March 15, 2023

It’s not often I get six row of space in a post, it took a couple tries to get this more-or-less okay shot. Of that top row, I think the JSA issue is the story I’m most interested in. Though I do enjoy Batgirls. We got fun chaotic miniseries for Harley of her breaking the DC Universe. And here is the next Lazarus Planet limited series that for some reason had to be printed after the event ended two weeks ago. So I have to wait till the end of next month before I can finish LP. I’m loving the Yoda title. In Wolverine I really hope that Logan kicks Hank’s butt by the time this arc comes to an end. The next issue of Bishop’s War College dropped, I’m intrigued by the potential character growth to come from this. The Red Goblin story interests me. Miles has just been getting all the stress and drama, he needs a hug! I think I mentioned my thoughts on the Hulk story-line two weeks ago, but guess I’ll see how this Titan persona is different than the Devil Hulk from the last (amazing) run. Hellcat started her fourth solo run! I haven’t looked into what it’s about yet, so I’ll be happy to be surprised. Sam Wilson is also going though hell right now. SoS continues and the penultimate issue of Avengers Forever is here. And a Star Wars Insider issue.

Covers below. And a bit of a special post coming next.

Love this, I can’t remember if I got the Stephanie Brown cover of this style or if it hasn’t come out yet.

This is just a great issue 1 cover!

All these fantastic Captain Marvel covers are part of collections. Though the Momoko ones is part of the MCU covers collection which I’m not getting many of, so maybe it’ll just be on its own. Though either way I’m going to get it slabbed.

Like I said, two of these are not specifically labeled as WHM covers but they are female characters during this month. I don’t know.

The first covers is one of the last Classic Homage covers in that themed set. I still have a few to go, and I actually thought this one had dropped already. Next month I’ll try to get the rest in.

This is the next cover in that connecting cover set for SoS.

Just like the previous post, here are the connecting cover, the wraparound connecting cover, and the Alex Ross cover for this last Avengers Forever issue for the Avengers Assemble event.

And then these are, of course, all the Alex Ross covers from this week.

March 8, 2023

I forgot that I wasn’t going to have individual photos for comics that are part of specific set collections till the collection is complete, so that’s why it’s fewer photos this time. Hopefully I can remember from now on!

As usual, I’ve not started these yet. Batman and Ivy are still in their respective arcs. Static is on issue two, and I’m excited for issue three to come. Monkey King ends with this 12th issue. Jon Kent’s new title Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent started. I still think Jon should have taken over the Superman comic title for his own and Clark had Actions Comics for his stories. Flash’s mini event continues. The Bounty Hunters title is giving us the debut of the Inferno Squad from the Battlefront games and novels. I’m excited to get to those issues. MJ and Felicia’s miniseries is still going. I can’t get back to ASM till issue 5 drops at the end of April. And that’s extra annoying since this week’s issue of ASM explains what happened “six months ago” that has MJ mad at Peter. I’m excited for Lorna and Wanda to have some story in Scarlet Witch’s issue. Bloodline still has to do some work for me to get into it really, but I want to know more about what’s going on. Laura has a new miniseries set in her past, though that reminds me that I still need to buy or read her titles from the past. I generally know what happens, but I want to read it. New Mutants has a new miniseries that started. The X-Men/Captain Marvel crossover continues. And the SoS event is still going. And, we got the antepenultimate issue of the Avengers Assemble event with this last Avengers issue.

Many covers below.

This is an Ablaze comic that is paying homage to that Giant-Size X-Men 1 issue that I noticed and was like, hey, know that layout and those colors.

The next Artgerm cover for Batman!

Jenny Frison’s next glorious Ivy cover!

Had to get this Inferno Squad cover. I think I’m going to get this slabbed.

These are more of Peach Momoko’s Women’s History Month covers. Now, I saw that she did other covers that feature women that aren’t labeled under the same theme, so I didn’t include them in this group shot, but I may just bunch them together in the collection anyway since they’re dropping in the same month and it just kind of works.

More from Dauterman! As y’all know, I love these legacy designs.

The next Disney’s 100th Anniversary cover. This is an ASM issue.

I’ve been waiting for this Dakayama issue! Love this so much!!

These are the other Momoko covers I mentioned, well, the Bloodline one is labeled WHM, I think there’s another in the next post that isn’t labeled as such. But yeah, maybe it’s just a coincidence.

