Free
Comic Book Day Reviews Part Three
I
have been lackadaisical in my reviews 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. I always pick something up at each shop, as
those free comics aren't free to retailers and vultures are lame.
In
this third and final part of my overview and review of this year's
FCBD festivities I'll go over the last of the five stores that we hit
on our journey across two counties as well as review for another
batch of comic books.
Big
Ben's Comix Oasis in Allen Park, MI, has been serving the
populace for over three decades now, which is pretty crazy to think
about. I remember the humble beginnings of this store as the Book
Bank, when it had used books and few card tables filled with back
issues and quarter boxes along with a few racks of new comics. I
watched the place carry less books and more comics...move into the
downtown area of Allen Park into a bigger store with still more
comics...move two other times and finally into it's current
incarnation, where it is arguably the largest comic book store if not
in all of Michigan, then in the Metro Detroit area for certain.
 |
| My hatchlings. |
Keyser
Soze: Scorched Earth/ The Rift Free Comic Book Day 2017 (Red
5, cover date May, 2017)
Keyser
Soze is a pretty cool concept, although you get very little about
the gist of it across the 16 pages of story included here. Modern
comics give the artwork plenty of room to breathe. The downside is
that it takes multiple issues to hammer your point home. This is a
risky game in the $3.99-4.99 age of comic books. Time is money, money
is tight, and attention spans are short.
The
Rift seems solid if unoriginal. A rift in time brings a WWII
pilot into the modern day. It's nothing that hasn't been done a
million times before. I'd read it for free from the library.
The
Walking Dead #163
Cover A (Image, cover date February, 2017)
Unless
you have just woken up from a coma, you know about The
Walking Dead. It's as
culturally pervasive as superheroes. I read the first eleven issues
years ago and failed to see what the hype was all about, as I
disliked Kirkman's decompressed style of writing.
Credit
where credit is due: This issue is great. Worlds better than the
earlier issues, both in writing and artwork. I have reassessed my
opinion of The Walking
Dead and now can see why
everyone is gaga* over it.
*I
was reluctant to use the word gaga, as Lady Gaga kind of ruined the
word for me. But then I thought about how Lady Gaga admits that she
stole the word from Queen's Radio
Gaga, which is where I
stole it from before she came around, so I will retain my homage to
Queen and keep using the word.
Vampirella
#0
(Vol. 4) (Dynamite, cover date, February, 2017)
I'm
not a huge Vampirella
fan (even though I own all 15 Archives), but this was some good
stuff! I'm not hip to her continuity or story beyond the fourth
Archive
(where I stalled on my marathon) so I can't say what is what, but as
far as picking up this comic book, reading it, and deciding if I
liked it, this worked.
Free
Comic Book Day 2017: General (Dark Horse, cover date, May,
2017)
Why
on Earth would Dark Horse title this book General in the
indicia?
The
Avatar sequel is like Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy,
promised and repeatedly delayed for so long that it has become a
joke. Not only that, but expectations will be heaped so high on it
that it can't help but disappoint. Nobody is going to care by the
time that it comes out. That said, the comic is pretty good and
beautifully illustrated. I like Avatar, I just think that it's
James Cameron's white whale.
Briggs
Land is not my cup of tea. Your mileage may vary.
Z2
Comics- Free Comic Book Day 2017 (Z2,
cover date, May, 2017)
The
Ballad Of Franklin Bonisteel (Or “The Shreveport Kid”)
has a completely unique and fresh feel to it, even if the concept
goes over well tread ground. I'll keep my eyes open for this one. The
back-up feature, Murder
Ballads, isn't awful but
it isn't anything I would pick up, either.
Tex
Patagonia FCBD Color Edition
(Epicenter, cover date May, 2017)
While
comic books are an American invention (comic books, not the
comic strip), our friends across the pond have been exploring and
blazing their own trail with fascinating results. European culture is
of course different from American culture, so it should come as no
surprise that their comic writers and artists approach the artform
completely different than we do.
Epicenter
has been bringing us colorized English language translations of
European favorites. This is every bit as good as their other
offerings, Magic Wind
and Zagor,
also both popular overseas but completely unknown in North America.
Tex
is set in the 19th
century. There is a similar thread with Magic
Wind in that he is an
outsider of a different race who becomes equal to the indigenous
population through a test or event. If you enjoy stories set in the
Old West or Mexico then this is for you. European comics have a
clear, brisk layout without sacrificing character development.
American comics have aped this format over the past 15 years but
haven't quite figured it out yet. Tex
is definitely worth checking out.
Crossed
+ One Hundred #1-3 (Avatar
Press, cover dates November, 2014- February, 2015)
I
was a huge Crossed
fan, reading it for quite a while until I got bored with it. Then I
heard that Alan Moore was writing a new series set 100 years into the
future of the original outbreak. The thing with comic books is that
there are so many being fired at you from every publisher, week after
week, that it is impossible to keep up with it all. I snagged these
three issues out of a dollar box at a local comic store.
Without
going into the plot or providing a synopsis (which is what most
“reviews” really are: book reports), I'll get to the meat of the
problem with this series, at least as far as the first three issues
are concerned. There is zero sense of urgency. At no point in time do
the Crossed pose a threat for more than two pages in any of these
issues. It's your typical, boring post-apocalyptic scenario, with
civilization rebuilding itself in the aftermath of a catastrophe. I
expected better from Alan Moore. I expected more from Alan
Moore.
None
of the characters are the least bit engaging. I cared so little for
any of them that I kept waiting for the Crossed to kill any or all of
them off so that I wouldn't have to trudge through their story any
more. Alan Moore has all of the characters speak in the newly evolved
slang, which was neat for about five pages but quickly became
grating.
I
have no resolution for this arc, and I don't even care to go online
and find a synopsis for closure. I simply don't care. Imagine a
conversation with someone boring, where your mind trails off but they
keep on rambling. That's what Crossed + One Hundred is. The fact that
Alan Moore is attached to it only adds insult to injury. Oh well. At
least I'm only out three bucks.
