Tag Archives: marvel

EYG Comic Cavalcade #170

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September 14

It is time for the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Next week’s edition may be very late because I am going with Todd to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to attend the SiouxperCon 2025. I’ll be busy at the convention on Saturday and Sunday, so I may not have as much time to read, and certainly won’t have time to do this write up next weekend. I am looking forward to heading down to SiouxperCon where I plan on meeting Gail Simone, Zander Cannon, Phil Hester among others. I do plan on using my phone to do some postings at EYG next weekend, maybe with some photos taken at the event.

Meanwhile, I picked up a graphic novel at In This Issue Comics this week by Brian K. Vaughn and Niko Henrichon called Spectators. I had put this on my pull list early on, but it was a weird thing. They sent the shop a promo copy of the book and the online listing indicated that it was pulled for me. It was weird, but then the list removed Spectators from my list. I decided not to worry about it. I saw it on the stands Thursday and I grabbed it. That was when the owner saw me with it and said they were trying to remember who had asked for this book and had the list try to pull the promo copy. They did have the book pulled in a separate place behind the desk. I just finished the book before starting this. It was a great read, but there were more penises than I have ever seen in a graphic novel.

Books this week:

Red Hood #1. “The Tower Part 1” Written by Gretchen Felker-Martin with art and cover art by Jeff Spokes. Okay, this one has a story behind it. I had heard a bunch of people complaining about this book before it ever came out with some of the writing of it. However, that is not the big story. Gretchen Felker-Martin posted a comment on the assassination of conservative Charlie Kirk and, because of that controversy, DC Comics canceled the new book. Heck, it was a day after it was released. I’ve never seen a book canceled so quickly. In fact, there was some book shops that removed the book from its shelves. Goes to show you how social media can cause troubles.

Murder Podcast #1. Written by Jeremy Haun and illustrated by Mike Tisserand. Variant cover B art was done by Mike Tisserand & Nick Filardi. A new podcast has seemingly sent some normal listeners into a murderous fugue state. It is a intriguing new book from Ignition Press.

Feral #16. “The Rule Breaker.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover art was done by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. The cats are facing off with some scary potential consequences. Will the mall cats eat Lord? There is more tension in this book than most comics in a month. Feral has been an exceptional book.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #4. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. Miles Morales remains searching through the Ultimate universe for his little sister. He winds up in a fight with Illyana Rasputin. Miles is finding it even more difficult as memories of his other universe keep popping up.

It Killed Everyone But Me #1. Written by Ryan Parrott with art by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jorge Corona. The brand new Mad Cave comic is a fun new idea. Twenty five years ago, Sutton Reed was the sole survivor of her friends who were slaughtered by a demonic force. She was able to imprison. Now, there is another series of grisly murders and she must confront the old demon. I look forward to see how this goes.

One World Under Doom #7. “Doom Versus Everyone” Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey did the cover art. Doom has been shown to be anything but a magnanimous ruler and that leads to some battles. Specifically, a good chunk of this issue featured Doom facing off against a magic-using Reed Richards. Huh?

C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #1. Written by Tom Taylor and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art was done by Daniele Di Nicuolo and Rain Beredo. I subscribed to this series because I love Tom Taylor’s writing so much. This feels like a younger book, but I enjoyed it anyway. We dive into the King Arthur legend again with this book.

Don’t Forget Your Briefcase #3. Written by Eliot Rahal and art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. Elmo, upset by everything going on around him with the briefcase, runs off and steals his mom’s car. Things do not go well after that. This is a really fun spy thriller book from Mad cave, which continues to be one of the most consistently good independent comic companies of 2025.

Survive #1. Written by Robert Venditti with art by Doug Braithwaite. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. A Russian submarine is sabotaged and we have more action beneath the ocean as the sub sinks. This feels like a cool story from comic company Bad Idea.

Captain America #3. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valero Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. Cap and Doom face off. First it seemed as if Doom respected Cap, but he is still playing the game. It is a brutal story that shows some of Cap’s naivety.

Absolute Batman #12. “Abomination Part Four” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. Whoa. Seems like Absolute Batman’s rogue gallery has come to the absolute universe in full force. Penguin, Killer Croc, Two Face, Riddler, Catwoman all made appearances here. And they are all tied to Bruce. This could be tough on Bruce.

Space Ghost #2. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. Eclipse Woman makes her return but winds up having to aid Space Ghost, Jan, Jace, and Blip.

Redcoat #14. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Cover art was done by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson. Fascinating issue as Simon Pure finds himself at the White House as it is burning and he helped first lady Dolley Madison rescue a portrait of George Washington. The ghost of George Washington is on his way.

Batman: Dark Patterns #10. “The Child of Fire” Part 1. Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman (Gold Medalist). This starts the final arc of this series, which is an absolute shame because Dark Patterns has been exceptional Batman work. This issue of Dark Patterns is quite literally FIRE!

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #2. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. The duo from Ice Cream Man continues their trip into Superman. The new kryptonite has caused some new troubles for Superman. Specifically, making him a kaiju sized giant.

The Undead Iron Fist #1. Written by Jason Loo and art by Fran Galan. Cover art was done by Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair. Danny Rand is back from the dead and I really loved this first issue of this new series. A great new redesign of the Iron Fist costume and a guest appearance for Miles Morales made the issue epic.

Blue Falcon and Dynomutt #1. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and art by Pasquale Qualano. Cover A art was done by Lucio Parrillo (Silver Medalist) and cover D art was done by Francesco Mattina. The new Dynamite book featuring the Hanna Barbera super hero is great and we have an origin for Dynomutt kicking off the book.

The Punisher: Red Band #1. Written by Benjamin Pearcy and art by Julius Ohta. Cover A art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. I also got Cover B by Frank Miller. The new Punisher book is excellent. It takes place, I believe, in the time frame of The World to Come, but you could not tell by this issue. It was great to see Frank Castle back in the outfit. This was quite bloody and might be the first Marvel “Red Band” book that really deserved it.

Project Chimera: The Hero Trade #2. Written by Matt Kindt and art by David Lapham. Corey Wolfe did the cover art. I did not know that this was the just a two-issue series so when it all wrapped up in the book, I was very surprised. I did enjoy this very much and I would have liked it to continue.

Transformers #24. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer did the cover art. This was a huge final fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron. I say final, but I don’t actually mean that. There is no way that was their last fight. However, it was a huge boss battle. It was the final issue for Daniel Warren Johnson who has been with the book since the beginning.

Exceptional X-Men #13. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Federica Mancin. Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard did the cover art. This is the final issue of Exceptional X-Men, which makes me sad. I have enjoyed the Kitty Pryde/Emma Frost team. I do not know if it is coming back after the Age of Revelation. It felt like an end to the series.

Wolverines and Deadpools #3. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Roge Antonio. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio and Mattia Iacono. This short series came to an end. It was a fun little series with the father-daughter tandems working together to stop the Shadow King. Ellie even broke the fourth wall.

Red Hulk #8. “Allies” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Geoff Shaw. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw and Marte Gracia. Thunderbolt Ross is going through a ton of stuff. However, Machine Man, Deathlok and Wildstreak are there to help him.

Racer X #1. Written by Mark Russell and art by Nuno Plati. Cover art was done by Francesco Tomaselli. Another book that falls into the world of Speed Racer. Racer X is Speed’s supposedly dead brother. Racer X is a fun series and I am curious to see how it crosses over with Speed Racer.

Other books this week: Spider-Verse vs. Venom-verse #5, Imperial War- Nova: Centurion #1, Blood Type #4, Powers 25 #1, Superior Avengers #6, Blood & Thunder #5 and X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1.

Quick Hits: Todd picked me up Maria Llovet’s Artificial #1, a new romance book with robots to purchase for dates. It is kind of a sexy book. Tama #2 wound up with the Bronze Medalist this week. There were more Kong action with Return to Skull Island #3. Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #4 sees Trinity searching for Damian corgi by heading to a timeline where Batman is getting married to Catwoman. Hello Darkness #14 has its horror once again. Godzilla is busy this week with both Godzilla (Kai-Sei Era) #2 and Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #4. There are a bunch of Godzilla books available these days. Eddie Brock: Carnage #8 sees the problems continue to rise between Carnage and Eddie Brock. Ultimate Wolverine #9 brings out the Sentinels. Conan the Barbarian #24 has a tough loss for Conan. The book Cul-De-Sac #2 from Bad Idea came out this week too. I still have liked The Unchosen #3 more. I was not a fan of number one, but this has improved each issue.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #169

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September 7

It’s Sunday night and I am finally getting to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. One of the big reasons was I went to Hamilton on Saturday at Cinemark. It was a three hour chunk of time, which took a lot of reading time away. It was worth it though as Hamilton was awesome. I have seen it before on Disney + but I found it was very emotional. I found myself tearing up in the first several songs, and i was not sure why. Then Sunday so far has been catching up on other shows that I needed to see.

I have now made my way to the comics.

Big Week for both Batman and Spider-Man.

Books this week:

Batman #1. Written by Matt Fraction and art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. There were a ton of foil covers available, as well as special ones inside the Blind as a Bat Bag, which I had one. In fact, inside the blind bag was a medal winner this week done by Julian Totino Tedesco (Silver Medalist). That foil cover also has an error on the back cover, spelling ISSUE with two I’s. Matt Fraction’s Batman issue was fabulous and fully engaging and I am excited to read this book with Fraction leading the way.

Amazing Spider-Man #11. “Broken Mirror” and “Broken Man“. Both of the stories were written by Joe Kelly and story one was penciled by John Romita Jr. while story two had art by Pepe Larraz. The cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. Along with that, I picked up a variant cover with art by Lee Bermejo (Gold Medalist). Things are setting up with the Spider-story as we find out why there are two Spideys on earth and exactly where the real Peter Parker is. This is the Legacy number 975.

Everything Dead & Dying #1. Written by Tate Brombal and artwork and cover art by Jacob Phillips. A new zombie story told in one of the more original ways. This was an excellent issue that takes something that has been done to death (pardon the pun) and found a new way to present it. There are some disturbing imagery in the book, which is beautifully presented. It is another big new independent book from Image.

Uncanny X-Men #20. “Battle in Buenos Aires.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Luciano Vecchio. Cover art was done by David Marquez and Matthew Wilson. Logan and Ransom head off to aid Ransom’s half brother and they wind up in lots of trouble. Who would have guessed?

Avengers #30. “Into the Rupture.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Fred Karami. Cover art was done by CAFU. The Avengers recruit the X-Men for help in protecting earth as the Avengers head out into the cosmos after the missing moment. They come across Marvel Zombies.

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #2. “Jackpot” Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nikola Scott. Scott G. Kwok did the cover art. Cheetah and Cheshire are in the market for team members to help them break into the Watchtower. Who might be crazy enough to take them up on that offer?

Doctor Strange #450. A special issue featuring several stories of Doctor Strange written by some of the best writers in comics including J. Michael Straczynski, Roger Stern, Christian Ward, Derek Landry and Ashley Allen. Cover art was done by Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. This will lead into a new Dr. Strange series due soon.

All-New Venom#10. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura Martin did the cover art. Mary Jane has some deep discussions with the Venom symbiote as she is reevaluating her life and her choices. Long ago scars are examined.

Closer #1. Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Steve Lieber. Cover art was done by Steve Lieber & Tamra Bonvillain. This is a one shot issue that I enjoyed tremendously. It was about a woman who is snatched because it seemed as if she was causing birds to appear. It was a cool little story that was nice to read without any other major events.

Ghostbusters: Dead man’s Chest #4. Written by David M. Booher and art was done by Aviv Or. Cover art was done by Ethan M. Aldridge. The story with the new crew of Ghostbusters come to a close a few weeks away from Talk Like a Pirate Day. This should have been released on Sept. 17 in line with the holiday! Arrrrrr.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #11. “The Verdict is In.” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes (Bronze Medalist). District Attorney Hale thoughts things were going his way in the trial of the TMNT. Then everything came off the rails.

Star Wars: Han Solo- Hunt for the Falcon #1. Written by Rodney Barnes and art by Ramon Rosanas. Cover art was done by Ramon Rosanas and GURU-eFX. Han Solo is one of my favorite characters in Star Wars and seeing him in an adventure in space searching for his old bucket of nuts, The Millennium Falcon is right up my alley.

Tin Can Society #8. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was by Francesco Mobili & Chris Chuckry. This is an awesome issue where our heroes spend the entire book trying to get to the water’s surface after their sub sank. It was tremendously stressful with a limited amount of words. Beautifully illustrated issue with a bunch of underwater imagery.

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #4. Written by Brian Buccellato and art by Christian Duce. Christian Duce and Luis Guerrero did the cover art. Godzilla vs. Superman rematch and Supes is, once again, in some trouble. However, maybe the Man of Steel and the King of Monsters have other troubles they will need to face.

White House Robot Romance #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated and cover art by Rachael Stott. I thought this new DSTLRY book was a one-shot, but it has another issue (knowing DSTLRY, I’ll get it some time in 2026). This is a lot of fun with these service robots who are here to protect the president of the US end up falling in love. How does that fit with their programming? Chip Zdarsky is great as always.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #12. “The Haunting of the Wrecker” Part One. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. The Wrecker comes to see Moon Knight at the Midnight Mission to ask for help with… ghosts? I like this start of a new arc for Moon Knight that features Scarlet Scarab.

