Tag Archives: marvel-comics

EYG Comic Cavalcade #140

Posted on by

February 22

Another big week of books, both from Comic World and eBay.

One of the books that I picked up off eBay was Come Find Me, which was a one shot from DSTLRY. I have become a big fan of this company, but I have one major problem. The books do not come out on a regular basis. There are great issues and then it feels like months before the next issue comes out. A one shot like this is nice. It is also an anthology, so there are a variety of stories within it.

Other books this week:

Bug Wars #1. “The House of Slaymaker” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. I picked up this issue off eBay because it was sold out so quickly across the comic book shops. I’m not sure why it was this hot, but it was a really great issue form one of the best writers in the business in Jason Aaron. Lots of fun.

Behemoth #1. Written by Grant Sputore & Ryan Engle and art and cover art by Jay Martin. Another great new comic, this time from Dark Horse. What a wonderful concept this book has. A bus load full of people wind up getting eaten by a giant monster and they have to survive inside. This was more fun and I am pleased that I was able to get this issue after a bit of delay.

Amazing Spider-Man #68. Written by Justina Ireland and penciled by Andrea Broccardo. Cover art was done by Patrick Gleason and Richard Isanove. Peter gives up his remaining life power up thingies to save Aunt May, Randy and Shea… and some other guy… who got killed because Peter was having his crisis. I will be happy when this arc is over since I do not feel as if this writer has a good enough grasp on Spider-Man.

Ripperland #1. Written by Steve Orlando & John Harris Dunning and art and cover art by Alessandro Oliveri. Ripperland is another new banger from Dark Horse. I have always been a big fan of Jack the Ripper (I know that doesn’t sound right…) so this hit a sweet spot for me.

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #3. “The Devil in Me- Part 2” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Cover art is done by Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado. Laura and Elektra, aka Wolverine and Daredevil, are out battling the forces looking to hurt mutants. Laura and Elektra are a good pair and a lot of fun.

Green Hornet Miss Fury #2. Written by Alex Segura & Henry Barajas with art by Federico Sorressa. Cover art was done by Francesco Francavilla. I have been liking this pairing of two classic noir characters. Dynamite has been doing some fun books lately and this one works so much.

Kill Train #1. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and art by Martina Niosi. Cover art was done by Skylar Patridge. Another good new series, this one was from Mad Cave. Todd grabbed this one for me in Des Moines. I have to say that this series did a great job of setting up the story f these trains.

Uncanny X-Men #10. “Off the Leash” Part Two. Written by Gail Simone and art by Andrei Bressan. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. I was worried about Deathdream because he surely looked dead last issue. Thankfully, he was able to survive the event and this issue gave us the chance to get to know our new characters more. And I liked them.

Dust to Dust #2. Written by JG Jones & Phil Bram and art and cover art by JG Jones. The dust storms are still causing trouble. I still love the look of this book. It is one of the most interesting looking books on the market right now. Very dramatic cover too.

Mystique #5. “Compromised” Written, art and cover art by Declan Shalvey (Silver Medalist). This series came to a great conclusion. This series had a really great series of covers. Declan Shalvey did a great job on this series, considering he was doing most everything on the book.

Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #3. Written , illustrated and cover art by Luana Vecchio. Another book where the writing and art are done by a single person. Luana Vecchio also did multiple variant covers for this series. Doll Parts has been a wild story so far and this issue takes it to another level. This has so much adult content among these young characters that it can be unnerving to read at times. Still very much compelling though.

Zatanna #1. “A Tilnoom Edalb” Written, art and cover art by Jamal Campbell. Weird. Third straight book where the creative did all of the writing and art. This felt very different than the previous Zatanna series from late last year. She sure took a bad blow near the end of the book. Of course, she will not die. I mean, it is her book. I’m not sure if I will be a long term reader on this one, but I will mot likely give it another issue or two before I decide.

Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1. “A Doomed Man.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly. Art was done by Tommaso Bianchi and cover art was from Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Bucky and Black Widow are the remaining Thunderbolts trying to face off with Dr. Doom. Things do not go well for them, nor does it go well for residents of Shelbyville, Indiana.

Doom Academy #1. Written by Mackenzie Cadenhead and art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Pablo Villalobos. Strange Academy gets a face lift and a new location. Latveria! I have loved the Strange Academy characters and to see them in the new place spices things up as they have some new learning to do. I love the new character of Scoop.

Daredevil #18. “Introductory Rites” Part Eighteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. Matt Murdock returns to a court of law… only to get his butt kicked by the possessed Foggy Nelson. Can DD get through the case while still stopping these demons?

Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #1. Written by Justin Jordan and illustrated and cover art by Chris Shehan. This is a new independent book from Oni Press and it was a good read. Harley Creed is a bad man. Someone placed a hex on Harley and he has seven days to try and reverse it or he will die in twisted, screaming agony. This was a good week (or weeks) for new independent books. Long title though.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz #2. Adapted, illustrated and cover art by Otis Frampton. Based on the novel by Oz author L. Frank Baum. I was surprised how much I liked the first issue of this, which I was not expecting in my pull box. I am sure it was a book that I asked for, but just did not remember it. However, I have had a lot of fun with this book and this issue gives us our first glance at the Patchwork Girl. She looks awesome.

Daredevil: Unleash Hell #2. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Valentina Pinti & Jose Luis Soares. Paulo Siqueria & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. Our new Muse is being led along by the ghost of the original Muse and it is great. I loved the character of Muse and seeing a new form of the serial killing artist is epic.

Infinity Watch #2. Written by Derek Landy and art by Ruairi Coleman and Enid Balám. Salvador Larroca & GURU-eFX did the cover art. Avery Zavala is a stone bearer from another timeline and he pretty much kills all of the Infinity Watch. I’m not completely sure what is going on, but it feels as if there are shenanigans.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #30. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Luigi Zagaria. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. The Miles Morales and Deadpool showdown continue don from the previous Deadpool issue as Miles comes face to face with Princess.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3. Written by Christos Gage and art by Eric Gapstur. Leonardo Romero did the cover art. This prequel series to the Disney + animated series continued with Peter trying out for football. This book has been fun, but the animated series was one of the best Spidey animated series of all time. You should check it out on Disney + for sure.

Ultimate Wolverine #2. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio and Frank Martin. Ultimate Wolverine has only had two issues so far, but it is right there beside Ultimate Spider-Man as the best Ultimate book so far. This is full of action and having the Winter Soldier version of Logan? Epic!

Let This One be a Devil #1. Written by James Tynion IV and Steve Foxe with art by Piotr Kowalski. Gavin Fullerton did the cover art. Another banger from Dark Horse this week. A new horror series from James Tynion IV gives us a couple different time lines, including a horrific birth. I do love me some Tynion IV.

NYX #8. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art done by Francesco Mortarino. Laura Kinney faces off with Julian in a massively emotional conflict. Can she stop him without popping her claws? Is that what he really wants her to do?

Exceptional X-Men #6. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art by Carmen Carnero and Nolan Woodard. We are introduced to Sheldon Xenos, a mutant who has a job for the young mutants being trained by Kitty and Emma. Does he have their best interest at heart? Axo believes so. I disagree.

Weapon X-Men #1. “The Real Thing” Written by Joe Casey and penciled by Chriscross. Alex Ross did the cover art. Wolverine. Deadpool. Cable. Thunderbird. Chamber. Sounds like a huge team up. However, one of them will betray another. Which one will it be?

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #4. “The Great Escape” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey & Raul Fernandez. Cover art by Tormey & Romulo Fajardo Jr. Cyborg Superman has taken over the Watchtower and only The Question can stop him. Or can she? Things do not look good for our detective.

X-Factor #7. “Terms of Use” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata. Angel returned to take the mantel of leadership as X-Factor heads to Genosha to try and prevent Dr. Doom from getting his hands on a special weapon.

G.I. Joe #4. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. The Joes are captured by Cobra after Duke surrendered. Why does it seem like Duke believes that they have got Cobra right where they want them?

Werewolf by Night Red Band #7. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell is in serious trouble, but thankfully, Elsa Bloodstone is not dead and on the case. She is building her own group to help Jack and it features her own Werewolf by Night (Jake) and Reptil.

