Review- Free Comic Book Day Review Part One

Free Comic Book Day Review Part One

I have been lackadaisical in my reviews lately and did not do a Free Comic Book Day overview this year. Rather than do one at this late date, I'm just going to list two stores with each batch of Free Comic Book Day comic reviews. Please note that the comics reviewed here did not necessarily come from the shop listed in this review, nor does the shop endorse these reviews.

Not all of the comics that I'll be reviewing over the three parts of my Free Comic Book Day reviews will be FCBD editions. Some are singles that I paid for on FCBD while others were offered for free as part of the FCBD festivities.

The first shop that I hit this year was Detroit Comics in Ferndale, MI. Detroit Comics has recently celebrated ten years in business. Brian and crew are a friendly bunch so stop in and hello.

Resurrxion Free Spotlight #1 (Marvel, cover date May, 2017)

This is a fat 52 pager with previews of 11 different X-Men titles which have been relaunched as part of Marvel's supposedly new fan friendly line. Excuse me, eleven titles is new fan friendly? Come on Marvel. This is ridiculous. Some of these ideas were interesting in a way, but eleven titles? What kid can afford this? Hell, what adult can afford eleven titles for one line of comics? Ridiculous.

Secret Empire Free Previews Spotlight #1 (Marvel, cover date June, 2017)

I have come to the conclusion that I have outgrown modern Marvel Comics. My son really enjoys whatever new comics he reads by them. Maybe I am too old and jaded and have seen it all too many times before. Any way you slice it, the writing and artwork no longer resonate with me so I won't be buying them. There is nothing in this comic that makes me want to throw money at it. I will stick with old Marvel Comics and leave the new Marvel Age of Comics to my son.

Miserable Americans #4 (Independently published by artist Evan Derian, copyright 2016)

Coming in at issue 4 of a series is like walking in late to a movie. Locally produced and published here in Detroit, Miserable Americans is a series about the clones of President John F. Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln who are on the run from some secret organization that is trying to kill them for reasons that are as yet unknown. It was intelligently written (two or three typos aside) and there is so much story and characterization crammed into this issue that I am intrigued enough to read more.

2000 AD Free Comic Book Day Prog 2017 (2000 AD, cover date 2017)

2000 AD is celebrating it's fortieth anniversary this year, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. This year's FCDB sampler starts out with a story by a character who goes all the way back to the beginning of the series, debuting in #2. Judge Dredd leads the charge in a story that is a sequel to one of the stories that I've recently read in one of The Complete Case Files phonebooks. Blackblood is one of those early '90s British feeling comics, heavy on the robotics and light on humor. Hope has the potential to be an interesting read. Judge Anderson doesn't interest me at all, while Dreams Of Deadworld shows what happens in Judge Death's dimension, where life is a crime and the sentence is death. This is an interesting strip that I would be willing to read more of.

The second shop that we hit this year was Time Travelers in Berkley, MI. Time Travelers is a well stocked shop, although I swear some of those toys have been in those glass cases since the first time I walked in there roughly 25 years ago. They have an ample selection of everything: comics, toys from all eras, video games, cards, and more.

The Incal: Free Comic Book Day (Humanoids, cover date 2017)

Humanoids (the US branch of Les Humanoides Associes) offers English language translations of European comics. The first 26 pages of the book, the first published in the Jodoverse line of Humanoids books, are presented in this FCBD edition. I read and loved Metabarons as well as Technopriests, but this left me cold. It's interesting in a “this is how it all began” sort of way but that's about it. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

Star Trek: The Next Generation- Mirror Broken #0 (IDW, cover date May, 2017)

In the original Star Trek television series they had that parallel universe where everything was the opposite of ours. Spock was evil, and since goatees are evil, evil Spock had one. So on and so forth. The Next Generation may or may not have had such an episode as well. I haven't watched an episode since it originally aired in the '80s.

This was an absolutely fantastic read. The writing and artwork are flawless and it reads and feels like an episode of the television series.

Afterlife With Archie- Halloween ComicFest Edition #1 (Archie, cover date 2014)

I borrowed the first trade from the library and found it to be unreadable. I could barely make it through an issue. This version is printed in “black and white” (really grayscale and black) and I enjoyed it well enough to want to read more...just not in color.

Doctor Who: Free Comic Book Day 2017 #1 (Titan, cover date June, 2017)

I know next to nothing about Doctor Who but enjoyed this comic. It's slick and polished stuff. I can't say how well it relates to the source material, nor do I care. 

