Tag Archives: reviews

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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July 3, 2024

It is another week, and it is time for the Favorite Comic Covers of the Week. Now, there were several Marvel books that were not delivered to Comic World, so the choices this week are fewer. But I was able to pick out three winners.

Bronze Medalist

The Boy Wonder #3

Cover art by Juni Ba

I have been somewhat disappointed by this series so far, but I really liked this cover. In fact, #2 was in consideration for a medal too. This one with the red cover and the cool design of the characters truly stand out.

Silver Medalist

Public Domain #6

Cover art by Chip Zdarsky

The return of Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain after a long interval is very welcome, and I did not know that Chip Zdarsky, who is one of my favorite writers working, could create a cover this cool.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Man Reign 2 #1

Variant cover C

Cover art by Leinil Francis Yu

What a compelling cover. And I like his hair much better than I did in the book itself. Older Spider-Man pulling his mask off looks cool.

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)

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June 28, 2024

Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in today’s June Swoon 3, a film called You Hurt My Feelings, an A24 film that follows her life as writer.

Louis-Dreyfus played Beth, a writer who overheard her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) telling his friend that he really did not like the new book that she was writing. This bit of honesty sent Beth on a spiral, doubting everything in her life and putting her marriage under a scrutiny that she had never had before.

The film was fine. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is funny and she delivered her performance in the slow, real life tone. The film builds a series of events together, showing a full picture of her and her family’s life.

Some could consider the pace of this film to drag on, but I liked the simplicity of the presentation. The film takes its time it spends with each character to really reveal what they were like. Nothing major would happen to any of them, but these seemingly unimportant moments all had a powerful impact on each person.

The film does take time with Don as well, looking at his job as a therapist, a job that the film seems to be implying that he is not very good at. He has several clients that come in to air their problems with Don, to little success. Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, and Zach Cherry are standouts among the therapy sessions.

This had a definite independent movie feel to it. It is not flashy but it was an entertaining film with some thoughts on the little white lies and their effects.

Hit Man

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Glen Powell is hot right now. So when will there be a better time to make a dark comedy for Netflix than right now?

In Hit Man, Glen Powell played Gary Johnson, a college professor who would moonlight as a tech guy for the New Orleans Police Department. When the undercover officer wound up in trouble, Gary got thrust into the position of pretending to be a hit man for people wanting to hire him to kill someone.

Gary turned out to be very effective at getting these perspective clients to incriminate themselves, making Gary ultra valuable to the NOPD.

When Gary was meeting with a young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona) who wanted to hire him to kill her horrible husband, Gary, under his alias Roy, talked her out of it so she would not incriminate herself.

This led to Madison and “Ray” to begin a secret relationship with each other, leading to all kinds of trouble.

Directed by Richard Linklater, Hit Man is a lot of fun and has some very clever moments. Glen Power and Adria Arjona have sparkling chemistry and you find yourself rooting for them despite your better judgement.

I will say though that the ending took a darker turn than I thought and I’m not sure how I felt about it. The very ending is not how I would think this would have worked itself out and I am not sure I buy it.

The film calls itself a “somewhat” true story, as it made up a big section of the ending. Still, it is interesting to see where Linklater gets his inspiration for such a story.

This rom com makes for a decent time at home watching it on Netflix. I am not sure that it would have near the amount of success had it had a theatrical release. As a lazy afternoon watch, Hit Man is a hit.

3.5 stars

The Last Repair Shop (2023)

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June 5, 2024

It is a busy day today so I had to get the June Swoon 3 going early this morning and I had another Oscar winner on the list. This was the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Short and it was entitled The Last Repair Shop. I watched it on YouTube, but I see that it is available as well on Disney +. This is just over thirty five minutes long and is a joyous expression of love for music and for those for whom music has changed their lives.

The focus was on a instrument repair shop from Los Angeles that provided a service to the schools of the area to repair damaged or broken musical instruments for free. The film profiles four members of the shop: Dana Atkinson, Paty Moreno, Duane Michaels and Steve bagmanyan.

The film also had words from students who gave quick stories about how they wound up playing the instrument they played. The passion and the joy came through each child’s words as it helped us understand how important these musical instruments would be in their lives.

