Tag Archives: marvel

What If…? S3 E7

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“What If the Watcher Disappeared?”

The penultimate episode of the series What If aired this morning on Disney + and it took a step back to the first season.

Captain Carter returned to the series that she had been a major part of during the first two seasons and she brought with her a group that was called The Exiles. This was not a group of Exiles like in the comics, but a group that was from the run of What If…?. The group featured Peggy, Kahhori, Byrdie the Duck and Goddess of Thunder Storm.

First off, Byrdie the Duck was the grown daughter of Howard and Marcy the Duck from episode four. Voiced by Natasha Lyonne, this is a whole on original character from What If… and then they teamed Byrdie up with the other major original character from season two of What If…?, Kahhori.

Storm’s arrival was also extremely exciting and well done. Voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith, the fan favorite voice of Storm from the X-Men’97 and animated series, Storm was hauling around Mjolnir and showing herself to be one big time badass. Having Storm in the show, and giving us a Storm that felt just like the Storm that we know was a wonderful treat.

The show’s beginning let us know that something was wrong as it was not the Watcher’s voice doing the narration over the opening credits. Instead, it was the voice of The Eminence who have taken Uatu prisoner, ready to punish him for his breaking of the Watcher Oath.

Peggy realized that the Watcher was in trouble and she decided that The Exiles needed to go to the Fifth Dimension to help the Watcher, but she did not know how they would do it.

Bring in… Infinity Ultron. The one individual ever able to go to the Fifth Dimension on his own. This is how the show returned to the first season, as Infinity Ultron was the big bad of that season.

I did like the fact that this Infinity Ultron had succeeded in his quest and, because of that, had an existential crisis. He realized, way too late, that destroying all life would not bring peace, that in order to have peace there must be life and to have life, you must have conflict.

This was a first part of a two-part finale for the series as the Exiles went to the Fifth Dimension to try and save their friends.

One more episode tomorrow for the series.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E7 What If the Watcher Disappeared?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier?

E6 What If 1872?

E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

What If…? S3 E6

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“What If…1872?”

What If in the Old West.

Shang Chi and Kate Bishop make their returns to the MCU in this cool Western story as they chase after The Hood, a character that the MCU has not yet introduced (although he is coming in Ironheart next year).

The pairing of Shang Chi and Kate Bishop worked for me as they pursued the Hood for their own reasons. The show did keep the characters at a surface level, depending on your enjoyment of the previous uses of the character to pull you in. For me, that worked.

The action of the episode was top notch with some awesome animated martial arts fights. The opening scene featuring John Walker, voiced once again by Wyatt Russell, was a neat set up for what we were going to get.

Shang Chi in search of his sister, who he had believed had been taken by the Hood works as well. Having her be the Hood in the end was a nice twist that I did not expect.

Walter Goggins reprised his role as Sonny Burch from Ant Man and the Wasp. Here he was a very sinister second hand man to the Hood. To be honest, he was much more memorable here in What If that he was in Ant Man and the Wasp. I like that they brought him in for this role.

1872 was a limited Marvel Comics series that placed Marvel characters in the Old West. Steve Rogers was the sheriff of the town and Wilson Fisk was the big, bad businessman. Fisk wound up feeding Steve Rogers to the pigs in a scene that stuck with me since I read it. I do not remember much else about 1872, except for that moment. This What If…? episode did not include those characters but I could see it being something going on in another location in this world.

There are only two more What If…? episodes left. With the final scene being the other Watchers confronting Uatu, and his interference will be a major arc to wrap up the series. The Watchers have sworn an oath to only watch and to not interfere, but we have seen our Watcher interfere several times over the three seasons. I am curious to see how this will all wrap up. I know the trailer had Captain Carter and Kahhori in it, so I expect to see them during some kind of conflict with the Watchers.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier

E6 What If 1872?

E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

What If…? S3 E4

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“What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched”

Tell us this is the final season without saying it is the final season.

What If gives us a Howard the Duck/Darcy episode. They’re married and she gave birth to an egg.

What?

What If took one of the worst episodes from season one and gave it a sequel and made it one of the strangest, weirdest episodes of the entire run.

What If, the comic book, would have issues that were really bizarre because they could do anything they wanted, and this is a perfect example of that.

I do love Howard the Duck and I would be all for a Howard the Duck series, live action or animated. This did feel a bit much.

There were a bunch of surprising cameos from the people chasing after this egg including Zeus, Thanos and the Black Order, Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, Dark Elves, the Grandmaster …all in pursuit of this egg.