The first cover is a connecting cover and the bottom is of course another anatomy cover.

As with the first cover above, this first cover is also a connecting cover. I think they’re both only two covers each for the connecting feature. And the next one is also a connecting cover but as well as a wraparound cover, and the second cover is also in the follow week’s pile. So, I will probably get to making a completed collections post for these soon.

These are the next bunch of Alex Ross covers. Pretty sure I’ll get these all slabbed. I don’t think I’ll get these signed since I have no idea how I would even go about doing that. I may buy the covers that I like the most already signed if anything, but I just want to preserve the art.

Shazam (2): Fury of the Gods (2023)

March 16, 2023

Well, I enjoyed that, I don’t know why some people seem to be on the fence about this. It was fun!

Seeing all the characters again was great. Everyone did brilliantly in their roles. With such a large group of characters, it can be tough to focus on each, and I think this mainly focused on two of the shazamily more than the others, but I think the first one was kind of even, so I suppose that’s ok. Though I would have liked the have the character development spread out more between the kids. But, of course there’s only so much time and the movie had a lot to do.

This was fun and emotional and had its moments of darkness. It doesn’t feel like this is taking place so long after the first movie as they’re all still figuring things out, but they’ve still be hero-ing for a while. In that way it feels a little like it took two movies for Billy to really come into his own as a hero, but that’s what’s always there about Shazam, he’s touching upon both worlds and has to navigate both.

The villains were as they seem in the trailers, not too much more, but there were some interesting aspects to them that surprised me. It would have been nice for some character development for them a bit too, like they just interacting with each other and being fleshed out more. But I still enjoyed them as the threat.

Watch out for the king of the beasts XD

I enjoyed the movie, and for its length, it went by faster than I thought it would. I still wonder how things will fit in going forward, but so far, I’m ready for it all!

Mid-credit scene: Yes. This is the one that connects to other things. Probably the most important one. I feel like many of the future DC projects may have something like this going forward. And I’m here for it.

End-credit scene: Yes. This hints at more in a different way. A little surprised that they did this, but eh, that’s ok. We’ll see where that comes in again I suppose.

March 1, 2023

Happy March!

I think this is either the last issue of the arc or the penultimate one of Tim Drake’s title. This is the last issue of the arc and this run of Harley before the Dawn of DC starts in her title in the next issue. There is the epilogue of Lazarus Planet with BvR #5. Dawn of DC continues in AC 1052. We got a special that ties into the new Shazam movie that comes out in two weeks. Another MTG cover with Bolas on it! Woot!! This is the first issue post-Dark Web for Venom. The Murderworld finale dropped. The various Star Wars issues dropped. We got an new Iron Man title, Rogue & Gambit run, Spider-Gwen run, Cosmic Ghost Rider run, and Hallow’s Eve title. Also the next issues of the Capt pseudo-event and the End of the Spider-Verse event.

Again, many covers below.

The A cover and Black History Month covers for this issue. Loved the colors in the A cover and I’m always happy to see Steel or Natasha on a cover.

Just such a great cover of Frank.

The next connecting cover for Hidden Empire.

This is a fun homage cover for this new title.

These are all Momoko covers, the first two are her first Women’s History Month variants I mentioned in the previous post. And the other one is a character design cover.

I wasn’t initially going to get this issue. But then something just clicked and I really loved the colors and details all over it.

Always happy to see another Artgerm pop up. I think there was another he did but it was an incentive cover. Love the orange.

And these, of course, are spectacular covers by Alex Ross. I didn’t think my store could get these, but I added them to my list just in case. I’m glad I did! It’s always wonderful when Alex Ross covers aren’t exclusives or incentives. This is par of a much larger collection, but I’m not going to get them all, only the ones of characters I love or ones that just stand out, which will be really difficult not to just get them all, haha.

So happy for another MTG cover with Nicol Bolas on it. I thought it would only be the previous issue, but nope! When I get another copy of this issue, I’ll slab it.

I would have ended on Bolas, but I felt like ending on this wonderful Nakayama cover. The coloring is just amazing. And I love that Ice and her power effects are glossy while the blue background is matte.

February 22, 2023

As usual, I’ve not started these yet since I took the photos today.

