I began my Agents of Shield rewatch this afternoon with the first three episodes, bringing the team together.
These first three episodes reminded me why I loved this show so much. One of the biggest reasons was Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson. He is so charming and funny and a joy to watch. They set up the mystery of Tahiti (it’s a magical place) right away and they do a fine job of teasing that something was going on.
I love Melinda May, aka The Calvary. She is such a bad ass in this show and her chemistry with Coulson and everyone in the cast is spectacular.
Fitz and Simmons are such cool characters. They are not the type of characters that you would expect in a spy show like this, but their presence is extremely awesome.
Chloe Bennett, who played Skye (at least Skye at this point…. one day to become Daisy Johnson) is another great character who is so easy to root for. There is just enough of uncertainty about Skye to make you wonder what is going to happen.
Grant Ward, on the other hand, is more difficult because I know where his character goes. Watching him in these first episodes, knowing that he was in Hydra, was much more difficult. I wonder when they knew, as a creative team, that Ward would be betraying the team as a Hydra agent. There does not seem to be any signs or hints at this point.
These first episodes are used to bring these characters together in a team, something that did not seem likely to happen in the early part of the show. They were arguing and fighting and did not trust each other, but their plan to sabotage the Shield plane bonded them together.
The Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury was awesome too as he yelled at Coulson. Fury’s question about Lola, Coulson’s flying car, was both funny and telling.
I know that this show winds up having to slosh along until the Hydra reveal in Captain America: Winter Soldier, but it has started off strong. I wish that the show had more continuity to the MCU as I would love to see Melinda May appear in MCU films or shows.
We are up to the final Comic Cavalcade of 2025. The next NEW COMIC BOOK DAY is New Year’s Eve and, even with a smaller pull list as it looks to be, there is no way to finish it up before the clock strikes midnight.
2025 has been a great year for comics. With this last week’s load of books, I passed 20,000 comics in my personal collection. That was a cool thing. It was just a few years ago that my collection was in such a mess that I had no idea how many comics I had. Now, after several years of work, my books are all bagged, boarded, boxed, and counted. Sure, there are books where I am unsure where they are still, but it is certainly progress.
I received my order of Mark Spears Monsters #8 this week. I picked up 24 blind bags from Keenspot and I wound up with 19 new covers. I only had 5 duplicates, which I am considering a huge success. I also got three foil covers and three glow-in-the-dark covers in the blind bags. I am pleased with the delivery, even if it felt as if the package was never going to get here.
Books this week:
Sleep #7. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. The penultimate issue of Sleep came out this week and it continues to be one of the best, most creative books on the market. I am anxious to see what surprises we are going to have in store for us in the finale next month.
Red Book #3. Written by James Tynion IV with art and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. More UFO stories from the Soviet Union and, setting up, China for next month. Tynion IV writes this as if it is the truth and that it is out there.
The Will of Doom #1. Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by CAFU. Cover art was done by Jonas Scharf & Alex Guimarães. Dr. Doom is gone (yeah, right) but the Doombots are causing trouble. One issue with the Doombots is that they always believed that they were the true Doom. This one-shot feels important as Chip Zdarsky is heading toward the big event next summer. How will this fit into that?
Orla #5. Written by John Lees with art by Sally Cantirino. Cover art was done by Sally Cantirino & Dearbhla Kelly. Orla was a fun book that seems to believe in true love, even over that desire to murder and eat your lover. This is the final issue of this Mad Cave series.
DC KO: Red Hood vs. The Joker #1. Written by Scott Snyder & Joshua Williamson with pencils by Dustin Nguyen & Giuseppe Camuncoli. Cover art was done by Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern. I also picked up cover C by Guillem March (Gold Medalist). This was the most interesting of the first round match-ups in the KO tournament because of the history between Red Hood and Joker. Many of the other match-ups did not have much background to them, but this one was firing on all cylinders.
Gunpowder Profits #3. Written by Justin Jordan with art and cover art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Marley and Huck got in trouble for their murder of the motorcycle gang last issue, but it seemed as if the gang was not going to let death stop them. Just an excuse for Marley to be even more violent. Meanwhile, America has been snatched away.
Sisterhood #5. Written by Maytal Zchut and art by Leila Leiz. Cover art was done by Leila Leiz with Alex Sinclair. The final issue of this Hyde Street story sees the weird end to the friendship as one person is arrested for the crime. Was it the right person though?
Rocketfellers #11. Written by Peter J. Tomasi with art and cover art done by Francis Manapul. The Rocketfellers have been running through time to avoid Raina Rocketfeller, Roland’s sister. However, Raina has caught up with the family which lead to, apparently, a tragic result. I did not see this coming.
Justice League Unlimited #14. Written by Mark Waid with art and cover art by Dan Mora. The Terrific Ten storyline continues as yet another of the out-of-time heroes bites the big one here. That means that they are down to six.
Absolute Superman #14. “Son of Nowhere, Nothing and No One” Written by Jason Aaron with art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola. Big finale between Superman and Ra’s Al Ghul. The last panel brings the character a little closer to his true look. Thanks Ma.
Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #6. “What’s the Point of a Corgi?” Written by Tom King with art and cover art by Belen Ortega. With the time travel shenanigans going on in this series, we now have Trinity gain a chance to meet her father, Steve Trevor. Admittedly, it is only via the clay molding manner which does not sound nearly as fun.
Justice League Red #5. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Clayton Henry. Cover art is done by Clayton Henry & Arif Prianto. Black Adam is throwing shade to Red Tornado. Is the mind behind the Justice League Red actually plotting against them? As I am not as much of an aficionado of DC, am I supposed to know who the Crimson Cloud is?
Tama #5. Written by Adam Schlagman & Doug Pasko with art by Daniel HDR. Cover art was done by Ashley Witter. Tama continues his brutal path of killing people. Can the video game creature be shut down before it becomes the ultimate monster? Spoiler: Answer is no.
Detective Comics #1104. “The Courage That Kills Part Four” Written by Tom Taylor with art and cover art by Mikel Janin. Batman is in a race against time as he has now become symptomatic with the virus that he has been fighting against. How does the Scarecrow fit into this?
Amazing Spider-Man #18. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz. I also picked up the variant cover by Simone Di Meo, featuring Mary Jane. Norman Osborn and J. Jonah Jameson sit down to talk about their connection to Peter Parker.
Spider-Man ’94 #4. Written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Jim Towe. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. Spidey and Kraven take on the powerful Morlun. Somehow, it sure looked like Morlun turned into Swamp Thing on the final page. Marvel should watch out for copyright lawsuits.
X-Vengers #3. Written by Jason Loo with pencils by Sergio Davila. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Morry Hollowell. The X-Vengers X-ssembled! Or something like that. This is another of the Age of Revelation books that was fun, but felt unneeded. It just gave a flavor to the rest of the Marvel Universe.
Cloak or Dagger #3. Written by Justina Ireland with art done by Lorenzo Tammetta & Edoardo Audino. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Rachelle Rosenberg. This was another fun book as we get a chance to see Cloak and Dagger’s daughter kick some butt during the Age of Revelation.
Undeadpool #3. Written by Tim Seeley with art by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by E.M. Gist. I liked this book at first, but I am not sure if I enjoyed its conclusion during the Age of Revelation. Deadpool got himself got it appeared. Still lots of death X Years Later.
1776 #2. “Our Sacred Honor” Written by J. Michael Straczynski with pencils by Sean Damien Hill. Pete Woods did the art for the cover. Okay, Spidey and Cap together with the revolutionary war soldiers is a hoot. I love their little hats. Clea vs. Morgan Le Fey is a bigtime throwdown.
No Man’s Land #4. Written, drawn and cover art by Szymon Kudranski (Silver Medalist). This awesome story of a murder mystery that could lead to major troubles between the US and the USSR comes to a close. While the mystery is not a great one (considering we did not really have a list of suspects), the resolution is epic. The scene with the showdown was amazing and I actually had my jaw drop with the presentation of it. I loved this four-issue series.
Hello Darkness #17. Variant cover art was done by Jenny Frison (Bronze Medalist). Another strong issue with multiple horror stories. There is always a great deal of variety in this Boom! Studios book.
Absolute Wonder Woman #15. “The Mark of Hecate” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire. After over a year of publications, the Absolute Universe has finally crossed over. In this book, we get the first ever team-up between Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Batman. The story will continue in the next Absolute Batman book.
Other books this week: Masterminds #3, Godzilla Escapes the Dead Zone #5, Blink and You’ll Miss It #4, Titans #30, Absolute Martian Manhunter #7, Fire and Ice; Nekron #1, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #4, Gray Lady #1, Immortal Legend Batman #5, Return to Sleepy Hollow #2, and Red Vector #5.
Quick Hits: Final Boss #2 is back with more hand to hand fighting in the style of the classic video games. In the spirit of the awesome blind bag trend, I picked up an Image Christmas Blind Bag that was supposed to guarantee me a incentive comic of one of Images books. I got the 1:25 version of Assorted Crisis Events #5, which was a cool cover. Hornsby & Halo #13 featured a battle with an angel and devil in search of our heroes. The crime comic called American Caper from Dark Horse is, once again, a very enjoyable book. Dynamite put out The Lion King #2 as Simba was on the case of a missing elephant baby. The Marvel Winter Break Special #1 follows up the Marvel Swimsuit special from earlier this year. Still silly, but some fun art. Expatriate X-Men #3 was my least favorite of the Age of Revelation books this week. Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #6 sees our heroes and the big titan monsters in bad shape. Is that supposed to be a monster version of Cheetah? The Quintesson War has begun in the pages of Void Rivals #25. Ignition Press comics gave us Voyeur #3 this week as we get even more adult comic action. I received Hero Hiro #2 from Keenspot this week along with the Monsters book. While this is a little young, I do like the story that they are telling. Finally, it is Star Wars #8 as Luke is doing his best Spidey under the rubble routine.