I will say that I found this to be too silly at times and that a lot of the humor did not work for me, and I am a person whose Marvel’s humor almost always works. This might be an episode that I like more on second watch, but for now, this episode was down my list.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

2024 Year in Review: The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year Award

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Anna Devane was one of my favorite characters on General Hospital mainly because she was an agent for the WSB and she could kick the butt of anyone messing with her. I loved that and so, in honor of the awesome Anna Devane, this is the kick ass female award.

We have ten females who kicked plenty of ass in their individual places. Some are comic characters, some are TV/movie characters and we even have a professional wrestler.

The Anna Devane Kick Ass Female Award

Previous winners:  Rey (Star Wars), Mockingbird (Marvel Comics), Wonder Woman (DCEU), The Shirewolves, Captain Marvel, Kamala Harris, Wanda Maximoff, Pearl, Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Fargo season five)

Top 10 Kick Ass Females of 2024

#10. Liz Danvers (True Detective: Night Country). Jodie Foster brought a bad ass female to the snowy world of Alaska. She had all kinds of troubles, but you just knew she would find her way thorugh.

#9. Anora (Anora). Mikey Madison was a force of nature as the titular character in this movie from 2024. She was a tornado dealing with the Russians and she was more than a handful.

#8. Black Canary (Black Canary: The Best of the Best). The new DC series featured the writing of Tom King and Black Canary in a tournament with Lady Shiva to discover the best hand-to-hand fighter in the universe.

#7. Zatanna (Zatanna: Bring Down the House). A flashback series showed us how Zatanna came into her own as a member of the Justice League.

#6. Laura (Deadpool & Wolverine, Laura Kinney: Wolverine, NYX). Laura, X-23, returned in the Void during the awesome cameo reveals, but she played a major part with Logan in the movie. It was a real feel good moment… and she sliced Juggernaut’s feet off. Ooooooh. We could extend this one to the comics too as X-23 is known as Wolverine and has her own series, plus a role in NYX.

#5. Storm (X-Men ’97, Storm). It was a big year for Storm. She was a major character in X-Men ’97, she joined the Avengers in Marvel Comics, and she got her own series. Marvel has big plans for Ororo Munroe.

#4. Rhea Ripley (WWE). Rhea “Bloody” Ripley! The Eradicator. One of the biggest stars in the WWE, Rhea took a huge step in her character development when she became a face when her boyfriend Dominic Mysterio turned on her and left her. Rhea is a superstar.

#3. Abigail (Abigail). Alishia Weir brought a serious kick ass girl, a ballerina vampire who has been feeding for centuries. Abigail dominated the film and was incredibly fun.

#2. Elphaba (Wicked). She almost won this award this year and she may be a leading candidate for next year. Elphaba became more and more powerful as the film progressed and the whole “Defying Gravity” sequence at the end of the film was amazing!

And the winner of the Anna Devane Kick Ass Female of the Year Award is…

#1. Agatha Harkness (Agatha All Along, What If…?, Marvel Comics)

It was Agatha all along. Played by the wondrous Kathryn Hahn, Agatha Harkness has risen from a lesser Marvel Comics character to a superstar. After her star turn in WandaVision in 2020, Agatha returned in this year’s surprise hit Agatha All Along on Disney +. Meanwhile, in the comics, Marvel returned Agatha to the young status, making her much closer to Kathryn Hahn. She was in the best episode of What If…? so far co-starring with Kingo. Agatha is one witch whose world is at her fingertips. Down, Down, Down the road… Down the Witches Road…

2024 Year in Review: The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

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In honor of those movies that feature large casts without a clear protagonist, it is time for the Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award. This has been around since 2019 and has had a strong list of movies win, as seen below.

The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), In the Heights (2021), Mass (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), Oppenheimer (2023)

Runners-Up: I considered giving this award to the movie I saw today, A Complete Unknown, but I decided that there is too much of a lead character in Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, despite the fact that the cast surrounding him was excellent. Another Chalamet film this year was Dune: Part Two that could have been a winner in this category. Another potential Oscar film was in consideration for this category with Conclave, the story of choosing a new pope. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever had a great cast, especially of young actors that deserve recognition in this category. I loved Wicked, but again, that film is more of a two person lead and may not be right for the ensemble award. Alien: Romulus was a fantastic movie with an ensemble that wound up as fodder for the Xenomorphs. Civil War was a strong film earlier in the year and its cast had a tough story to delve into. Emilia Perez had a strong ensemble as did The Piano Lesson, both on Netflix.

Winner of the Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year is…

Saturday Night

The film focuses on the opening night for SNL, as a group of performers running around unsure if they were actually going to get on the air. There are some great performances among the cast and the roles are beautifully cast. There may be some weaknesses in the script, but the cast itself is impeccable.

What If…? S3 E3

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“What If The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier”

One of the strength of the What If show is taking characters who would not usually work together or you may not expect to be together. Episode one had Sam Wilson and Bruce Banner. Episode two was Agatha and Kingo. Now, we get Red Guardian and Winter Soldier.

