Amazon Prime’s second season of its animated TV show, Batman: Caped Crusader dropped recently and I got to binge it today. I had planned on watching five episodes today and then watch the rest on Sunday, but I just did not want to stop watching once I got into it.
This was fabulous.
The flavor and feel of this show is so much like the Bruce Timm Batman: The Animated Series, but mixed with the violence of the present day, such as Matt Reeves’ The Batman. That makes sense since both of those gentlemen worked on this project.
I can understand if someone did not like this show since the show takes many of the known characters from the Batman universe/rogue’s gallery and give them a different touch. An example is Edward Nygma, known to the Bat-fans as The Riddler. The Riddler was so named because he would “riddle” his victims with bullets. I like most of the new versions. You can compare these differences to those you might see in the Absolute DC universe.
The Joker came into the show this year and spent most of the season in the background doing sneaky stuff. His arrival front and center was downright frightening, especially in episode 9. Watching all of the people dying from laughing was horrific. I was not as fond of the gas turning the people into Solomon Grundy-like creatures. Seeing the people actually die was much worse for me.
The Joker was less crazy as we usually see him portrayed as, and here he is colder, more serial killer-like. I’m not sure it was my favorite version of Joker, but he was a frightening character.
This show is absolutely not afraid to kill of these characters. Season one had the death of Two-Face which was shocking, but this year, we saw Rupert Thorne, The Riddler, Hugo Strange, Hattie Tetch (who was supposedly a version of the Mad Hatter, which I never got) and, of course, countless cops and henchmen. I thought this violence was better used than in, for example, Invincible since it does not focus on the blood splatter.
They took several low-level comic characters that made their way into the show. Carrie Kelley, who appeared in season one, becomes a Robin in Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and she takes on a Grey Ghost-like persona. A villain called Thorn, who I actually had to look up. I had never heard of her before.
They gave us a version of The Spectre, which came from season one with the character of Jim Corrigan (which was the episode with Onomatopoeia). Again, it was not my favorite version of Spectre, but, as a part of this episode, I thought this turned out great. As I said, I think of this like a Elseworld version or an Absolute version.
This was a lot of fun and I just enjoyed every episode. I do think episode 9 was my favorite of the season as I was on the edge of my seat the whole time watching these people die from the Joker Smile-X. I hope there will be more of this series in the future because these are great.
Good morning all. Here is the first August edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Summer is flying by and I have been enjoying my time off. My friend Todd is off on an adventure to Connecticut to go to a comic convention in search of wild signatures ranging in price. Good luck, Todd.
This week saw a group of ashcans released at the comic shops and I picked up several of them. There was the Kai-Sei Era Preview: Godzilla, Dark Horse’s Canto: The Clockwork Chronicles, Any Given Smile/You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive from ID Dark, and Star Trek/Start Trek: Zero Point. Ashcans can be a fun little preview and, at times, surprisingly collectible.
Comic of the Week
The Omega Book #1
A new Mad Cave book came out this week with a couple of cool covers, both A and a couple of variants. Written by James Patrick and illustrated by Pauli Junquera, we have another new book that features a protagonist that is a priest. Of course, Ordained was a huge hit for Bad Idea, and if The Omega Book can reach that level of entertainment, we’ll be in great shape.
It feels very different from Ordained, however, as this deals more with a mysterious book that holds the secrets of the universe. There is a family tie in the story as well, grounding what could have been a wild cosmic ride.
Books this week:
Fantastic Four #15. “Somewhere, Something Incredible…” Chapter One. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover A art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up cover E by Kris Anka (Gold Medalist). IT FINALLY HAPPENED! THE REAL CELEBRATION OF THE FF’S 65 ANNIVERSARY… JOHNNY STORM GOT RID OF THE MUSTACHE!!!!!! I’ve hated that mustache and with Johnny getting rid of it, the FF book is perfect again. Okay, that may be a touch hyperbolic, but I am glad it is gone. Ryan North even used the end of the mustache as a major story bit. Hallelujah.
Endeavour #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art and cover art by Mark Laming. This might be the final DSTLRY book that started before the company’s troubles only to be delayed for months. This was one of my favorites before the shut down and I enjoyed this finale. This felt very much like Lord of the Flies on a deserted ship with a scary virus. The ending is nearly exactly like Lord of the Flies.
Uncanny X-Men #33. “Wild Ride,” Chapter One: “A Different Kind of Prison” Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. As Rogue and Gambit go to see Gabriel, Devil Hunter for help with the evil inside Remy, the New Mutants (formerly the Outliers) are struggling with the departure of their parental figures. Another strong new story arc from Gail Simone. Uncanny X-Men has been my favorite X-book for awhile now.
Queen in Black #2. Written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello & Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Frank Martin. After issue number one from last week, issue two followed up on the action with the Symbiote Intelligence. Dylan Brock is also front and center in this story as there is a coming of age arc inside the giant crossover.
The Smart Division #1. Written by Zack Kaplan and illustrated and cover art by John J. Pearson. A new mystery series from Dark Horse paired up an odd couple of FBI agents to investigate what seems to be the perfect crime. How does AI factor into this story? Set five minutes in the future, this is a clever book with a great premise.
Amazing Spider-Man #34. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. I also picked up Cover E by Simone Di Meo (Bronze Medalist). Spidey and Agent Griffyn team up again, this time to face off with Electro. Meanwhile, the new wrinkle in Peter’s life, Cormac, is getting closer with Aunt May as this series continues its march to #1000 Legacy.
Power Rangers: Green #1. “The Dragon’s Grave” Written by Paul Allor with art by Gustaffo Vargas. Cover C art was done by Chris Mooneyham and cover F foil was done by Tony Harris (Silver Medalist). I am not a big fan of the Power Rangers, but I did like the character of Tommy Oliver, so when I heard the green Ranger was getting the future apocalypse/loner treatment like Last Ronin did for the Turtles, I gave this a chance. Tommy was not as alone as I expected in the book, but it was a fun enough read to continue on with the Boom! Studios comic.
White Sky #5. Written by William Harms and art and cover art was done by JP Mavinga. Violet is in all kinds of trouble as she is in search of her father. The ghosts all around her are only getting more dangerous and the chance of a ghostly invasion increases. White Sky has been a great series so far and the personal note at the end of the issue from writer William Harms gives us even more insight into his mind when creating this story.
Chachu #1. Written by Iman Vellani and art and cover art by Marianna Ignazzi. Written by Ms. Marvel actor Iman Vellani, this is the story of a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian girl who goes to California with Hollywood plans, only to meet up with her uncle, whose wife has disappeared. The pair team up to try and solve the mystery.
Minor Arcana #17. “The Lovers: Part Two” Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Jeff Lemire & Letizia Cadonici. The relationship between Teresa and Missy is investigated through a series of flashbacks as they search for Brad inside the Edgewater Hotel pocket dimension.
Ripcord #5. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Aneke. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Dillon has been searching the Australian Outback for her missing sister, Janelle, and trying to avoid the creatures that had been created by the drug called “Ripcord.” The series ended with this issue, leaving us on an odd final line from Dillon, insinuating that she was not going home despite saving her sister. Not sure what that was meant to imply, but the book has been a great read, especially with some of the best art/colors of any book on the stand.
The Deadman #3. “Helter Skelter” Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art and cover art by Martin Morazzo. Deadman takes a trip to Hell. The story is told in a remarkably original fashion very much in the style of Ice Cream Man. I have mentioned that before when talking about this series, but this issue is truly one that uses that style. Looks as if Deadman is heading in the opposite direction next issue, so there could be some fireworks.
Iron Man #8. “Attack of Whiplash” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. The villainous Whiplash is back to challenge Tony. There is a second Whiplash that showed up at the end of the book. And, who is the new Citizen V? Lots of things going on with the new Iron Man book which is also building toward Legacy #700.
Royals #5. Written by Derek Kirk Kim with art and cover art by Jacob Perez. Paul and Castor have been reunited in their attempt to rescue the other twins, Minah and Minee. Royals has been a lot of fun through five issues, and next issue will be the conclusion.
Ben 10 #4. “Man of Action” Written by Steven T. Seagle with art and cover art by Robert Carey. Ben and his family go to the circus. Nothing could happen there, right? Unless there is a giant scary clown as the main attraction of the circus… along with other weird bug type creatures. Add to the trouble that Ben is having his own struggles with the band and it all comes out with trouble.
She-Spawn #4. “How We Murdered Each Other” Written by Gail Simone with art by Ig Guara. Cover art was done by John McCrea. Our hero, Jessica Priest has to deal with the problem of the Terror Angels closing in on her and young Al. She also has to deal with the conversation of the future between the two of them. She-Spawn has been one of the biggest surprises for me this year as I never thought I would be this engaged in she-Spawn.
Fort Psycho #1. Written by Matt Kindt and art and cover art done by Brian Hurtt. An elite group of agents that had been formed by the government to prevent a major act of terror from the underground network called the Seven Seals, but the final conflict resulted in a terrible tragedy. Now the former operatives were sent to an island to serve their sentences. This was different than I expected, but I liked it a lot.
From Parts Unknown #4. Written by Adriano Ariganello with art and cover art by Daniel Caval. After the murder of Pietro, Bruno explodes and brutally attacks everyone around. However, this is exactly what the vampires wanted. Little did we know that death may not have held a finality for Pietro. The penultimate issue of this series was a bloody good time.
The Accessories #1. Written by David Dastmalchian and Leah Kilpatrick with art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Cover art was done by Lukas Ketner. Igor is tired of being overlooked by Doctor Frankenstein. Renfield is trying again to escape from the clutches of Count Dracula. Can the pair team up and accomplish what they have always desired? This is a clever idea and I really like the art in the book.
Captain America #14. “Hell’s Angel” Part 3. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Steve Rogers and Victor Von Doom persist in their attempt to recruit an army to do battle with Mephisto in Hell. Cap gets the bad news in this issue that one of the head people in Mephisto’s charge is the Red Skull.
Wade Wilson: Deadpool #7. “Badpools–Part 2” Written by Benjamin Percy adn art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. Wade Wilson is fighting against his body pieces. This is a weird and wild arc for Wade. He is still dealing with his own loss which is the more interesting part of the issue.
Batman #12. “Verity” Written by Matt Fraction with art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. We have the debut of Verity Pennyworth, the niece of Alfred and Verity has arrived to take her uncle’s place beside Batman. She wins over Damian, which was never a certain.
Marc Spector: Moon Knight #7. “House Hunting” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg. Moon Knight recruited the new Midnight Sons to help him retrieve his friends and allies from the Mansion Ravenous. However, I guess you can never trust Moon Knight as he turned Daredevil, Blade and Ghost Rider over to Achilles Fairchild in exchange. I did not see that coming.
Absolute Superman #22. “Metallo” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Juan Ferreyra & Ulises Arreola. Superman must fight the Absolute Metallo, who was the former Peacemaker Christopher Smith and the Kryptonite in Metallo is causing all sorts of trouble for Superman. All this with Brainiac on the outside looking in. This was a strong issue with Superman having to use more than just his power to stop Metallo.
Neighborhood Watch #4. Written by Sarah Gailey and illustrated and cover art by Haining. Bianca and Val are trying to protect Jill as past lies and her abuser catch up with her. We learn that Jill’s husband Erik may have been abusing her and could be the reason she is in a coma now. Bianca got caught by him as she looked for evidence in Jill’s house.
What If…? Captain America #1. “What If Captain America was Revived in 2099?” Written by Marc Guggenheim and art by Ron Lim. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Steve Rogers was not found by the Avengers in this tale from Uatu the Watcher. Instead, he is revived in 2099 with the heroes of the time battling against Alchemax Stark-Fujikawa (the A.S.F.) and Steve faces off with the president of the United States… Red Skull!
Other Books this Week: Marvel Tokon First Strike #1, X-Men of Apocalypse: Omega #1, Marvel Rivals: Origins of the Hood #1, Lost Fantasy #11, 100 Bullets: The US of Anger #2, Bludwire #2, Conan & Dragonero #4, and Absolute Green Lantern #17.
Quick Hits: This week we saw the completion of the latest BBC Doctor Who book with Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker-Dawn of the Daleks #2. It featured the iconic Doctor villains, The Daleks, and their …origin? I’m not sure the time frame of this book, but I do like this snarky Doctor. Comics! The Magazine #6 is out this week with the Violence & Mayhem issue. The magazine featured an interview Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt about the new Oni Press book Fort Psycho. The Other/Half #4 sees the reunion of Henry and Ethan. Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #5 concluded with a group of characters from Hyde Street. I love the handbook style Ghost Machine gave us and this issue had an interior different than the others. It is 65 years of Fantastic Four comics so to celebrate, Marvel released the Fantastic Four: 65 Years of the World’s Greatest Comic Covers #1. It is an interesting book that does give us all of the FF covers from their first issue from the 1960s. There are several stories from the life of Mary Jane Watson in Mary Jane: Face It Tiger #1. MJ is one of my favorite NPCs so I love that she gets the respect that she deserves. Bad Idea is at it again with a weird book called ReALLIGATOR #1. I did like this one more than the banana one from a few weeks ago, but this is certainly weird. Queen in Black has only one side book this week and it featured Eddie Brock. In Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #1 we follow Eddie in prison. There are just so many symbiotes in the Marvel Universe, I would not be opposed to limiting those down to one or two. Gotham Academy: First Year #6 ends its run with this book, which still sets Batman up as an antagonist for Olive Silverlock. MASK #3 was released, continuing the Energon Universe. Punchline and the Vaude-Villains vs. Violante #1 from Hero Tomorrow Comics is back, which apparently was a former book as well. Then, Babylon Cove #3 came out this week. The protagonist of this book, Heather, is not a very likeable character, and her hometown is getting a reminder of that. However, there seemed to be something more going down than just Heather’s rants. Dead Teenagers #5 wrapped its run this week with a “kind of” happy ending.
The last day of July brings us back to EYG Comic Cavalcade. We are all the way up to #214. Wow. So awesome. Just a few more weeks of summer vacation remaining. *SAD*. I love getting these done on a Friday instead of barely getting it done on Sunday or maybe even Monday afternoon.
Saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day yesterday afternoon and it was fabulous. I am going back to see it again tomorrow morning.
I was watching the Eisner Award results coming in on X last Friday. They are always given out at the Friday night of San Diego Comic Con. I like to purchase graphic novels that win Eisner’s and this year, I purchased off Amazon Drome by Jesse Lonergan and This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux. Drome won Best Publication for Teens and This Place Kills Me won Best Graphic Album–New. I should also congratulate DC Comics which won 12 Eisner’s on the back of the Absolute universe.
