As always, I had to employ the assistance of my local comic shop to make sure as many of these were reviewed as possible. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Comic Universe for all their help. If you are in the Orange County, California area, be sure to pop by and check them out. They are located at 18902 Brookhurst Street in Fountain Valley, and can be reached at (714) 964-9569.

With luck, you will get a chance to read it before you head out to your local shops to pick up your stuff. Many of you have the misfortune of frequenting shops that cap the number of books that you can take – a reasonable restriction in some cases, as you really need to make sure there is enough for all.

Either way, use this column as a resource, along with the listings on the official Free Comic Book Day Website to see what is out there, and discover what will be worth picking up. If you have a limit – you might as well do everything you can to make sure you pick up issues you will enjoy!

Those of you who have read my reviews know that I am not prone to giving full 5/5 reviews – to me, that is nearly impossible for a comic book these days (a full rating is the best a comic issue can be, and can you really say you have read an absolutely perfect issue?), but on Free Comic Book Day, I use a slightly different standard.

All of the issues are rated (on a scale from 0 to 5, courtesy of the SOTS Halibut) on Overall Quality, Story Completeness, and Originality. This is Free Comic Book Day, and not Free 32 Page Ad Day, and while it is expected that the publishers will use this opportunity to promote their wares, it is still a day when you are supposed to be able to get an actual comic book. Quality – as in, is the title enjoyable; Completeness, as in – is there a complete story, or are you forced to buy an issue to get the rest of the story; and Originality, as in – is this something new? The last category is a bit flexible – from some of the Independent Houses, a reprint is ok, as long as it meets the other requirements, since it is likely many readers haven’t had a chance to sample that title yet though. Once you get up to the large publishers, however – it is expected that they come up with something new. What is the point of a reprint DC or Marvel issue, if it is something we have all already read before anyway?

Every year I do make one request – all of you who did manage to score some free issues this year, read them, enjoy them, and then give them away! The collector in all of us wants to seal them away in bags and boards, but we all know these issues will be worth little. Unless it is one of those rare issues that actually stands on its own, and won’t be reprinted anywhere else, and adds to your existing collection of a title, there is no reason not to give it away to a non comic reader. Share the love of your hobby – and help promote it. The more comic readers there are, the more sales good titles will get, and the less likely you will have to write an angry letter (or blog post) because your favorite book was cancelled. Remember – as fun as this is – it is more for the potential new reader than the avid comic fan – help promote that angle, and the event will be that much more of a success.

And here is the 2008 Free Comic Book Day Rundown!

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Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2008

Written by Ian Boothby, James Bates, and Chuck Dixon, Art by John Delaney, Andrew Pepoy, Chris Ungar, James Lloyd, Art Villanueva, and Nina Matsumoto

Seriously, what a great start. This was the first Free Comic Book Day issue I read this year, and it set the bar really high for subsequent entries. It was a digest-sized issue (approximately, it was somewhere between an ashcan and a digest, and contained three stories. The first was dripping with comic book references and humor. There were subtle references to Civil War, Spider-Man, Secret Invasion, the Fantastic Four, and heck, even the issue of gun control – if you are an avid comic reader you probably caught them all, but catching the references weren’t required to understand the story whatsoever. The second story was a classic Simpson’s tale, and the third was something of a spoof on the manga-style, retelling the Simpsons as if it were a manga. All were absolutely entertaining, well written, and very engaging.

And I still can’t stop laughing at the bag of “nuts” covering a naked Bart’s unmentionables. Just a tiny bit of juvenile humor as icing to an all around great comic. Well done.

Rating:

Bongo Comics (link to unofficial fan site)

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Salem: Queen of Thorns

Written by Chris Morgan & Kevin Wash, Art by Wilfredo Torres and Andrew Dalhouse

Salem: Queen of Thorns is a 6 issue mini series from Boom! Studios – the #0 issue (of 5) came out this past January. I didn’t catch anything that explicitly stated it, but judging by the cover, this seemed to be a reprint of that.

The story itself was average. Nothing really unique in the say of stories here – the Salem Witch Trials have been overdone, and so has the “Man With No Name” western model. Combining the two really didn’t do much to spice up either. The Man With No Name story model is a good one, but after just one issue of Salem, I was ready to call it quits. The setting of the Salem Witch Trials just isn’t one where a roaming mysterious loner is a productive protagonist for very long.

The art was pretty poor. The basics were there, but the scenes seemed flat, and the panel layouts were unimaginative. Many of the panels even had key action moments obscured by bodies – almost deliberately, as if the scene itself was beyond the artist’s skill, and they were hoping the reader’s imagination would fill in the blanks.

Overall it was ok – the story was decent, but I don’t feel any particular need to read the rest of the series as it comes out.

Rating:

Boom! Studios

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Graphic Classics: Special Edition

By Various

Ever since the failed Marvel/Dabel union was first consummated, comic adaptations of classic literature and modern novels have had more an more exposure. Of course, it is always better to read the actual story, but even if you have done that, comic adaptations have a way of allowing you to see an old story in a slightly different light. Graphic Classics focuses solely on that niche of comic making, and have produced several volumes of comic adaptations, notably of short stories from writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and more. As you might have guessed, this edition is a sampling of stories from various writers.

Overall, it wasn’t bad. The art quality ranged from outstanding to fair – even the art that didn’t really work well for me at least demonstrated some solid layout, and overall the issue was an enjoyable read. Looking into the publisher, the volumes are pretty affordable – this issue was definitely a success to me as it does make you curious enough to check out their line-up. Overall you have to say this was a wholly positive outing for the publisher.

Rating:

Graphic Classic

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Love and Capes #7

By Thomas F. Zahler

Much like last year’s Free Comic Book Day installment of Love and Capes (#4), this is an in-continuity issue of the ongoing series. Also once again, the issue itself will be available for sale later this month, with a variant cover.

It ends up being an extremely important issue of the series, in which The Crusdader struggles with proposing to his girlfriend Abby. It is a pretty touching issue, and extremely well done. Clearly it is a critical moment in the overall series, so much of one that I am honestly surprised they are giving it away for free.

High marks all around – this one was definitely good enough to pay for. Thankfully for those of you who support the small press, you will have a chance to do just that later this month.

Rating:

Maerkle Press

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Gumby: Coloring Comic Book Special #1

Written by Mike Hersh and Mel Smith, Art by Hersh, Smith, Shepard Hendrix, Lance Borde, Ken Hooper, and You!

This year, Wildcard Inc. decided to present this as a coloring book – a novel concept, especially for an all-ages book. Though, there really isn’t a lot different from a normal black and white book, save some slightly bolder lines and a lack of extreme detail, but it is a good selling point.

In this issue, Gumby decides to jump into the computer and go surfing, but he catches a worm. To get rid of it, he must cut a small piece of himself off, and that small piece must enter his body and find the worm to eliminate it.

Up till that point, it wasn’t too bad a read, even for a kids book. But then it just gets weird. Gumby kind of loses his sense of character, and we start seeing something more akin to Spongebob or Ren and Stimpy than Gumby. One particularly vulgar moment killed the issue for me – when a mini Pokey finds mini-Gumby inside his body – and when asked how he got there, Pokey replies that Gumby “left the back door open.” Come on – this is supposed to be a kids book! Beyond that, the story just unravels to a totally weird and nonsensical ending that I am not even sure a kid would understand.

Could have been a lot better.

Rating:

Wildcard

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Gekiga!

By Seiichi Hayashi and Yoshihiro Tatsumi

This – well, this was a mess. Perhaps you will get more out of it if you are a real devotee of Japanese comics, but outside that market, there wasn’t much appeal here.

This issue had two excerpts of Japanese comic translations Drawn and Quarterly will be putting out this summer. The first – well, it is the worst example of pretentious art – a story hailed as a poetic masterpiece that was literally nothing. The second followed a Japanese soldier in the wake of the Hiroshima bombing. I can see why that story might have some appeal in Japan, but it seemed to be missing a lot of context. And of course, it is only a fragment.

Really not much here – a fairly poor outing for Drawn and Quarterly.

Rating:

Drawn & Quarterly

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Nascar Heroes: The Headless Stuntman

Written by Jeremy Diamond, Art by Peter Habjanm Rich Duhaney, and Susan Menxies

Wow – I didn’t even know there was a Nascar comic. I almost wish I still didn’t after reading this.

To be fair – it isn’t that horrible – about what you can expect from a sports concept making the leap to comics. It is kind of a mix between Scooby Doo and Speed Racer, and quite similar to the old NFL Superpro series in it’s plot holes and ridiculousness (but without the tragic awesomeness)

I can’t see this concept having much success outside of Nascar event givaways, to be honest.

Rating:

Starbridge Media Group

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How To Draw: Free Comic Book Day 2008 Booklet

By Various

Off the bat, this one was a bit better than last year’s effort – at least when it comes to substance. The lessons are still short and light on substance, but there was a bit more technique this time around, which worked in its favor.

It is still really geared to the aspiring creator – and on that front, they still would have done better if they would have focused on one or two lessons, instead of trying to pack snippets of so many in such a short issue. Still – improvement is improvement. You have to credit them for that.

Rating:

Wizard

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The Moth: Greatest Hits

By Gary Martin and Steve Rude

Last year, Rude Dude Productions revisited their old series Nexus with their Free Comic Book Day effort – with disasterous results. It was intended to be a retrospective of Nexus’s Dark Horse past in anticipation of the new series, and on that point it succeeded. But it just didn’t hold a candle to today’s printing standards (quality in the 90s was pretty poor, if you recall), and ended up being nearly impossible to read.

Sadly, they are doing much the same this year with The Moth. The Moth’s publishing history isn’t nearly as long, so the overall story was a little easier to follow, but it was still pretty bad. Two poop jokes on the first four pages, followed right up with a scene that even I found seriously demeaning.

Another year to skip over this one, if you ask me.

Rating:

Rude Dude Productions

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EC Comics Sampler

By Various

Wow – a non Disney effort from Gemstone this year? Not what I expected at all. Of course, they still have their Disney effort – consider this one a little extra.

Eh, but not so much in the end. This issue collects four stories that are intended to introduce the EC Archives series – collected works of old EC Comics titles. This might not appeal to some modern readers, but anyone who considers themselves a student of comic history will certainly enjoy it. I especially liked Spawn of Venus – personally, I miss old, cheesy, hard-edged and scientifically inaccurate science fiction – there was an element of fun there that you don’t see in storytelling much anymore.

A decent issue overall.

Rating:

Gemstone

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Sonic the Hedgehog #1

Written by Mike Gallagher, Art by Dave Manak, Bill White, and Lyrad Namlede

Last year, Archie Comics put out a perfect Free Comic Book Day issue with their wholly original Sonic comic. After that performance, this issue seems like a bit of a letdown. Instead of new material, they have gone back and reprinted the original Sonic the Hedgehog #1.

Sometimes this works – reprints can be good if they really offer good incentive to read something you might have missed and is worth reading. Unfortunately, this isn’t really it. Sonic is hardly a “must read start to finish” comic – there really is little value in going back and reading the first issue – Sonic is hardly a comic icon, and the first issue of a comic based on a game is pretty rarely of cultural significance. Plus the look of the comic and characters has changed so much and the story quality has improved so much over the years that this issue bears only passing resemblance to the comic that is available today.

A kid might enjoy reading it – but with the character look being so different from the characters they know from the current games, it might be a turnoff to them.

Oh well – I guess some years you have it, some you don’t!

Rating:

Archie Comics

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Owly and Friends!

By Andy Runton, Christian Slade, James Kochalka, and Corey Barba

Well, a new Owly is always good, but sadly, Top Self’s effort this year slipped slightly.

The issue is still full of all new, original material, which is great. And the Owly story is outstanding – as always. But instead of an Owly comic, it is instead divided into four properties, including Korgi, Johnny Boo, and Yam. The Korgi story is good, as last year’s was – but then the quality starts to slip. Johnny Boo was decent – if overly simplistic (I know it is for kids, but Owly is too, and it has a certain intelligence about it). Yam though – what in the world is that? Not horrible – just weird.