Previous winners: Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy, Deadpool & Wolverine), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)
SPOILERS
I am adding a spoiler tag to this award because the winner of The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo of the Year Award came from a movie that I just saw and has not been out for a long time. So if you are wanting to see this certain movie and you do not want this cameo spoiled, please skip this award for the moment.
Stan Lee was the master of the cameo. He is a three time winner of this award and, of course, had it named after him. A cameo can be a great thing. It can be a sudden surprise, something that you couldn’t believe. It could be something that made the scene perfect. It could be an amazing Easter egg. It could be an inside joke that only some of the audience may get. Or it could be the appearance of a celeb or a character that shows how much respect or love they have for the content in which they are appearing.
I actually was not anxious to do this award, despite it being one of my favorites and one of the oldest we had. The reason is I do not have a great deal of cameos in movies this year. There are actually several big ones in TV (which we’ll give out with the More TV Awards later this weekend), but the movies were light for me.
Naked Gun had a couple of good ones. Dave Bautista appeared in a fun joke, replacing Liam Neeson for a bit of the film. Weird Al was in that film too. I considered giving it to Al because he has been in so many of the Naked Gun films over the year. Bradley Cooper appeared in Superman as Jor-El, which was unexpected. John Cena’s Peacemaker was also in Superman. Sarah Michelle Geller appeared in the reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, but that film was such a mess that I wouldn’t want to give this award for that. Then there was William Zabka at the very end of the Karate Kid Legends, which was a fun shout out to Cobra Kai.
None of these were very impactful overall. I take nothing away from any of them, but I am not sure these were going to deserve this award, in the name of Stan Lee.
Then I saw Anaconda today.
Again, SPOILERS ahead. If you do not want to be spoiled by this… I’ll give you a countdown.
10
9
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1
The EYG Stan Lee Cameo Award goes to…
Ice Cube as himself (Anaconda)
Star of the 1997 film Anaconda, Ice Cube makes a shocking return to the screen in 2025’s Anaconda. In the film, Jack Black and Paul Rudd are filming a reimaging of the film Anaconda, and they make plenty of references to the original film. Ice Cube pulls a Deus ex machina near the end of the film to show up and save the guys from certain death. Ice Cube strolls in as bad ass as they come. J-Lo makes an appearance later in a post credit scene, but Ice Cube gets this nod for being indispensable to the story itself.
I am very pleased for Ice Cube here after the disaster that was War of the Worlds.
The flip side of the Gomer, The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is the film that I had expected big things from, but it came up short. I might have liked a film that gets this award (this year is an example), but I found more problems than I expected.
The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year
Previous Winners: In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends, Next Goal Wins, Gladiator II
This year’s runners-up: There was a film from Netflix this year that starred Chris Pratt called Electric State. It was a sci-fi movie that should have been fantastic, but it was far from it. A film that had Jordan Peele’s name on the advertising was called HIM. This had no right to be as bad as it was. M3GAN, the original, was a Gomer runner up, but the sequel to it, M3GAN 2.0 was just dumb and took the worst parts of the original and expended on it. Many people think this will win the Oscar this year for Best Picture, but I was disappointed with One Battle After Another. It was fine. I just expected more than what I saw. I love Ke Huy Quan, but Love Hurts hurt when I had to watch it. Another two movies that I heard positives about, but hated was Friendship and Together. Both big on Rotten Tomatoes, but not at EYG.
And this year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year was…
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
I did like this movie. I gave it a fresh rating. It got like 3.5 stars from me.
And yet, it is getting the Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year.
The final film in the Mission Impossible franchise should have been one of the best films of the year. The first hour or so of this movie was just too dull and repetitive. The ending was great, but I just did not like getting there. The film was too long and could not be totally saved by the great last hour. Then the final shot of the film was disappointing too.
This is a good movie that should have been mind-blowing.
This was a big year for comic books. DC was Absolute while Marvel was Ultimate. Independent books came from all sorts of companies from Mad Cave to Dynamite to Oni Press to Bad Idea. Blind Bags were the hot item once again, at least when Mark Spears covers were the prize. Not so much with Turtles. Doom took over the Marvel Universe. Darkseid prepared to return to the DC Universe. Batman and Deadpool teamed up…twice. Thor died and came back as a mortal. The X-Men found themselves in another alternate future. The Justice League let everyone in. Three men escaped from Alcatraz. The Hulk became Infernal, Dr. Strange an Asgardian, and Tony Stark insurgent. Universal Monsters were all over Image. A priest is marked for death in Ordained. Miss Fury teamed up with Green Hornet, and then she teamed up with Red Sonja, Vampirella and Dejah Thoris. We had Godzilla, zombies and vampires. Storm became an Avenger. Transformers and G.I. Joe were a thing.
And that was just a taste.
Here are the awards given to comics over the last year.
Best Marvel Comic: Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell
Best DC Comic: (TIE) Absolute Batman; Black Canary: Best of the Best
Best Independent Comics: Exquisite Corpses, No Man’s Land, Feral, Wild Animals, and Out of Alcatraz
Most Stylistic Comic: News From the Fallout
Best Character: Absolute Batman
Best Rebooted Cartoon Character: Blue Falcon & Dynomutt
Best Writer: (TIE) James Tynion IV; Ryan North
Best Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Best Cover Artist: Mark Spears
Best Graphic Novel: The Knives by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Best #1: Wild Animals #1
Best Surprise: Doug Ramsey is Revelation
Under Appreciated: Pinupocalypse
Best Vampire Series: Vatican City
Best One Shot: Ice Cream Man: The Mortal Coil Shuffle (story in a deck of cards)
Best X-Book: Uncanny X-Men
Best Imprint: Ghost Machine (from Image)
BiggestOopsie of the Year: Red Hood #1 (When a regular series suddenly becomes a one-shot)
Best Anthology Series: Assorted Crisis Events
Crossover of the Year: Batman/Deadpool
Trend of the Year: Anthology comics (horror, sci-fi, Twilight Zone etc.)
Comic Character 2025 MVPs: Absolute Batman, Mr. Terrific, Ms. Marvel, Dr. Doom, Speed Racer, Space Ghost, Rogue
Company of the Year: Mad Cave
Best Individual Issues of the Year: Out of Alcatraz #1, No Man’s Land #1, Survive #1, Absolute Batman Annual #1, Mark Spears Monsters #8, Uncanny X-Men #17, Exquisite Corpses #1, Assorted Crisis Events #6.
EYG Comic Cavalcade is here again, with a new banner. I do love making these banners.
Ordained #1. Written by Robert Venditti and art by Trevor Hairsine. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes (Silver Medalist). This was the book I was looking most forward to this week and it did not disappoint. The early characterization was spot on and I loved how the story kicked off.
Ultimate Spider-Man #23. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. The penultimate issue of Ultimate Spider-Man brings Peter into conflict with Kingpin and Mister Negative.
Infernal Hulk #2. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art and cover art by Nic Klein. The new version of the Hulk heads to Atlantis and into conflict with Namor. This new Hulk is still quite violent and deadly.
Amazing Spider-Man #17. Written by Joe Kelly with art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. We are back in space with Peter and his crew of oddballs. Peter has to face off with one of the underlings of Hellgate. Pete will have to face off with his failure.
The Beauty #2. Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley with art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Cover art was done by Jeremy Haun & Nick Filardi. The virus known as The Beauty continues to spread around the nation. This has been a really strong start with Ignition Press.
Crownsville #2. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. Into the asylum we head with ghosts all over the place. This has been another great new book, this one from Oni Press.
C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #4. “Chapter 4” Written by Tom Taylor with art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art was done by Daniele Di Nicuolo & Rain Beredo. The kids are off to England to get training with their new, possessed weapons.
Unbreakable X-Men #3. “Like Drowning in the Dark.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Mario Santoro with Luciano Vecchio, Tiago Palma, Davide Tinto & RB Silva. The Age of Revelation series comes to a close with the death of Gambit but the return of Rogue. Gail Simone has done osme top notch work with these characters.
Absolute Batman #15. “The Joker.” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock. Cover art by Nick Dragotta (Gold Medalist). I picked up the B variant cover with art by Jock. The hottest book of the week is once again Absolute Batman. This week because we get the origin of the Absolute Joker. Huge book.
Assorted Crisis Events #7. Written by Deniz Camp and art and cover art by Eric Zawadzki. Another wild story of Tom, who, for some reason, has dead bodies appearing around him… all of them identical to himself. It was a weird story felt like it could be in Ice Cream Man (including a literal ice cream truck).
Sinister’s Six #3. Written by David Marquez and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was done by David Marquez & GURU-eFX. We learn who the Venom in this series is and the death of yet another character in this timeline. In this case, Havok. Once again, these extra books feel like a What If …? book.
Nova Centurion #2. “Deep Space Drifter, Pt. 2” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alvaro Lopez & Matteo Della Petit. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg. Rich Ryder’s Nova takes on the powerhouse who is Ravenous.
Iron & Frost #3. Written by Cavan Scott with art by Avairi Coleman. Another tragic end for this series. Emma and Tony, whose relationship was more than anyone thought, both died in the conflict.
Ultimate Wolverine #12. Written by Chris Condon and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Cover art was done by Matteo Della Fonte & David Curiel. Wolverine heads into the Rasputins’ hive to find the… Ultimate Phoenix? What?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13. Written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Freddie E. Williams II. I picked up a couple of the blind bag version of the book. This is the new creative team. I started collecting this because Jason Aaron was so good in issue #1. I was uncertain what I wanted to do with this book now. I was not impressed with this book. It may not be long for my collection.
