Review- Free Comic Book Day Offerings Part Four

Free Comic Book Day Offerings Part Four

Fantastic Four #600 (Marvel, cover date January, 2012)

I love it when stores give away dead stock to bolster their Free Comic Book Day selection. I never bothered reading Hickman's run on this title, as I simply have too many irons in the fire when it comes to comic books. I can neither afford to buy, nor do I have the time to read, everything that is being published today.

I thought that this was excellent, a solid and entertaining read that I unfortunately missed as it came out. I am a sucker for Annihilus and the Supreme Intelligence, and while killing and resurrecting superheroes like the Human Torch is lame it was handled very well here.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

Superman Unchained #1 (DC, cover date August, 2013)

Another FCBD dead stock giveaway. Scott Snyder is a decent writer but I was never much of a Jim Lee fan. I found the foldout poster to be super annoying, since it was glued to a piece of cardstock and you had to remove it in order to read a part of the story, as both sides of the poster were a part of the story. Interesting gimmick but I ended up bending the page trying to remove it. The story is readable but I won't be going any further with it. Besides, it doesn't matter anymore, since this was The New 52 and we are now living in a post-New 52 society. Continuity has never been the Distinguished Competition's strongest point, and this most recent reboot, while attempting to streamline and set things right, will undoubtedly also go off of the rails.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (Yen/ Hachette, 2013)

More deadstock dumped off on FCBD, this one is from the 2013 Halloween ComicFest, which is like a junior Free Comic Book Day. The hook of this is enough to make me want to read more. I put in a hold for the book at my local library and look forward to reading it.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

This is the only true cover image on the Internet. I searched everywhere and even comicbookdb and the publisher's website has an incorrect image, so I scanned this myself. 

Spectrum #0 (Automatic Publishing, cover date 2016)

I had never heard of Automatic Publishing prior to this comic book. They offer a slick if familiar feeling title about alien invasions and sparkly princess types. There is a generational divide in comics right now that is different than any one that came before. The artwork in this comic will appeal to the younger generation of comic fans. This is readable but is ultimately not my cup of tea.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Bongo Comics Free-For-All! 2016 (Bongo, cover sate 2016)

I was a huge fan of The Simpsons going all the way back to when they were on The Tracy Ullman Show. In the prehistoric days of VCRs I used to record each week's episode and watch it with my friends repeatedly, up until the fall of 1995 when the Who Shot Mr. Burns episode signaled a steep decline in quality. I have tried watching it since then but the series has never grabbed me like it once did. I did enjoy the movie and the ride at Universal Studios though.

This comic book is a fantastic read. The art is polished and drawn to model, looking like stills from the animated series. The main story is a joyful stab at the gluten crowd, with a pair of robbers known as Glutenus Maximus and his sidekick Gluten Tag. They employ all manner of baked goods to commit crimes with. It's silly but it works and made me chuckle, ditto the back-up features. I may have to give these comics a second look at some point if they are all of this high of quality.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Free Comic Book Day: Howard Lovecraft And The Frozen Kingdom (Arcana, no cover date or copyright, 2016)

Arcana generally does interesting stuff, and this follows suit. This is an attempt to make H.P. Lovecraft and Chthulu family fare, and I give it kudos for the subversive factor alone. It's basically a sneak preview of the forthcoming adaptation of the graphic novel and reads well enough. The other story featured here is The Unknowns, which Stan Lee has attached his name to. I wonder what his actual involvement in the creation of this is, as it is lame.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.5 out of 5. 

Review- FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2014 offerings, Episode I

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2014 offerings, Episode I

I get emails with links to review PDFs all the time, but to be honest with you, if it is not a dead tree edition I will likely not review it. I have read a few comics on my computer but nothing compares to holding a comic in my hand and reading it. It is one of life's simpler pleasures. I don't own a tablet and have no desire to read comics on my phone. In short, if someone wants me to review something for them, give me a physical copy...like publishers do on Free Comic Book Day every single year!

Mouse Guard, Labrynth And Other Stories: A Free Comic Book Day 2014 Hardcover Anthology (Archaia, cover date May, 2014)

The winner for the fanciest Free Comic Book Day offering once again goes to Archaia with their beautiful hardcover with sewn binding (Smyth sewn binding with 5 stitches per signature for you OCD types out there). This features samplings of six different Archaia titles: Mouse Guard, Rust, Labrinyth, Bolivar, Will O' The Wisp, and Farscape. My wife and kids enjoyed them all, especially Mouse Guard. She has talked about dipping her toe into the collected editions of that title. These titles were all tolerable to me but I won't be picking any of them up.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.75 out of 5.

Red Giant Entertainment Free Comic Book Day four pack (Red Giant Entertainment, cover date May, 2014)

The winner for the most bang for your FCBD buck goes to Red Giant. I thought that this comic which was shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardboard maybe had explicit content or something, but once I set out to crack it open I soon realized the truth: It had four split/flip comic books in it! So you get introduced to eight new titles all for the same low low price.

Giant-Size Action #0 features Tesla on one side and Wayward Sons on the other. Tesla features the heroic exploits of Nikolai Tesla. While well done, it was not my cup of tea. Wayward Sons is highly entertaining and might bear further investigation when the eventual collected edition is released.

Giant-Size Adventure #0 features The First Daughter on one side and Magika on the other. The First Daughter is comic book amateur hour and a complete waste of time. Magika has that highly polished, all ages, aimed at Scholastic Book Fair “graphic novel” vibe to it. Go where the cash is, I suppose. It's not horrible but it's not something that I would ever pay for.

