July 8th, 2020
J.R.'s Picks:
Adventureman #2 – Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. This book is amping up exactly the way I want it to and is very quickly becoming one of my favorites. Claire’s adventures with the mysterious book left in her shop by a ghost lady continue! On the way to take him to school, her son discovers an address to the headquarters of Adventureman not previously divulged in other books. Claire goes there and discovers a towering art deco building which no one else can see. One problem though: there are no doors. Luckily, it turns out the ghost lady was waiting for her and pulls her in. Giving only mysterious hints, ghost lady departs once more and the security system activates which features clanking robots. It’s always robots. This is shaping up to be one hell of an adventure so jump in now on the ground floor!
Strange Academy #2 – God, this book is fun. The first day of school has started and it is filled with wondrous magics and cool cameos galore. No longer mindless, Mindful Ones serve breakfast to students and offer encouragement. The Ancient One teaches classes on mystical objects, Brother Voodoo gives insight on zombification and Magick gives a crash course on Hell, sending some delinquents there herself as punishment. An interesting inquiry is brought up as well: the protag Emily asks Zelma why there doesn’t seem to be any cost associated with the magic the students cast. There’s a foreboding air to her answer so I would recommend picking this up to be there for the grand reveal.
Something Is Killing The Children #8 – I am never usually a horror fan so I hope my continued spotlight on this book lets y’all know how truly good it really is. The Sheriff of Archer’s Peak visits James in the hospital in order to get the rundown on what’s killing the children. It’s a hilarious exchange mostly due to the sheriff’s thought that it may be aliens and his disbelief that it’s monsters. Erica goes with his dark, brooding partner from her organization to pick up the kid the monsters want as bait. It’s a dark thought but luckily she has a change of heart when Tommy shows up to stop her. Meanwhile at the high school where bodies are being identified things manage to get even darker. We have the means to catch you up with the first volume now out so please: Get. Caught. Up!!
X-Men God Loves, Man Kills: Extended Cut #1 – If you’ve ever asked for a classic X-recommendation from me, you’ll know this is the first story I point to. It’s hard-hitting, poignant, and easily the most socially aware story ever to be told involving the Children of the Atom. The main villain in this one happens to be systemic prejudice along with William Stryker, a televangelist along the lines of Billy Graham (may he rest in eternal infamy) leading a crusade against mutants. So far, the added material seems to be a prologue done by the original creators which doesn’t add much but is appreciated all the same. If there was ever a time for this story to return to the spotlight it is definitely now so take the time to put society in a bottle and examine this thought-provoking tale.
Diarra's Picks:
Willow #1 - Willow is still pretty shaken up after the Hellmouth events. So when the opportunity arises for a study abroad program in England, she jumps. Unfortunately, being in a cool new place doesn’t fix her overwhelming sense of loneliness. When she returns to the states, Willow isn’t ready just go back home and pretend everything is okay. So she empties her bank account and decides to take the first bus out of town. The bus makes a rest stop and a strange woman at a diner shows Willow the first bit of kindness she’s seen in awhile. Willow decides to take the woman up on an offer to join a bonfire that evening. She even gets a room at the local inn and thinks she’ll stay in town awhile. Things might not be as they appear in this town, and I hope Willow can see the trouble through her rose colored glasses.
Strange Academy #2 - Today is the first day of classes at Strange Academy. Their classes range from History of Magical Objects to Introduction To The Undead. One would think a Foreign Language course isn’t that odd, but it is when you’re studying Ghost Whispering and Vampiric Romanian! Illyana “Magik” Rasputina teaches Inferno 101 and won’t take any nonsense in her class (turns out there really is a special place in hell for students that don’t listen to their teacher). The first thing the students are taught is that magic always comes with a price and they must be prepared to pay it. As the students practice magic throughout the day, they can’t help but wonder who is paying the price for their attendance at Strange Academy.
Something Is Killing Children #8 - Good news, they were able to find and destroy the monster doing all the children killing. Bad news, it was a mama monster and now there are baby monsters that need to be dealt with. Once Erica’s ‘monster hunting guild’ finds out this detail they send, Aaron, another hunter to help. He doesn’t have the same bedside manor as Erica and is rubbing some locals the wrong way. Unfortunately, he is all Erica has since her kid partner, James, is still nursing a gunshot wound. Erica and Aaron keep bumping heads, but the monster babies have been sighted! They need to work together if they don’t want the death toll to get any higher.
Stone's Picks:
Batman the Adventures Continue #2 – Reading this was like watching a new episode of Batman the Animated Series. The Mysterious man from the end of the last issue has begun stalking the bat family while they defend the city. He’s not the only new guy in town, but instead of hiding in the shadows, this guy decides to have a face-to-face. After throwing around some simple compliments, trust is formed between two individuals and they end up getting into a bit of a situation. While that’s happening, Batman tries to get a lead on who the strange man is that is stalking him. A really great issue in the series and worth the read if you area fan of the show or not.
Stealth #3 – With Tony having taken his father’s suit, his dad's only option now is to retrieve it from wherever Tony has stashed it. He needs to get it back quickly, as prominent doctors throughout the city are being eliminated by an Albanian gang known as The Hand. They seem to be doing this under the orders of some dude who looks like Two-Face but without the whole “chance” shtick. The Hero of the city, an old man with Alzheimer’s versus the villain, a dude who looks like Gus after that explosion in the nursing home in Breaking Bad. Yes, that’s a spoiler for a show from 8 years ago that you should have already seen.
Ghost Rider #7 – Its finally here. The long-awaited continuation to the new, and incredible Ghost Rider story. With Mephisto by his side Johnny Blaze is slowly falling victim to corruption that is gnawing away at him and making him the ill-tempered Ghost Rider he has been as of late. He is prepared to kill Doctor Strange if it wasn’t for the intervention of Danny aided by both Wolverine and Punisher. Now Danny must use his new powers given to him by the spirit of corruption to stop Johnny from continuing his reckless behavior. Its brother versus brother for the fate of Hell.