A Whimventure & This Week in Comics June 25, 2025
Sue celebrated her birthday and I had a chance to see an exhibit of comic art along the way.
Ever since out trip to Denmark last year we’ve been on a quest to hunt trolls. Thomas Dambo makes these amazing sculptures out of recycled materials and we’ve gone to look for them. The most recent was placed in a park in Milwaukee. Sue’s birthday was coming up and she said she wanted to go see it sometime as a birthday present. So we made a weekend out of it. Starting with an Exhibit of works by Alex Ross at the Dunn Museum in Lake County, Illinois. along the way. This weekend was the opening of the exhibit she I bought tickets to the reception.
Alex Ross Heroes & Villains
If you don’t know the work of Alex Ross, then you are missing the work of a master. Someone (obviously not a fan) asked me if Ross had created all the characters in the exhibit. No, but he did something amazing- he took the 2D line drawings the art that Roy Lichtenstein had copied in the 60’s and did what the renaissance painters did- gave it life. The flat drawing now looked like people you could meet on the street. I highly recommend reading Marvels or Kingdom Come (one if you like Marvel comics, the other if you are into DC) He also has done the covers for Astro City and many other comics. I had figured we would see it sometime, so going to the reception was a treat.
I highly recommend visiting if you are a comics fan. The majority of the works on display are from Marvel Comics, but there is a small section with DC heroes and two works made specifically for this exhibit, The Joker and Harley Quinn.
Troll Hunting and a Unique Breakfast
The next morning we got up early and headed north to find the newest Troll out in the wild (Mama Rosa). This is a wonderful new park in suburban Milwaukee. I guess a few of the residents aren’t happy about the traffic it has brought to their quiet little neighborhood, but seeing the park, it would be there with or without the Troll.
After the troll we headed out for breakfast before heading home. Sue’s birthday weekend, she picks the spot. She somehow found a unique little spot with a speakeasy vibe. We had been to Universal Exports in Milwaukee years ago, and this was just as cool. Don’s TV & Repair. I’m just happy that Sue knew the secret password. For her birthday Sue got a “Boozie Milkshake” and breakfast. I did the same (in moderation) knowing that I had a long drive home.
My Comics for the Week
Some were on my pull list some I pulled afterwards when I saw them, or realized that they were the last in the series and I’d had them removed too early. I did that once with the Death of Captain America 🙄. One of the advantages of dealing with the shops pull list.
New History of the DC Universe #1 Bought two variant covers even thought the A Cover was also really cool with a Darwin Cooke vibe. Frankly this comic had a number of amazing variants.
The Flash #22
Superman #27
Martian Manhunter #4
Minor Arcana #8
Doom Academy #5 (final)
Justice League Unlimited #8
Spider-Boy #20 (final) Spider-Man decided in the last issue to take away Bailey’s “sidekick privileges” How does Bailey deal with it? What about the future of Spider-Boy?
News from the Fallout #1
Ultimate Spider-Man #18 Bought the Terry Dodson 1:25 Variant because… I liked it.
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us # 4
Los Monstruos #2
The Mummy #4
Department of Truth #31
Absolute Wonder Woman # 9
Assorted Crisis Events #4
Huck Big Bad World #2
The Handful of Reviews
Including minor spoilers or at least some background for those who aren’t reading these title regularly. I’ve started to add the writer and artist to the description firstly because knowing who the creators are is important. Also, because like with music I’m really good at knowing what I like, but not necessarily knowing who made it. This little addition with keep hammering home to me the writers and artists I am reading. Many I do know, but some I just glance over and that isn’t right.
Justice League Unlimited #8 We are Yesterday Part 6 DC Comics W: Mark Waid A: Dan Mora The conclusion to “We are Yesterday” which looks like it may be leading to another reboot of the DC Timeline. Then again they are doing New History of the DC Universe comic.
The League has been split all over time and space thanks to Grodd’s powers and the assistance of a duped Air Wave. The fight is on and and the Justice League goes head to head with Grodd’s Legion of Doom. Air wave uses his newfound abilities to bring in versions of heroes from other timelines to help in the fight against Grodd. Who will pay the ultimate price? Will things start to reset?
Huck Big Bad World #2 Dark Horse W: Mark Millar A: Rafael Albuquerque A simple hero for a complex world. Huck just wants to help people. He has the power to find things that are missing. In this case it’s finding a super powered assassin and find out why he’s killing people. The best part about this comic is he’s just such a wonderfully nice guy. In this issue does he find the bad guy, does he stop him? Then again, we have to figure out this whole “Witch” thing now.
Los Monstruos #2 Dark Horse W: James Robinson A: Jesús Merino Former police officer thrown off the force and becomes a Private Eye… Sounds like a typical Noir story except this one takes place in a city inhabited by the classic monsters of film. Our hero, Perry Cutter, also happens to be a werewolf. His current case helps introduce us to the City of Los Monstruos and the caste of characters. He’s looking for a Vampiress named Yvonne Veil because some regular guy, fell in love with her decades ago and as he nears death wants to see her one more time. She seems to have made a few enemies (and friends) whether want to keep her hidden, or want her found. In this issue the case continues with Perry checking in on Ramses VI (a mummy- duh.) and a few of his informants which leads to a bit of a scuffle and a warning.
I’m a sucker for hard boiled detective stories so I’m happy that Mike pulled this one for me. James Robinson always does a great job of writing stories that honor the past and this is just another wonderful example.
News From the Fallout #1 Image Comics W: Chris Condon A: Jeffrey Alan Love I had heard a lot of buzz about this title so I decided to check it out. Being the first issue we are just trying to hook the reader into the world. Basically, Nuclear testing and something goes a bit wrong. Not only are the soldiers (guinea pigs) as to the effects of nuclear fallout, but they also have been put too close to ground zero. Our main character seems to have figured a few things out and Private Fallows actually takes a few precautions in order to hopefully save himself. Of course chaos ensues after the detonation and we now get to see what might happen to the world.
The thing right now is the story itself is falling into the predictable evil military leadership sacrificing the troops and things don’t go as planned. That’s understandable in a first issue. The thing that is cool right now is the artwork. The gritty black and white helps put you into the time period and the story… now to find out what happens next and is this going to be more than a pretty zombies take over the world kind of story.
Ultimate Spider-Man #18 Marvel Comics W: Jonathan Hickman A: Marco Checchetto The new Ultimate Universe titles with the countdown until the return of the Maker have been interesting. One thing that is kind of cool has been the spacing between issues. Each issue takes place in the month in which it is published. So the reader has to fill in the blanks. When Peter and Harry were kidnapped by Kraven, months passed as they worked their way towards escape. Now we have Peter returning to New York to take on the King Pin with young love throwing a wrench into the works… What is going to happen in the next 30 days that with make this an even more challenging situation for Spider-Man?
Happy birthday to Sue!! That milkshake looks AMAZING! We will be skirting through WI in August (hoping to catch a troll or two ourselves!), but not near MKE. I'll definitely keep it on the list for a future visit.