I don’t blame Top Shelf for promoting their other properties though. I guess we just got spoiled by so many years of cover-to-cover Owly awesomeness.

Rating:

Top Shelf Productions

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Comics Go Hollywood

By Various

This is a pretty dense read – well worth the money for sure! (I know, it is free) Not so much a comic, as rather a look at comics in general in Hollywood. It is an interesting read that includes some storyboards, scripts, and interviews. If comic movies are your thing, you will get a lot out of this.

It really doesn’t seem to be selling anything, outside of some name exposure, which is good. Going into the summer blockbuster season, it is a great time to look at this facet of the comic book industry. Worth reading.

Rating:

Top Shelf Productions

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Comic Book Diner

By Various

This one is the usual collection of Sky-Dog shorts, including the standard Roboy Red and Buzzboy shorts. A lot shorter than usual – there are more features in this issue, seemingly trying to showcase more of their line. They are mostly decent (well, save the Dreamland Chronicles, which was a muddy mess), but it might have been a little too overloaded.

Still – this is one that the kids will enjoy, as always. That is what they are aiming for here, so you have to mark it a success. Banana-Tail and Roboy Red were the highlights here.

Rating:

Sky-Dog Comics

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I.G.N.A.T.Z.: International Graphic Novels at Their Zenith

By Various

Confusing. Really, reading through the description of what the Ignatz line is, I gathered that they are saddle-stitched comics, akin to mini-graphic novels. Not bad – still a little hazy about the release schedule though. Oh well. In any case, this issue contains previews of the next seven Ignatz issues. Not the best tactic of course – it just contains snippets of a bunch of stories, and doesn’t give much in the way of a coherent, single story. The quality was good – particularly the art – but it is stretching things to call this a “comic book.”

It is clear from this preview that there is some good stuff in the IGNATZ line – this issue is a good selection if you tend towards more literary comic efforts.

Rating:

Fantagraphics

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World of Aspen #3

By Various

This is the third year Aspen has produced a Free Comic Book Day issue – and once again it follows that all-too familiar format of including a few short snippets of a few titles in their line – Fathom, Soulfire, Shrugged, and Executive Assistant: Iris.

I imagine you already have an idea what this is – Aspen is nothing if not consistent. So you know if this is your kind of thing or not. Like usual, they have taken the easy-way out, and simply included previews of upcoming books – and since Aspen titles are usually so light on story (lots of brooding), you really don’t get a lot of meat out of the issue.

Rating:

Aspen Comics

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Drafted – FCBD 2008 Edition

Written by Mark Powers, Art by Chris Lie, Mike O’Sullivan, John Lowe, Joseph Baker, and Wes Dzioba

I am always wary of Devil’s Due original titles – they are great for licensed franchises, but they have a bad habit of just dropping good titles right in the middle of the story. Cancellations happen, but when you invest money in a story, you at least want some kind of ending!

This issue was actually fairly well done – it is a mash of issues #0-5 of Drafted, and strangely enough, it actually came out as a fairly coherent story. Kind of speaks volumes about how padded comic books are these days that 6 issues of material can be condensed into a single issue without much loss.

In any case – it was an ok read. Hopefully for those of you who decide to check out Drafted based on this issue, Devil’s Due doesn’t randomly decide to drop this title somewhere down the line.

Rating:

Devil’s Due

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Maximum Ride Volume 1

By James Patterson and NaRae Lee

This one here is a read headscratcher. Some of you might be familiar with James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series – (if not, you might be familiar with his Alex Cross series, which has resulted in 2 films – Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider) well, it would seem that a Manga version of that property is set to be released by Yen Press in July.

Strangely enough – the adaptation is pretty good. Of course – the story is butchered, but in all the right places. If you didn’t already read the book, you could swear that this actually was a manga property. More than just the art – the story itself and the dialogue make a pretty good manga. This will probably surprise a lot of fans of that genre.

I am fairly sure this will be reprinted when the series comes out in July, but overall it is an effective preview. New material, solid story elements, and it leaves you wanting to check out the rest of the series. A decent effort.

Rating:

Yen Press

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Marvel Adventures: Iron Man & Hulk & Spider-Man

Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin, Art by Alvin Lee, Terry Pallot, and Wil Quintana

Boy, I can remember a few years back when Marvel completely snubbed Free Comic Book Day. Both this year and last, however – they have done exactly what the #1 comic publisher is supposed to do with their FCBD submissions. It is nice to see.

This is one of two Marvel books available for Free Comic Book Day (officially – some shops might still be handing out the Iron Man/Hulk movie promo book and the Soliel Sampler, if they still have any), and the one that is decidedly aimed at kids. The trio from the Marvel Adventures books has a showdown with The Mandarin – who is attempting to steal magical Incan Artifacts. A simple story, but exactly the kind of thing you get from a Marvel Age book. And like many Marvel Adventures stories, this one parallels old, classic story elements – this story features Grottu, King of the Insects – a giant ant character created by Kirby and Lee way back in 1960.

Overall – perfectly done. It’s a decent, original story that promotes three Marvel Adventures titles, all while telling a complete story. High marks all around.

Rating:

Marvel Comics

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Impact University Volume 4

By Various

Like most years, Impact puts forth a fairly solid sampling of their work. Like the How to Draw book from Wizard, this really only includes a tiny sliver of each potential lesson – they could put more in an issue. But like in every year – Impact just seems to do it better. Sure they stick a few names on there that they deem to be “big” just to attract attention – but the real good stuff comes from lesser known but highly skilled creators (typically artists) who really know their stuff. Impact is just a better product, and that is reflected every year thus far in the Free Comic Book Day Effort.

The History of Digital Coloring is an interesting article of note in this issue – if you read nothing else, check that out.

Rating:

Impact

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Atomic Robo

Written by Brian Clevinger, Paul Ens, and J. Korim, Art by Scott Wegener, Ronda Pattison, J. Korim, and Jessie Lam

One of the good things about Free Comic Book Day is that often we get a good look at one of the newer small press companies. This year Red 5 Comics treats us to a pair of stories, headlined by an all new 16 page Atomic Robo series, back-up up by a NeoZoic short.

Really not too bad. NeoZoic was kind of your typical “kick-butt chick warrior” book – so not to original but decently executed. Atomic Robo was a little more fun, and a lot more entertaining. Will have to check out another of Red 5 titles sometime in the future based off this issue.

Rating:

Red 5 Comics

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Del Ray & Dabel Brothers 2008 Preview

By Various

Well, it looks like Dabel Brothers is still kicking, and back to doing what they always did prior to Marvel (but with a slightly different stable of authors). This issue previews 4 of their current projects – Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards, and Frankenstein and In Odd We Trust from Dean Koontz.

Overall, they aren’t terrible. Dabel has always been good at the comic adaptation, but getting 4 tiny slivers of novel adaptations really isn’t a good use of the space. This is less a comic book than an ad, unfortunately. Good to check out if you are considering picking up a Dabel title, but really impossible to enjoy on its own merits.

Rating:

Dabel Brothers

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Shonen Jump Special

By Misashi Kishmoto, Tite Kubo, and Takehiko Inoue

Argh, backwards reading! Yes, yes, I know, that is the way these are supposed to be read, and it often hurts the integrity of the panel layout to flup things around for the translation. But that doesn’t make it more difficult on me!

Thankfully, I actually have some passing familiarity with two of the stories in this comic, which will make this review a little easier. Those who have read my work for a long time know that I am not the biggest fan of manga, but you really can’t talk about comics in general without trying everything out here and there. This issue includes stories from Bleach, Naruto (both of which I have read), and Slam Dunk (new to me).

Unfortunately, even my familiarity with those two stories didn’t help all that much, Sure – I understood a little more of what was going on, but they were such small fragments of the stories (and mangas tend to be really decompressed) that there was almost no value in reading them. Much like the Dabel book, this really is just an ad – and doesn’t stand alone at all as a comic. It is one thing to print preview material that could possibly stand alone as a short story – but to just pick random pages, or the first set number of pages – that just isn’t very valuable at all. Could have been better.

Rating:

Shonen Jump

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Viper Comics Presents: Kid Houdini and the Silver-Dollar Misfits

Written by Dwight L. McPherson, Art by Worth Gowell

Pretty darned good. Of course, Kid Houdini is a graphic novel set for release later this year – but this is a good preview of that. Of course, the story isn’t totally complete (obviously), but it makes up the bulk of the issue, and what I read was very entertaining. Of course, it seems more geared for kids – but really, anything without excessive sex and nudity seems “geared for kids” these days, so I will just look at this as wholesome.

There were a few more pages excerpting The Sleepy Truth at the end – these pages weren’t bad, but it was extremely short, and it really didn’t click like Kid Houdini did for me. Tough act to follow, I suspect.

Rating:

Viper Comics

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Arcana Studio Presents 2008

By Various

Arcana’s presence at Free Comic Book Day has always been a strong one. For the last 4 years they have really been a presence – absolutely getting what the event is supposed to be about. They have consistently delivered a few original short stories in each issue, promoting their main titles, while still providing something with enough substance to qualify as a free comic book.

Unfortunately, this year saw a little bit of a slip. With the exception of the 100 Girls story, all of the shorts seemed to continue directly into another issue. Of course, this is still all-new material, which is good, but a couple of the stories seemed to lack the context to really make them stand out on their own.

As usual, however – the work is good quality, but I didn’t find myself enjoying this issue as much as I have in previous years. Oh well – 4 out of 5 ain’t bad at all!

Rating:

Arcana Studios

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Amelia Rules! Comics and Stories

By Jimmy Gownley

Amelia Rules! is another one of those titles that almost always make for a great Free Comic Book Day installment. The series itself is flat out awesome, and any opportunity to expose new readers to great work is a good one. They have certainly taken advantage of this event to its fullest extent in previous years.

Like with the Arcana issue, this one had me a little worried. They broke it up a bit, included a little preview of an Amelia Rules! musical, and had some story short at the end, one of which was to be continued in a collected volume. But the book was still outstanding. The opening story was touching and real – and dealt with the very difficult situation of a child having to confront her father going off to war, without all the political garbage a story like this would invoke in this day and age. And though this was a fragment – the selected pages were very complete, and they even provide a URL to download the rest of the comic for free through the WOWIO service.

Bottom line – Amelia Rules! delivered once again. A fantastic issue.

Rating:

Renaissance Press

—

Comic Book Challenge Showcase #1

Written by DJ Coffman and Jorge Vega, Art by Dominic Vivona, Nei Ruffino, and DJ Coffman.

This year, Platinum Studios decided to showcase their two Comic Book Challenge winners by giving us a taste of DJ Coffman’s Hero By Night, and on the flip-side, a few preview pages of the Gunplay graphic novel from Jorge Vega.

The Gunplay story – well, I have read the full graphic novel. It is outstanding, but the preview pages are just that. Might be enough to give you a taste for the book, but it doesn’t really qualify as a complete enough story to give high marks too here. Thankfully, it is only a small portion of the issue.

The bulk is a retrospective of the Hero By Night series – very complete in its presentation, and it gives a great insight as to what the series is all about. It also gives some locations on the web that you can read even more Hero By Night, for free, some also on the WOWIO service I mentioned before. This is a great idea – it frees up a little space for promotion, still allowing the issue to live up to the theme of a “free comic.”

Particularly for Hero By Night, this is a great way to check out an outstanding title. I recommend you take advantage of all the free materials it directs you to, and after that, go ahead and start buying the series. After reading this issue, you will agree that it is well worth it.

Rating:

Platinum Studios

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Maintenance #1

Written by Jim Massey, Art by Robbi Rodriguez

This issue was just plain awesome. Maintenance follows a couple of average Joe maintenance workers who happen to be employed by a Super-Villain organization. In this issue they accidentally get sent back in time to find a group of caveman who the mad scientist they are working for has been arming to form a super-caveman army. (They look like Captain Caveman too, which resulted in added humor) Of course, the cavemen have little interest in the weapons and jetpacks – they want modern convienences! The issue itself is a tremendous read – I highly enjoyed it.

It also contained a short preview of Marc Guggenheim’s Ressurection – a couple of pages there, really only a preview of that series.