The stories were very emotional and compelling. The stories of the workers at the repair shop ranged from a man who an Armenian refugee from Azerbaijan to a woman who tried to give her children a better life in America only to struggle to a man who played on the same stage as Elvis Presley.

The film ended with a performance of a song called “The Alumni” which featured many of the voices that we heard during the film.

If you love music, or if you ever played an instrument, you will be inspired by this documentary short film. It is a love letter to music and those people who make it or allow other people to make it.

Ezra

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A new film featuring a character with Autism was at Cinemark this weekend, and I had heard some positive word of mouth about the film, so with a light weekend of new movies, I decided to give it a shot.

According to IMDB, “Tony Goldwyn’s EZRA follows Max Bernal (Bobby Cannavale), a stand-up comedian living with his father (Robert De Niro), while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra (introducing William Fitzgerald) with his ex-wife, Jenna (Rose Byrne). When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son’s future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.“

Bobby Cannavale is the definitive stand out in this film as the deeply troubled father who still loves his son, Ezra. Cannavale was given a really meaty role with plenty of deep seeded troubles and he does an exceptional job. Much of it is the chemistry between Cannavale and William Fitzgerald, who is the young actor they found to play Ezra. Fitzgerald is very good in this role too. Director Tony Goldwyn held a nationwide search for a child actor with Autism, providing as realistic of a performance as possible.

Robert DeNiro gives a strong supporting performance as Cannavale’s father. There are some story in the film for DeNiro and Cannavale to play and, while it does not dominate the film, it adds a nice flavor to Ezra.

There are some parts of the story that stretch believability and I will say that the ending felt too emotionally manipulative, but I thought most of the story was well done.

3.75 stars

The Zone of Interest (2023)

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The next film in the June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback is the second consecutive Oscar winning international film. The Zone of Interest is a look at a slice of life among a career driven man, his wife and happy family as they deal with the daily events of their lives.

Oh, did I mention that he was a Nazi commandant?

Oh, not just any Nazi commandant, but Rudolf Höss of Auschwitz?

I knew the film was a Holocaust setting, but I was unaware what I was about to watch. Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), along with his wife Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller), were our main protagonists. I did not figure out who they were until a bit into the film and to say that I was shocked when I figured it out would be an understatement.

There were a couple of times where I had to stop and say to myself that I was not feeling sorry for Rudolf Höss. The film did a great job of showing the entire person that this evil man was and displaying that even evil men and women have sides to their personality that you may not expect.

I do not think the film humanized Rudolf Höss as much as it showed how real life has plenty of shadows and moments where even the worst of us have quiet times.

Sandra Hüller appeared in her second consecutive film in this year’s June Swoon with her role as Hedwig. This was a wicked woman too as the film showed her being soft and loving, as well as moments when she would switch immediately to cruelty and a savageness that was unexpected. There was a scene where she told her Jewish servant that she could have her husband scatter her ashes across the land. I literally gasped at that comment.

As an A24 film. The Zone of Interest did not really have a laid out plot. It was more of an exploration of daily life just outside of the worst concentration camp in the Holocaust. It did not feel as if anything was building to a climax. It was just a series of scenes that were very powerful in their own.

One of the most effective techniques used was the management of sound. The film would have scenes with the happy family or of the beautiful home they enjoyed, but in the background, you could hear the sounds of gunfire, or dogs barking, or the suffering of Jewish prisoners. The sound cues of the film made this a truly haunting effect, without ever having the visual imagery on the screen. This juxtaposition is clearly why the film was able to win the Best Sound Oscar at the Academy Awards.

I have to say that the beginning was an odd experience for me. The film began with an extended black screen, though I could hear sound going on. I honestly thought that there was something wrong with MAX. I almost stopped it so I could see why it was not showing a picture. I was able to determine that this was intended.

This was the Academy Award winner for Best International Feature Film (although it was not up against Anatomy of a Fall) and received a nomination for Best Motion Picture as well as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jonathan Glazer. This is one of those films that could stay with you for awhile and the image of the ending with present day Auschwitz was extremely poignant.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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For Week of May 27

Good evening. We have just one school day left before the end of the school year. That really does not have anything to do with this article, but I am just excited about it.