Geiger #19. Written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank. Ashley Arden is out looking to help children in the lawless land. And the surprising end sees a cameo by Redcoat! I love that as this book was missing Geiger, and yet I did not miss him that much.
Marvel Knights: The Punisher #3. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art and cover art by Dan Panosian. Everett Ross was able to get Frank out from the cartel’s control and had to take time to get Frank off the zombie drug.
New Avengers #7. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Cover art by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. This has some questions about Natasha and what he motives are… or if she is actually Natasha. Is she part of the Killuminati?
Zdarsky Comic News #18. The final issue of this little magazine from Chip Zdarsky. I will miss this fun little, free, magazine. Zdarsky is most likely leaving this because of the huge Marvel stuff he was doing.
Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #1. Written by Dan Dido and art by Alex Sanchez. Marco Santucci did the cover art. Flash Gordon, Ming the Merciless, Lothar and the Phantom are together in serious trouble. They are tied up and getting ready to be burned to death. This was fun.
Other books this Week: Death to Pachuco #3, Mad Magazine #47, DC KO: Wonder Woman vs. Lobo #1, The End 2099#1, Blood & Thunder #8, and Darkness #1.
Quick Hits: We have Spider-Man & Wolverine #8 where we got some kind of combo between the two of them. This series has been up and down for me. All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #5 saw Gwen and Flash back in that prison with the symbiote. Good fun here. Man Cave had two books this week here with It Killed Everyone But Me #4 and Look Into My Eyes #5. We got another Mad Cave book Pop Kill #1 which, I believe is a reprint of the original Pop Kill #1, but with a different cover (which get the Bronze Medalist this week). The other Age of Revelation book this week was Longshots #3, which is probably my least favorite of these books. Transformers #27 featured several other Transformers, such as Jetfire, one of my all-time favorite Transformers. More drama from Jeff Lemire in Minor Arcana #12. I enjoyed the Han Solo: Hunt for the Falcon #4 was one of the better Star Wars books I have read. One more penultimate book with Ultimate Black Panther #23 came out this week. Terminator Metal #3 found some Western jib in the book.
I got busy over the weekend and I did not get around to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. There were a bunch of movies to watch and I just did not get the comics read so I could do the post.
So Monday night is when this comes out. Still a pretty good week of books.
Books this week:
Wild Animals #5. Written by Ed Brisson and art and cover art by Andy Kuhn. I loved this series. I really enjoyed this book and I loved this finale. The end was a great twist and I did not expect the ending that I got. I loved this book and it was one of my favorite reads every month. I will absolutely miss this series.
Something is Killing the Children #45. “All Her Monsters” Part Five. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’edera. I got the foil variant of the cover by Stefano Simeone (Gold Medalist). It was nice to have Something is Killing the Children back after a bit of a break. Erica Slaughter is always a fun read and I was pleased that it was back.
Doctor Strange #1. Written by Derek Landy with art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art by Alex Horley. The return of Doctor Strange arrived. Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard and he went on a mission where he met up with Angela. Strange in the Nine Realms is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to see where we go.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #41. “Web of Regret” Part Two. Written by Cody Ziglar with art by Marco Renna. Cover art was done by Federico Vicentini & Ceci de la Cruz. Miles and Rabble have to team up against the revived Assessor. Forget Rabble… Instead, here comes Spider-Man, Peter Parker! Love that he is here for the finale of this round of Miles’s book.
Spider-Man Noir #3. “The Gwen Stacy Affair, Part III.” Written by Erik Larsen and art by Marika Cresta. Cover art was done by Simone Di Meo. Spider-Man Noir takes on more Nazis, with the creepy Plasma Man at its core. Then, Peter tells Gwen that Spider-Man was the one who killed her father.
Rook Exodus #9. Written by Geoff Johns with art by Jason Fabok. Cover art was done by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson. Rook, Dire Wolf, and Matterhorn have to struggle against giant monstrous spiders.
Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1. Written by Wyatt Kennedy with art by Andy Pereira. Cover art was done by Lucsa Werneck. This was a hoot of an issue. With Wiccan and Hulkling at the heart of this issue, I rally enjoyed it. I was a big fan of Agatha All Along on Disney + and this is clearly building off of that.
Red Shirts #5. Written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Megan Levens. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan. Okay… wait a minute. What happened here? I’m sorry… did I misread what just happened? Did our main red shirt protagonist just reveal himself as a Romulan spy? Did I read that right? And now the series is over? What? That was a ballsy move. Not sure how I feel about it, but I am thinking about it, which is a good thing.
Binary #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Giada Belviso. Rickie Yagawa did the cover art. Okay, what happened here? Did Carol Danvers just die transferring the Phoenix force back to Jean Grey? With the end of this, it really felt like an issue of What If. This could have easily have been “What If… Carol Danvers had received the Phoenix Force?” and we could have gone from there. Setting this in the Age of Revelation did not seem necessary.
Fantastic Four #6. “The Unobservable Universe.” Written by Ryan North with pencils by Humberto Ramos. Cover art by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. I also picked up a variant cover by Joe Jusko in the style of Jack Kirby. I have been a fan of Ryan North’s work on the FF since he began, but I have to say that I am not a fan of Humberto Ramos’s art this issue. I always liked him on Amazing Spider-Man, but there was just something about his FF (in particular Sue) that did not work well for me.
Doctor Who: The Prison Paradox #2. Written by Dan Watters and art by Sami Kivela. Cover art by Abigail Harding. The fifteenth Doctor was my personal favorite, and I loved the two seasons of TV on Disney +. So I picked up this comic with this Doctor. I have liked this story so far too.
Batman #4. “Drop the Smoke.” Written by Matt Fraction and art and cover art by Jorge Jimenez. I also picked up the Bat-gear variant that was also done by Jorge Jimenez. We get a brand new Batman villain with the Minotaur.
Blue Falcon & Dynomutt #4. “Nature of the Game.” Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and art by Pasquale Qualano. Cover art was done by Lucio Parrillo (Silver Medalist). Blue Falcon is off the bench and back into action with his new cyber-dog, Dynomutt. I do like this new series and this new look of the Hanna-Barbera characters.
Murder Podcast #3. Written by Jeremy Haun and illustrated by Mike Tisserand. Cover art was done by Jeremy Haun and Nick Filardi. Murder Podcast has been a really exciting new series with some real creative storytelling behind it. Ignition Press comics have been pretty strong recently.
Absolute Wonder Woman #14. “The Price Part 2” Written by Kelly Thompson with art by Matias Bergara. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire. I got this a week late. I do like the mythological type of story that Diana is finding herself in. And next issue: Batman. Ooh, that’ll be a biggie.
Giant Size Criminal #1. “The High Roller” Written by Ed Brubaker with art and cover art by Sean Phillips. With Criminal coming soon to a streaming live action series, this new series was a lot of fun. I do love the work by Brubaker and these criminal stories are always awesome.
Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #3. Written by Erica Schultz with art by Valentina Pinti. Cover art by Elena Casagrande & Edgar Delgado. We have another dead character in the Age of Revelation. Again, these secondary character stories feel like What If…? books. That is not a bad thing necessarily.
Amazing X-Men #3. “Philadelphia.” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Mahmud Asrar. Cover art was done by Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson. This felt like the big book of the group of Age of Revelation comics. This led right back into the big conclusion coming up. The book felt more significant than some of the others.
G.I. Joe #15. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Tom Reilly. I was not sure what had happened to Cobra Commander last issue. He is alive. I love this new Road Pig character. With Duke and Cobra Commander having to work together, this is a pretty strong book.
Cheetah & Cheshire Rob the Justice League #5. Written by Greg Rucka with art by Nicola Scott. Cover art was done by Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok. The plan comes to fruition as Cheetah and Cheshire get away from the Justice League. However, it seemed that there are some powerhouses behind this robbery that I did not expect.
DC KO: Knightfight #2. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Dan Mora. Okay, this went from a cool concept of Batman in a universe where Dick Grayson became Batman and he had an army of Robins.. to a concept that I am completely confused by. Is Batman Clayface? What is going on here?
Speed Racer #5. Written by David Pepose with art by Davide Tinto. Cover art was done by Alessio Zonno. More racing action as Speed Racer and Racer X is out to battle Alpha Automotive. This has been surprisingly decent over the first five issue, even if Racer X has been too prevalent in the storyline.
Save Now #2. Written by Matt Kindt and art by Thomas Giorello. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. This Bad Idea comic has been excellent after the first two issues. Time travel shenanigans from Saver, trying to find a way to prevent the devastation of the planet, while still having the love of his life and his daughter. This has some real emotion to it and I have found Save Now as one of the better independent books out there.
War Wolf #2. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Thomas Bruin helped drive away the invading lizard aliens, killing several. He became a big star because of it. So when the aliens returned a year later, they were after Bruin. Another fun book from Mad Cave.
Other books this week: DC KO: Superman vs. Captain Atom #1, Briar: Night’s Terror #1, Marvel Black, White & Blood and Guts #3, Dark Souls: Mother of Mourning #1 (Bronze Medalist), Kill All Immortals II #2, and Tales of the Shadowman: Ghosts of the Bayou #1.