The Maintenance story is a reprint of the first issue of the series. This is really ok in Oni’s case, as it is likely you haven’t read it, and it is a great look at a series with a couple of trades available to check out. But you don’t need to get the other volumes to follow this story – a good content selection.

Rating:

Oni Press

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Ape Entertainment’s Cartoonapalooza

By Various

This year, Ape Entertainment included several snippets of various titles under their imprint. It is a mixed bag overall – a couple of the selections were really incomplete, and didn’t stand very well on their own. The Go-Go Gorilla story was probably the best in the bunch – a witty little story that was solid from start to finish.

This issue would have been a little better if they only focused on two, maybe three stories – but on the whole it was decent.

Rating:

APE Entertainment

—

The Stranded/Dan Dare Flip Book

By Various

For starters, this is a much, much better effort from Virgin this year. Not that last year didn’t preview some quality stuff, it was just too dense and too difficult to decipher in the short snippets they offered.

This issue was the standard Flip-book style story, and while there was an element of too-be-continued, it was a strong showing that demonstrated that Virgin is really serious about the Sci-Fi genre, and their relationship with the Sci-Fi channel.

Plus, it was just darned cool to see Dan Dare again. A good issue.

Rating:

Virgin Comics

—

Tiny Titans #1

By Art Baltazar and Franco

DC really aught to do better.

Not that Tiny Titans isn’t a decent franchise. It is a comic for kids – and on that note, it is a great success. It is definitely cute, easy to follow, and very suited to the younger reader. Many young kids might not have read this issue – which is its saving grace – Free Comic Book Day often draws crowds of families who might be seeing this book for the first time. The #2 comic publisher should be putting out an original work for Free Comic Book Day, but the audience for this title and the potential to draw new young readers into the medium does help offset that failing a bit.
Rating:

DC Comics

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Project Superpowers: The Death-Defying Devil Man

Written by Jim Kruger, Art by Andy Smith and Debora Carita

This issue was a travesty. Project Superpowers has gotten so much buzz, and instead of capitalizing on that and giving potential new readers who wouldn’t give this series a look if it wasn’t free some serious meat, they instead offer a story snippet that is too dark, too confusing, and too muddled to really get a sense of. On top of that – this book is over half ads. When rating Free Comic Book Day issues, I often talk about the difference between “Free Comic Book Day” and the idea of a “Free 32 Page Ad Day,” but I never imagined that a publisher would take it this far. They try to hide some of the ads by cramming a few preview pages into a single page – making them too small to really read, or understand.

This is a real shame. Dynamite has been a publisher on the rise in recent months – and to put something out like this is almost an insult. Yes – it is free, and it is supposed to be an opportunity for publishers to showcase their titles. But it isn’t supposed to be an excuse to cram a bunch of ad pages similar to what you might find in Previews and pass it off as an actual comic book.
Rating:

Dynamite Entertainment

—

All-Star Superman #1

Written by Grant Morrison, Art by Frank Quietly and Jamie Grant

OK, honestly, who hasn’t read All-Star Superman #1? It was the #2 selling book in November of 2005, selling over 170,000 copies.

That’s good right? The series is fantastic, without question, and this issue in particular sold extremely well. What’s the problem?

The point is this issue sold extremely well. It was widely purchased, and though the series deserves praise and new readers, who really needs to see this issue again? It’s cheap. DC is the #2 comic publisher, and instead of following Marvel’s example, it just reprinted two old issues with a Free Comic Book label, and shipped them out.

Yes, along with Tiny Titans #1, this is a complete comic, and fits the definition of a Free Comic Book. But unlike Tiny Titans, the potential for new readers picking this up is quite low. And those who do – even fewer are going to come back and buy more issues. The new market DC would appeal to with this book are very casual comic readers, and aren’t going to have the patience to sit and wait and hunt for the next issue – All Star Superman’s shipping schedule is so erratic and delayed that only the most loyal comic fans will catch its release. They are the only ones that follow the shipping schedules close enough to notice its release. So the potential new casual readers do get a complete new read, but very few of them will come back for more. Meanwhile the loyal readers who already buy DC are given something they have already seen before.

DC can and should do better. Especially with a Batman movie out this summer. Why not do a killer Batman one-shot pitting him against the Joker, just for this very event? It has crossover movie appeal, and would give the loyal fans and potential new readers alike something of substance. Instead, they phoned it in. Again. Not the way to challenge Marvel for dominance of the market – not by a longshot.

Rating:

DC Comics

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Transformers: Animated

By Marty Isenberg and Zachary Rau

Not a terrible effort from IDW – it is kind of strange that they didn’t use something they are publishing currently for this event (they may be putting out an Animated adaptation series, but I haven’t seen any real word of it), but it is something the kids will enjoy. Long time Transformers fans might find it a bit distasteful – but the Transformers have been reimagined so many times in the past, I have no doubt this incarnation will stick somehow.

So on all marks, it works as a Free Comic Book Day effort. However, since there isn’t any real crossover appeal to any of IDW’s current projects, I am not so sure it will actually boost their sales any. A strange selection to say the least.
Rating:

IDW

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Archie’s Pal Jughead

Written by Craig Boldman, Art by Stan Goldberg, Bob Smith, Rich Koslowski, and Barry Grossman

All in all, a solid issue of Jughead. Oh, I should say more than that?

Most Archie Comics are hit and miss, and over the years they have produced the whole spectrum of Free Comic Book Day issues – from amazing to abysmal. This one ranks pretty high up there – it is a solid read, and delves into pop culture a bit, which is usually a success for the book. Of course, many comic readers will find it a bit dated – which is ok, because Archie Comics don’t appeal to most mainstream comic readers anyway. Some enjoy it for its timeless quality and frankly the line’s incredible history – but the average superhero reader gives it a pass. But the “common folk” – those casual readers who rarely (if ever) step foot in a comic shop – this issue is more for them than the average X-Men fan anyway.

A good issue – well done and entertaining.

Rating:

Archie Comics

—

Hellboy/B.P.R.D

Written by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Joshua Dysart, Art by Duncan Fegredo, Dave Stewart, Guy Davis, Paul Azaceta, and Nick Filardi

First off – kudos on the cool Hellboy/BPRD Futurama line-up. That was cool.

Well, as the title suggests, this issue features both a Hellboy and a B.P.R.D. short, as well as a short called Bishop Olek’s Devil. All three stories are good – the first two exactly what you would expect from the respective properties, and all are very thoughtful.

A good effort from Dark Horse- something for the existing fans of Mignola’s properties – and a great way for potential new readers to get a look at the franchise. All-in-all a solid outing.
Rating:

Dark Horse

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Broken Trinity Prelude

Written by Ron Marz, Art by Stepan Sejic

Honestly, this one kind of bored me – but to be honest, Top Cow often does. There are some good characters with storied histories there – but they have never really appealed to me all that much. Still – the quality here is obviously good, even if I am not the perfect audience for the story. It is well worth the read – some of you will certainly enjoy it a lot more than I did.

As the title suggest, this issue is a prelude to Top Cow’s Broken Trinity summer event. Lots of exposition – this will be a great resource for the uninitiated who were considering giving that series a chance.

Rating:

Top Cow

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Imaginary

Art by Various

OK – a comic book is supposed to have more than art. Radical kind of missed the point there, and instead used this issue to preview the art for several of their upcoming properties. Complete pages are there – well, complete minus the dialogue. So it is really just a picture book.

Admittedly – the art is gorgeous. It is a bit heavy though – and way too dark. Maybe this was a trial run – but when you have breathtaking and beautiful art on a comic page, it is best to avoid a lot of dark colors. Bright colors pop more – as opposed to dark colors, which really make it difficult to see. Especially on the glossy stock – the black ink ends up causing a glare which makes it harder to see the detail. The art is gorgeous, but tough to see on the paper.

Still, as pretty as this book is – it totally fails the “Comic Book” standard.
Rating:

Radical Comics
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X-Men – 2008 Free Comic Book Day Edition

Written by Mike Carey, Art by Greg Land

A fantastic effort. Like the Marvel Adventures issue, Marvel went out of their way to produce an original, single-issue comic that relates to what is going to be happening in the ongoing continuity.

Really little point in heaping more praise on this book – it is a well produced comic, and exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a regular X-Men issue (minus the six issue story). A perfect example of what this day is supposed to be about.
Rating:

Marvel Comics
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Heroclix Iron Man Figure – FCBD 2008 Edition

Not exactly the best person to review a Heroclix figure, as I haven’t played the game (time being a huge factor there), but I did manage to check out the freebie this year. This figure is a new version of the one released as part of the Armor Wars set – I guess it is a rare one, so it will be a perk for players of the game who haven’t shelled out the cash for that one (with some changes that will maintain the rarity of the original figure.

It isn’t exactly a comic book, but it is a fun perk to players of the game.
Rating:

Marvel Heroclix
—

Well, there were only two issues I didn’t manage to get my hands on – the Gyro Gearloose issue – (It is Carl Barks and Don Rosa, so I think it is safe to say it is awesome), and the Manga digest. The latter hasn’t appealed to me in previous years, so I don’t think I am missing much there. Plus there is a set of three Star Wars CMG figures that should be out there today – be on the lookout for those if you are a collector. As with last year – if you happen to pick up any of these – please feel free to add your thoughts!

Thanks again for reading … see you next year!

2004 was the first year of this column, and I covered 18 issues. In 2005 I covered 22. Last year, 2006, the number crept up to 24. This year, I know I missed three or four issues, but I still had a staggering 38 issues. Needless to say, one look at that pile, and I knew there was no way I would be able to get this column done on Saturday as I had planned.

As usual, this column would not be possible without the help of a local comic shop, who went the extra mile to make sure that these titles were available to be reviewed for this column. This year, I’d like to thank the folks at Comic Universe for all their help. If you are in the Orange County, California area, be sure to pop by and check them out. They are located at 18902 Brookhurst Street in Fountain Valley, and can be reached at (714) 964-9569. The folks there are friendly and are happy to help you find anything you are looking for.

As with prior years, each comic is rated up to five halibuts (courtesy of the SOTS Halibut) based on Overall Quality, Original Content, and Story Completeness. To earn a full 5 rating, an issue must be of good quality, stand on its own, and be made up of original material. Those familiar with my reviews know that I have never, ever given a 5 rating in a regular review. For the purposes of this rundown, the qualifications are different, so you will see a few.

As with every year, I urge all of you who came away with some free books this year to spread the love. You know your friends – you know what they will like. After you are done reading an issue, pass it on to someone else you know you will enjoy it. The strength of the industry depends on new readers. The more people reading comics, the more likely your favorite comic will not get the axe due to low sales. Share your love of comics by giving these away – after all, they didn’t cost you anything.

And now – the Free Comic Book Day 2007 rundown!

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Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. By Floyd Gottfredson and Various.

Seems like most years we have some Carl Barks to look forward to, but this year they have decided to honor Gottfredson who was recently inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Hall of Fame. The bulk of this issue reprints Mickey’s Robin Hood Adventure, a series of strips that appeared back in 1936. It is every bit the classic, and though possibly not as enjoyable as a Donald or Scrooge comic (Mickey was never that interesting to me), it is always interesting to see a 70 year old comic strip, and see just how different things were done back then.

Rating:

Gemstone Publishing

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Nexus. By Steve Rude and Mike Baron.

A real mixed bag here. The concept is good, the execution of this particular issue was not so much. Many of you may remember Nexus – a sci-fi title that was published about 10 years ago by Dark Horse Comics. This is the same property, which the creators are trying to bring back. The issue itself is made up of brief snippets – classic “moments” in the history of Nexus. It is meant to give you some insight into the character, but it ends up being just plain boring. The work is not up to today’s standards, and this presentation is so spotty that only those fans of the property will really enjoy this read. Sci-fi is poised to make a huge come back right now, and while there might be a home for Nexus, it isn’t going to make it very far without some kind of fresh start. Reprinting past glories isn’t going to attract new readers.

Rating:

Rude Dude Productions

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The Lone Ranger #0/Battlestar Galactica Season Zero #0 Flip Book. Written by Brett Matthews and Brandon Jerwa, Art by Sergio Cariello, Dean White, Stephen Segovia and InLight Studios.