David Harbour is a gem. His work as the Red Guardian is so silly and over the top that it works, especially when paired with the stoic, more quiet Winter Soldier. This is clearly a “buddy cop” style of episode with the two main protagonists being pursued by Bill Foster, aka Goliath, once again voiced by Laurence Fishburne.

The pairing kicks off when Red Guardian prevents the Winter Soldier from killing Howard Stark and his wife as we see in Captain America: Civil War, and then they wind up thrust together into Las Vegas.

This was the episode from where they dropped a clip after last year’s season two, hinting to us that season three was closer than we thought.

They had some nice moments between Red Guardian and Bucky too, as the episode was more than just a bunch of action strung together. The scene where Red Guardian helps Bucky remember about Coney Island was very sweet, and it was obviously important to Bucky.

I found it odd that Oscar nominated America Ferrara did a voice of a secondary side character, Ranger Morales who teamed up with Bill Foster to chase after Red Guardian and Winter Soldier. That seemed to be a huge casting for such a minor character who, as far as I know, has no connection in Marvel Comics (After some research, I discovered there was an Agent Morales who worked for SHIELD that perhaps this character was based upon).

I love how What If…? has been using different styles to tell their stories. First episode was a Kaiju/monster story, episode two was Old Hollywood and this is a buddy cop tale. It shows the variety that the show can present effectively.

Season Three Episodes So Far

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E3 What If The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

2024 Year in Review: I Am Groot Voice Acting Award

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This has been a big year for animation and that means this was going to be a tough award to pick. Of course, it is not just animation for a voice over. It could be a character on a show in a helmet that you never see their face. It could be a mo-cap character. There are a ton of choices.

“I am Groot” Voice Acting Award

Previous Winners:  Robin Williams (Aladdin- honorary), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes),  Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Ryan Reynolds (Detective Pikachu), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Jeffrey Wright and Chadwick Boseman (What If…?), Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish), Bradley Cooper (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

Runners-Up: Let’s start off with one of the toughest jobs of the year. Chris Hemsworth did the voice of Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and had to step into the shoes of iconic EYG Hall of Famer Peter Cullin. And he did a tremendous job in Transformers One. Another film with big shoes to fill was Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Noa was a new protagonist voiced by Owen Teague, who took over the franchise from Andy Serkis. Tom Hardy was the best part of Venom: The Last Dance as he was the voice of Venom as well as Eddie Brock. The Wild Robot had two great performances from Lupita Nyong’o as Roz and Pedro Pascal as Fink. Hamish Linklater was our new animated Batman in Prime’s Batman: The Caped Crusader. Maya Hawke was awesome as the voice of the antagonist in Inside Out 2, Anxiety. Just today, we heard Kathryn Hahn return to the role of Agatha Harkness in one of the best episodes of What If…? ever, and her voice brought the power of this character. Mark Hamill is an iconic voice actor and he continued as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe: Revolutions. Lenore Zann delivered one of the most powerful lines in all of animation this year when she said “I can’t feel you” as Rogue clutched Gambit’s dead body at the end of episode five of X-Men ’97. Alison Sealy-Smith was exceptional in X-Men ’97 as Storm. To be fair, there are so many possible choices from X-Men ’97 because that show was epic.

This year’s winner is also from the show, X-Men ’97.

AJ LoCascio, as Gambit (X-Men’97)

“The name’s Gambit. Remember it.“

He was only in half of the season of X-Men ’97, but he absolutely killed it. Then, episode five of the show is one of the best episodes of TV this entire year. Gambit was at the center of that show and was the massive emotional beat.

What If…? S3 E2

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“What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?”

Now that’s more like it.

While I liked the previous What If…? episode of season three, I did not love it. Season two I ADORED just about everything about this one.

Agatha Harkness and Kingo? Who knew that I needed that in my life?

Golden Age of Hollywood with Agatha making a gigantic, cosmic blockbuster with Howard Stark (and the ever quippy Jarvis) is amazing, but to tie that into Agatha’s latest plot to grab power for herself by way of stealing the power of the growing Celestial inside the earth, Tiamut, is on another level.

There is a dance battle, literally, between Agatha and Kingo. All the while Howard Stark is shouting out some of the funniest dialogue you are ever going to hear.

“I want Busby Berkeley to see this and contemplate being a realtor“

“Will they dance? They will!“

“That chemistry was hotter than the Hindenburg.“

“Is that some kind of euphonism? Are you two a thing now?”

Howard Stark and Jarvis made the perfect Old Hollywood director behind the scenes for this What If…? episode. The quips delivered wonderfully by both Dominic Cooper and James D’Arcy. Jarvis’s initial dry wit fit beautifully in the insanity that was going on around him in this episode.