House of Slaughter #30. Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes and Werther Dell’Edera (Gold Medalist). I have been very down on this series recently, though the covers have been fire. I believe this arc, “Azure” is done with this issue and I hope the next one is more engaging for me.

Incredible Hulk #22. “The Skin of Charlie Tidwell” Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein. Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Things are still bad off for Charlie, as she is becoming more of a monster than Hulk expected.

Other books this week: X-Force #8, Ultimate Black Panther #13, W0rldtr33 #13, Shazam #20 (Bronze Medalist), Creature Commandos #5, Challengers of the Unknown #3, Seance in the Asylum #3-4, Aliens vs. Avengers #3, The Power Fantasy #6, and New Gods #3.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E9, E10

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Hero or Menace”

“If This Be My Destiny…”

The finale two episodes of the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are absolutely amazing!

In episode nine, we get a big showdown between Spidey and Scorpion, with Lonny smack dab in the middle. Lonny gets exposed to a gas that gives him super strength (and will eventually turn him into the Tombstone we know in the comics). Spidey and Lonny defeat Scorpion.

In episode ten, we have a big battle with Dr. Strange and the symbiote and we are shown that this battle is what would lead to the battle from the first episode at Peter’s school, and the spider that bit Peter was the spider that Norman had created with Spider-Man’s blood that they had collected. I loved that adjustment in the story. It made everything work for me.

The writing on this series has been excellent. It has developed more than just Peter Parker. I feel like they built the supporting characters around Peter so well, especially Lonny who could arguably be considered a co-lead character. They show us the beginning of several villains in the Spider-Man world, like Otto Octavius, Scorpion, Norman Osborn, Venom etc.

With Spider-Man’s actual suit debuting in episode nine, Spider-Man looked sensational. The animation of these episodes were so great with some amazing shots. I have not necessarily loved the animation prior, but this seemed to really be something special.

The voice acting did great all season long. Everything was excellent, especially Coleman Domingo, who was so epic. I would love to see Domingo play Norman Osborn in the MCU. The show has done a great job of slowly building Norman into who we expect he will become. And yet, it feels very justified.

I did not expect this series to be great because recent Spider-Man animation has been more directed toward very young children. This series was right up there with the best Spider-Man series and right there with X-Men ’97. I am happy that this series has a three season order so there are at least two more to go.

I love Spider-Man.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E6, E7, E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Duel with the Devil”

“Scorpion Rising”

“Tangled Web”

The next three episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man dropped on Disney + today and, boy, they were epic. I really liked how the three episodes worked together a story seeing Spider-Man get his butt kicked a couple of different times.

Daredevil showed up… and voiced by Charlie Cox. Spidey and DD fought, with Daredevil showing the inexperienced Spider-Man what a real fighter was like.

Then the arrival of Scorpion led to Spidey getting beaten so bad that he was nearly killed.

Lonny kept his downward spiral towards Tombstone going as he imbedded himself into the 110 Street gang even more. Pearl discovered his involvement and things went poorly.

There were some great scenes with Nico and Harry as they begin to show some signs of a connection. The whole Nico drag racing scene was a lot of fun and teased the powers that Nico have.

Otto Octavius is arrested… by Iron Man? We get a hint at his future with the octopus arms working separately from Ock.

Having Norman Osborn do the “Great Responsibility” line and switch it around to make it “Great Responsibility – Great Respect” fits the character well. It is a really awesome, unexpected turn.

And we are just about to have the actual Spider-Man suit, as we got a giant tease at the very end of episode 8.

There are just two more episodes remaining in season one and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been an excellent Spider-Man animated show. It is well written and blended together well.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #138

Posted on by

February 6

We had some ice last night in the weather and it has led to there being a no school day today after I had a personal day on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. All that meant that I had some open time to finish reading the books and the EYG Comic Cavalcade is able to come out early this week.

I picked up several graphic novels yesterday, two at Comic World and two at BAM!. At Comic World, I grabbed We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans and Fantastic Four: Season One by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and David Marquez. The Gillen/Hans book is beautiful and really great. At BAM!, I got Dark Horse graphic novel Skull and Bones: Savage Storm by John Jackson Miller and James Mischler and the beautifully drawn The Road, adapted by Manu Larcenet.

This is a double dose of Marvel this week as the missing shipment from Diamond (boooooo) last week arrived with this week’s books. Diamond is really setting themselves up as the antagonist of this column.

Books this week:

Exorcism at 1600 Penn #3. Written by Hannah Rose May and art by Vanesa Del Ray. Cover art was done by Vanesa Del Ray. The possession of the President’s daughter takes more steps forward as Kevin tries to convince everyone that it was happening. I was getting frustrated how these adults were all so blind with their denial, but it seemed like everyone has come around to the truth as the penultimate issue of this series concluded.

Deadpool #10. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Roge Antonio. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. Deadpool and Ellie are back from the dead with their healing factors compromised. Taskmaster tried to help them train their fighting style to adjust. I was not a huge fan of this issue or the way they have downgraded Deadpool’s healing factor. I am willing to see where they go.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz #1. Adapted, Illustrated and cover art by Otis Frampton. This is an adaptation of one of the novels from L. Frank Baum and I really enjoyed it. It was a surprise to find it in my box, because I did not remember actually ordering it (I’m not saying I didn’t do it. Just did not remember it). I like the more cartoony art here because it worked so well with this story. I found this to be very joyous.

Hellhunters #2. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn by Adam Gorham. Variant cover art by Salvador Larroca & Edgar Delgado. This World War II series with these characters continues to be interesting, especially now that Logan (aka Wolverine) has joined the crew. He has made it much bloodier than it had been. This dynamic is intriguing as well.

Namor #7. “The Battle of the Eighth” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Varian Cover art by Olivier Coipel (Silver Medalist). I thought this was epic. Namor facing down the leaders of the different ocean kingdoms. Namor’s battles were so awesome.

The Ultimates #9. Written by Deniz Camp and guest artist is Chris Allen. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj J. Menon (Bronze Medalist). We get a whole issue featuring Luke Cage in jail. This Ultimate universe continues to be rocking hard.

Spider-Boy #15. “All Eyes on the Prize.” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. with Spider-Girl’s origin art by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. Cover art by Paco Medina and Edgar Delgado. The Dragon’s Challenge rolled on as we end up with a final battle between Daredevil & Spider-Boy and Bullseye & Spider-Girl. Daredevil does something to protect Bailey that was unexpected and costs them dearly.

Avengers #23. “The Casino Job Part 2” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Valerio Schiti & Alex Sinclair. The ultimate odd couple is taking on the Avengers this week. Kang the Conqueror and the Black Cat. Huh? Strange pairing for sure, but Kang needs someone to steal something and he chose Felicia.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #12. “Hero Worship.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Emilio Laiso. Cover art was done by David Baldeón and Edgar Delgado. The two Electros return and are about to defeat the two Spider-Men until we get the appearance of a scaly surprise. Honestly, this issue felt a little lesser than it has been recently. We’ll see how it goes from here.

X-Men #10. “Brinksmanship.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia (Gold Medalists). This was another epic issue that was highlighted with a tension filled confrontation between Cyclops and Lundqvist. This scene was just awesome and stood out as one of the best one-on-one verbal matchups in the entire series. I loved this.

Juvenile #3. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jesus Orellana. Juvenile has just been a tremendous book over the first three issues. Sara and Max are amazing together and there is a ton of stress after they are recaptured from their escape attempt. What is going to happen to them? It is especially up in the air after we see Ella. This might be my current favorite independent book going.

Justice League: The Atom Project #2. “Cold Fusion.” Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley and art and cover by Mike Perkins. I will admit that I was not as into this issue of the series as I was issue #1. I do like super powered polar bears though.

Absolute Superman #4. “Chasing the Storm.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola did the cover art. Superman seems to be messing with the Peacemakers, and they are not happy about it. I actually thought this was the weakest of the Absolute Superman books so far too. Still, I like this new take on the character.

Ultimate X-Men #11. Written, illustrated and cover art by Peach Momoko. This was an interesting book. There were several mentions of other Ultimate books, including Black Panther and the new Black Cat. I wonder if this was included to make sure everyone understood that the Ultimate X-Men was still taking place in the same universe even though it is so different from anything else.

Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #2. Written by Frank Tieri and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Tyler Kirkham and Arif Prianto did the cover art. I enjoyed how this book is building the world of this time, with all of these groups vying for power. Plus, Sabretooth takes on an alligator man. Always fun.