Wolverine #13. “Godfather for a Day.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art and cover art by Martin Coccolo. Logan gets a call from Donna Angelica Andiamo, a mob leader in Chicago that Logan owes a favor. This led to a fun issue of Wolverine that helped bring things down after the mental manipulation of Mastermind. This was a nice little issue between Mastermind and the upcoming Age of Revelation.

Other books this week: Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #6, It’s Jeff & Other Marvel Tails #1, Tramps of the Apocalypse #3, Ancestral Recall #2, Charlemagne Tha God Presents ILLuminati #3, FML #6, Silverhawks #7, and Look Into My Eyes #2.

Quick Hits: Sam and Twitch case Files #17 finally bring Sam and Twitch back together, which was a welcome few scenes. Laura Kinney Wolverine #10 is the final issue before the Age of Revelation and Laura Kinney becomes known as Sabretooth. More Stra Trek crew members die in Star Trek: Red Shirts #2 from IDW. Telling a story of the historically doomed is a neat idea. TexArcanum #2 keeps up with the Western meets supernatural flair. After the success of X-Men’97, we get Spider-Man ’94 #1 continuing the story from the animated series that ended in 1994 with a huge cliffhanger. Another new Superman book called Adventures of Superman: Book of El #1 was dropped this week. I am not sure where it is supposed to fit in continuity, if it even is. The War #2 came out this week with only one cool cover unlike issue one which had a bunch that I had to buy. Dynamite released Captain Planet and the Planeteers #4 this week. Rocketfellers #8 continues to tell the future story that is actually the Rocketfellers past. Time travel makes my head hurt. Magik #9 keeps on marching along. I assume it has maybe one more issue to go before Age of Revelation. Absolute Superman #11 has some frightening images of Brainiac while the other Absolute title this week, Absolute Green Lantern #6, was not as entertaining. Ultimate X-Men #19 feels as if it is coming to an end soon. Maybe I am mistaken about that but the Peach Momoko book had the feel of a conclusion coming. I do not understand where the Imperial War saga going on falls in continuity. Is it going on now or is it a possible future tale? Imperial War: Exiles #1 makes me feel as if it is in time with the X-Men books as Xavier and Illyana are here. That annoys me. Sisterhood #3 continued its sorority story. I got the penultimate issue of Don’t Run With Scissors #3 which has been a bloody good time. Phantom Road #15 is the last issue of this series until 2026. Great. As if it isn’t difficult enough to follow, now I have to wait several months for the next issue.

The Toxic Avenger (2023)

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The Toxic Avenger was a B-movie from 1984 that became a cult classic on cable. The character of Toxie has stuck around in different formats over the years. Now, we get a new version of The Toxic Avengers in 2025. Technically.

The film has been on the shelf for the last couple of years looking for studio to release it. Finally we get the film released.

Janitor Winston Gooze (Peter Dinklage) discovered that he had a progressive brain cancer that would kill him in the next year. In desperation, Winston approached his company’s head, Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), for help. Bob brushes him off. Winston gets shot and dumped into the ooze, and he is transformed into a freaky new creature, The Toxic Avenger.

The creators and actors in this new version of The Toxic Avenger know exactly what type of movie this is and they carry themselves as such. The original movie was a huge B-movie and this film echoes that as well. Everything about the film makes you think this is a low-budget, over-the-top, low level film with the exception of the cast.

This movie has a big time cast. Not only do we get Peter Dinklage as Winston and Kevin Bacon as Bob, but we also get Justin Tremblay as Wade, Winston’s step-son, Taylour Paige as J.J. Doherty, and Elijah Wood as Bob’s brother Fritz.

This movie could have easily just done a big budget film and make it more straightforward, but that would have lost the tone of the original, which this film was trying to emulate. The story was silly and a lot of the dialogue was just bad at times. However, the actors played into the story in a way that you could tell that it was part of the joke. It was one of those film that didn’t care that it had stupid moments because it was meant to be that way. This film embraced the silliness and stupidity.

A perfect example is Kevin Bacon’s performance. He is chewing the scenery so much that you can tell he is having the time of his life. I should also mention that when Winston is transformed into Toxie, Peter Dinklage only does voice over. British actress Luisa Guerreiro is doing the physical performance of Toxie in the makeup.

This is the type of movie that will divide the audience. You have to be able to watch this understanding that it is a B-movie (at best) and that they are playing into that. This is a lot of fun. Yes, it will never win any awards, but you can have a good time if you let yourself.

3.3 stars

EYG Comic Cavalcade #167

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August 24

We are back on Sundays with the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Started back at school last week, which limits the amount of reading time I have. There is also a bunch of books seemingly every week.

I received my pack of number ones from the special sale that went on at Midtown Comics. I picked up a huge pile of books, mostly independents, that were fun to own. These include Sherlock Holmes The Dark Detective: Knights of Frankenstein #1, Spider-Man: 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga #1, The Future is ****** #1, Murder Kingdom #1, Stuff of Nightmares #1, NXT Takeover: Redemption #1, Voices in my Head #1, Long Cold Winter #1, Spectrum #1, Zenescope: Myths & Monsters Spring Edition 2025 #1, The Donald Who Laughs vs. Dark Brandon #1, Revolution #1, Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #1 (SDCC Special), Union Jack #1, Sentinel Vol. 1 #1, Seven Years in Darkness: Year Three #1, Snaps #1, Holmes & Houdini: The Curse of Moriarty #1, The Airship #1, Archie is Mr. Justice #1, The Purpose Project #1, Snow Owl #1, Slingers #1, Night of the Slashers #1, and Teddy Scares #1.

Books this week:

Where the Body Was graphic novel. Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips. Brubaker and Phillips have teamed up for several excellent graphic novels over the years and this is another brilliant one. It is a story about a murder in a small area of a town and the cast of characters that lived there. The GN is told via several different characters giving their POV. It made it feel like it was a mystery documentary with older versions of these characters sharing their remembrances of the events. I grabbed this off Amazon Prime and I loved it.

Spider-Girl #3. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and art by Andre Risso. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Spider-Girl gains a new villain called Paper Doll and she is sufficiently creepy. I have liked the new Spider-Girl so far and hopefully it will continue to provide her with her own group of villains and not just play off of Spider-Man’s group.

Justice League Red #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Clayton Henry. Clayton Henry and Matt Herms did the cover art. Red Tornado organizes a crew of Justice League Members for a clandestine group to handle events that the normal JL could not. So far we get Power Girl and a Green Lantern. The cover indicates that Deadman, and Cyborg will be joining them.

The New Avengers #3. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. Bucky, Natasha, Clea, Namor and Wolverine try to recruit someone else into their team… Bruce Banner. Problem is… they have to go through the Incredible Hulk.

Drawing Blood #8. Written by David Avallone and art by Ben Bishop. Kevin Eastman did the cover art. After quite a long intermission, Drawing Blood has returned only to find Books in real terrible shape. Bad enough shape that he is considering ending it all.

Detective Comics #1100. 1100? Why hasn’t this been rebooted back to issue one? Such a huge number…. it has several Batman stories and my favorite one is the one written by Tom Taylor (go figure…). This story features all silence as Batman helps a kid who is deaf and who uses sign language.

Wolverine #12. “Mother and Master.” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Martin Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine faces off with Mastermind who has been pretending to be Logan’s long dead mother. It is a very emotional and difficult time for Logan.

Exceptional X-Men #12. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Federica Mancin. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. The search for the missing Kitty Pryde starts here after she fell into a portal opened by Reggie.

Escape #1. “Only One Way Out.” Written by Rick Remender with art and cover art by Daniel Acuna. Intriguing book from Rick Remender. It has a Maus feel to it. We have a story about a war and the violence that we commit. However, it is told with anthropomorphic animals in a very gritty and brutal manner. I am curious to see where this goes.

All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Marte Gracia. I also picked up variant cover D with cover art by Nogi San. I love the new Spider-Gwen book as she returned to her pre-symbiote and cosmic powers trip back to the days of having to deal with things on her own. Plus, she gets back on the drums. Very good start for this new volume of Spider-Gwen.

Nightwing #129. “Other” Finale. Written by Dan Watters and art by Dexter Soy. Cover art was done by Dexter Soy and Adriano Lucas. I also picked up a variant cover B with art by Jorge Fornes (Gold Medalist). The imp that has taken over Titans Tower storyline comes to a close here as one of the kids from one of the gangs plays a big role as a new “hero?”

Wild Animals #2. Written by Ed Brisson and art and cover art by Andy Kuhn. I loved issue one of this book, but I was wondering if issue two could keep up the excellence. I am happy to say that I loved issue two as much as I did number one. It is full of tense action and character development and I just enjoy it so much. Mad Cave has been one of the best publishers this year.

Absolute Batman #11. “Abomination Part Three” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Clay Martin. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin. We get an entire issue dedicated to the story of the Absolute Bane. He is very brutal and rough in this world.

The Vision & the Scarlet Witch #4. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Jacopo Camagni. Russell Dauterman did the cover art. Vision and Wanda square off with the Grim Reaper. Vision is finding this more difficult than usual.

Amazing Spider-Man #10. Written by Joe Kelly and guest artist Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz (Bronze Medalist). Spider-Man is acting way different than usual. Peter Parker has a new attitude. Something weird is going on… especially when we see Spider-Man and Peter face off with each other. Wha?

Black Cat #1. Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. Black Cat has to step in as a local superhero because of Spider-Man’s weird behavior. New Black Cat series with Felicia narrating the story… seemingly breaking the fourth wall. I do love the character of Black Cat so I hope this continues to be good. G. Willow Wilson is an exceptional writer so I am sure Felicia is in good hands.

Marvel All-On-One: The Thing vs. the Marvel Universe #1. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer and Marcio Menyz. It seems everybody these days are either vs. or killing the Marvel Universe. Deadpool, Godzilla, The Predator and now Ben Grimm aka The Thing. This is an interesting book as every page of the issue is a splash page making this one of the more original books of the week.

Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1. Written by Christian Ward and art by Tristan Jones. Cover art was by Jeffrey Alan Love. Inspired by the Paramount Pictures film, this was not a book that I intended on picking up, but it turned out to be a curiosity pick-up. It is a sci-fi/horror book with a pretty decent start.

Los Monstruos #4. Written by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Cover art was done by Jesus Merino with R.J. Diaz. This monster noir featuring Perry Cutter, a werewolf private detective ended with this issue as everything played out, revealing the truth behind the mystery. I did enjoy this series from Dark Horse. It was an original idea and it was fun.

Space Quest #4. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover art was done by Mark Spears (Silver Medalist). The long delayed team up between Space Ghost and Jonny Quest came to its finale this week as Jonny was able to get back to his own timeline. This book suffered from the long issues Dynamite had with Diamond, but it is nice that it was able to finally wrap up.

G.I. Joe #10. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Andrea Milana. Cover art was done by Tom Reilly. Hey Cobra… look behind you! There is an awesome final page of this issue that solidifies what the book has been building to. Oh and Cover Girl gets murdered by the Baroness… psyke!

Exquisite Corpses #4. Written by Che Grayson with James Tynion IV and art by Adam Gorham with Michael Walsh. Cover art by Michael Walsh. The contest of killers continues in the pages of Exquisite Corpses. This is one of the most entertaining books every month, though I still have some issues with knowing who is who. Large cast books with all new characters can be tough at times.

Eat Your Young #1. Written by Brian Buccellato with art and cover art by Mattia Monaco. Another new Mad Cave book that sets up a wild new premise. Edmond Irons, the Alpha, has decided that, after 2000 years as the Alpha, he was ready to pass the mantel along to one of his children. Edmond decided to choose his successor, who needs to drink Edmond’s heart-blood. An amazingly creative premise and enjoyable read.

This Ends Tonight #2. Written by Gerry Duggan, Kelvin Mao and Robert Windom with art by Jae Lee. Cover art was done by Jae Lee & Tula Lotay. Bachelorette party !!! Of course, things are not going to turn out well.

The Department of Truth #33. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. This Hatman is a terrifying creature and I think it is one of the best new characters from this book.

They Choose Violence #3. Written by Sheldon Allen and illustrated by Mauricio Campetella. Cover art was done by Rahzzah. Laneka, Deidre and Karen head out west to track down another racist… only they find out that there are some troubles waiting.

Tales of the Shadowman #1. “Stones in a Glass House.” Written by AJ Ampadu and art by Sergio Monjes. Cover art done by Damian Connelly. Here was another new book that I saw on the stand and decided to grab for the heck of it. I think Shadowman was a character from Valiant Comics already, but I have never seen him. I really liked him.

Absolute Flash #6. “Absolute Flash Interlude: The Rogues.” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art was done by Nick Robles. This must be the Absolutes villain week, because we had Bane story in Absolute Batman and in Absolute Flash we focus in on the Rogues Gallery.

Other books this week: Superman Unlimited #4, Toxie Team-Up #3, The Chamberlains #3, Dark Honor #4, Ultimate Black Panther #19, New Gods #9, The Seasons #7, and Endless Night #3.

