Tag Archives: marvel

What If … ? S3 E1

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“What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EYG Comic Cavalcade #130

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December 21, 2024

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

Books this week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

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

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

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

However, the winner of this award is…

Chris Evans (Deadpool & Wolverine)

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

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

Congrats to Chris Evans!

EYG Comic Cavalcade #129

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December 14, 2024

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

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

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

Here are this week’s books:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2024 Year in Review: Comics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Individual issues (in no particular order)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Uncanny X-Men #1

Swan Songs #6

Ice Cream Man #39

Big Burn #1

Grommets #6

Fantastic Four #17

Something is Killing the Children #37

Kraven the Hunter

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

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

Kraven the Hunter was terrible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

0.9 star

EYG Comic Cavalcade #128

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December 8, 2024

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade.

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

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

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

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

Books from this new order…and beyond:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2024 Year in Review: YouTube

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I spend a lot of time watching YouTube. It is probably the app I watch the most on my Roku TV. There are so many channels and programs on this site that I watch regularly. So every year I have to find the list of my favorite YouTube shows and personalities.

I am counting down the Top 15 YouTube series/channels of 2024. Many of these are repeats from last year and several have moved up or down.

#15. Songs from a Suitcase. Vocal coach watching cool stuff. She watched Agatha All Along.

#14. Alex Hefner’s TV and Movies. A reaction channel that has slipped a bit this year for me. As in most reaction channels, it depends on what the reactor is watching. I do enjoy Alex even if I do not watch him as often as I used to.

#13. Dodgers Nation. A big year for my Los Angeles Dodgers meant I spent more time watching this Dodger discussion show.

#12. Jeremy Jahns. Jeremy Jahns has been one of my favorite online reviewers for years. I always thought our opinions matched up. It seems as if some of my thought differed more this year than in the past, but I still think Jeremy is a good time, no alcohol required.

#11. Dan Murrell. Another of my favorite online critics, Dan is also very well spoken and intelligent. His Charts with Dan show featuring box office reports is always informative and compelling.

10. Fatman Beyond. Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin together are always a good time. I will admit that I do not watch this as regularly as I have in the past, but anytime I have the time to watch FB, I have a laugh and enjoy myself.

#9. Ashleigh Burton. Another reactor, but I seem to enjoy seeing her react more than some others. I just watched her react to Spider-Man: No Way Home and it was wonderful. She does the MCU and is currently doing Buffy season two. All of that interests me.

#8. New Rockstars. When a great new Marvel trailer comes out, there is no better place to go than to New Rockstars for the break down with Eric Voss. There are a lot of other shows on the New Rockstar lineup, but the breakdowns are still the bread and butter here.

#7. The Geek Buddies. John Rocha, Michael Vogel and Shannon McClung have excellent chemistry, being close friends. Their opinions on geek culture is not always the same, which makes it all the better. I love their long reviews of certain projects, including the great review of Agatha All Along this year.

#6. Ups and Downs. Simon Miller from WhatCulture Wrestling uses that finger of power to give the good bits and up and the bad bits a down. I watch him do these reviews for WWE wrestling and Simon is such a Positive Pete that he brings such an energy that makes the show even better than it was.

#5. Settle the Score. I enjoy this game show very much as Matt Knost hosts and Andy Merryweather plays the music. A combination of movie trivia and name that tune, Settle the Score is a hoot each week. I will say that when I know the contestants, I enjoy the show more, but there are still some winner from people I do not recognize.

#4. FYC. An Oscar discussion show featuring Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff and Jeff Sneider. The hosts are the strength of this show. They can disagree with one another and yet hold a civil and intelligent conversation. They clearly respect one another and it shines through the show.

#3. The Reel Rejects. Another reactor channel, but this year the team has exploded. They are doing a ton of movies, TV shows and trailer reactions and they are thoroughly entertaining, whether it be Greg and John, the original rejects, Roxy, Coy, Andrew, Tara, Aaron or any other, The Reel Rejects have had some awesome live streams that are extremely fun, such as the one this year where they were following news from ComicCon and found out Robert Downey Jr was going to play Dr. Doom in the MCU. It is great.

#2. pReview’d. It’s Jay and Adam… it’s pReview’d! Hey Peaches! The highest of the movie/TV reactors again this year is the pReview’d boys. Jay and Adam just feel so authentic and they are downright funny. So whether it is them watching Agatha All Along, Deadpool and Wolverine, Shogun, Cobra Kai, The Princess Bride, Daredevil, The Penguin, or doing a trailerpalooza in order to GAME THE SYSTEM, BA-BEEE!, Jay and Adam are awesome.

#1. Bonus Action Vol. 2. Jay Schmidt and Adam Lash from pReview’d are back with their D&D roleplaying group, creating one of the most thrilling and engaging story around. DM David Armstrong creates the story for Adam, Jay, Amanda Nichols, Ja-Ron Young, Josh Hurley and Jason Spina. These players are as creative and outstanding as improvisers which brings the gaming session to such an entertaining result. This was the #1 YouTube show on the list last year and the second season/volume has returned to the top spot. I’m not a fan of their time slot (Mondays, meaning I have to watch it the next night), but that is my only complaint. These players are so in touch with their characters that it is a joy to watch them play them and to interact with each other. So much chemistry among the group! And David is one of the best DMs I have ever seen.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year- 2024 Year in Review

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2024 was a down year with comic book movies. Marvel only put out one movie. Sony had one of the worst films of the year. Nothing from DC. It has been slow. 2025 will have a whole bunch of choices, but 2024, there is one clear standout.