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #2. Written by Gus Moreno and illustrated and cover art by Jakub Rebelka. More possession this week as Father Stygian and Father Barrera have to face some seriously gross stuff.

Frankenstein New World: The Sea of Forever #1. Script by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden & Thomas Sniegoski. A follow up series from ten years ago, Mike Mignola returned to Frankenstein and young Lilja following her vision above ground. I like this take on the Frankenstein story in this new series from Dark Horse.

Parliament of Rooks #3. Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and illustrated by Abigail Jill Harding. Darius has gone full monster form, though his thoughts are still with his beloved Princess Seraphina. Some beautifully drawn monster images make this book stand out. I am curious to see how this Ablaze book wraps up.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #4. “Rats” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Things are going rough for Moon Knight as he is out for vengeance of those that killed the Midnight Mission. Moon Knight takes it to another bloody level.

In Bloom #2. Written by Michael W. Conrad and art by John J. Pearson with Lola Bonato. John J. Pearson did the cover art. The story of the people “blooming” take another turn in a much more shocking and graphic manner. There were a couple of scenes of pure horror in this book.

Storm: Lifedream #1. Cover art was by Taurin Clarke. There are three different chapters of this Storm story that is written by and drawn by different teams. I do enjoy me some Storm and this does cover a long part of her history. It is clear that there are big plans moving ahead for Ororo Munroe.

Red Before Black #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Goran Sudžuka. Goran Sudžuka with Ive Svorcina did the cover art. This book has been reminding me of Thelma and Louise while bringing in a character this issue that made me think of the Crocodile Hunter. Lots of fun.

What If Galactus Transformed Spider-Gwen #1. “Tipping the Scales.” Written by Kalinda Vazquez and art by Daniel Picciotto. Ron Lim and Israel Silva did the cover art. This is the final of the What If Galactus series and this book felt the same as a lot of the others. I was enjoying the set up, but the book ended before the big final battle. This left me feeling unsatisfied as many of these recent What Ifs have. I thought this was an excellent HALF of a story.

Power Man: Timeless #1. “Something New” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and art by Bernard Chang. Andrei Bressan & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. This is the surprise of the week. I did not expect this to be a new series. I was not a fan of the previous Power Man: Timeless one shot from a few months ago, but this was great. They brought this Power Man into the 616 universe (it seemed like) and I suddenly found his adventure engaging as could be. I never thought I would want to read on with this book, but I do.

Phoenix #8. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Jean Grey is going through some personal growth inside a cocoon? We get the new form of Phoenix at the end.

Wolverine #6. “Lineage.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo with Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Laura arrived in the book to help Logan follow the clues that are leading them to Adamantine.

Two-Face #3. Wild, but I could not find the creator credits inside this issue of Two-Face. The cover listed Ward, Veras & Plascencia but that was all I could find. I found the creators of the few pages of Zatanna at the end of the book that is appearing in all of the DC books this month. The Two-Face book has been good so far as we get a big reveal at the end of it.

Psylocke #3. “Lady-Killer.” Written by Alyssa Wong and art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. This was a solid issue of Psylocke as she met up with John Greycrow, after finding his bloody arm with a note on it last issue. This was probably my favorite issue of the series so far.

Scarlet Witch #9. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jacopo Camagni. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. Hey, fresh off her appearance in the Avengers, Black Cat is now here stealing from Wanda. Felicia is really giving those luck powers a go. Not sure why Black Cat has suddenly been everywhere, but I don’t mind it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6. Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was by Jorge Fornes. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back together and… things are falling apart. They can’t get along and spend most of this issue fighting with each other. And Donnie is carrying around a rat claiming it is Master Splinter. Things aren’t good for the Turtles.

Other books this week: Grim #21, Rocketfellers #3, Bitter Root: The Next Movement ashcan, and Spirits of Vengeance #6.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E3, E4, E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Secret Identity Crisis”

“Hitting the Big Time”

“The Unicorn Unleashed”

The second week of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man on Disney + saw the release of three new episodes. Three solid episodes again this week as we see several new interpretations of Spider-villains as well as the debut of one of the most iconic ones.

The dual story of Peter’s rise as Spider-Man and Lonnie Lincoln’s downward spiral to Tombstone is fascinating. They are spending a ton of time building the character of Tombstone to become, perhaps, the big bad of the series, long term.

But we also got our first look at Otto Octavius, pre-Octopus arms. It is revealed that Octavius is behind the weapons that have been showing up around New York.

We got a version of Speed Demon, Unicorn and who will eventually (I think) become Rhino.

Harry Osborn is brought into the “Team Spider-Man” by Norman. Norman said that he couldn’t always be available, but his son could. The Peter-Harry friendship is starting to develop, even though Harry seems to be becoming Peter’s Ned Leeds in this cartoon.

This is also interesting since the show is using the Iron Man/Captain America MCU storyline as a backdrop. I assume they will show up sooner or later.

My biggest problem I have in this show is the fact that everybody wears the same clothes every time. I know it is meant to identify these characters, but it is becoming very odd. I want Peter in something besides that yellow shirt and blue jacket.

I would say that the animation style is still a little distracting, but the storytelling has been top notch so far.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E1, E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Amazing Fantasy”

“The Parker Luck”

There is no fictional character that means more to me than Peter Parker. I have spent my entire life loving Spider-Man. He has been an inspiration to me and my own core beliefs come from him. Every time I see a new Spider-Man project, I am both excited and a little nervous.

Nervous because there is always a chance that the project will be bad. I have gone through that a few times. And to be honest, seeing the initial images from Disney +’s new Spider-Man series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I was a little more nervous than usual.

However, after seeing the first two episodes of season one, my fears were alleviated. I loved these episodes. Even though the show did take some leeway with some things, YFNSM seemed to get the flavor, the tone of Spider-Man right.

One of the original issues I was afraid of was the animation style, but as the episode continued, it did not bother me at all. In fact, i think it worked very well with the character of Spider-Man.

I thought the show was funny and gave us a real good look at this Peter Parker, which is MCU-adjacent. While there are definitely connections to the MCU (Hey there, Left Hand Free), the differences are here too. It sure appears that Norman Osborn is going to be the Tony Stark figure in Peter’s life as the scene in Peter’s apartment with Aunt May was basically reenacted with Norman in Tony Stark’s place.

I love the balls this series is showing. I could tell immediately that there would be plenty of hatred on the internet because of certain “woke” items. I hate that term, by the way. When I first saw Harry in the first episode, I knew there would be some hate-spewers coming for this show. The gender swapping of Curt Connors will surely get some ignorant comments too. Fine. None of that bothered me.

Even the spider bite did not upset me. It certainly was different than any other version of Spider-Man, but that is not a bad thing. The spider was not from Oscorp in the original comics, yet the we’ve seen that happen in other Spider-Man versions.

The choice of Nico as Peter’s friend is intriguing. I have always enjoyed this character in the different comics. The football player is not Flash Thompson, but Lonnie Lincoln, who, by the way, we know from the comics as Tombstone. Amadeus Cho, a Shuri-like Wakandan also show up. The side cast is very eclectic. Great Dr. Strange cameo too.

Spider-Man has had some awesome animated series in the past with the 1990s Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man, but it also had some shows that felt way too childish. I was concerned this would fall into that category like Ultimate Spider-Man. After the first two episodes, I feel as if those fears have been put to rest. It may not be in the same range as those first two I mentioned, but I think this has some real room to grow.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #136.ONEDOLLAR

Posted on by

January 26

Welcome to a special edition of the EYG Comic Cavalcade.

I wanted to include issues from the one dollar box that I picked up this week at Comic World, but I did not remember to add a paragraph at the beginning of yesterday’s post. So I thought we could cover it by doing a bit of a parody.

Marvel has done this several times, with Amazing Spider-Man being the top offender. In fact, just this month, Amazing Spider-Man released issue #65 and then a week later released Amazing Spider-Man #65.DEATHS. Then, this week they had ASM #66. Why they numbered the books in this way is beyond me. Why can’t #65.DEATHS just be issue #66 and continue their numbering from there? As the kids say, IDK (I hate IDK, by the way).

I have done plenty of parodies involving comics during the Comic Cavalcade (I joked about Legacy Numbering once before) so this is officially EYG Comic Cavalcade #136.ONEDOLLAR.