Comic of the Week
Feral #25
The exciting conclusion of the Stray Dogs/Feral crossover is our big Comic of the Week. The scenes in the fire is tremendous. Feral has been one of my favorite comics every month.
The foil cover of this issue, which I spied on the stand, wound up with the Bronze Medalist of the Week. The cover pictured is the B cover that is always an homage to a horror movie
I’m curious to see if some of these characters remain together as the comic progressed. Either way, this was a huge winner this week.
Books This Week:
Galactic #2. Written by Curt Pires with art and cover art by Amilcar Pinna. DSTLRY seems to be back on track with their one book or so a week. That is better than no books for six months though. This was an easier book to get back into as it has a definite Star Wars vibe to it. I find this to be very easy to read and engaging of a story. I am very pleased that DSTLRY did not fold completely earlier this year that we are able to get the ongoing story of this book.
The Dirt Beneath the Devil #1. Written and cover art by Dan Panosian and art by David Ferracci. This was a new Western book with a definite tinge of the supernatural. The devil horse is tamed by a lovely woman, but not tamed completely. This is one of those books that feels like has only just started.
Doomquest #3. Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). Doom has come off of the Titanic and has found himself embodying George Washington during the Revolutionary War. How will the narcissistic Doom deal with the power of the Father of America?
Queen in Black #1. Written by Al Ewing with art by Iban Coello & Ze Carlos. Cover A art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. Cover C art was done by Peach Momoko. I also grabbed two of the blind bags for the series (I am a sucker for blind bags) that had art by Artgerm and the other one was the black blank version. I was unsure about the Queen in Black story arc, but this number one grabbed my attention so I expect that I will be reading this moving forward.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Brand New Day #3. “King’s Ransom” Written by Dan Slott with art by Marcus To. Cover art was done by Phil Jimenez & Alex Sinclair. Mister Negative has mind control over the Punisher and Spidey is trying to do what he can to save Frank and to keep him from killing everyone. Nice branding on this since the movie came out this weekend.
The Greatest American Hero #1. Written by Don Handfield and art by Alper Geçgel. Cover A art was done by Rob Prior. Cover D art was done by Rafael Loureiro (Gold Medalist). This is basically the same story that was dropped on Free Comic Book Day which was my Comic of the Week that week. I love this book and I can’t wait for the story to move along in issue #2.
The Patron #1. Written by Christian Ward and art by John J. Pearson. Cover art was done by Christian Ward. This is a fascinating new book from Ignition Press. It is interesting that we do not really have a protagonist in this book. Instead we get a person behind the scenes to help promote a new artist… only to see that artist dead. New awesome premise that I am anxious to see play out.
X-Men #34. “Mark of Cain” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Greg Land. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales, & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. This issue gives us a look at Juggernaut and his thoughts on being a hero and, specifically, being an X-Man. It is a strong individual issue featuring an underused character from this current team. I was excited to see Juggernaut in this setting.
Mortal Thor #13. “An Endless Take of Asgard.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Juann Cabal. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. This was a strange issue as we get to see the future of Asgard with Magni assuming the throne of the kingdom. We went literally eons into the future to see how Magni reacts to the threats. Again, I am not sure how this falls under the “Mortal” Thor, but it was a fun read, even if it does not mean anything moving forward.
Detective Comics 2026 Annual #1. “For the Main Man Who Has Everything.” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Nicola Scott. Cover B art was done by Guillem March. Batman and Lobo team-up when the bounty hunter comes after Batman to collect a bounty. This was a fun one-off book with these two characters.
What if…? Spider-Man #1. “What If Kraven Survived his ‘Last Hunt?'” Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Yildiray Cinar. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. This latest What If..? was a well written book which dives into the story of Kraven and what happened in this context. I especially liked that they did not just leave Peter in the coffin. They had him dig himself out, but he had to deal with the mental challenges of being buried alive. Peter still was who he was at the end of this What If…? despite the chance to do something else. I like that.
Geiger #24. Creators are Geoff Johns & Gary Frank. Cover C art was done by Dean Haspiel. Tariq Geiger faced off against an army of Junkyard Joes and he winds up in chains. Little did we know, Geiger is being used as bait to attract President Griffin. Big battle in Geiger #25!!
Jessica Jones: Alias- Red Band #5. Written by Sam Humphries with art by Geraldo Borges. Cover art was done by David Mack. I love Jessica Jones, but, I have to be honest, this red band series has not been one that I am a big fan of. I am not into the inclusion of Typhoid Mary here and the whole Mephisto arc did not engage me that much. This is definitely my least favorite Jessica Jones mini series that Marvel has released.
Justice League: Knight Vision Special #1. Written by Mark Waid & Joshua Williamson with art by Miguel Mendonca. Cover C art was done by Mark Spears. This one-shot featured Batman teaming up with Lex Luthor to take on Prometheus. Batman and Lex with their banter was the highlight of the comic.
Generation X-23 #6. “Mutant Generation” Written by Jody Houser with art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by Partha Pratim Sarkar & Romulo Fajardo Jr. I really enjoyed this issue of these new characters as Laura and Gabby lead them and try and inform them on how to be heroes. I liked these new X-characters and I hope they continue to develop these characters.
Black Star #1. Written by Kristin Kreuk, Peter Mooney, and Eric Putzer and illustrated by Joe Bocardo. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. In the 19th century fur trade, Dr. Dashiell Carlyle discovers he possesses unexpected magical healing abilities during a violent firefight.
Red Roots #4. Written, drawn and Cover art by Lorenzo De Felici. This was my favorite issue of this book so far as we finally get some idea of what’s going on with this book. The explanation of what the “Red Roots” was about was gripping. I hope this keeps getting better each issue.
Midknight Man #2. Written by Mark and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears. We are following Midknight Man as he searches for answers on who he really is. The mega feel of this book is great and Mark Spears has brought an enjoyable story to this character.
Predator Versus Planet of the Apes #1. Written by Greg Pak and art by Alan Robinson. Cover art was done by Stonehouse. Another fun Predator book where the Predator arrives and kills himself some apes. I have enjoyed other works with the Planet of the Apes and to see them match up with Predator.
Other books this week: Reborn: Ultimate Impact #3, Rocket Raccoon: Rocket Rewind #1, X-Men: Outback #2, Conan the Barbarian #33, Alice Forever After #5, In Your Skin #4, and Everybody Loves a Jewel Thief #3.
Quick Hits: Mad cave’s Is Ted Ok? #6 comes to the conclusion with this issue. It turned out to be quite a challenging issue and I am not sure how I felt of the end. The Horror of Godzilla #1 has some cool imagery in the book with a neat cover, but it is probably not going to be a book I pick up every month. We’ll see. With Queen in Black debuting this week, there are a bunch of side books such as Queen in Black: Hela #1 and Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1. The second book of those was more interesting because of the cast which included cool characters such as Beta Ray Bill, Iron Man and Cloak and Dagger. Shard is back in the present with Bishop #2. Land of Never #2 is interesting as the Flying Man is being investigated and we are seeing Peter Pan in a new light. I picked Nano #1 off the stand on Wednesday. It is a new Dark Horse book with a strange future situation. I am not sure what is going on, but I do think that I am intrigued. Dead by Daylight #4 brought that series to an end for Titan Comics. Not my favorite of the books a month, but still fairly readable. The Eye Collector #2 continued to be a weird, wild book that is different than any book I collect. I do think I am going to continue with this one. Then, Pretty Hate Machine #4 gives us a major reveal about what was going on and it is a rough one. Only the Savage are Left #2 is quite the emotional issue and makes me ready to get the next issue.
Colleen Doran,Denys Cowan, Mike Friedrich, Lee Marrs, Bud Plant, Mike Royer, Jeff Smith, Carol Tyler, Bob Bolling, Gerry Conway, Edwina Dumm, Oliver Harrington, Don Heck, Abe Kanegson, Paul S. Newman, Héctor Germán Oesterheld, Tom Palmer Sr.,GoNagai, Dave Sim, Jimmy Swinnerton, Akira Toriyama,Rick Veitch, and Chris Ware.
Awards
Best Short Story
“Blood Harvest,” in Brain Damage, by ShintaroKago, translated by Zack Davisson (Fantagraphics)
“The Curse Room,” in Brain Damage, byShintaroKago, translated by Zack Davisson (Fantagraphics)
“Football Is Not War,” by R. K. Russell and Wilfred Santiago, in Come Out and Play: The Queer Sports Project (Stacked Deck Press)
“Red Snapper in the Rea,” by Michael D. Kennedy, in Milk White Steed (Drawn & Quarterly)
“trAPPed” by Anand RK, Suparna Sharma, and Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News)
SOLRAD: The Online Literary Magazine for Comics, edited by Daniel Elkin, http://www.solrad.co (Fieldmouse Press)
Best Comics-Related Book
Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life, by Dan Nadel (Scribner)
Facing Feelings: Inside the World of Raina Telgemeier, by Raina Telgemeier(Scholastic)
How Comics Are Made, by Glenn Fleishman (Andrews McMeel)
Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide to Graphic Narrative, by Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk (Abrams ComicArts)
Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, by Chip Kidd (Abrams ComicArts)
Ooops…I Just Catharted!: Fifty Years of Cathartic Comics, by Rupert Kinnard, edited by William O. Tyler (Stacked Deck Press)
Best Publication Design
The Art of Manga, designed by Tessa Lee (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco/VIZ Media)
The Essential Peanuts, designed by Shawn Dahl with Chip Kidd (Abrams ComicArts)
Fruits Basket: The Complete Box Set (Collector’s Edition #13), designed by Wendy Chan (Yen Press)
Red Light Properties: Unfinished Business, designed by Dan Goldman (Kinjin Storylab)
The Marvel Art of Michael Allred Slipcase Edition, designed by Kurtis Findlay (Clover Press)
Weird Science Vol. 1 XXL, designed byAnna-Tina Kessler (TASCHEN)
Best Webcomic
The Accidental Undergrad by Christian Giroux (Fieldmouse Press)
Keeping Time by Kody Okamoto (keepingtimecomic.com)
The Legend of Parvaterra by Raúl Arnáiz (WEBTOON)
Sable: A Ghost Story, by Ethan M. Aldridge (sablecomic.com)
Superfish, by Peglo (WEBTOON)
Terran Omega: The Ghosts of War, by PJ Holden (pauljholden.com)
Tiger, Tiger by Petra Erika Nordlund (tigertigercomic.com)
Best Digital Comic
DeadAss, by hakei (VIZ Media)
In the Real Dark Night, by Jimmy Gownley (G-Ville Comics)
The Lycan, by Mike Carey, Thomas Jane, David James Kelly, and Diego Yapur (Comixology Originals)
Overwatch 2: Against the Tide, by Brandon Chen and Velinxi (Blizzard Entertainment)
Practical Defense Against Piracy, by Tony Cliff (delilahdirk.com)
The World of Lublu, by Charbak Dipta (The Charbax Store)
Best Writer
Deniz Camp, Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC); Assorted Crisis Events (Image); The Ultimates (Marvel)
Scott Snyder, Absolute Batman,Batman/Deadpool (DC); By a Thread: Book 2 (Comixology Originals), You Won’t Feel a Thing (DSTLRY)
Mariko Tamaki, This Place Kills Me (Abrams Fanfare)
Kelly Thompson, Absolute Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey (DC); Jeff the Land Shark (Marvel)
James Tynion IV, Something Is Killing the Children,Wynd: The Power of the Blood (BOOM! Studios); Let This One Be a Devil, Red Book (Dark Horse); The City Beneath Her Feet (DSTLRY); The Department of Truth, Exquisite Corpses,W0RLDTR33 (Image); Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man (Image Skybound)
Stephanie Williams, Street Sharks (IDW); Roots of Madness (Ignition Press); Temporal (Mad Cave)
Best Writer/Artist
Juni Ba, The Boy Wonder (DC); The Fable of Erkling Woods (Goats Flying Press); Monkey Meat Summer Batch (Image)
Jamal Campbell, Zatanna (DC)
Jesse Lonergan, Drome (23rd St. Books)
Chang Sheng, Yan, vols. 1–2 (Titan Manga)
Linnea Sterte, A Garden of Spheres (Peow2)
Kazumi Yamashita, Land, vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Best Penciller/Inker
Elsa Charetier, The City Beneath Her Feet (DSTLRY)
Sean Phillips, Giant Size Criminal #1, The Knives: A Criminal Book (Image)
Javier Rodriguez, Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC)
Chris Samnee, Batman and Robin: Year One (DC)
Hayden Sherman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Batman: Dark Patterns (DC)
Eric Zawadzki, Assorted Crisis Events (Image)
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist
Teddy Kristiansen, Black Hammer: Spiral City (Dark Horse)
Cathy Malkasian, Shadows of the Sea (Fantagraphics)
Qu, Slices of Life: A Comic Montage (Bulgilhan Press)
Martin Simmonds, The Department of Truth (Image)
Mika Song, Night Chef: An Epic Tale of Friendship with a Side of Deliciousness! (Random House Graphic)
Linnea Sterte, A Garden of Spheres (Peow)
Best Cover Artist
Juni Ba, The Boy Wonder (DC); The Fable of Erkling Woods (Goats Flying Press); TMNT Nightwatcher, TMNT Godzilla (IDW); Monkey Meat Summer Batch (Image)
Nick Dragotta, Absolute Batman, Absolute Batman 2025 Annual, Batman #1, Batman/Deadpool (DC)
Francesco Francavilla, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars: Tales from the Nightlands (Dark Horse); Absolute Batman, Absolute Martian Manhunter, Batman: Full Moon, Nightwing variants (DC); Green Hornet/Miss Fury (Dynamite); Star Trek: The Last Starship, Twilight Zone (IDW); Dick Tracy (Mad Cave)
Mateus Manhanini, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman,Mr. Terrific: Year One variants (DC); Doctor Strange, Ironheart: Bad Chemistry, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Phases of the Moon Knight, Star Wars: The High Republic, Storm, The Ultimates (Marvel)
Javier Rodriguez, Absolute Martian Manhunter,Batman & Robin: Year One #7, The New Gods #8 (DC)
Hayden Sherman, Absolute Wonder Woman,Batman: Dark Patterns #3-12 (DC)
Best Coloring
Jordie Bellaire, Absolute Wonder Woman, The Nice House by the Sea (DC); The Exorcism at 1600 Penn (IDW); Assorted Crisis Events, The Department of Truth, Exquisite Corpses, W0RLDTR33 (Image); GI Joe (Image/Skybound); EC Catacomb of Torment, EC Epitaphs from the Abyss (Oni Press)
Ninakupenda Gaillard, Chickenpox (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Jesse Lonergan, Drome (23rd St. Books)
Matheus Lopes, Batman and Robin Year One (DC); The Seasons (Image)
Javier Rodriguez, Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC)
José Villarrubia, This Ink Runs Cold (Alan Spiegel Fine Arts); Ghostbox (Comixology Originals); Dracula Book 2: The Brides, The Witcher: The Bear and the Butterfly (Dark Horse); Hunger (The Lab Press); It Rhymes with Takei (Top Shelf)
Best Lettering
Janice Chiang, Acro and the Cat, All Upon a Time, Beyond the Aural Vault, Republica, Solarblader (Sandstorm); John Carpenter’s Blood of the Taken: Next of Kin, Pause, Tales of Science Fiction (Storm King)
Clayton Cowles, Absolute Batman, Batman, Batman & Robin: Year One, Birds of Prey, Black Canary: Best of the Best, Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman, (DC); Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1-3 (Marvel)
Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Ill Vacation, Stillman (Comixology Originals); Absolute Martian Manhunter, Challengers of the Unknown, DC K.O., The Flash, Green Arrow, Poison Ivy (DC); Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees,The Exorcism at 1600 Penn,Starship Godzilla, (IDW); Author Immortal (Image); Our-Soot-Stained Heart (Mad Cave)
Nate Piekos, American Caper #1, Archie Vs. Minor Threats, Black Hammer: Spiral City, The Brood, Minor Threats: The Last Devil Left Alive, Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons, The Umbrella Academy Plan B, Welcome to Twilight (Dark Horse); I Hate Fairyland (Image)
Ben Wickey, More Weight: A Salem Story (Top Shelf)
I picked up a bunch of back issues this week in several locations. At Comic World, Todd had a new small collection that included Machine Man #1,2, and a couple of older X-Men books (#143, #116). He also gave me a copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey #2 (thanks Todd). At In This Issue, I picked up a bunch of Avengers Vol. 3 and Spectacular Spider-Mans. I picked up I Hate Fairyland Vol. 2 #1-7 off eBay.