Quick Hits: So I thought that Grim #24 was going to be the final issue of this series, but it looks like it has one more to go. It is the final issue of The Terminator with The Terminator #10. We get to meet John Connor at the end of the issue. Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #2 sees Dr. Strange help send Godzilla into the Negative Zone. I don’t think that is a good choice. There is stunning artwork in Hyde Street #8. Ivan Reis does a sensational job creating images that pop in the horror book. A little girl is saved in Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #3. I liked this little story from Krypto’s past. It was fun because when I was at Bettendorf getting my books, I had several dark and scary books and then I got Darkwing Duck #5. One of these things doesn’t go with the others. Luke, Han and Leia all come together in Star Wars #4. I am excited to see them together once again. It has been awhile since I had one of these books and Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #9 came out. The space epic of Imperial #3 is picking up. I am still not a fan of possible future stories, but Imperial feels different. Another beautifully illustrated book is Venom: Red, Black and Blood #1. Then Ghost Pepper #2 is full of action and has been a lot of fun. Psylocke #10 brings that series to a conclusion. The last few issues have not been great for me, but I did like the first half of this series.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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August 22

My school’s open house on Thursday made it impossible to get down to Bettendorf to get my comics, so I could not do the comic covers yesterday. Henceforth…Friday!

Then, trying to get to In This Issue Comic tonight was a nightmare. Between an off-ramp that I always take being closed and a wreck on the alternate path, it was crazy. Other cars frustrated the heck out of me and I may have uttered a curse word or fifty. I was battling the clock too since the shop closed at 5. I made it with about 30 minutes to spare.

Good week of covers. One variant. Two original covers. One of two covers by our cover artist leader for 2025.

Also-Rans: Hyde Street #8, Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #9, Superman Unlimited #4, All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1 (Cover D), They Choose Violence #3, The Department of Truth #33, Escape #1, All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1, The Vision & Scarlet Witch #4, and Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton #3.

Bronze Medalist

Amazing Spider-Man #10

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

I loved the design of this cover as it is made to look like the Daily Bugle featuring a story on the “Brutal Side of Spider-Man.” I love the creativity of the concept and the design.

Silver Medalist

Space Quest #4

Cover art by Mark Spears

Another wonderful Spears cover featuring Space Ghost and Jonny Quest. There is a haunting look in the eyes of Jonny and the ghost-like qualities of Space Ghost standout beautifully. I love the smokey background and the colors too. Just an all around strong cover.

Gold Medalist

Nightwing #129

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Jorge Fornes

I saw this on the rack in Bettendorf today and this one too my breath away. I already had the A cover, but I could not turn away from this amazing piece of art. It wins a really strong week.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #166

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August 15

This will be the final Comic Cavalcade that comes out early because I return to school as of Tuesday next week for inservice work. I have enjoyed getting this column out on Fridays or early Saturday, but with the vast amount of books I get a week, the time to read will be cut with school underway. We are looking at best case scenario moving ahead as getting the post out on Sunday afternoon or early the next week.

I got my first order from Midtown Comics in the mail on Wednesday. It was just about a week from order to delivery, which I think is fantastic. I got a bunch of books that were signed by creators. This included Exquisite Corpse #1 Cover B signed by James Tynion IV, Strange Adventures #1 signed by Tom King, The Lucky Devils #1 Cover L signed by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne, You’ll Do Bad Things #1 Cover F signed by Tyler Boss, We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us #1 Cover M signed by Matthew Rosenberg and Exquisite Corpses #2 Virgin Cover D signed by James Tynion IV.

I picked up a whole bunch of back issues of Mad Magazine in the #410 range. There were some fun things in these and I think I may look into this as something new to buy. gabbed

I grabbed a few series too this week. At Comic World, I picked up Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1-3 and a Peter Parker series #1-5. Cover on issue two of that Peter Parker series is done by Skottie Young, which was lovely.

Books this week:

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1. Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. This series introduces a new group of Kryptonite colors and Superman wants to test them out on himself so see how they affects him. He goes to get help from Batman. This is a new Superman series from the creators of Ice Cream Man and it was great.

Pinupocalypse #5. Written, drawn and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. Pinupocalypse is such a hoot. Every issue is getting better with each issue. This is the penultimate issue of this series and Foxy and Roxy are back together. I will miss this one when it is done.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #5. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillard and Michelle Madsen. The finale of the series turned out great as Rennie wrapped things up, saving her roommate Sofie. Sofie’s discovery of Rennie’s actions may be a surprising take. I really enjoyed this series from Image.

Giant-Size X-Men #2. “What You Are.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Adam Kubert. Cover art was done by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin. The whole Ms. Marvel/Legion timeline shenanigans storyline came to an end. So the answer to whether they were changing history is answered here. Kamala remembered what happened, but the world at large does not. I am not sure why that was done. Most of these felt inconsequential. It’s fine.

Bug Wars #6. “Lost in the Yard.” Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar and Matthew Wilson. Another series that came to an end this week as Bug Wars wrapped its story of the front yard up. Bug Wars was decent, but not my most favorite work from Jason Aaron. Lots of world building required.

Batman: Dark Patterns #9. “Pareidolia Part Four” Written by Dan Watters and art from Hayden Sherman. Variant cover B art done by Ashley Wood (Gold Medalist). This storyline wrapped up with the truth about what was happening. This issue is tremendous. Really enjoyed this arc.

The Slasher’s Apprentice #4. Written by Justin Richards and art and cover art by Val Halvorson. Riley is looking for ways to make the Hopton Valley Killer more relevant, not something that is thrilling HVK. She is online looking for ideas of other killers. One more issue of this series and I expect it to be a great finish.

X-Men #20. “A Civilized Discussion.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia (Silver Medalist). Cyclops and Lundqvist wind up in a jail cell and have it out over their troubles. Definitely a lot of fun.

Lovestruck #1. Written by MC Foley & Don Handfield and illustrated by Alonso Molina. A surprising new series from Amp Comics (never heard of them before). The main protagonist accidentally runs down a man dressed as Cupid, and Cupid haunts her after that. It was an interesting start to the series.

Space Ghost #1. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Variant cover art was done by Alex Ross (Bronze Medalist). A new volume of Space Ghost kicked off with a new arc. Space Ghost has been a great book in the first book at Dynamite and I think this started off well.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #36. “God War Part V” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Marco Renna. Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. I am very happy that this whole God War storyline with Miles, as well as the plot point of Miles as an avatar for the god Anansi has come to an end. It has not been my favorite arc for Miles.

The Unchosen #2. Written, drawn and cover art by David Marquez. After picking up the first issue of this series, I was underwhelmed. However, it did look good so I was going to give it another issue try. Issue two was so much better and I was much more entertained and engrossed with this issue. I am pleased with the way this has gone.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #3. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. This issue included the Ultimate X-Men in a book without the art by Peach Momoko. I do love Peach Momoko, but these characters looked so much better with them meeting Miles Morales.

Daredevil #24. “Rites of Reconciliation“ Part Five. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Jose Luis Soares. Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove. Honestly, the story was fine, but this has the most boring cover of the week. Daredevil and Elektra are working together.

The Ultimates #15. Written by Deniz Camp and guest artist was Von Randal. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. It is the Ultimate Iron Fist! He is very much like Shang Chi too. She-Hulk is ready to do some Hulk ass kicking. The Ultimates are building towards the Maker.

Cul-De-Sac #1. “Chapter 1: All That Eat Get Eaten.” Written by Mike Carey and art by Jonathan Wayshak. New book from Bad Idea Comics and, so far, these books have been hits for me. This was a very difficult book to find. Todd was only able to find a couple of copies in all of Des Moines. I’m glad he got it.

New Champions #8. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Ivan Fiorelli & Arthur Hesli. This is the final issue of the New Champions. I liked this book but it was iffy with some of these characters. Too many that were just kid versions of the main heroes. Still, I would keep buying this if they continued.

Fantastic Four #2. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The time spanning FF adventure continues, and they try to get back to Doom. However, things do not go that well.

Other books this week: Transformers #23, The Power Fantasy #11, The Powerpuff Girls: Supervillain Summer Spectacular #1, Blood Type #3, We Don’t Kill Spiders: Season of the Witch #1, and Blood & Thunder #4.

Quick Hits: Another Godzilla book released this week with Godzilla: Here There be Aliens #3. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar team up. Captain Planet and the Planeteers #3 is working really well at Dynamite. The next book in the bad guys series is Bring on the Bad Guys: Red Skull #1. It is down to just to more of these books including Dormammu and Mephisto. Conan the Barbarian #23 came out with more excellent Cimmerian action. This week’s Zdarsky Comic News #14 was taken over by Ryan Stegman and he changed the title to Steg Man’s Health. The creepy story of Buried Long, Long Ago #4 really picked up more. I had been slipping away from this series a bit, but this issue pulled me back again. Laura Kinney: Wolverine #9 brings back Gabby for more action. Magik #8 keeps Illyana and Dani together despite some struggles. I had not planned on buying the series, but after I bought Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #1 I might have changed my mind. More corgi rescue action in Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #3. This felt like Groundhog Day. Baseball and vampire finished up in Past Time #5 with yet another great cover. Muse in Eddie Brock: Carnage #7 is great. I love Muse as a villain and he feels like a perfect villain for Carnage. I got a back issue from Todd of Silver Surfer #1 from December 1988 which is from Epic Comics. Disney/Marvel cross events continued with Uncle Scrooge: Earth’s Mightiest Duck #1. Finally, my least favorite Spider-Man book, Spider-Man & Wolverine #4 is out. I have really found this to be a weak series overall.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #165

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August 7

Hey there. Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. Lots of stuff to discuss this week.

last Friday, I had been invited to a special sale at the comic shop that I go to in Bettendorf. They had received a big collection of back issues, many silver age, and they made it a special night for those of us who are on their pull list. We received invitations and had first crack at the books. It was such a cool idea and it was fun. Lots of others there, shoulder to shoulder, going through these boxes.

I picked up some fun stuff, such as some Marvel Team-Up early issues, a four issue mini-series featuring Shazam written by Jeff Smith (of Bone fame), Daredevil #45, almost the entire run of American Vampire 1976, a six-issue series called Powerless, Amazing Spider-Man #130, and number 1, 2, & 3 of a 1970s Marvel series called Spoof.

It was cool to be involved in this special night. One of the other customers came dressed as Dr. Doom. They had on the wall where they usually had the new books, the big ticket items that I knew I wasn’t getting. The standout there for me was Amazing Spider-Man #129 in the CGC slab, rated 9.4. It was up for $2300. When I was there today getting new books, the guy there working said it had sold yesterday.

This week I also picked up a bunch of Incredible Hulk books from Todd at Comic World. I had some excess space in my Hulk box so I rummaged through those to pick up some older Hulks.

Books this week:

Amazing Spider-Man #9. Written by Joe Kelly and with art by guest artist Michael Dowling. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. After Spidey got his butt handed him by Hellgate last issue, Peter is gun shy and not ready to come back as Spidey. Again, I have problems with this characterization because this feels very much opposite to who Peter Parker is as a character. I hope that by the end, that has straightened itself out.

One World Under Doom #6. “The Conscience of the King.” Written by Ryan North with art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. It is a worldwide debate between Doctor Doom and Reed Richards. I have to say, about half way through the book, I was feeling like I was on Team Doom. Thankfully, Reed had an ace up his stretchy sleeve from the other Avengers. This was a cool issue and showed the other side of the argument quite well.

Captain America #2. “Our Secret Wars Part 2” Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. I also picked up the negative space variant by John Tyler Christopher. The story of Steve Rogers initial return from the ice continues. We did not know that there had been a replacement Captain America at the time, and they went to Latveria on a mission to face off with Doom. Zdarsky is an excellent writer and this seems to fall right into a strength for him.

Red Hulk #7. “Lab Rat.” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Jethro Morales. Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Thunderbolt Ross is being tortured in one of the most horrendous ways possible. This book could be considered ‘body horror’ and it fits right in with some of the other Hulk books of recent times.

Something is Killing the Children #43. “All Her Monsters Part Three” Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated by Werther Dell’edera. Dell’edera also did the virgin variant cover art. I picked up the foil variant cover too by Suspiria Vilchez (Gold Medalist). The flashback storyline with younger Erica continued as monsters are ravaging another small town with another young girl who saw it happen. I have really enjoyed this storyline with Erica as a younger person.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #11. “Birthday.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Domenico Carbone. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Happy birthday to Marc Specter!!! And it is a party! I liked this issue because it goes around with several of the side characters and they are speaking to someone who is with them. It feels like they are speaking to us (though it turned out to be Mon Knight’s daughter). Creative use of POV.

Blink and You’ll Miss It #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan and illustrated by Keith Browning. Cover art was done by Keith Browning with Brad Simpson. This was one of my favorite books this week. Certainly the best of the new books this week. It is from Boom! Studios and it has a very mysterious and creepy vibe to it. I was thoroughly engaged with it.

Project Chimera: The Hero Trade #1. Written by Matt Kindt and art by David Lapham. Cover art was done by David Lapham and Bill Crabtree. Another really good new book, this one from Bad Idea. There are twins who have some kind of super powers and they are being kept prisoners (unbeknownst to them) because of the dangers. We follow the story through the eyes of two of the people responsible for keeping them. It is presented in black and white, which helps create a definite tone for this book.