Books from the One Dollar box this week:

Avengers Vol. 3 #10. “Pomp & Pageantry” Written by Kurt Busiek and art by the legendary George Perez. It is an anniversary of the Avengers and the city is celebrating. This roster of Avengers features Firestar and Justice, which I like quite a bit. The party crasher is the Grim Reaper who resurrected a bunch of dead Avengers to fight against the team. Funny enough, I do not think any of them are currently dead in continuity except the original Captain Marvel and maybe Swordsman and Thunderstrike. Wonder Man, Mockingbird, Hellcat, and Dr. Druid are all currently alive and active in the Marvel Universe. It’s funny.

Black Book #1. Todd chastised me about this. He said I had never heard of the company Comico before, implying that I shouldn’t care about this book. It turned out the Black Book #1 is just a promotional book for comic that had been and will be (maybe) released by Comico. I saw both Space Ghost and Jonny Quick in here, which is funny since they are both out in Dynamite.

Captain America #601. Written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Gene Colon. The Winter Solider tells Nick Fury (the original one) a story of World War II where Cap and Bucky had to fight vampires. Listed as “A Very Special Issue of Captain America” on the cover, this was a neat book, especially with there being so many vampires in the Marvel Universe today.

The Stuff of Dreams #1. This is subtitled “A Kim Deitch Comic Book.” Kim Deitch was an American cartoonist who worked in the underground comix scene during the 1960s. This book, released in 2002, was very much in the style of those underground comix, black and white and full of controversial material.

The Dreaming # 21-23, 25, 30-31, 35. This is a Vertigo book, which was an imprint of DC Comics at the time (and is once again, I believe). It is a book of horror stories set in the Sandman universe. It featured some of the lesser Sandman characters. The books looked attractive, but I do not think I would pick up any unless they arrive in the dollar box again.

Ex Machina #9, 11-12, 33. This book is written by Brian K. Vaughn, which is absolutely a selling point, but I love the phrase Deus Ex Machina which, honestly, why I picked these up. This apparently sprung out of the events of 9-11 and I will say that, though I have not read these yet, I have scanned them through and I find this more intriguing than the Dreaming. This is from Wildstorm Comics, which was also an imprint for DC.

That’s it for this special edition of EYG Comic Cavalcade. We will continue next week with our normally numbered posts, though it will apparently only feature DC Comics and Image comics. Thanks a lot, Diamond.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #135

Posted on by

January 18

I got the DC/Image books on Wednesday on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and then the Marvel/Dark Horse/DSTLRY etc. on Friday, making a full week of books. I am afraid this may be the new status quo moving forward until Diamond figures out what exactly is going on.

We had two of the Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, but only one Comic Cavalcade. When I got back from Wolf Man early this afternoon, there was no internet and it was out until around 5:30ish. That gave me an opening to finish off the books for this week.

Books this week:

Green Lantern Dark #1-2. Written by Tate Brombal and art and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. I picked up #2 a few weeks ago because it looked interesting and I seem to be liking the Elseworlds books in DC more than I like the Marvel alternate future books. I picked up the #1 on eBay and I grabbed a beautiful foil virgin cover. This was a lot of fun, and, with the creative team involved, it had definite feel of Something Killing the Children to it.

Amazing Spider-Man #65.DEATHS. “Death and the Spider.” Written by Derek Landy and art by Kev Walker. Cover art was done by Mark Bagley & Richard Isanove (Silver Medalist). Not sure why ASM does this. Why not just make this issue #66 instead of making it 65.DEATHS? Peter Parker is struggling with what he is having to do as earth’s champion and Phil Coulson’s, the possessor of the Death Infinity stone, presence does not seem to be helping much.

The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #15. Written by Tate Brombal and art by Isaac Goodhart. Cover art was done by Nick Robles. This arc of Christopher Chaos ends with this issue as we get the truth behind what exactly Christopher Chaos is and we get a path forward. Apparently this book will be continuing with a new storyline moving forward, and this was one of the best issues of Christopher Chaos in awhile.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #29. “Webs of Wakanda Part Three.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art was by Federico Vicentini & Ceci De La Cruz. The Miles is a vampire storyline came to a close with his face off with Black Panther. Miles seems to have picked up yet another problem with Anansi.

Avengers Assemble #5. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Jose Luis. Cover art was by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. The Aveng.e.r.s all assemble to take on the Serpent Society in a big war in the end of this mini series. I did like the combination of these characters with Cap.

What If…? Galactus Transformed Moon Knight #1. Written by Alex Segura and penciled by Scot Eaton & Chris Campana. Ron Lim & Israel Silva did the cover art. This is the third of this stretch of What If books featuring Galactus. This book was okay, featuring Moon Knight and the other previous Galactus heralds.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2. Written by Christos Gage and art by Eric Gapstur. Leonardo Romero did the cover art. The book tied to the upcoming Disney + animated series is a fun book. Spider-Man figures out his web sooters and then faces off with the Enforcers in this issue.

Ultimate Wolverine #1. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was by Lee Bermejo. Ultimate Wolverine is this universe’s Winter Soldier. Powerful story as the Wolverine goes through some faces that we recognize. It is a violent book and a really strong start for one of the most anticipated Ultimate books of the run.

Standstill #6. Written by Lee Loughridge and art by Alex Riegal. Cover art was by Andrew Robinson. Ryker is in pretty bad shape and Colin is even worse as this book has two more issues remaining. I say it every time, but I love the way this book is structured and put together, panel-wise.

Challengers of the Unknown #2. “Mother June” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Jorge Fornés, Sean Izaakse, and Amancry Nahuelpan. The cover art was done by Sean Izaakse and Jorge Fornés (Silver Medalist). The mystery involving the Challengers of the Unknown and the Justice League Watchtower marches on with Batman and other Leaguers investigating.

Those Not Afraid #1. Written by Kyle Starks and art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Glenn Fabry did the cover art. Two serial killers meet up and decide to see which one of them can set the all time murder record. A wild mini series from Dark Horse.

Juvenile #2. Written, art and cover art by Jesus Orellana (Bronze Medalist). Juvenile is one of my favorite new books from Image. I love the relationship being shown of Max and Sara. I love the set up with the kids being drugged to keep their telepathy and telekinesis in check.

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #3. “Do the Collapse” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. Cover art was by Cian Tormey & Romulo Fajardo Jr. I have been enjoying this series and I love how it is weaved in with Challengers of the Unknown and Justice League. Question and Batwoman are trying to figure out things while doing what they can to trust each other.

Feral #9. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover B art by Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs. Tragedy strikes as our cats try to figure out what is going on with the Lady. Feral has been consistently excellent and filled with stress each issue.

Knights vs. Samurai #4. Written by David Dastmalchian and art by Fede Mele. Cover art was done by Gianenrico Bonacorsi and Bjorn Barends (Gold Medalist). Knights, Samurais and dragons…oh my!

Exceptional X-Men #5. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodward did the cover art. Finding out about Kitty’s murderous past sent a ripple through the new students, causing some to bolt.

Laura Kinney Wolverine #2. “The Devil in Me- Part 1” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Laura heads into Hell’s Kitchen and she winds up on the other side of Daredevil (aka Elektra). They then team up to try and stop a group using an exploding mutant to blow up a protest.

Nights #12. “Nice While it Lasted.” Written by Wyatt Kennedy and art by Luigi Formisano. This issue definitely feels like a conclusion in many ways. I had not paid too close of attention to this book for the last several issues and it has been a long time since #11 came out. This felt like a satisfying issue though while leaving it open for future books. This is probably my last one though.

Living Hell#2. Written, drawn and cover art by Caitlin Yarsky. Jerome is out in search of demons and ghosts to return to hell. There are some intriguing creatures in this issue, including the two spirits of old women who were on the cover. Lot of creativity in this Dark Horse book.

Incredible Hulk #21. “Wolves of the Old World Part Two” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earles. Nic Klein did the cover art. Hulk, Werewolf by Night and Charlie, in the Godskin of Lycana face off with the monstrous wolf Varcolac. Incredible Hulk has been a little up and down recently. I do like the use of Jack Russell in this book.

Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Luana Vecchio. When I picked up the Lovesick series a year or so ago, I was not a huge fan of the book. It was interesting, but kind of dirty. I debated whether to pick this issue up. I was glad I did because this was a really good story that was still rough at times. The story followed 12-year old Maddie through some tough situations. I was compelled with the story the whole way.

Minor Arcana #5. “The Ballad of Budd St. Pierre, 1976.” Written, art and cover art by Jeff Lemire. We get some back story on Budd St. Pierre, Teresa’s late grandfather. This felt like a bit of a filler issue, but it is important to learn more about this character.

Storm #4. “A Flame in the Wind.” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Mateus Manhanini did the cover art. Storm is having dinner with Dr. Doom. She had to not use her mutant powers for seven days because of the deal that Brother Voodoo had made to save Ororo’s life. She may not make that time limit.

Immortal Thor #19. “Tales of Asgard.” Written by Al Ewing and a whole bunch of artists. Cover art was by Alex Ross. We do not have Thor in this Thor comic. We come across a lot of the other characters around Asgard, including Sif, the other dimensional son of Thor, Magni, Loki, the Warriors Three, Executioner and Enchantress.

Rogue the Savage Land #1. “Heroes Never Come Home Part 1: So Alive” Written by Tim Seeley and art by Zulema Scotto Lavina. Kaare Andrews did the cover art. A flashback series when Rogue wound up in the Savage Land with Magneto. I like Rogue, I like Ka-Zar and I like the Savage Land so I think this one will be fun.

You Won’t Feel a Thing #1. Written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Jock. John Reader was a retired detective, dying of a brain tumor, but one of the cases that shook his life as a young man, The Chatter Man, is back. Can his once sharp mind help bring this vicious serial killer to justice. A great and challenging story from DSTLRY.

Through the Boughs #1. A group of Christmas stories from a plethora of great comic creators. Creators including Patrick McHale & Jim Campbell, Sweeney Boo, James Tynion IV & Jensine Eckwall, Molly Mendoza, Ryan Andrews, K. Wroten, and Grim Wilkins.

Other books this week: Finders Keepers #1, Skin Police #4, Anansi Boys #7, Spirits of Vengeance #5, The New Gods #2, The Nice House by the Sea #5 and the Moon is Following Us #5.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week Part 2

Posted on by

January 17

So with the issues facing the comic book stores with the bankruptcy declared by Diamond, the biggest of the delivery companies for comic books, nobody is really sure what delivery dates may be moving forward.

Truthfully though, it seemed that this week’s Diamond’s issues were not because of the bankruptcy. Todd was telling me this week was because of a snowstorm that struck Diamond’s big warehouse in Memphis and led to a shutdown over several days which led to the distributor’s delay. Of course, this has been the rule over the last few weeks to month with Diamond as the delivery has been out of whack.

That means we have the second time when I am doing a second post of Favorite Comic Covers in a week. This week included mostly Marvel and some independents, as DC and Image was this past Wednesday. I do not have a problem with that. The more the merrier, I suppose.

Medalists this issue:

Bronze Medalist

Amazing Spider-Man #65.DEATHS

Cover art by Mark Bagley & Richard Isanove

Great Spidey cover with the torn mask over the skull. It is absolutely a compelling image that makes one a touch nervous.

Silver Medalist

Immortal Thor #19

Cover art by Alex Ross

Last year’s champion of the EYG Comic Cover Artist of the Year makes his first appearance in the 2025 race with this awesome Thor cover. This pose strikes the power of Thor as he sits upon that throne with Mjolnir and Stormbringer within reach. I love the golden huge all around Thor giving him that specific hue.

Gold Medalist

Green Hornet/Miss Fury #1

Variant cover S

Cover Art by Mark Spears

The early season leader in the race for Best Cover Artist of 2025 is an artist who may be threatening to run away with this award this year. This is already his second gold medal for 2025 and his book Mark Spears Monsters has not even come out this year yet. Mark Spears is absolutely on fire and this cover for Dynamite shows how awesome he is. Mark Spears has thrown down the gauntlet to the other comic book cover artists out there and we’ll see how things go with the rest of the year.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Posted on by

January 8

Welcome back for the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, this week on time on Wednesday night AND ALL COVERS AVAILABLE as it was NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and my comic shop, Comic World had the covers on time (sort of). I do not have to go back to Dubuque on Thursday or Friday to pick up the rest of the books this week. I have them all (for the most part).

Last week, we were all Marvel and DC. Interestingly enough, this week there are none from those two companies among the medalists.

Here we go…

Bronze Medalist

Parliament of Rooks #2.

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Abigail Jill Harding

A beautiful cover in the elegant black and white. This book has had two exceptional covers to kick off the series, both lovely and somewhat frightening too.

Silver Medalist

Geiger #10

Cover art by Gary Frank

The cover combines the faces of Geiger and Junkyard Joe in a very intriguing image. The glowing green of Geiger’s skull is very much popping off this cover and the smoke behind the Joe face is excellent as well.

Gold Medalist

Return of the Living Dead #1

Cover art by Mark Spears

This new series from American Mythology Productions is very hot and has been released some over the last couple of weeks. The cover by artist Mark Spears, himself burning up the cover work, is amazing and the cover has helped this book become such a success. Mark Spears was awarded the EYG Comic Artist of the Year in the Year in Review and I think he may be the early leader for the cover artist of the year for the 2025 Year in Review.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #133

Posted on by

January 4th

Because of the shipping issues that has been causing problems with the new comics over the last several weeks, I am back for the second EYG Comic Cavalcade of the week. It was a nice day today of just reading the books I picked up from Comic World on Friday.

It is mostly Marvel and DC this time, although there are a couple of other companies represented this post.

Books this week:

Sam Wilson, Captain America #1. “Better Angels” Part 1. Written by Greg Pak & Evan Narcisse. Art is done by Eder Messias with Valentine De Landro. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. A new Sam Wilson book opened up with a big cookout featuring Sam and a bunch of the black Marvel super heroes. It was a birthday party for Isaiah Bradley. It gets interrupted by vampires and then by Red Hulk.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #11. “Spider-What?” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet & Von Randal. Emilio Laiso & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. This was a weird issue with Peter and Miles getting shrunk down and having to face the Seelie Court. The new hero Elementary’s heart is judged. We also meet Cobweb. Strange book this month.

When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee #1. Written by Gus Moreno and illustrated by Jakub Rebelka. One of the few independent books this week is from Boom! Studios and it is about a disgraced father named Manuel Barrera who is sent to learn the ability of the exorcism, and the weirdness that comes with it. I like the look of this comic as it is very dark and different than most other books out there.

Saga #71. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and art and cover art by Fiona Staples (Silver Medalist). Saga continues with the growing problems faced by Hazel as she tries to convince Emesis that they were still friends. Saga is constantly an entertaining book and there are things that happen that you never expect to happen. There is some excellent storytelling going on with this series.

Avengers #22. “The Casino Job” Part 1. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Cover art was by Valero Schiti & Federico Blee. The Avengers head into space to attempt to steal the data on the “Missing Moment” which is what Kang has been searching for for a long time. However, it seems that their attempted theft was spoiled by another thief getting to the data before they could… Black Cat! Of course, you knew that if you happened to look at the cover…

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #28. “Webs of Wakanda Part Two” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Danielle Di Nicuolo. Cover C variant art was done by Iban Coello (Gold Medalist). Miles is inside Wakanda and he must face off with Bast in a chance to cure the vampirism that has taken over the hero. It looked as if there is something unexpected that may block his path.

Werewolf by Night Red Band #6. Written by Jason Loo and art by Ton Lima. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack and Elsa Bloodstone are searching for a silver werewolf in an attempt to stop its massacring of people, much like Jack has been doing. The events do not leave Jack or Elsa in good shape and Lilith is here with her own motivations.

The Ultimates #8. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj J. Menon. The ultimate version of the Guardians of the Galaxy is here hoping to rescue America Chavez. Why? They have a long and futuristic story to share. I do like the formation of this new version of the Guardians and I hope they can make a return in the future.

Daredevil #17. “Introductory Rites Part Seventeen” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. The cover has Daredevil squaring off with Bullseye, but that does not happen inside this book. Instead DD is trying to face off with the demons out there possessing people and causing him grief. DD finds out that Matt Murdock still has his lawyer license, conveniently so he can go into court to face off with possessed Foggy Nelson.

