Sunday, May 3, 2015

Free Comic Book Day Offerings Part 1


 Free Comic Book Day 2015 Avengers #1 (Marvel, cover date June, 2015)

Affirmative Action Avengers assemble! Marvel has become the latest victim in a politically correct mad gone world, chasing focus group numbers and listening to the vocal minority, namely the “outrage culture” championed by the Social Justice Warrior. Their pandering has alienated many longtime fans. The question remains: Will this influx of new readers stick around long-term? Will the gamble pay off? The culture war rages on...

There was one Avengers team for over 20 years. Then we got the West Coast Avengers. A few years ago Marvel launched several Avengers titles, diluting what was once an honor into something meaningless. Marvel has also gone DC over the past decade, having multiple incarnations of every hero. Take this group of doppelgangers for example.

The story in and of itself wasn't horrible, but Marvel is too DC for my tastes anymore. Having multiple versions of every hero to try and appease every person dilutes the brand for me. The Affirmative Action Avengers will be dispensing social justice to an offended person near you!

There is an Inhumans story, as I guess that Marvel is hyping them up for a future film. Then there is a Max Ride: First Flight three page preview in the back. None of these things made me wretch, but then again none of them are going to make me part with one thin dime, either.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5. 


Hatter M: Love Of Wonder (Automatic Press, 2015)

Regurgitated public domain concept (Alice In Wonderland) meets a rebranding to score some “IP” for a hopeful film or television option. The writing and artwork were decent enough to hold my interest until I saw...this.


Sorry, but this writer sucks ass. If you use text speak or acronyms like this in actual writing then you blow.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 0.5 out of 5. 


Free Comic Book Day: Dark Circle Comics #1 (Archie, cover date June/July, 2015)

Archie Comics have been doing a bang-up job reinventing their brand and shaking things up. Once the squarest square that no self-respecting comic book fan would look at, they have done things to make people look seriously upon them for the first time in 40 years. Younger fans don't realize this, but Archie had a superhero line going back to their MLJ days in the 1940s into their Mighty Comics Group in the 1960s and a Horror line in the 1970s under their Red Circle imprint.

This is a split book introducing two reinvented characters, The Black Hood and The Fox. Both of these are terrific reads and I would even consider buying them. I know that I would be all over a collection of vintage material, especially 1940s Black Hood stuff. As it stands, these reinventions are well done and are worth a look.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.


Free Comic Book Day 2015 Secret Wars #0 (Marvel, cover date June, 2015)

Marvel has two FCBD offerings this year, this one for the reboot that's supposedly not a reboot (but we all know it'll be a reboot), Secret Wars. Marvel has crapped up their continuity so bad over the past decade that they have no choice but to burn it all down and start over. This is page after page of talking heads doing a long-winded explanation about what is going on, and is enough to make me keep my money in my wallet. There is also a reprint of a Manga Avengers crossover from Japan which is published in English for the first time. Manga sucks and so does this.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 2 out of 5.


Captain Canuck FCBD Edition #0 (Chapter House, cover date May, 2015)

I have heard of Captain Canuck but have never read anything with him in it. Everything is competently done but I won't be buying it. I have too many irons in the fire.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.


Neil Gaman's Lady Justice (Papercutz, cover date 2015)

I was reading this and enjoying it but couldn't get over the fact that this comic felt very throwback, almost too much so. This was confirmed on the inside cover (which I read afterward), as this was a reprint of a 20 year old comic by the defunct Tekno Comics and will be collected in a trade paperback.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

No comments:

Post a Comment