Uncanny X-Men #19. “Skin Condition.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. Deadpool and Outlaw make guest appearances in this book. I really have loved Gail Simone’s work on Uncanny. I love the characters she has, I love her new characters that she has introduced and I find the stories extremely fun, emotional and intelligent. I included a pic of this cover because Todd said he hated it. *Smiley face*

Hello Darkness #13. This has a several stories in this issue, all featuring a form of zombies. The cover I have is a variant done by Jenny Frison. My favorite of the stories this issue was entitled “Zag-Aftra.”

Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #1. “Chapter 1” Written by Greg Rucka and art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. I do love me a heist film and this comic is setting up a huge heist. Cheetah & Cheshire stealing from the Watchtower. This started with some great character work and setting up what we are going to get. Very good new DC book.

Don’t Forget Yor Briefcase #2. Written by Eliot Rahal and art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. This is a ton of fun, but I have to say, there was a section in the book that was a flashback to Kabul, Afghanistan that seemed to have the characters featured as puppets. It was a weird little tangent inside the story about the missing nuclear ‘football.’ Who wouldn’t check in the dryer? Hm.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #3. Written by Charles Soule and art and cover art by Steve McNiven. One of the best comics of the week was Cold Day in Hell, the finale of the three-issue mini series featuring an old version of Daredevil battling older Bullseye. Frank Castle is here too (though he is in poor shape, to be fair). What a great story with a fantastic ending. Charles Soule outdid himself on this book. I am not a big fan of future stories, but this one is right at the top of the list.

Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice #3. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. John continues to try and keep his past behind him, despite a hallucination that he was having of a young super hero (an old sidekick perhaps) and Dr. Mayhem unleashing deadly viruses on a subway train. Has John finally reached the point of return?

Tama #1. Written by Adam Schlagman & Doug Pasko with art by Daniel HDR. Dustin Nguyen did the cover art. New independent book by Panick Comics. What happens when a grieving teen named Kit discovers a virtual pet named Tama that turns out to be more than what he expects? Lots of mayhem and chaos. This was an interesting first issue and a creative idea.

Return to Skull Island #2. Written by Simon Furman and art by Christopher Jones. Cover art by The Knott. Kong is in bad shape, but Monster Island has created a new alpha! Can Kong survive another fight?

Orla! #1. “Chapter One: The Ick.” Written by John Lees and art and cover art by Sally Cantirino. Orla is looking for love… or is she? Or is she just looking for loser guys to feed to her monster side? This was a fun book that kind of reminded me of a cross between Love Everlasting and Something is Killing the Children. Although it is more like Something is Eating the Adult Male Jerks. Another winner from Mad Cave.

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1. Written by Ethan S. Parker and art by Griffin Sheridan. Another new Godzilla series. There seems to be a new one every week. However, this one does not have much panel time for Godzilla. We are in the Deadzone, which was a devastated Seattle, Washington by Kaiju. We are following a human monster with a tail.

Other books this week: Napalm Lullaby #10, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #5, Marvel Rivals: Hellfire Gala #1, Secret Six #6, Thundercats #17 (Silver Medalist), w0rldtr33 #16, Superior Avengers #5, and Wolverine by Chris Claremont #1.

Quick Hits: Two Ultimate books this week as they continue to build to the return of the Maker. Ultimate Wolverine #8 featured the Ultimate Angel, who kicked ass, and the Ultimate X-Men #18. I missed Vision & Scarlet Witch #2 last month. Not sure how that happened, but issue two helped make more sense about issue #3 which I got last week. This week’s bronze medalist in the favorite covers of the week went to Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #4. Who would guess that Sonja and Ash would work together this well? Obviously Dynamite Comics would. More Dynamite was here with Silverhawks #6. Absolute Superman #10 and Absolute Green Lantern #5 were out this week too. I liked the GL book pretty well. Wolverines & Deadpools #2 shakes off the odor of too much Wolverine and Deadpool together to have a strong book. I think it is truly helped by Ellie and Laura’s presence. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #3 is setting up a big rematch between Superman and Godzilla. Todd got me The War #1 virgin variant cover that I debated about last week. I don’t know how a number one issue, reprinted from Hello Darkness, can have so many epic covers. The Thunder War continues in Storm #11. Mary Jane seems to have made a major decision in her life in All-New Venom #9. More ghost pirate action in Ghostbusters: Dead Man’s Chest #3. I grabbed AWA’s book Charlamagne Tha God Presents ILLuminati #1. It was surprisingly compelling. Finally Sisterhood: A Hyde Street Story #2 is setting up some sinister trouble at the sorority house.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #164

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July 31

July has just about come to a conclusion. It the world of comic books, this week is the fifth week of the month which means that many of the companies use it as a skip week. They drop annuals or not many huge books. There were still some good stuff released.

Books this week:

Spider-Man & Wolverine #3. “The Savage Hunt” Written by Marc Guggenheim with art by Kaare Andrews. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. I am still not happy with the way this book writes Spider-Man. I just do not feel that they understand the character of Spider-Man. His dialogue and actions just do not fit Spidey. Still, Spidey and Wolverine in the Savage Land is always fun.

Nightwing #120-125. I was able to finish reading the remaining post-Tom Taylor Nightwing run that I had picked up after I started collecting Nightwing with #126. While they are not equal to the Tom Taylor books, these were decent. I do like the character of Nightwing a lot.

One World Under Doom: G.O.D.S. #1. Written by Ryan North and art by Francesco Mortarino. Valerio Schiti & Federico Blee did the cover art. I collected the whole G.O.D.S. series but it was never a book that made a lot of sense. It was a tough read and so I was never connected to it. This was the first time that I really loved the characters from that book. Wyn and Mia were brought to life in the best way so far by Ryan North. I kind of would like a book with Wyn and Mia written by North.

The War #1. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Becky Cloonan. This is a reprint issue of the story The War from Hello Darkness. That part of Hello Darkness was not my most favorite story in that anthology, but it is definitely a premiere story. The covers on these are just spectacular. I nearly bought the main three covers, but I thought it was just too much for a book that was just a reprint. I left the Cover A on the shelf. Cover B was by Jay Shaw (Gold Medalist) and Cover C by Tula Lotay (Silver Medalist).

Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Sixteen #1. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Phil Noto. Terry and Rachel Dodson did the cover art. Superheroes and supervillains meet Hulu’s The Bear. Invites to all of these characters to come to the opening night of a new restaurant. Will it be a chaotic night or are they all just hungry enough to be on their best behaviors? This was a strange book.

Ultimate Spider-Man #19. Written by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto did the art. Marco Checchetto and Matthew Wilson did the cover art. Mary Jane is at her wits end and she is unhappy with Peter and Richard’s actions. She wants to be kept in the loop. That feels like some issue coming for the happy family.

Out of Alcatraz #5. “Boundary Bay.” Written by Christopher Cantwell and art and cover art by Tyler Crook. This has been a fantastic comic book from Oni Press. The fifth issue wraps up the story of the escapees of Alcatraz. It was an excellent conclusion, wrapping everything up in a satisfying manner, which is not always an easy thing to do.

Werewolf By Night: Blood Moon Rise #1. “Nail in the Coffin.” Written by Michael Giacchino with art by David Messina. Tyler Kirkham & Arif Prianto did the cover art. I guess this is not bloody enough for a red band, like the previous Werewolf by Night book (honestly, that last WBN book did not need to be a red band book either). I did not know that this book was written by Michael Giacchino, who is the composer of so many classic films and the director of the Marvel Studios special feature Werewolf By Night. This is always fun with the Werewolf By Night (and Dracula, btw).

Speed Racer #1. “Life in the Fast Lane” Written by David Pepose and art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. Mad Cave is pulling it best Dynamite Comics imitation by bringing up an old cartoon IP in a new style. In fact, David Pepose has done a lot of those Dynamite books. I like this book because it brought a new feel to this character.

The Ultimates #14. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. We get the Ultimates debut of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. It feels very much like their appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Great battle with the twins and Captain America and Hawkeye.

The Thing #3. “The King of Yancy Street Part Three“. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Justin Mason. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. The Thing is out to protect a little girl that is wanted by the criminal underworld. Thing fights off Bullseye and the Wrecking Crew. Thing looked kick ass in this issue, though trouble is coming at the end with an appearance by Juggernaut.

Incredible Hulk #27. “The Falling Down Tree.” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and penciled by Kev Walker. Nic Klein did the cover art. This was one of the best Hulk issues we have had in a long time. It had a different feel to it and I really enjoyed the depth of the story. Hulk and little boy. Good stuff.

Space Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover A art was done by Mark Spears (Bronze Medalist) and Cover B art was done by Joshua Middleton. Crossover between Space Ghost and Jonny Quest continues in this Dynamite Comics book as the kids swap places. Lots of Space Ghost villains appear too.

You’ll Do Bad Things #5. Written by Tyler Boss and art by Adriano Turtulici. Tyler Boss also did the cover art. Penultimate issue of this book places out people where they need to be for the big finale. Looked like the questions about our serial killer have been answered. We’ll see how it turns out next month.

Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1. Written by Marc Guggenheim & Mark Waid. Cian Tormey did the art for the cover. Time travelers are in trouble as the displaced heroes (and Jonah Hex) face the aftermath of the “We are Tomorrow” arc. I did like this crew together, including Plastic Man, Batman Beyond and Jonah Hex. This special did not feel like it wrapped anything up. In fact, it leaves things dangling for future books. We’ll see how things go for this group. I already get ore DC than I am used to.

Vision & Scarlet Witch #3. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta & Jacopo Camagni/ Russell Dauterman did the cover art. I like this book so far because it feels like a spiritual sequel to the Vision series by Tom King, which is one of my all-time favorite stories. With Vin Vision playing a role, this has some real emotion to it.

News from the Fallout #2. Written by Chris Condon and art by Jeffrey Alan Love. Cover art was done by Jeffrey Alan Love. What a great book this is. I love the mysterious story and the art absolutely keeps things uncertain and moody. Chris Condon consistently provides some original storytelling and books that are different than you are used to as this falls right into that category.

Nightwing Annual #1. “Death Trap.” Written by Dan Watters and drawn by and cover art by Francesco Francavilla. This annual spends time with Olivia Pearce and Commissioner Sawyer. No sign of Nightwing in the book, outside the final panel and some hints during some comics featuring the Grey Ghost. This was probably the best it was going to be without any sign of Nightwing.

Other books this week: Bring on the Bad Guys: Loki #1, Assorted Crisis Events #5, I, Tyrant #1, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1 Ashcan, and Missionary #3.

Quick Hits: The final issue of the Marvel/Disney What If…? books came out this week. What If…? Goofy Became Spider-Man #1 wrapped up this cute little crossovers. Anything but cute, Savage Wolverine #1 which is a one-shot (I believe) was very brutal and violent. Not the same as Goofy. The Terminator #9 returned after a length wait with a book that felt very much like T2: Judgment Day. Another returning book, but for different reasons, is The Lucky Devils #4. At the back of the issue, there was a conversation between Charles Soule and Ryan Browne about why the publication of this book stalled. Apparently, Ryan Browne suffered a stroke and was recovering. He still had trouble breaking the written word into a page to draw so they called in Zander Cannon to help with the art breakdown. Ryan Browne seems to be recovering, and they said the book would be released on a bi-monthly schedule to give them extra time. I certainly wish all the positive thoughts to Ryan Browne in his recovery. His art is still breathtaking and it was a shocking revelation. Get well soon! Moving on, Exquisite Corpses #1 released a third printing with an awesome cover, so I picked it up too. I am not sure I love this trend of reprinting books multiple times with amazing covers that make me want to spend more money on a book I already have. Diabolical! I picked up a book called 4th Rope #1 from a small company called Noir Caesar. It is about an intergalactic wrestling organization. Honestly, I love wrestling, but this issue did not appeal to me much. I am glad to own it. Crush Depth #5 and Dark Pyramid #5 both came to a conclusion this week with interesting issues. Both series from Mad Cave got weirder with each issue. Sam and Twitch Case Files #16 is pretty good as this arc seems to be coming to a conclusion soon. The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #2 featured the longest title of any book right now and included Dr. Jekyll. Zdarsky Comic News #13 came out, but I am missing #11 and #12. Not sure why they did not show up at my shop in Bettendorf. I’ll have to look again.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #163

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July 26

The last Comic Cavalcade of July is another biggie. There are a bunch of books this week that were A covers from Marvel books from last week that had not been delivered to Comic World. I had picked up most of them with variant covers last week. These included New Avengers #2, Ultimate Black Panther #18, The World To Come #2, Exceptional X-Men #11, Death of the Silver Surfer #2, and Spider-Girl #2.

Books this week:

Mark Spears Monsters #6. “No Such Thing as a Superhero.” Written, illustrated and cover art by Mark Spears. So, technically, this is one of next week’s books. This does not release until July 30, but I got it from Keenspot directly. This is ironic too because when I ordered #4 and 5 from Keenspot, it took FOREVER to receive the package of these books. With number six arriving early, it was such a neat surprise. I got the A, B, and C cover in the package.

Amazing Spider-Man #8. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. with Todd Nauck. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. I also got the retro vision variant version by Dan Panosian. Spidey’s battle continued on with Hellgate as Spidey struggled to try and stop the powerhouse.