I feel confident that I can make this pick before seeing Kraven the Hunter in a few weeks. Even if it surprises us and becomes one of the few Sony Spider-films that was any good, it will in no universe match the winner of this award this year. I feel sure in that statement. I mean, I did see Madame Web.

The previous winners:

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

2024 Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year:

Deadpool and Wolverine

(Marvel Studios)

This film accomplished so much… such as:

  • Brought Deadpool into the MCU
  • Brought Hugh Jackman back to the role of Logan
  • Gave a tremendous love letter to the FOX Marvel Universe
  • Made $1.3 BILLION dollars at the Box Office becoming the highest grossing R rated movie of all time.
  • Final got everyone to shut up about Disney meddling in the rating. This was a full blown R rated movie.
  • Created a huge number of unbelievable cameos
  • Got Madonna to help decide where her song would work best.

And so much more. Deadpool & Wolverine is the best super hero movie of the year by far and is well deserving of this award.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #126

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November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all get as much turkey as you possibly can and spend the day with the people who you care about.

Because of Thanksgiving break, I was able to head up to Comic World yesterday and spend part of the afternoon there. That meant I was able to get a head start on the reading of the books. Thankfully, it was not a massive 40+ book week as it was last week. I was then able to finish the rest of them last night which meant we get a holiday version of the Comic Cavalcade.

I did a new banner for the next stretch of issues. The special one for #125 was cool, but I did this one right after that.

This week’s books:

The Big Burn #2. Written by Joe Henderson and art and cover art by Lee Garbett. I think this might be my current favorite of the DSTLRY books. They come out so inconsistently that it feels as if they are forgotten. Not this one. The idea of pulling off a heist to try and get your soul back after selling it to Satan is such an original idea and I love the characters involved. This is truly a great books so far.

The Missionary #1. Written by Ryan Stegman and art by Jason Howard. Cover B art by Ryan Stegman. Another very strange story with another trip into Hell. I wonder if that is a general theme for DSTLRY moving forward. This was interesting and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

The Rocketfellers#1. Story and words by Peter J. Tomasi and story and art by Francis Manapul. Cover B art by Ivan Reis. A new book from the Ghost Machine imprint at Image, The Rocketfellers was a intriguing time travel type story with a family. There is a huge loss in the very beginning of the book that sets the stakes early. The Ghost Machine books have all been exceptional so far and I think this one could be in the same category.

West Coast Avengers #1. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Danny Kim. Cover art was done by Ben Harvey (Bronze Medalist). I also picked up the variant issue (featuring Blue Bolt) with cover art by Todd Nauck. I was always a fan of the West Coast Avengers and so I was intrigued by the return of the title, especially with Ultron a member of the team. I’m not sure how that is going to turn out considering the end of the book. The last couple of pages gave me that Thunderbolts #1 vibe.

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #4. “The Eyes of a Monster“. Written, art and cover art by Michael Walsh (Silver Medalist). This is the final issue of this adaptation of Frankenstein. It was a very emotional end for the Monster and the story as a whole. This continued the path of these excellent Universal Monsters books from Image. Sounds as if the next book will be the Mummy.

Amazing Spider-Man #62. “Out of Space.” Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. McGuiness & Marcio Menyz did the cover art. Spidey is being trained by astral plane Doctor Strange in magic to help him in his role as the earth’s new champion against the eight Scions of Cyttorak. Spidey recruited the Black Cat to do give some help, but she and Strange can only do so much.

Incredible Hulk #19. “City of Idols” Part Three. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Nic Klein & Danny Earles. Cover art was by Nic Klein. This is listed as Legacy number 800 for the Hulk. I am curious what exactly they added in that Legacy number to get to it. Did they count the Hulk issues that were the She-Hulk? How about the Totally Awesome Hulk with Amadeus Cho? Anyway, there is also a group of backup stories including one with She-Hulk and one with Red Hulk.

Hyde Street #2. Creators were Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Ivan Reis did the cover art too (Gold Medalist). Pip “Pranky” Peabody is the focus behind this issue, which has some disturbing moments in it. There is also a lot of fire. This Hyde Street series has been excellent so far, yet another example of the great work under Ghost Machine imprint.

Uncanny X-Men #6. “The Change in Ourselves.” Written by Gail Simone and art by Javier Garrón. David Marquez & Matthew Wilson were the cover artists. The new kids being taken care of by Rogue and the others have to deal with the new arrival, Becca Simon-Pinette and her issues. Oh, and Nightcrawler gets grabbed. Simone has been exceptional in this new X-series so far and I enjoy reading each of them.

Justice League Unlimited #1. Written by Mark Waid and art and cover art by Dan Mora. I have to say that this concept of the JL Unlimited was interesting to me after I read last week’s Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. It is based clearly on the Justice League animated series where they did the same idea. I am seemingly buying a few more DC books than I have before and this one definitely pushes the right buttons. It is fun not knowing whom may show up in the book.