The fact is this… Kathryn Hahn is a master. She ahs taken this secondary (maybe even tertiary) character of Agatha Harkness and made her something special. Kathryn Hahn’s aura is all over this episode and she just dominated every minute, and she had amazing chemistry with Kumail Nanjiani. These two characters worked so well with one another and who saw that coming?

The dance routine was brilliant. I loved it. The design of Celestial Agatha was beautifully perfect. Her battle with Arishem the Judge was a great call back to WandaVision. The end speech from Kingo targeted what was missing inside Agatha all along.

This episode is very meta with several behind the scenes comments and a reference to Cecil B. DeMille. For me, this all worked so well that I just sat on my couch with a big smile on my face the entire time.

I would put this episode of What If…? right at the top of the series along with the season one Dr. Strange episode, the season two Christmas and 1602 episodes. Certainly the best of season three so far and potentially one of the best of the entire run.

Season Order So Far

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

What If … ? S3 E1

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“What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers”

I am very happy to have What If…? back once more over holiday break, releasing daily for my entertainment pleasure. I love this release schedule which they started last year. They are releasing the eight episodes daily, starting on December 22 and running through December 29. It gives me something to look forward to every day.

What If…? has been a fairly consistent show over the three seasons. It has been enjoyable, but perhaps not outstanding. It is typically really good, fun and entertaining. This first episode feels like it falls right into that category.

The What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers episode had a new team of Avengers with their giant mech technology, much like Voltron or the Power Rangers, and they took on some gamma beasts created in the Gamma War.

One of the best parts of What If…? is the use of the actual live action actors for voices in the animated shows. This episode included Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, and David Harbour as Red Guardian.

The first half of this episode felt as if it had too much exposition and, despite having a series of cool animation styles during the period, I thought there was too much telling and not enough showing. This is one of the overall issues with What If…?. Episodes are kept around 30 minutes and sometimes feel as if it is too short. This one felt like it would have been more compelling if it had been an hour. Maybe we could have seen some of the Gamma War instead of just using it as set up.

However, the second half of the show was solid and included some awesome giant robot vs. Kaiju type action, including Bruce Banner transforming himself into a gigantic Godzilla-like creature, I dubbed Hulkzilla as soon as I saw the scene. This was fun and an enjoyable action piece with a decent theme working.

Admittedly, after seeing some of the outstanding animated TV shows this year such as X-Men ’97 and Batman: The Caped Crusader, What If…? feels like a step down. That may not be fair, but when the genre is elevating its game, you expect other shows to step up too. What If…? episode one of season three was fine, but probably not as memorable as it could have been.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #130

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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)

2024 Year in Review: The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

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The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)

Every year brings us a ton of awesome cameos in movies. In honor of our beloved Stan Lee, we are continuing to honor those actors who show up as a surprise or a short appearance.

Runners-Up: We will touch upon a bunch of these movies. In The Fall Guy, there were three decent cameos. Jason Momoa showed up at the end as a replacement for Aaron Taylor-Johnson character and that was fun. Then we got Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, who, of course, were from the original Fall Guy TV show. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had the original Ghostbusters again, but the top cameo from this film I think was William Atherton as Walter Peck back, now as the Mayor of New York. Danny DeVito showed up in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but honestly, my memory of that one was lacking. There was a cool cameo in Wicked as Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowerth, who were the stars of the Broadway play version, were an awesome inclusion, even though my theater had no idea who they were. Then, Deadpool & Wolverine dominated the cameos this year. I am not sure I would count Westley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and Dafne Keen as cameos. They all were really important cast members, almost to the level of supporting actors. However, Henry Cavill is absolutely a cameo as the Cavillrine and it nearly won this award.

However, the winner of this award is…

Chris Evans (Deadpool & Wolverine)

Chris Evans appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine as Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four instead of Steve Rogers, despite the teasing that he was actually Cap. The theaters exploded when he said “Flame On!” Then he brought some great foul mouthed dialogue. He came a long way from “Language.”

This also ties Chris Evans with Stan Lee himself for three separate wins in this category. Evans won this award for Thor: The Dark World, when he played Loki playing Cap, and Free Guy, playing himself made over the use of Cap’s shield. It is amazing that Chris Evans has now tied Stan in the category that was named after him.

Congrats to Chris Evans!

EYG Comic Cavalcade #129

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December 14, 2024

Comics were delayed again this week. I did not expect them to be in on Friday so I had decided that I would go to Kraven the Hunter at a 4:20 PM show. Todd gave me a call as I was on the way to the movie with the news that the books had arrived Friday after all. I couldn’t turn around and head to Dubuque as I was on the way to the Quad Cities.