Flip-book style this year for Dynamite, which is sometimes a good way to go.

The Lone Ranger has been an extremely well received property that, despite my love for a good western, I still haven’t sampled. The offering in this issue was a bit light though. It basically showcased the art, spent a little time fleshing out the Lone Ranger’s morality with a series of clichés, but didn’t do much beyond that. It was a little disappointing to be frank – there was nothing in this issue that would make me not want to pick up the Lone Ranger, but there was also little to entice me. It was just kind of – there. Basically a long “Look! It’s a Lone Ranger comic!”

The other side had some problems as well, but those were mostly preconceived. I am one of those people who really enjoyed the original Battlestar Galactica, and never could bring myself to watch the new version. I am sure it is a fine program, but it just isn’t for me. This read, though, was fairly decent. A basic sci-fi story, well, the setup of one, one would presume that the story continues in the series itself. Decent – made me want to read more, but there wasn’t any resolution, so you don’t walk away with much more than questions. Good as an ad, but as an actual comic read, not so much.

Rating:

Dynamite Entertainment

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Who Wants to be a Superhero? Preview. Written by Stan Lee, Art by Will Conrad and Michael S. Bartolo.

So this thing actually does exist! It was originally slated to come out a few months back, but was pushed to July to coincide with the premiere of the second season of Who Wants to be a Superhero?. Well, this is only a preview, and a light one at that – a whole 8 pages. And it is very much a Stan Lee comic, reading like something that came through a time machine. To some people, this is a negative, and that is understandable. Stan Lee has a very classic and unique style that just wouldn’t make it if he was just breaking into the industry today – people expect more sophistication from their comic stories. But it is elegant in its simplicity – you know who is good and who isn’t, everything is clear and easy to follow, and a lot happens. Heck, today, these 8 pages would take many contemporary comic writers 3 issues to tell! This issue is a fun start – the issue should be decent. Wish they would have put together an 8 page original story instead though.

Rating:

Dark Horse

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Amelia Rules! “Hangin’ Out.” By Jimmy Gownley.

Amelia is one of those titles I always look forward to on Free Comic Book Day. Gownley does a great job putting this book together. It is good for a younger audience, and while it is geared at them, it is also extremely smart. This issue isn’t nearly as heavy as last year’s was, mostly dealing with Amelia and her circle of friends hanging out inside on a very rainy day. Lots of clever moments as usual. Gownley does great work. Included in this issue is a short Apathy Cat back-up story by Harold Buchholz. It was a but silly, but nothing to scream over. A decent back up that would probably bring this rating down a bit, but the Amelia Rules! story was strong enough that it is easy to ignore.

Rating:

Renaissance Press

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Gumby. By Various.

I can’t say I have ever read a Gumby comic before… It is tough to tell whether this is reprinting material from one of the first three issues of the ongoing or not – it probably is, but in a case like this it is okay.

Unlike a DC title, chances are most of you haven’t read Gumby either, and this is your first exposure. It was decent. The story stood well on its own, and was both true to Gumby’s roots and a creative on its own. A fairly fun read and one kids should enjoy.
Rating:

Gumby Comics

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Transformers: Official Movie Prequel #1. Written by Chris Ryall and Simon Furman, Art by Don Figueroa and Josh Burcham.

A reprint, but a much appreciated one. The coming Transformers movie is cause for both excitement and consternation. A live action Transformers flick is awesome, but from the look of the robots, it will be less Transformers and more Bionicles. Peter Cullen is returning to do the voice of Optimus is indeed awesome, past experience with Michael Bay’s directing leaves a lot to be desired. The most positive thing I can think to say about this issue is – it makes me feel better about the movie. And that is no small praise. It has a different look, but thus far it feels like Transformers. If this carries on into the movie, it will be a success.

Rating:

IDW

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Chose Your Weapon Sampler. By Jin-Hwan Park, Dan Hipp, Seung-Yup Cho, Ki-Hoon Lee, Oh Se-Kwon, Jae-Hwan Kim, and Richard A. Knaak.

This digest collects five story fragments of various Tokyopop stories. It was a little tough for me to get through, but that is more because I am not a big fan of Manga than it is an aspersion of the quality of the work. The scene selection was good – while these are clearly not complete stories, they did do a good job clipping stories in a way that the scene stood on its own and made some sense. Gotta give the editors on this one a little credit.

This might not appeal to a broad audience, but if you are curious about Manga, Tokyopop in particular, this is an excellent showcase of their products.

Rating:

Tokyopop

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Sonic The Hedgehog: Unburying the Hatchet. Written by Ian Flynn, Art by Tracy Yardleyi, Jim Amash, and Jason Jensen.

This was a really fun issue. It stands alone and is all original material, two huge plusses on this day. This issue in particular takes place right before the upcoming Sonic #174, but you aren’t stuck with a To Be Continued.

The story is a fun action read that is all-ages appropriate. Not as thoughtful as something like Amelia, or as skillful as something like Owly, but it is a solid story that is a perfect example of the kind of thing readers are looking for on Free Comic Book Day. This should turn a lot of people on to the Sonic comic.

Rating:

Archie

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Virgin Comics Special. By Various.

A bunch of new small publishing companies have popped up over the last year, one of them being Virgin, who launched their run with Devi about a year ago.

This year’s effort collects some excerpts from four of their books – Ramayan 3392 AD, The Sadhu, Walk In, and Devi. Not the art is just stunning – in all four stories. But the stories themselves are heavy – far too heavy for a casual read. Virgin would have done well to follow the past examples of Arcana and Image and go for shorter original snippets rather than reprints in this case – their material really is too dense to get readers interested in four titles in such a short period. They are still new to the game, though, some trial and error is to be expected. Still – some darned good art in this one.

Rating:

Virgin Comics

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Owly: Helping Hands. By Andy Ruton.

Not sure why I even bother with this one – I should just slap a five on it and move on! As expected, Owly was forty-two different shades of awesome, and once again a stunning example of artistic storytelling. To call it cute doesn’t even come close to covering it. This is one of those titles you look for first if you are a guy trying to get his comic-hating girlfriend to go to the shop on Free Comic Book Day. Stick this in her hands and all will be forgiven. For that day, at least. Ruton delivers strong again with another excellent outing. There is a back-up in this year’s issue, a short called Korgi, Sprout’s Lost Cookie by Christian Slade. It isn’t quite as cutesy as Owly, but also well done and effective. A nice capper to a great issue.

Rating:

Top Shelf

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Unseen Peanuts. By Charles M. Schulz.

One of the most important criteria for a perfect Free Comic Book Day submission is originality. How, then, can you make a perfect Peanut’s offering? Simple – a perfect gimmick. Unseen Peanuts collects over 150 classic Peanuts strips from the 50s and 60s that have only been reprinted in one place – the Complete Peanuts volumes from Fantagraphics. All of these strips were considered “Lost” for one reason or another. Each string of strips come complete with a bit of commentary explaining why the strips were never reprinted – specifics that you actually can’t find in the hardcover volumes. Even if you are already buying the hardcover volumes like I am, you will enjoy this issue.

Rating:

Fantagraphics Books

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Justice League of America #0. Written by Brad Meltzer, Art by various.

Unfortunately, it looks like DC is going the reprint route again this year, which is a same. Their main offering this year reprints the #0 issue of the new Justice League of America. The issue itself doesn’t do a whole lot to introduce the new League, but it does do a nice little recap of the history of the League through the eyes of the “Trinity” of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. An ok read – but when I think of an ideal DC Free Comic Book Day submission, I think of an original superhero story with lots of action that gets you excited about a particular character. There was no action, way too much drama, and far too little new material here (read: none). DC can do better.

Rating:

DC Comics

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Buzzboy/Roboy Red: The Buzz & The ‘Bot!. By Rich Faber, John Gallagher, and John Green.

Buzzboy is always good for a solid Free Comic Book Day outing. Huge points for complete stories and all-ages accessibility, though there is some reprinted material in this issue. This isn’t as great a sin for a company like Sky-Dog as it is for someone like DC – chances are, you have never seen the Roboy graphic novel, so this is all new to you. As I said before – this is a well-written all ages property (both of them), but it isn’t quite as smart as something like Amelia, so the older you are, the less interesting this will be to you. That is ok though – it is meant for the younger reader, and it should suit them just fine.

Rating:

Sky-Dog Comics

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Impact University Volume 3. By Coleen Doran, Tom Nguyen, J.

Peffer, Jim Pavelec, and Jason Cheeseman-Meyer.

For the third year, Impact is back with a couple excerpts from its line of Workshop books. And as in previous years, if you consider yourself an aspiring comic creator, this is an issue you should have checked out. It includes a few short art lessons from some popular artists today, and an intro by Gail Simone. Informative for the aspiring comic artist, as well as for the fan who likes to read about the inner workings of comic creation.

Rating:

Impact Books

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The Umbrella Academy/Pantheon City/Zero Killer. Written by Gerard Way, Ron Marz, and Arvid Nelson, Art by Gabriel Ba, Dave Stewart, Clement Sauve, Stephane Peru, and Matt Camp.

Three pretty solid stories headlines by the original 12 page prelude to The Umbrella Academy set prior to the upcoming series. It was a pretty fun read – a little on the dark side, but dark humor and super-heroics go well together these days. The second story, Pantheon City is a little less enjoyable, but it seems like a concept that needs to be flushed out a little more. The Zero Killer snippet was entertaining – it was very much a character oriented story and is a good introduction to the upcoming title. A good effort from Dark Horse this year.
Rating:

Dark Horse

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Family Guy/Hack/Slash Flip Book. Written by Tim Seeley and Matt Fleckenstein, Art by Emily Stone and Various.

This issue is by no means to be read by children.

On one side of this issue we find a Family Guy short. I admit that Family Guy is good for an occasional chuckle, but it doesn’t translate very well at all to a printed medium. It comes off as coarse and crude, and the timing which elicits the laughs on the show itself is just impossible to recreate in comic form. It ended up just being offensive.

On the flip side, you find Hack/Slash, a great creative idea from Tim Seeley that I have been a fan of for some time. They do seem to be too hyped on the potential for the feature-film. 99% of comics that are optioned for movie release never actually happen, and to hype an option two years before an initial slated release date is a lot premature, and might illicit a negative reaction from more savvy comic readers. The story itself is a good one – a flash of the origin of Cassie Hack and how her role as a Slasher killer was cemented by bringing her mother’s rampage to an end. Also unsafe for the younger reader, but it probably turned a couple more people on to an outstanding series.

Rating:

Devil’s Due

—

Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #1. Written by J. Torres, Art by Chynna Clugston and Guy Major.

The second of DC’s traditional two outings is the Johnny DC effort, a reprint of Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century #1, the comic book based on the Cartoon Network cartoon. This one is very kid friendly, and a good book to have picked up if you had young ones in tow. Of course, it is a reprint, like DC’s submissions usually are, but you had a complete story and a somewhat entertaining one. Legion fans might find the issue a grating read, but for a kid it might just be passable.
Rating:

DC Comics

—

How to Draw. By Various.

Maybe it was just a visceral reaction to all things Wizard, but of the three “how to” submissions this month, this was my least favorite. It was really light on the mechanics, and didn’t give any complete lessons like the Impact book did, instead giving you a “taste” of the lesson you would get, and then telling you what to go and buy. It was decent from a very general standpoint – if you wanted an overview in comic art creation, the issue was productive. For real mechanics, though, there were better offerings.

Rating:

Wizard

—

Wahoo Morris. By Craig Taillefer.

Right off the bat, this title describes itself as the next Strangers in Paradise (quoting a review), and immediately that was a mistake. Something ALL comic promoters should keep in mind (especially the indies), the moment you declare yourself the next insert big awesome title here, you open yourself up to such scrutiny that even the tiniest misstep will be brought to the surface. This issue was a reprint of the very first Wahoo Morris, with some strategic edits to clean up some of the nudity and foul language, to make it safe for any younger readers who might pick it up. It isn’t exactly an all-ages book anyway, but I have to give Taillefer a ton of credit for that move. The story itself? It weathered the storm of my initial heightened skepticism and turned out to be a pretty good read. The only thing it really had in common with Strangers in Paradise was the fact that it is black and white, and is a kind of slice of life love story – the reviewer that blurb can be credited to was really lazy on that comparison. But it is a good title with a lot of promise. This issue was a successful one.

