EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Week of April 8

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

Bronze Medalist

Rat City #1

Cover art by Zé Carlos

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

Silver Medalist

Napalm Lullaby #2

Cover art by Bengal

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

Gold Medalist

Phantom Road #10

Cover art by Gabriel H. Walta

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

Congrats to the all-Image week.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

Week of March 11

It is that time of the week. It is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and that means it is time to give some medals out to the best comic covers of the week.

This week, we have an EYG Hall of Famer with his third (I think) medal and a group that has received their second medal in as many issues.

BRONZE MEDALIST

Dark Ride #11

Cover Art by Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

The Image Comic with the demonic amusement park provided a great cover art with a clearly demonic character. The eyes and the teeth are just astounding.

SILVER MEDALIST

The Immortal Thor #8

Cover Art by Alex Ross

This the third medal awarded to the EYG Hall of Famer Alex Ross. Ross is the preemptive cover artist and he has been doing covers for Marvel including Fantastic Four, Avengers: Twilight, and Thor. This one is different than his normal cover with more of the vines taking the main section of the cover.

GOLD MEDALIST

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz

This is the second issue in a row where Amazing Spider-Man cover artists Romita Jr., Hanna & Menyz received a medal. Last time it was a bronze. This one is a gold! Beautiful image of Spidey in the rain looking the worse for wear. The shadows are just a perfect addition to the image.

Merry Little Batman

This is probably not for hardcore Damian Wayne fans.

If you can get past the fact that Damian Wayne, who is typically a very dark and violent character, is smoothed into a family friendly cartoon version of the character, then you will enjoy this hectic, engaging and fun-filled animated romp. If taking the darkness out of the story bothers you, well, skip this one.

I am not offended by the edginess removed from the Bat-Family, so I was able to watch and enjoy the Merry Little Batman special on Amazon Prime.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “This Christmas, Damian Wayne wants to be a superhero like his dad–the one and only Batman. When Damian is left home alone while Batman takes on Gotham’s worst supervillains on Christmas Eve, he stumbles upon a villainous plot to steal Christmas and leaps at the chance to save the day.”

Luke Wilson voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in this movie, which was an interesting choice. It definitely revealed the changes of the character since fatherhood took over. Yonus Kibreab voiced Damian and James Cromwell was Alfred Pennyworth.

Several iconic Batman villains make their appearances too, including Joker (David Hornsby), Penguin (Brian George), Poison Ivy (Therese McLaughlin) and Bane (Chris Sullivan).

Animated in a family friendly way, Merry Little Batman is absolutely directed to a younger audience, but it did not lose the humor or the message to the story. Damian learns a valuable lesson about being a superhero, about sacrifice and about Christmas.

This is a lot of fun and, if you allow yourself to enjoy the film, you will. If your preconceived notions of what Batman or Damian Wayne is supposed to be, then you may get in your own way.

3.75 stars

The 2023 Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

2023saw a bit of a decline in the subgenre of the comic book movie… at least in the eyes of some.

Personally, I enjoyed most of the comic book movies of 2023, and while there were none that were unbelievable, I do not subscribe to the theory of the narrative of the “comic book movie fatigue” that some have been pushing for nearly a decade now. It is not a theory to which I would agree as it just feels like more toxicity than anything else.

So among the films this year, I have a few that I considered for the Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year. Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fielded a lot of hatred, much more than it deserved. The Flash had some good moments (but not the baby-hospital rescue part), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of the best movies of the year.

Previous winners are as follows:

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous WinnersBatman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020)Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

So in 2023, the Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year is…

Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a tremendous conclusion for the James Gunn-led trilogy. The emotional backstory of Rocket informed the whole film and we truly got a chance to see how vital that character was to the overall franchise. There were some beautiful moments in the film, including many of the moments between Rocket and Lyla.

Guardians Vol. 3 was able to blend humor and tragedy together into a wonderfully epic tale.