X-Factor #6. “Traitors” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata. Havok and the remainder of X-Force grieve the loss of their teammate Oskar from last issue. This causes trouble among the people who are in charge. X-Factor does not feel like it has much longer in this form.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #9. “Haunted” Part 9. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen is in all kinds of trouble, facing her past choices in her own mind. Meanwhile, Black Tarantula is out working on stopping Mister Fear.

What If Galactus Transformed the Hulk #1. Written by Mat Groom and art by Lan Medina. Ron Lim & Israel Silva did the cover art. I really liked the story that we got of Galactus taking the Hulk and making him his new herald. The problem was, this book ended at a spot where the story felt like it was just getting ready to get to the climax. This is a one-shot so I do not think we will be getting a resolution to the story and that makes me feel like it shorted me a finale.

Justice League: The Atom Project #1. “Atomic Collision.” Written by Ryan Parrott and John Ridley with art by Mike Perkins. Cover art by Mike Perkins & Adriano Lucas. My friend Todd told me this was a one-shot, but he must be wrong about that. This included a couple of Atoms and Captain Atom trying to fix some of the wayward powers in the DC Universe. If this is a one-shot, then the story leaves off much like this month’s What If.

Two-Face #2. “The Deadly Divorce” Written by Christian Ward and art by Fabio Veras. Cover art was done by Baldemar Rivas. This mini series featuring Harvey Dent is very fascinating, especially since it seems as one of the big antagonists of the series is inside Harvey’s own mind prison. It is a cool flip on the courtroom story.

Absolute Superman #3. “Boy from the Purple Prairie.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola (Bronze Medalist). We get a full issue on Krypton, as we are seeing how the planet would eventually be destroyed. It is more than just that though as the issue is exploring a level of class among the Kryptonians and it does take the familiar story of the planet’s death and shake it up a bit. Krypto is here too.

Deadpool & Wolverine #1. “The Secret Lives.” Written by Benjamin Pearcy and art by Joshua Cassara. Cover art was done by Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX. I liked this issue quite a bit because it takes Deadpool and does something different with him and sticking Wolverine in the story worked very well. It is not just a book that capitalizes from the movie. It has its own story to tell.

Other books this week: Creature Commandos #4, The Human Fly #2, Cable: Love & Chrome #1, and X-Force #7.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Posted on by

January 3rd

It is the first EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week of the new year. 2025 kicked off with a delay in the delivery of the comics to Comic World, which pushed this post back from Wednesday.

Last year’s Cover artist of the year was Alex Ross and the Platinum Medal winner for cover was Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant edition). Can Alex Ross defend his win this year or will there be another cover artist who will overcome the champ? (psst…Mark Spears?)

So… here is the medalists this week…

Bronze Medalist

Absolute Superman #3

Cover art by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola

It looks like Krypton has seen better days on the cover of Absolute Superman #3. The glowing green is a really strong standout color and I love how the title card is outlined in green too.

Silver Medalist

Saga #71

Cover art by Fiona Staples

This cover’s colors pop out of the new cover of Saga with Emesis in he corner. The background makes it look like a colorful web, but with closer examination, this is a circus tent. A lovely cover that also is very foreboding.

Gold Medalist

Miles Morales, Spider-Man #28

Variant Cover C

Cover art by Iban Coello

Switched out my A cover for this one which I saw on the stand. I love this one with the background of Black Panther and the beautiful NY inside him. I also have a sweet spot for the white background.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #132

Posted on by

January 2

Happy New Year. 2025 is here and we kick off the first EYG Comic Cavalcade of the new year. Of course, that meant that the delivery of new books tis still goobered up as it has been for the last several weeks.

I went up on New Year’s Day to Comic World with the knowledge that there would not be any books, but I had some coming from Todd and it was going to be worth it.

I was going to make the trip worthwhile as I picked up some other books at Comic World. With them lacking the books this week, I picked up these books to help even if it is just a little help. I grabbed some graphic novels off the shelf. One was Road Rage and the other was Rain. I have not gotten to either of those, but I wanted to touch on them here.

Books this week:

30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease #1-5. Written by Dan Wickline and art by Tony Sandoval. All five of my issues were cover B variants done by Nat Jones. This series from IDW and it featured a lot of vampires and it provided a very dark and scary feel to it.

Dark Days #1-6. Written by Steve Niles and Ben Templeton. More vampires from the same studio. I actually started reading the first issue of this series and realized that it came after the 30 Days of Night. So I stopped and went to the 30 Days of Night to read first. It was not a direct sequel, but it felt in the same world. Very dark and creepy art.

Spectregraph #4. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Christian Ward. Cover B art by Ian Bertram. This is the wrap up of the DSTLRY book from James Tynion IV. The house is filled with ghosts and can the two females escape their fate? There is a twist at the end of the book that is a touch confusing, but I do enjoy the creativity of it all.

Groo the Wanderer #95, #112. Written, illustrated and cover art by Sergio Aragones. Picked these two up on eBay and they got here really fast. I mean… I ordered these on Monday or Tuesday this week and they arrived on Thursday. That is really amazing.

Sex Criminals trade paperback. This collects the first five issues of the Sex Criminals series from Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. This was a wild and sexy issue. Oh, and dirty. So very dirty. It was a wonderful group of issues. I loved this and went to eBay to pick up the complete series.

Motherfu*kin’ Monsters #1. Written by J. Holtham and artist and cover art by Michael Lee Harris. This is an issue from Image’s The Horizon Project, a group of one shot issues that featured protagonists from a marginalized background set in a popular genre. The books called itself the Evil Dead for blerds. I was not a big fan of this book. The art was too cartoonish for my tastes.

Missing on the Moon #1. Created by Cory Crater and art by Damian Couceiro. Cover art by Damian Couceiro with Dee Cunniffe. Mad Cave has a new book featuring a new world that takes place on the moon. It was interesting and had a lot of sci-fi elements that were cool.

Hornsby & Halo #2. The storytellers of this book are Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Peter Snejbjerg did the cover art. Zack and Rose show off their angel and demon forms as this books starts to pick up some momentum.

G.I. Joe #2. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. G.I. Joe and Cobra are meeting up for the first time and terrible things are happening. The Energon Universe has become huge for Image and it brings Cobra Commander back to the front. I have been waiting for the second issue for a few weeks and this was worth the wait.

The Rocketfellers #2. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art and cover art by Francis Manapul. The Ghost Machine series sees the Rocketfeller family trying to find a Christmas tree. Who thought that this would be major issue. Yet, I guess with the Rocketfellers, anything could happen.

Dust to Dust #1. Written by JG Jones and Phil Bram and art and cover art by JG Jones. This is a beautiful new series, featuring a Western story set in the thirties. The new sheriff arrived on a horse and sets up an exciting story… and a huge dust storm is on its way. I loved the art and the coloring of this book.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #3-4. Written by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier and illustrated and cover art by Sergio Aragones. The Minstrel continues to tell stories of Groo’s misadventures. I did enjoy the one where Groo came across a Groo-look-a-like. The final two issues of this new Dark Horse mini series.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #131

Posted on by

December 28, 2024

Well, here is the last EYG Comic Cavalcade for 2024. It was a year where my collection really took off. It got organized, rebagged and reboarded, and listed on CLZ. The Comic Cavalcade was right there for the entire thing, recording the books that I added to my collection.

Before I forget, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope that 2025 is the best year yet. As for the Comic Cavalcade, I plan to continue to do this on a weekly basis as new comics continue to be released and as long as eBay keeps up the source for back issues.

Books this week:

X-Men #9. “Raid on Graymalkin” Part 3. Written by Jed Mackay and penciled by Federico Vicentini & Ryan Stegman. Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Marte Gracia (Bronze Medalist). The crossover between X-Men and Uncanny X-Men continues as the two teams fight with one another at Graymalkin, the prison for mutants that was once the X-Mansion. The shadow off Charles Xavier is all over the place….

Exceptional X-Men #4. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was by Carnero & Nolan Woodward. Iceman is here as the book keeps looking at Kitty Pryde and her past issues with her teammates and her own actions while trying to do something good.

Hellhunters #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Adam Gorham. Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. World War II Ghost Rider teams up with Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos for some World War II action.