Bronze Medalist

Black Panther: Blood Hunt #1

Cover Art by Andrea Sorrentino

The Blood Hunt crossover event has had some solid covers (even if they are selling some variants of a blood red cover only). This one was from Andrea Sorrentino who has done some great rt in other horror series, especially teaming up with Jeff Lemire. He has a great cover of vampire T’Challa.

Silver Medalist

Universal Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #2

Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart

These Universal Monsters books from Image have solid cover art every week and it has a bunch of excellent Variants too. I love this one with the creature spying on what is going on in the shadow.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Boy #7

Variant Cover B

Cover Art by David Baldeón 

I proclaimed to Todd that this was probably the winner this week, and sure enough, it secured the gold. Love this black and white variant with Spider-Boy in a black and white Venom-like costume. It is lovely.

Bates Motel S1 E2

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Spoilers

“Nice Town You Picked, Norma”

Man, Freddie Highmore can give some death stares unlike anyone else. His eyes are amazingly creepy and, at times, simply frightening. You can see the insanity inside them, making him a great Norman Bates.

Norma’s first son and Norman’s half-brother Dylan arrived at the beginning of episode, creating tension within the Bates family. He had so much anger directed toward Norma, who he did not call Mom, but by her actual name, and the tension between him and Norman was obvious. Dylan’s anger toward Norma boiled over as Norman tried to defend his mother’s honor.

Vera Farmiga played Norma with such a depth that elevated this character into one of the most compelling character on the show. She is so mysterious and enigmatic. You are never quite sure what she is thinking behind each stare. When she was questioning Emma about her disease, I could not tell if she was interested because she was being empathic or if she was saying it to let Norman hear about the things about her cystic fibrosis because she was jealous of any other girl who might have a connection to Norman.

Romero continued to be suspicious of Norma after they found the truck of Keith Summers and a witness had said that Keith was seen arguing with Norma and Norman at the Hotel. Norma is cool as can be during the interactions, hiding the real anxiety beneath the surface. Keith was the man who raped Norma and whom she killed and dumped in the lake. Some of the word play between Norma and Romero was well written and jumped off the screen.

The town that they have moved to is shown to be a darker place than Norma had expected, with a deep criminal underground involved.

After episode number two, the storytelling is excellent. They bring up storylines that continue to service these characters while focusing on the unhealthy relationship between mother and son. A relationship that we know will end up in tragedy.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #98

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May 17, 2024

We are back with the EYG Comic Cavalcade this Friday night.

Made a bit of a mistake. I went to eBay to start working on filling out my New Warriors collection. I ordered several different issues, but I had looked at several of them. A few days later, I was sent an offer from a seller on eBay for the New Warriors Vol. 2 #1-10. I knew I had looked at this before, so I jumped at the offer.

Then, I received the package of the ten issues and they were great. I went to eBay to leave feedback and found out that on that first day, I had already ordered the Vol. 2 issues, and another set was on its way. They arrived this week.

This was my dumb mistake, so I decided just to keep the double set of issues and not go and try and return one of them. I just have two copies of these books.

Books this week:

Saga Vol. 4. Okay, this week I was able to read the fourth volume of the complete set of Saga I picked up at Free Comic Book Day. This continues to be a fantastic trade paperback. I hope to get some time carved out to continue reading this soon, but summer vacation is coming soon, and, if I have not finished it by then, that would be a great opportunity.

X-Men Forever #4. “No Hope” Written by Kieron Gillen and art by Luca Maresca. Cover art by Jim Rigg (Silver Medalist). Jean Grey as the Phoenix is back once again, but it comes at the end of the road for Hope.

Bear Pirate Viking Queen #1. Written by Sean Lewis and art by Jonathan Marks Barravecchia. I mean… that title? How could I possibly pass up Bear Pirate Viking Queen? It is a beautiful book with a cool story with a dangerous bear. I enjoyed reading number one. I believe it is a three issue mini series from Image and I am excited to see where this goes.

Ice Cream Man #39. “Decompression in a Wreck (Part One)” Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love (Gold Medalist). One of the most interesting and creative concepts for an issue, Ice Cream Man #39 tells a five second story, going through a fatal car crash. Great issue.