Quick Hits: Hulk Smash Everything #1 came out and it was a weird book. It does not help with my confusion over the current Hulk. Is he in space during Imperial? Is he a new rage monster split with Banner with Infernal Hulk? Is he just smashing dinosaurs in the past? Whichever, I am not sure I need any more smashing. Gotham Academy #3 brought some emotional beats for Olive. Did they blow up Arkham? I was fairly disappointed with The Ultimate Universe: Two Years In #1. Spider-Girl #7 was the final issue of this series. I was surprised with the sudden end to this one. I know what I always think of when I think of Christmas… The Terminator. The Terminator: Santa Claus is Coming to Town #1 is a fun Dynamite Comics book. The Voice Said Kill #4 is another book that ended with a violent shoot out. The Phantom #3 is yet another win for Mad Cave. I do love how comics with old time characters are all the rage these days. The Absolute Green Lantern #9 continues to improve in my eyes. I was almost ready to drop this book, but it has been much better the last few months. Eat Your Young #4 was a book I did not have the opportunity to read yet. Ultimate X-Men #22 is reaching near its own end as the Ultimate Universe will be ending soon.
I have just started the 2025 Year in Review at EYG where I compile lists of the year’s best and worst. When I would make lists of the best TV shows, Agents of SHIELD was consistently the number one show. It was number one for several years as I loved this show. Even when it seemed as if it was no longer MCU canon, I loved this show.
Agents of SHIELD was a show that ran for seven seasons on ABC, featuring the adventures of a group of SHIELD agents led by Phil Coulson.
Of course, Phil Coulson had been murdered in The Avengers movie by Loki so there was going to need to be some shenanigans in order to have him star in this show. Clark Gregg reprised his role as Coulson and he brought his natural charm and wit to the show.
The other main agents of the show included Melinda May (aka The Calvary), Daisy Johnson (aka Quake), Leo Fitz and Jenna Simmons, “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez and Mack Mackenzie.
The show’s crossover with the MCU was never quite clear. There were times where it seemed clear, such as a close tie in with Captain America: Winter Soldier, or the appearance of Sif. Other Marvel Comics characters made appearances in this show including Ghost Rider, the Inhumans, Deathlok, Bobbi Morse (known in comics as Mockingbird), Mr. Hyde, Hive, Peggy Carter, and LMDs.
Agents of SHIELD personified the brand of Marvel magic that we saw in some of the earliest movies of the franchise. The show featured sweeping adventure with splashes of humor and clever, witty dialogue from compelling characters. Over the years, the relationships among these characters became the backbone of the series. Several of these characters wound up being introduced into the Marvel comics too.
For me, this is one of my favorite shows of all time, just coming short of the top 10.
One of the best Marvel Studios Disney + shows is next on the countdown as we reach Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.
After Avengers: Infinity War, it looked as if we had seen the last of Loki in the MCU. “No resurrections this time” Thanos said as he cracked Loki’s neck. Fortunately for us, Thanos was not quite right.
While that Loki would not be back, we learned about the multiverse and the unlimited number of Loki variants, one of which would become our protagonist of this series.
Grabbed by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), Loki was recruited by Mobius to help with the apprehension of another rogue Loki who was causing all kinds of trouble. We would come to find out that the rogue Loki was, in fact, a female Loki who named herself Sylvie. Loki and Sylvie had a real weird relationship that carried this show through its run.
But truthfully, the key relationship of the show was Loki and Mobius, played by Owen Wilson. This bromance was apparent from the first scene they had together. Hiddleston and Wilson had amazing chemistry and made an amazing duo.
Loki and Sylvie confronted the man at the beginning of time, He Who Remains, who turned out to be a variant of Kang the Conquerer. This was easily the best moment for that character in the MCU as Kang ended up being defeated by ants. However, this version of Kang was an omnious force over both seasons of Loki.
The writing was extremely clever and funny. It was also a major event in the MCU, with the finale changing things massively with ripples we are still waiting to discover.
Who would have guessed back in the first Thor movie that the antagonist of that movie and the major villain of The Avengers would have one of the best TV shows from Marvel?
Good Sunday to all. We are back with a HUGE week of books. Legitimately, this was one of the largest weeks of comic purchasing that I have had in a long time. I am jumping right in…
Batman Deadpool #1. “The Cosmic Kiss Caper” Written by Grant Morrison with art and cover art by Dan Mora. It is DC’s turn to team up Batman & Deadpool. There are, of course, a bunch of variant covers going with it. I picked up three other covers, including one with Joker vs. Doom, Nightwing & Laura Kinney and a homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths. I really enjoyed this comic this week. I would give a special shout out to the back up story featuring Nightwing and Wolverine.
Zdarsky Comic News #17. Chip Zdarsky’s news mag is always fun, but I included it here because, according to Chip inside the book, next issue is the final issue of the Zdarsky Comic News. That made me very sad as I enjoyed this every time I would grab it in Bettendorf. I think it probably has to do with the big Marvel stuff Chip is going to be doing soon.
No Man’s Land #3. Written, art and cover art by Szymon Kudranski. I picked up Cover C (Antlers variant) as well as the cover A by Kudranski (Gold Medalist-TIE). I truly love this book. It is one of my favorite books of the 2025 calendar year. The team up between our two agents from competing super powers continues to be engaging as can be, as does the mystery of who is responsible for the murder.
High Strangeness #2. “Book Two: 1975” Written by Daniel Noah & Zac Thompson with illustration and cover art by Noah Bailey (Silver Medalist). Is this a bigfoot story or some other type of monstrous creature? I don’t know, but I enjoyed reading it.
Amazing Spider-Man #16. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. More earth-bound action with Norman Osborn covering for Peter. I loved this issue because of how Tombstone reacted to Spider-Man. He was worried about the reactions Osborn-Spidey was having, that they were not the Spider-Man that he was used to, and he wanted to find out what was wrong. The level of respect Tombstone held Spider-Man in is one of those things that I love to see.
Radioactive Spider-Man #2. Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Kev Walker. Cover C variant art was done by Juan Ferreyra. Age of Revelation, X Years in the future, it gives us a cool futuristic Spider-Man tale, featuring how much Peter loved his Aunt May. This has been a solid piece of the Age of Revelation.
Lion King #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Edin Galmon. I grabbed this off the shelf for the heck of it. I have enjoyed the Dynamite books lately and this look like a nice collector’s item to have. Then, I thought the story was better than I anticipated. So much so that i will probably grab issue two as well.
One World Under Doom #9. “The White Sail of her Soul”. Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. The One World Under Doom arc came to a close with this issue as Doom went cosmic to undo his accidental killing of Valera Richards last issue. He lost his Sorcerer Supreme title as well.
Deluge #2. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Marika Cresta. Riley Rossmo did the cover art. The prison is flooded, putting the lives of the inmates in jeopardy, but the females of the prison did not have to face just the waters. It is what is in the waters that is the most dangerous. Ignition Press has a winner on their hands with Deluge.
The Twilight Zone #2. “A World of Your Wildest Dreams.” Written, art and cover art by Tom Scioli. Another story that would be exceptional as an episode of the TV show. The design of the art in this book was very original and different and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This has been a great anthology series so far.
Spider-Man Holiday Spectacular #1. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Luciano Vecchio, Paco Medina, Nathan Stockman, and Bob Quinn. Cover art was done by Luciano Vecchio. I usually do not like these holiday specials, but this one I absolutely loved! Aunt may is on a cruise, so Peter is going to be alone on Christmas, so the rest of the Marvel Universe stepped up to show how much they love Spidey.
The Ultimates #18. Written by Dennis Camp with art by Juan Frigeri. Cover art by Dike Ruan. Tony Stark makes a video appeal to the superheroes of the Ultimate Universe as major problems are coming soon.
The Last Wolverine #2. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Edgar Salazar. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo & Matthew Wilson. Leonard, along with Nightcrawler and Heather Hudson, are on their way to try and save Logan. I do like this character of Leonard quite a bit and this has been one of my favorite of the Age of Revelation books so far.
Punisher: Red Band #3. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. Punisher is back, though he does not remember who he is. But the Kingpin is trying to control him, use him as a weapon. Frank is on the case… and killing people in a violent manner.
G.I. Joe #14. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Tom Reilly. Did Cobra Commander just get fed to some pigs? The Dreadnok War moves along as CC and Duke try to find their selves a place to hide. Maybe they choose poorly.
Absolute Flash #9. “Rogue’s Revenge” Written by Jeff Lemire and art and cover art by Nick Robles. Wally and the Rogue’s Gallery are looking to team up to take care of their mutual problem… however, there is a traitor in their midst.
Nova Centurion #1. “Deep Space Drifter” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Alvero Lopez. Cover art was done by Alessandro Cappuccio & Rachelle Rosenberg. I also picked up the foil variant cover by Ivan Shavrin (Bronze Medalist). I wasn’t much of a fan of the Imperial comic, so when I picked this up, I was not expecting much, even though I have always been a fan of Nova. I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this new take on Richard Rider. Much like Planet She-Hulk, this separate series started off strong.
Unbreakable X-Men #2. “Burial at Sea.” Written by Gail Simone and art by C.F. Villa. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. We learn about the X Years later fate of the Outliers. This continues to be one of the best written group of characters in the X-universe.
Terrorbytes #2. Written by Mark London with art by Emanuele Ercolani. Cover art was done by Sebastian Piriz. This Mad Cave book tells the story of a guy who is influenced by AI to do many bad things in exchange for money. It is the easy way… or is it?
X-Men: Book of Revelation #2. Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, JP Mayer & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo. Kitty Pryde, the Ghost of Philadelphia, showed up to save a little girl who was one of Revelation’s Choristers, Elbecca from Fabian Cortez. However, things are not as they seem.
Don’t Forget Your Briefcase #5. Written by Eliot Rahal with art and cover art by Phillip Sevy. The political-spy thriller/comedy book from Mad Cave wrapped up with this issue. I have to say that I was a little unclear about the ending of the book, but it seemed like everyone was happy. Maybe?