However, Saturday was going to bring us some icy weather and I was not sure when I could get to the shop. I made a decision. After I would get done with Kraven, I would leave Cinemark and drive to Comic World to get the comics that night. I left the theater at about 6:47 PM and wound up at Comic World before 8 PM. I made good time, with only a minimal amount of speeding.

As I said, there was ice coming today and I had nowhere I planned to go in the morning and I was able to sit down and read the comics. It was a nice morning and I made it through the week’s books.

Here are this week’s books:

Grommets #3-6. I picked up these books from eBay and I have really enjoyed the series. It took a darker turn as our young skateboarding heroes wound up at a party that got out of control. The series has taken time to dive into these kids feeling and desires and I have found it to be very compelling so far. There is only one more issue to go and I am excited to finish this series off.

Space Ghost #8. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover B art was by Jae Lee & June Chung. General Metallus is here, with his Thanos-like plans bringing a terrible memory back to Space Ghost. Sadly, Space Ghost got his butt handed to him.

Storm #3. “Impending Doom” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art was by Mateus Manhanini. Storm is dying, but Doctor Voodoo helps her with some magic. But magic has a cost and she cannot use her powers for seven days. So she decides to sleep with Wolverine. Um… oh, yeah, and Dr. Doom comes calling.

Dazzler #4. “Homecoming” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was by Terry and Rachel Dodson. Dazzler’s world tour is coming to an end with a concert in New York City! We discover the person behind the sabotage of her shows before and guest stars NYX help her wrap thing up. This is the final issue of this Dazzler series which was fun, if lgithweight.

Batman: Dark Patterns #1. “We are the Wounded Part One.” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. A new Batman series which tells a story from a past time in the Caped Crusader’s life. Alfred is still there and James Gordon was only a Lieutenant. It included a weird and wild villain that I had never seen before involved in some kind of serial killing. I am worried that I have been picking up more DC books than I have before. I already get a ton of comics a month. However, this issue was solid.

The Terminator #3. “Apocalypse Then: Part Two.” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by David O’Sullivan. Cover C art by Cat Staggs (Bronze Medalist). The story from Vietnam concludes as the Terminator chased Duggan across the land and even into a helicopter.

Ultimate Universe: One Year In #1. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Rafael Albuquerque. We follow Nick Fury and we meet the members of the Council. They all do not seem to have the best of intentions. There is a couple pages at the end of the book featuring a prologue of Ultimate Wolverine.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1. Written by Christos Gage and art by Eric Gapstur. Leonardo Romero did the cover art. This is the prequel series for the upcoming Disney + animated series of the web head. This is meant to be a very young, just gaining his powers Peter Parker. There were some differences to the origin, laid out here, that may alter the character.

Incredible Hulk#20. “Wolves of the Old World” Part One. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Danny Earles. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. Werewolves are everywhere and Hulk and Charlie are having to deal with them. Jack Russell is here too.

The Infinity Watch #1. Written by Derek Landy and penciled by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was by Salvador Larroca and GURU-eFX. The Infinity Stone Bearers come together to form their own team, but things do not go well immediately. I wonder if the shocking final page sets us up for what this series has up its sleeve. Love having Coulson in the book though.

Uncanny X-Men #7. “No Walls Can Hold Us” Written by Gail Simone and penciled by David Marquez & Edgar Salazar. Cover art by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). Rogue’s team of X-Men are heading into Graymalkin after their two team members but Cyclops really wants them to hold off. What this lead to? That’s right… big mutant fight!

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #1. “All the Places You Will Go.” Written by Erica Schultz and art by Giada Belviso. Cover is the Variant Cover Logo issue. New series featuring Laura Kinney was a great start. I enjoyed this first issue with Laura. The issue does a fantastic job of giving us insight into the character of Laura and what drives her. This was a great start.

Amazing Spider-Man #63. “Tick Tick Tick.” Written by Justina Ireland and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was by Ed McGuinness & Marcio Menyz. The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man rolls on as the constant fight as the Champion is getting to Peter Parker. He actually yelled at Aunt May. The Scions of Cyttorak have been watching him, trying to figure out what makes him tick.

The City Beneath Her Feet #1. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Elsa Charretier. This is a love story… as we are told at the very beginning in a fourth wall break… but not that kind of love story. This was a bizarre story that was quiet entertaining and unexpected. I am a big fan of James Tynion IV and the writing of this was great. Elsa Charretier’s work is very much similar to her work on Love Everlasting.

Scarlet Witch #7. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman (Silver Medalist). Wanda, Amaranth, Tommy and Billy go to New Salem to try and save the town from a curse. Turns out that there is a tie to Agatha Harkness in the town.