Free Comic Book Day: MAD. It’s absurd…it’s inane… it’s… MAD. Todd picked this one up for me a few weeks after Free Comic Book Day and it was a hoot. It focused on DC Comics characters given the MAD treatment. EYG Hall of Famer Sergio Aragones did several of the bits. It also includes some Spy vs. Spy classics. Fun.

Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #1. Written by Justina Ireland and penciled by Marcelo Ferreira. Ferreira, Roberto Poggi & Rachelle Rosenberg did the cover art. The story continued from the Amazing Spider-Man regular series as Spidey teams up with Misty Knight and …The Lizard? to go in search of a missing Morbius… aka Dr. Mike. More vampire action than you can shake a wooden stake at.

Displaced #4. “Chapter Four: Go Our Own Way”. Written by Ed Brisson and illustrated and cover art by Luca Casalanguida. Displaced continues to be an excellent book. We see the group splitting apart which is causing some of them fade away. There is still a LOST vibe to this book and I am loving it.

Doom #1. “Days of Doom” Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Sanford Greene. Cover art by Ari Granov (Bronze medalist). This was strange. It was one of those potential future stories. I am never a huge fan of these and this one with Doom in space was not what I expected. I did like the inclusion of Valeria. I’m just not sure the purpose of this book.

Redcoat #2. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Redcoat is one of my favorite new comic series. Simon Pure has seemingly found himself a sidekick… Albert Einstein? And there was a new antagonist… Benedict Arnold. Creativity abounds in this new series.

Dark Ride #12. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andrei Bressan. Cover art was by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas. The series comes to an end as things go fairly poorly for Arthur whereas his kids, Sam and Halloween get everything they ever wanted. As happy of an ending as Hell could provide.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #20. “Sibling Day” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Federico Vicentini. Vicentini & Matt Milla did the cover art. Miles and his clone “brother” Shift take their little sister on a sibling trip. They meet up with Kamala Khan!

Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #3. “Reunions” Written by Iman Vellani & Sabir Pirzada and art by Scott Godlewski. Cover art was done by Carlos Gomez and Jesus Aburtov. Speaking of Kamala Khan, this series sees her reunited with Red Dagger and we get a bit of a love connection. Also zombie Cyclops.

Something Epic #10. Written, Illustrated and cover art by Szymon Kudranski. The investigation into the death of Sherlock Holmes and the disappearance of Zeus continues as Noa goes in search of the first goddess. The imagery of this book is always gorgeous.

Fishflies #6. Written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Lemire as well as Shawn Kuruneru. We find out the origin behind the creature and Helen has a shocking loss. Fishflies #6 is the penultimate issue of this run and it was one of my favorites of the series so far.

Ultimate X-Men #3. Written, art and cover art by Peach Momoko. Hisako and Mei get some more specifics in their powers, and they drop the word…mutants for the first time. I really like the way the Ultimate X-Men is very different than the regular X-Men. I love how the Ultimate X-Men are their own character and not just repeats of the normal team.

What If…?: Aliens #3. Written by Hans Rodionoff and art by Guiu Vilanova. Phil Noto did the cover art. I have been loving this new type of What If. You have the rights for Aliens so why not tell a What If story with these characters. Paul Reiser and his son Leon came up with the concept.

House of Slaughter #23. “The Butcher’s War Part Three” Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Antonio Fuso. Cover art was done by Nimit Malavia & Werther Dell’edera. The Houses come together to try to plan what to do about Jace Boucher.

Other books this week: Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #4, Napalm Lullaby #3, FCBD: Ultra Duck, What If…Venom #4, and the Energon Universe #1.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of May 13

It is that time again this week to give out some medals for the best covers from this week’s comic books. Interestingly enough, this week has three variant covers as our medal winners. Oh, and no Alex Ross this week…

Bronze Medalist

Doom #1

Variant cover

Cover Art by Adi Granov

This one became the Bronze Medalist by the skin of its figural teeth as this one held off Ultimate X-Men to take this prize. The imposing nature of Dr. Doom in close up dominates the cover and stands out like a boss.