Pecos Bill and the Guns of Oz #1. Written by J. Hammond with art by Erick Marshall. Cover art was done by J. Hammond. This new Keenspot book including the tall tale character of Pecos Bill attracted my attention on the stand. It was a weird book, but it seemed to fit right in with some of the other weird Keenspot books.
Red Book #2. Written by James Tynion IV with art by Michael Avon Deming. The mysteries of UFOs are not just an American phenomenon. It is also found in China, and this comic gives us some background behind the Chinese stories. Tynion IV has always been great with these types of books and this is no exception.
Final Boss #1. “Stage 1: Genesis.” Written by Tyler Kirkham and art by Tyler Kirkham with David Miller. Cover art was done by Tyler Kirkham. Tommy Brazen is one of the top fighters around. This book reminds one of the fighting video game such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. The panels are oversized and the imagery is fantastic. Story is not remarkably deep, but you kind of expect that.
News from the Fallout #6. “Chapter Six: Darkness Everywhere” Written by Chris Condon with art and cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love. One of the most original and enjoyable mini series of the year closes with this creative issue. Weirdness everywhere and I love it.
Nightwing #132. “Slapstick” Written by Dan Watters with art and cover art by Dexter Soy. Nightwing goes in search of a group of children that had been taken by the Spheric Solutions. However, Nightwing discovered a truth about Olivia Pearce that is definitely frightening.
Ferocious #1. “Hello, Survivor.” Written by Written by Luke Piotrowski and art by Emanuele Ercolani. Cover art was done by Andy Clake & Jose Villarrubia. The new Mad Cave book is based on the survival FPS video gameFerocious from OMYOG and tinyBuild. A young boy trains under a warrior woman who destroyed his village.
Captain America #5. “Our Secret Wars” Part 5. Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Valerio Schiti. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey. Cap’s adventure in Latveria comes to a close and Cap leaves the military to join the Avengers.
Omega Kids #2. Written by Tony Fleecs with art by Andres Genolet. Rod reis did the cover art. The Omega Kids, led by Quentin Quire, are a psychic spy network for Revelation. However, there may be more to these kids than it seemed.
All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art as done by David Marquez & Federico Blee. Gwen Stacy’s former symbiote has taken over a prison and, seemingly, has been able to control multiple hosts at once. What can Gwen and Flash Thompson do to stop this?
Justice League Red #4. Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Clayton Henry. Cover art was done by Clayton Henry and Arif Prianto. Red Tornado lays out the plan to face off against Black Adam in an attempt to prevent the apocalyptic future.
Space Ghost #5. Written by David Pepose with art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. Space Ghost prevents a war between two squabbling planets.
Exquisite Corpses #7. Written by Michael Walsh with James Tynion IV and art by Claire Roe with Michael Walsh. Cover art was done by Michael Walsh. I also picked up a virgin variant with art by Marcos Martin. Wild action continues on in the tournament. There was a bit of a twist in the action that might affect the families.
Other books this week: The New Gods #12, Good as Dead #3, Marian Heretic #2, Mary Sue #2, It Killed Everyone But Me #3, Ghost Pepper #5, and Yuletide #2.
Quick Hits: Todd was able to find me a copy of Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1, from Dynamite. James T. Kirk is back and alive again in The Last Starfighter #2. Curious to see where that may go. While the X-books are involved with the Age of Revelation, Marvel released X-Men of Apocalypse #1, a book with characters from the previous dystopian future. Tama #4 is getting more and more violent each week as Tama is losing even more control. The Terminator Metal #2 gives us a human to cheer for and then pulls the run out from under us. There are two reprints from the world of Mark Spears. Mark Spears Monsters #1 has a cool reprint with a zombie crawling through the grass and Mark Spears Monsters #4 -2nd print (Gold Medalist-TIE) has a Santa Claus Skeleton. I missed Grim #25 last week, which was the final issue of the series. Not sure I loved the finale, but I am glad I have the complete series. More zombie problems in Everything Dead & Dying #3 as the humans have found the zombie city. Viking Moon #2 is pretty awesome again as we get werewolves vs. Vikings. 20th century Studios comics Thor dies in the Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #4. A group of heroes are teaming up to take on the Predators… with the title, it does not seem like a positive thing for them. Hector Plasm : Hunt for Bigfoot #2 comes across what could be a Bigfoot. This is a weird book so far. Racer X #3 still focuses more on Speed Racer than on Racer X. More cool horror stories in the anthology book Hello Darkness #16. I grabbed this book, John Le Carre’s The Circus: Losing Control #1 from Dark Horse off the stands. It felt like a book that had other series prior that I was expected to know. Not going to continue with this one for now. There was a cool virgin cover of Spawn: The Dark Ages #1, but it was also a book that the story did not interest me. Awesome cover though (even though it did not crack the medal round this week). The final issue of Silverhawks #10 came out this week. This has been a book that has been losing my attention as it progressed so I am glad to see it end. Harley Quinn X Elvira #2 from Dynamite is filled with weird interactions between these two characters. Th, we got huge sword fights with oversized swords in Lost Fantasy #5.
This week, Todd picked up some old Daredevils for me. I picked up Daredevil #173, 247-253, and 258. It was nice to get some of these books. I have not picked up a lot of back issues of DD, but I like filling out my collection.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. The fourth issue of the Superman saga created by the Ice Cream Man creative team reaches its penultimate issue. Superman is in the imp dimension and they are all over the place. (Fun cover, right Todd?)
Batman: Dark Patterns #12. “The Child of Fire part 3” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. I am sad to see this Batman series end with this issue. I have enjoyed this Dark Patterns book more than most DC books, if I am being honest. I usually am not a fan of the books that take place in the past continuity, but this was great, and it was awesome how they tied the parts together.
1776 #1. “Night Calls” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and penciled by Sean Damien Hill & Ron Lim. Pete Woods did the cover art. Several Marvel super heroes have to go back in time to the Revolutionary War to try and stop Morgan Le Fey from destroying America. I am not sure where the continuity fits, but that was still excellent.
Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #2. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Pere Perez. Cover art was done by Mark Chiarello. Can J. Michael Straczynski write anything in the current Marvel Universe timeline? This Spidey story is back before the death of Gwen Stacy. It’s been good so far.
Spider-Man & Wolverine #7. “The Deaths of Spider-Man & Wolverine” Written by Marc Guggenheim and art and cover art by Kaare Andrews. I have been happier with this series since the first few where it did not feel like Spider-Man. Wolvie and Spidey wind up in a different dimension with a different Reed Richards.
American Caper #1. Written by Dan Houser & Lazlow with pencils by David Lapham. Cover art was done by Tyler Boss (Silver Medalist). New crime story featuring two very damaged families in the world of business. It’s one of the best new books of the week.
Redcoat #15. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Cover art was done by Bryan Hitch & Brad Anderson. We see Simon has found himself a new life, wife and child. That is.. until Albert showed up with some bad news.
Fantastic Four #5. Written by Ryan North and penciled by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado. We get a solo episode with Sue, trying to help with the Black Cat, who has been arrested for a murder she did not commit. Felicia needs help and Sue is not anxious to give it to her. Lots of fun with this story. I like a good self-contained story along the way.
Blue Falcon & Dynomutt #3. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and art by Pasquale Qualand. Cover art was done by Lucio Parrillo (Bronze Medalist). Blue Falcon is in a lot of trouble. He is injured and being pursued. However, here comes Dyno-Mutt!!!!
New Avengers #6. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Ton Lima. Cover art was done by Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo. Can we trust the Black Widow? Does she have a connection to the Killuminati? Maybe, but I do like this combination of heroes as Avengers.
Spider-Man ’94 #3. Writing by J.M. DeMatteis and art by Jim Towe. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. Morlun is all over this issue as Peter has to fight off a clone creature. How does Kraven the Hunter fit into to everything.
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #6. Written by Matthew Rosenberg with art and cover art by Stefano Landini. This series comes to an end with a violent and shocking conclusion to the book. It feels like there is more to this story moving forward so I would not be surprised if there is another volume is approved.
Red Hulk #10. “Red Flag” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Gabriel Guzman. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Marte Gracia. This is a major lead in to the final of One World Under Doom. This is a final issue for this series.
Eddie Brock: Carnage #10. Written by Charles Soule and art and cover art by Jesus Saiz. Another final issue of the Carnage series. There is kind of a resolution with the conflict between Eddie and Carnage. It ends with a shocking moment where Carnage learns the identity of Peter Parker.
Spider-Girl #6. Written by Torunn Grønbekk and art by Diogenes Neves. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Spider-Girl heads to Hawaii. Plus, the last page said that next issue would be “To Be Concluded.” I wonder if next issue is the final issue of this series? I have liked Spider-Girl so far so I hope it is just the conclusion of the story arc.
Rogue Storm #2. Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Roland Boschi. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. The Age of Revelation, X years later. Storm and Gambit meet up, searching for Rogue Red.
Strange Tales #2. Written by Jeremy Whitley and art by Bayleigh Underwood. Cover art was done by Bayleigh Underwood and Jim Campbell. Green Goblin needs a magical book and he has to go to the Sanctum Santorum to find it. However, Spider-Gwen in there to cause some trouble for him.
Gunpowder Prophets #2. Written by Justin Jordan and art by Patrick Piazzalunga. Cover art was done by Patrick Piazzalunga and Roman Stevens. Marley and Huck are being pursued by a bunch of people on motorcycles. I feel bad for those people on the motorcycles. A very violent book.
Sinister’s Six #2. Written by David Marquez and art by Rafael Loureiro. Cover art was done by David Marquez & GURU-eFX. Age of Revelation. X Years later. This is down the list for me of this Age of Revelation books. I’m not sure that this one is that necessary. It’s still fine, though.