Less than one week away from Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie. I will be watching it next Thursday at noon. I can’t wait. Spidey is my absolute favorite fictional character of all time. Very excited.
Comic of the Week
Dog Tag #3
This was another unexpected winner this week. I have enjoyed this Mad Cave book so far, but this week’s issue caught me off guard and I found myself reacting in an emotional way to the story. One scene in particular nearly had me tearing up. I am not sure I can recall a time when a comic book elicited tears from me, so it was unexpected.
Books this Week:
Amazing Spider-Man #33. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Ed McGuinness. Cover A art by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. I picked up variant cover C by David Nakayama (Bronze Medalist). Legacy number #997 means that the build to #1000 is underway. Spidey teams up with a new band from Damage Control and they take down some of the villains together. Meanwhile, May and her long lost son go for dinner. I sure hope they don’t just make May’s son a villain, but I suspect that is where this is heading.
Spider-Man: Long Way Home #2. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Arthur Hesli. The pursuit for the Cosmic Cube continued with Spidey, Punisher and the Hulk all after it for their own reasons. This has not been my favorite Spider-Man book out recently. Still, anything with Spidey is down for me.
Uncanny X-Men #32. “Mars Needs Mutants” Part 3. Written by Gail Simone with art by Rogê Antonio, Jim Towe and Federica Mancin. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. The Outliers step up their game and so Rogue and Gambit redub them “The New Mutants” and give them new outfits. However, the promotion does come with some bad news. Gambit and Rogue are leaving the group for awhile to take care of business. If Deathdream cries, we all cry.
Terminal #1. Written by Robert Kirkman & Joe Casey with art by Andy Kubert. I picked up a couple of blind bags celebrating this new series and got a couple of covers from Art Adams. The new series features all new superhero characters in an all-new superhero universe. I thought this was excellent and it gave me thoughts of Strikeforce: Morituri from Marvel.
Flash #35. “The Speed was Power, and the Speed was Joy-Part IV” Written by Ryan North and illustrated by Gavin Guidry. Cover art was done by Gavin Guidry & Adriano Lucas. Wally West was using his new power, flashes of insight, to predict future problems so he could save them before the events happened. I feel as if that has the potential for bad things in the long run, but we’ll see. I have enjoyed Flash since Ryan North took over the writing chores.
Universal Monsters: Blood of the Wolfman #2. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Leomacs. Cover art was done by Leomacs & Pip Martin. I also picked up variant cover B by Jacob Phillips. There is a classic feel to this book as our main character Adam struggled with a possible transformation into a werewolf when he massacred a whole college party. This has been an excellent book so far, fitting nicely into the Universal Monsters books from Image.
Void Rivals #32. Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Conor Hughes. Cover art was done by Lorenzo De Felica. I have been excited for this book for a month and a half or so with the announcement that Rom is joining the Energon Universe and would make his official debut in this issue. Now, he only shows up at the very end, but I do believe that Rom is a burst of energy into Void Rivals that it has been needing for several issues now. I am looking forward to seeing Rom moving forward.
Sicko #1. Written by Tini Howard and illustrated and cover A art by Amilcar Pinna. Cover B art was done by Juliet Nneka. This is a brand new Ignition Press book featuring a character named Valentine. She has some kind of illness that she seemed to be able to weaponize. Why this is happening is still up in the air, but Valentine is not anxious to help out whomever is chasing her in the hazmat outfits. Ignition Press has had a bunch of winners in 2026 and this feels like another one.
Narco #5. Written by Doug Wagner with art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillyard & Dave Stewart. I have loved Narco and this ends the series in a satisfying way. I do think that I wanted more at the end, but that I think comes about because I have enjoyed this book so much.
Wolverine #24. “Master and Monster.” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Wolverine’s stolen healing factor is still a major problem as he has to face off with Dr. Murat Mor, who has transformed into a huge, hulking creature. Oh, and Alpha Flight is here remaining as a pain in the butt instead of a help. I have been having a lot of fun with this volume of Wolverine over the last couple of years.
Gambit: Wanted #1. Written by Chris Claremont and art by Robert Gill. Cover A art was done by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Cover B cover art(foil) was done by Kris Anka (Gold Medalist) and Cover F (Wanted variant) art was done by Phil Noto. This takes out favorite Cajun back to pre-X-Men days and places him on the streets of New Orleans with the thieves he was leading. I am not sure who (or what) ‘Lil ‘ Ro was supposed to be. Obviously it was some form of Storm, but I do not know where she was or why she was in this kiddie form. Remy LeBeau is an awesome character and I am looking forward to seeing more of him and learning, perhaps, more info on his character that I did not know. Great covers for this issue as well.
X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1. A who’s who of writers and artists participated in this book. Writers included Saladin Ahmed, Gail Simone, Eric Schultz, Jed MacKay, Eve L. Ewing with artists including Joelle Jones, Luciano Vecchio, Aaron Kuder, Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales, Federica Mancin, Cory Smith and Dren Junior. Sebastian Shaw is out of prison and hosting the new Hellfire Gala. Little did he know that it would be his last party as Shaw is murdered. But by whom? Wolverine and Jubilee are on the case. This is a fun book, but it felt weird as a murder case, especially since the things that were going on at the Gala. I also picked up a cover by Skottie Young for this book.
Detective Comics #1111. “Flight- Part Five” Written by Tom Taylor and art and cover art by Mikel Janin. The story of Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary, dealing with the death of their former friend, Prion, and Prion’s brainwashed assassin daughter Arabella.
Something is Killing the Children #49. “All Her Monsters” Part Nine. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’Edera. We are one issue away from #50 of this series. This brought an end to the Erica as a young girl story that has been running most of this past year.
Bad Thoughts #2. Written by Ande Parks and illustrated and cover art by Dave Wachter. Jack is back from his mission, but things are not good. In fact, things are escalating massively. Everyone is dying around Jack and he is being pursued by the organization. This was a big step up from last issue and led to an amazing story.
Marc Spector: Moon Knight #6. “Midnight Sons” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was done by Paulo Siqueira & Yen Nitro. In an attempt to save his friends, Moon Knight is out to recruit members of the Midnight Sons. This included Clea, Daredevil, Blade, and Robbie Reyes the Ghost Rider.
Tarzan Beyond #2. “Tarzan and the Siege of Paradise.” Written by Steve Orlando and art by Renato Guedes. Cover art is done by Agustin Alessio. Tarzan takes on Blackbeard. And it does not go well. Tarzan also now has to fight his ape father Kerchak. Oh, and his ape mother Kala is here too. Not sure how that is happening, but I am here for it.
Justice League Unlimited #21. “Escape from Powers Planet: Part Two” Written by Mark Waid and art by Dan Mora & Fico Ossio. The League is in search for the Brainiac Queen and Lex Luthor is not being helpful. Secret plans from Red Tornado and Batman are the play of the day.
Excommunicated #3. Written by Jeremy Robinson and art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Flaviano Armentaro. Josephine and her talking dog are heading to face off with a Father who has been possessed by some kind of demon. Excommunicated has been a lot of fun with this series so far and I am anxious to see where the next step goes.
Other Books This Week: Moonstar #5, Marvel Zero #1, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu #1, Godzilla Conquers the Multiverse #1, Estuary: A Ghost Story #4, Captain Marvel: Dark Past #4, Terrorbytes #8, and American Caper #9.
Quick Hits: We got a brand new Red Shirts book called Star Trek: Red Shirts-Ghost of the 21st Century#1. Interestingly, I was not into this book as most of the Star Trek books have seemingly lost my attention. Hello Darkness #23 had a bunch of great covers this week, including a silver medal for Jenny Frison. Odin #3 continues to be a weird and wild book. Gotta pay attention to it otherwise you are lost. Final Boss #8 is setting up something that feels new for the book. We’ll have to see where it goes. Bloodland #5 focuses in on the President more this issue than previously. Corpse Knight #4 saw Foy and her father finally make it to Joan D’Arc and it does not go quite the way she expected. I picked up a blind bag for the 300th issue of TMNT, which was also called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #20. I used to buy the series, but left it at the same time as Jason Aaron did. I got a nice virgin cover by Laird & Eastman in my blind bag. Speaking of blind bags, I picked up the Boys Premium Mystery Variant Blind Bag, which included three issues of separate limited-edition variants of some of the key issues of the series with unique variant covers. Absolute Wonder Woman #22 was released this week too as Diana finishes up her trip to the Underworld. Another Absolute book out this week was Absolute Superman #21, which saw the end of the Superman/Absolute Shazam match up. The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #6 wraps up the Vertigo series with Ezra taking care of business. It looked like there will be another Ezra Cain book coming up later on. Three issue number fives brought their series to a close this week with Wonder Man #5, Imperial Guardians #5 and A Quiet Place: Storm Warning #5. Imperial Guardians was my favorite of those three and I will miss that book, but it was clear they needed Carol Danvers back on earth for what was going to be happening in Marvel soon. Finally, the next issue of Hidden Spring #3 sees our old folks trying to get the alien to its parent.
San Diego Comic Con for 2026 kicked off today with a series of events and news items. Here are some of the highlights from day one. I am not in attendance at SDCC so I will require the help of the internet and the wonderful websites for the news.
Hall H had peeks at upcoming series including:
The third season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Blade Runner 2099 live action
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender
Marvel’s Wolverine PS5 story trailer
Marvel Costumes- Latverian Witch
This costume reportedly caused quite a stir as it was included in the Avengers: Doomsday costumes. Many believed this was a thinly veiled hint toward the Scarlet Witch in Doomsday. Apparently, the costume switched from a green on to an orange one over night.
Avengers: Doomsday costumes display
Marvel.com
Marvel Comics
Iron Man– from marvel.com: “The journey to our epic IRON MAN #700 anniversary issue is so big that we had to split the book into two and double ship it,” continues [Joshua] Williamson. “Our amazing series artist Carmen Carnero will handle the even-numbered issues where Tony Stark is in prison. While the odd-numbered issues are taken over by the ‘War Machines.’ James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes puts together a new team of Armored Warriors to help take down Madame Masque, Adam Ware, and the new A.I.M. while Tony is locked up. For those issues we’re joined by my old partner in crime, Gleb Melnikov! I feel lucky to have two amazing artists on my team during this action-packed story!”
Avengers#1– Chip Zdarsky’s book that will follow the new team of Avengers that had been announced earlier this year.
Maximum X-Men #1– Storm steps up and recruits a new team of X-Men to replace the Avengers team that broke apart from the events of Avengers Armageddon. Strange that Wolverine is on both the new Avengers line-up and Storm’s new maximum X-Men.
Maximum X-Men will include a roster of Wolverine, Colossus, Bishop, Iceman, Psylocke, Firestar, and Justice!
Avengers will include Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine and another character that has yet to be revealed.
Johnny Depp appears at SDCC as Scrooge! Promoting his new movie Ebenezer, out this fall, Johnny Depp appeared at SDCC and caused some chaos.
Welcome to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I am getting tired of repeating myself every week when I call it “another big week” of comics. It seems as if every week falls into that category. I really do pick up a bunch of books every week.
In fact, when i added the Comic World batch of books to my CLZ, I realized that I was eight books away from 22,222 in my collection. So I decided to find eight more back issues to reach that number. Todd helped me pick out these eight books: Storm Vol 2 #1-6, Son of Satan #4, and Hercules #11 (from Modern Comics). I left Comic World that Wednesday with the exact number of 22,222.
It lasted one day as I bought some more books at In This Issue on Thursday.
I completed the Daily Read that I started this week with Starhenge Book One: The Dragon and the Boar #1-6. Starting on Monday, I read an issue a day until I completed the book. It was by Liam Sharp and it was a wonderful sci-fi/fantasy story with Merlin, Arthur and a woman named Amber who was from present day and she narrated it with references to all sorts of cool pop culture mentions including The Princess Bride, other comics, Grant Morrison among many others. I picked it up because I had purchased Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #1 a couple of weeks ago and I did not want to start it without reading the first series.
Comic of the Week
The Ring: The Man Who Beat the Man #2
This was am unexpected pick this week, but I was just really engaged with this issue of the mini-series from Gail King at Dark Horse. Issue one came out last month and, truthfully, it was fine. I was not as into that first issue as I thought I would be.
However, this issue, focusing on two different boxers, I was fully into and I was just entertained fully. It was one of the last handful of books that I read this week and it was such a treat.
Books This Week:
Mark Spears Monsters #11. “Chapter 11: The Council of Monsters” Written by Mark and Lucas Spears with art and cover art by Mark Spears (Cover C-Bronze Medalist). This issue found all of the monsters on the Council discussing who should be in charge and what they should do about Dracula. This discussion was amazing and with the arrival of Malik and the Slayer. It ended in the weirdest place though as I was just confused, wondering if they had left out a page or two.
