The tertiary publishers ended up at 43 comics (38.39%), although I think over 30 of those came out before July. So that's a bit of an increase over 2024, but it's a lower percentage than the six years prior to that. Only 7 companies in those 43 books, down from 8 in 2024 and 11 in 2023. I don't know if it's that companies are going away, or I'm just having too much trouble finding their stuff now.
High Point - I liked some of the layouts Derek Hunter used. The bit in issue 2 when Hector and Lip find the odd stone pile that Hector is getting bad vibes from, for example. Hunter and colorist Spencer Holt draw these red ghostly blobs in the air above the stones, but in their own panels, emphasizing their existing in a different kind of space that not everyone can see.
Cereno writes Hector as a little awkward around most people, which made sense given how he spends most of his time, aka, killing undead things. He does alright with Lip, who is focused on proving there are Sasquatches in the area, but it's harder around people like the town sheriff, who mostly doesn't have time for that kind of nonsense. Definitely seems like a guy who might be involved in a grisly murder!
Low Point - The pacing was a little odd, maybe because each issue was a different length.
It's Jeff! Jeff Week: Another collection of Kelly Thompson and Gurihiru's Jeff stories. In this case, mostly Jeff trying to find ways via either magic or science to steal other people's food. Which is at least more benign than a lot of other uses for such things.
Laura Kinney: Wolverine #2, 3: I think Erica Schultz was going for Laura being so frustrated and angry with the dissolution of Krakoa that she was trying to draw a line in the sand. No compromises, no more suffering for other mutants, which took the form of her charging in recklessly, then complaining that it still hurts to heal. Then don't run into a bunch of guys with guns like a lunatic. It wasn't really working for me, and Giada Belviso's oddly-proportioned art wasn't doing it for me, either.
High Point - Well, the whole notion of the Orb of Ra as being used to empower champions in a battle between suns was appropriately bizarre, as was the conclusion. I'm not sure why Lieber drew the battle between Rex and Solaris like that one comic from the 1940s, but what the heck.
On a comedy note, the part where Rex and Urania decide there's strength in numbers and recruit the Element Woman and the Muttamorpho from The Terrifics, only for those characters to take the time to air grievances about their poor treatment. Plus, Ewing had the plan backfire, which was a nice inversion on the trope.
Low Point - I guess Ewing was hoping the book might get extended into an ongoing, but I didn't entirely understand why he spent part of issue 3 with Vandal Savage pointing out various continuity glitches, like Simon Stagg dying in The Terrifics, but being fine (for a given value of the word, he's still an incompetent gasbag) in this book.
Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #1, 2: A guy gets out of prison, intending to get some money to a daughter that wants nothing to do with him, and gets cursed. So he goes on a revenge spree. I gave up after 2 issues because I just didn't see anything that felt new or original.
High Point - Issue #7, when Moon Knight concludes they need a bio-chemist to come up with something to get people off the drug, and decides the best option is to lure Hank Pym out of the Microverse. So he lets 8-Ball dress a bunch of them up as villains and attack Pym's daughter, the Unstoppable Wasp. Reese's pained, reluctant, "Talk to the Chalk! It's Chalk O'Clock!" battlecry will never not make me laugh.
Also, Pramanik drew some really excellent page layouts. Using Marc ripping his mask as a panel break, or somebody's electric whips as they lash at Moon Knight. Just really good stuff. Pramanik is supposed to be the artist on the new Marc Spector: Moon Knight book, so hopefully we'll get more than 5 issues of the art in 2026.
Low Point - Issue 11, the "Birthday" issue. MacKay uses that bit where everything is drawn from first-person perspective, so the characters appear to be addressing us. All to save up for the reveal of the identity of the character at the end. Maybe if the reveal had done more for me I would have been more impressed? Kind of doubt it, though.
Nova: Centurion #1, 2: Spinning out of whatever Hickman did with that space mini-series, Richard Rider's still trying to be the only Nova, but keeping charged up enough to sustain the Worldmind takes money, and that's thin on the ground. So Jed MacKay and Alvaro Lopez have Nova acting as a merc. But for good causes! Like finding the money stolen from an interstellar crime org! Err. . .
Tomorrow, we wrap up the remainder of the alphabet. A bunch of mini-series, some of which I abandoned but we'll get to that.
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