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.