Iron & Frost #2. Written by Cavan Scott and art by Ruairi Coleman. Cover art was done by Ryan Brown. Age of Revelation. X Years later. Tony Stark, Emma Frost, James Rhodes… and what is going on with these characters. I do like the chemistry between Emma and Tony.
Spider-Man Noir #2. Written by Erik Larsen and art by Andrea Broccardo. Simone Di Meo did the cover art. Spider-Man Noir is back and fighting Nazis in America. And he is trying to break the news to his client Gwen Stacy that he was the one to shoot her father, who was a crooked cop. Or is there more to this than we know?
Liquidator #1. Written by Peter Milligan and art and cover art by Piotr Kowalski. I have gotten to a point where a new number one issue from Mad Cave is worth picking up just because. Liquidator #1 is really solid story with time travel involved.
Transformers #26. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. The new arc with the Transformers continues going here. We get some look in on the human side of this new arc. This is starting to be intriguing.
C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #3. Written by Tom Taylor and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art was done by Daniele Di Nicuolo and Rain Beredo. The kids with their talking weapons meet with a new individual… Merlin! This has been fun so far and I do love Tom Taylor.
Youngblood #1. Written and penciled by Rob Liefeld. Variant cover E art done by Daniel Warren Johnson. The return of this classic Image book with Rob Liefeld came out this weekend. I was unfamiliar with this group and this book was fine. I do not think I am continuing with it.
The City Beneath Her Feet #2. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art was done by Elsa Charretier. This has been a long time coming. The biggest problem with DSTLRY books is the release schedule. I enjoyed this book though. It always takes so long to get the memory of the story back.
Other Books this Week: Marvel: Black, White & Blood and Guts #2, The Power Fantasy #13, Red Vector #4, The Author Immortal #2, Batman Static Beyond #1, Death to Pachuco #2, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #3, and Blood & Thunder #7.
Quick Hits: The Marvel Ultimate universe is coming to an end soon, or at least that was what it seems. Ultimate Black Panther #22 and Ultimate Wolverine #11 came out this week. The final issue of Mr. Terrific: Year One #6 came out. I am not a big fan of this mini series. Godzilla is back and everywhere. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Godzilla #1 came from ID and Godzilla Escapes the Dead Zone #4 are new this week. Of course, we don’t see much, if anything, of Godzilla in the Dead Zone. Godzilla is the Wolverine or Punisher of 2025. We get more of the white Black Panther in The World to Come. We also go into a galaxy far, far away twice this week with Star Wars #7 and Star Wars: Han Solo-Hunt for the Falcon #3. We get Conan the Barbarian #26 with some bristling barbarian action. Our gold medalist winning cover was from Stephanie Hans on Die Loaded #1. And then there was the oddly titled Die!Namite #2 where, on the last page, Red Sonja joins the fun.
This is probably the most surprising of all the Disney + Marvel shows. If you would have told me that one of my all-time favorite Marvel shows would feature Agatha Harkness, I would not have believed you. Yet, here we are at #26.
Agatha All Along is a spin-off of WandaVision, featuring the character of Agatha Harkness, a witch who had been stranded in Westview because of a spell from Wanda Maximoff. When she is able to pull herself out of the spell, Agatha goes about trying to regain her stolen power by collecting a coven and traveling the Witches’ Road.
Anchored by the brilliant performance by Kathryn Hahn as Agatha, Agatha All Along was an exceptional show with a storyline that carried through the entire series, with comedy, drama and music.
Yes, the variety of ways that the show played “Done the Witches’ Road” was one of the highlights of the show. In episode two when the coven sang the song in Agatha’s basement (with Mrs. Hart’s perfectly deadpanned line, “Am I supposed to know this song?”) to the rock ballad version during the trials of the Road in episode four, the music was such an engaging part of the show.
The show introduces Billy/William, the resurrected son of Wanda and Vision. Of course, in the comics, Billy is known as Wiccan. We had met a younger version of Billy in WandaVision and seemingly lost him there too. This brought him back to the MCU in the form of actor Joe Locke.
The other members of the coven included Debra Jo Rupp (who returned to her Wandavision role of Sharon Davis, aka Mrs. Hart), Aubrie Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, and Patti LuPone.
The mystery of the Witches’ Road is extremely compelling and led to some of the best episodes of Marvel TV you will find. I would argue that episode 7, “Death’s Hand in Mine,” is one of the best single episodes of TV Marvel has produced. It featured the backstory of coven witch Lilia Calderu, played by the grand dame of Broadway, Patti LuPone.
Agatha All Along was tremendously entertaining and was one of the best written Marvel Studios Disney + shows around. It was a surprise favorite and it deserves this high spot in the top 100.
Forty-five years ago today, I woke up at my friend Jeff’s house after we went trick or treating and spent the night reading his comics. Jeff had a “folder” at Comic World in Dubuque and he had a bunch of X-Men and Avengers. It was the next day that I decided that I would begin to collect comics too.
Of course, there were years where I did not buy many books. Specifically during the college years and immediate years after when I subbed. I just did not have enough money for the hobby. However, I always considered myself a comic collector. I have always considered November 1st as my anniversary. Now a days, I buy a bunch of books a month.
This month is the fifth week of the month, which generally means a lower amount of books. I still was able to get a group of solid comics.
Books this week:
Sleep #6. Written, drawn and cover art by Zander Cannon. Jonathan found a way for him to contain the shocking transformation… or so it seemed. It was a fascinating issue as Jonathan seemed to be protecting Tabby. There was also a post credit scene. Very cool. Two more issues in this book which has been so great.
Black Cat #3. “III: Word Gets Around.” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes (Bronze medalist). Lots of cool cameos in the newly super heroic Black Cat. Ms. Marvel, Sandman… Cat has to face off with Tombstone.
Feral #17. “Onslaught” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tonbe Rodriguez. Cover art was done by Trish Forstner (Gold Medlaist), I was talking to another Comic World customer who told me that his girlfriend read Feral and described it as a cross between Lion King and Walking Dead. It is a perfect example. This issue really feel like a Walking Dead book with cats. I love the horror movie homage covers for this book.
Undeadpool #1. Written by Tim Seeley with art by Carlos Magno. Cover art was done by E.M. Gist. It is the Age of Revelation and X Years Later… Wade Wilson has an all new way about him as the X-virus changed him into an undead zombie-like being, but he still had his narration skills. Undeadpool is another cool concept in the current Marvel storyline.
X-Vengers #1. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Morry Hollowell. The Age of Revelation moves along X Years Later with a different variation of the Avengers. Dani Moonstar has cap’s shield, Shang Chi, Cannonball, Hawkeye (with multiple arms), Vision, Water Widow (yes, it is Natasha), and Variable Man (Scott Lang, thank you). Seeing how the X-Virus affected the heroes of the Marvel Universe is fascinating.
Cloak or Dagger #1. Written by Justina Ireland with art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was done by Mike McKone & Rachelle Rosenberg. In the Age of Revelation, X Years Later… Tyrone and Tandy are married, but they can only exist on the same plane of existence at the same time very a very short time. They tag each other out like they are in a WWE tag team. Cloak & Dagger have been a favorite of mine for awhile now and I am glad they get a book in this new adventure.
Expatriate X-Men #1. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Francesco Mortarino. Cover art by Francesco Mortarino & Raul Angulo. Ms. Marvel is leading a group of X-Men featuring a bunch I am not as familiar with including Rift, Bronze and Melee… with a connection to Mystique.
Return to Sleepy Hollow #1. Written by Casey Gilly and art and cover art by Savanna Mayer. Ichabod Crane is back in Sleepy Hollow to investigate a new murder. This is apparently a follow up to the movie Sleepy Hollow.
Runaways #5. “Think of the Children” Part Five. Written by Rainbow Rowell and art by Elena Casagrande & Roberta Ingranata. Cover art is done by Stephanie Hans. The storyline with the Runaways and the Doombot’s identity crisis is wrapped up here. I really love these characters and hope they return again.
Stake Presents: Jessamy #1. Written by David A. Byrne and illustrated and cover art by Francesca Fantini (Silver Medalist). I had no idea what this book was about when I spotted it on the shelf. The cover was what attracted me to the book. It was not a book that I found that intriguing after reading it, but it is a beautiful looking book. More vampire stuff.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Annual 2025. Written by Kenny Porter and art by Michael Shelfer. Cover art by Mateus Santolouco. The annual that is like the end of the Jason Aaron run of TMNT, but without Jason Aaron. I found myself less than interested in this annual which may not be a good sign for this book moving forward with Jason Aaron gone.
Absolute Batman Annual 2025 #1. Written and art by Daniel Warren Johnson with cover art by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. However, this Absolute Batman annual really kicked some ass. Some of the best imagery from the series yet. This was excellent.
Rocketfellers #10. Written by Peter J. Tomasi and art and cover art by Francis Manapul. It is Halloween for the Rocketfellers and they allow the kids to go trick or treating before they attempt to get away. Aunt Raina finds them and chases them away.
Mortal Thor #3. “The Father of Lies.” Written by Al Ewing and art by Pasqual Ferry. Cover art by Alex Ross. The Serpents attack Sigmund at his construction site. Not a good idea for them. Sigmund is a real bad ass with that little hammer. It is a really violent book.
All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Paolo Villanelli. Cover art by David Marquez & Federico Blee. Ghost Spider showed up to battle her old symbiote. Flash Thompson has returned as Agent Anti-Venom. I am very happy that Gwen’s symbiote and weird powers are gone and she is back to the regular Spider-Gwen.