Black Canary: Best of the Best #1. “Round One.” Written by Tom King and art and cover art by Ryan Sook. Speaking of buying more DC books, I like the idea of these lesser characters getting their own limited run. I am enjoying Plastic Man right now, Zatanna was a lot of fun and Black Canary feels like the next best example. Plus, Tom King is the writer and he has done some of my all-time favorite stories (particularly Vision). The whole Black Canary vs. Lady Shiva inside the squared circle is a cool idea.

Iron Man #2. “Move Fast and Break Things.” Written by Spencer Ackerman and art by Julius Ohta. Cover art was done by Yasmine Putri. Tony Stark is in trouble with his company once again as he is desperately trying to prevent a hostile takeover by AIM and ROXXON. Tony does not have access to his array of armor either, having to settle for a pieced together set.

Spider-Boy #13. “Late Entry” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Cover art was done by Paco Medina & Edgar Delgado. Spider-Boy and Daredevil are on the road trying to catch up with Bullseye and Spider Girl. Who would guess that they would wind up in a special tournament… in Madripoor?

Bad Dreams in the Night. Written and art by Adam Ellis. This was a graphic novel that came out last week, but I just had too many books to pick it up then. I had Todd put it in my box and bought it this week. It is a series of short horror stories by Adam Ellis and they are tremendous. I loved this graphic novel as each of the stories had its own flair to it. It was a variety of tones and stories, and it had some distinctly creepy scenes. After each story, he had a little explanation of where the story came from and some of these were personal. I enjoyed this graphic novel very much.

Absolute Wonder Woman #2. “The Last Amazon Part 2.” Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover B variant art was done by Joelle Jones. The absolute DC books continue with Diana meeting up with Steve Trevor and ending up facing off with a giant monster. This was a good book and I am pleased so far with the Absolute DC books.

Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #2-3. Written by Gerry Duggan and art by John McCrea. Got caught up with this new Dead Eyes series. I do love this character, who does not feel like a traditional hero in any way. In fact, I would go on the record saying that Dead Eyes is anything but. This is very interesting as Dead Eyes returns to mess up his own life.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4. “Grit & a Stick.” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Chris Burnham. Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Jason Aaron’s run on TMNT has been sensational. This issue, featuring Donatello, is close to the excellence of issue #1. Donatello goes through a bunch of trauma here and it sure seems as he may be losing his own grip on reality. He was speaking to a regular rat as if it were Splinter. These TMNT books from Aaron have been so good.

The Tin Can Society #3. Written by Peter Warren and art by Francesco Mobili. Mobili and Chris Chuckry did the art on the cover. This has been one of my favorite independent books since it was released. The investigation into Johnny’s death continues as we get some important info in a flashback.

Mystique #2. “Brotherhood.” Written, drawn and cover art by Declan Shalvey. Mystique is out after Avalanche, her former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants partner. Meanwhile, we have a group of SHIELD agents, even two Nick Furys, running around in pursuit of her as well. There are a lot of things going on in this series and it is a fast read.

Dazzler #3. “Tokyo Escape.” Written by Jason Loo and art by Rafael Loureiro. Terry & Rachel Dotson did the cover art. After her last fiasco at her concert, Dazzler’s tour is in trouble. However, Lila Cheney and Dazzler head off for some fun in Tokyo to try and lighten the mood. That does not go well.

Feral #8. “The Cat House.” Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was by Trish Forstner and Tony Fleecs. Things turn real creepy as Elsie, Gigi and the kittens find Lord, but they are not pleased with the location. “The lady keeps us”… it is literally the crazy cat lady… what a creepy issue this was. Loved it.

Other books this week: Void Rivals #14, Batman-Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #1, Spirits of Vengeance, The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #13, and Ultimate Black Panther #10.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #125

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November 23, 2024

We have reached another milestone for EYG Comic Cavalcade. This is #125, which is always one of those major events for a comic book series. Truthfully, you do not see too many #125 issues any longer. Usually, these days, a series is rebooted well before it reaches #125, unless we are counting the “Legacy Numbering” which is a whole different can of worms. Anyway, I am pleased that we have reached #125 and look forward to the next milestone.

And, ironically, this week’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY just inundated me with books. I got over forty issues this week just from the pull list, which, I believe, was the largest of all time. Whomp, was a load. It has a variety of books from across the spectrum of comic publishers and a huge plethora of characters and great storytelling. Having this number of books on issue #125 is fantastic.

Books this week:

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho #1-3. Of course, then I start off the week with a mini series that I picked up off eBay and not in the pile of 40+ books. I finished my re-watch of Bates Motel, and while on Wikipedia researching, I found a series from a comic publisher called Innovation and it was a movie adaptation of the movie Psycho. I was able to pick this up on eBay and it is gorgeous. The art inside is beautiful painting work and this is truly a fantastic adaptation. The cover of #2 is one of my favorite covers in a long time.

You Never Heard of Me #1. Written by Iolanda Zanfardino and illustrated by Elisa Romboli. A new Dark Horse 5-issue mini series that follows a young teen who is given the power to see the best and the worst moments of other people’s lives. How this was set up was nicely done and it grabbed my attention immediately. Dark Horse has had some good stuff lately and this seems like a winner.

Ice Cream Man #42. “Horror House.” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran did the cover art. Any book that starts off with a trigger warning is okay to me. Ice Cream Man is consistently one of the best horror anthologies on the market and this one takes some risks in it storytelling. It might be a divisive issue, but I found it extremely compelling.

