Reviews- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Third

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Third

Note: Free Comic Book Day will be referred to as FCBD from here on out in these reviews.

Absolution: The Beginning FCBD (Avatar Press, cover date March, 2013)

Writer: Christos Gage

Artists: Roberto Viacava and Daniel Gete

Colorist: Digikore Studios

In the world of this series, superheroes are fully sanctioned law enforcement officers. John Dusk is one such superhero who crosses the line. Fed up with a system that cannot adequately deal with the costumed lunatics that he tangles with, he takes the law into his own hands and goes on a super villain killing spree.

This collects snippets of the first series (which is available as a hardcover and trade paperback. Must...resist...urge...to buy...) as well as a sneak preview of the follow-up mini-series, arriving this summer.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5. 

Ghostbusters: Times Scare! (IDW, cover date October, 2012)

Writer: Brian Lynch

Artists: Marcelo Muller

Colorist: Edmilson Alex

One of the benefits of turning FCBD into a comic-shop-hopping orgy of free swag is that I get everything that I wanted, and many things that I really don't. Several of the shops that I went to here in metro Detroit put out old FCBD stuff, freebies, unsold old stock, and, in the case of this issue, the free Halloween issue from last year.

I was never a huge Ghostbusters fan growing up. I recall the cereal from the '80s being delicious, though. Loved those ghost shaped marshmallows. This comic is polished and well done for what it is, but it's not my cup of tea. My son really enjoyed it, so there you have it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 

Damsels: Mermaids No. 0 (Dynamite, cover date 2013)

Writer: Matt Sturges

Artists: Jean-Paul Deshong

Colorist: Ivan Nunes

I looked at the cover of this and the first thing that popped in my head was Fanboy spank book. Pass. Until I hit my fifth or sixth shop and began to run out things that I actually wanted to read. Then I grabbed this, and I've got to tell you something; I'm so glad that I did. This was really enjoyable and well done from top to bottom. It's a bit more whimsical and lighthearted than I figured it would be. Judging the book by it's cover, I thought that it would be lame adolescent cheesecake pin-up type drawings, but it's actually all ages fantasy done right.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5. 

Valiant Masters: 2013 Showcase Edition No. 1 (Valiant, cover date May, 2013)

Writers: Mark Moretti, Faye Perozich, Jim Shooter, Barry Windsor-Smith, and David Michelinie.

Artists: Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, David Lapham, Tom Ryder, Barry Windsor-Smith, Kathryn Bollinger, Joe St. Pierre, and Charles Barnett III.

Colorists: John Cebollero, Jorge Gonzalez, Mike Cavallaro, and Jade.

This is a sampler of the Valiant Masters Series, a line of hardcovers which collect the early issues from the original incarnation of Valiant Comics. I had honestly never read a single Valiant comic book before, since I was on sabbatical from the hobby during the '90s. I was impressed by the balance of veteran creators exiled from Marvel and DC and then-unknown writers and artists. Some of them, such as Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, went on to great success.

This book is split into four snippets: Ninjak, Shadowman, Eternal Warrior, and Rai. While they are all painfully dated '90s stories I enjoyed them well enough. Not enough to go out and buy yet another line of high end hardcovers or even sample any of the relaunched series, mind you, but enjoyable enough.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

Kellermen/ L'Amour No. 0 (Bantam/ Random House, cover date 2013)

Writers: Louis L'Amour andJonathan Kellerman, adapted by Charles Santino, Beau L'Amour, Katherine Nolan, and Ande Parks.

Artists: Thomas Yeates and Michael Gaydos

This two-fer offers previews of two forthcoming graphic novel adaptations of works by Louis L'Amour and Jonathan Kellerman, Law of the Desert Born and The Web. Both samples are excellent and I will be picking up both books when they are released.

Offering a sample of these original graphic novels via a FCBD offering is genius. What is not genius is that the release dates for these books, according to Amazon, is December and January, respectively. While I keep a detailed release date file and will look into these books closer to that time, many fans who may have picked this up will have likely forgotten them. If they were released within a month or so after FCBD it would have been more effective. I don't know, I'm not a marketing genius, maybe I'm wrong.

Either way, I'm in.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5. 

Worlds of Aspen 2013 No. 1 (Aspen, cover date May, 2013)

Writers: Vince Hernandez

Artists: Alex Konat and Mark Roslan

Colorists: Beth Sotelo

I admire any artist that follows their dreams and tries to create art. Having said that, some stuff is just derivative crap. Like this.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 0.5 out of 5.

I will have many more FCBD reviews over the next week or so. I spent that entire day hitting various comic shops in the Detroit area.