Free
Comic Book Day Review Part Two
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 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.
 |
| My hatchlings. |
In
part two of three of my overview and review of this year's FCBD
festivities, I'll go over the next two stores that we hit on our
journey across two counties as well as review for another eight comic
books.
Warp
9 Comics in Clawson, MI had a huge line wrapped around the
building even though they had been open an hour by the time that we
arrived. They once again offered their incredible ten free comics per
person. There was a guy in a Spider-Man costume who actually knew
some character history. He was friendly and my kids loved him. I told
him that he hasn't gained a pound since I met him (along with the
Hulk and Firestar) at Wonderland Mall in Livonia, MI in October of
1983.
Free
Comic Book Day 2017- Secret Empire #1 (Marvel, cover
date, July, 2017)
My
son is ten and thinks that all of these comics are great, whereas my
vibe on Secret Empire is that it is lame. Maybe I am an old
dinosaur, or maybe this just plain ol' sucks. You can't even tell
what this so-called event is supposed to even be about judging by
this preview alone. The sneak preview of Peter Parker: The
Spectacular Spider-Man is good and I can see me picking it
up...for free from my local library. Everything is slick and
professional but I can't buy everything. Lord knows I've tried.
Wonder
Woman #1: Free Comic Book Day 2017 Special
Edition (DC, cover date May, 2017)
Christ
on a stick, how many times is DC going to retell and reinterpret
Wonder Woman's origin??? Each time there are elements which
contradict all previous versions. This time out it also flies in the
face of the origin that civilians who only know the new movie
continuity would understand to be true. Not syncing up your stuff
across all platforms seems inefficient as well as a wasted
opportunity.
This
wasn't a bad read by any stretch, but endless reboots and retellings
only muddies the water. This reprints #2 of the 2016 DC Universe
Rebirth relaunch of the title. As a comic it reads well enough, but
the point of these FCBD titles is to lure in new readers. On that
count it might not work.
Free
Comic Book Day 2017: All-New Guardians Of The Galaxy #1
(Marvel, cover date, July, 2017)
Not
a huge GOTG fan but this was fun and reads close enough to the
characters as the mainstream moviegoers and kids know and love them.
It's not for me but it does what it's supposed to do. My son loved
it.
And
then the train goes right off of the rails and into the ravine with
the wretched Brian Michael Bendis' Defenders, which has been
rebooted for the thousandth time. It's your usual steaming pile of
Bendis, and, like the rest of his work, stinks to high heaven. Go
away, Bendis. Nobody likes you and you couldn't write a coherent
superhero comic book to save your life.
Steam
Wars: Strike Leader FCBD Edition (Antarctic Press, cover date
April, 2017)
Next
we have this...this...I don't know what this even supposed to be.
Loving homage to Star Wars filtered through steam punk and
WWII sensibilities? Calculated but poorly executed “IP” done in
hopes to get “optioned”? Derivative, inbred drivel done only to
kill trees and hopefully make some money? I suspect it's a bit of all
three. The only purpose this comic serves is a recycle bin liner or
to be used to prop up comics that are actually good in your boxes,
protecting the ones by the finger holes in your boxes by taking the
brunt of the wear.
The
fourth out of the five shops that I hit this year on FCBD was Green
Brain Comics in Dearborn, MI. I got there a bit late, as we
stopped off for lunch with friends and it wound up taking a while.
Green Brain has now expanded across the entire store. Dan and Katie
are like the Captain and Tennille of comic shop owners, so stop in
and say hi.
FCBD
2017 Catalyst Prime: The Event (Lion Forge, cover date, 2017)
This
was well done on all levels (writing, art, and color) and has a solid
concept that is intriguing enough. It is certainly worth a read.
Attack
On Titan (Kodansha Comics, cover date, 2017)
I'm
not the world's biggest Manga fan, but this was good stuff with an
interesting message. It's probably worth a read if your library has
it or if you are into Manga.
Free
Comic Book Day 2017: The Looking Glass Wars- Crossfire
(Automatic Pictures, 2017)
Wow.
There are comic companies who over promote, and then there's this
one. So modest are the publishers of this comic that not only is
there no indicia indicating copyright or cover date, there is no
name of the publisher found anywhere in the entire comic book. It
wasn't very good, so maybe the publisher didn't want to sign it's
name to it.
Malika-
Warrior Queen: Chapter One (Youne3k Studios, cover date,
2017)
Polished
and professional stuff. Production values on par with any of the
larger publishers. I can see school age kids buying graphic novels of
this at those Scholastic Book Fairs if they could get this book in
front of them. It's good, but it's not my cup of tea.