Wolverine #3. “Hunters and Hunted” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Martin Coccolo. Coccolo & Bryan Valenza did the cover art. Wolverine is back in the wilderness, being pursued by Department H, and trying to fight a Wendigo. Oh, and Wolverine is trying to help the kid who has been changed into that Wendigo. One of the most intriguing uses of the character of Wendigo in a long time.

Mark Spears Monsters #2. Written, cover art and art by Mark Spears. Another horror book that is absolutely on fire right now. The covers are sensational. I have cover E and it is beautiful. I will be getting cover A soon too. This is an entertaining series with classic monsters throughout, including Gill Man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dracula. The art is stunning in this book.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #26. “Birds of a Feather Part Four.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. Miles and his new Wakandan costume kicked some Vulture butt here and Starling decided to put her grandpa in his place.

Living Hell #1. Written and drawn by Caitlin Yarsky. Another new Dark Horse book that was really enjoyable. The story does take an unexpected twist, flipping what you think was going on upside down. I found this one compelling as well.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #2. “Reborn.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Alessandro Cappuccio. Davide Paratore did the cover art. Marc comes clean with Tigra. He has a piece of knowledge that he had been holding back because he was not sure how she would respond… Hank Pym is alive.

The Department of Truth #27. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Alison Sampson. Cover art was by Martin Simmonds. The story of Marilyn Monroe comes to a close in this issue. It goes to show how this series can take anything and make it an intriguing conspiracy.

Geiger #8. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson. The kids who helped out Geiger last issue takes him to their town, and Mr. Geiger finds that their father does not share some of the same ideas.

Jonny Quest #4. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. Cover art by Chad Hardin. Jonny Quest and his family, including the old version of Jonny, come face to face with Dr. Zin. The future story is coming to a close next issue.

Scarlet Witch #6. Written by Steve Orlando and art by Lorenzo Tammetta. Cover art was by Russell Dauterman. Agatha Harkness is back and she has brought Wanda a new student for Wanda to train. Why doesn’t Agatha just train the girl herself? Well, could it be that the girl is a bit of a handful? Or was it because the girl was being pursued by The Eliminator? Maybe both?

Avengers Assemble #3. Written by Steve Orlando and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the cover art. She-Hulk leads a team of the Aveng.e.r.s. against the Nightstalkers, who are out to kill vampires, even those that haven’t done anything wrong.

Spider-Man: Reign II #5. Written, illustrated and cover art by Kaare Andrews. Spider-Man returned to his own time to face off with Kingpin and attempted to save the future (or present… depends on your POV). Big twist at the end of this series, which comes to a conclusion here.

Space Ghost #7. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was by Francesco Mattina (Bronze Medalist). Blip is the focus of this issue as he suddenly has the ability to talk and think like humans.

Storm #2. “Death by Voodoo” Written by Murewa Ayodele and art by Lucas Werneck. Mateus Manhanini did the art for the cover. Storm is dying. And she is dying rapidly. As the clock counts down, Ororo looks for help from whoever she can, which leads her to Doctor Voodoo. I love the recent focus on Storm, both here in her own series and in the Avengers. Few deserve it more.

What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel #1. “The Awesome Origin of Minnie Captain Marvel” Written by Luca Barbieri and art by Giada Perissinotto. Cover art was by Perissinotto & Lucio Ruvidotti. The Disney Marvel mash ups continue with Mickey’s better half becoming Captain Marvel and doing battle with Peg Leg Scorpion. Scrooge McDuck makes an appearance too.

Daredevil #15. “Introductory Rites Part 15” Written by Saladin Ahmed and art by Luigi Zagaria. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Richard Isanove (even though it is a misleading cover with Kingpin appearing on it, despite no Kingpin in the issue). Daredevil is lost, doubting his faith, and he searches for help from Father Javi.

Standstill #4. Written by Lee Loughridge and art and cover art by Andrew Robinson and Alex Riegel. More time shenanigans going down in this beautifully illustrated Image book. It is one of the more fascinating books each month.

Exceptional X-Men #3. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Carnero & Nolan Woodard did the cover art. Kitty and Emma have a conflict over the proper manner in which to train the new kids, who end up picking super hero names. Iceman makes a cameo at the very end.

The Immortal Thor #17. “The Son of Thor” Written by Al Ewing and art by Jan Bazaldua. Cover art was done by Alex Ross (Silver Medalist). We finally discover what The Enchantress wants All-Father Thor to do for her. It is not bring back Iric. It’s another son of hers from a different timeline… a son she shared with Thor.

The Terminator #2. “Apocalypse Then: Part One.” Written and cover art by Declan Shalvey and interior art by David O’ Sullivan. The Terminator in Saigon. Hmm, interesting thought.

Ultimate Spider-Man #11. Written by Jonathan Hickman and guest artist David Messina. Marco Checchetto did the cover art. We get the first appearance of Ultimate Black Cat. Meanwhile, Mister Negative is causing some problems for Spidey and concerns for MJ. Can she handle the new lifestyle of her husband?

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1. “Death on my Doorstep.” Written by Alex Segura and art by Cian Tormey. I have always enjoyed the DC character The Question, so I grabbed this issue #1 to check it out. Little did I know this was a new Question… who turned out to be former Gotham police officer Renee Montoya and she was given the job of running the JL Watchtower. Hmm… curious.

