March 16, 2024

Et tu, Brute?

Okay, I am a day late for that, as yesterday was the Ides of March, but it’s fun anyway. Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade #86 as we are piloting our way to number 100, only a few months or so away. With fifty issues of EYG Comic Catch-Up as well, that would be our 150 Legacy issue. Lots of excitement around here.

At my school, speaking of piloting, we are piloting a new curriculum for potential purchase next year. It is CKLA, from Amplify and in the 8th grade section, they have a sci-fi unit where they focus on Gris Grimly’s Frankenstein. Unfortunately, I am in 7th grade so I can not teach this graphic Novel, but I did order it from Amazon anyway. It arrived this week and it was a beautifully illustrated book. I also picked up Gris Grimly’s Edgar Allan Poe book, Tales of Death and Dementia. Both are very cool addition to the graphic novels in my collection.

Other books read this week:

Zorro: Man of the Dead #1-2. Fun new series from Massive Publishing. I had picked up issue #2 a few weeks ago and have been holding on to it until #1 came in. It came in this week and so I was able to read it and I enjoyed the new take on a present day Zorro very much. Sean Gordon Murphy and Simon Gough was the creative team behind these first two issues.

Blue Book: 1947 #1-2. Another book that I had to wait for was the new series based on the ‘true’ stories of UFOs from James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Oeming. I enjoyed the first volume of this book from Dark Horse and I discovered the second one was out a few weeks ago and was able to get both issues this week. 1947 is a big year in the mythology of UFO fans so I am excited to see where this goes. We get some examples of men in black in these issues (and that is not Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones).

Amazing Spider-Man #45. Written by Zeb Wells and art by guest artist Carmen Carnero. Cover art (gold medalist) by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. Spider-Man is back trying to help out Mary Jane’s Aunt Anna Watson, who had lost her mind from the poisoned pills from the X-Men. Pete comes across Sandman in the mental institution too and Sandman gives Peter a hint that something Sinister was coming for Spider-Man.

Headless Horseman Halloween Annual. I had ordered this back last year, but it was missed. When we discovered that it was not ordered, we were able to get it into my pull list fairly quickly. This is a fun anthology book featuring several horror tales that deal with beheading. Another good Dark Horse book this week. I need to watch out for Dark Horse more than I have.

The Immortal Thor #8. “The Last Judgment” Written by Al Ewing and with art by Ibraim Roberson. Alex Ross did the cover art (silver medal). Thor faces off with his mother Gaea looking for answers about Toranos. He’s not pleased with the answers.

House of Slaughter #21. “The Butcher’s Wife: Part One“. Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Antonio Fuso. Cover art by Nimit Malavia & Werther Dell’edera. The houses meet with the Old Dragon and it gives Jace a target.

Ultimate Black Panther #2. Written by Bryan Hill and featuring art by Stefano Caselli. Caselli & David Curiel did the cover art. There is a traitor inside Wakanda, and T’Challa has received a prediction for his future involving a woman of energy bearing him a child. It does not look to be Okoye. Hiya Storm.

Fishflies #5. Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire. Bug is captured in a cellar by brother and sister Butch and Betty Bracken, and they seem to have experience in killing these things. Can Bug escape with Francis or will the dastardly twins kill another bug?

Dark Ride #11. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrei Bressan. Cover art (Bronze medal) by Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas. The penultimate issue sees Sam finding his daughter, but discovering that his and Halloween’s father had something even more dangerous in motion. Dark Ride is heading for a fiery conclusion next month for sure.

Avengers: Twilight #4. “The Firefighters” Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Daniel Acuna. Cover art was by Alex Ross. Thor is back! So is the head of Tony Stark. With a new team of old Avengers heading into the Raft to try and find and free anyone they could, the new Avengers are out in the world looking for them.

No/One #8. Written by Kyle Higgins & Brian Buccellato and art by Geraldo Borges. Ben Kern is ready to stop his running, in the most final way he could. Can No/One stop him from making a mistake? Only two more issues to go. I also love the companion podcast of Who is No/One featuring Rachael Leigh Cook and Patton Oswalt.

Black Widow & Hawkeye #1. “Broken Arrow: Part 1” Written by Stephanie Phillips and with art by Paolo Villanelli. Stephen Segovia & Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. Natasha and her new symbiote (not sure where that came from) is out looking for Clint Barton on behest of Bobbi Morse. They think he may be dead. On the contrary…

Spider-Gwen: Smash #4. Written by Melissa Flores and penciled by Enid Balám. David Nakayama did the cover art. This made last week’s Spider-Gwen Giant Size issue make much more sense as this issue leads directly into it. Making Em Jay a Carnage is still rather odd. I do like the inclusion of Dazzler.

Transformers #6. Written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson. As it seemed that they were preparing to kill Optimus Prime (I was having horrible flashbacks to Transformers: The Movie from the theater- a transcended moment in a lot of our lives), strange things happen. I am not really sure what happened except Sparky made some kind of sacrifice to save and fix Optimus. I have no idea how he knew what to do or how it worked, but it was definitely a boss move sand was pretty cool. I just am going to try not to think too much about it.

Napalm Lullaby #1. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Bengal. A brutal and new series from Image that was a bit tough to follow. It seemed as if the beginning part was borrowing an origin from Superman. Still it is intriguing and I hope to be more into it as we progress. I do like the design of these characters.

Fall of the House of X #3. “The X Deaths of Dr. Statis” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Lucas Werneck & Jethro Morales. Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia did the cover art. This was a satisfying issue with Dr. Statis seemingly paying a price for his horrible acts during this Orchis storyline. Nice to see Firestar back and safe too. However, the cover does seem to indicate that Wolverine would have some role to play in this issue, and he is not to be found.

Other issues this week: Night People #1, Dead X-Men #3, What If… Venom #2, Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance #1, The One hand #2, Power Pack: Into the Storm #3, and Symbiote Spider-Man 2099 #1.