Iron Man #3. “Organized Crime.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta with Jethro Morales. Tony Stark uses his clever mind to finish off the Stark takeover attempt by AIM and Roxxon. I am glad that this arc does not seem to be moving forward as we just had a corporate takeover storyline recently. Guest starring the demon Belasco.

West Coast Avengers #2. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Ben Harvey did the art for the cover. Apparently, the Ultron we saw at the end of the first issue was not the same Ultron who is a member of the West Coast Avengers. That was a bit of a surprise.

Amazing Spider-Man #64. “King of Pain” Written by Justina Ireland and art by Gleb Melnikov. Ed McGuinness & Marco Menyz did the cover art. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man marches on as Peter has to face off with one of the Twins. Peter is also attempting to find a way to win against some of these Scions without actually dying. I like this so far as the villains seem to be underestimating Spidey and are learning their lessons. You don’t see that much any more and it feels a touch old school.

Redcoat #8. Geoff Johns and Bryan Hitch are the creators and cover B art was done by Brad Walker (Gold Medalist). A stand alone issue of the Redcoat that sees Simon take on a family of serial killers in 1873. The Northerner returned at the very end to set up the new story arc for 2025.

Metamorpho #1. “Mister 3, the Triple-State Man” Written by Al Ewing and art by Steve Lieber. Steve Lieber & Lee Loughridge did the cover art. This was a lot of fun. It had a very old school type flavor to the issue, perhaps because of the art stylings of Steve Lieber. It definitely feels as if they are trying to build nostalgia for the character prior to his appearance in the 2025 Superman movie. I have always liked Metamorpho-Meta-morph-o (there is an allusion for ya) and this is an enjoyable book. It does worry me that I am buying more and more DC books. I am concerned that I already buy more books a month than in any time in my life, and I shouldn’t be adding more DC to the list.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #2. “Round Two” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. My point about the DC books. There are a bunch now. And Black Canary is awesome. I love this story as they intersperse the flashback of Dinah as a younger girl with the fights she is having with lady Shiva. I do love Tom King as a writer and Metamorpho was written by another favorite of mine, Al Ewing. Maybe it is the writing talent that has attracted me to DC. This one is great so far.

Justice League Unlimited #2. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Another DC book and another great writer in Mark Waid. When I was young, I was a fan of the JLA, but I moved away from it, being more of a Marvel stan. I do like the idea of the Justice League being all the heroes around and I did like seeing Indiana Jones on page 5. He turned out to be Dr. Richard Occult, but that first shot of him was Indy all the way. I did like the mystery of what was happening to J’onn J’ones as well. Oh DC… what are you doing to me?

Absolute Wonder Woman #3. “The Last Amazon Part 3” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire (Silver Medalist). Yet another DC book, but this one is the Absolute line. Diana is very intriguing in this new take on her and I have been enjoying these new variations on the Trinity so far. Kelly Thompson is yet another awesome writer working with DC. Can’t argue with quality.

Uncanny Valley #7. Written by Tony Fleecs and art and cover art by Dave Wachter. Finally out of DC and into Boom! Studios. Oliver finds himself in a new and strange world. The world of his grandfather, Pecos Peet. Meanwhile his mom and Peet are in search for him. Uncanny Valley has been a consistently engaging book with one of the most creative ideas in a long time.

Blade Red Band #3. Written by Bryan Hill and art by Federica Mancin & C.F. Villa. C.F. Villa and Federico Blee did the cover art. As Blade is in search of Pontius, he has to question the loyalty of his current partner and vampire hunter Elena. This has been a very fascinating book full of betrayals and uncertainty. I’m not sure it needs the red band logo, but it has been a good story so far.

Sam and Twitch Case Files #9. Script by Todd McFarlane & Jordan Barel with art by Thomas Nachlik. Thaddeus Robeck did the cover art. A new story arc kicks off with Sam and Twitch as Twitch is in pursuit of a suspect and he shoots him. He was aiming for his shoulder, but the bullet went through his head/eye, killing him. I loved this issue because, despite how normal this felt, there is more under the surface. Good start for the next story arc.

Timeslide #1. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Kael Ngu did the cover art. Cable and Bishop team up to go through time to try and prevent time from fraying. It seemed as if this book was used to show hints at what is coming in the future of Marvel Comics. It went as far as to provide a checklist about halfway through including titles of upcoming events. How many actually happen will be intriguing. Meanwhile, this book was okay, but nothing to write home about.

Kidpool/Spider-Boy#1. Written by Christopher Yost and penciled by Nathan Stockman, Jed Dougherty & Chris Campana. Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Spider-Boy faces his most dangerous and annoying threat yet… a young, female Deadpool variant who likes him. But does she like him like him? Might they hold hands? Or will their relationship be broken up by Stegron?

Mystique #3. “Sentinels” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. This is a different POV from Sentinels#3 where we think we see them fighting Magneto. Thanks to this issue, we know it is not Magneto that the Sentinels are fighting. It is Mystique. But how does she have the magnetism of Magneto? More questions here, and a lot of mutant fun.

Ultimate Black Panther #11. Written by Bryan Hill and guest artist Carlos Nieto. Cover art was by Stefano Caselli & David Curiel. This was actually my favorite issue of Ultimate Black Panther since the very beginning of the series. I liked how they prepared to set up the one on one battle between T’Challa and the Ultimate Moon Knight, and how all of T’Challa’s allies and friends wanted to keep him from it. Builds some solid stakes and tension for the throwdown next issue (I assume).

Geiger #9. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Paul Pelletier and Gary Frank. Cover art was by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. Mr. Geiger turned on Nate as he lost control of himself. If not for Barney, things would have been very problematic. Geiger wants to change. The most intriguing part of this issue was the prologue where we see Simon Pure from Redcoat, Junkyard Joe, and what looked like the Northerner. Is it the Ghost Machine crossover we have been waiting for?

Spider-Boy #14. “Know Your Enemy” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina & Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado. The Dragon’s Challenge tournament begins with Daredevil and Spider-Boy teaming up to try and prevent Bullseye & Spider-Girl from winning. We get a Spider-Girl origin and Hulkette is hanging around until Spider-Boy loses so she can get her own revenge.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3. “Pathfinder” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. The Midnight Mission is killed in this issue. What? The house died? This sends Moon Knight into an anger, but it feels very odd having killed off the Midnight Mission. Not sure why this was done as it felt like a great setting. I guess we’ll have to see.

Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1. Written by Frank Tieri and art by Michael Sta. Maria. Adam Kubert and Laura Martin did the cover art. A flashback story about Sabretooth and the Ravencroft asylum. Bloody and violent, this is an interesting mini series.

Other books this week: Ultraman x Avengers #3, Lawful #6, Hello Darkness #6, Void Rivals #15, and The Creeping Below #2.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #130

Posted on by

December 21, 2024

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. We were able to pick up all of the books from Comic World this week thanks to Todd and Pat getting the books out when the books came in late. It’s another big week of books.

Books this week:

X-Men: Magneto- Testament #1-5. Written by Greg Pak and art by Carmine Di Giandomenico. I saw an interview with Greg Pak on YouTube’s Comic Book Club and they spoke about this mini-series from 2008. It told the story of young Magneto from the concentration camps. It is a horrible situation with a beautiful story and art. It is a masterpiece of a mini series.

Hornsby & Halo #1. Storytellers Peter J. Tomasi and Peter Snejbjerg. An interesting new series from the Ghost Machine imprint. One was an angel child and one was a devil child. They were placed in homes with humans, the angel in a tougher family , the devil with a loving, caring family. This is an intriguing new series that seems like a lot of fun, yet another good series from Ghost Machine.

Namor #5. “The Orphan on the Throne.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Paul Davidson & Alex Lins. Alexander Lozano did the cover art. Namor continues to learn lessons about his war nature with both flashbacks and current day problems.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5. “The Law of the Foot” Written by Jason Aaron and penciled by Darick Robertson. Cover art by Javier Fernandez. This new TMNT series introduces us to Casey Jones and Hieronymus Hale. This issue focuses on these two characters and the final panel in this issue was shocking. This continues to be one of the best new books of the year.

Immortal Thor #18. “To Be Continued” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art. Thor tries to reclaim his reputation on earth by leading his son, the Enchantress and Lady Sif to face off with Mister Hyde, Cobra, Grey Gargoyle and the Radioactive Man.