Rating:

Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics

—

Pirates vs. Ninjas #1. Written by Fred Perry, Robby Bevard, and Wes Hartman, Art by Craig Babiar and Wes Hartman.

Ah, the inevitable attempt to capitalize on pop culture phenomenon. You knew it had to happen sometime. This issue was a reprint of a previous issue – a trade of the first series is set for release in the next two months. It was a little padded but fairly generic fun. Being the first part of a four part series, it did leave a bit to be desired in terms of a conclusion. Wish they would have done something original instead of a straight reprint to be honest – a issue-sized, self contained, straight up brawl between some pirates and ninjas would have done a lot more to generate interest in the series than the meager offering we got here. Could have been better, but not too, too bad as it was.

Rating:

Antarctic Press

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Worlds of Aspen #2. [i]By Michael Turner, Jeph Loeb, Vince Hernandez, Marcus To, Don Ho, Jason Gorder, Sal Regla, Peter Steigherwald,

This year’s effort from Aspen was very similar to last year’s – a few excerpts from various stories in their line-up, including the Soulfire, Fathom: Kiani, Soulfire: New World Order, and Shrugged.

Like I have come to expect from Aspen, there was nothing really good or bad about any of these stories. The art on Soulfire: New World Order was surprisingly fresh – everything I have seen from Aspen at this point has been that horrifically generic Turneresque style – it was nice to see something different. The stories were fairly generic, and being incomplete excerpts, you really didn’t get a satisfying read out of any of them.

In the end – a powerfully average outing for Aspen once again – something that seems to have become the standard for that line.

Rating:

Aspen Comics

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Arcana Studio Presents 2007. By Various.

Another strong submission from Arcana Studio – that makes four years in a row! My reaction to this year’s is not-so-surprisingly similar to last year’s. As the years go on, Arcana has grown better at their craft, and as a company they are really putting out some great work these days. Several years ago, when they first started out, a lot of the praise they earned was owed mostly to potential – they are really realizing that right now.

Three new stories were found in this year’s issue – a Kade: Sun of Perdition short, a prologue to the upcoming 100 Girls series, and a look at the forthcoming Clockwork Girl series (which is starting off with a $.25 issue. All three were solid stories – I was particularly impressed with the art on the Kade short – it was really something special.

Arcana has nailed the Free Comic Book Day formula from day one. Show off your line, but give readers a complete read that is easy to follow. Right on the money for the fourth straight year.

Rating:

Arcana Comics

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Last Blood #1. Written by Bobby Crosby, Art by Owen Gieni.

The first thing that came to mind when I opened up this issue was The Walking Dead – only with slightly less awesome art. While the art critique held up in the end (it was decent, but could stand some improvement), I was pleasantly surprised at the original twist Crosby added to the story. Yes, it is a zombie book, and yes, the story does follow a group of living people who have to survive in a world overrun by those creatures. The twist? Vampires. Needing a source of blood to survive, vampires actively protect the humans from the zombies to ensure their own survival. The issue also reveals a connection between the vampires and the zombies that actually makes a lot of sense.

This issue looks to be the actual first issue of the series – a tactic we are seeing employed a few times this year. This issue is the actual #1, with issue #2 set to come out in July. That is the very spirit of Free Comic Book Day. A little more risky, but readers who picked this issue up got a real free comic in every sense of the word.

Rating:

Blatant Comics

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Digital Webbing Jam 2007.By Various.

Digital Webbing gave us a look at five of their properties this month. These stories are described as “remastered,” or simply previews – which means they probably aren’t original, but once again – indie companies tend to get a little pass on that.

The first was a Bloodrayne short that wasn’t too bad. It was high action, and though you really don’t get too much detail about who Bloodrayne is (unless you are already familiar with the game), you get a nice fight sequence and some decent conflict which stood pretty well on its own. The Fist of Justice short had a clever twist, but ultimately it wasn’t something that could carry a concept over the long term. I really tried to like E-Man, but there just wasn’t much there to really go on. Zombie Highway’s and Punks were also way too short – it probably would have served the whole issue better to give those pages over to Bloodrayne and Fist of Justice for to better showcase those books.

This issue was better than I expected – the spotlight features stood well on their own, and were fairly enjoyable.

Rating:

Digital Webbing

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Love and Capes #4. By Thomas F. Zahler.

Like Last Blood, this is a legit complete issue that is part of the series. It is going to be available for sale in July as a variant cover – mostly to give readers the opportunity to check it out who might not have been able to find a copy on Free Comic Book Day, which is a perfectly acceptable strategy, and one I think falls very much in the spirit of “original, non-reprinted” content. The issue itself was fun. There is plenty of spoofing of mainstream heroes, but the core of the story is essentially a romantic comedy that spotlights the relationship between The Crusader – a super-hero, and Abby Tennyson, the owner of a bookstore. The issue was a light and fun read that was well put together. Hope you got a chance to read it.

Rating:

Maerkle Press

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Comic Genesis Free Comic Book Day 2007. By Various.

As in prior years, Comic Genesis devoted their Free Comic Book Day issue to highlighting thirty web comics that are hosted on their site. They also include instructions on how to set up your own account with them and post your work.

A novel idea – and it probably did bring in a few takers, but as a comic, it resulted in a slightly amateurish product. The production was nice, but the strips themselves often left a lot to be desired. Several forgot to even showcase why their comic is worth reading, instead devoting the whole thing to a big ad where the characters asked people to check out their strip. A few gems – worth flipping through, but there really weren’t any solid standouts. Having to sift through a lot of hard-to-read and humorless strips really made it worse for the few gems in there.

Rating:

Comic Genesis

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Little Archie: Legend of the Lost Lagoon #1. By Bob Bolling and Jim Amash.

Archie still hasn’t managed to recreate the magic of its 2004 Free Comic Book Day entry, but this one wasn’t half bad. Granted – Little Archie is about as intriguing as Baby Mickey (sorry – Muppet Babies was the only time the concept ever worked) – but Bolling does manage to tell a somewhat interesting story. The real stars of the story were the grown-up camp counselors, whose behavior in the story really mimicked the kind of thing you would see from the regular cast of an Archie book. This made me kind of wonder why they bothered with the Little Archie gimmick at all.

Could have been worse – but the gimmick was a killer here.

Rating:

Archie Comics

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The Astounding Wolf-Man #1. Written by Robert Kirkman, Art by Jason Howard.

Another “Give the first issue away” effort – and Image being as big as they are, this will probably pay off the most for them. Robert Kirkman, of course, is well known for his work at Image. Invincible and The Walking Dead are two of the top books in their line, so you can bet they would be eager to add a third. The story itself followed a pretty standard wolf-man formula, and was fairly enjoyable, if predictable. I can recall that the first issue of the Walking Dead was very formulaic- it took several issues before it really started to stand out. The same may hold true here – it has potential for sure. A lot less serious and not nearly as dark as The Walking Dead, but just as appealing to fans of the supernatural. A good first issue, and a great Free Comic Book Day submission.

Rating:

Image Comics

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APE Entertainment’s Comic Spectacular!. By Various.

Most of the time, when I pick up an anthology-style Free Comic Book Day issue, I cringe before opening. Cracking open APE’s issue was such a relief. Inside there were sex actual short stories. Not excerpts of stories – full stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It seems like comic creators have a hard enough time with 8 page stories – to see this many 5 pagers of such high quality was a real treat. My favorite line of all the FCBD issues I read this year appeared in this issue – “The Civil Boar tie-ins broke my fall. I knew they were good for something.” If that doesn’t about sum it up, I don’t know what does. This was an outstanding effort for APE, and I hope they pick up a few new readers for their efforts.

Rating:

APE Entertainment

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Liberty Comics #0. By Dennis Mallonee, Mike W. Barr, Billy Tucci, Andrew Pepoy, Henry Vogel, Mark Propst, and Rob Jones.

Heroic Publishing has gone with Liberty Girl again to headline their Free Comic Book Day submission, and it seems to have worked out in their favor once again. This issue contained four complete stories – and all four in the same “Golden Age Style” that Heroic prides itself on. And they pull it off. It leaves a little to be desired in terms of character development, but that really isn’t what this issue is all about. It was good decent fun, and this year’s issue was even better than last year’s. I am glad to see that Heroic has managed to stick around this long – it is always a treat to crack open one of their issues.

Rating:

Heroic Publishing

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The Train Was Bang On Time. By Eddie Campbell and William Hornber.

Bonus points for creativity in format, I have to admit. Sadly, that was the most novel thing about this issue.

To be frank, it was a little confusing and a lot boring. The issue quite literally started with a bang – a protest turns bloody as a train is blown up, instead of merely blocked as a group of protesters intended. Framed as a detective story, a good mystery was anticipated. Unfortunately, after the explosion, the story just kind of meanders. The reason for this is several fold – one, a real weakness in artistic storytelling, and two – a poor script that relied on good artistic storytelling to carry it. Page after page without a word on it attempted to convey what was happening – and that lack of dialogue killed what could have been a good story. Sometimes it is better to forget trying to be so bloody artistic and tell a good story – when you go for “artsy,” you often fail if you don’t do it with good reason and skill.

Could have been much better.

Rating:

First Second Books

—

Whiteout #1. Written by Greg Rucka, Art by Steve Lieber.

This issue was a reprint of the original Whiteout #1 published way back in 1998. Oni has just released a “remastered” trade of this mini, and is including the first issue here by way of promotion. OK, so it isn’t exactly original or yet-unseen material, but it was a decent first issue, and there is a really good chance that most Free Comic Book Day patrons hadn’t read it before. The ending is a little rough – the story is incomplete and not really satisfying if read on its own, but as a lead in to a four issue mini, it wasn’t too bad.

Not the ideal choice for a Free Comic Book Day submission, but far, far better than a lot of the alternatives.

Rating:

Oni Press

—

Viper Comics Presents Volume Two. By Various.

I’ve been an unabashed Viper fan for a long time, which makes this review very, very hard.

This effort was really less than stellar.

It started off well enough – the Yeti Another Day strips were an excellent warm-up. This issue was bound to be Sasquatch-heavy with their promotion of the upcoming anthology, so it set the perfect tone. The second short – an excerpt from Sasquatch vs. UFOs started off well enough, and seemed like a clever concept. However, the end is where things started to go wrong. That story ended in a cliffhanger without giving any real substance of its own. The stories after that had even less substance. Even Oddly Normal – a fantastic title, was pretty empty. Don’t get me wrong, it started off as any good Oddly Normal issue would, but the pages included couldn’t stand on their own at all.

This was a decent showcase of Viper’s various titles, but they forgot that Free Comic Book Day is supposed to be about free comics, not free ads and preview pages. Outside the initial strips, nothing in this book could be read or enjoyed on its own. A real shame. All of these titles deserve to be given a shot – but this particular issue was a weak contribution to the event.

Rating:

Viper Comics

—

Marvel Adventures Three-In-One. By Various.

The first of two Marvel submissions this year – this one was geared towards the all-ages reader. And it wasn’t half bad. The “solicit” for this issue promised all-new stories, though I am pretty sure that the Franklin Richards story in the back was a reprint. The Hulk and Iron Man stories seemed fresh, however, and for ten page shorts were exceptionally well-written. It just goes to show that there really are people left at Marvel who can write a short comic story- most impressive! This was a great issue for the kids, and the average non-comic-reader Joe who happened to pick this one up.

An excellent start for Marvel.

Rating:

Marvel Comics

—

Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift 2007. Written by Dan Slott, Art by Phil Jimenez.

Wow – just wow. I honestly don’t think Marvel has ever done a better Free Comic Book Day issue. Last year was the first year they really did well, but this is absolutely perfect.

OK, So there is a new Spider-Man movie out – heck, Free Comic Book Day was scheduled to be on opening weekend for this movie. So Marvel responds by releasing a Spider-Man comic for this years event. The right move for sure.