Silver Medalist

X-Men Forever #4

Variant Cover

Cover art by Jim Rugg

A beautiful painted looking cover with Jean in her Phoenix outfit, having the fiery bird land on her arm. And it is lovely. It is compelling of a piece of art.

Gold Medalist

Ice Cream Man #39

Variant Cover

Cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love

Ice Cream Man typically has some frightening horror covers and this one is creepy as heck. The Ice Cream Man with the arms coming from his back, in the black and white cover is really excellent.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

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The franchise of The Planet of the Apes released its fourth film in the new series of films and its tenth film overall in the franchise. The previous trilogy has been claimed by many pundits as one of the best trilogies of all-time, and some wondered why there was a need for a new film and how it would fit into the story.

Well, the film takes place several generations after the end of the War of the Planet of the Apes and focuses on a new set of protagonists, while still using the legacy of Caesar in the basic plot.

Our new protagonist is named Noa (Owen Teague) and he is trying to find his tribe after the were taken away. He was joined by the elder orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) and a human named Mae (Freya Allen). However, it turns out that Mae has her own motives for tagging along.

Our new antagonist is Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who arrived about an hour into the movie. He is trying to get inside this vault built into a cliffside where there were a bunch of human weapons.

I thought this new film was okay. I did like how they built this new group of characters and starting creating the world around them. I think it has set up for the future films well. The first part of this movie felt kind of dull at times. I did like the character work here, but there felt like too much going on.

The apes continue to look tremendous. The special effects are great. I will say that a few of the time when I would see Raka walking, it looked weird. Other than that, everything looked fabulous.

The third act was a lot of fun. I may have a small criticisms of it, but they are not major problems.

Truthfully, there were some ups and down for this film. I liked parts of it. There were parts that I found boring. It looked awesome. I do think it could have shaved off 10-15 minutes for the runtime. This may be better when you look back on this after the whole trilogy is done.

3.5 stars

Baby Reindeer limited series E4-7

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Spoilers

I had not intended on binging this whole series in one day. I had thought that this could be another several week watch. However, with the sick day, I had time available and this was just so amazing of a show that I couldn’t help myself.

Baby Reindeer is a seven-episode limited series on Netflix that has been creating quite a buzz lately, for good reason. It is based on a true story, written and starring Richard Gadd, who based this on a time in his own life.

Episode four bought the answers as to why Donny was such a victim for Martha. He had been abused by a writer, a writer whom Donny had idolized and who was sexually pervasive with him after getting him high on a variety of drugs. This vital piece of information, which was hinted at in the first three episodes, gives us the theme of the show, seeing how abuse can affect an individual and how trauma from the past can really derail a person’s life.

Martha was not shown as a villain. She was absolutely mentally ill, suffering from her own challenges, but to call her evil is not an accurate portrayal. Even at her worst, Martha was retaliating or responding to situations in her life that she was unable to deal with in any other manner. In her mind, she was in love with Donny and this was the way for her to express it.

Donny’s own self-hate caused everything around him to falter, including the potentially positive relationship with Teri. There really is an amazing amount of depth to these characters who go far beyond good vs. evil.

While the first three episodes of the series were highlighted by Jessica Gunning’s performance as Martha, these last four, in particular episode six, showed a remarkable performance from Richard Gadd. His monologue on stage at the comedy finale was just unbelievable and as raw as an open wound. I was completely captivated by the acting on display. This felt like a man breaking down in front of everyone.

I also was touched by the scene where Donny went back to his parents to tell them about the video of that monologue that had gone viral on social media, mainly because Martha had threatened to tell them about it. The reveal that his father had also been sexually abused as a child was one of the most powerful moments of the show. The hug between father and son was life-affirming.

The end was very poetic too as Donny wound up at a bar and, almost, in the same situation that Martha was in at the beginning of the show. One wonders if this characters of Donny would ever truly get past the obsession that he seemed to have for Martha. While this is based on a true story, there is enough fictional aspects to make one wonder.

This was a difficult and uncomfortable show to watch at many times, and yet it was worth every second. It is one of the best shows of 2024 so far.