Minor Arcana #4. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa takes her mom for her cancer appointment, and sparks fly. She then winds up back in the magical realm after doing another tarot card reading. She realizes that it is tied to her deceased grandpa. Mainor Arcana is a fascinating book and Jeff Lemire is always great in his creativity.

X-Factor #5. “Prisoners of the Fun Room” Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Cover art was by Greg land & Frank D’Armata. X-Factor has to fight off the terrorists led by Darkstar known as X-Term. This series has shown to be a very deadly one as another of the team winds up dead in this issue.

Phoenix #6. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Marco Renna. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Phoenix teams up with Nova, but she is having a crisis of faith, doubting that her arrival in space was the right move to make. Oh, and Thanos.

Other books this week: Skin Police #3, Petpool Pool Party#1, Spirits of Vengeance #4, Ultimate X-Men #10, Deadpool Team-Up #4, Alien: Paradiso #1, and Transformers #15.

2024 Year in Review: Comics

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It was a big year for comic books. The massive amount of independents were out, Marvel and DC both found great success with their “Ultimate” and “Absolute” books respectively, and some of the best artists and writers plied their trade across the companies.

EYG continued our post EYG Comic Cavalcade looking at a bunch of books over a week period, and we added the EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week, giving out a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal each week.

There were a lot of difficult choices to be made for these Comic Awards. The Comic Cover of the Year and the Cover Artist of the Year will be coming at a later date. However, here are the comic awards for EYG this year.

Best Marvel Series: Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter and MJ happy with children? Yes, please. More of that. This has been a solid series all year long as Peter finds his fate in the spider costume.

Best DC Series: Absolute Batman. One of the hottest, most successful selling books in a long time, the story is also solid.

Best Independent Comic: The Deviant. This was the single most difficult choice to make because there were so many potential choice. Saga returned. Feral. Something is Killing the Children is always a classic. Grommets. Ice Cream Man. But I finally settled on the James Tynion IV penned book about a serial killer and a man trying to make a comic about it. It has kept readers off balance all year.

Best Character: Erica Slaughter, Something is Killing the Children. Eric has been consistently one of the best characters in comics since her debut. Some of the flashback issues this year have really helped give even more perspective to Erica.

Best Writer: Jason Aaron. Jason Aaron has had a great year including Absolute Superman, Namor, Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime, and he may have written the best single issue of any comic issue this year, in my opinion, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1.

Best Artist: Mark Spears. I wasn’t sure whom to pick for this award, so I asked Todd, and he suggested Mark Spears. As soon as he did, I knew that was the proper pick. He has had a great year this year, hotter than most any other artist and his Mark Spears Monsters book is as sought after as any.

Best Graphic Novel: Bad Dreams in the Night. I only have seen a handful of graphic novels this year and that makes things tough for this category so I chose a recent one that was a series of horror shorts that were extremely entertaining. This was a great graphic novel.

Best Issue #1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. As I mentioned in the Jason Aaron award, I think this is the best single issue of the year. I was not a reader of TNMT, but I grabbed number one because of the buzz and I LOVED that issue. It had me completely hooked and I continued collecting the series. That is what a number one is intended to do.

Best Surprise: Blade was behind Blood Hunt. I did not see that one coming. Sure, it turned out Blade was controlled, but it did not dull the shock of seeing Blade bury his fangs into Doctor Strange’s neck. Blood Hunt was a surprising crossover and this kicked it off on the right note.

Under Appreciated: Ryan North. I have not heard enough about this writer, who has been on the Fantastic Four this last year and has given us some of the best FF issues in a long, time. He was also the writer on Deadpool Wolverine Weapon X-Traction #1 which was really fun. North has been great and I want to see him with other Marvel heroes as his career moves on.

Best One Shot: Doom #1. I was actually not a big fan of this issue, but I know it was a huge hit and, because of that, I think it deserves this award.

Best X-Book: Uncanny X-Men. Gail Simone has brought some of the best X-books to the franchise in years. Plus, she has one of the best lineup of characters around with Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and the leader Rogue. I look forward to Uncanny every month.

Relationship of the Year: Tony Stark and Emma Frost. Yeah, I know a lot of others did not like this, but I really enjoyed this pairing. So much so that I was sad when they left each other as you knew they would. Emma and Tony had a great chemistry and held each other in a deep regard, more than either wanted to admit.

Crossover of the Year: Blood Hunt. This was just going to be an excuse for Marvel heroes to fight vampires, but it turned out more entertaining than that. With Blade as our villain and with Doctor Doom taking over as Sorcerer Supreme, there are some definite major implications for the Marvel Universe. Oh and Miles Morales was turned into a vampire too.

