Review- FCBD Offerings Part 2

And Then Emily Was Gone #0: FCBD Special (Comix Tribe, cover date, 2015)

I went to 8 stores on Free Comic Book Day this year so that I could get as many different comics as possible. I was pleasantly surprised by And Then Emily Was Gone, as it has a weird overall tone, both in writing and artwork. The Oxymoron back-up story was also very enjoyable. Who knows, maybe I will pick up one of their books after all.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

2000 AD Free Comic Book Day Prog 2015 (2000 AD, cover date 2015)

A smorgasboard of past, present, and future 2000 AD properties, the one that stood out for me was Judge Dredd. Nothing else really grabbed me but everything was certainly readable. I was pleased to see the announcement that there will be a second Daily Dredds hardcover collecting more of the UK Judge Dredd strip.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

Free Comic Book Day: The Phantom (Hermes Press, cover date 2015)

Predating Superman and every other masked hero that you know of, “The Ghost That Who Walks” is one of those characters that I was interested in but not enough to buy a hardcover of blind. Enter this sampler from Hermes Press, reprinting several short stories from the middle era (1960s-1970s) of the character, including a story with artwork by the godlike Jim Aparo. I will try to resist hunting down this line of books, as several are out of print and expensive.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Terrible Lizard #1: Free Comic Book Day Edition (Oni Press, cover date May, 2015)

Huh. Well how about that? Cullen Bunn isn't the first name that springs to mind when thinking of light-hearted, fun, all-ages comics, but I'll be darned if this isn't a slick comic that I am not afraid to share with my kids. It's a story about a 14 year old girl whose father does some dimensional breach bit and brings back a dinosaur of some kind who bonds/imprints with the girl. Good stuff.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

Jurassic Strike Force 5 Free Comic Book Day One-Shot (Silver Dragon/ Zenescope, cover date May, 2015)

Hot on the heels of Terrible Lizard comes this offering from Zenescope's non-cheesecake all-ages imprint, Silver Dragon. This is a hybrid of a number of different concepts that isn't anything particularly fresh, nor is it particularly bad. It's readable enough although I don't think that I would pay for it. My 8 year old son enjoyed it quite a bit.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

Tales Of Honor Volume Two #0 (Top Cow/ Image, cover date May, 2015)

I can take or leave outer space stuff that isn't Star Wars or Star Trek, and Tales Of Honor is no different. While it's a solid and polished concept with decent artwork I don't care enough to spend any money on it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Review- Free Comic Book Day 2014 offerings, Episode III

Free Comic Book Day 2014 offerings, Episode III

Epic #0 Pilot- Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Comix Tribe, cover date 2014)

I always try to consider the mythical “new kid” who might pick up comics and be turned off by inbred, self referencing fanboy pandering. Then again, are there really any new readers these days?

While some of the jokes seemed adolescent, the writing and artwork are decent enough that I would be willing to read more if someone gave it to me to review.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

Free Comic Book Day: 2000 AD (2000 AD, cover date 2014)

2000 AD is a weekly UK anthology magazine, and this FCBD issue is more of a greatest hits affair with a smattering of new material thrown in.

You get a brand new Judge Dredd story, a classic Slaine story, an early Rogue Trooper* story, a vintage Anderson, Psi-Division tale, two more reprints, two more original stories, and a few classic Judge Dredd newspaper strips. I recently tracked down the old Judge Dredd strips UK hardcover, and was dismayed/delighted to learn from them on Twitter that 2000 AD is going to issuing the complete run in hardcover later this year! Watch your local solicits, kiddies.

*I am knee deep into Rogue Trooper: Tales Of Nu-Earth Vol. 1 trade paperback and am loving it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

Skyward/ Midnight Tiger- FCBD 2014 (Action Lab, cover date 2014)

All ages friendly it's not, but this is some decent stuff. The artwork reminds me of Todd Nauck for some reason. I would consider buying a trade paperback of Midnight Tiger, as it was a lot of fun.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.25 out of 5.

Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe #0 (IDW, cover date May, 2014)

I am almost 41, which means that I was the prime age for both of these concepts in the 1980s. I had a bunch of G.I. Joe toys and a handful of Transformers (as well as their precursors,The Gobots), watched the cartoons after school, and bought the comic books. I knew these properties inside out as a kid, both their comic book and nearly identical animated counterparts. I have tried reading modern stuff, both the Dreamwave and Devil's Due's take, and found them lacking. I am content with my Marvel nostalgia, and own complete runs in trade paperbacks as well as many of the original comics.

This was complete crap. It flew in the face of established continuity while trying to show the early days of both properties. When you can't create, you ret-con or reboot. It's a lame copout. Worse still is the crappy faux-vintage look to the color and paper. I had heard that IDW had done some great things with these properties. Judging by this comic book, this is patently false.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 0 out of 5.