Six Shots #1. “It’s Inside All of Us.” Written by Brian Phillipson & Jordan Lichtman with art and cover art by Alex Cormack. I got this via eBay this week. It is from a small time comic company called Bliss on Tap and Todd could not find it in Des Moines at all. It is a fascinating story involving a six gun and a demon. It is only a two part series so this is the first issue and the penultimate one.

X-Men: Age of Revelation #0. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia. Doug Ramsey is the heir of Apocalypse and this is a potential future that sees Doug, aka Revelation, joined the X-Men and seeing how things went badly quickly. This is leading to a huge X-Men crossover event in a few months. I will say, this was an interesting start.

Rocketfellers #7. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Francis Manapul and Siya Oum. Cover art was done by Francis Manapul. I also got the FF homage variant with art by Ramon Bachs. This story was a flashback…to the future??? Yes, this was a story that mostly took place in the Rocketfellers’ past, which would be the future to where they are now.

Runaways #2. “Think of the Children Part Two” Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Elena Casagrande and Roberta Ingramata. Cover art was done by Stephanie Hans. Chase is back and he brought the drama with him. Honestly, I found this to be an epic issue as the troubles between the Runaways was all over the place. This reminded me of the best of the Runaways.

Godzilla: Kai-Sei #1. Written by Tim Seeley with art and cover art by Nikola Čižmešija. Godzilla has been on fire in 2025, and this is yet another fun series from IDW. Tim Seeley has done some of my favorite books over the last few years and I am looking forward to seeing this progress. It feels like anew twist to a Godzilla story that we haven’t seen before.

Wolverine #11. “Only a Mother.” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Martin Coccolo. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo and Bryan Valenza. Wolverine vs. Sabretooth brutally battles over Logan’s mother. The question about how Logan’s mother could be here was answered in a heartbreaking manner.

Look Into My Eyes #1. Written by and art by Rubine. Cover art is done by Rubine Francesco Segala. Suzie has disappeared. Conspiracy-obsessed teen RJ Nguyen wants to find out where she went. I love these weird small town stuff (like Twin Peaks, Stillwater etc.) and this was exciting. It also has several QR codes throughout to expand the storytelling. Creative new book from Mad Cave, who has been excellent lately.

Moon Knight #10. (aka LEGACY #300). “God of Gangsters.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Cover art was by Davide Paratore. Big Moon Knight issue as the comic reminds us how much Moon Knight kicks ass.

Sleep #3. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. Sleep has been exceptional so far and this issue shows us the chaos that happened while Jonathan is asleep. The brutality across the town is causing Jonathan to be anxious and scared about what exactly is happening to him. Sleep has been a great book so far and this is one of the more beautifully art designed books around today.

Minor Arcana #9. Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Jeff Lemire. Theresa, against her better thoughts, opened the psychic store to the public and a line of people wanted to contact those who have passed.

Geiger #16. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Eamon Winkle. Cover art is done by Gary Frank and Brad Anderson. The Glowing Man is in bad shape and there are some major explosions. Still, this felt like a mid-issue preparing for the big trial starting out next issue.

Space Ghost Annual #1. Written by David Pepose with art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. This annual seems like it ends the first group of issues while leading into the next series. Space Ghost has been a solid book for Dynamite and I am a fan of it.

West Coast Avengers #9. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanovas. I have really enjoyed this team of West Coast Avengers. The group of heroes that they have brought together have been intriguing and mix nicely. The idea of a heroic Ultron is awesome. I have heard this one is ending with #10, but I hope that is not the case. This has been really good.

Star Trek: Red Shirts #1. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Megan Levens. Variant cover art by JJ Lendl. I like Star Trek, but I would not call myself a fan. However, this idea of having the lead of this book be part of the “red shirts” which was the canon fodder of the show, those that would die on missions, made me interested in seeing what this would be about.

Feral #15. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Variant cover art by Trish Forstner and Passalaqua (Bronze Medalist). Feral has been very tense and filled with some of the best horror writing in comics. There are amazing scares in this book even with the main characters being cats.

Blue Palo Verde #2. Written by Ray Fawkes and art and cover art by Rimanti. Kris is back from prison and trying to contact her father, who is on a sick bed. However, the town seems to want her to leave. This has been very compelling so far. Like a couple of the other books this week, the weird little town is one of my favorite sub-genres and this one is playing right into it.

Exquisite Corpses #3. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with James Tynion IV and art by Valentine De Landro with Michael Walsh. I got three different covers for this book. Cover A was Michael Walsh. Cover B by Valentine De Landro. Cover D is the stealth variant also by Valentine De Landro (Gold Medalist). More excitement from the tournament. This has been one of the best books of the month every month since it had been released.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers #2. Written by David Pepose and art by Eman Casallos. Cover A art was by Chad Hardin while cover B variant was done by Jae Lee & June Chung. We spend some more time with the Planeteers as they are starting to discover their powers. I do like this book quite a bit so I am glad it seems like it is finally on a regular release schedule.

TexArcanum #1. Written by Christopher Monfette and illustrated by Miguel Martos. Who is cowboy arcanist Avery Belle? He has traveled the land in battle with ghosts, demons, spirits and gods. Another new book with a really creative concept. This is a Dark Horse book and it was a fun read.

Hero Hiro #1. Written by Jeff McClelland with art by Michael “Gecko” Adams. Cover art is done by Michael Adams. I had not known anything about this book from Keenspot and, when I saw it on the wall in Bettendorf, I gave it a shot. The main superhero is called The Hero and my first thoughts of that character was that he reminded me of Captain Amazing from Mystery Men. Interesting premise for this book too with a power transfer from The Hero to a kid named Hiro. This felt lighter than some of the other independent books lately and I thought it was a good change of pace.

The Voice Said Kill #1. Written by Si Spurrier and art and cover art by Vanesa Del Rey. Speaking about the darker independents, this is an example of that. Murder and bloody violence in the Louisiana Bayou. This is a crime story with an intriguing protagonist.

Uncanny X-Men #18. “Corn Dogs and Carnage.” Written by Gail Simone with art by Luciano Vecchio. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson did the cover art. New Orleans and friendship… what would be better than having a carnival! This was a fun switch as the city is starting to celebrate the mutants instead of what we are used to.

Ice Cream Man #44. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art by Martin Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran. Okay, so I think, this was an origin story for the Ice Cream Man himself. It was an intriguing story of Craig Alabaster and the troubles he faced at his job.

Storm #10. “Thunder War Begins” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Cover art by Mateus Manhanini. The last two pages of this book is what rally stands out. Man Storm is a kick ass right now.

Phoenix #13. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Roi Mercado. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Cable is here with his step-mother Jean with the truth about the supposed resurrection of Jean’s sister and why it is a terrible thing.

Hornsby & Halo #8. Storytellers for this book are Peter J. Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg. Cover art is done by Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz. Zach and Rose join a school play. This was a fun story that was featuring the characters. I liked this as it felt like a break from the book.

The Last Boy #4. Written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Alessio Avallone with assistance by Alberto Canale. Cover art was done by Dan Panosian. Peter Pan is out to make new allies and lead Captain Hook’s old crew? Whoa? Oh and it looked like Peter may have lost a hand.

The Department of Truth #32. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art was done by Martin Simmonds. More about the mysterious Hatman. Another original style to tell this story. The Department of Truth has experimented with different ways to tell a story and this one is new again. I love the way this book keeps you on your toes.

Justice League Unlimited #9. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. This is listed as the “We Are Yesterday Epilogue”. I think I am ready for this time travel story to be over. They are able to save Air Wave.

The Great British Bump Off: Kill or Be Quilt #4. Written by John Allison and art by Sarin. This is the final issue of this Dark Horse book. It was a silly book with a mystery that was kind of fun. It had some humor and funny writing, but it turned out to be nothing major.

Other books this week: New History of the DC Universe #2, Blade Forger #5, Fantastic Four Presents Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius #1, Seasons #6, Spider-Verse vs. Venomverse #3, Dark Honor #3, Absolute Martian Manhunter #5, and Mr. Terrific Year One #3.

Quick Hits: Insurgent Iron Man #10 brings that series to an end. Iron Man sounds like he will be back in the Age of Revelation event with a book with Emma Frost. Speaking of Emma, Emma Frost: White Queen #2 is also out this week. A story back in the old days prior to the Dark Phoenix saga. Things are getting messy in Eddie Brock: Carnage #6. Predator versus Spider-Man #4 brought this new Predator mini series to an end from the 20th Century Studios imprint. Vanishing Point #3 continued the sci-fi anthology book. The silver medalist cover winner this week was Vampirella Armageddon #1. Mark Spears did the cover with his characters from Monsters on the cover. Vampirella took her place on Monsters #6 cover C in an exchange. Mark Spears also had a 3rd printing of Mark Spears Monsters #2 this week. How many reprints will there be? How many will I keep buying? With the big movie coming out this week, Fantastic Four Fanfare #3 was released and had some Thing-centric stories. Silverhawks #5 finally returned after several problems from Dynamite and Diamond. Last night, Absolute Wonder Woman won the Eisner Award for Best New Series so Absolute Wonder Woman #10 is out this week. Absolute Wonder Woman also made news at San Diego Comic Con when we learned that this book was going to feature the first meeting of Wonder Woman and Batman in the Absolute universe. Doom’s Division ended its five-issue series with the return of Sunfire. Psylocke #9, Lost Fantasy #3 and Void Rivals #21 wrap up the week. Wooooo what a week.

SDCC: 2025 Eisner Award Winners

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The 2025 Eisner Awards were presented Friday, July 25 at the San Diego Comic Con. The Eisner Awards are the biggest prize among the comic book industry.

Inductees into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame included: Junji Ito; Kyle Baker; Eddie Campbell; Roz Chast; Dan Clowes; Todd Klein; and John Romita, Jr. The inductees are voted on by fans from a list of 18 nominees given by a panel of experts. Adding to that list was the group chosen by the judges which included: Chosen by judges: Steve Bissette, Lucy Shelton Caswell, Philippe Druillet, Phoebe Gloeckner, Joe Sacco, Bill Schanes, Steve Schanes, Frank Stack and Angelo Torres and, chosen in memorium, Peter Arno, Gus Arriola, Wilhelm Busch, Richard “Grass” Green, Rea Irvin, Jack Kamen, Joe Maneely, Shigeru Mizuki, Bob Oksner, Bob Powell, Ira Schnapp, Phil Seuling.

2025 Eisner Award Results

Best Short Story

  • “Anything Sinister,” by Ross Murray, in NOW #13 (Fantagraphics)
  • “Day 1703,” by Chris Ware, in Smoke Signal #43 (Desert Island)
  • “Pig” by Stacy Gougoulis, in NOW #13 (Fantagraphics)
  • “Spaces,” by Phil Jimenez, in DC Pride 2024 #1 (DC)
  • “Water I’ve Loved: Moving Day” by Pam Wye, in MUTHA magazine, https://www.muthamagazine.com/2024/05/water-ive-loved-moving-day/
  • “You Cannot Live on Bread Alone” by Kayla E., in NOW #13 (Fantagraphics)

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

  • Abortion Pill Zine: A Community Guide to Misoprostol and Mifepristone by Isabella Rotman, Marnie Galloway, and Sage Coffey (Silver Sprocket)
  • Ice Cream Man #39: “”Decompression in a Wreck, Part One,” by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo (Image Comics)
  • PeePee PooPoo #1, by Caroline Cash (Silver Sprocket)
  • Sunflowers, by Keezy Young (Silver Sprocket)
  • Unwholesome Love, by Charles Burns (co-published with Partners and Son)
  • The War on Gaza, by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics)

Best Continuing Series

  • The Department of Truth, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (Image)
  • Detective Comics: Detective Comics, by Ram V, Tom Taylor, Riccardo Federici, Stefano Raffaele, Javier Fernandez, Christian Duce, March, and Mikel Janín (DC)
  • Fantastic Four, by Ryan North, Carlos Gomez, Ivan Fiorelli, and others (Marvel)
  • Santos Sisters, by Greg & Fake, Graham Smith, Dave Landsberger, and Marc Koprinarov (Floating World)
  • Ultimate Spider-Man, by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto (Marvel)
  • Wonder Woman, by Tom King and Daniel Sampere (DC)

Best Limited Series

  • Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey (DC)
  • Animal Pound, by Tom King and Peter Gross (BOOM! Studios)
  • The Deviant, by James Tynion IV and Joshua Hixson (Image)
  • Helen of Wyndhorn. by Tom King and Bilquis Evely (Dark Horse)
  • Rare Flavours, by Ram V and Filipe Andrade (BOOM! Studios)
  • Zatanna: Bring Down the House, by Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodriguez (DC)

Best New Series

  • Absolute Batman, by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta (DC)
  • Absolute Wonder Woman, by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman (DC)
  • Minor Arcana, by Jeff Lemire (BOOM! Studios)
  • The Pedestrian, by Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman (Magma Comix)
  • The Power Fantasy, by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard (Image)
  • Uncanny Valley, by Tony Fleecs and Dave Wachter (BOOM! Studios)

Best Publication For Early Readers

  • Bog Myrtle, by Sid Sharp (Annick Press)
  • Club Microbe, by Elise Gravel, translated by Montana Kane (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Hilda and Twig Hide from the Rain, by Luke Pearson (Flying Eye)
  • Night Stories, by Liniers (Astra Books)
  • Poetry Comics, by Grant Snider (Chronicle Books)