Giant-Size Fantasy #0 features Pandora's Blogs on one side and Duel Identity on the other. Both of these are well written and well drawn ready for prime time concepts.

Giant-Size Thrills #0 features Darchon on one side and Shadow Children on the other. Darchon is the winner out of all eight of these concepts. A marriage of Doctor Strange, Doctor Spektor, Nightmask, and The Phantom Stranger, this has stuck with me a week or so after I read it. I will definitely pick up a trade paperback of this if it ever surfaces. Shadow Children has that all ages vibe and, like most of these Red Giant concepts presented here, has good production values.

I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of this line of comics. Now I have one, possibly two more books to pick up in the future. Dear publishers: Stop making appealing new comic books! You are killing me (and my wallet)!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The Intrinsic: Singularity Zero Free Comic Book Day (Arcana, cover date 2014)

Hey, it's The X-Men featuring Hellboy! Fail.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 1 out of 5.

Free Comic Book Day 2014: Sherwood, Texas & Boondock Saints (12-Gauge Comics, cover date May, 2014)

Another split book. Sherwood, TX was forgettable while Boondock Saints was enjoyable enough that I might check out a trade paperback if one ever surfaces.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Ipso Facto Free Comic Book Day Issue One (Automatic Press, cover date 2014)

Interesting well polished and entertaining stuff.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

Fubar Free Comic Book Day MMXIV (Fubar Press, 2014)

This comic features two comics: The Ace Of Spades by Chuck Dixon and Zero Dead Thirty. While mildly entertaining and most certainly readable, there is nothing here that would make me buy either one of these black and white zombie mash-ups. Quite frankly, all of these zombie themes are getting tired.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 2.75 out of 5.

I will have plenty more FBCD reviews in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned!

Review- BECOMING

BECOMING (Arcana, 2012; Softcover)

Original Graphic Novel

Writer: Brooke Burgess

Artist: Dane Cypel

Wow, this is some fucked up shit. Remember when you were 23 or 24 years old and thought that you had all of the answers to life? How the world was so simple and stupid but you knew how to fix it? An overly proud young man tries to challenge his college professor, Dr. Magus, and show him how much smarter he is than him. This leads to a game with unwanted consequences for our young antagonist, Mr. Price (I can't recall his first name ever being used). Sorry to be so vague, but if I go any further into the story I will spoil it for you. 

This story relies more on tension than gore, and it succeeds. The writing, artwork, and coloring are all top notch. The story has a sense of sophistication without pretense, which is refreshing since they usually go hand and hand. If you are a fan of Horror comic books then you can't go wrong with Becoming.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The gutters are tight on this book, with some of the word balloons sucked into them.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Crazy thick coated stock paper. I like it. It has a bizarre texture to it, almost like a parchment or something due to the way that the coating is applied. I believe that this was an artistic choice since The Evil Tree, which was printed around the same time, has a completely different grade and texture of paper.

Binding rating: 3 out of 5. Glued binding in a cardstock cover. The binding is pretty tight on this book.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 4 out of 5. This has a coated cardstock cover, but the cover is pretty thin.

Review- THE EVIL TREE

THE EVIL TREE (Arcana, 2012; Softcover)

Original Graphic Novel

Writer: Erik Hendrix

Artist: Daniel Thollin

This is a traditional ghost story for the 21^st century. It has all of the old school Horror movie prerequisites: a couple bought an old farm house in the middle of nowhere to get away from it all. The girlfriend (Misha) almost immediately exhibits weird behavior, so the boyfriend (Daren) brings a group of friends out to the sticks with a ton of alcohol to shake away the blues. There's a huge snowstorm that will make escap...er, travel impossible. No one will be able to get in or out. That's when it all falls apart. 

There is an old tree in the yard of the house, which dates back to colonial times. The spirits in this tree call out to Misha, whom Daren and a couple others witness get taken by the tree and vanish. They see the spirits of several children hanging from the tree, which states that it wants it's babies. That's as much as I'm giving you because I don't want to spoil any more of the plot. This is a well executed story and is extremely enjoyable. 

The story and artwork are very clean cut and simple, further adding to the traditional ghost story vibe. The Evil Tree is very good and I'd recommend picking it up if you can find it. It's worth the hunt.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Arcana makes good quality graphic novels.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Crazy thick coated stock paper. I like it.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Glued binding in a cardstock cover.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 4 out of 5. This has a coated cardstock cover, but the cover itself is pretty thin.

Review- LUCAS

LUCAS (Arcana, 2011; Softcover)

Note: Actually released in 2012

Original graphic novel.

Writer and Artist: David Murdoch

I was disappointed when I first flipped through this book. You see, it is by definition a graphic novel per solicit copy, but it is a novel with graphics rather than the “sequential narrative graphic panel artform”, known to the unwashed masses as a comic book. Once I got past this disappointment (I pre-ordered it and was therefore obligated to purchase it), I sunk into this book like meat hooks into a corpse.

David Murdoch's script is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre premise set on it's head. You are treated to creepy crawly things and plenty of violence over the course of 88 pages. There are times when the story seems like a thinly veiled movie script pitch with painted artwork, and others where it seems to work as a graphic novel. Lucas has a few genuinely disgusting/creepy moments in it. The more open minded fans of a series like Crossed might want to give this book a shot.

The OCD zone- This book has exceptionally thick coated stock paper which is pleasing to the touch. It is interesting how things are printed so thick that you can, at times, feel the words on top of the page. I felt like Matt Murdoch. The most unique thing about this printing process is that some of the paint splotches actually feel like a real painting, being raised above the page. Very strange but very, very cool.

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