My 2024 Comic Want List

 2024 Comic Want List:

5. Fantastic Four #46 (1966)

This book is the first full appearance of Blackbolt, the leader of the Inhumans. His first cameo appearance is in the issue prior to this, Fantastic Four #45. That issue is considered the first appearance of many of the other Inhumans, including Medusa and Lockjaw.

The reason this book is important to me is that I really enjoyed Anson Mount’s portrayal of Blackbolt in the Inhumans tv show that aired on ABC. He returned as the character in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness as well for his official debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I enjoyed it so much that I met Anson Mount at Rhode Island Comic Con in 2023. I did not get a picture with him, but I was able to to get an Inhumans poster signed by him.

4. Tales of Suspense #77 (1966)

Tales of Suspense #77 comes in #4. This comic is significant as it is the first full appearance of Peggy Carter in comics. Peggy Carter appeared in the MCU in all three Captain America films as well as Avengers: Endgame and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.

She was also the star of the Agent Carter tv show on ABC for two seasons from January 2015 - March 2016. However, the reason this is on the list is actually for my wife and not for me. She is a massive Peggy Carter fan and already owns her first appearances as Captain America, Exiles #3 (2018) and as Captain Carter #1 (2023).

3. Avengers #57 (1968)

Avengers #57 is the first full appearance of The Vision. The Vision debuted in the MCU in 2015’s Avengers Age of Ultron. He also appeared in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and WandaVision. 

Now, I’m a massive fan of the MCU and The Vision was a great addition to this roster, however, the bigger reason I want to collect this issue is because of Vision #1, which was released in 2015. In this run, Vision creates his own family. His wife, Virginia, his son, Vin, and his daughter, Viv. This is a fantastic story that modern day Marvel produced. I would highly recommend checking out this series. 

2. Daredevil #4 (1964)

Daredevil #4 is the first appearance of The Purple Man aka Killgrave who appeared in Jessica Jones season 1 and 3. He was portrayed by David Tennant. Killgrave was a phenomenal villain in season 1 and left one heck of an impression. 

I have actually had the chance to meet David Tennant twice. I discussed the meeting in my earlier post about my second day at New York Comic Con. He was really gracious to every fan and even though he had to get through a massive line, he took a little time with everyone.

1. Tales of Suspense #66 (1959)

Tales of Suspense #66 is the first silver age appearance of Red Skull, Johann Schmidt. He was portrayed by Hugo Weaving in Captain America: The First Avenger and subsequently potrayed by Ross Marquand in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and What If..?

The Red Skull is an iconic character throughout Marvel comics. He's still front and center in stories like the current Thunderbolts comic series starring Bucky Barnes. This is another book with a personal connection as my wife and I had a chance to meet Ross Marquand as Terrificon in July 2023. He is one of my favorite celebrity encounters. We had a great time chatting with him and just discussing the most random things.

Star Wars TV Shows Part 1

 A hot topic in the Star Wars Universe is the lack of movies and Disney's focus on making Star Wars television shows while they plan their reset of movie plans. Ahsoka is the latest live action offering that Disney and Lucasfilm has produced. The success of the Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows have been offset by the mild receptions of Book of Boba Fett and Andor. 

This series will take a look at the different shows, what I liked about them and what I have not. While I have focused on the recent shows, I want to start this series with a discussion of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This animated series debuted as the first animated movie in Star Wars. The box office for the movie was disappointing by Star Wars standards, only making around $68 million. This did enough to entice Cartoon Network to produce the show. Clone Wars ran for five seasons on Cartoon Network, it had a sixth season titled "The Lost Episodes" released on Netflix and a seventh, and final season, released on Disney+.

Clone Wars provided an insight into the events that occurred between Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones and Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars shows Anakin as he attempts to guide his padawan Ahsoka Tano on her path to being a Jedi and Anakin's unavoidable fall to the dark side. 

Some Negatives of the show: 

Clone Wars is a show that may take some time to get into. The first season jumps from conflicts and battles with an opening segment that sets up the episode. This has the ability to make a viewer feel as if they missed an episode or missed context in a previous episode. This gets better in the later seasons, but it does make it hard to initially get into the show. 

Anakin Skywalker in Clone Wars

With the show being a cartoon, it had a perception of being a kid show and this can be off-putting for adult fans as well. This show can be viewed by children but there are darker themes and it makes for compelling viewing for adults. I had the chance to meet Matt Lanter, who voices Anakin in the show, at Rhode Island Comic Con and we discussed how the show got progressively edgier as it went on. It was great to hear even the voice actors recognize the tone shifting in the show. 

Some Positives of the show:  

Fleshing out Anakin's character between Episode 2 and Episode 3 was needed as he shifted drastically between the movies. This allowed them to show his maturation and allowed his mentoring of Ahsoka to help show his growth as well. Also, it does a great job of really showing his relationship with Obi-Wan in
a different light as well. 

As mentioned above, this show introduced Ahsoka and it also introduced Asajj Ventress to the Star Wars universe. While Ahsoka helped to show Anakin's growth, Asajj was introduced to be Dooku's apprentice. She is a great character and is a great foil to Ahsoka.

Hondo Ohnaka in Clone Wars

Hondo Ohnaka (voiced by the famous voiced actor Jim Cummings) is a space pirate introduced in this series as well.  This character is great as he is neither for the Republic nor
for the Separatists. He is simply a pirate out to make money. His episodes are some of the most entertaining. If you have ever been to Galaxy Edges keep an eye out, you might see him.

Overall, Clones Wars is a must-watch show. While it is tough to get into because of the scattershot nature of the first season, it is worth powering through that as the stories introduced in the later season add a lot to the lure of the Star Wars Universe. 

 Just wanted to check in over here. 

I have started a YouTube channel to go along with this blog! These are exciting times for Whoosh! As you can see we have also overhauled our logo.

Whoosh! Comics and Running Youtube Channel

Debut Video:

Please make sure to check us out over at YouTube and continue to check out this page as we will still be publishing written blogs as well!

I am starting a new blog series about the Star Wars TV shows discussing the positives and negatives of each! The first in this series will be out this Friday and discusses Clone Wars.