Best Publication For Kids

  • How It All Ends, by Emma Hunsinger (Greenwillow/HarperCollins Early Readers)
  • Next Stop, by Debbie Fong (Random House Graphic/Random House Children’s Books)
  • Plain Jane and the Mermaid, by Vera Brosgol (First Second/Macmillan)
  • Weirdo, by Tony Weaver Jr. and Jes & Cin Wibowo (First Second/Macmillan)
  • Young Hag and the Witches’ Quest, by Isabel Greenberg (Abrams Fanfare)

Best Publication For Teens

  • Ash’s Cabin, by Jen Wang (First Second/Macmillan)
  • Big Jim and the White Boy, by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson (Ten Speed Graphic)
  • The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag (Scholastic)
  • The Gulf, by Adam de Souza (Tundra)
  • Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham (First Second/Macmillan)
  • Out of Left Field, by Jonah Newman (Andrews McMeel)

Best Humor Publication

  • Adulthood is a Gift! by Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel)
  • Forces of Nature, by Edward Steed (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Kids Are Still Weird: And More Observations from Parenthood, by Jeffrey Brown (NBM)
  • A Pillbug Story, by Allison Conway (Black Panel Press)
  • Processing: 100 Comics That Got Me Through It, by Tara Booth (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Anthology

  • EC Cruel Universe, edited by Sierra Hahn and Matt Dryer (Oni Press)
  • Godzilla’s 70th Anniversary, edited by Jake Williams and others (IDW)
  • Now: The New Comics Anthology #13, edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
  • Peep #1, edited by Sammy Harkham and Steve Weissman (Brain Dead/Kyle Ng)
  • So Buttons #14: “Life and Death,” by Jonathan Baylis and various artists (So Buttons Comix)

Best Reality-Based Work

  • Djuna, by Jon Macy (Street Noise Books)
  • The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War, by Carl Sciacchitano (Gallery 13/S&S)
  • The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C. S. Lewis & J. R. R. Tolkien, by John Hendrix (Abrams Fanfare)
  • The Puerto Rican War: A Graphic History, by John Vasquez Mejias (Union Square)
  • Suffrage Song: The Haunted History of Gender, Race, and Voting Rights in the U.S., by Caitlin Cass (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Memoir

  • Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60, by Alison McCreesh (Conundrum)
  • Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls (MCD/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
  • The Field, by David Lapp (Conundrum)
  • I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir, by Maurice Vellekoop (Pantheon)
  • Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love, by Sarah Leavitt (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Best Graphic Album – New

  • Final Cut, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
  • Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham (First Second/Macmillan)
  • My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two, by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
  • Sunday, by Olivier Schrauwen (Fantagraphics)
  • Victory Parade, by Leela Corman (Pantheon)

Best Graphic Album – Reprint

  • Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story, by Patrick McDonnell (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Lackadaisy, vols. 1–2, by Tracy J. Butler (Iron Circus)
  • The One Hand and The Six Fingers, by Ram V, Dan Watters, Laurence Campbell, and Sumit Kumar (Image)
  • Rescue Party: A Graphic Anthology of COVID Lockdown, edited by Gabe Fowler (Pantheon)
  • Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience, by Kelly Goto and Sam Goto (Chin Music Press)
  • UM Volume One, by buttercup (Radiator Comics)

Best Adaptation From Another Medium

  • Thomas Piketty’s Capital & Ideology: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, by Clare Alot and Benjamin Adam (Abrams ComicArts)
  • The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben, adapted by Benjamin Flao and Fred Bernard (Greystone)
  • The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, adapted by Manu Larcenet (Abrams)
  • Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, adapted by Travis Dandro (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • The Worst Journey in the World, Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, adapted by Sarah Airriess (Iron Circus)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

  • All Princesses Die Before Dawn, by Quentin Zuttion (Abrams ComicArts)
  • The Jellyfish, by Boum, translated by Robin Lang and Helge Dascher (Pow Pow Press)
  • Mothballs, by Sole Otero; translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
  • Return to Eden, by Paco Roca; translated by Andrea Rosenberg (Fantagraphics)
  • Sunday, by Olivier Schrauwen (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia

  • Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba, translated by Asa Yonola (Kodansha)
  • Hereditary Triangle, by Fumiya Hayashi, translated by Alethea and Athena Nibley (Yen Press)
  • Kagurabachi, vol. 1, by Takeru Hokazono, translated by Camellia Nieh (VIZ Media)
  • Last Quarter, vol. 1, by Ai Yazawa, translated by Max Greenway (VIZ Media)
  • Search and Destroy vol. 1, by Atsushi Kaneko, based on the work of Osamu Tezuka; translated by Ben Applegate (Fantagraphics)
  • Tokyo These Days, vols. 1–3, by Taiyo Matsumoto, translated by Michael Arias (VIZ Media)

Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips

  • All In Line, by Saul Steinberg (New York Review Books)
  • Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics, vol. 1, edited by Chris Byrne and Keith Mayerson (Fantagraphics)
  • Stan Mack’s Real-Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions, and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995, by Stan Mack, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
  • Thorn: The Complete Proto-BONE Strips 1982–1986, and Other Early Drawings, by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)

Best Archival Collection/Project – Comic Books

  • The Complete Web of Horror, edited by Dana Marie Andra (Fantagraphics)
  • David Mazzucchelli’s Batman Year One Artist’s Edition, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
  • DC Comics Style Guide (Standards Manual)
  • The Farewell Song of Marcel LaBrume, by Attilio Micheluzzi, edited by Gary Groth and Conrad Groth (Fantagraphics)
  • Wally Wood from Witzend: Complete Collection, commentary by J. David Spurlock (Vanguard)
  • X-Men: The Manga Remastered, vol. 1, edited by Glenn Greenberg and others (VIZ Media)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

  • The Beat, edited by Heidi MacDonald and others,, https://www.comicsbeat.com
  • ICv2: The Business of Pop Culture, edited by Milton Griepp, icv2.com
  • INKS, The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, edited by Susan Kirtley (Ohio State University Press)
  • SOLRAD: The Online Literary Magazine for Comics, edited by Daniel Elkin, http://www.solrad.co (Fieldmouse Press)
  • Zdarsky Comics News, edited by Allison O’Toole (Chip Zdarsky)

Best Comics-Related Book

  • American Comic Book Chronicles: 1945-49, by Keith Dallas, John Wells, Richard Arndt, and Kurt Mitchell (TwoMorrows)
  • Kate Carew: America’s First Great Woman Cartoonist, by Eddie Campbell with Christine Chambers (Fantagraphics)
  • Q&A, by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)
  • Reading Love and Rockets, by Marc Sobel (Fantagraphics)
  • Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund, by Caitlin McGurk (Fantagraphics)
  • Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Ultimate History, edited by Daniel Kothen Schulte with text by David Gerstein and J. B. Kaufman (TASCHEN)

Best Academic/Scholarly Work

  • Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture, edited by Jonathan Najarian (University Press of Mississippi)
  • Drawing (in) the Feminine: Bande Dessinée and Women, edited by Margaret C. Flinn (Ohio State University Press)
  • From Gum Wrappers to Richie Rich: The Materiality of Cheap Comics, by Neale Barnholden (University Press of Mississippi)
  • Petrochemical Fantasies: The Art and Energy of American Comics, by Daniel Worden (Ohio State University Press)
  • Singular Sensations: A Cultural History of One-Panel Comics in the United States, by Michelle Ann Abate (Rutgers University Press)

Best Publication Design

  • Bill Ward: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition, designed by Kayla E. (Fantagraphics)
  • Brian Bolland: Batman The Killing Joke and Other Stories & Art, Gallery Edition, designed by Josh Beatman (Graphitti Designs)
  • David Mazzucchelli’s Batman Year One Artist’s Edition, designed by Chip Kidd (IDW)
  • One Bite at a Time, designed by Ryan Claytor (Elephant Eater Comics)
  • Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Color Hardcover Box Set, designed by Patrick Crotty (Oni Press)
  • Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Ultimate History, designed by Anna-Tina Kessler (TASCHEN)

Best Digital Comic

  • The Beauty Salon, based on the novella by Mario Bellatin, adapted by Quentin Zuttion; translated by M. B. Valente (Europe Comics)
  • Beyond the Sea, by Anaïs Flogny; translated by Dan Christensen (Europe Comics)
  • Gonzo: Fear and Loathing in America, by Morgan Navarro; translated by Tom Imber (Europe Comics)
  • My Journey to Her, by Yuna Hirasawa (Kodansha)
  • The Spider and the Ivy, by Grégoire Carle; translated by M. B. Valente (Europe Comics)

Best Webcomic

Best Writer

  • Tom King, Archie: The Decision (Archie); Animal Pound (BOOM! Studios); Helen of Wyndhorn (Dark Horse); Jenny Sparks, The Penguin, Wonder Woman (DC)
  • Ram V, Rare Flavours (BOOM! Studios); Dawnrunner (Dark Horse); The One Hand (Image); Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! (Image Skybound)
  • Kelly Thompson, Absolute Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey (DC); Scarlett (Image Skybound); Venom War: It’s Jeff #1 (Marvel)
  • James Tynion IV, Something Is Killing the Children, Wynd (BOOM! Studios); Blue Book, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos (Dark Horse); Spectregraph (DSTLRY); The Department of Truth, The Deviant, WORLDTR33 (Image)
  • Gene Luen Yang, Lunar New Year Love Story (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Writer/Artist

  • Charles Burns, Kommix (Fantagraphics); Final Cut (Pantheon); Unwholesome Love (co-published with Partners & Son)
  • Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two (Fantagraphics)
  • Jon Macy, Djuna (Street Noise Books)
  • Paco Roca, Return to Eden (Fantagraphics)
  • Olivier Schrauwen, Sunday (Fantagraphics)
  • Maria Sweeney, Brittle Joints (Street Noise Books)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

  • Filipe Andrade, Rare Flavours (BOOM! Studios)
  • Nick Dragotta, Absolute Batman (DC)
  • Bilquis Evely, Helen of Wyndhorn (Dark Horse)
  • Manu Larcenet, The Road (Abrams ComicArts)
  • Javier Rodriguez, Zatanna: Bring Down the House (DC)
  • LeUyen Pham, Lunar New Year Love Story (First Second/Macmillan)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist

  • Frederic Bremaud and Federico Bertolucci, Donald Duck: Vacation Parade (Fantagraphics)
  • Leela Corman, Victory Parade (Pantheon)
  • Benjamin Flao The Hidden Life of Trees (Greystone)
  • Merwan, Aster of Pan (Magnetic Press)
  • Eduardo Risso, The Blood Brothers Mother (DSTLRY)
  • Maria Sweeney, Brittle Joints (Street Noise Books)

Best Cover Artist

  • Juni Ba, The Boy Wonder (DC); Godzilla Skate or Die, TMNT Nightwatcher and others (IDW)
  • Evan Cagle, Dawnrunner (Dark Horse), New Gods, Detective Comics
  • Bilquis Evely, Animal Pound (BOOM!); Helen of Wyndhorn (Dark Horse)
  • Tula Lotay, Helen of Wyndhorn #1, Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #3, Dawnrunner #1, Barnstormers TPB (Dark Horse); Somna and other titles (DSTLRY); The Horizon Experiment (Image)
  • Hayden Sherman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Batman: Dark Patterns, Superman, Ape-ril, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) (DC)

Best Coloring

  • Jordie Bellaire, Absolute Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dead in America, The Nice House by the Sea (DC); The City Beneath Her Feet (DSTLRY); The Exorcism at 1600 Penn (IDW; W0rldtr33 (Image); G.I. Joe, Duke (Image Skybound)
  • Matheus Lopes, Batman & Robin: Year One (DC); Helen of Wyndhorn (Dark Horse)
  • Justin Prokowich, Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze (Titan Comics)
  • Javier Rodriguez, Zatanna: Bring Down the House) (DC)
  • Dave Stewart, Dawnrunner, Free Comic Book Day Comic 2024 [general], The Serpent in the Garden, Hellboy, Hellboy and the BPRD, Paranoid Gardens, Shaolin Cowboy Cruel to Be Kin Silent but Deadly Edition (Dark Horse); Ultramega, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! (Image Skybound)
  • Quentin Zuttion, All Princesses Die Before Dawn (Abrams ComicArts); Beauty Salon (Europe Comics)

Best Lettering

  • Becca Carey, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman, Plastic Man No More! (DC); Radiant Black, Rogue Sun (Image); When the Blood Has Dried, Murder Kingdom (Mad Cave Studios)
  • Leela Corman, Victory Parade (Pantheon)
  • Clayton Cowles, Animal Pound (BOOM! Studios); FML, Helen of Wyndhorn (Dark Horse); Absolute Batman, Batman, Batman & Robin: Year One, Birds of Prey, Jenny Sparks, Wonder Woman (DC); Strange Academy, Venom (Marvel)
  • Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book Two (Fantagraphics)
  • Nate Powell, Fall Through (Abrams ComicArts); Lies My Teacher Told Me (New Press)

Other awards:

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award: Mad Cave Studios for their LA Strong charity comic

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award: Richard Blake

Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award: Akira Comics in Madrid, Spain

Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing: Don Glut and Sheldon Mayer

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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I have been excited about this movie since the announcement that Marvel was getting the rights back to the Fantastic Four. To say that the previous big screen efforts to put Marvel’s First Family on the big screen were less than successful would be an understatement. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fourth attempt to get these characters right.