The Beauty #1. Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley and art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Cover art by Jeremy Haun & Nick Filardi. New book from Ignition Comics. There is a new STD disease, but it is one that people want to be infected by because it turned the infected into their most beautiful selves. This was a great new series.
Moonshine Bigfoot #4. Written by Mike Marlow & Zach Howard and pencils by Steve Ellis. Cover art by Steve Ellis & Zach Howard. Moonshine Bigfoot’s first arc is all done with this. The book really does feel like a Dukes of Hazzard cross with the X-Files. I have enjoyed Moonshine Bigfoot.
Supernatural #1. Written by Greg Pak and art by Eder Messias. Clayton Crain did the cover art. I never watched this TV show, despite it having been on TV for like 125 years. I was curious about the book because Dynamite has done some really good stuff lately. I will say that I did like the book, but I was not blown away by it. I am not sure if I enjoyed it enough to add this to a pull list with my other massive list of books. Fans of the show should enjoy this.
Sam and Twitch: Case Files #19. Script by Thomas Healy and art by Von Randal. Cover art was done by Federico Sabbatini. There is a new arc for Sam and Twitch with a story in the past of Sam which is coming back around today. I liked this new issue quite a bit.
Death of the Silver Surfer #5. “Farewells” Written by Greg Pak and pencils by Sumit Kumar with Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Frank D’Armata. Not sure how I felt about this. Is this a future event or is it in continuity? A new Silver Surfer is out there.
Voyeur #1-2. Written by Leah Williams and illustrated by David Baldeón. Covers were done by Joelle Jones. I saw issue to on the stand on Thursday. I was not sure when issue one came out, but I was able to pick it up too. I had the ashcan of the book and I was wanting to pick it up. Love this issue. The first two issues show the same events in different POV (which always reminds me of LOST). Good stuff so far.
Blue Palo Verde #5. Written by Ray Fawkes and art by Rimanti. I have to say, I loved this book at the beginning, but it feels like it fell off hard. I was not as interested in the conclusion as it went way weirder than I expected.
Star Wars: Han Solo- Hunt for the Falcon #2. Written by Rodney Barnes and art by Ramon Rosanas. Ramon Rosanas and GURU-eFX did the cover art. Han and Chewy continue to try and find the missing Millennium Falcon.
Other books this week: Rivals: King in Black #1, Emma Frost: White Queen #5, Nights #16, Toxie Team-Up #5, and the Treat or Read Comics (X-Men ’97 #1, Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four #1, Venom: Lethal Protector, and Hallowed Hauntings #1).
Quick Hits: I picked up the Universal Monsters: Dracula Black & White Special. I have the issues from Image, but this looked so beautiful that I needed to pick it up. The Phantom #2 came out this week with a fun adventure that felt very much like a Phantom book. Battleworld #2 brought a bunch of heroes from across the time frame. Keensport’s book Don’t Run With Scissors #4 concluded with one of the oddest ending possible. Sonja Reborn #3 and Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #2 both have classic characters thrown into different situations. Another book with the question about where the continuity falls is Imperial #4, which ends that little series. I don’t know if it is the actually happening. I know that other Marvel books seem to have ties to it even though I don’t know how Hulk could be involved if this is current continuity. It hurts my head when I think about it. Thanks a lot Hickman. Then, Blink and You’ll Miss It #3 is fairly confusing too.
Just a few days away from Halloween! Happy Halloween to all. This is my favorite holiday of them all.
Then, Saturday, Nov. 1 is my anniversary in comic collecting. I have been collecting comics in some form since I was in 5th grade. I remember staying over at my friend Jeff Wagner’s house to go trick or treating on Halloween and then spending the night reading comics he was getting from Comic World in Dubuque, back when the shop was over on Central Ave. I remember a bunch of X-Men books and Avengers. I was hooked, already a fan a superheroes. If my math is close, this would be my 45th year collecting (plus or minus a year or so).
Books this week:
Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #5. Written by Deniz Camp & Cody Ziglar with art done by Jonas Scharf. Cover art was done by Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain. Miles Morales finally got his hands on his baby sister and returned to his own universe…at least, his current universe. He also remembered everything from before.
No Man’s Land #2. Written, art and cover art (both B and A covers which were Gold and Bronze medalists respectfully) by Szymon Kudranski. I love this book. The worst part about it is that it is only three issues. I am not sure how they finish this mystery with only one more issue remaining. Either way, I can’t wait to see how this wraps up.
Ultimate Spider-Man #22. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto. Cover art was done by Marco Checchetto & Matthew Wilson. Spider-Man and Goblin are back together and Peter also gets to spend some quality time with MJ.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39. “Thick as Thieves Part Three” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by Federico Vicentini & Rachelle Rosenberg. Miles and his team up with Black Cat and Misty Knight concludes.
The Ultimates #17. Written by Deniz Camp with art by guest artist Phil Noto. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. This issue continues to build toward the return of Maker and focuses on Ultimate Doom.
The Undead Iron Fist #2. Written by Jason Loo and art by Fran Galan. Cover art was done by Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair. With Danny Rand back from the dead, we get a team-up with our undead Iron Fist with Daredevil. I love this new book with Iron Fist.
Radioactive Spider-Man #1. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Kev Walker. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Marte Gracia. It is the Age of Revelation and this book checks in with Peter Parker and sees where he is X years later. I liked this book because it still felt like Peter Parker. A lot of times with these alternate futures, they use it to create versions of the characters that are not like the current ones. This is not that way, at least so far.
Omega Kids #1. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Rod Reis. Quentin Quire is the leader of a group called the Omega Kids, who work for Revelation. However, there feels as if some of the kids may not be as loyal as they seem.
Exquisite Corpses #6. Written by Tyler Boss with James Tynion IV and art by Gavin Fullerton with Michael Walsh. Cover art was done by Michael Walsh. The tournament continues as the G4m3r Kid and Calvin were the next victims. This book continues to be one of the best on the market.
War Wolf #1. Written by Steve Orlando with art by Marco Perugini. Cover art was done by David Talaski. Sometimes your heroes are regular people and they will be the ones to fight the aliens. Mad Cave has had way more hits than misses lately and this has Steve Orlando behind it.
Fantastic Four #4. “Basic Obedience” Written by Ryan North with pencils by Humberto Ramos. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado. The FF have a new puppy… or is it? Why is it that Alicia Masters-Grimm is the only one who can tell this dog is not what it seems.
X-Men: Book of Revelation#1. Written by Jed MacKay with art and cover art by Netho Diaz. The Age of Revelation is moving along and this books looks closer at Doug Ramsey and his position as Revelation. He also may be denying the desires of Apocalypse himself.
Murder Podcast #2. Written by Jeremy Huan and illustrated by Mike Tisserand. Variant cover B art was done by Mike Tisserand. The murder podcast is still out and causing all kinds of troubles once again.
News from the Fallout #5. Written by Chris Condon with art by Jeffrey Alan Love. This is once again one of the best reads of the month, with some of the most compelling art that builds a tone and mood better than just about any comic out there. There is only one more issue to go and I have no idea where this is heading. That is awesome.
The Last Wolverine #1. Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Edgar Salazar. Cover art was done by Martin Coccolo and Matthew Wilson. I was not sure what this book was going to be, but, it is the Age of Revelation and X years later, anything could happen. So when I saw that the “last Wolverine” was actually Leonard, the teen who had been turned into a Wendigo and who Logan tried to help, I was ecstatic. I really loved that character and I was sad he left the pages of Wolverine. Glad to get him back in this limited series during the Age of Revelation.
Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man #3. “Things Worse Than Death.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Dani. Cover art was done by Dani & Brad Simpson. Looks like Jack is planning his serum out and he is up to human trials. However, he does not try the formula on himself first, which means there may be another person out there. Another great adaptation of a Universal Monster.
Detective Comics #1102. “The Courage that Kills Part Two.” Written by Tom Taylor and art and cover art by Mikel Janin. Batman has been infected and he has a limited amount of time to find a way to cure himself before major problems come around. Tom Taylor continues to be an exceptional writer, building amazing plots and conflicts for our heroes.
Spider-Girl #5. Written by Torunn Grønbekk with art by Andre Risso & Diogenes Neves. David Nakayama did the cover art. Guest starring Spider-Man, Spider-Girl has to team up with Spidey to try and stop Hijack. Oh, and Rogue shows up too.
Thanksgiving #1. Written by Mark Russell and art and cover art by Mauricet. What happens when that weird uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner admits to being a infamous serial killer? You always suspected right? This was a fun book with a strange group of characters.
Marvel Zombies: Red Band #2. Written by Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan with art by Jan Bazaldua. Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The zombies hit the X-Men, the night when Jean Grey first arrived. Jean, Spider-Man, Cap, Iron Man, Jessica Jones try to stop them. What happens when an infected Jean Grey becomes Zombie Phoenix?
The Terminator Metal #1. Written by Declan Shalvey & Rory McConville with art done by Lorenzo Re. Cover art was done by Declan Shalvey (Silver Medalist). Some humans are being protected by a reprogrammed T-800. Is that a good idea? I guess we will find out.
Hello Halloween #1. A special Halloween edition of “Hello Darkness” featuring several stories including R.L. Stein’s Graveyard Club. The cover was done by Frazer Irving. The horror stories are the usual mixed bag.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #12. “The Untying” Written by Jason Aaron an art by Juan Ferreyra. Cover art was done by Jorge Fornes. This is the final issue of the run with Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra on TMNT. I really enjoyed the 12 issues of this book, and I am not sure if I want to continue with it with a new creative crew. May give #13 a shot and see what I think.
Drawing Blood #9. Written by David Avallone and art by Ben Bishop. Cover art was done by Kevin Eastman. Bookman is back, but in a recovery place (instead of jail). This was an interesting issue of this book and I liked the development.