Trend of the Year: Horror Comics. Horror comics have always been around, but this year horror seemed to explode. Books such as Mark Spears Monsters, Ice Cream Man, Hello Darkness, DC Horror Presents, Creature Commandos, Displaced, The Deviant, the Universal Monsters series, Blood Hunt, Feral, Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House By the Sea, House of Slaughter, Dark Ride, Arkham Horror, Killadelphia, Plastic: Death and Dolls are just some of the books available in 2024.

Comic Character MVPs for 2024: Batman, Miles Morales, Redcoat, Deadpool, Space Ghost, Blade, and Frankenstein.

Best Individual issues (in no particular order)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Uncanny X-Men #1

Swan Songs #6

Ice Cream Man #39

Big Burn #1

Grommets #6

Fantastic Four #17

Something is Killing the Children #37

Kraven the Hunter

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Kraven the Hunter is the final film in the Sony Extended Spider-Man Universe, which has included the Venom movies, Morbius, and Madame Web. And I think I can speak for everybody when I say, THANK GOD!

I had a lot of hopes that Kraven could be an exception for the Spider-Man-less films. Unfortunately, this was the rule instead.

Kraven the Hunter was terrible.

I am not sure what this movie was supposed to be. The story was all over the place and the film jumped about willy-nilly.

Where to start? I mean… everything that we saw in this film made no sense and the film did not seem to care much about making it make sense.

There was a tremendous cast here that somehow brought some of the worst acting you have ever seen. Aaron Taylor Johnson was okay as Kraven, but Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose, both who had won Oscars, gave some of the worst performances I have ever seen. How does this happen?

Part of it was that the writing was some of the worst of the year. The dialogue was horrendous, laughable and did no favors for any of these actors. It was on the level of Madame Web which was one of the worst of the year.

Another part of the dialogue that was terrible was all of the ADR. This is a thing when the movie will have voice overs, re-recording scenes for whatever reason. The fact is that the ADR is done really poorly. I swear the character The Foreigner never moves his mouth. It was very noticeable and distracting. All movies do ADRs, but why does the Sony Spider-Man movie do this so badly (because Madame Web was terrible too).

There were some action that was okay, particularly a chase scene with a car and Kraven on foot. However, most of the action of this movie were average, at best. With the action being okay, the film needed it to be much better to overcome the other negatives of it.

Sadly, it feels like Kraven the Hunter has joined the race for the worst movie of the year. There are legit 6 films that could be in that number one slot at the end of the month for my Worst Movie List. There was just no life or any sort of joy here. Every time Kraven cracks a quip, it was totally flat and felt out of place. Some of the CGI was as poor as you would expect. There just is not much to enjoy about Kraven the Hunter. He has always been one of my favorite Spider-Man villains, but this does not work on any level.

0.9 star

EYG Comic Cavalcade #128

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December 8, 2024

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade.

We are doing another Comic Cavalcade because in issue #127, I only had a handful of issues to do. I have covered the delivery issue with Comic World enough, but I received a call on Friday saying everything was in. I was very excited and went to buy it that night.

The books were Marvel and Independent and I had a light weekend of movies, so this gave me an opportunity to finish these up and do another post.

Thanks to Todd and Pat from Comic World for their work getting these available for selling. I am sure there would be stores that would just say they can wait until next week.

There was also the eBay update. I got Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #6 delivered to me the other day. I have just a handful of Peter Porker books remaining to pick up.

Books from this new order…and beyond:

Grommets #1-2. Written by Rick Remender and Brian Posehn. The art is done by Brett Parson. This was another eBay pick up. I had seen someone on Bluesky (love this new platform, btw) raving about this comic (sorry, I do not remember whom it was). I was curious about it so I picked up the issues on eBay. This is a very intriguing book, and very different than what I was expecting. Definitely skateboarding is vital to the story. I did like these characters, though I am not sure what I was expecting. I have more issues coming from eBay soon, so I do look forward to continuing with it.

Deadpool/Wolverine: Weapon X-Traction #1. Written by Ryan North and art by Javier Garrón. Javier Garrón & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. This one-shot was actually really enjoyable. Looking back, I see Ryan North as the writer, who I love from the recent FF run. I can see he can write Wolverine and Deadpool too. This was a hoot of an issue.

Wolverine #4. “Lost and Found“. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine is working with the new Wendigo to try and help the young kid manage his curse. However, Constrictor gets in the way. And something weird is going on with the adamantium. I am a big fan of this new Wendigo and I hope it continues on.

Blade: Red Band #2. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa and Federico Blee. Blade is trying to deal with his life post Blood Hunt and he is on a mission where he encounters Elena. Some good Blade action in this book (though I once again do not think this necessarily rises to the level of Red Band).