Review- THE SHIELD: AMERICA'S FIRST PATRIOTIC COMIC BOOK HERO

THE SHIELD: AMERICA'S FIRST PATRIOTIC COMIC BOOK HERO (Red Circle/ Archie, First Printing, 2002; Softcover)

Collects The Shield stories from Pep Comics #1-5 and Shield-Wizard Comics #1 (cover dates January- Summer, 1940)

Writer: Harry Shorten

Artist: Irv Novick

More than a year before that other star-spangled superhero made the scene, The Shield was cracking Nazi skulls and defending liberty from fascists. While the novelty of reading old, obscure, expensive comics has worn off here in the second decade of the Golden Age Of Collected Editions, The Shield remains an entertaining and at times compelling read.

On a purely historical level the character is fascinating. Joe Higgins is a chemist who finishes a secret formula from a fellow chemist who was slain by a Nazi saboteur, using it on himself to fight for America. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? He becomes a G-Man and fights Nazi looking and acting sorts as well as the “Mosconians”, who do a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in a story cover dated May, 1940. I am not sure how many months in advance of the cover dates Golden Age comics were sold, but this story was published more than eighteen months in advance of that attack. I enjoyed another MLJ hero, The Wizard, who had a brief guest appearance here in this story.

The Shield's costume design was ripped off by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who based Captain America's original shield on it. MLJ (later called Archie Comics) complained and Timely quickly changed Captain America's shield to the iconic Frisbee shaped flag shield.

The stories are above what Timely was doing at this time in terms of quality but a notch below what DC was doing. The Shield does the usual displays of strength and power which were so new to readers of the day. I love the absolute black and white, good versus evil of old comic books. It is a refreshing escape from comic books of today where everything is supposedly so sophisticated. Sometimes it is cool to just see a good guy beat the crap out of bad guys and save the day. All of the stories were equally enjoyable and were well written and drawn. Irv Novick was a comic artist for decades after this, with a career running into the 1990s.

This was a fun read that obviously didn't sell well enough to warrant further volumes, which is a shame because the strip ran until 1948. It would be cool if Archie would revisit it or farm out a series of hardcover Archives to Dark Horse.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I like how the book is as wide as the original comic books. Golden Age comics were wider than comics have been for the last 60 years.

I dislike how there are no creator credits in the Table of Contents.

Linework and Color restoration: The linework looks surprisingly good. I compared this book to many scans I found online and everything looks tight. The original color palette is faithfully maintained, although some of the color blends have a harsh gradient to them not found in the original comic books. Still, this is a top notch restoration job for 2002 and it looks very good even today. I can live with it.

The covers look awful, though. They are scans with no restoration, and look like they were either sourced from microfiche or were low resolution scans of the original comics. Color microfiche was rare but it cannot be ruled out here.

Paper stock: Thick uncoated stock with zero sheen under any light source.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback. It should be noted that there was nary a creak in the binding, and this book is fourteen years old no less. Solid.

Cardstock cover notes: Very thick laminated cardstock.

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.

Review- Madhouse #95-97

Madhouse #95-97 (Red Circle Productions/ Fawcett/ Archie Comics, cover dates September, 1974- January, 1975)

Writers: Don Glut, Marv Channing, John Jacobson, Bruce Jones, Frank X Doyle, Stan Goldberg, and Ralph Alphonso

Artists: Vicente Alcazar, Doug Wildey, Carlos Pino, Jesse Santos, Sal Amendola, Bruce Jones, Frank Thorne, Gray Morrow, and Al McWilliams

A pox upon you, Facebook comic book groups! Folks post covers to issues, and last Hallowe'en a friend of mine posted the cover to #97 (the one on the bottom). I took to ComicBookDB and then to eBay, patiently bidding on copies within a predetermined price range. It took me 9 months but I obtained all three for under $20.00. I have also quit all of those groups to avoid further temptation. I saved these comics for my Hallowe'en sabbatical (I took the whole week off) and tore through them. I love the Bronze Age of comics, and these are about as good as what DC was doing at the time in House Of Mystery and their other assorted titles. The series starts out strong with #95 but each issues gets a little weaker, with the series morphing back into a humor title with #98.

This would make a pretty cool collected edition. All three issues total 74 pages of content including covers and text story pages, a bit thin for a trade paperback. Red Circle, which was Archie's Horror/ Sci-Fi/ superhero imprint, also published other Horror comics during this time period: Chilling Adventures In Sorcery #3-5, and Red Circle Sorcery #6-11. Given Archie's runaway success with Afterlife With Archie and now Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, maybe it is time for Archie to revisit this material with two trade paperbacks or one deluxe hardcover. You could compile these issues with Chilling Adventures In Sorcery #3-5 in one and then do Red Circle Sorcery #6-11 in the other for softcovers or all of them in one deluxe Archive-style hardcover. There are many notable creators who worked on these issues and it would go over pretty well, methinks.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.