Justice League Unlimited #12. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. Ten of the time displaced heroes team up to try and help protect the earth and oversee the evacuation of the planet while the big guns are dealing with the KO.
Other Books this week: New History of the DC Universe #4, Green Lantern Dark #7, Predator: Black, White & Blood #4, Harley Quinn #55 (pumpkin spice), Outlaw Showdown #1, Immortal Legend Batman #3, Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time #1, Silverhawks #9, and Red Vector #3.
Quick Hits: Last week when I picked up the Hector Plasm Bigfoot book, I went to eBay and found one of his earlier appearances in Hector Plasm: Totentanz book from Image. Space Ghost #4 sees Space Ghost trying to prevent a war. The Headless Horseman guest starred in Hornsby & Halo #11. I picked up Mad Magazine #46, which came out last week but I missed it then. It is a magical issue of Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #13. Things are not going well in Orla #3 as she is losing her control. Escape #3 heads back into the war with a dramatic issue. Sisterhood #4 took a turn between Sophie and Violet, setting up the finale in issue five. Absolute Wonder Woman #13 has Diana battling some electrical creature. Maria Llovet’s Artifical #2 finds us back with the android dates. The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night #4 finds the conclusion with Dr. Jekyll. The eerie story of It Killed Everyone But Me #2 rolls on in its dark path. Speed Racer: Tales from the Road #1 focuses on a tale about Racer X, told in a very original manner and spectacular art design. Then, Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #3 continues to be a surprisingly good read.
Here we go with this week’s brand new EYG Comic Cavalcade. Plenty of books again this week. I’m going to jump right into it as the Dodgers are on in a few hours.
Books this week:
World of Revelation #1. There are three stories inside this book. All of them deal with this new world of Revelation that Marvel is building. The three writers involved with this book are Al Ewing, Steve Foxe, and Ryan North. This new future has started off strong so far. We’ll see how it goes.
Rocketfellers #9. Written by Peter J. Tomasi with art and cover art by Francis Manapul. This gives us a clear look at everything that happened prior to the trip of the Rocketfeller family into the past.
Avengers #31. “Prospero” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Javier Pina. Cover art was done by Cafu & Moreno Dinisio. This Avengers issue featured Kang and everything to do with Kang. No Avengers make more than a few small appearances in this issue.
Spider-Man & Wolverine #6. “Life and Death Choices” Written by Marc Guggenheim and penciled by Gerardo Sandoval. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. I spoke about how I have been disappointed by this book because of the way Spider-Man has been written. I think this issue was the best display of Spider-Man of the whole series. This was much better and I enjoyed this interaction of Peter and Logan.
SIKTC: A Monster Hunter Walks into a Bar #1. Written by James Tynion IV and illustrated and cover art by Werther Dell’Edera. This is the collection of the story that appeared in the Hello Darkness series. It is a nice compilation and a beautiful cover.
Transformers #25. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora & Jorge Corona. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. I have the die cut cover too by John Amor and Andres Juarez. A new arc for the Transformers kicks off with this issue, as Robert Kirkman takes over the writing. We have the lines still being drawn between the Autobots, the Decepticons and the human race.
Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #1. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and are by Pere Perez. Adam Hughes did the cover art. It seems as if J. Michael Straczynski likes to set stories in the hero’s past. We saw him do that with Captain America, and this book is set back before Peter and Gwen even got together. I am never a huge fan of past stories, but I do like Straczynski’s writing style.
Red Book #1. Written by James Tynion IV and art and cover art by Michael Avon Oeming. The next in the Blue Book series takes a look at the UFO tales in the former Soviet Union. I have always enjoyed these books and this works very well.
Deluge #1. Written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Marika Cresta. Cover art was done by Riley Rossmo. This book is new from Ignition Press and it is pretty cool. It starts off like Orange is the New Black, with a female prison. However when the prison is getting flooded, more tragic things happen. This book has its own “Deep Blue Sea” moment (if you know, you know) as I literally gasped when it happened.
DC KO #1. “Chapter One: Into the Ring” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Javi Fernandez and Xermanico. Cover art was done by Javi Fernandez & Alejandro Sanchez. Darkseid is back. The DC Universe is desperate to try and find a way to stop him. How about a tournament? And you’ll never believe who the first one out is. This had multiple covers and blind bags too.
High Strangeness #1. “Book One: 1967” Written by Chris Condom and Daniel Noah and illustrated by Dave Chisholm. Cover art by Jock. This new series from Oni Press has a new take on UFOs and the Men in Black. It had a very X-Files feel to it and I liked it. I am not sure if this is an anthology series because it did sounds as if issue two might be different.
The Department of Truth #0. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Martin Simmonds. Second story written by Scott Snyder and art by Joshua Hixson. Cover art is done by Martin Simmonds. This special issue of Dpeartment of Truth includes a back up story with the truth about Elvis Presley.
Marvel Knights: The Punisher #1. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and art and cover art by Dan Panosian. The idea of Jimmy Palmiotti and his ability to write crime stories matched up with the Punisher. What could be better?
Strange Tales #1. Written by Jeremy Whitley and art by Bayleigh Underwood. Cover art was done by Bayleigh Underwood & Jim Campbell. Nico Minoru, chased by a dragon, finds herself getting some major help… from the Scarlet Witch.
Author Immortal #1. Written by Frank J. Barbiere with art and cover art by Morgan Beem. A literary story about a failed writer who gets pulled into his favorite childhood story. The art style makes me think about Minor Arcana with Jeff Lemire.
Spider-Man ’94 #2. Written by J.M. DeMatteis and art by Jim Towe. Cover art was done by Nick Bradshaw & Rachelle Rosenberg. This book is extremely well written. I love how this book does feel like an advanced version of the animated cartoon. The use of Morlun is a great fit. And Aunt May’s bombshell was unexpected.
C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table #2. “Chapter 2” Written by Tom Taylor and art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Cover art by Daniele Di Nicuolo & Rain Beredo. Our new kids with their talking weapons need to face what is coming.
Batman: Dark Patterns #11. “The Child of Fire Part 2” Written by Dan Watters and art and cover art by Hayden Sherman. Batman is in bad physical shape but fire is still causing trouble. With Batman nursing his injuries, Gordon tries to get info from Firebug.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #3. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. I also got the B cover with art by Juan Ferreyra (Gold medalist). Superman is currently in his Superboy form and hanging out with Billy Batson at a amusement park run by Dr. Sivana and Toyman. This has been a fun series so far with the Ice Cream Man crew manning the creative team.
Harley Quinn x Elvira #1. Written by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti and art by Amanda Conner and Juan Samu. Variant cover art by Mark Spears (Bronze Medalist). The combination of DC Comics wild Harley Quinn and the always sensual Elvira is combustible fun. I am not sure how the DC character of Harley wound up in the Dynamite book, but I am okay with it.
Absolute Batman #13. “Abomination Part Five” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. Lots of stuff happening in the world of Absolute Batman, including the debut of the Absolute Harley Quinn.
Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #10. “The Winds of Change” Written by Gerry Duggan and art and cover art by Garry Brown. I love this series, but it is such a inconsistent comic. It feels like it just came back on a regular schedule and now it seems as if it is going on hiatus until 2026. It feels difficult to stay in it with the disruptions.
Eddie Brock: Carnage #9. Written by Charles Soule and art by Juanan Ramirez. Cover art was done by Jesus Saiz. Eddie Brock has been captured by the mysterious woman at the Green Phoenix Wellness Retreat. She has a way to end Carnage, and Eddie may be okay with it.
The Unchosen #4. Written by and art and cover art by David Marquez. This is another series that is ending with this issue, though there seems to be a suggestion that The Unchosen would be back in 2026. Not sure what that means, but I did enjoy this one more than the first issue.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers #6. Written by David Pepose and art was done by Eman Casallos. Cover art was done by Chad Hardin. This is another book that feels as if it just came to an end. Captain Planet vs. Captain Pollution.
Absolute Superman #12. “The Battle of Kansas” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Cover art was done by Rafa Sandoval & Ulisses Arreola. Superman and Lois come to Kansas. The emo Superman is pretty cool here with his special cape.
Other Books this week: Power Fantasy #12, Blood & Thunder #6, Ancestral Recall #3, The Creeping Below #4, Death to Pachuco #1, Absolute Green Lantern #7, Ultimate Black Panther #21, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2, and Return to Planet Hulk #1.
Quick Hits: This week, Marvel started to amp up its Age of Revelation with four new titles including Amazing X-Men #1, Binary #1, Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #1, and Longshots #1. I enjoyed all four of these new books. The new Boom Studios book Marian Heretic #1 looked interesting. We will see if I continue liking it. I can see my attention being drawn away. The GI Joe universe expanded a bit with Cold Slither #1 which was unexpected. Mary Sue #1 is another new Boom Studios book. Marvel: Black, White & Blood and Guts #1 which uses the word cavalcade on the cover. I was not in love with the new book The Guy in the Chair #1 from Dark Horse. Cul-De-Sac #3 continue its cool vampire action in the Bad Idea comics. Conan the Barbarian #25 felt like a big deal issue. Super Creepshow #1 won the Silver Medal this week thanks to an awesome Dark Knight Returns homage cover. Masterminds #2 takes its second issue with the underground world. The World to Come #3 still confuses me of the continuity to the main Marvel Universe. So does Imperial War: Imperial Guardians #1. I do like the inclusion of Darkhawk, who I have always enjoyed as a character. Then, there were two Godzilla books out this week with Godzilla (Kai Sei Era)#3 and Godzilla: Here There Be Aliens #5.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 