Fourth time is definitely a charm.

I loved this movie. There were so many things that this film does well, but above all, this felt like the Fantastic Four that I knew from the comics. The adventure felt very much like an FF adventure. This was so great.

We jump right in to the story, without the need for an origin story, although the film does give us some background exposition to catch anyone up to speed in a very clever manner at the very beginning of the movie.

The film wasted no time in setting these four up as a family, which is perhaps the singularly most important piece for a Fantastic Four movie. Sue discovered that she was pregnant and announced the glorious event.

However, their excitement was short lived as a being appeared in New York riding a surfboard, heralding the soon arrival of Galactus, the universal force that would be consuming the planet.

The Fantastic Four head into space to confront the gigantic Galactus.

The casting of the characters in this film is pitch perfect. One of the most controversial casting choices was Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards. Pascal, who has been in a ton of movies lately, does an incredible job of becoming Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. I believe that Pascal loses himself in the role and truly embodied Reed. You could believe that Reed was a super genius, but still had his own issues, among others , guilt and self-frustration over perceived failures.

Vanessa Kirby was great as Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. She showed what a powerhouse Sue is in both her use of her powers and the presence that she provides. Joseph Quinn played Sue’s brother Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. This Johnny was less of a playboy as he has been seen before, though that is implied to be there as well, but he is shown as a much more positive force inside the group. Then Ben Grimm, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, feels like the heart of the team. This version of Ben Grimm is less of the brooding monster that we have seen before and more of a character who has accepted what his life was now.

The chemistry between the foursome is vital for the movie and they all work so well together. They felt like a family, from the relationship between Sue and Reed to the brother-like banter between Johnny and Ben.

The visuals of this movie was stunning. It may be the best looking Marvel movie that we have seen in ages. The imagery in space was as good as you see in any prestige project. I have heard others compare the visuals here to Interstellar and that is a fair comparison. To be fair, there were some moments of iffy CGI when dealing with Franklin Richards, the baby, but I am okay with that. No need to stress out a real baby in some of these situations.

Galactus is an absolute marvel (no pun intended). Voiced perfectly by Ralph Ineson, Galactus has come a long way since his days of being a cloud of dust in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. There is no reason that a giant purple man with antennae-like ears on a helmet should look anything but silly in live action, but this Galactus is positively sensational, if not, scary. This character was imposing from the second we see his outline in the darkness.

Another major controversy among those who want to make this a problem was how Julia Garner was hired to play a female Silver Surfer, based on the Shalla-Bal character. Those who complained about this apparently did not know that the comics did have a version of Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer. Garner does a remarkable performance as the Surfer and anyone who wants to complain about it is just looking for issues to have. Surfer was powerful and compelling and did have a story reason for the casting of a female actor in the role, narratively speaking.

The story was filled with stakes and tension, and there were some scenes where I legitimately was not sure what was going to happen. I found so much joy in this as this film got these characters so right, truly for the first time on screen.

They did have some of the typical Marvel humor, but, to be honest, it was kept at a reasonable level. Again, in a film that could be very satirical, this was grounded, keeping much of the drama within the four of them. Even with Galactus coming to devour the earth, this felt more like an internal battle for the FF.

There are two post credit scenes. The first one being a major set up for what is next in the MCU.

The retro feel of the world that this team of Fantastic Four is set is part of the awesome vibe this movie gives off. A futuristic 1960’s feel was all over the setting and brought something different to the MCU. The choice to place this in the 828 universe instead of the 616 one was an excellent choice. It also gave the film a chance to really honor FF co-creator Jack Kirby. This movie did feel like a Jack Kirby style of comic from the 1960s.

Matt Shakman did a magnificent job directing this film. He had directed the WandaVision Disney + series which is still considered by many, including me, to be the best Disney + Marvel show of all time. Shakman brought that feeling of family as he did in WandaVision and there were so many clever visual shots in the film. I loved the way the FF used their powers. Especially Reed, whose stretching could look really goofy, but, instead, was very effective.

I loved this movie. The “It’s Clobberin’ Time” line had me in goosebumps and tears. I was so engaged with the Fantastic Four: First Steps that it is my current favorite movie of the year so far. I saw this in IMAX and, man did everything look great. I can’t wait to see it again.

5 stars

EYG Comic Cavalcade #162

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July 18

We’ve got another big week at the Comic Cavalcade. I just might be buying too many comic books. I don’t know how long it will take me to read these books when school starts again at the end of August.

I pre-ordered a book from Amazon Prime and it arrived this week. It is called 10,000 Ink Stains: A Memoir and it is from Jeff Lemire. I am a huge fan of Jeff Lemire as a writer and this is the story of his life. When I first ordered it in April, I thought it might be in graphic novel format, but it is more written than that. It was still listed in CLZ though so I added it to me graphic novel collection.

Todd also was able to get me a variant of Red Hulk #5. Last week I was reading Red Hulk #6 blissfully ignorant that I had not read #5 yet. As it wasn’t making sense, I pulled out CLZ and, sure enough, I was missing five. Thankfully, that is all taken care of now too.

Books this week:

Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1. Written by Gerry Duggan with art by Javier Garrón. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks. I also picked up a foil variant with art work by Leinil Francis Yu. Godzilla is on a rampage and the heroes of the Marvel Universe is trying to stop the King of Monsters. I did not expect this to be more than a one-shot, but as the issue was ending, I realized that they were nowhere near a conclusion. I don’t know if there is more than one more issue to the series, but I am here for it regardless.

“Let it Stand #1”. Written by Gerry Duggan, Kelvin Mao and Robert Windom with art by Jae Lee. Cover art, both A and B, are done by Jae Lee. This is better known as This Ends Tonight, but we had some fun with Todd, who asked me to look for the series Let it Stand, but he actually meant this one. He knew there were three words in the title. It was a lot of fun teasing him about it. As for the series, it is an intriguing new book from Image. It is not just another revenge story. Definitely more to it.

Spider-Girl #2. Written by Torunn Grønbekk with art by Andre Risso. Variant cover art was done by Nogi San (Gold Medalist). The new Spider-Girl takes on Lady Bullseye. We also get some more of the life of Maka Akana, the Hawaiian- born Spider-Girl.

Pinupocalypse #4. Written, art and cover art by Andrew Tarusov. This has been such a hoot from Massive Comics. Roxy and Foxy are desperately trying to survive the zombie apocalypse that has been brought on by aliens, but they are able to take some time out to address their relationship… perhaps in a way that Foxy was not pleased about.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #4. Written by Doug Wagner with art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillyard and Michelle Madsen (Bronze Medalist-tied). Rennie is ramping up her brutality as the bodies pile up. Yet, she is hoping to save her friend, Sofie, who was sold into human trafficking by their teacher. Probably not the smartest thing to do when her best friend is a serial killer. One more issue to go in this very engaging mini series that makes you root for the serial killer as your main character.

They Choose Violence #2. Written by Sheldon Allen and illustrated by Mauricio Campetella. Cover art was done by Rahzzah. No misprint in this issue. Only Laneka, Deidre and Karen celebrating Laneka’s birthday in the way that only these three could do.

Benjamin #2. Written by Ben H. Winters and art by Leomacs. Cover art was done by Christian Ward. Benjamin J. Carp is a robot that has had his actual intelligence uploaded into… or is he? This three-issue series has been wild so far and I have really enjoyed the originality and the difference of the book.

Ghost Pepper #1. Written and art by Ludo Lullabi. Variant cover B by Stanley “Artgerm” Lu. This is a weird book. It is like a dystopian future world meeting up with a cooking show. Mad Max meets Top Chef. There is also a bad ass named Ash who just can never finish his bowl of noodles. It is another one of those original ideas that we are getting from independent comics.

Nightwing #127. “Other Part 2” Written by Dan Watters with art by Dexter Soy. Adriano Lucas did the art for the cover. Titans Tower has been corrupted by Nitemite and Dick has to make it through to find Oracle. Wild and weird versions of some of the worst things from Nightwing’s past show up, including Deathwing.

Imperial #2. “Two” Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Iban Coello & Federico Vicentini. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Marte Gracia. The future space epic continues with war between the Shi’ar and Wakanda Prime. Again, I have not been a fan of the futuristic stories like this, but Jonathan Hickman does a decent job of providing an intriguing story.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10. “Turtles on Trial” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Juan Ferryra. Jorge Fornes did the cover art (Bronze Medalist-tied). The Turtles are on trial. Corrupt D.A. Hieronymus Haleis using his persuasion ability to make everyone hate the Turtles. What will come from this?

Phantom Road #14. “The Horrormen Part 4” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover by Gabriel H. Walta. The next arc of this series has reached its penultimate issue. It is a weird book for sure, but I love the style of writing done by Jeff Lemire.

Absolute Batman #10. “Abomination” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. A naked Bruce Wayne has been captured and is being experimented on. However, his determination still comes through strongly as he continues his efforts to escape. Bane is lurking though.

The Tin Can Society #7. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Cover art was done by Francesco Mobili and Chris Chuckry. After a long break, Tin Can Society returned. It was quite a few months since I saw the last of this book, but the reminder of what was going on came quickly as we see John is not dead, and we learn of his story.

Detective Comics #1099. “Elixir” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Lee Garbett. Mikel Janin did the cover art. I do love Tom Taylor. His take on Batman in this run in Detective Comics has been awesome and I love the use of Harvey Bullock and Penguin in the story. Big issue #1100 next month.

Redcoat #13. Creators are Geoff Jahns and Bryan Hitch. Cover art by Bryan Hitch and Brad Anderson. Simon Pure finally chooses a side! The Northerner plays a huge role in the story set during the United States Civil War. Then it looks as if the Northerner has another guest star role coming up soon.

New Avengers #2. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Variant cover art was done by Andy Park. Bucky, Black Widow, Namor, Wolverine and Clea have to team up to battle warped versions of the Illuminati created by the Jackal.

New Champions #7. Written by Steve Foxe and penciled by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Gleb Melnikov & Arthur Hesli. We get the debut of a new character, another vampire, named Nightdrifter, who aids the New Champions in their search for Hellrune.

Los Monstruos #3. Written by James Robinson and art by Jesus Merino. Cover art was done by Jesus Merino & K.J. Diaz. Perry Cutter continues his search for Yvonne Veil and the truth of what is happening. Seems as if the truth is finding him. I have really enjoyed this monster noir as we progress around Los Monstruos.

Exceptional X-Men #11. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Federica Mancin. Variant cover art by Junggeun Yoon. Our young trainee X-Men meet Ironheart in a Chicago park when all heck breaks loose. Meanwhile, Kitty, Emma and Bobby wait to celebrate with the kids.

Toxie Team-Up #2. Written by Stuart Moore and art by Ryan Kelly. Fred harper did the cover art. This is not as much a team-up as a fight between as we get the Toxic Avengers one-on-one with the Jersey Devil, both with connections to their bullied pasts. This was not as much fun as the Jesus Crist issue #1 team up but it still is an enjoyable read.

Marvel Knights: The World to Come #2. “Part Two: The Host” Written by Joe Quesada with art by Priest. Cover art by Joe Quesada & Richard Isanove. Boy Joe Quesada sure knows how to stir up controversy and online rage. A white Black Panther??? Another one of those alternate future stories that do not have any footholds in the real Marvel Universe. Still interesting to see what outrage will be next.

Death of the Silver Surfer #2. “Pandora” Written by Greg Pak and art by Sumit Kumar. Variant cover art was done by Claudio Castellini. It must be the week for the alternate future stories as we get yet another one. This one is probably my favorite of the possible future stories with Silver Surfer and a Galactus who has seen better days.

Giant Size House of M #1. “A Sweet and Perfect World.” Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly. Art was done by Francesco Manna and the variant cover art was by Martin Coccolo. Ms. Marvel continues her jaunt through the X-Men history, confronting Legion where she can. Again, I am not sure what this is intended to be. Is this a reboot of the X-Men past? If so, I am not happy. If this is just another possible story, why not make these What If issues? Cool variant cover though.

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #2. Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Dustin Nguyen. This has been a really solid book so far as we focus in on the feelings and anxieties of Jason Todd. Jason goes as far as to cast aside his allegiances to Batman and Nightwing to join the other side and be more proactive in the battle against the evil forces of Gotham.

Far Down Below #4. Written by Chris Condon and art by Gege Schall. Cover art was done by Jacob Phillips. The trio move along beneath the surface of the earth and they find Russians, dinosaurs and relationship troubles. The one thing we now know for sure… dinosaurs do not taste like chicken. Goonies meets Journey to the Center of the Earth continues here.

Other books this week: Catacombs of Torment #1, Post Malone’s Big Rig #1, Post Malone’s Big Rig #1 (Peach Momoko variant), The New Gods #8, Star Wars #2, Zatanna #6, Endless Night #2, and Ultimate Black Panther #18.