3W/3M: Foundations #1. Written by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Spencer with art by Mike Huddleston, Mike del Mundo, and Jerome Opeña. Cover art was done by Mike Huddleston. Four of the top creators in comics band together to provide a new comics universe and some straight up science fiction. It is an interesting book and I am curious to see how it progresses moving forward. The over-sized book does make it feel more special.
A Mischief of Magpies #1. Written by Simon Spurrier and art and cover art by Matias Bergara. DSTLRY feels as if it is back on track fully as we get the first number one since the company took several months off to attempt to fix the problems they were having with Diamond and their money. A Mischief of Magpies is another sci-fi epic where our protagonist, Mar, as he slipped out of the world into a mechanical city. It is another book where the format is very original and feels like a big swing.
Kingdom of Earth #1. Written by David Dastmalchian & Leah Kilpatrick with art and cover art by Soo Lee. We have another post-apocalyptic book where humans have two paths, either as livestock or being slaughtered. Our protagonist Frankie escaped being livestock and now is trying to survive in a monstrous wasteland. Dark Horse has another winning formula here. David Dastmalchian continues his horror success.
Nightwing #140. “The Dive” Written by Dan Watters with pencils by Denys Cowan. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Nightwing is investigating the bar called “Divebar” while the city prosecutor has given him a deadline to turn himself in. The issue also brought us a new character called “Cannibal Colm” and this guy is creepy.
Captain America #13. “Hell’s Angel”-Part 2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti and variant cover (Marvel Dimensions) was done by Alex Ross (Gold Medalist). Cap and Doom are in Hell, trying to round up a crew to help them take on Mephisto. Meanwhile, Spider-Man comes to sit at the comatose Captain America’s bedside.
Something Epic #13. Written, illustrated, and cover art (all variants) by Szymon Kudranski. I loved this book, but it has been on hiatus for nearly to years. I was excited to see it back and I loved the various homage covers that the variants were displaying. Noa and D-Ductive are back and investigating the Land of Horror after a tragedy. They find yet another dead (?) body at the very end of the new issue. I am a fan of Szymon Kudranski and I love that this is back in the rotation.
Punisher vs. Amazing Spider-Man #1. “Professional Differences” Written by Dan Abnett with art by Matteo Della Fonte. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. This featured the relationship between Spider-Man and Punisher, which makes one wonder why that is. They actually have some things in common, except for their methods, which is a area of contention in this book. It takes place early after Punisher and Spidey meet the first time in ASM #129.
Avengers Armageddon #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio (Silver Medalist). The big Marvel series gets its number two as the Avengers and Fantastic Four look to try and stop the Red Hulk’s democracy rampage. Colton and Red Hulk go one-on-one and Colton seemed to flip his head. There is a huge feel of danger and suspense in the series so far.
Junk Punch #2. Written by Paul Tobin with art by Carlos Javier Olivares and Lin Visel. Junk Punch continues to be a comic that makes me laugh. I still wonder if the joke of punching someone in the groin area will remain as funny, but I did like this issue. We are introduced to several new characters in the Junk Punch world. Let’s see how this moves on.
D’Orc #6. “Fate is Fickle” Written, art and cover art by Brett Bean. Speaking of consistently funny, D’Orc is one of my favorite books every month. We learn this issue why Gloinspear is, as D’Orc said, “….such a dick?” Surprise, surprise. Gloinspear is D’Orc’s father. Okay, so it wasn’t as big of a surprise as say, Vader and Luke, but it was fun.
Smile: For the Camera #5. Written by Hannah Rose May with art by Miriana Puglia. Cover art was done by Skylar Patridge. This mini-series based on the movie series, Smile, came to a close with this issue and I have to say that I really liked the wrap up of the story. It did not end as I expected and I do like to be surprised. It felt like the ending was earned for our main character.
Mister Nemo #1. Written by Mark London with art by Alden Kaye. Cover art was done by Duncan Rouleau. This new book from Mad Cave was one of the best of the week. The art was fabulous and we get a current day adaptation of Captain Nemo, including the Nautilus. The first issue was a really cool start as we are introduced to the concept and our new hero.
Inglorious X-Force #7. “As Luck Would Have It.” Written by Tim Seeley with art by Michael Sta. Maria. Cover art was done by R.B. Silva & David Curiel. Cyclops and Quentin Quire come to have a talk with Cable and the X-Force. Scott and Nathan are, of course, father and son, while Quire is still dealing with past issues with Akihiro (whom he knew as Daken).
War Wolf #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Bruin goes to the leaders and tells them what he is going to do. This penultimate issue of the series is here to set up the finale, Father vs. Son, Bruin vs. Worldkiller.
Assorted Crisis Events #9. Written by Deniz Camp with art and variant cover C art by Eric Zawadzki. “The issue centers on a kid named Chuckie who uses “TEMPS”—the first cross-temporal employment app—to secure quick cash in a pointless, cross-time war where untrained temp workers from all of human history are sent to fight. ” (Brooke, AIPT). It has been six months since we had an issue of this sci-fi/satire series from Image Comics. This one is a lot of fun.
Fantastic Four #14. “Irrational” Written by Ryan North and art by Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. This issue, featuring Jo-Venn and N’Kalla Masters-Grimm, the adopted kids of Ben and Alicia, proved the dangers of MATH, specifically the dangers of pi and its never ending digits. It is clear that math is the true villain in the world today, especially in the world of 616. We’ll see if Todd actually reads these posts.
Spider-Versity #4. “Most School Spirit” Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly with art by Pere Perez. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. Norman’s sneakiness is out in the open to Spider Woman, but there are more troubles than the double-dealing Osborn. The Carnage symbiote is free and has possessed one of the Spider-Versity.
X-Men #33. “Anomaly”, Part 3. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Variant cover C was done by Matteo Della Fonte. The X-Men’s science team discovered the answers to the anomalies that were plaguing the Canadian Rocky Mountains. It came from the unconscious mind of Schwarzchild, member of the 3K. Ben and Quentin went inside the mind to try and stop the horrific anomalies.
Minotaur #1. Written by Si Spurrier with art and cover art by Mike Dowling. Ignition Press has been hot as can be over the last six months to a year, putting out some excellent mini-series. The latest is a sci-fi series called Minotaur. Gloria Monday was the protagonist of this series as a photojournalist who does not seem to have much empathy. She is documenting people who are haunted by outbreaks of the future.
The Rocketfellers #13. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Francis Manapul. Variant cover C art done by Francis Portela. Tommy Townsend III and his robot Sterling, along with Rose & Zach, come to the door of the Rocketfellers, who are in the middle of trying to celebrate Rachel’s birthday. Part 3 of 4 in The Unbelievables? crossover sees our typical hero on hero fight and a betrayal by Sterling.
Absolute Green Arrow #3. “The Longbow Killer”-Chapter 3. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo. Dinah is on the case of who exactly is the Longbow Killer, and along the way, she comes across the absolute version of Solomon Grundy. Absolute Green Arrow has been extended from six issue mini series to a 12-issue series, which is great because Green Arrow has been a great read and the mystery is engaging.
The Department of Truth #38. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Ben Templesmith. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. The dinosaurs living in Florida is the latest Fiction making its way around the world as Hunky is on the case. He discovered at the end of the issue that his father, Huck passed away. Is that the truth? Not sure. Who ever knows the truth in this book?
If Destruction be Our Lot #3. “I Would Rather Be a Little Nobody Than to be an Evil Somebody” Written by Matthew & Mark Elijah Rosenberg with art by Andy MacDonald. Cover art was done by Andy McDonald and Francesco Segala. Abe comes across a human being, and this little girl runs from him. Abe tries to pursue but only gets himself into more trouble.
Absolute Flash #17. “Gorilla City- Part 2 of 2” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Haining. Cover art was done by Nick Robles. Wally keeps his search going for Grodd, as Wally convinces the Rogues, whose mission is to kill Grodd, that it was not Grodd causing the problems, but actually Grodd’s father. Unfortunately, that just meant that the Trickster wound up shooting Grodd’s father in the head, killing him.
Space Ghost Annual #1. Written by David Pepose with art and cover art by Jonathan Lau. Space Ghost is ready for it all to be over, perhaps giving up the mantel of Space Ghost. First, he and the twins need to defeat Magnus. Space Ghost has to deal with the death of future Jace, Space Spectre. This annual leads into a crossover with the Herculoids.
Infernal Hulk #9. “Flash Magic” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Banner and Doctor Voodoo head inside a soul cage to confront the Hulk, in an attempt to get the Hulk power back. Banner offers up Voodoo as a prize in a contest, the Riddle Game.
GI Joe #24. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Baroness has discovered the undercover Zartan, who has been posing as Hawk. This was after working with Destro to escape their troubles.
Tigress Island #5. Written by Patrick Kindlon with art and cover art by Ephk. This mini-series form Image ended with this issue, as out surviving women are able to escape form the island. There are lots of explosions and deaths in this issue as everything is wrapped up, although there’s one who floated away, potentially alive.
Other Books This Week: Dungeon Crawler Carl #0, Arcadia #6, End of Life #4, M1: Monster Racing League #2, John Le Carre’s The Circus: Losing Control #3, and Alien: King Killer #4.
Quick Hits: This week we kick off the Quick Hits with Of the Earth #3. This series from Chris Condon continues to be one of the more engaging books each month. We got an interesting What If…? Jessica Jones #1 where Jessica gets bitten by the radioactive spider. I liked this, but I did think the identity of the Green Goblin in this issue was painfully predictable. That did hurt the overall book. More inside the house drama is going down in Fall of the House of Slaughter #3. I loved the cover on this book, but since it was a huge week for covers, it did not achieve a medal. On a normal week, this cover by Sam Wolfe Connelly surely would have been in the top three. I will say that I was kind of disappointed with Banana Number One #1 from Bad Idea. It was goofy as all get out, but that was not the problem. The Banana Number One part of this book was maybe the first third. The rest of the book was other stories that I did not want to read. I wanted more banana. More anthropomorphic animals arrive with the Super Mondo Mega Mutts #1 from Oni Press. Honestly, I found this one to be average at best. I guess you can reach a limit with your anthropomorphic animals. Who knew? Antarctic Press Comics released Horror Comics #1, which I grabbed. I like horror comics, but this is really more of an art book with each page being a cool horror drawing by several artists. There was one short story in the book which went about three or four pages. The rest would be pin-ups with horror themes. It was great art, but not what I expected. Murder Podcast #8 brought this Ignition Press comic to an end. Honestly, this was another one that I found a little disappointing. For as creative of an idea this was, the conclusion felt very typical. Kill Switch #3 is placing our body jumping characters into some real troubling situations. Tankers vs. Ancient Aliens #2 still is more focused on dinosaurs, but it looked like those pesky ancient aliens are coming next issue. Megalith: The Olympus Saga #0 continued the weird trend of Bad Idea books releasing issues #1 and 2 and then releasing issue #0. Dynamite ended Ursula #5 which was one of the bigger surprises for me this year. No way I enjoyed this series… but I did. Star trek: The Last Starship is setting up a big confrontation between Kirk and Captain Sato. Finally, there is a book called The Last Ronin: Training Day #1 from IDW that takes place between gaps in the Last Ronin saga.
This is the biggest week pf the year. I have a ton of books that made the first cut for cover of the week. It was a huge challenge to narrow it down to just three, but I have dedicated myself to not having any more ties for the calendar year of 2026.
All three of the medalists have white backgrounds, which is a weakness of mine.
This is huge Also-Ran category this week. A couple of them just barely fell short of the medal round.
Also-Ran: D’Orc #6, Fall of the House of Slaughter #3, Something Epic #13 (Cover B, C), Fantastic Four #14, What If…? Jessica Jones #1, X-Men #33, Mister Nemo #1, Mark Spears Monsters #11 (Cover A, B, D), Of the Earth #3, Space Ghost Annual #1, Minotaur #1, Absolute Green Arrow #3, Arcadia #6, Horror Comics #1, Kingdom of Earth #1, and Assorted Crisis Events #9 (Cover C).
Bronze Medalist
Mark Spears Monsters #11
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Mark Spears
Last year’s Cover Artist of the Year is back with another awesome shark cover. There was a foil cover of a shark for cover B, but this one stood out more for me. The blue color working against the white background really helped this shark to pop off the cover and the water skier in her yellow bikini… well, she is in for trouble. This is a great cover and having it in the Bronze medal tells you what this week was like.
Silver Medalist
Avengers Armageddon #2
Cover art by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio
This one started off down the list of the books this week, but with each swipe past it, it picked up momentum until it finally placed itself as the silver medalist. The face off with Iron Man and Red Hulk inside the cloak of David Colton really is striking. Then, the white background with the slight strip of red beside the title is very attractive. When I first separated out the first round of books, this one was not my choice, but it just got better each time I looked at it.
Gold Medalist
Captain America #13
Variant Cover- Marvel Dimensions
Cover art by Alex Ross
The Marvel Dimensions covers have been awesome, but this black and white cover from Cap #13 is heads and shoulders above some of the others that I have seen. It is a stunning piece of art that I saw on the stands and, despite already having a butt load of books that I was buying today, I had to have it.
What do you get when you blend the movie Alien/Aliens with The Thing…. X-Men ’97?
Episode 5, “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs” jumps into horror as we get a Wolverine-centric episode with the space alien The Brood.
The Brood was always one of my favorite story arc from the comics even if they seem to be an Aliens rip off. Having them show up was a cool nod to the characters.
I really liked the way they set this up. Wolverine brought Morph, Sabretooth, Maverick, Garrison Kane, and Lady Deathstrike along as his “team”- the team he referenced last episode with Captain America. However, Wolverine brought this team along under false pretenses. Wolverine said that Weapon X was back doing their experiments again, knowing that that piece of info would inspire these characters, but Wolverine’s main motivation was to get his adamantium back after Magneto ripped it from his body last season.
So I did love how they did not just play Logan as a straight up good guy. His lies led to the death of two of these characters (Kane and Maverick… though both could be brought back easily) and how it deals with the way that Logan sees himself in the grand scheme, which is as an animal that is only brought together inside by the adamantium.
The lies with Morph will affect this relationship down the road, at the very least, tainting the friendship. Morph was referred to by Lady Deathstrike as Tomo, which is a Japanese word meaning “friend” or “companion.” She used it as a sleight to Morph to say he is just a mindless follower, a sidekick, to Wolverine and that he can not see the reality of the situation. With the ending, Morph seems to realize that she was right.
Speaking of Morph, he throws me off all the time. In the battle with the Brood, there suddenly in Puck, member of Alpha Flight, involved with the fight and I literally said his name out loud. I thought for a second that Puck was involved in this story too. Of course, a second later, there was Ben Grimm, the Thing and I realized it was Morph. It was the same thing last week with Thor. Morph’s shape shifting never seems to catch me off guard. This week we saw his shift into Sasquatch, Spider-Man, Cyclops and Jean.