Kill All Immortals #4. Written by Zack Kaplan and art by Fico Ossio. Oliver Barrett did the cover art. Frey and Leif got away from Frey’s family and seemed to be on their way to publish the info that the immortals wanted protected. This final panel of this issue was shocking.

Lawful #5. Written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Diego Galindo. Qistina Khalidah did the cover art. Sung is forced to do something that he does not want to do in order to get his mother’s medicine. He is also nearly fully covered in scales from his breaking of the laws. Has Sung taken that step over the line that he will never be able to come back from?

House of Slaughter #27. Written by Sam Johns and illustrated by Letizia Cadonici. Cover art by Jorge Fornés and Werther Dell’Edera. Not sure I am into the new story arc “Azure.” I am having a difficult time following it. House of Slaughter has been a step down from Someone is Killing the Children since it debuted. Still looks great and I almost gave a medal to the cover.

Duck and Cover #3. Written by Scott Snyder and art and cover art by Rafael Albuquerque. Weird and wild stuff here. Krakens? Movies? Movie soundtracks that can blow up Krakens? This is a bizarre issue. Ended with yelling at a giant dog.

Masked Macher #3. Written by David A. Goodman and Alex Andres did the art. The Masked Macher makes an enemy of the Sheik, and Benny the bear is having personal troubles. MM convinced a gossip columnist that the MM was a more famous movie star. Another weird Dark Horse book.

Sentinels #2. “Let Me Take You Down.” Written by Alex Paknadel and art by Justin Mason. Mason & Federico Blee did the cover art. The Sentinels team heads after Sebastian Shaw, and things get tough. I liked this issue a little better than #1, and next issue features Magneto so maybe things will pick up even more.

Chasm: Curse of Kaine #4. Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Andrea Broccardo. Mark Bagley & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. This mini series comes to a conclusion with Chasm and Hallows’ Eve together and Kaine off on his own. We get a couple of throwdowns between the “brothers” here as this Spider-series was fairly fun.

Minor Arcana #3. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa is feeling the guilt over her lying to the old woman about her husband. Will she get this guilt off her chest?

Phoenix #5. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo & Marco Renna. Yasmine Putri did the cover art. Eternity shows up to try and get Jean to fully embrace her Phoenix power. That’s not always a good thing. Certainly Gladiator doesn’t think so.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #7. “Haunted Part 7” Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Von Randal. Mark Brooks did the cover art. Gwen takes on the Black Tarantula, but is there more there than just superhero/super villain.

Predator versus Black Panther #4. Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Chris Allen, Sean Damien Hill and Lee Ferguson. The final issue of this series sees Black Panther blow up the Predators but the vibranium (or as they call it the Godmetal) made it to their home planet. Predators with vibranium? Whoa.

Other books this week: Phases of the Moon Knight #4, Black Cloak #10, The Power Fantasy #4, Venom War: It’s Jeff! #1, Dead Eyes: The Empty Frames #3 (Gold Medalist), The Moon is Following Us #3, Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #5, and Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #2.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #124

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November 15, 2024

It is time once again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade! It was a good week of books with some interesting new books.

On the eBay front, Tick #13 (aka Tick: The Pseudo Edition) came in the mail this week. It is a beautiful book that is in awesome condition. I also picked up the whole series (except one issue) of Marvel’s The Human Fly. That was a huge guilty pleasure when I was younger.

Books this week:

G.I. Joe #1. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. It has finally arrived. After several G.I. Joe books over the last six months to a year, the team book is finally released. It was a intriguing group of characters in the book, including the Baroness on the Joes. There is a cool wrap around cover. I enjoyed this one quite a bit even though I did not love all of the other Joes books. This one has a great start.

The Spectacular Spider-Men #9. “Gone Girl.” Written by Greg Weisman and art by Andres Genolet & Emilio Laiso. Cover art by Emilio Laiso & Edgar Delgado and variant cover C art by Josemaria Casanovas (Silver Medalist). Story is still focused on the people at the coffee shop and we get some FF action.

Captain America #15. “And a Town Shall Rise.” Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Jesus Saiz. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. I have enjoyed this short arc featuring Cap, Spidey and Thor. The strength of this arc is the three of them and their interactions.

NYX #5. Written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and penciled by Francesco Mortarino. Sara Pichelli & Federico Blee did the cover art. Ms. Marvel, Wolverine and other members of NYX face off with the public. And Sophie Cuckoo picks a side.

Uncanny X-Men #5. “Thunder in our Hearts.” Written by Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art by David Marquez and Matthew Wilson (Gold Medalist). It is a brutal battle with Rogue and the other Uncanny X-Men versus Gaunt. The four new kids of this series (Jitter, Ransom, Deathdream and Calico come to the fight as well. Gail Simone’s book has been probably my favorite of the new X-books so far.

Amazing Spider-Man #61. “Inevitable Attraction.” Written by Joe Kelly and penciled by Ed McGuinness. Cover art was done by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. The new creative team takes over ASM as Zeb Wells departs the series. This also kicks off “The 8 Deaths of Spider-Man” storyline where Spidey is recruited by the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Doom to be his “hero.” I am not sure how I feel about seeing Spidey die a bunch of times, but I will, of course, give this new arc a chance.

Transformers #14. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Cover art by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. This could be entitled “How Starscream got his Mojo Back.” It’s not, but it easily could be. We get another issue focused heavily on the Decepticon Villain Starscream. It has been a very consistently good series. Anxious to see more crossover with this and G.I. Joe.