Baby Reindeer limited series E1-3

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I heard some discussion about this limited series on Netflix. Several of the online critics that I respect and like had positive things to say about this, so I decided since I have a sick day today from school, I may as well give it a try.

The first three episodes were just tremendous.

According to IMDB, “Based on a compelling true story, the hit 2019 Edinburgh Fringe one-man stage-play Baby Reindeer follows the writer and performer Richard Gadd’s warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deep, dark buried trauma.”

Richard Gadd played Donny, a bartender who wants to become a stand up comedian. One night, a sad figure of a woman came into the pub and sat down on the stool. Donny took pity on the woman and offered her a drink. Little did he know where this would take him.

Jessica Gunning is astounding as the woman, Martha Scott, who begins to stalk Donny, ingratiating herself into his life in an obsessive manner. The brilliance of the performance is the fact that you can see the reason why Donny felt the empathy for her. There are flashes with Martha that is not just her mental illness, but her desperation to be something more to someone. Jessica Gunning truly gives a layered performance through the first three episodes.

The first three episodes spend some time hinting that there is more behind Donny than what we see and perhaps some of his choices and behaviors will make sense after we find out what that is.

The feral response Martha had when she found Donny with Teri (Nava Mau) was brutal. Donny’s angry response chased her away, but I am not sure what the show will do next, and i love that.

Powerful limited series so far, based on a true story of Richard Gadd’s actual stalker.

Boy Kills World

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This was extremely violent and brutally gory. That does not bother me much, but there were more things that did bother me in Boy Kills World.

According to IMDB, “Bill Skarsgård stars as “Boy” who vows revenge after his family is murdered by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the deranged matriarch of a corrupt post-apocalyptic dynasty that left the boy orphaned, deaf, and voiceless. Driven by his inner voice, one which he co-opted from his favorite childhood video game, Boy trains with a mysterious shaman (Ruhian) to become an instrument of death and is set loose on the eve of the annual culling of dissidents. Bedlam ensues as Boy commits bloody martial arts mayhem, inciting wrath of carnage and blood-letting. As he tries to get his bearings in this delirious realm, Boy soon falls in with a desperate resistance group, all the while bickering with the apparent ghost of his rebellious little sister.”

The positives for me was Bill Skarsgård, who I think was really good as the deaf/mute hero. My only problem with him was my own. When I looked at Skarsgård, all I could see was a combination of professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes and Edge and it distracted me constantly. Again, that is not the fault of the film and I thought Skarsgård was very good as this action character.

The action did not work very well for me. There was a lot of camera movement in the fight choreography that was annoying. The fights and the blood did become a bit dull for me because it was overdone. Too much blood and violence dampened the effect of both of them.

The voice over of Boy’s inner thoughts was hit and miss for me. There were some fun lines with it, and others that just felt like it was out of place. I did like the fact that the internal voice was the voice from Boy’s favorite video game as a youth, but the use of “Finish him” or “Fatality” seemed excessive. Funny at first, then not so much.

I became bored by this movie rather quickly, and by the time the third act came around and there was some movement on the story (predictable as it may have been) I had checked out. Not the worst film I have seen this year by a long stretch, just not very good.

2.6 stars

EYG Comic Cavalcade #93

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April 22, 2024

I am back with the second part of last week’s large pile of comics after the mysterious disappearance of the week’s prior shipment. I don’t want to miss another week of books again.

Next books:

Blue Books: 1947 #3. Written by James Tynion IV and art by Michael Avon Oeming, who also did the cover art (Silver medalist). We have reached the point where we are ready to start talking about Roswell and the events surrounding that. I thought this was very interesting.

Moon Man #2. Script by Scott Mescudi and Kyle Higgins with art by Marco Locati. This was a pretty good follow up to the first issue of this book. I did enjoy the manner in which the art was presented in this issue. Some of the larger panels were really epic.

Beware of the Planet of the Apes #4. Written by Marc Guggenheim and art by Alvaro Lopez. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. This prequel to the first movie wrapped up the series and it was enjoyable. Maybe it was not spectacular, but I did like it. It has been one of my favorite of the 20th Century Studios imprint so far.