It was a bloody episode- although they made the blood green for the Brood’s blood. It was very violent and had several surprises (Omega Red, anyone?). I liked this self-contained episode very much and this is really one of the only Wolverine focused episode of the entire X-Men ’97 series.
It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. We are all the way up to #211. Wow.
This week, I went to In This Issue on Thursday to kill some time before heading over to Cinemark and, one of the things I grabbed there was, Amazing Spider-Man #107. It was a splurge, but it was something I wanted. I also grabbed a variant cover of ASM #573 featuring Steven Colbert swinging around holding Spidey. I am continuing to work on getting the ASM series. I am down to three issues missing from Vol. 2.
When I picked up Starhenge: Book Two last week, I realized that this series was needing me to read a previous series. So I ordered Book One: The Dragon and the Boar off eBay. I have not gotten around to reading them yet, but it is on the list for this summer. Hopefully, I can read them before the next issue of Book Two comes out.
Comic of the Week
Operation: Iron Coffin #1
Dracula killing Nazis? How awesome is that. There is actually more to this than just that simple premise. Dracula is in a bargain for his life. He made a deal with the devil to return to earth to kill all of the vampires that he sired in exchange for his own resurrection. Of course, the Devil is never a straight shooter, as he pulled an Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) trick and gave Dracula back his empathy.
The first issue was filled with some awesome material and the cover art led to this issue winning a bronze medal this week.
Books this Week:
Black Cat #12. “Between a Glock and a Hard Place” Written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanovas. The team-up/fight between Felicia and the Punisher has been extremely entertaining. Even if the way they brought them into the same orbit was odd, the results have been spectacular. G. Willow Wilson, who wrote so many classic Ms. Marvel issues, has a great grasp on Felicia Hardy and her life as the Black Cat.
White Boat #3. Written by Scott Snyder with art and cover art by Francesco Francavilla. I had picked up the first two issues of White Boat together about a year and a half ago. I remembering being extremely enthusiastic about the two issues of the DSTLRY book. Then, it never came out. It was finally released this past Wednesday and I barely remembered anything about it. I sure hope that if DSTLRY is putting out series again, that they are not taking months and months between release.
Fury of Firestorm #4. “The Fury- Part 4” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Rafael Latorre. Cover art was done by Rafael Latorre and Marcelo Maiolo. I also grabbed a variant cover by Mark Spears as well. Truth is coming out as Firehawk confronted Professor Stein over his morally questionable hand in the creation of Firestorm and herself. The Fury of Firestorm has been an excellent book so far and I am looking forward to the finale coming soon.
Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1. Written by Jude Ellison with art and cover art by Fran Galan. I grabbed a variant cover by Dave Johnson (Silver Medalist). With a DC Studios movie coming out in October, Clayface gets his own mini-series. The book focuses on identity and looked at who this Clayface actually is. The issue includes some body horror, which is something that the upcoming film will be rumored to include.
Daredevil #4. “Tomorrow’s Devil-Part 4” Written by Stephanie Phillips with art and cover art by Lee Garbett. Stephanie Phillips has been kicking butt in this new run on Daredevil. Daredevil faces off with The Owl to get info on the new threat, Omen. I laughed out loud when DD mentioned the name Omen, and The Owl said “You named him?”
Exquisite Corpses: Rascal Randy #1. Written by Tyler Boss with art by Dylan Burnett. Cover A art was done by Dylan Burnett. Cover B art was done by Tyler Boss and Cover F art was done by Javier Pulido (Gold Medalist). The first spin off of the classic limited series Exquisite Corpses finds the stands this week with an origin story of Rascal Randy.
Wolverine #23. “Power Grab” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Wolverine faces off with the Taskmaster, who now has Wolvie’s healing factor. Who is behind the power switch? We find out this issue. Can Logan switch his power back before it is too late?
Uncanny X-Men #31. “The Devil I Know” Written by Gail Simone with art by Jim Towe & David Baldeon. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. This is the continuation of the story arc “Mars Needs Mutants.” We get a bunch of the Brood arriving to mess up a student dance. The Outliers remain some of my favorite new characters in all of Marvel.
Bleeding Hearts #6. Written by Deniz Camp with art and cover art by Stipan Morian. I also picked up Cover B with art by Ariel Olivetti. Big events happening in the zombie hunt as Poke and Mush have their big one-on-one conversation and Poke revealed to him that he has a beating heart. Mush did not take it well. This was the end of the first arc of this book, but there are plenty more stories to tell with these characters as Poke is reunited with Rabbit.
Witness Point #1. Written by Heath Corson with art and cover art by Soo Lee. I thought this was written by Nathan Fillion, but it seemed as if he was part of the creators for the book. A murder in a small town normally would not draw the attention of the FBI, but, what if, this was a murder that took place in a small town where a bunch of witness protection witnesses are being housed? That might make a huge change. This is an intriguing Dark Horse book.
Transformers #34. Written by Robert Kirkman with art by Jason Howard. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. The Combaticons launch an assault on the Autobots while Optimus is having a face-to-face discussion about the future with General Flagg. Flagg also gets into a fight with Doctor Henri Arkeville.
Absolute Catwoman #2. “The Yarn- Chapter Two” Written by Scott Snyder & Che Grayson. Art and cover art was done by Bengal. Catwoman sets up an auction to try and trap the thieves who stole from her. It brings her back into contact with her old crew, The Calicos.
Showdown #2. Written by Dave Wielgosz and illustrated by Tadd Galusha. Cover art was done by Steve Lieber & Dillon Shook. This issue follows Harvey Harlowe as he wades through the horrible state of his life. He was blamed for the death of Trish’s little brother and we get to see how he prepared for his showdown with Trish.
Zorro’s Legacy #1. “Dead or Alive” Written by Dan Abnett with pencils by Aaron Lopresti. Cover art was done by Aaron Lopresti & Walter Pereyra. It is present day and the mantel of Zorro has been picked up by Donny De La Vega, a relative of the original Zorro. However, when Donny was badly injured in a battle, his nephew David, who had been training with him and insisting Donny use more up to date weaponry, stepped into the role as a new Zorro for the new world. This gives us a darker, more vengeful Zorro than we have ever seen before.
Baby Garfield #4. “Baby Garfield’s First Bath” written by Ben Clayton and art by Olivia Amoah and “Baby Garfield’s First Road Trip” written by Annie Nishida and art by Kay Davault. Cover art was done by Agnes Esposito. This is the final issue of the four part Baby Garfield series from Boom! that I never would have guessed that I would have enjoyed. But I did enjoy it quite a bit.
Ben 10 #3. “Man of Action” Written by Joe Casey with art and cover art by Robert Carey. The US Army is chasing Ben in his different form and, meanwhile, another alien is landing on the earth in the form of Crab, who is an alien bounty hunter. Things look difficult for Ben and his family.
Altered States: Warlords #2. Written by David Avallone with art by Mariano Benitez-Chapo. Cover art was done by Joseph Michael Linsner. I also picked up the cover D with cosplay by Jacqueline Goehner. While it seemed as if Red Sonja was a goner, John Carter has arrived on Mars. He has a plan on how to rescue Red Sonja.
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #3. “What Am I Missing?” Written by Mariko Tamaki and art by Amancay Nahuelpan. Cover art was done by Karl Kerschl. This issue splits the story into two, with a flashback to Batgirl, Nightwing, Batwoman and Huntress on a mission and the current timeline with Barbara undercover in a prison. Things have gone very poorly for Barbara in the present.
The Rocketeer: Infiltrator #1. Written by Gabriel Hardman with art by Dean Kotz. Cover B art was done by Dave Stevens. I picked this book up off the shelf the other day. I have always enjoyed the character of Rocketeer, but I have not picked up many of his comics over the years. With this one at a number one, I grabbed it to see what it was like. I liked what I saw as we got some Rocketeer under cover at a Nazi movie set.
From Parts Unknown #3. Written by Adriano Ariganello with art and cover art by Daniel Caval. Whoa! Pro wrestling vampires are not an original thought, but they are the only ones that are real. And who saw the end of this issue coming? Not me. I have found this wrestling/horror amalgam book from Pesto Comics extremely fun and engaging.
Seven Wives #2. Written by Zoe Tunnell with art by Tesslyn Bergin-Dicoi. Cover art was done by Keyla Valerio. The murder of Matthew Dunn remains unsolved as Detectives Aguilar and Halwell are trying to figure out what has happened, and how did Dunn’s seven wives play into the case.
Dispatched #1. Written by B. Clay Moore and illustrated by Daniel Gete. Cover art was done by Daniel Gete & Lee Loughridge. Morgan Powers is living under a government-issued alias and he is now a delivery driver. However, his next delivery has more trouble than anticipated. Dispatched has a distinct Die Hard vibe and I was into the first issue. Daniel is a unlikely hero and he struggled with PTSD from his past.
Absolute Batman #22. “The Crooked House” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Werther Dell’Edera. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. Cover C art was done by Brett Bean. Batman and Harley are forced to work together to try and avoid the Robins, who were in pursuit of them. Oh, and the Scarecrow is here too.
Tyler Rake: An Extraction Story #3. Written by Ande Parks and illustrated by Ronan Cliquet. Cover art was done by Declan Shalvey. Tyler Rake is back, heading into what seems like an impossible situation in an attempt to free an individual. Tyler Rake was hiding out, hoping just to live his life, when the government arrived, forcing him back into action.
The Twilight Zone #9. “A Day in the Day in the Life” Written, art and cover art by Juni Ba. This issue of the anthology series was not my favorite one. The art and design of the book is spectacular, but I just could not get into the story.
Vampyrates! #1. Written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Luca Pizzari. Cover art was done by Luca Pizzari & Adam Guzowski. I also picked up the Luca Pizzari unlimited virgin cover that supposedly glows-in-the-dark. Vampires and pirates! I mean… am I at the center of that Venn diagram, or what? This was a wild first issue and it sure sets up for a fun run at Boom! Studios.
Speed Racer #10. Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Speed is out of his mind from the V-gas. He is angry and out of control and he is heading into a race through the center of a volcano. Is this the end for Speed Racer, or should all of the other racers look out for themselves?
Circuit Breaker: Adversary of the Daleks #1. Written by Dulce M. Montoya & Dan Watters with art by Roberta Ingranata. Cover art was done by Jay Anacleto. I don’t know where this version of the Doctor came from but she is not any type of Doctor we have seen before. She is bad tempered and snippy. She seems to not care for anyone or anything. Plus, she does not remember much of her Time Lord past. She does not even know the Daleks.
Other Books this Week: Blood & Thunder #15, The Seasons #11, Jeff The Land Shark: Superstar #1, It’s Symbie #1, Fantastic Four: First Foes- Shalla Bal #1, X-Men ’97 Season 2 #2, Did You Hear About Mimi Green? #2, and Strength and Ash #2
Quick Hits: Wanda continues to be a kick ass Sorceress Supreme in Sorcerer Supreme #8. She is off in search of the Extinction King and she is being accompanied by the Sorcerer Supreme of the Quantum Realm. Will sparks fly for the magicians? Bad Idea dropped a one shot called Dingoliath #1 which focused upon a giant monster. This was an easy read as much of the story was told visually. Star Crossed #1 is the new series from Dark Horse written by Mark Millar. The universe’s two best thieves are being pursued by everyone after a brazen robbery. I picked up MASK #2, even though I got a preview copy of this very issue in a blind bag last month. I grabbed a book called Calexit: Say Goodbye to Hollywood #1 but it had the inside cover saying that there were several previous issues that were before. I’m not sure yet if I am going to find these on eBay or just go with this book. Innards #2 shows us the terrors of deep-Earth mining and give us some insight into Boo Wright. I was excited to see Aladdin #1 from Dynamite, but I was not into this book. These Disney Dynamite books are strange. The books that I do not think I will care about grab my interest and those that I feel like are hit for me are not. The team up in Conan & Dragonero #3 continues as they fight a dragon. Just Brutal #4 sets our kids up to face their destiny… but are they ready? W0rldtr33 #21 keeps building intrigue as I am never quite sure what is going on. Hank Howard: Pizza Detective- The Inside Job #1 is a one-shot book from Bad Idea that has several Hank Howard short stories. The, the black and white reprints of Daniel Warren Johnson’s wrestling book Do A Power Bomb! #1 came out this week.
Happy 250th Birthday to the United States of America. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Fourth of July.
I picked up a lot of Mad Magazine issues from eBay this week, which included, specifically, the one issue that I went looking for. Mad #533 featured “Weird Al” Yankovic as special guest editor, and was full of fun and crazy comedy. “Weird Al” is one of my absolute favorites and I wanted to find this issue. It seemed like it was pretty high priced on eBay, but I found it included in this lot and the total for the seven books was right around the same cost for the individual book. That was a winner for me.
I picked up a few graphic novels/trade paperbacks this week. The graphic novels included a version of George Orwell’s 1984, which was pretty cool. I also grabbed a graphic novel called “Rain” which I mistakenly did not realize that I already owned. Then there was a paperback that collected an Oni Press series called Hellbreak and a DC trade called Superman: Supercorp.
Comic of the Week
Ordained #3
This was a fantastic issue of this series from Bad idea. You could tell that they originally were going to have the series end after three issues, because of the way this wrapped up. The demand for Ordained must have convinced them to tag on a fourth issue, as they have a final section at the very end, almost like a post credit scene, that sets up issue #4. I am not complaining about it at all. I would buy a full-time, ongoing series of Ordained.
The B cover of this week’s book ended up as runner up for the bronze medalist for the EYG Comic Covers of the Week.
Books this week:
The Last Starfighter #1. Written by Benjamin Raab & Deric Hughes with art by Willi Robert. Variant cover D art by Stephanie Hans (Gold Medalist). This is a new Mad Cave series that is a direct sequel to the 1984 cult-classic movie, The Last Starfighter. Alex Rogen is back and his adventures have just begun. This is an intriguing start to a series and Mad Cave has earned my trust.
The City Beneath Her Feet #3. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Elsa Charretier. I did not think that I was ever going to see the conclusion of this series. DSTLRY has been rumored to be going under and I was a big fan of a bunch of their books. DSTLRY’s downfall made me very sad, but I am excited that this one came out. Hopefully, the company can get back on course or, at the very least, release those final issues of the cool stories that had been started, much like this one.
The Dogsitter #1. Written by Jamie S. Rich and illustrated by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Megan Levens and Nick Filardi. This seemed to be a straightforward romance story about a woman named Gemma, who has left college and is supplementing her income by walking dogs. I am not sure if there is going to be more to the story than that, but she does meet someone at a party that she takes up with. I kept waiting for the inciting incident, but it did not seem to come. Ignition Press has been doing great stuff lately, but I am not sure this is going to be my cup of tea.