Tim Waits #2. Written by Chip Zdarsky & David Brothers and illustrated by Marcus To & Marvin Sianipar. Cover art is by Marcus To. It is time travel in the world created by Chip Zdarsky. Lots of action and some weird time events. Can the present day people stop those from the future? I guess we’ll have to see.

Absolute Batman #2. “The 200” Part Two of Five. Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art by Dragotta & Martin. Absolute Batman and Alfred team up and start a beautiful friendship…maybe. Oh, and we get the Absolute debut of one Selina Kyle.

Silence #1. Written by Evan K. Pozios and art & cover art by Alex Sanchez. A comic book artist needs a break after a major health scare. So he goes to a city named Silence. However, this does not seem like a good choice in the end. This mini series has not yet appeared in the CZL app, but it was an intriguing book from the company Afterlight Comics.

Sam and Twitch Case Files #8. Script by Todd McFarlane. Plot by McFarlane & Jon Goff. Art by Szymon Kudranski. Cover art is done by Raymond Gay & Mirko Colak. Sam and Twitch are finally back together after being separate for most of the series so far. Everything feels nicely wrapped up after this issue, though there is more coming for them.

Life #3. Written by Brian Azzarello & Stephanie Phillips and art by Daniel Žeželj. This has been a cool concept with this being a flip book, with two stories from different POVs. One story a heist and the other a prison break. DSTLRY has been releasing some really fun and enjoyable books so far.

The Mammoth #5. Written by Paul Tobin and art and cover art by Arjuna Sudini (Bronze Medalist). This series comes to a weird conclusion as the dead seem to find their place. This was a strange series that I am not sure had a overly satisfying ending.

Werewolf By Night: Red Band #4. Written by Jason Loo and penciled by Sergio Davila. E.M. Gist did the cover art. Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone tried to find a place where the overtly savage nature of the Werewolf by Night would not be bad. One would think that the Savage Land would be the place. It seems as if Ka-Zar may disagree.

Other books this week: Deadpool #8, Psylocke #1, Huge Detective #3, Domain #5 and Ultimate X-Men #9.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of November 11

Mid-November and we have a new crop of medalists. When we reach December and have the Year in Review, I will be totaling up these points to determine who the comic cover artist of the year. I will also be picking the best comic cover of the year. That will be coming in December. Meanwhile, here are this week’s covers.

Bronze Medalist

The Mammoth #5

Cover art by Arjuna Susini

The scary, white creatures around the characters are a stark difference and the color of the characters and the title pops off the cover.

Silver Medalist

The Spectacular Spider-Man #9

Variant Cover

Cover art by Josemaria Casanovas

A fun Kraven the Hunter cover trying to catch the Spider is a wonderfully excellent variant cover. I love the blue tint on the cover of this issue.

Gold Medalist

Uncanny X-Men #5

Cover art by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson

Funny enough, Todd had pulled a variant cover of Uncanny X-Men#5 for me, but I saw this cover and loved it, so I switched them. Gambit looks tremendous, cornered with a bunch of cats all around him. This has been a big year for Gambit and this cover fits right in with that.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #123

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November 9, 2024

Happy weekend all. It is time once again for the EYG Comic Cavalcade #123. I got a bunch of books this week, both at Comic World and off eBay.

Just today, the five issue limited series Spaceknights from Marvel was delivered. This was the series following Rom, Spaceknight when Marvel lost the Rom copyright. I could have swore that I had this series, but when I finished my inventory last summer, I had only issue #4 in CLZ. I still feel as if I had them, but I do not know where they may have gone. Either way, I have the whole series now.

I have also picked up some added Amazing Spider-Man issues from vol. 2 including #5, 30 and 48. I am working on completing that vol 2 run of ASM, whether it be on eBay or from Todd.

Other books this week:

Mark Spears: Monsters #1. “The Return” Written and drawn by Mark Spears. Spears also did this variant cover B that I have. This is a hot new horror book that I picked up off eBay also this week. I love the realistic art mixed with the horror genre. Really solid work here, plus, I swear, the last scene was an homage directly out of Monster Squad.

Trick or Read 2024. Included Fantastic Four #1, Venom: Bedlam #1, Spider-Boy: The Webless Wonder #1, Kylo Ren #1, and Spidey and his Amazing Friends #1. Fun, free comics for that Halloween time of the year. Some were direct reprints and others have some original content.

One for Sorrow #1. Story, art, cover by Jamie McKelvie. A new series from DSTLRY and these seem to always be awesome. This has a very Thunderbolts!-esce twist at the end that really put a spin on everything that we had read before. I am intrigued to see how this will play out as the series moves forward.

X-Force #5. “One Second Later” Written by Geoffrey Thorne and art by Marcus To. Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo did the cover art. The cover is fairly misleading as it stated that X-Force dies. Perhaps one did. But the team fights and eventually teams up with an Avengers crew from a different world. X-Force has been okay, but it could be needing to pick up the story if it wants me to keep buying it.

Public Domain #10. “Tijuana” Written, drawn and cover by Chip Zdarsky, with additional art by Rachael Scott. This issue focuses on Syd and Candy’s marriage and what happened back in the 1980s. Secrets come out.

