David Pepose and art by Eman Casallos. Cover art was done by Mark Spears. Here is another new Dynamite Comics series with a character that has no reason to be as good as it is. Captain Planet always just seemed like a joke of a character to me, but this was really solid.

Feral #13. “Cats and Dogs.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover B art by Tony Fleecs and Allen Passalaqua (Gold Medalist). This is a fantastic variant cover. The book does horror themed variant covers have been fun, but this issue, Feral the 13th, was the best yet.

Universal Monsters: The Mummy #3. Written and drawn by Faith Erin Hicks with a cover art done by Hicks and Lee Loughridge (Silver Medalist). More background with Helen and Ankh-es-en-Amun. Creepy love stories.

The Goddamn Tragedy #1. Written by Chris Condon and illustrated and cover art by Shawn Kuruneru. I have been waiting for this one shot for awhile because of the awesome title of this book. I also love Chris Condon and his writing style worked well for this genre. A family story based loosely on the Donner party? Yes, please. I’ll take that any day.

West Coast Avengers #7. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. Simon Williams returned this week to confront Killerwatt’s adoption of the Wonder Man name. They did it in a different way that surprised me. West Coast Avengers has been excellent so far with this variation of the book.

Mr. Terrific: Year One #1. “Back to the Beginning.” Written by Al Letson and art by Valentine De Landro. Valentine De Landro and Marissa Louis did the cover art. I am exited about this book as I have not known much about Mr. Terrific and a “Day One” story will work well for me.

New Champions #5. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Ricky Yagawa did the variant cover art. I have enjoyed this group of characters combining into the New Champions. I would like more of a story for them than what we have gotten so far.

The Department of Truth #30. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Martin Simmonds. Will Lee Harvey Oswald make the country great again? The last scene of this issue opens up the possibilities to an amazing story. Department of Truth has been really a great book consistently.

Avengers #26. “Masters of Evil” Part Two. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and Federico Blee. Captain America stands alone against the new Masters of Evil and Sam shows off his ability.

Justice League Unlimited #7. “Rise of Gorilla Grodd.” Written by Mark Waid and art by Travis Moore. Cover art was done by Dan Mora. This story arc has felt up and down to me and this one is another bit of a down. I am not sure I am vibing with what they are doing here. I will say that the Justice League that shows up on the last page of this issue makes me curious.

Infinity Watch #5. Written by Derek Landy and art by Ruairi Coleman. Variant cover art by Inhyuk Lee. I’m not sure if I enjoyed the finale of this short series as much as I had thought I might. I enjoyed these characters, but I am not sure if what happened with them is what I would be happy happening. I hope we get some more of the Infinity Watch somewhere down the road.

Magik #5. “Fate Unbound.” Written by Ashley Allen and drawn by German Peralta. Cover art was done by J. Scott Campbell & Tanya Lenoux. This book felt weird at the beginning…as if we missed out on something big between the end of issue four and the beginning of five.

Minor Arcana #7. “Wheel of Fortune: Part One-Temperance” Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jeff Lemire. I found this issue’s relationship between Theresa and Officer Brad to be extremely well written and it helped to develop these two characters to a point where I wanted more from them. It feels as if there is a big arc coming for this book and I am all in as I am a big fan of Jeff Lemire’s work.

Kill Train #5. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and art by Martina Niosi of Outclass Studio. Skylar Patridge did the cover art. This fun Mad Cave series ended with this issue as Vanessa and Kay fought to escape from the Kill Train. Vanessa certainly ended up as a bad ass in this series.

Uncanny Valley #9. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Dave Wachter. The variant cover B art was done by Tony Fleecs. Oliver is in real trouble, but fear not, his mom is on the way, as she is reclaiming her cartoon side. This has been a remarkably creative book so far and it looks like this is a penultimate issue of the series.

Crush Depth #3. Written by David “DB” Andry and Tim Daniel with art and cover art by Alex Sanchez. Told in flashback format, this gives us even more background on the characters and the horrors that they have found themselves caught in. There is some horrifying imagery in this book that really help create a tone.

Hornsby & Halo #7. Storytellers are Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art by Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz. Zach and Rose are going out of their way to try and deny or avoid the information that they were presented last issue. Meanwhile horrifying things are going on around them.

G.I. Joe #7. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and variant cover art by Andrea Milana (Bronze Medalist). We get a Beach Head issue here and it was good. I love the die cut cover gimmick this book has as a variant.

The Last Boy #3. Written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Alessio Avallone. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Peter pan’s problems in Neverland continue to grow as the boy still denies the death of Hook. The Phantom King is a creepy villain that Tinkerbell and the other fairies had to save Peter from. Wendy’s black and white arc continued as well with a bunch of kids and a pond.

Werewolf by Night: Red Band #10. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila with the cover art done by E.M. Gist. This edition of Werewolf by Night comes to its close after a battle with Lilith. Sorcerer Supreme Victor Von Doom also makes a cameo as a Deus ex machina.

Who are the Power Pals?#3. Written by Duane Murray and art and cover art by Ahmed Raafat. The issue spends most of its time building a rift between our two main protagonists so that when trouble comes, they are separated. One must wonder why these tow completely different people have been friends for so long.

Other books this week: Venom: Original Sin #1, The Power Fantasy #9, Mommy Blog #1, Assorted Crisis Events #3, Rogue The Savage Land #5, Doom’s Division #3 and Darkwing Duck #4.

Quick Hits: I had an unexpected book in my box this week, but it is because Todd is taking care of me. Green Lantern #23 has a cool Mark Spears cover (even though it did not make the medals this week). I do love me some Mark Spears. Deadpool/Wolverine #5 was out this week with Cable guest starring. I do think I may have reached my limit with Deadpool and Wolverine team ups. Dark Honor #1 is new from Image and it is a sci-fi type book that needs another issue or two to see what I think of it. Dark Pyramid #3 took a truly bizarre turn this month. In the book, We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #3, something weird is going on with Annalise. There is more to her story than what we have been told so far. Disney What If issues are back with What If…? Donald Duck Became Iron Man. These Disney What If books all feel fairly similar. Metamorpho #6 breaks the fourth wall to beg the audience to write to DC to get more Metamorpho books. Weird and fairly brazen. Absolute Wonder Woman#8 and Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 were both kind of meh this week. And speaking of meh, Void Rivals #19 missed out on momentum from last issue and instead went to the planet of Junkion. They did it without “Dare to Be Stupid” playing in the background. If you know, you know. Eddie Brock: Carnage #4 puts Eddie through the ringer and Spider-Boy#19 sees Spider-Boy disappointing Spider-Man, setting up the final Spider-Boy issue next month.