Star Wars-Rogue One: Saw Gerrera #1. “The Price” Written by Marc Bernardin with art by Federico Blee. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Laura Martin. I typically do not buy a lot of Star Wars books, but I saw writer Marc Bernardin on his podcast Fatman Beyond (that he does with Kevin Smith) talking about this project he did with Marvel. I am a fan of Bernardin, so I decided to pick up a copy. I actually enjoyed the book very much, despite not being a knowledgeable fan of Saw Gerrera from the Star Wars franchise. I saw him in Rogue One and Andor, but that was the extent of my knowledge. This was a good read.
Amazing Spider-Man #32.Written by Joe Kelly with art by Patrick Gleason. Cover art was done by Patrick Gleason & Dean White. Spidey has to deal with the arrival of Cormac Crane, Aunt May’s unknown son. He is using his fists to work out some of his anger and frustrations which is a bad thing for Tombstone and the Vulture. How does the death of the Shocker play into Spidey’s rampage? It is all here.
Wade Wilson: Deadpool #6. “Badpools–Part 1” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Alex Lins. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. What happens to the pieces of Wade Wilson that get chopped off? Well, at the current time, they are regenerating into weird little Deadpool-like creatures and are causing trouble for the Merc with a Mouth.
Zorro #2. Written by Howard Chaykin and art by Jorge Fornes. Cover art was done by Stewart Moore. Zorro is on the oceans, sailing with a crew of pirates, and they are dealing with the forces of the French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte. There is one more issue of this short series from Alien Books.
Royals #4. Written by Derek Kirk Kim with art and cover art by Jacob Perez. Good news! Paul and Castor are not dead! They were shot at the end of last issue, but they survived and were separated. With that, the chasm between the brothers has stretched even further. This has been one of my favorite books of the month ever time it is released.
She-Spawn #3. Written by Gail Simone and art by Ig Guara. Cover art was done by Marco Falla. Jessica Priest appeared to be in the past with a job to protect a young kid… Al Simmons??? That is a name that is familiar to the Spawn Universe. Lots of things going on in this series and it is, once again, brought to life from the writing of Gail Simone.
Killer Influences #1. Written by Joey Esposito and art by Valeria Burzo. Cover art was done by David Baldeon & Ki Diaz. A wannabe reporter is on the trail of a local serial killer, but when she finds him, there is a twist in the story that I did not see coming. This is a new book from IDW, under their Crime label.
The Mortal Thor #12. “Worldwyrm” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jesus Saiz. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). Donald Blake confronted Sigurd and revealed his “true face” which was thr serpent Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent. What can the “mortal” Sigurd do to stop it?
The Deadman #2. Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. I picked up three covers of this issue: first cover A by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran, second cover D by Mark Spears and then finally, cover E, a glow-in-the-dark cover by Steven Subic (Bronze Medalist). Deadman comes to Gotham to find help. He wanted Batman, but the Caped Crusader turned out to be too difficult to possess so Deadman settled for Plastic Man instead.
Fantastic Four #13. Written by Ryan North and art and cover art by Andrea Sorrentino. I have been a huge fan of the Ryan North run of Fantastic Four, but I have to admit, this issue was a stretch. Sue and Johnny pretending to be Ghost Rider to scare their villains is an original thought, but I do not think it worked well for this book. It was funny seeing Reed and Nicki pulling the same trick just to see if they could do it.
What If…?: Secret Wars #1. “What If the Ultimate Universe Survived the Secret Wars?” 616 Peter Parker wound up in the Ultimate Universe, trapped. The battle with the Maker continued and Peter turned up with the X-Men at the end. This was not my favorite What If issues as this felt lacking.
Dead Acre: Black Badge #1. Written by Cullen Bunn and art by Riley Brown. Cover art was done by Riley Brown & Fares Maese. I also picked up a special cover by Darick Robertson hidden behind a red Spoiler/Content warning sheet. This appears to be a comic adaptation of a graphic novel of the same name. I am not sure if the graphic novel is the whole run of what this series is going to be or not. All I know is that I loved this first issue.
The Punisher #6. Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by David Marquez & GURU-eFX. I grabbed a variant cover D of this issue with the red bloody skull. The Punisher is out and about, doing his personal mission, but there is a sniper shooting at him. That sniper… Collateral Damage.
Iron Man #7. “Super Science.” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Von Randal. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. War Machine has returned! It is great to see Rhodey once again and I hope they include him in the ongoing Iron Man book. It is where he belongs.
Sam & Twitch Case Files #25. Written by Thomas Healy with additonial script from Tidd McFarlane and art by Von Randal. Cover art was done by Ig Guara. Sam and Twitch wrap up their latest case, and it feels as if this series is done. I have not heard anything for certain, but the book sure seemed to put a final bow on everything. If this is the final issue, I will miss this book.
Neighborhood Watch #3. Written by Sarah Gailey with illustrations by Haining. Val and Bianca are trying to keep Jill hidden from the police, including her bullet wound. Jill’s “runaway” daughter returned as well and she has something that she knows about this mystery.
X-Men United #5. “Shadow Play.” Written by Eve L. Ewing with art by Eduardo Pansica. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli and Federico Blee. While the adult X-Men are trapped in a different dimension, Lourdes Chantal and other shadowy threats approach the school, forcing the younger mutants to step up their game. Ms. Marvel is there, but I wanted her to take more charge than they did here. She has a ton of experience from the Avengers, Champions and so on.
Batman #11. “Mutineers” Written by Matt Fraction with art by Jorge Jimenez. Cover A art was done by Jorge Jimenez & Tomeu Morey. Cover B art was done by Dustin Nguyen and Cover F art (Beefcake Batman) was done by Chris Anka. Batman has to deal with the dangerous Anarchy while discovering a criminal conspiracy that will change Gotham’s underworld moving forward.
Batman/Green Arrow/The Question; Arcadia #4. Written, drawn and cover art was done by Gabriel Hardman. I am not sure what continuity this series falls into because it seemed as if Gabriel Hardman was watching the first Iron Man movie since the final scene is reminiscent of it. Arcadia has been a long time coming with this final issue.
The Other/Half #3. Written by Jim McCann with art and cover art by Joe Eisma. Ethan is arrested for the mysterious jewel robbery, but Henry is not ready to give up on his husband. He wants to help so much that he even approached Ethan’s homophobic parents for help, against Ethan’s wishes.
The Shaolin Cowboy: Staying A.I. Live #1. Written, art and cover art by Geof Darrow. A fun new series from Dark Horse returned to the world of Shaolin Cowboy. From my research, this is a character that had been in several other series over the past 25 years. I enjoyed this issue from Dark Horse so I may have to look back into the history of this character moving ahead.
Beast of Boriken #1. Written by Julio Anta with art and cover art by Daniel Irizarri. Puerto Rican activist Loli Flores is involved in a protest to attempt to protect land from developers. During the groundbreaking ceremony, a creature of some sorts was awakened and set free to cause trouble.
100 Bullets: The US of Anger #1. “Chapter One: At Thee I Swing.” Written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso. Variant cover B art is done by Jock. I really liked this format with the black and white pages. It felt like the proper way to present this type of story. This was another one that had an earlier book.
Other Books this Week: Tales of the Shadowman #7, Nights #19, Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #12, Catching Hell (Featuring Reggie Bannister) #1, Faceless and the Family #1, Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss for Atticus #1, Masterminds #5, and Malevolent #5.
Quick Hits: Marvel dropped another swimsuit special this week, with the title being Marvel Swimsuit Special: Brand New Beach Day#1. It is not much. There are some great pieces of art involved which is the purpose. The story is meh. As I was going through the pile of comics I bought at In This Issue when I came across Lilo & Stitch 626 #2, which confused me. I do not collect Lilo & Stitch so I was confused as to why it was in my books. I think I figured it out because I was missing Lion King #4. So I think I went to pick Lion King off the shelf and accidentally grabbed Lilo & Stitch. Maybe I was distracted by other independent books on the shelf. I did go back to get Lion King afterward. Comics! The Magazine #5 came out this week that featured an interview with Mark Spears. The Rook universe characters make their appearance this week in the Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #4. This is a great book to keep handy when reading rook because some of the issue I have for this series is that I am not sure which character is which. Somehow, I had missed the Energon Universe G.I. Joe #18. I was able to pick that one up to complete the run so far. Absolute Martian Manhunter #12 finished off its run with this issue. Absolute Green Lantern #15 brings us the debut of the Absolute Sinestro. It was another comic that I missed and had to pick up when I went back to In This Issue. Minor Arcana #16 continued with Teresa and her weird magic. Big shock at the end of the issue. Doctor Strange #8 has had a difficult time keeping my attention at this point. There was a lot of Angela in this book. Challengers of Doom: Mr. Fantastic #1 came out and showed a beginning of the relationship between Doom and Reed Richards. I picked up the Peach Momoko cover for this issue. American Mythology Productions released a new version of Return of the Living Dead, which was a mini series a couple of years ago. It was Return of the Living Dead: Untold Tales of the Tarman #1. It might have been a one-shot, but it is left off with a cliffhanger that feels like it was a start. I guess we’ll see. Babylon Cove #2 saw the story of Heather Hutchens returning to her hometown continue with some major problems. I liked this issue more than the first one. Finally, Ripcord #4 was pretty bloody and violent this month and I am not a fan of this issue.
June is nearing the end, and here is the newest EYG Comic Cavalcade!
Thanks to Todd for bringing me a whole bunch of What If Vol. 2 issues. I do love the What If series and I am pleased to have them.
Comic of the Week
Narco #4
I believe this book has really begun to hit its stride as Marcus has realized that he is really being framed for murder, and he has started to figure out what is happening. Marcus is one of the most original and unlikely lead character that you are going to see in a comic.
The B cover is one of the Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, taking the Gold Medal for its Hitchcock homage cover.
Books This Week:
Ultimate Endgame #5. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Terry & Rachel Dotson and Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. The finale issue of this series and the entire Ultimate Universe came through this week. I had some problems with this ending. The Ultimate Endgame started out with such fire and it has petered out so badly. Then, I was surprised how this book ended… it was such a happy ending that it did not feel right.
Ultimate Universe Finale #1. So this is a wrap up for all of the separate characters of the Ultimate Universe, seeing where they were left at the end of Endgame. Again, this just did not feel right. I kind of wish that the end of the Ultimate Universe would have been kept secret and the end would just catch everyone off guard.
Nectar #4. Written by Jeremy Robinson and art by Annapaola Martello and Francesco Francini. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan. Nectar finished up with a fiery end as Pastor Grant rampaged across the island. I loved the series and it sounded as if the butterflies are returning at some point in the future. Until then, this will have to serve for now.
Wolverine #22. “Doctor’s Orders” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Wolverine’s healing factor is messed up again, but it seems as if someone has stolen it from Logan… and has given it to Taskmaster.
Venom #259. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez & Frank Martin. I have been picking up the Venom book during the crossover with Spider-Man, but I am not sure how I feel about the new Venom (with Mary Jane) and whether I wanted to keep picking it up. I wasn’t going to buy this, but I broke down. I am still not sure if I care about the Queen in Black which is coming soon.
Captain America #12. “Hell’s Angel” Part 1. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by by Valerio Schiti & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Captain America is in Hell and he is teaming up with Doctor Doom to try and stop Mephisto. Then, the last panel saw the return of the Red Skull. Zdarsky’s run on Cap has been excellent so far and the Hell story is very compelling.
Doomquest #2. Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. Doctor Doom is stuck in a loop on the Titanic. This was a lot of fun and one of the more original ways to use Doom. Ryan North continues to be one of the best writers working Marvel today.
The Twilight Zone #8. “Hollywoodland” Written, illustrated and cover art by Gabriel Hardman. This is a great issue. The Twilight Zone comic has been sensational every issue and each story feels like a story that you would have seen on the original TV show.
Feral #24. “Chapter 24: Breakout” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was done by Trish Forstner & Allen Passalaqua (Silver Medalist). The cats and the dogs are running around the pound as the doctors are trying to cure the rabies disease. Feral continues to be one of the best books around.
Universal Monsters: Blood of the Wolfman #1. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Leomacs. Cover art was done by Leomacs & Pip Martin. The latest Universal Monsters book is Wolfman and I love the first issue as they begin to set up the Wolfman. It seemed as if they are setting up a legacy.
Corpse Knight #3. Written by Michael Chaves with art by Matthew Roberts. Cover art was done by Matthew Roberts & Rico Renzi. Foy is poisoned and her undead father has to save her. Corpse Knight is a solid fantasy book from Image.
White Sky #4. Written by William Harms and art and cover art by JP Mavinga. Violet and Walter have arrived in San Francisco only to see that it is destroyed. There are a lot of scenes with white. This has been a solid book so far, but it does feel like it needs to start progressing soon.
Justice League Unlimited #20. “Escape from Power Planet: Part One” Written by Mark Waid and art was done by Dan Mora & Fico Ossio. Cover art was done by Dan Mora. The title of this was “Escape from Power Planet” but we only spend a few pages on Power Planet with Metamorpho, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl. Most of the issue is spent battling a Brainiac on the Watchtower with Luthor causing trouble.
A Quiet Place: Storm Warning #4. Written by Phil Hester with Pencils and cover art by Ryan Kelly. This movie based series has been really good. It seems that Lonnie has finally proved to the other citizens of the town that these aliens are really dangerous and that they have to do what they can to protect themselves. This has worked well in the IDW series.
Hornsby & Halo #14. Creators are Peter Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art was done by Peter Snejbjerg. The second part of the Unbelievables crossover sees the Trillion Dollar Kid, aka Tommy Townsend III has come to Warwick in search of other Unbelievables, specifically Zach and Rose. They team up to find out if Tommy’s parents are in Heaven or hell.
Detective Comics #1110. “Flight Part Four” Written by Tom Taylor with pencils and cover art by Mikel Janin. Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary are out to try and help a young girl, the daughter of a former teammate of theirs, Prion. Oh, and the young girl is a trained assassin.
The Infernal Hulk #8. “Beasts of the Sanguine Tree” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Adam Gorham. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. I also grabbed the Alex Ross variant. Bruce Banner is back with the Avengers, but he has bad news. Their idea to take on the Infernal Hulk with the original Hulk won’t work because Banner says he is now immune to Gamma rays. What is going to happen next? Whatever it is, it is with the help of Brother Voodoo.
