TNIAAM Comic Shop, Issue No. 4: Age of COVID

While we’ll all be watching the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team win the 2003 national title, obviously. But otherwise, there are still no sports this weekend or any other in the near future. If this sounds like the plot of Keeley’s post-apocalyptic fiction, it’s not — yet, anyway.

Despite no real Syracuse sports news, we’ve been talking plenty about Syracuse sports, but we’re also forced to expand our coverage area a bit. Since it ends up we have interests beyond Orange athletics, welcome to issue No. 4 of the TNIAAM Comic Shop, Age of COVID, where this thing is getting increasingly all-consuming.

Each week, we’ll each be highlighting a worthwhile comic book to read. And for the most part, we’ll be making sure these are all selections you can read on Marvel Unlimited (not a sponsor — but they could be!) or Comixology.

Andy

Captain America #1 — 2004 (by Ed Brubaker)

I re-watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier and wanted to read the original comic run that inspired the movie, and holy crap, this run does not disappoint. The Winter Soldier story kicks off in #8, rolls into Civil War, which leads directly to the Death of Captain America, and I won’t spoil the next few stories. Brubaker’s tone clearly inspired much of the modern Cap most are familiar with, and I love the relationships between Cap, Sam Wilson, and Bucky that should be a huge part of the latter two’s Disney+ series.

John

Silver Surfer: Black #4 — 2019 (by Donny Cates)

The Silver Surfer long had a tough go inside the offices of Marvel, nevermind hot and cold sales as the character’s footing wasn’t all that firmly established in 1966. This isn’t the first series to dive into the character’s past and future a bit more, but I love what Cates and Tradd Moore have done here both story-wise and visually (something also captured impressively by Felipe Sobreiro’s covers). Visuals are enthralling, trippy and bright. The story explores Norrin Radd’s internal conflicts about what he’s done and the birth of Galactus, while he faces off with Knull, the Symbiote God. This issue’s my favorite, but all five parts of the run are worth your time.

Steve

The Vision #1 — 2015 (by Tom King)

You want weird? We’ve got weird. This run is part of the basis for what you’ll see in the upcoming WandaVision, so there’s that. It’s also a really unique take on things in which Vision creates a family for himself, to live a “normal” life. It’s a great take on a character you’re all familiar with, and adds depth to the whole dynamic of Vision in general.