Absolute Superman #1. “Down in the Dirt” Written by Jason Aaron and art by Rafa Sandoval. Rafa Sandoval & Ulises Arreola did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). The third of the new Absolute comics from DC featuring Krypton’s favorite son was really pretty good. I liked the way that Superman appeared in the book for the first time and I did not mind the young boy on Krypton instead of the baby. However, I have to say that I am a little iffy about the new version of Lois Lane. We’ll see where it goes. Oh, and Jason Aaron is just really busy!

Saga #70. Written by Brian K. Vaughn and art and cover art by Fiona Staples. Squire is off on his own for some training and it is turning the family upside down. Saga has been just consistently so good over the run that I look forward to it every month. Glad it is back on a regular release schedule.

Venom War: Spider-Man #4. Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing with pencils by Greg Land. Cover art was by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata. The final issue of this crossover series sees Spidey and Jackpot fighting together again, making me really wish Peter and MJ would just get back together like they should be. It would even make me okay with MJ having super powers.

Plastic Man No More #3. Written by Christopher Cantwell and art by Alex Lins. Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Boy, Plastic Man is really taking some steps that have to be considered “bad choices.” Even with his desire to save his son from sharing the same fate that Plastic Man is suffering from, some of what he does feels to be inappropriate. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Avengers #20. “Panther Gang” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Farid Karami. Valerio Schiti and Federico Blee did the art for the cover. A Black panther centric issue as he goes into an alternate dimension to try and free a group of prisoners inside the Meridian Diadem. Not my favorite Avengers book recently.

The Human Fly #1. Written by Christopher Sequeira and art and cover art by Jan Scherpenhuizen assisted by Peter Lawson. The former stunt man based on a toy back in the 1980s (comic then done by Marvel) is now back in a company called IPI Comics. Human Fly was always a guilty pleasure of mine so I was excited about this new mini series.

X-Men #7. “The Iron Night” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Marte Gracia. A flashback issue with several scenes showing us how Cyclops and Magneto found themselves in the situation that they are currently in. The main X-books continue to be excellent since the end of the Kraokan storyline.

Kahhori: Reshaper of Worlds #1. Three sections of the story, with three separate writers and artists. Cover art was by Afua Richardson (Gold Medalist). This is a Marvel Voices imprint as we are introduced for the first time to Kahhori, the Native American character that appeared in season two of the animated TV show, What If…?

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #4. Another anthology issue featuring several shorts. Cover art was by Mahmud Asrar & Romulo Fajardo. This is the final issue of this anthology series. I have enjoyed most of these shorts even though I prefer a full story in an issue.

Knights vs. Samurai #1-2. Story by David Dastmalchian and art by Fede Mele. Cover art for issue #1: Raymond Gay & Todd McFarlane. Cover art for issue #2: Gianenrico Bonacorsi and Fede Mele. How can you go wrong with Knights and Samurais? You can’t and this series is full of action and some awesome energy.

X-Factor #4. “The Nematode“. Written by Mark Russell and art by Bob Quinn. Greg Land, Jay Leister and Frank D’Armata did the cover art. X-Factor goes on a rescue mission into the center of the earth after a couple of scientists. They find some surprising creatures. The biggest problem… they left Granny Smite behind. NOOOOOOO!!!!

Spider-Society #4. Written by Alex Segura and art by Scott Godlewski. Cover art by Pete Woods. This mini series comes to a close with the heroic spider-people from around the Web putting a stop to evil Aunt May and her forces.

The Ultimates #6. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon did the cover art. The Hulk is here and he is fighting the Ultimates. The end of the book seems to indicate that the Ultimates have paid a huge price (but I’ll believe it when I see it).

Blood Hunters #4. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Robert Gill and Chris Campana. Ema Lupacchino & GURU-eFX did the cover art. The Bloodcoven continue their attack on the Blood Hunters as Miles takes off to prevent his own bloodlust from causing a problem. However, things are looking bad for Dagger.

Aliens vs. Avengers #2. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art and cover art by Esad Ribić. The Avengers are in some real trouble and an elder Tony Stark is faced with a decision that could change the tide of the battle… while deserting some friends.

Something is Killing the Children #0. “Before Archer’s Peak.” Written by James Tynion IV and art by Werther Dell’Edera. Cover art by Jenny Frison. The prelude to the entire series shows us what Erica Slaughter was doing just before heading into Archer’s Peak. Erica Slaughter is a fantastic character and can really carry any story on her own.

Other books this week: Negasonic Teenage Warhead #1, Gilt Frame #3, Skin Police #2, Self Help #5, Headless Horseman 2024#1, Anansi Boys #5, and Creature Commandos #2.

MCU Disney + Series, Ranked

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With the recent conclusion of Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along on Disney +, I thought it was a good time to rank the Marvel projects on the streaming service.

I chose to include the two specials along with the series for this list. I also included the animated shows that appeared on the platform since the debut of WandaVision. I took the two series that had a second season, Loki and What If…?, and I kept them together instead of ranking Loki season one and Loki season two separately.

That gives me a total of fifteen shows.

Of course, these are my opinions and art is subjective. Perhaps you have a different list and that is fine. Everyone has a right to their thoughts.

So… here we go.

#15. Secret Invasion. This is easily the show in the last position on this list. I have never disliked an MCU project as much as I disliked Secret Invasion. This show started okay, but the story just did not work despite such a strong cast. The finale of this show was perhaps the worst finale of any Marvel show and I feel as if they just want to forget this ever happened. In what could have been so great, Secret Invasion was a colossal disappointment.