Spider-Versity #3. Written by Jordan Morris & Joe Kelly with art by Rafael Perez & Granados. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Dean White. Norman runs the Spiders through a practice session based on the Ringmaster, and, lo and behold, someone using the powers of the Ringmaster showed up. Suspicious.
X-Men #32. “Anomaly” Part 2. Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. The X-Men’s science team is forced to deal with gravity anomalies while being targeted by Department H. So they decide to unleash Magneto. Hm… sounds like a recipe for chaos to me.
Flash #34. “The Speed Was Power, the Speed Was Joy- Part IV” Written by Ryan North and illustrated by Gavin Guidry. Cover art was done by Gavin Guidry & Adriano Lucas. Flash goes to Mr. Terrific to try and figure out about his “flashes of insight.” They seem to lead him to Gorilla Grodd.
The Eye Collector #1. Written by Jonathan Ball with art and cover art by G.M.B. Chomichuk. A weird and wild new horror comic from Image, we get a strange ancient being that has their curiosity over earth reignited by wishes made by the Apollo 10 crew. This is a bizarre book. I’m curious about it as well.
Void Rivals #31. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Conor Hughes. Cover art was done by Lorenzo De Felici. This Void Rivals issue is a stand alone book featuring the character of Skuxxoid. In the letter page, it says that Skuxxoid tied Megatron as the Energon character with the most standalone issues. This book as a feel like Saga. And I am excited about the debut next issue in the Energon Universe of Rom.
Absolute Superman #20. “Up, Up and…” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Superman teams up with Hawkman and Steel in an attempt to defeat the Absolute Black Adam/Shazam. There seemed to be a special amalgam going down in the last panel that looked absolutely awesome.
Absolute Wonder Woman #21. “Friends & Neighbors Part 1 of 2” Written by Kelly Thompson with art by Dillon Snook. The cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire. Diana heads back to the Underworld in search of Circe and her mother. Then, Barbara Minerva has to make a decision about the powers of Cheetah.
Hidden Springs #2. Written by Rob Williams and art and cover by Nil Vendrell. The giant baby Kaiju is being pursued by the military and the group of elderly retirees are forced to try and save the kaiju. Hidden Springs has been a fun book so far and you would not expect some of the things that are going on. Teh protagonists are fun and unlikely heroes.
Escape #8. Written by Rick Remender with art by Daniel Acuna. I got cover B which was done by Cary Nord. Milton finds himself in a real bad place as he has signaled the air raid of the town, but the family that he has been staying with feels betrayed. Escape is a tense comic with fuzzy animals.
Is Ted Ok? #5. Written, drawn and cover art by Dave Chisholm. This issue is full of exposition, but it gives us the background and history behind Ted. There are flashbacks, revelations and truths flying all over the book, setting up next issue’s finale.
Generation X-23 #5. “A Numbers Game” Part 5. Written by Jody Hauser with art by Marco Renna. Cover art was done by Partha Pratim Sarkar & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Laura and Gabby get the X-numbers out of Faculty 23 and they are apparently teaming up. However, there are a couple of wild cards in the mix.
Gotham Academy: First Year #5. “Chapter 5: We’ve Been Here Before.” Written by Brenden Fletcher with art by Marco Ferrari. Variant cover b Annie Wu. Olive gets trapped in a loop while searching for her mother. The whole issue was very dreamlike and I was not sure what exactly was happening. Batman is here so I am sure everything is gonna be ok, right?
Barbarian Behind Bars #5. Written by Elliott Kalan with art and cover art by Andrea Mutti. What a horrible way to end this series. There is an absolutely wicked cliffhanger at the end of the story that left me unhappy about what I just spent five issues reading. I do not know if there is more of this book coming down the line or if the old “THE END?” thing was just a mean trick. It definitely tainted the final issue.
Terrorbytes #7. Written by Joseph Sieracki and art and cover art by Maxi Dall’o. The story of Donald Drummer and his life is very compelling in this issue. I am not sure what happened in the end, but I was engaged throughout this anthology book.
Bludwire #1. Written by Paul Allor and art by Ermitis Blanco. Cover art was done by Victor Ibanez. Ace and Zora are two sex bots who go on the run from their corporate owners. This is an interesting new comic from Mad Cave.
Other Books This Week: Moonstar #4, Honor and Curse: Eternal #4, Red Roots #3, American Caper #8, In Your Skin #3, Planet Atmos: Exordium #3, and Conan the Barbarian #32.
Quick Hits: Kevin Smith’s Bizarro Year None #2 came out this week. I heard Smith promote this book on Fatman Beyond. It is an intriguing issue. The Hab #3 from Bad Idea is the Bronze Medalist this week in the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. We get even more fun from the wild book from Titan Comics called Rafael Garcia: Henchman #4. Racer X #8 came to a close with this character, who I suspect will still appear in Speed Racer’s book. Punisher is the focus of Reborn Ultimate Impact #2 as he faces off against some of the new villains/heroes??? created by the boxes Miles lost. I’m not sure how I feel about this book right now. We go into the past once again as the X-Men: Outback #1 came out. I must say that I liked this roster of X-Men, especially with Longshot and Dazzler involved. Mind MGMT: New & Improved #1 by matt Kindt came out this week. I picked up a blind bag for this issue as well… I am a sucker for blind bags… and I got a 3D variant of the book. 51 #4 from Mad Cave released this week as we have some alien tech that gives people super powers. Exploit #4 finished up as they were able to reveal all the details behind Kincade’s crooked schemes, and then sent him to Estonia. The video game-like comic Final Boss #7 came back with a new issue this week after a short break. Pretty Hate Machine #3 was extremely intense this week as there are some brutality going down. Speaking of brutal, The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery#5 saw Ezra in a blimp, trying to avoid Nazis. It gave me Last Crusade vibes. Alice Forever After #4 from Boom! Studios asks the question about Alice’s mental health.
New banner this week, getting rid of all those butterflies on the old one. Still very much fun making these, trying to hit upon important books from all of the publishers.
eBay sent me several Amazing Spider-Man books this week as I continue to try to complete my Vol. 2 collection. I have several more in the mail on its way, leaving me with three issues. With those three exceptions, I’ll have issue #195-today of Amazing Spider-Man soon. Too cool.
Comic of the Week
Rom #1 (Skybound)
I may be cheating this week as the Comic of the Week actually came out inside the MASK blind bags from a couple of weeks ago, but I just received my copy from eBay today and I loved it.
I was an old fan of Rom during the Marvel years and I was really excited to hear that Rom was joining the Energon Universe at Skybound. I wasn’t sure if this was just a Rom cover of the MASK#1 or if it were its own book, but when I scanned through the book after opening the packaging, I could tell that this was its own story. I loved that too. Rom has some adjustments from Robert Kirkman which work well and the new character “Carpet” is a fascinating addition. I can’t wait to see the mystery of Rom unfold moving forward in Void Rivals starting in issue #32.
Books This Week:
Land of Never #1. Written by Steve Orlando with art and cover A art by Miguel Mora. Variant cover B art was done by Sebastian Piriz. Jim Hoke’s daughter Wendy has been missing for years. Hoke believed that he saw a hulking figure take Wendy out of the window, but no one would believe him. In fact, Hoke is a suspect in her kidnapping. We’ve got some Peter Pan stuff going on here and I am here for it.
Something is Killing the Children #48. “All Her Monsters” Part Eight. Written by James Tynion IV with art and cover art by Werther Dell’Edera. We continue into the past with young Erica Slaughter trying to understand the hardest part of the House of Slaughter, killing off the witnesses, even if they happen to be children. Is the tragedy stoppable?
Amazing Spider-Man #31. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Patrick Gleason. Cover art was done by Patrick Gleason & Dean White. We get the TALK here. How can it be possible that Aunt May has an actual child with Ben Parker? This story goes back and forth between the story of May and her unknown birth and Spidey battling Vulture and Tombstone. This is one of the biggest, most major retcons to Spider-Man in the last few years. He has an actual cousin. How will this affect Peter Parker?
Uncanny X-Men #30. “Mars Needs Mutants” Written by Gail Simone with art by Rogê Antonio. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio & Matthew Wilson. More wild mutant action from the pen of Gail Simone. This has been one of the most consistent X-Men books of all and I have a huge respect for Gail.
Nightwing #139. “The Waterfront” Written by Dan Watters with pencils by Denys Cowan. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. Nightwing is still struggling to overcome his guilt over the highway incident from a few issues ago. With the new highway going through Bludhaven, a bunch of bodies show up in the water. Nightwing found a way to investigate these deaths which leads him to a church. This was a great issue and Nightwing is struggling with himself.
Of The Earth #2. “Chapter 2: Red Zone.” Written by Andrew Ehrich & Chris Condon with art and cover art by Charlie Adlard (Gold Medalist). The oil company sent a representative to investigate the strange things at the Winters’ Ranch. Chris Condon has become one of my favorite writers in comics today. He knows how to tell a story and build that mysteriousness and tension.
X-Men United #4. “Ancient Orc Oaken Arclight” Written by Eve L. Ewing with art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. I also picked up Cover C with art by Kris Anka (Bronze Medalist). The X-Men are doing a mysterious campaign… much like D & D, only in the X-Men style, they are actually doing it. Deathdream is in the group in the campaign and I do love that character.
Dog Tag #2. Written by Mark Russell with pencils by PJ Holden. Cover art was done by PJ Holden & JP Jordan. We follow Tom into his new assignment… leading a troop of survivors of D-Day into Europe on missions. The mission, go into the town St. Lo to see if the Germans have deserted it. Once they, they have to face their own moral thoughts. Dog Tag has been great the first two issue and another awesome Mad Cave book.
If Destruction Be Our Lot #2. Written by Matthew & Mark Elijah with art by Andy McDonald. Cover art was done by Andy McDonald & Francesco Segala. The Lincoln robot is out in trouble. After seeing a “human” at the end of last issue, the belief is that he is malfunctioning and requires a reboot. Maintenance is a horror show and ABE is on the run. The creativity is off the charts with this Image book.
The Trillion Dollar Kid #1. “Who are the Unbelievables? Part 1 of 4” Written by Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi with art by Stefano Simeone. I grabbed cover B and its art was done by Ivan Reis, Danny Miki & Brad Anderson. The new book from Ghost Machine debuted this week, tying together the other books from this title including Hornsby & Halo and The Rocketfellers. Tommy Townsend is on quest to find thee other “Unbelievable” and it starts in this issue. Crossover alert!
Absolute Green Arrow #2. “The Longbow Killer” Part 2. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque & Marcelo Maiolo. The wildness of the Absolute Green Arrow is huge. I loved this series, with how dark and mysterious it is. I am clearly not sure what is going on or who is doing this, and I love that.
Absolute Flash #16. “Gorilla City Part 1 of 2” Written by Jeff Lemire and art by Haining. Variant cover B art was done by Taurin Clarke. Wally and Grodd are reunited. Not sure that is a good thing. This Absolute Flash is excellent every issue. It is one of my favorite Absolute books every week. Good characters and fun story.
Absolute Batman #21. “The Straw Man Part 3” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. We get the Absolute version of Two-Face this issue. Two Face is seen with shadowy figures from Bruce’s friends, who all seem to be villains. Oh, and there is the Joker (I think it was Joker..)
G.I. Joe #23. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Variant cover G (B&W) was done by Tom Reilly. The Baroness and Destro have to team up and we get the secret origin of Risk.
Redcoat #18. Creators are Geoff Johns & Bryan Hitch. Variant Cover B art is done by Leonardo Colapietro. The truth comes out for Simon Pure. He tells his wife his own personal history and it might have cost him his family. Meanwhile, men of George Washington have captured Benedict Arnold. This is a dark moment for Simon and feels like the “Empire Strikes Back” part of the story. Redcoat is an outstanding book.
Wonder Man #4. “The-Four-Oh-Five” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Laura Braga. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio. So…umm… Simon Williams and Patsy Walker take their relationship to new heights. Yes, they get naked and have sex… while flying in the air among the clouds. It was not what I expected to see in this book.
Imperial Guardians #4. Written by Dan Abnett with pencils by Eduardo Pansica. Cover art was done by Sean Izaakse & Nolan Woodard. The gimmick of having the members of the team addressing the world via camera, much like a reality show (like Big Brother). This is a great way to inject humor into the story as well as allowing the readers to know info that the rest of the cast does not. It is a clever addition to this comic.
The Punisher #5. “Under his Skin” Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Jose Luis Soares & Sergio Davila. Big battle issue as Frank squares off with Jigsaw. The brutality of their fight is what carries this issue through as much of the art is just panels of the two of them engaging in violence. The new Punisher book has been solid since its return to Marvel.
Drawing Blood #11. Written, drawn and cover art by Kevin Eastman. I loved this issue. Of course, I barely remember Drawing Blood, a 12-issue series, that debuted in April 2024. Issue #10 came out in January of 2026 while this issue came out in June. The length between these issues are really making it tough to maintain any real momentum for the book. It takes most of the first half of the story to refresh what everything that has happened. Only one more issue to go. I wonder what month it is scheduled to be released in?
Excommunicated #2. Written by Jeremy Robinson with art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Flaviano. I also picked up the Unholy Body Bag (polybag) variant cover which was done by Tyler Crook. Former nun Josephine has to team up with the demon Edimmu to avoid an attack. That decision does not make things better for Josephine, as Vatican officials are on the case. Excommunicated, from Vault Comics, has been a welcomed addition to the horror comics that are all across the landscape of comics these days.
War Wolf #6. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. This issue gives us the true story of Bruin and how he stopped the original invasion of the Oorts. Apparently, the Bear is nowhere near as much of a hero as he had presented himself as. Can The Bear step up for earth for real this time? Who knows, but War Wolf has been a solid book from Mad Cave.
Kill Switch #2. Written by Sophia Bank & Don Handfield with illustration by Gabriel Ibarra. Cover art was done by Erwin Arroza & Gabriel Ibarra. It sure seems that everybody can figure out that Atlas is not Detective Kate Sloan. That included Agent Perez who apparently the real Kate Sloan. Mind f*cks galore in this Massive Comics series.