Second – it is an original story. Written by Dan Slott to boot, which is a bonus for comic fans who follow the creative talent behind their books. And he really delivered. This story was all-ages friendly, not bogged down in continuity, fun and exciting. It had humor and action, and though it followed the old standard Spider-Man formula (you know, Peter on his way to meet X loved one, only to be interrupted by a criminal), it was handled with such humor and grace that the issue was a joy to read. And as one-off villains go, Overdrive was a pretty good one.

And as icing, why not give a preview of an upcoming issue of Amazing Spider-Man? I dislike Free Comic Book Day issues that are made up entirely of preview pages, but if you took the time and effort to deliver a high quality complete story, and want to take a couple pages to showcase an upcoming issue, go for it! Through and through, a great issue, Well done, Marvel.

Rating:

Marvel Comics

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Comics 101: How-to and History Lessons From the Pros!. By Danny Fingeroth, Mike Manley, Bret Blevins, Bob McLeod, Roy Thomas, and Michael Eury.

Of the three “How to” comics that came out this year, this one was my favorite. Mostly because it wasn’t so artist-oriented, but also included some stuff for aspiring comic writers. But it was more than that. The real gem of this issue was the lengthy comic history articles in the back. There was a lot of informative information regarding the history of the medium in that article, and I highly recommend all of you find a copy if this issue if you missed it and read it. A lot of you probably know everything presented in it anyway, but it is a nice piece of work that I think you will enjoy. Especially if you want to make comics – you should know the ins and outs of the industry you aspire to be a part of, and this article will get you off to a good start.

Not a great issue for someone looking for a comic story, but for the real comic geek – it’s a good one.

Rating:

Twomorrows

—

Comics Festival 2007. By Various.

If anything, I hope you managed to pick this issue up just to read Darwyn Cooke’s outstanding short.

There were several shorts in this issue, and of all of the anthology books that came out this year, this one really stood head and shoulders above the rest. In addition to Cooke’s story The Alex, there were a few other notable standouts, including True Romance from Brian McLachlan, Michael Cho, and Cooke, The Wonderful World of Kim Pine by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and what I considered to be a real commentary on the nature of masculinity in today’s society, J. Bone’s Jett Vector. Through and through a great read.

Rating:

Legion of Evil Press

—

Wow – there you are, thirty-eight Free Comics! As always, there are a couple that get missed in the shuffle – due to regional issues or some other unknown factors. This year, the submissions from Bongo, Boom!, Castle Rain, Comic Shop News, Keenspot, and Drawn & Quarterly were missed. If you picked up any of these issues, please feel free to add your thoughts!

Thanks again for reading, and see you next year!

This year’s event seemed a little more subdued than last – no major comic movie was released this weekend (maybe they didn’t want to alienate Marvel or DC by picking one over the other?), and the pre-event chatter wasn’t as intense as it has been in years past. Still, the comic shop was packed, and it seems like the comic community woke up to it at the last minute. The publishers, though, prepared well – this might have been the best crop of Free Comic Book Day contributions yet.

Those who have read my previous recaps (2004 2005) will recall, in this column I give a rundown and some brief comments on each of the comics offered. This year, I am going to add a little wrinkle – a rating. If for no other reason than to give the SOTS Halibut a little workout over here, each entry will be given a rating out of 5 SMACKS, 5, of course, being the best possible contribution a publisher can make for Free Comic Book Day.

If you are familiar with my reviews, I am notoriously difficult, and have never actually given anything a 5 rating. In a review, a 5/5 to me means that a particular issue is the absolute best a single issue of a comic can possibly be. I have never seen a comic that good, and thus have never ranked an issue 5/5. However, while the quality of the story does weigh heavily in these rating, the ranks in this article are only judging the quality of the entry as a Free Comic Book Day contribution, and thus a few managed to get full marks.

So what does this mean? Well, I have noticed that a few publishers don’t really seem to get that Free Comic Book Day is not Free 32 Page Ad Day. Naturally, all of these books are ads by their nature. Why participate if you don’t hope that someone will like your product, and buy more issues? But when you tell a non comic reader about Free Comic Book Day in the hopes that they will visit their local comic shop, you expect that if they do go, they will get an actual free comic book. That means a complete story that, while perhaps referencing another issue, can be read, understood, and enjoyed completely on its own. Sometimes you can get away with an excerpt from another comic, but simply a collection of preview pages chosen at random doesn’t really fit the bill.

Each ranking will take three factors into consideration – Original Content (either unique to the issue or previously unreleased), Overall Quality, and Story Completeness (does it stand alone?). An issue with full marks is high quality, contains new or preview material, and can be enjoyed without ever reading another issue from the publisher. Though hopefully it is good enough to make you want to check out more of their products.

Like every year, I would like to thank Nuclear Comics (28985 Golden Lantern #B107 in Laguna Niguel, CA – (949) 363-1263) for making sure that these issues were available to me for this article this year. I feel like a hog having all of these issues pulled for me, but rest assured that like every year, I keep the stack in my office and pass them out to anyone who might be interested in them once this article is written. Check out Nuclear Comics if you are in the Southern California area, it is my LCS of choice and worth the trip.

This event really is about getting new readers to give comics a chance, and those of us who are already on the bandwagon need to help facilitate that. So don’t corrupt these issues with bags and boards or tuck them away in a dark box in a closet somewhere. Get them out there – pass them out, and make sure anyone who might want to read one gets a chance. More readers means more money for the industry, and a better chance that your favorite title won’t fall due to low sales. And even better – more comic readers means more people you can share your love of the medium with. Isn’t that reason enough?

Without further ado, in the order I read them – the Free Comic Book Day 2006 Rundown

Archie’s 65th Anniversary Bash #1. Written by Dan Parent, Art by Parent and Jim Amash.

Starting things off this year is Archie’s contribution to FCBD, usually the strongest in 2004, and one of the weakest last year. This year’s was in between, a little camp mixed with a good introduction to the titles they offer. This year mark’s Archie Comics’ 65th Anniversary, and the story of Archie possibly having to leave town leant itself well to a bit of a retrospective of the whole Archiverse. Not exactly high marks for story, but it did do something to introduce the Archie line to the potential new reader.

Rating:

Archie Comics

Comic Genesis. by Various, Edited by Kelly Price

The format on this one was a little confusing – the intro talks about Comic Genesis as a web strip hosting service, but all of the strips included seemed to have their own link. One would presume that each of these have a regular web comic feature – so Free Comic Book Day would be an excellent way to draw new readers to those sites. Find some strips you like, and check out the site. Easy as that! On the whole it was pretty poor, but there was one standout – Staccato was hilarious. The back half of the book was dedicated to God Mode, basically a PvP clone in concept, though there were a few good puns, the Square/Borg gimmick was pretty good. In all, Staccato was a bit funnier, but it was a much smaller sampling.

Rating:

Comic Genesis

X-Men/Runaways. Written by Brian K. Vaughan and others, Art by Skottie Young and others.

It has been known to happen, believe it or not. Marvel blew me away with this year’s FCBD outing. New material, and not just the same promotion of the same faces? With good quality material? Hats off to them, they did a great job. Young’s pairing with Vaughan for the Runaways story really gave it a light feel – his Wolverine expressions were outstanding. Though contrived, the meeting between the X-Men and the Runaways went off about as it should, and really did a great job introducing the kids to anyone who might have just picked this one up because Wolverine was on the cover. Of course, the Franklin Richards bit was outstanding, and there was a nice intro to the Marvel Adventures Avengers, and a pretty extensive recap of the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man. After last year’s non-effort on the part of Marvel, they really deserve top marks for this year. This is EXACTLY what they should be releasing for Free Comic Book Day. Well done, a great issue.

Rating:

Marvel Comics

Superman/Batman #1. Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines.

And the flip side of the coin goes to DC with this reprint of the very old Superman/Batman #1. With all the exciting things going on in DC nowadays, you would think they would go with something a little more timely. Especially something that isn’t plagued with tardiness issues? Maybe something creative – a joint #0 for a few of their upcoming books, a little anthology deal, something. A decent issue, but it only serves to interest people in a story that is well past this point, and anyone drawn into the title would have to work very hard to find back issues and trades. Not the ideal effort. At the very least, it does qualify as a “Free Comic,” so there is that.

Rating:

DC Comics

Justice League Unlimited #1. Written by Adam Beechen, Art by Carlo Barberi and Walden Wong.

DC’s second outing of the month, this one presumably to appeal to younger readers, perhaps those that have watched Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. I guess they are still showing reruns, but isn’t this show pretty well cancelled? And the ads in this thing – one mentioning Powerpuff Girls, which is cancelled! It almost seems like DC didn’t even try this year, which is a real shame, considering that their whole focus these past couple years have been climbing to the top of the comic game, and making this the year for new readers to sample their books. A real let down from the Spin.

Rating:

DC Comics

The Fantagraphics Funny Book #2. By Various.

The second year for Fantagraphics, and this year they are doing pretty much the same thing they did last – a little anthology to show off their talent. As you might expect a lot of it is rough – when you have an indie book dealing with their up and comers, few things are really going to be smooth. Of course, there are bound to be stand outs, and there were a pair here – Jason’s D.V. strips were pretty hilarious, as were Johnny Ryan’s gag comics. Naturally this one is adult themed, so no showing it to the kiddies. Overall a solid intro to Fantagraphic’s line-up.

Rating:

Fantagraphics

Free Scott Pilgrim. By Bryan Lee O’Malley, Back-Up by Andy Helms.

Oni’s outing this year features a brand new Scott Pilgrim adventure. This was my first taste of Scott Pilgrim, and it was a little silly, but nothing to write home about. The back-up, The Aggressive Adventures of Fearless Griggs, on the other hand, was a lot silly and a real chuckler. It’s strength was in word play between the modern “hip” adventurer and the maniacal, over-the top assassin who spoke in some serious hyperbole. Good stuff, it was a fun read.

Rating:

Oni Press

Conan/Star Wars. By Timothy Truman and Randy Stradley, Art by Paul Lee and Douglas Wheatley.

This year’s Dark Horse book is one of those flip two-fers, one half Conan, the other half Star Wars. This is my first taste of Timoth Truman on Conan, who is previously known for his work on Scout. And honestly? He really isn’t holding a candle to Busiek in this sampling. Hopefully this is just a warm up, or Conan is going to fall from grace really quickly. The Star Wars story focuses on the Clone Troopers, and is set during the Clone Wars. A decent action story – not much to speak of, but not bad. Admittedly I kind of expected a little more out of Dark Horse, especially being their 20th anniversary. The preview of Truman’s Conan was a great idea, though it is a shame that it didn’t quite turn out as well as it could have. Truman has tremendous shoes to fill, though, so this might be an example of expectations being way too high.

Rating:

Dark Horse

Mr. Jean. By Phillipe Dupuy and Charles Berberian.

Drawn and Quarterly’s FCBD effort is a reprint of excerpts of Get a Life and Maybe Later, collections of Dupuy and Berberian short stories, and a preview of Tove Jansson’s Moomin.

The Dupuy and Berberian shorts were actually pretty interesting. Naturally not ideally suited for the common comic reader, but they are interesting for those who might like something of a “real life” genre story. Of course, the books were originally French, and there are a few cultural tweaks here and there, but nothing too foreign. In all, they were decent. The Moomin preview, on the other hand, pretty well lost me. Seems it isn’t quite my brand of humor, unfortunately.

Rating:

Drawn and Quarterly

Jack the Lantern: 1942. Written by Michael Angelos, Art by Jerry beck and Tony Bledsoe.

I have actually had the chance to read Jack the Lantern previously – unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy it too much then, so it faced an uphill battle with me this time around. Maybe my previous experiences clouded my judgment on this one, but it just bored the heck out of me. It was a good rundown of the character and a bit about its history, but unfortunately if you aren’t into the goth/ghoulish/demon type story, this really isn’t going to appeal to you. This might be a great comic – sadly, I am about as far from its target audience as you can get. I like a good demon story, but this style just never suited me. Great presentation, but just not my style.