After I finish these comics, I hope to get to catching up on Strange Academy and the various Star Wars titles in the main series so I can get to reading the newer issues when they release. We got another Punisher one-shot. This ASM issue I can’t get to yet till the MJ and Black Cat mircoseries ends in April. But it’s the first story back after Dark Web ends. I’m still wondering what the Savage Avengers story will lead to. Thor’s Thanos quest continues with this issue. Betsy Braddock (Captain Britain) got her own title. The next title in the Sins of Sinister event started with Immoral X-Men. Yoda’s new arc starts here with him reminiscing about a time when Dooku was younger. I think it’s something like Yoda brought him back after he’d left or something. A new life begins in Gargoyles. Eros is causing trouble for Diana and Yara in this arc’s finale. DCeased’s antepentulimate issue dropped. The next issue of Flash’s mini-event is here. We got the final issue of Lazarus Planet arrived. And the first issue of Superman during the Dawn of DC era came to us too.

Many covers below.

I really liked the colors and design of this cover.

Glad I got this Brooks cover for Immoral X-Men. It’s just a gorgeous cover.

I had to get this arcade game style design. It’s just fun.

I totally forgot that this was a wraparound cover! Even though it’s been advertised in DC comics for months, haha. I still think they should have given the comic title itself to Jon as the lead character and kept Clark in Action Comics as the lead. Jon has his own title, but it would have been a good gesture to just hand the book over to Jon. I liked the dynamic when they each had one of the two Superman titles. And of course once I get done with BvR’s last issue, I’ll be able to get to these Dawn of DC issues. They certainly should have waited till the Lazarus event was done before rolling out these issues. If only to try to get in a somewhat consistent publishing order.

Such a great variant, and I mean, bam, Lois is in charge!

Two more covers of this series and I will be able to make the completed collection post and figure out what these covers have been referring to.

Here’s the next Romero cover! I nearing forgot this was a Romero when I was in the store sorting my pile out. I almost put it back and then remembered that this was a Romero.

Here’s the Momoko variant for Betsy’s title. Wow, Peach Momoko is having a very good month with all the Women’s History Month covers she did for the Star Wars titles. But yeah, I love this cover a lot. The color blending is superb.

This is the Mirka Andolfo variant for this issue. Such a great cover!

The A covers for these three titles are of course still Nakayama. They’re just so good! This reminds me that I need to make my Nakayama Reds post after I finish these.

This is the next connecting variant for that Noto SoS cover that arrived in the post before this.

I’m happy to get more Dauterman cascading legacy covers. They’re lovely.

Double Jen Bartel this week! She-Hulk, of course, but also this spectacular Dreamer cover for DC.

I really loved this cover, I might get is slabbed.

February 2023 Late Issues

These are A covers or variants that were late for the past two or three months. Some covers will be below the main image.

The first variant is based on the satirical awards that Marvel used to give out to some readers who pointed out continuity errors in issues. The second is another of the anatomy designs. And the third cover is one of the Sins of Sinister connecting covers from February.

February 15, 2023

Batgirls has a lot going on. Lazarus Planet continues. We got the next Marvel Voices issue. The Murderworld story progresses. I really want Beast to get his comeuppance in Wolverine. We’re one step closer to learning what happened in Fantastic Four. Tony has problems as usual. I’m still loving Photon’s title. The same with Wasp’s. The X-Men and Captain Marvel crossover continues in the X-Men title. The Avengers Assemble, End of the Spider-verse and Sins of Sinister events all continue.

Covers below.

Almost at the end of this event. Again, I’m very skeptical about these covers connecting.

Just a gorgeous cover. R.I.P Jason David Frank.

The next Hall of Armor connecting cover.

Loved the colors in the A cover for this issue!

I wasn’t initially going to get these Disney 100th Anniversary variants, but they grew on me as I looked at them more. This is the first one re-imagining that classic Fantastic Four #1 cover from 1961 with Mickey and co. as the lead characters.

The issues of X-Men and Captain Marvel will have connecting A covers for the duration of this crossover. And (so far) they actually connect pretty exactly! Other times the images don’t line up as they should and its a bit annoying to see them next to each other and not line up even though it’s the same image and should line exactly.

These are more of the homage covers. Though the X-Treme X-Men cover isn’t on the list that I have of all the covers, so these are either the last ones or almost the last ones. I’ll check them all and I know I’m waiting on a couple still. Once I make sure I have them all, I’ll be able to make the complete collection post. And perhaps a couple other collections will be complete too. We’ll see.