Hellverine #1. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Raffaele Ienco. Kendrick “Kunkka” Lim did the cover art. I am not a big fan of this character. It just feels like a rip off. I will say that I thought this story was really better than I thought it would be. I do not think that I will be picking this one up, but it was better than I thought.

Juvenile #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jesus Orellana. I really enjoyed this new Image Comics book. They do a great job of building this new world and what is happening as well as introducing the main characters of these young people taking these drugs. This is an excellent new book.

Tin Can Society #4. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art by Francesco Mobili & Chris Chuckry. The mystery continues to chug along. I will say that I found this issue to be the weakest so far, so I hope it reclaims some of the strength of the previous books.

FML #1-2. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and art by David Lopez. This Dark Horse book is really creative and fascinating. A group of new young characters who are metal kids who wind up facing with a lot of bizarre threats. These are some of the fascinating new characters and I enjoyed all of their introductions.

Warm Fusion #1. Written by Scott Hoffman and art and cover art by Alberto Ponticelli. Warm Fusion is the new noir, sci-fi thriller from DSTLRY. Jarrod Hannover is the detective investigating a serial killer out there killing hookers and escorts in a world that “has been devastated by crime, ongoing storms, radiation from a terrorist incident in Times Square and the genetic mutations caused by a life-saving ‘cure‘”

Spectregraph #1-3. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Christian Ward. Some of these DSTLRY books can be hard to find. When I saw that Spectregraph#4 was coming out soon, I went to eBay and ordered the first three. These were great. Of course, I am a big fan of James Tynion IV and this is yet another great story. A mysterious house that has attracted a group of wealthy men who want to buy it leads to the realtor getting trapped inside. This is a really great story and I can’t wait to see the fourth and final issue of the series.

Captain America #16. “End at the Beginning.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Carlos Magno. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. The Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man team up comes to an end in what seems to be the final issue of this creative team’s run. I am not sure if this is the last Captain America book for awhile. They advertise the new Sam Wilson Captain America book at the end of the issue. I hope we still have a Steve Rogers book to enjoy too.

Challengers of the Unknown #1. “The Secret Life of Ace Morgan.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Sean Izarkse. Cover art was by Mike Dedoroto Jr. and Jao Candla. The Challengers of the Unknown are part of the new Justice League as the do-it-all crew among the Watchtower. There is an interesting mystery going on.

Daredevil #16. “Introductory Rites” Part Sixteen. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Aaron Kuder. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Richard Isanove. Daredevil is out having problems with the demons still… now with the next sin taking over Foggy. Daredevil is going through it.

Fantastic Four #27. “Way, Shape or Form.” Written by Ryan North and art by Steven Cummings. Joshua Cassara & Dean White did the cover art. Nicki Masters-Grimm is the heart of this books as the Grimm kids take on the Mole Man. Ryan North FF books have been really great and this book can live an issue with the kids and a limited amount of the actual FF.

Spectacular Spider-Men #10. “Elementary, My Dear Spider-Men…” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet & Emilio Laiso. Peter and Miles fight the two Electros, but we focus on the new hero, Elementary.

Ultimate Spider-Man #12. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Marco Checchetto. Checchetto & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Hey, the entire issue is a Christmas party at Peter & Mary Jane’s place. I find this to be a ballsy move for a book to be mostly just a dinner party. However, there is a surprise at the end that sets us up for more going forward (ahem…Kraven?).

TVA #1. Written by Katharyn Blair and art by Pere Perez. Cover art by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. We get a lot of fun in this new book based on the TVA from the MCU Loki TV series. We get O.B., Mobius, B-15. They blend in some awesome multiverse characters such as Ghost Spider, Captain Carter, and a Gambit. By the way, Miss Minutes! It does seem weird that the story of Loki seems to be canon with this book, but I’m okay with that. I love these characters from Loki and I hope they turn out well.

Parliament of Rooks #1. “Spring.” Written by Abigail Jill Harding with Richard Starkings and art and cover art by Abigail Jill Harding (Silver Medalist). This was a great new horror book and the black and white section of this book is beautiful. I found this one was wonderful.

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #2. “The Case of the Runaway of the Ring” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. Tormey & Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. So much trouble on the Watchtower and Renee’s Question is at the center of it all.

Absolute Batman #3. “The 200 Part Three” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Dragotta & Frank Martin did the cover art. Batman and Alfred are spending some time seeing if they want to connect. It looks like Black Mask is here and he is a total bad ass.

Standstill #5. Story by Lee Loughridge and art Alex Riegel. Cover art by Andrew Robinson. Colin and Ryker have a bunch of conflicts in this issue as they become a major trouble. I still love the way that they design this book with large panels and solid art work.

In Bloom #1. Written by Michael W. Conrad and art by John J. Pearson with art assists from Lola Bonato. John J. Pearson did the cover art. Another books that does a great job of setting up the new world that the book exists in. The weird Bloom virus being a positive thing was not what I expected as I first thought this would be a series like Sleeping Beauties, but it feels as if it will be more like Soylent Green. I’m in!

Jonny Quest #5. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Chad Hardin did the cover art. Jonny’s trip into his future comes to a close here with a successful mission. They are back in 1964, ready to set up a new arc after a few month break. Jonny Quest was never my jam as a cartoon, but I did enjoy this first storyline so we will see if Dynamite can keep up the roll they seem to be on.

Plastic Man No More #4. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lims. Cover art by Alex Lims & Marcelo Maiolo (Bronze Medalist). I was actually kind of down on this conclusion to a series that I have enjoyed since issue one. Honestly, I was not a fan of the way the story came to an end and especially with the very last page of the book. Some of the Plastic Man body horror stuff took it to a level that I was not a fan of either. Kind of a disappointment as a final issue.

The Masked Macher #4. Written by David A. Goodman and art by Alex Andres. Another finale of a book that I did not love. The main reason for that was it is clearly left off on a cliffhanger and I am unsure if there will be more of this book in the future. I do love the talking bear. I will keep my judgment in check for now to see if this story actually does continue some day.

Psylocke #2. “Ladykiller” Written by Alyssa Wong and art by Vincenzo Carratù. Cover art was by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. Psylocke heads off to try and track down a group of kidnapped mutant children and she finds some horror in her investigation. Psylocke has been decent so far in this series and the end of the issue sets up a solid path forward.

Sentinels #3. “Mud and Metal Mixing Good.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. The Sentinel team found themselves in conflict with Magneto. They do not fare well. However, something strange is going on as this did not seem to be the current Magneto that we know of in X-Men. This was a Magneto full of power. What is going on?

Deadpool #9. Written by Cody Ziglar and Alexis Quasarano and art by Andrea Di Vito. Taurin Clarke does the cover art. Ellie and Princess, with the Taskmaster, finally found a way to bring back Deadpool (Wade Wilson) to life and we get the Deadpool & daughter reunion.

Napalm Lullaby #7. Written by Rick Remender and art and cover art by Bengal. The book returns form hiatus with a weird and bizarre world that did not feel anything like what I remembered of the book when it ended. I found it engaging and I liked the answers at the end of the issue.

Big Guns Stupid Rednecks #2. Written by Austin Allen Hamblin and illustrated by Mariana Meira. Scott Twells did the cover B art. What do you get when you combine the world of the WWE, and Gladiator combat with Mojoworld? Big Guns Stupid Rednecks is the right answer. This is a wild comic with a bizarre set up but it is fun so far. Looks like we will be getting a brother vs. brother rematch soon.

Knights vs. Samurai #3. Written by David Dastmalchian and art by Fede Mele. Mirko Colak did the art. This issue really had me thinking that this was a combination of Shogun and House of the Dragon. I find the translation to be intriguing and a nice addition to this book.

The New Gods #1. “The Falling Sky Part 1” Written by Ram V and art by Jorge Fornés and Francesco Segala. Cover art was by Nimit Malavia. This was an interesting new DC book but I just wonder why Thor appears on this DC book’s cover. Todd was yelling at me when I asked about it being Thor, but there is simply no doubt that that character on the cover looks exactly like Thor and that no character looking like Thor appeared in the book. I looked.

Other books this week: Blood Squad Seven #5, Alligator Loki Holiday Special #1, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #6, The Moon is Following Us #4, Epitaphs from the Abyss #6, The Power Fantasy #5, and House of Slaughter (Gold Medalist)