Rating:

Castle Rain Entertainment

Worlds of Aspen. By Various, Edited by Vince Hernandez.

The submission from Michael Turner’s house was about what you would expect, some light stories that focused heavily on the art. I’ve avoided Aspen since it first began, mostly because I am not so much a fan of Michael Turner’s art. Granted, he draws extremely beautiful people, but the trouble is that aside from hair and eye color changes, it is all the same person. The repetition gets old after a while.

Now really, it wasn’t as bad as all that. The first two preview stories, Soulfire: Chaos Reign and Fathom were extremely Turneresque – pretty too look at, but kind of fluffy on the whole (even the Chaos Reign was fluffy, and I don’t think it was intended to be). Shrugged was actually kind of clever, and had a good style. Soulfire, well, being Turner’s main project, you can imagine what I thought of that preview. The issue itself was well put together. It wasn’t original material, but it did give the reader a good look at the Aspen line-up. And if you are a Michael Turner fan, you probably got a lot out of this. Not exactly to my taste, but a decent FCBD issue.

Rating:

Aspen Comics

Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule!. By John Gallagher, Stephen Silver, and Rich Faber.

Much like last year, this year’s Buzzboy issue contains three shorts stories. This issue appears to be original, and it promises an issue #2 to be available in August. So if you enjoyed this, you might want to keep an eye out for that. Either way – giving an issue #1 out for free is a great hook, hopefully it works out for them.

The same cast and character’s from last year’s Buzzboy have returned again, except a little younger it seems. And there is the Roby Red back-up like last year, but sadly no Major Damage, which is a real shame if you ask me. This was an entertaining read – really light hearted and family-friendly, and a bit silly at times. And filled with action – I am sure issue #2 will be equally as exciting.

A great effort for Skydog once again. Hopefully this will turn on a few new readers to their upcoming series.

Rating:

Skydog Comics

Liberty Girl #0. Written by Dennis Mallonee, Art by Daerick Gross and Mark Propst.

I really enjoy reading Heroic Publishing comics whenever I get a chance – it seems like they remember a certain something about comic books that we seem to have forgotten in this day and age. Sure, we get more literary-quality comics, but we have forgotten how to suspend disbelief, revel the pure, archtypical character, and just enjoy a super-hero comic book. In fact, if there is a failing for Heroic, its that they don’t often consider that some of their potential readers might not know how to do that anymore!

Liberty Girl is a preview issue for the new series getting started in August, so the already get high marks for new material. The story itself? Pretty decent. The character is going to need some developing, but it was basic – a superhero stepping in to help regular folk. Down to earth… so rare. A pretty decent start – definitely interested in seeing issue #1.

Rating:

Heroic Publishing

Bongo Comics Free-For-All!. By Matt Groening.

Pretty run-of-the-mill Simpsons comic – a few short stories from the Simpsons, Radioactive Man, Pie Man, and Futurama. They were oddly enjoyable, really no less funny than the show, though you do have to imagine your own voices. It always amazes me to see how much Simpsons comics don’t suck. You’d think they would be lame, but I have enjoyed every one I have ever read, on some level at least. This issue was a decent sampling of what they have to offer, and was more than enjoyable on its own merits.

Rating:

Bongo Comics

Transformers: Infiltration/Beast Wars. Written by Simon Furman and Chuck Dixon, Art by E.J. Su, Guido Guidi, and Don Figueroa.

It only makes sense that IDW would use this opportunity to show off their new Transformers license. I was especially excited for the peak at Beast Wars, a series I was very much looking forward to at Dreamwave before their sudden demise.

When reading this sample though, I couldn’t help but wonder, who picked these pages anyway? Everything included was just previews to existing or upcoming issues, and it seems like they just picked the first couple pages and printed them. Almost all exposition, very little action, heck, I don’t even remember seeing Optimus Prime on any of the pages! You’d think they would throw in an awesome fight sequence in there just to get the juices flowing, and make you want to buy an issue. But I don’t even think I want to give this to my boss’s kid, a big Transformers fan, because it is going to bore the poor kid to tears.

If they weren’t going to include original content, IDW should have taken more care in choosing what preview pages to include. These just aren’t going to turn that many potential readers on to IDW’s Transformer line.

Rating:

IDW Publishing

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck. By Don Rosa, Pat and Shelly Block, and William Van Horn.

What, taking a BREAK from the usual offering of Carl Barks classic stories? Say it ain’t so! A bit of a disappointment right out of the gate, but Don Rosa is no slouch either, so I tried not to let it get me too down. Still – Barks is what I have come to expect from Disney Comics on Free Comic Book Day. The three included shorts were all decent, and all featured Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Each was a preprint of a story that appeared in Walt Disney Comics and Stories previously, but not for the past decade (18 years for the Rosa story).

There wasn’t really any surprises in this issue – it was the exact sort of thing we have come to expect from Gemstone’s Disney line. While there is certainly nothing new stylistically with the Disney Comics, it does continue to be interesting to see them stacked up against other contemporary books, and see how well they fare. And their usual too-high price point isn’t a problem here, this one’s free. The book itself might get a younger reader interested in Disney Comics, unfortunately few would be able to afford them. Still – a good outing, not as good as their Barks features, but passable.

Rating:

Gemstone Publishing

G.I. Joe Sigma 6. Written by Andrew Dabb, Art by Chris Lee and Ramanda Kamarga.

Sigma 6 is the newest G.I. Joe cartoon, and this issue, of course, reprints the first in the series based off of that show. It is all ages friendly, and one would presume fairly true to the cartoon.

While this book was probably great for the younger reader, I had some bias to overcome in reading it. Last year’s Devil’s Due contribution featured a Defex preview, as you might remember, a book that has since been totally forgotten along with the rest of the Aftermath line. In the last year, Devil’s Due has gone from being one of the more original publishers to relying almost solely on licenses for comic adaptations of popular lines. As sudden and swift as that change was, it still bugs me – especially considering how much I was enjoying Defex. Add to that that this G.I. Joe is only barely similar to the one I grew up with – the biggest sore thumb was Destro… what did they do to his head?

Maybe all this proves is that I am just a grumpy old man, who don’t get “kids these days.” The issue was ok, and should appeal to the younger crowd. I do with they didn’t need to rip up G.I. Joe to do it though! I am actually surprised they took this approach, honestly, in pushing the all ages book, I expected them to go after the regular comic audience.

Rating:

Devil’s Due

Impact University Volume 2. By Various.

Just thinking back to the ego-trip that was last year’s introduction to the FCBD Impact University issue makes Colleen Doran’s into all the better.

If you ever wanted to create a comic, though, this might be something you want to look at. Impact produces a series of books that are designed to help you create comics, with industry professionals offering advice and tips on any aspect of the process. This issue was a good sampling of the kind of things you would see in their line. Though I do have to admit, I did get a chuckle out of the Photo reference section – while generally informative, Greg Land’s section basically promoted tracing. Considering the fact that Land is criticized for over-using photo reference, his three page section was an almost comical confirmation of the critique.

If you fancy yourself a comic creator, or a future creator, you might want to check this issue out to see if Impact has anything to offer you.

Rating:

Impact Books

Owly: Breakin’ the Ice. By Andy Runton.

Owly! Yes!

Looks like Top Shelf learned their lesson last year, and decided to stick with Owly as their face for Free Comic Book Day. Like last year, this was a great call. This issue is once again a new Owly story, promoting the line of graphic novels. And geez, just like last year, it was awesome. Runton has achieved the pinnacle of artistic storytelling, the way he conveys emotion in those simple panels is just awesome. The whole range – anger, nervousness, sorrow, desperation – Owly blows me away once again.

It is very all-ages friendly and great for just a simple comic fan that enjoys a powerful story. You wouldn’t think a kids book about a shy little owl could be powerful, but here you are. Top Shelf rises to the top on Free Comic Book Day for the second year in a row with this entry.

Rating:

Top Shelf Productions

Bluff & Tales from a Forgotten Planet. By Yoshik Watanabe, Giovanni Masi, and Ben Dunn.

I have seen a lot of press from Narwain Publishing over the past few months, but this was the first chance I really have had to see what they put out. It looks like these are previously published shorts- previews of two of their titles.

The Bluff story was nice – heartwarming, of course, a decent all ages book with a pair of interesting protagonists… Bluff, the bull terrier, and his flea named Flea, who observe the dynamics of the family that adopted Bluff (reluctantly) after almost killing him with their car. That one has the potential to be a good series, though it might not draw the average comic reader looking for something a little more exciting. Tales From a Forgotten Planet was a sci-fi-ish buddy manga deal… a group of spacefarers that acts pretty well exactly like you would expect any group of kids to act in an Anime show. Great if you like the genre, but it was lost on me. There was also a few one page rundowns of some of their titles.

Overall this was a nice introduction to Narwain, and well worth the time for the Bluff story alone. Plan to look for that series here myself.

Rating:

Narwain Publishings

Amelia Rules!: Funny Story. By Jimmy Gownley.

Another Amelia Rules! Contribution from Renaissance Press this year, a publisher that clearly understands that you don’t change something that works. Amelia worked last year, and it sure works again this year. Last year’s issue had Amelia moving to a new town and dealing with that and her parent’s divorce. This year’s had her dealing with her Mom starting to date again.

Some might brand this inappropriate for an all-ages audience for that fact alone, but I do have to disagree there. Children who are victims of divorce are more common than not these days, and though you would like to think that an eight year old wouldn’t be dumped off at a babysitter so that her Mom could go have a social life – it is a fact in this day and age, and a real conflict that kids have to deal with. The “mirror” sequence was priceless – all the things a kid would want to say to a parent embarking on a “date,” but would be afraid to, for fear of punishment.

Once again, Amelia proved to be one of the best FCBD entries this year – nice to know that some things don’t change.

Rating:

Renaissance Press

Image Comics: Future Shock. By Rick Remender, Jerome Opena, Joe Casey, Tom Scioli, Richard Starkings, Robert Kirkman, and others..

You know, there aren’t many better ways to make me smile on a Free Comic Book Day entry than to start it off with Fear Agent.

This year Image went the preview route, pulling four page samples from future issues of Fear Agent, G0dland, Invinvible, Noble Causes, Savage Dragon, Shadowhawk, Spawn, and Witchblade – a good sampling of their various ongoing books. Unlike the IDW Transformers book, it seems like these preview pages were chosen with much greater care, and actually gives the reader a good idea of the characters and themes of the individual books.

While not entertaining on its own, it is a decent preview of what Image has to offer. They did seem to forget that Free Comic Book Day isn’t about glorified ads for a line, but a free comic. The pages included were often semi-self contained (The Shadowhawk one was nice), and could stand on their own as entertaining, it still wasn’t the same as a more flushed out story. A good entry, but more of an ad than anything, and that isn’t what this day is about.

Rating:

Image Comics

Keenspot Spotlight 2006. By Various..

Another huge entry from KeenSpot, though about 16 pages shorter than last year’s contribution. Still, that leaves 105 pages, so who is complaining?

Much like last year, this year’s KeenSpot is an anthology collection of shorts from their line (everything from webcomics to graphic novels). You know, it wasn’t all that bad. Sure some things stuck out more than others, and some were just plain bad. But that is par for the course for indie productions like this one. There was simply a ton here to see, and through it all there had to be a few things that would appeal to anyone. And that is what an anthology is all about, isn’t it? A lot of this isn’t exactly my thing, but I have to give them credit for another great entry.

Rating:

KeenSpot

Arcana Studio Presents 2006. By Various..

Arcana Studio traditionally puts out a great Free Comic Book Day entry – they seem to have gotten the concept right from day one. Yes – promote your work, but made a comic book. Not an ad disguised as a comic book. This year they kept up that standard.

The first thing I noticed was the graphic upgrade on Kade – it looks like they are using some CGI these days. It’s been a while since I read an issue of Kade, so I have no idea how long they have been doing that, but it does look good. The stories in this issue were good. They do look to be new – and generally do stand on their own. The Ezra story does have something of a cliffhanger, but the story itself stands on its own, and it makes sense to put something in there to make the reader want to hunt down the next issue.