Uber FCBD 2014 (Avatar Press, cover date February, 2014)

Wow, talk about a wasted opportunity. I am a fan of pretty much anything that Avatar Press puts out, and I was looking forward to dipping my toe into this title. Instead of an appetizer we get a boring, text heavy summary of sorts that I honestly couldn't be bothered to read. Am I intrigued by this title or concept? I couldn't tell you, since this was too boring a read for me to get past the first page.

Junk Food For Thought rating: N/A out of 5.

Anti/ Ride: FCBD Edition #0 flip book (12-Gauge, cover date May, 2012)

Dealers turn leftover stock into the ghost of Free Comic Book Day past. I went to seven shops this year, so I grabbed anything that I hadn't grabbed before. Anti is mediocre while Ride is interesting if disturbing. I wouldn't buy these but would review them if someone gave me free trades. I refuse to review digital comics, even though I get PDFs and download links all the time.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

Reviews- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Second

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 offerings Part the Second

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

Ramayan 3392 AD FCBD Special (Graphic India, cover date 2013)

Writer: Various

Artist: Various

Colorist: Various

This jumps all over the place, bordering on being unreadable. Pass.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 0.75 out of 5.

Chakra The Invincible FCBD Special (Graphic India, cover date 2013)

Writers: Stan Lee, Aswin Pande, and Jeevan Kang

Artist: Jeevan Kang

Stan Lee is, without question, on the Mount Rushmore of comic book creators. God bless him for still being out there trying new things, especially when you consider his age and the fact that he's loaded and doesn't have to work. He has repeated his formula one time too many, though. This is basically his attempt at creating a superhero for India. It's decent enough but pretty forgettable.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5. 

FCBD 2013: Infinity No. 1 (Marvel, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Jonathan Hickman, Scott Edelman (LR back-up story), and Warren Ellis (A: EW)

Artists: Jim Cheung (Penciler) and Mark Morales (Inker), Mike Zeck (LR back-up story), and Mike McKone (A: EW)

Colorists: Justin Ponsor and Jason Keith (A: EW)

This is a prelude to Marvel's upcoming Infinity mini-series, which will help catapult Thanos back dead center in the Marvel Universe in anticipation of the Guardians of the Galaxy and/or Avengers 2 movies. Everything is slick and familiar looking for those who wandered in off the street. If someone had only seen the films and never read a comic book then they would get this.

The Thanos back-up story is reprinted from Logan's Run No. 6 from 1977 was a quarter box find of mine circa 1983. It was my first exposure to Thanos and Drax the Destroyer. I had no idea until much later that they were tied into the Marvel Universe.

There is also a four page preview of the forthcoming Avengers: Endless Wartime hardcover original graphic novel. As the Marvel Universe becomes more intertwined with the Marvel movie Universe, I expect the film versions to become the dominant interpretations of the characters, for better or worse. I doubt that this book will suck, though. It's Warren Ellis and Mike McKone, for chrissakes!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5. 

Buck Rogers In The 25^th Century A.D. (Hermes Press, cover date 2013)

Writer: Phillip Nowlan

Artists: Richard Calkins

This a sampler of the Buck Rogers strip books that Hermes Press has been releasing. There are three “arcs” collected here. Two full color Sunday strips arcs which were originally printed in 1936 and 1937. I found these to be a tough read, nowhere near the quality of Flash Gordon. They were fascinating from a strictly historical viewpoint. I will not be buying these in hardcover.

There is also the original black and white dailies which ran from the premiere on January 7, 1929, and the six following strips. Buck Rogers did not journey into space, but instead fell into an abandoned Pittsburgh mine, where a strange chemical preserved him in suspended animation for 500 years. These dailies were far more entertaining if offensive to modern sensibilities. The Mongols are evil and have taken over the world!

There are images of the memorabilia of the 30s-50s throughout the back, which are equally fascinating.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5. 

The Red Ten: FCBD 2013 No. 0 (Comix Tribe, cover date 2013)

Writer: Tyler James

Artists: Tyler James (Penciler), Vic Moya (Inker), and others.

Colorists: Vasen Sorbal and others.

This is pretty derivative. The Alliance are basically The Avengers, and their nemesis, Oxymoron, is essentially the Joker. I am guessing that this will be a comic book riff on Ten Little Indians, judging by the text introduction which apes that poem, and the fact that there are ten members of the team. This is also billed as a ten issue murder mystery.

This was enjoyable enough, and some of the creators involved are decent enough that with some work they could possibly produce some good stuff. Time will tell.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.75 out of 5. 

Bleeding Cool: FCBD and Beyond (Avatar Press, cover date May, 2013)

Writer: Rich Johnston and others

For those of you who don't know, Bleeding Cool is like the CNN of nerd culture. Up to the nanosecond updates, rumors, gossip, and everything else to do with comic books, movie, and television series related to the medium. They launched the bi-monthly magazine last year, and it fills a much-needed vacuum since Comics Buyers Guide unfortunately closed it's doors earlier this year. I still enjoy print magazines since I have an aversion to reading electronic devices on the toilet.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

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