Quick Hits: I am happy to welcome back Dynamite Comics! After several months of not getting any of their books (because of the ongoing drama surrounding Diamond), we got a flood of n ew Dynamite books, several that should have come out in April. These include Gargoyle: Demona #1 (Silver Medalist), Red Sonja vs. The Army of Darkness #3, Space Quest #2, and the new Red Sonja Noir #1. The Ultimate X-Men #17 continues on. I am curious if this version of the X-Men will meet the other Ultimate characters soon. Blood & Thunder #3 has been a fun sci-fi romp so far. Talking guns can’t be beat. The strange one shot Dread the Hall H #1 mixes horror with comic conventions. Makes sense. Past Time #4 brings more vampire baseball action to life. This series has had some of the best collection of covers of any four issues this year without a Mark Spears variant. G.I. Joe #9 has more action with Cover Girl and the Baroness in Paris. Shocking ending to the issue too. A surprise shark week celebration showed up at Comic World this week as Aquaman: Air Jaws Allies #1 popped up. It was so unexpected that it was not even on CLZ on Wednesday. I did try again on Thursday and it was on the app. Bring on the Bad Guys: Abomination #1 is the next step of this villain arc featuring Mephisto and Sister Sorrow. I got two versions of Be Not Afraid #2, one the cover A and the other a virgin variant. There are amazing pages in this book. Deadpool/Wolverine #7 has a variant cover by the one and only Walter Simonson. Definitely the highlight of that book. Red Before Black#6 was another book, this from Boom, that had a long break between issues… only for this to be the final issue of the series. WTF. Wrap up the week with a couple of DC books: Absolute Flash #5 and Krypto The Last Dog of Krypton #2. Krypto is adopted by the sad and cruel Lex Luthor. Pet lovers may not want to read this book as there may be some triggers inside it.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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July 17

Another big week of covers this week. I have a ton of variant covers, especially from Marvel. It is the third time where I had to have a tie for the bronze medalist. I even wished that I had more medals available because the also-ran section will be large this week.

Also-Rans: SpaceQuest #2, Be Not Afraid #2, Be Not Afraid (Virgin Variant Cover) #2, Red Sonja vs. the Army of Darkness #3, Robin & Batman: Jason Todd #2, Red Sonja Noir #1, Krypto the Last Dog of Krypton #2, This Ends Tonight #1 (aka Let It Stand #1), They Choose Violence #2, Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #1 (Foil Variant), Pinupocalypse #4, and Past Time #4.

TIE

Bronze Medalist

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10

Cover Art by Jorge Fornes

This is a wonderful cover with Raphael staring down to the street with the police showing up. The colors of the lights standout extremely well and illuminates the cover beautifully. This was one of the two that wound up tied for the bronze medalist. The other one was….

TIE

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #4

Cover art by Daniel Hillyard and Michelle Madsen

These “Fashion School Serial Killer” books’ covers have been sensational, and I love the image of our character slowly ascending from the pool of blood. I love the red with the black background. Just beautiful cover.

Silver Medalist

Gargoyles: Demona #1

Variant Cover D

Cover art by Mark Spears

Our leader in the clubhouse for 2025, Mark Spears is back again, doing a specialty cover for Dynamite This is not a book I would have picked up if it had not been for the Spears cover. Shout out to Todd for picking this one up for me (he always complains when I don’t give him credit.)

Gold Medalist

Spider-Girl #2

Variant Cover C

Cover Art by Nogi San

Love this Spider-Girl variant cover. The black and white imagery on the cover is so great. There is just a little touch of red. I saw this on the shelf today and I grabbed it immediately.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #160

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July 4

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I know that the world is a difficult place these days with a ton of divisiveness in our country, but hopefully we can all stop for one day and embrace the wonder of being an American. That is what is really big and beautiful.

Books this week:

Nightwing #101-108. Continuing my dive into Tom Taylor’s run on Nightwing. I am stuck at this point waiting for #109 to arrive from eBay. I really am enjoying this book so far. I love how Tom Taylor gives Dick Grayson a distinct voice and how Taylor can give all of these secondary characters Dick’s orbit their own special voice.

Captain America #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Valerio Schiti. I have two covers for this book. Cover A art is done by Ben Harvey while Cover G is the Netease Games Marvel Rivals Variant. Steve Rogers is back in the 12th volume of Captain America as we see some of the story around his beginnings as Captain America. Chip Zdarsky is one of my favorite writers and I am excited to see what he can bring to Cap.

Batman: The Detective #1-6. I saw an advertisement for this mini-series in one of the Nightwing books and I went to eBay and ordered it. This is more of my deep dive into Tom Taylor and this book told a future story of Batman, seemingly around the Dark Knight time and it was just so good. I buzzed through this series quickly. Top notch Batman.

X-Men #19. “Revelation.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Ryan Stegman & Marte Gracia did the cover art. Doug Ramsey had become the heir to Apocalypse last year and we have not seen him since. Here the story is devoted to Doug fully and is clearly setting up the next arc for the X-Men.

Detective Comics: Mercy of the Father softcover. Written by Tom Taylor and art by Mikel Janin. Remember when I just mentioned that Batman: The Detective was “top notch Batman?” Well, this collection of Detective Comics #1090-1096 is one of the best Batman books I have ever read. Tom Taylor is brilliant in this book and he developed such deep characters and amazing situations to toss the Dark Knight into. He uses the world so effortlessly that it feels as if I was reading Batman for the first time, incorporating history in ways that enrichen the story, not reframing it. This is really good stuff.

Avengers #28. “Masters of Evil” Finale. Written by Jed MacKay with art by Andrea Broccardo. Valerio Schiti and Federico Blee were the cover artists. Black Panther and Captain America are down to the final struggle against the Mad Thinker. I think this arc has helped revitalize the Mad Thinker as a top level villain.

Daredevil #23. “Rites of Reconciliation” Part Four. Written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Carlos Nieto & Jose Luis Soares. Taskmaster has been paid to take out Daredevil, the “dude version.” What happened when Elektra Daredevil showed up?

Immortal Thor #25. “The Twilight Kingdom.” Written by Al Ewing with art by Jan Bazaldua, Justin Greenwood & Pasqual Ferry. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. So Thor’s dead, huh? Well, kind of I guess. This does finish the arc of Thor written by Al Ewing, which has been very solid, though perhaps not his greatest work (that is still Immortal Hulk, I believe). This is like the prelude to the next Thor series, The Mortal Thor.

All-New Venom #8. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura Martin are the cover artists. Mary Jane is the all-new Venom and she is taking on one of her ex-husband’s classic villains in Doctor Octopus.

Sisterhood: A Hyde Street Story #1. Written by Maytal Zchut and art by Leila Leiz. Leila Leiz & Alex Sinclair are the cover artists. Sophie and Violet were lifelong friends who were drifting apart at college. When Violet drowns, Sophie takes some drastic measures that you just shouldn’t do on Hyde Street.

Grim #23. “Play the Game.” Written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated and cover art by Flaviano. Jessica Harrow has three questions that she must ask and the supernatural being she wants the answers from is End. This issue really did feel like a series conclusion, as Jessica seems to end up in a very final place, but I guess there is another book in October. This was a solid read, but Grim coming out quarterly has hurt the flow of the series.

Absolute Green Lantern #4. “Chaotic Action.” Written by Al Ewing and art and cover art by Jahnoy Lindsay. Jo confronts Oa, which has to be right because it rhymes. Absolute Green Lantern has been intriguing because of the differences that this series has taken. I still like the arc for Hal Jordan so far.

Amazing Spider-Man #7. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Variant cover art was done by Doaly. Spider-Man faces off with the mysterious new “villain,” Hellgate. This issue reminded me of some of those old Spidey classics such as Amazing Spider-Man #229-230 where Spidey took on the Juggernaut and Amazing Spider-Man #269-270 where he battled Firelord. Spidey felt outmatched but never surrendered and found a way to win. Here, of course, it may only be temporary.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #15. “Uncharted” Part 5. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Von Randal. This is the final issue of this volume of Spider-Gwen before she gets an official restart in August. This issue does everything I wanted… got rid of the Cosmic Cube, the symbiote costume, over-powered Gwen and returned her to her original statis. I am very excited about that as I have not been liking the powered up Gwen character the last few issues.

Ultimate Wolverine #7. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Alessandro Cappuccio and Frank Martin were the cover artists. Logan reunites with his old mates, though several of them are a little suspicious of the former Winter Soldier. Illyana is making her machinations.

Sam & Twitch Case Files #15. Written by Jordan Barel with additional script by Todd McFarlane and art by Thomas Nachlik. Marco Failla & Don Aguillo are the cover artists (Silver Medalist). Things are not looking good for Sam and the investigation into the shooting case against his partner Twitch takes a deadly turn.

You Never Heard of Me #5. Written by Iolanda Zanfardino and illustrated by Elisa Romboli. This was a difficult book to get my hands on. It was not ordered at Comic World, sold out at In This Issue and nowhere to be found in Des Moines (thanks to Todd for turning over every rock he could think of). I finally went to eBay to pick up this issue, which was the finale for this series. It does feel like a happy ending for this book.

X-Men: Hellfire Vigil #1. Cover art by Luciano Vecchio & Nolan Woodard. A massive group of writers and artists worked on this book, which saw all of the major mutants of the world coming together as a vigil for Krakoa. It felt like a book giving us ideas on where the stories of the mutants were heading over the next year plus. I did not expect to be as intrigued by this book as I was.

Wolverines and Deadpools #1. Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Rogê Antonio. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Marte Gracia. I have been feeling tired of Wolverine & Deadpool team ups in the comics. I have been skipping some of the latest Deadpool books too. It was just tiring. So I was truly shocked when I read this first issue and found it to be exceptional. I really enjoyed the banter between Laura and Ellie, and Wade did not feel as out of control as he has in the past. Logan and Wade bonding over parenting? More of that please.

Whatever Happened to the Crimson Justice #2. Written by Frank Tieri and art and cover art by Inaki Miranda. John has no intentions of returning to his life as Crimson Justice. However, Mayhem has a different plan. This has been a good Mad Cave book with some excellent world building going on basically without a main hero.

Pop Kill #1. Yes, this is a second printing of number one with yet another new cover. The cover art was done by Dave Johnson. This series has been known for some of the best variant covers of the year not drawn by Mark Spears.

Other books this week: Lady Baltimore: The Daughter of Medusa #2, Conan the Barbarian #17-18, Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #4, Uncanny X-Men: Prelude to a Future Past #104.5, Plague House #4, Bug Wars #5 and Storm #8.

Quick Hits: I was at the shop in Bettendorf and I saw Charlamagne Tha God Presents Illuminati #1 on the shelf from AWA. The cover was appealing, but I did not grab it at first. I tried to resist, but I eventually succumbed and grabbed it. AWA has had some interesting books recently. The

Chamberlains #2 was out this week from Keenspot. It is a solid horror book. Another book that I picked up for fun was Ghostbusters: Dead Man’s Chest #2. I had picked up number one and I have always liked the Ghostbusters and this issue captured some of the humor of that franchise. It has been a huge week for the King of the Monsters, Godzilla! Godzilla vs. Thor #1 (Gold Medalist for its variant cover), two covers for Godzilla Heist #5 (Cover B a Bronze Medalist) and Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #2 all came out and were all a lot of fun. It was nice to see a book from DSTLRY once again as Warm Fusion #3 came out. I did not remember anything about that book sadly. The release schedule for DSTLRY has been a major drawback to some of these awesome books. Todd made fun of me for picking up Comics of the Movement #1 this week. It is a historical comic and is presented in an original manner. What is not to like? I grabbed two covers of the Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin #1 book this week. I have the A cover and the cover featuring Sister Sorrow. Finally, I grabbed a back issue from Comic World of Sergio Aragones The Groo Chronicles #4. I had no idea this series was out and I may need to search the rest of these down.

Ironheart E4, E5, E6

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Spoilers

I had heard the rumors. I had heard the speculation. I knew of the comic story. I still did not believe it. After four years, since WandaVision, I had kind of given up the idea that we would ever see him. Then, episode six of Ironheart came about and…

Mephisto CONFIRMED!

Sacha Baron Cohen had been rumored to be playing Marvel’s big devil, but that was just something I never truly took for certain. Even when all the signs were pointing to it being true, I had trouble believing it. Then, there he was, standing in front of Anthony Ramos, giving him his magical hood, just part of the deal.

I loved Sacha Baron Cohen as Mephisto. he was creepy and played it perfectly. They did avoid the red skin, which I kind of wanted, but will probably be in his future.

The show also name dropped Dormammu as a way to try and swerve the people way from the idea of Mephisto. Riri went to try and get some help from… Zelma Stanton, who in the comics was a librarian who went to Dr. Strange with a mind maggot and she stayed as his apprentice for a time. She also became a teacher at Strange Academy.

These three episodes were really solid in my opinion. I do think the Alden Ehrenreich character, Zeke Stane, felt a little forced, but I do like Alden as an actor so I am able to let it be.

The very end of the sixth episode leads us to believe that Riri has made a deal with the devil himself as it looked as if Natalie was alive once again. It left this series off on a gigantic cliffhanger that kept me off-guard. Are there more planned with Ironheart or Mephisto? There has to be.

I thought this was a good show that I enjoyed. I was really engaged, especially with the arrival of Mephisto. It feels significant moving forward. Perhaps with the rumored supernatural phase that Marvel may be preparing for after Secret Wars.