Ultimate Black Panther #3. Written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Stefano Caselli. Josh Cassara & Guru-eFX did the cover art. T’Challa meeting up with Killmonger and Ororo looking for Moon Knight and some of the African gods. I have liked this new take on Black Panther and his surrounding cast, especially Shuri and Okaye.

Captain Marvel #7. “Bonds to Break” Written by Alyssa Wong and art by Jan Bazaldua. Stephen Segovia & Romulo Fajardo Jr. did the art for the cover. Captain Marvel and Genis-Vell battled in the comic. The item that possessed Genis comes out and prepares to take on Carol.

Resurrection of Magneto #4. “Reawakening” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Luciano Vecchio. Stefano Caselli and Jesus Aburtov did the cover art. Magneto is back. What kind of Magneto is he? This is the question that this issue poses. This is perhaps my favorite issue of this series so far.

Avengers: Twilight #5. “And the Truth is Rain.” Written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Daniel Acuna. Cover art by Alex Ross and Acuna. The futuristic tale of the Avengers taking on a returned Red Skull continues. I have said before how I am not a fan of alternate future stories, but this is tremendous. Chip Zdarsky is at his best so far in this series. And the last page’s reveal of the Hulk is awesome.

Incredible Hulk #11. “Frozen Charlotte: Part Three” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and illustrated by guest artist Danny Earles. The Frozen Charlotte storyline has not been my favorite, but I did like how it wrapped up. What happens to Charlie is a neat twist.

Jill and the Killers #4. Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and illustrated by Roberta Ingranata. Cover art by Sanya Anwar. This mystery series wrapped up after the answer of the mystery was revealed. This was a very special series that was very unexpected from Oni Press.

Animal Pound #3. “Chapter Three: Piggy Performs” Written by Tom King and illustrated by Peter Gross. Animal Pound is a really good look at political theater. They follow through multiple elections inside the animal pound and it really shows what politics are like. By the way, I have a feeling that I know whom is represented by Piggy.

What If: Venom #3. Written by Jeremy Holt and penciled by Manuel Garcia. Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr did the cover art. I have not been much of a fan of these Venom What If issues, but I love the What If series so I am collecting it. Venom bonded to Dr. Strange is fine. That’s about it.

X-Men ’97 #2. Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Salva Espín. Cover art was by Todd Nuack & Rachelle Rosenberg. This prequel series to the new animated X-Men ’97 series on Disney + has been okay, but it does not measure up to the exceptional animated series. Sabretooth and the Marauders make a guest appearance.

Dead X-Men #4. “Hyper Ballad” Written by Steve Foxe and art by David Baldeon, Bernard Chang, & Vincenzo Carratù. Lucas Werneck did the cover art. This felt weird since it should have been read before the Rise of the Powers of X #4, which I have already read. Still, this was fine.

Fall of the House of X #4. “The Turn” Written by Gerry Duggan and art by Lucas Werneck & Jethro Morales. Cover art is done by Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia. Things are coming to a conclusion with this storyline as the X-Men are facing down with Nimrod.

House of Slaughter #22. Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Antonio Fuso. Cover art by Nimit Malavia and Werther Dell’edera. Sunny Boucher has gone out of his way to help protect his friend Jace Boucher, but at what cost?

Night People #2. “The Secret Life of Insects” Written by Chris Condon and illustrated by Alexandre Tefenkgi. Cover art by Jason Shawn Alexander. Honestly, this series has not been enjoyable so far. This is based on a novel by Barry Gifford, but I just have not liked it at this point.

Giant-Size Hulk #1. “Reuben’s Train” Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and art by Andrea Broccardo. KJ Diaz did the cover art. I enjoyed the issue with the Hulk on a train. However, it did not turn out well for the train.

Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance #2. “Vengeance is Mine” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Danny Kim. Juan Ferreyra did the cover art. The Red Hood continues as the brand new Ghost Rider, who stole the Spirit of Vengeance from Johnny Blaze. This series is darker than before and I like it.

Kill Your Darlings #8. Story by Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan and art by Robert Quinn. This series has ended with this issue and I am glad it is done. I have not been a huge fan of this book over the last eight issues. This is one of the books that I started and basically finished because I wanted to be a completist. This does have a cool wrap-around cover, though.