#14. I Am Groot. These little animated shorts actually also had two seasons and they were fun. They were slight and unimportant to the overall MCU, but they were fun to watch and Groot is always an enjoyable character to watch.

#13. Echo. Some people disliked this show, but I thought it was pretty decent. I definitely like Echo here more than I did in Hawkeye, as she was the weakest part of that show. However, some of the scene involving Kingpin were awesome and Echo brought a corner of the MCU into the light. This was the only MCU series to drop all episodes at once in a binge format.

#12. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Another show that has its share of haters, but I enjoyed it a great bit. I loved the weird finale where She-Hulk destroyed the fourth wall. The Daredevil episode was a highlight. The origin episode that kicked off the series was a lot of fun with cousin Bruce. Tatiana Maslany was excellent as Jen Walters, I don’t care what the internet says.

#11. Falcon & Winter Soldier. The second of the MCU Disney + series suffered from the pandemic as it caused a chunk of the story to be re-written. What we got was a lot of fun and kept us involved in Sam and Bucky’s bromance the whole time. There were some epic action scenes in this show and the moment when John Walker used the shield to decapitate a villain was a chill-inducing moment.

#10. Guardians Christmas Special. The first of the specials, which was the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special that was the bridge between the end of Endgame and Guardians Vol. 3. We learned Mantis was Peter’s sister. We learned the Guardians were the new owners of Knowhere. And we kidnapped Kevin Bacon. There were a lot of laughs and some truly warm moments between characters that we loved.

#9. What If…? Two seasons of some really great episodes. I personally loved the Doctor Strange episode from season one, the 1602 episode, the Guardians of the Multiverse crossover, the Christmas Die Hard episode with Happy, the Blade Runner-like Nebula episode, the new character Kahhori, and Zombies! The Watcher is an awesome narrator and gets involved at times too. Great animation and some wonderful writing.

#8. Werewolf by Night. The second special on the list is a wonderful tribute to the old time Universal Monsters movies as this episode is mostly in black and white. I actually have never watched the color version as I felt that was unneeded. Including Man-Thing, aka Ted, was a great use of a character we probably never expected we’d get in the MCU. The aura of the episode was so well done and the transformation of Jack Russell to the Werewolf by Night was cinematic. Excellent special.

#7. Hawkeye. This is a great series, bringing back Clint Barton while introducing Kate Bishop into the MCU. It also dealt with Natasha Romanoff’s death as her sister, Yelena came to kill Clint. The series focused on Clint’s background as Nomad and how that tied into the life of Echo. It reintroduced Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin to the MCU. While some disliked the way Fisk was brought in, I did not have that issue. Hawkeye was a wonderful Christmas series with some of the best action in all the MCU Disney + series.

#6. Moon Knight. I think Moon Knight episode 5 is one of the best episodes of Marvel television ever. It was as emotional as you are going to get. The finale was a bit of a step down with the giant slugfest going on, which brought this down a couple of steps. Oscar Isaac gave a thrilling and outstanding performances in this series as the multiple personalities of Moon Knight.

#5. Ms. Marvel. The super hero stuff of Ms. Marvel was the weakest part of the show (except the finale, which I loved). There is no doubt the strength of this series was Kamala Khan and the Khan family. The family dynamic of this series was unlike anything we had gotten before. It was emotional, caring, loving, funny and charming as could be. It was also some of the most creative imagery of any MCU show. If the villains were a little stronger, this could have been even higher. Plus, we have our first MCU mutant.

#4. X-Men ’97. Speaking of mutants, there is no way that a sequel to a series that ended in the mid-90s was going to be anything special. However, we could see immediately that this show was going to be more than we ever thought it would be. This show did Cyclops right (unlike any of the live action versions). And Remember It with Gambit was, arguably, the best single episode of MCU TV on Disney +, animation or live action.

#3. Agatha All Along. The latest MCU series was so great, but no one thought this was needed. It was a secondary character from WandaVision and a group of other characters that were unknown. And it was wonderful. It was full of twists and turns and some exceptional acting. Again, I would say episode seven of this series could be considered one of the best episodes of Marvel TV ever. Kathryn Hahn is amazing here and the introduction of “Teen” was unbelievable.

#2. Loki. Two seasons in, Loki was amazing. I love Tom Hiddleston and his chemistry with Owen Wilson, who played Morbius, was off the chart. The show was funny, dramatic and enjoyable. The writing was extra wonderful as things truly felt planned out over the years. Loki’s end as the God of Stories was something I never thought I would see. That finale and episode four of season two were some of the best episodes ever. I almost had Loki at number one, but it was just slightly behind.

#1. WandaVision. The first is still the best. One of the most original series ever. The whole sitcom stuff in the first few episodes made us all wonder what the heck was going on. Then, things became more sinister than you would expect. People were speculating week to week, bringing into question if our expectations were the real problem. Yes, there was no Mephisto. Or Reed Richards. And Pietro turned out to be Ralph Bohner. We all had our own theories, but the show was driven by the magnificent performances and chemistry of Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany, as well as Kathryn Hahn. Some complained about the finale, but I do think that this was about our own expectations. WandaVision has set the bar very high and no Disney + series have been able to reach it… yet.