Werewolf by Night: Red Band #5. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell has been cast out of the Savage land and he has come across the one and only Bruce Banner in a huge coincidence. Red Hood and his band probably does not want to make him angry because they won’t like it when he’s angry. I got a kick out of it though.

The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #2. Written by Hannah Rose May and art and cover art by Vanesa Del Ray (Bronze Medalist). The president of the United States’ daughter has a problem. She is sick (or is she?) and her brother believes it is his fault. What can he do about it and will his religious leaders believe him? I have enjoyed this series so far very much. I like the POV of the President involved in this story. It is different than what we are used to. Different is always epic.

All-New Venom #1. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art (Gold foil) by Iban Coello (Silver Medalist). Cover A art by Adam Kubert. I really loved this new take on Venom. I have not read Venom in years, but this was intriguing. Who is the new Venom? Is it Madame Masque, Luke Cage, Rick Jones or Robbie Robertson? Weird group of suspects. I’m not sure if I have an inkling yet, but I do hope they do not just reveal it too soon. If I had to guess, at this point, I would guess Luke Cage. My fourth place is Madame Masque (which probably means it is her). Third is Robbie and second is Rick Jones, but that order can change at any point. I just think it is a fascinating idea to give the symbiote to the NY Mayor. We’ll see where it goes.

Red Before Black #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated and cover art by Goran Sudžuka. Val and Leo are out on an adventure… well, that is after Val recovered. Leo thought she was dead. This series has a Thelma and Louise vibe to it… and Winston, a baby alligator. I hate alligators.

NYX #6. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and penciled by Michael Shelfer. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee. Kamala and her friends are out on the town on their way to a Dazzler concert. She wanted a happy outing with her friends. Mojo had some different thoughts on that matter… and, let’s face it, a Dazzler concert is an invite for trouble (have you seen the Dazzler mini series? What did Kamala expect?)

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #8. “Haunted” Part 8. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Ghost Spider is on the trail of the Black Tarantula, fighting the clock against a verdict in the case against a corrupt judge. Along the way, Gwen battles Mister Fear. Luke Cage guest starred in this issue too.

The Ultimates #7. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Hank Pym and Jim Hammond are out to see Tony Stark’s memorial. Lots of other things are going down with the world in seemingly crisis mode. However, the last page revealed the not-so-shocking reveal about the truth surrounding Stark. This feels like a building issue that may be leading to something bigger.

Hello Darkness #5. Another issue of the Boom! Studios hit horror anthology including another short with Erica Slaughter (kind of). Hello Darkness has been a nice book featuring some interesting comic horror, but I will say that I have enjoyed the James Tynion IV stories the most.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27. “Webs of Wakanda Part One.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Federico Vicentini & Erick Arciniega did the cover art. Miles is on his way to Wakanda with T’Challa in the hopes of finding some kind of answer with his vampirism.

Holiday Tales to Astonish #1. Cover art by Luciano Vecchio. Three Christmas stories featuring the Fantastic Four, the Uncanny X-Men and the Spectacular Spider-Men and creator including Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, Daniel Kibblesmith, Pat Olliffe, Gene Yang, and Dylan Burnett. All three stories were fun, but my personal favorite was the present stealing Dr. Doom in the FF.

X-Men #8. “Raid on Graymalkin Part 1“. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Ryan Stegman. Cover art was done by Stegman, JP Mayer and Marte Gracia. The beginning of a big crossover between the X-Men and the Uncanny X-Men series, as the teams head to Graymalkin (the former estate of Charles Xavier) to try and retrieve their team members. I liked some of the character work with the Beast in this issue. Things look grave moving forward.

Avengers #21. “Avengers vs. X-Men.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Valero Schiti. Cover art was done by Valero Schiti and Federico Blee. Yes, it is the X-Men vs. the Avengers… in a softball game! It turns out like kissing your sister… a tie! Who knew that Glob was such a great cook? Glob turns out to be the X-Men’s Jarvis. Oh, and Quentin Quire is a dick. We knew that already. The cover is a bit of a mislead… okay, more than a bit.

Avengers Assemble #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art was by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. The Aveng.e.r.s head to Latveria to try and prevent Victorious from doing too much damage trying to get into the dome around the country. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers gets turned into another animal. How many times does that poor guy have to get transformed?

The Art of Something is Killing the Children Companion. Cover art by Werther Dell’Edera (Gold Medalist). This is an art book compiling some of the awesome art of the epic Boom! Studios series. There are some of the greatest artists in comics today providing their work on Erica Slaughter and the excellent series. From Peach Momoko to Guillem March, some of the most beautiful work is on display in this book. It is stunning and any fan of the series and of just astounding comic art should pick this companion up.

Other books this time: Arkham Horror #3, Seance in the Asylum #2, Venom War #5, X-Force #6, Anansi Boys #6, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #14.