I’m going o be honest, I can’t remember if I got this poster already. I don’t think so, but I’ll have to check. Since the new store manager took over, I forgot to tell him that I used to get the Marvel posters when they came in. I mentioned it when I got this. This is the Dauterman A cover.

February 8, 2023

Again, not started these yet.

I think Ghost Rider is starting a new arc. Vader and the Techno Union leader come face-to-face again (I think I said that about last issue but it didn’t happen in the issue). Hidden Empire continues (I hope to be caught up soon to be able to get to this event). Namor came to the defense of Wakanda at the end of the previous issue of Black Panther, excited to see what’s next. Frank and Matt seem to be about to start battle. For Gold Goblin, ASM and the new Red Goblin, they are set post-Dark Web, so I’ll get to them soon. We have the next issue of Secret Invasion and Sins of Sinister. Stranger Things has a new title that started. Selina seem to be having a good time in Batman, though considering where she currently is, I guess I’ll have to see what’s going on here. Harley and Ivy reunite finally in this Ivy issue. The very much delayed Static season 2 finally dropped with its first issue. The One-Minute War continues in Flash. And Lazarus Planet continues to be chaotic.

Covers below.

Romero is back with a new set of variants! I was happy to see that.

The next connecting cover for Hidden Empire.

Still waiting on the A cover for this, but here’s the Window Shades cover for the issue.

This is the first connecting cover (by Noto) for Sins of Sinister. Now, there seems to be a set of connecting covers per month for SoS. I assume that means that each month has a connecting set and not that they all connect.

This is the first of Artgerm’s new Batman cover set. They all look great!

These are two relatively new characters. Both are pretty cool. I know I’ve got another one or two of Red Canary before now, But I don’t thin I have had any with Flatline yet. Had to get these!

I forgot to add these in the main photo. I saw that this issue had a variant with Ahsoka on it and it is a foil wraparound cover. It looks great!

Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

February 16, 2023

This certainly was a whole lot of movie. Things happened fast and with great frequency. I enjoyed the movie a lot! I know some have had mixed reviews but I have to listen to what they have to say to see what things they didn’t like, because I didn’t see much that wouldn’t be fun.

The trailers show essentially how things begin, and then it’s off to the races. Everything happens in a flash and the story gets rolled out as we get further into the movie. People who know comics or at least understand what the plans are for Kang in the MCU will kind of see where things go. But for those who don’t, there should be some great surprises.

The story wasn’t too complicated. Things are fine, things change, stories are told, missions are given, there is conflict and there is a resolution of sorts.

It was great to see most of the characters from the Ant-man movies again. It was nice to learn more about what Janet went through in the Quantum realm. I would have liked to have had a little more time topside, to learn more about Cassie’s changes, but eh, we’ll get more of her for years to come. Though I thought there’d be a little nod to the change in actress from her actress from Endgame, but either there wasn’t one or I missed it. I read somewhere that there would be something but who knows. I still think they should have kept Emma Fuhrmann as Cassie, that scene in Endgame was such a powerful scene because of who they chose to play Cassie and I think it was selfish to not give her a chance to grow in the role. And I do enjoy Kathryn Newton, she’s been great in things she’s been in, but I don’t think Marvel Studios should have recast the role.

All the actors did a fantastic job. There was such emotion for each main character to show in various scenes. I honestly wasn’t sure about the fates of everyone throughout the whole movie. They kept me guessing till the end. so many amazing scenes with this cast, I can’t wait to see them again whenever that happens.

Speaking of the cast. Jonathan Majors. I was t quite sure what I felt about the introduction at first, but I think he did an amazing job. I did kind of wish we’d seen more of him on his own, but again, we have more years with Kang to come. I can’t wait to see what else he can bring to the role(s).

And of course, seeing it in IMAX 3D was great, the small fight scenes, big fight scenes and landscapes looked gorgeous! I’m happy I went for this format first. I can’t wait to see it again in normal IMAX.

This certainly took the MCU a bit closer to what is to come. and I’m totally ready for the chaos.

Mid-credit scene: Yes. Quite a lot of yes. The future is here.

End-credit scene: Yes. We’ll get more of that soon.