Other books this week: Deadly hands of K’un-Lun #5, Star Trek: The Last Starship #8, Justice League: Dream Girls: A DC Pride Event #1, The Beauty #6, Inglorious X-Force #6, Sorcerer Supreme #7, Absolute Green Lantern #15, and Supergirl: Survive #1
Quick Hits: I am a sucker for blind bags. I picked up the Marvel 616 blind bag this week, which included a black and white version of Doomquest #1 and a facsimile of Iron Man #149. There was also a Doom paper mask inside, which was fun to wear and yell “KNEEL BEFORE DOOM!” Not that I actually did that…. um… moving on. Hello Darkness #22 featured a new ongoing story from Ryan North of FF and Flash writing. I also grabbed a variant virgin cover that was the Silver medalist this week. Odin #2 came out this week and is just as wild and confusing as last time. You really have to give it James Tynion IV with forcing people to really check in with his writing. Big anniversary issue came out this week with Mad #600 with a great cover from EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragones. More deaths happening in Dead Teenagers #4 from Oni Press. And even more deaths in Smile: For the Camera #4. Tough time to be a model in that book. Two other Spider-Man books, besides Amazing, came out this week with Spider-Man: Long Way Home #1 where he faces off with Hulk and the Punisher for the Cosmic Cube, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day #2 where Spidey has to work alongside the Punisher. Paul Chadwick’s Concrete: Stars Over Sand #1 came out from Dark Horse this week, bringing Concrete back from Chadwick’s original series from the 1980s. We get the next What If book with What If…? The Mighty Thor #1 where Thor got the Venom symbiote in Secret Wars instead of Spidey. I like the fact that these What If books recently have Uatu back watching things. He was missed in the What If books like the Disney ones where the Watcher was not involved. What If is synonymous with the Watcher. Megalith: The Olympus Saga #2 gives us more giant megalith action from Bad Idea. When does a kidnapping become too much of a problem? When it is a kid? End of Life #5 sees h0w that plays out. A new one shot The Phantom vs. The Red Dragons #1 dropped this week and actually has a continuing story into an0ther one shot next month. I guess they were allergic to issue #2. The final issue of Magik & Colossus #5 came out and wrapped up this story for the Rasputin siblings. Then Bloodland #4 from Ignition Press has some head chopping goodness.
Another big week of books. I spent three hours at Comic World on Wednesday with no electricity. We had a couple of days of big storms in the area and the storm in Dubuque that day led to the lights going out. Thankfully, I was still able to get some read thanks to my seat by the window. Natural light worked great. The storm was quite powerful though. The lights came back on just before they intended to close up shop.
I have picked up several Marvel Team-Ups this week. Todd got me a few and I picked some up at eBay. I am still waiting on #53, but once it arrives I will have the volume one of Marvel Team-Up completed. I have been working on it over the last couple of years and now that it is nearly completed, I am excited.
Book of the Week
Wolverine #21
While there are several big time books out this week (MASK #1, Avengers Armageddon #1, D’Orc #5, Absolute Catwoman #1 etc.), I decided to pick a book that had one of my favorite stories, one that was small and enjoyable.
Wolverine #21 features Nightcrawler forcing Logan to go on vacation. While on vacation, they run across Absorbing Man and Titania, also trying to be on vacation. Of course, fisticuffs ensue.
It is such a fun little story, which felt great after such a major arc with Adamantine. Wolvie’s bone claws are not even regrown yet. Small little story among some epic books this week.
Books This Week:
MASK #1& #2. Written by Dan Watters with art by Pye Parr. MASK (Mobile Armored Strike Kommando) joins the Energon Universe in a big way. Not only was there a number one with a cover by Pye Parr, but there was also a blind bag which had some fun covers… and some unbelievable special books. I picked up a gold foil that was not the MASK #1- it was MASK: Origins #1. I also got a foil advance copy of issue #2, which was shocking. There is also a ROM special in the blind bags that I have ordered on eBay. I love MASK in with the Transformers and GI Joe and Void Rivals.
Absolute Catwoman #1. “The Yarn” Written by Scott Snyder & Che Grayson with art and cover art by Bengal. The newest Absolute book came out this week. I also picked up a cool foil cover with Catwoman’s symbol. Once again, the Absolute books have all been great and this new one is every bit a good as the others.
Muppets Noir #4. Written and art by Roger Langridge. Variant cover B art is done by Jae Lee & June Chung. The fun series from Dynamite Comics featuring the Muppets in a noir setting came to a close with this issue. Kermit comes back to consciousness after the case of where Meringue has been. Flip Minnow is on the case, but it got solved despite that. I love the Muppets and this Dynamite series was so much fun.
Bad Thoughts #1. Written by Ande Parks and illustrated and cover art by Dave Wachter. Jack Coates can look inside people’s brains and see the bad things that they have done. This new Ignition Press book is solid, continuing a strong year for the company. This is a very creative book with some real bad things to think about.
Tarzan Beyond #1. “Tarzan and the Deathless Pirate King” Written by Steve Orlando and art by Renato Guedes. Cover art was done by Agustin Alessio. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic character Tarzan gets a bump to the present day, and seems to have found a way to maintain his age, along with his love Jane. I found this new Tarzan to be very interesting and engaging and I am excited about continuing his adventures.
D’Orc #5. “The Baths of Gore” Written, drawn and cover art by Brett Bean. D’Orc spends this issue naked and trying to stop an evil witch. Little does D’Orc know that he has an unfortunate connection to the witch that might just lead to his downfall. This has maintained the great humor and solid storytelling over the first five issues.
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2. “Black Out” Written by Mariko Tamaki and art by Amancay Nahuelpan. Variant cover C art was done by Matteo Scalera. Barbara Gordon is having a difficult time in prison. She has gone in to the prison as a part of a plan to deal with Vandal Savage, but she has taken a beating and drugged to the point of hallucinations. Nightwing guest stars.
Black Cat #11. “Crime and Punishment” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. This was another book I considered for the book of the week because of the lower stakes story inside. Black Cat accidentally hits the Punisher’s dog with a car and sets Frank off with an anger and a thirst for vengeance. Something seems to be wrong with Felicia’s bad luck powers too, right when she really needs them.
X-Men #31. “Anomaly” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Tony S. Daniel. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales, & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. This issue sees the debut of the X-Men’s Science Team, as led by Beast. It includes Magneto (?), Kid Omega, Xorn, Animalia, and Ben Liu. This is an intriguing concept that I like, although I question a couple of those team members.
Avengers Armageddon #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio. The Avengers are assembling to go to Latveria and try and stop Red Hulk from his rampage. Red Hulk is out to destroy countries that do not follow Democracy and is threatening to just do whatever he wants. However, the Unites States government wants the Avengers to stand down and let them handle it. Good luck with that. This was also packaged in a polybag with a Magic card called “Warstorm Surge.” The Marvel Universe is gonna change…
Daredevil #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art and cover art by Lee Garbett. Matt Murdock’s hypersenses are going haywire and not working correctly so Spider-Man is here to try and help him train without them. It all seems to be connected to the new villain, The Omen, who had thrown Matt out the window last issue. This new arc for DD is great already and I have loved what Stephanie Phillips has done with the character so far.
Fall of the House of Slaughter #2. Written by Tate Brombal with illustrations by Adriano Turtulici. Cover art was done by Sam Wolfe Connelly. Victor St. George and his emissaries arrive at the House of Slaughter, ready to make a move. Everyone is tense because of the imminent demise of the Old Dragon. There is a lovely cover on this issue and we are awaiting the results of the political thrills.
Jay & Silent Bob: Jays of Future Past #1. Written by Kevin Smith and penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & GURU-eFX. I also picked up a variant cover done by Jim Mahfood. Jay and Silent Bob make their first appearance in the Marvel Universe, interacting with a bunch of Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, X-Men, Deadpool, and the Avengers.
Jessica Jones: Alias Red Band #4. Written by Sam Humphries with art by Geraldo Borges. Cover art was done by David Mack. Things are not going well for Jessica Jones. She has been captured, put on trial for her connection to Typhoid Mary, and has seen her relationship with Luke Cage shaken, if not totally pulled apart. Then, she finds out that the demonic creature that she has been fighting is an agent of Mephisto. Rough times for the First lady of New York, for sure.
Captain Marvel: Dark Past #3. Written by Paul Jenkins with art by Lucas Werneck with Eder Messias. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Captain Marvel has been captured and, after being called in by Spider-Woman, the Avengers are on her trail. Big boom though at the end of the issue. I have been really liking this new series with Carol at the center.
Mortal Thor #11. “Room At the Top” Written by Al Ewing with art by Jesus Saiz. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. Sigurd faced off with the Minotaur in the offices of Roxxon. The fight led to the CEO taking a flying crash out the window and finding him plummeting to the concrete bellow. He looked pretty dead at the end. But Sigurd has no break because Donald Blake showed up at the end.
Mark Spears Monsters #0. “All That Remains” Prelude: Have You Found the Yellow Sign? Written, illustrated and cover art by Mark Spears. We head down to Clown Town in this remastered edition of the FCB Day issue. I picked up four of the new covers for this book. Mark Spears continues to be a great artist on covers, even if he has not been as dominant in the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week competition in 2026 as he was in 2025.
Transformers #33. Written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Jason Howard. I picked up cover F, the Energon Universe 3rd Anniversary variant by Tom Reilly. Optimus is trying to come to grips with the Autobot he is now, after losing the Matrix of Leadership. This is a fascinating struggle for Optimus, something we haven’t seen before.
The Sentry #4. Written by Paul Jenkins with art by Christian Rosado. Cover art was done by Alex Maleev. Bob finds a balance between the Sentry and the Void, and steps up to help save the Marvel Universe once again. He also finds a new replacement for his dog. This series ended with this issue, but I feel as if Sentry is staying around.
Fury of Firestorm #3. “The Fury-Part 3” Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Rafael De Latorre. Cover C variant art by Dustin Nguyen. We get to see the situation through the eyes of Professor Martin Stein and Stein shows himself to be not quite the good guy that we always thought he was. The angry Firestorm is on his way to Pittsburg. That does not sound good for Pittsburg.
Space Ghost #12. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Variant cover C art was done by Michael Cho. Space Ghost and Tempus the Time Master have a final face down and a major character bits the dust. Can Space Ghost get past the pain of the sacrifice or is this the end of the line for our hero?
Bishop #1. “Time After Time- Part 1” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Mario Santoro. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. We get the beginning of some back story for Bishop and his sister Shard. Storm makes a guest appearance in this issue.
Baby Garfield #3. “Baby Garfield’s First Beach Day” by Jordan Morris and Thien Pham. “Baby Garfield’s First Thunderstorm” by Katie Cook and Jay Fosgitt. Cover art was done by Agnes Garbowska. The second story in this issue was my favorite as the first one felt like I had seen it before. Still a fun book
Ben 10 #2. Written by Joe Casey and art by Robert Carey. Cover art was done by Robert Carey and Ren Spiller. Another really enjoyable issue of Ben 10. I was not a fan of the cartoon, but this has been top notch so far. Dynamite seems to have a skill to create great books around some IPs that I don’t care much about.
Altered States: Warlords #1. “Red Sonja, Red Planet.” Written by David Avallone and art by Mariano Benitez Chapo. Cover art was done by Joseph Michael Linsner. Red Sonja gets transported to Mars and trouble ensues. The cover featured a group of characters such as Vampirella and who I assumed was Tarzan. We find out at the end of this issue that the one I did not recognize was John Carter. Such a intriguing mash-up.
Other books this week: Ghost Pepper #12, Blood & Thunder #14, Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology #1, The Center Holds #4, The Thing on the Doorstep #5, and Lady Mechanika: The Mechanical Menagerie #2
Quick Hits: A new racing book from Image caught my attention this week as M1: Monster Racing League #1 came out. It has an intriguing premise and a fascinating new character named Dev. I saw a funny comparison that this book is like K-Pop Demon Hunters and Fast and the Furious combined. Tigress Island #4 went kind of wild this month with several of our characters biting the big one with bullets to the head. Rough for some. Speed Racer #9 saw Speed getting drugged accidentally, making him become crazed and reckless… more than normal. The final issue of Archie x The Army of Darkness #5 came out this week with Archie finally being able to finish reading from the Necronomicon. New comic from Bad Idea this week was Tankers vs. Ancient Aliens #1 and this thing was wild. Dinosaurs and military men. The Hollywood Reporter said of Tankers… “Absolutely ridiculous in the best way possible.” Speaking of ridiculous, Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater Presents: Godzilla’s the Odyssey #1 was dropped this week. Wild. Disney’s Ursula #4 continued to be a surprising read for me as I can not believe that it has engaged me as much as it has. Alien King Killer #3 conflict among the people of the story. Brotherly conflict can be some of the best in literature. The zombies are getting ready for their big hunt at the mall. Conan & Dragonero #2 sees Conan and Dragonero fight and then team up. Surprised? Not really. Dead by Deadlight #3 sees quite the slaughter this issue. Some of them I was happy to see go. The two issue mini-series from Bad Idea, Hank Howard-Pizza Detective: A Slice of Life #2 ended this week and they announced another Hank Howard book for later in the year. The Nice House by the Sea #10 feels like the series is going to be closing soon as some major things are revealing.
Big week. This is also a major record breaking week of the EYG Favorite Comic Book Covers of the Week. We have a tie for each of the three medalists this week! WOW! And that is even excluding a couple of amazing books that only can crack the Also-Rans
Also-Rans: Absolute Catwoman #1 (foil cover F), The Nice House by the Sea #10 (B Cover), Bad Thoughts #1, Mark Spears Monsters #0 (A Cover), Tarzan Beyond #1, Mark Spears Monsters #0 (C Cover), Mark Spears Monsters #0 (Cover B), Muppets Noir #4 (Cover B), and D’Orc #5.
Bronze Medalist (TIE)
Space Ghost #12
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Michael Cho
This cool cover of Space Ghost #12 featuring Space Ghost with the black background. It is a beautiful piece of art that I picked up off the newsstand today.
Fury of Firestorm #3
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Dustin Nguyen
Another beautiful cover of Firestorm. The image of Firestorm is so simple and just spectacularly lovely. The colors are perfect and it really stands out as a wonderful cover.
Silver Medalist
Mask #1
Variant Cover (Gold Foil Blind bag)
Cover art by Andres Juarez
Pulled this out of a blind bag and I was so excited about the gold foil book. The image is simple, but the overall look of the cover is sensational.
Transformers #33
Variant Cover F
Cover art by Tom Reilly & Adriano Lucas
This is a celebration issue of the anniversary of the Energon Universe books at Image. This one has a bunch of Transformers and GI Joe upon it. It is such a fun and chaotic cover.
Gold Medalist
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2
Variant Cover C
Cover art by Matteo Scalera
I love this variant cover of Barbara Gordon: Breakout #2 with Barbara Gordon in her orange prison outfit along with all the other prisoners. * The animals, the animals Trap, trap, trap ’til the cage is full The cage is full, stay awake In the dark, count mistakes The light was off but now it’s on Searching underground for a bit of sun The sun is out, the day is new And everyone is waiting, waiting on you
Orange is the New Black
The Fall of the House of Slaughter #2
Variant Cover H Virgin
Cover art by Sam Wolfe Connelly
What a gorgeous virgin cover. I love the black and white cover with the imagery that makes me wonder what is going on here.