Three years – three outstanding Arcana contributions. It is also really nice to see them evolving, really learning their trade. Each passing year the books are sleeker, the dialogue better, and the art and artistic storytelling smoother. They always had a good vision and a decent product, but it really seems like they have come of age. It is gratifying to see.

Rating:

Arcana Studio

Like every year, there are one or two items that I miss due to availability issues. This year was no different, but it was pretty painful. I missed the Tokyopop contribution, which wasn’t so bad for me, not being a fan, but I did miss out on the Adhouse Books and the Viper issues, both of which I was really looking forward to. I am really disappointed to have missed them – hopefully I’ll be able to track down copies of the issues eventually.

Overall, much like last year, this year was even stronger than the year before. It seems that the publishers are really getting the hang of this event, and are putting more time and effort into making it a success. Marvel coming to the table this year, finally, was a real exciting change: with luck, this will be more than a one time thing, and next year’s entry will be just as brilliant. DC – the gauntlet is down! Let’s see something phenomenal next year!

Until 2007 …

Who? What? Still on the Shelf? What’s that?

Yeah – it has been a long hiatus, but I decided that it was time to start writing these again. Plan on at least a few more in the upcoming weeks, so there is that to look forward to!

But enough about the future, how about we talk about the title du jour, Fear Agent?

Naturally, the obvious appeal is that this is a sci-fi book. Sci-fi is still a rare genre in comics today, despite the fact that you would think that the “Sci-fi geeks” and “Comic Geeks” are, in fact, the same crowd. Alas, this doesn’t seem to be the case, and a good sci-fi serial comic is hard to come by. There are Star Wars comics, of course, but that is a creature all its own. Beyond that, we have seen some sci-fi books come and go, Negation and the recent Space Ghost mini come to mind. But nothing ongoing that is still around today, nothing that you could say “Sci-fi? Well, you have to check out , that is just outstanding.” Sad state of things, if you ask me. Sci-fi comics these days are really hit and miss, so much so that buying them is a perilous task at best.

Personally, I am a sci-fi geek. I like it in all flavors. I like the down to earth, make you think sci-fi like Eternal Sunrise of the Spotless Mind, the utopian galactic political sci-fi like the kind you find in Star Trek, heck, I even like the picturesque, epic tapestry sci-fi like you find in 2001: A Space Odessey. I like all sorts of Sci-Fi, but there is a shocking lack of it in the comic medium. So every time I hear about a new sci-fi book, I am compelled to give it a shot in hopes that it will fill that void. Fear Agent was no different. I snatched the first issue off the shelf as soon as it came out, and have been hooked ever since.

Rick Remender is certainly no stranger to the genre. He did animation work on Titan A.E., which was a solid sci-fi action film (I swear they ripped that idea off from me, and I have the novella to prove it, but I digress). Comic readers should be familiar with his art more so than his writing, he has worked on books like TMNT, the Avengers, and Ruule: Ganglords of Chinatown. I don’t know if it was intentional, but the Fear Agent “universe” did feel somewhat like the universe we saw in Titan A.E. Fear Agent has the same gritty feel, the same diversity of species that seems lacking in common sci-fi. The lack of available human food is a good example of this. In a galaxy filled with different species, it is only natural that everyone would not eat peanut butter. In such a galaxy, you wouldn’t find human food in every nook and cranny. This was the kind of universe we had in Titan A.E., and it is the same kind of feel that we have in Fear Agents. Humans are not special, they are not looked up to, and galaxy most certainly doesn’t revolve around Earth. Remender does a great job with the book’s setting, which is of crucial importance in sci-fi stories of this nature.

Now not to put down Remender’s art, but the fact that he isn’t responsible for the art on Fear Agent was a draw for me. Tony Moore handles the penciling chores (alternating every five issues with Cory Walker, who will start his first turn on issue 6). Of course, this is the same Tony Moore that drew the first outstanding arc of The Walking Dead (If you didn’t read that, go out and get that trade right now). He lives up to some pretty high expectations artistically in the first two issues, which is a real plus for this title.

Fear Agent is a more old fashioned sci-fi story, the action-packed, “aliens are monsters” brand of sci-fi serial like the kind you would see a half a century ago. Lots of different aliens of varying degrees of intelligence, lots of sludge, tentacles, bulky ray guns and dome-helmeted space suits. Things are dirty, gritty, not pristine and sterile like most of the sci-fi you see these days. Heath’s ship is even a blast from the past, a honest to goodness rocket with a trio of landing struts that lands and takes off vertically. That was a really nice touch. The artistic look of this book is one of its strongest points. So often these days, if something is set in space, everything must be sleek, clean, small, and compact. I liked the tubes, the bulkiness, the classic feel of the ships, weapons and space suits. But it also had modern touches – the monitors on Heath’s ship for example. The two meshed together gave the tech aspect of Fear Agent a real authentic feel.

The protagonist Heath Huston is the last surviving Fear Agent. Who or what the Fear Agents were is still something of a mystery, but Heath, working as a xeno-exterminator, is skilled at killing aliens of all kinds. The series starts with Heath, pretty much at the bottom of the barrel, hoping that his latest job pans out, or else he won’t have enough money to run his ship. Heath is an alcoholic, and views working sober as a handicap that he would avoid if given the choice. He is also more human than your average hero these days. He isn’t indestructible, he succeeds in life with a strange mix of skill, luck, and what could either be called bravery or stupidity. He is running more often than he charges in, and somehow manages to stay alive no matter how bad things are going. The mark of a classic serial hero, the joy isn’t from watching him methodically beat down his opposition, fulfilling a foregone conclusion, it is reading to find out just how he is going to manage to stay alive in ever worsening predicaments. Unlike a lot of heroes in comics today, Heath isn’t untouchable. He isn’t larger than life, he could be your drunk uncle. He’s not quite as pathetic as an Al Bundy, but he is no Han Solo.

I have written a lot about the lack of serial storytelling in comics these days. Thus far Fear Agent is a great example of this lost skill. Each issue has a point, and can be read individually. Granted, it is still only two issues young, but if future issues follow this pattern, Fear Agent has the potential to be one of the best serials on the market. Of course it is always better to read the entire run, but since more often than not people don’t give a good series a shot until more than a dozen issues into it, having a book formatted properly is extremely important to a young property. Solid single issues are nearly impossible to find these days, with the stories overly padded and geared towards the eventual trade release. So far, Remender has demonstrated a sound mastery of the single issue story, the smaller stories that contribute to the larger, ongoing arc. If you ask me, a lot of writers today acclaimed for their mastery of “pacing” could take lessons from this series. Basically, what I am trying to say is, things happen in each issue. Things have happened in the first two issues of this book that more conventional books these days would take ten issues just to set up. It is sad how refreshing that is.

The first two issues of Fear Agent are already available. Issue #3 is due out on December 29th. If you are a fan of sci-fi, I strongly recommend this series. It is a real tribute to the sci-fi of a bygone era, and worthy to stand with the best examples of the genre today. I know I am looking forward to issue #3!

Credit Where Credit is Due
Fear Agent is
Written by Rick Remender, with
Art by Tony Moore (Cory Walker starting issue #6)
Ink by Sean Parsons
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Letters by Rus Wooton, and
Published by Image Comics

Cover Gallery

SotS’s Free Comic Book Day Rundown 2005

Once again, thanks to Nuclear Comics, 28985 Golden Lantern # B107 in Laguna Niguel, CA – (949) 363-1263, for making sure these books were available for this article this year. I do appreciate it!

Alternative Comics Presents. By Various.

Alternative Comics contribution was well put together – a bit of a sampling of all of the various types of comics that they put out. Whether you would like the content though, is another matter entirely. This is a classic example of an “alternative” comic company – a few fairly intellectual cartoons, some borderline offensive political cartoons attacking anything to the right of Howard Dean, and several incomprehensible strips with the classic “alternative” comic art style (read: poor). There were some gems to be had; the lead-off story by Gabrielle Bell was excellent. This was the story of a couple arguing constantly over a giant hole in the bathroom, an argument that only ends when one of them is actually swallowed by this seemingly innocent hole. Random would be a good way to describe it, but however you would classify it, it was quite enjoyable. Forbidden Fruit, an all-ages friendly strip by D. Sakai was also interesting; he told a pretty good story without using a single word. Granted, it was a story about birds trying to get fruit from a tree and therefore pretty simple, but it was well done nonetheless.

Overall, this was a good submission to check out if you are a fan of this very formulaic alternative comic style – and it was a well produced introduction to Alternative’s product line.

Alternative Comics

Amelia Rules! #0. By Jimmy Gownley.

This one surprised me in more ways than one. For starters – it was an outstanding all ages story. The simple concept of a kid in a new neighborhood trying to make friends might seem old-hat, but it was exquisitely pulled off by Gownley in this issue. It had all of the right elements, right down to the mean-spirited kid who spreads rumors about the newcomer only to see the light in the end.

The interesting twist of this story was the divorce angle, something I rarely ever see pulled off very well. Divorce is hard on a kid, and adding that as an aggravating factor in moving to a new neighborhood was an interesting choice. But it seemed natural – it was a source of stress for Amelia, but it felt natural, and didn’t completely take over the story. It was just there – and presented in a way that a lot of kids these days might find familiar. I found it to be a most impressive issue, made all the better by the fact that it was a Free Comic Book Day original. You should check this one out.

Amelia Rules!

Arcana Studio Presents #2. By Various.

Last year’s Arcana Studio Presents #1 was one of the better Free Comic Book Day entries, and this year’s effort proved to be just as good. The Kade and Ezra were solid, as usual, but the 100 Girls and Starkweather stories were the most interesting to me. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to sample either series yet, and for a first taste, these stories were fairly impressive. I look forward to reading more.

In the end, once again, Arcana Studio Presents proves to be an excellent standard to judge all of the FCBD entries by. And outstanding and enjoyable production through and through, and I hope you managed to get a copy. It had a quartet of solid and original stories that were great introductions for the new Arcana reader, but not totally boring for someone familiar with the titles. Granted, the former is way more important, as FCBD is for new readers primarily, but it is still nice to be able to enjoy the story if you are a fan of the title.

Arcana Studio

Betty & Veronica FCBD #1. By Dan Parent, Jim Amash, and Barry Grossman.

Last year the Archie Comics FCBD effort was among my favorites. This year it was the most forgettable. Not that I have anything against Betty & Veronica as a title – quite the opposite in fact. But this story was less about promoting Betty & Veronica as a comic, and more about re-introducing globetrotting supermodel Katy Keene to the pages of comics. Sure, she is a character with a lot of history (but then, this seems more like an Ultimate Katy Keene), but I am not so sure this was a good move. Last year’s Archie comic had a broad appeal – this issue presented Betty & Veronica as a book about teenage girls with no higher ambition than designing fashion or becoming a model. I know Betty & Veronica is more than that – but would a new reader? I don’t think so. This issue was a big flop.

Archie Comics

The Batman Strikes #1. Written by Bill Matheny, Art by Christopher Jones and Terry Beatty.

Another major publisher, another all-ages reprint. I have to hand it to Marvel in this case – at least they reprinted a decent issue. The Batman Strikes is the latest effort by Warner Brothers to appeal to a younger crowd by taking a time honored character (and most recognizable brand name) and stomping all over it, making it “Hip and hot for a new generation.”

Maybe I am being overly harsh – and this story isn’t all that bad. But there is one thing I know for certain – this isn’t Batman. I admit that I might have thought more of this story if the wholly original characters used in this issue were not assigned the names and costumes of a popular comic property, but the fact that they were ruined the whole thing. I was expecting more from DC today – perhaps I shouldn’t have.

DC Comics

Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards. By Jim Ottaviani and Big Time Attic.

This one was certainly a weird one. It was sort of a late 1800s tale centered on high profile antiquities collectors like P.T. Barnum. Paleontology also plays a large role in the story, as dinosaur bones are still considered among the more impressive curiosities. It does read as if there is some basis in fact for the tales – and those usually are the best ones. The story selection for Free Comic Book Day was a good one – after reading this issue, one would have a very clear idea of whether or not they would enjoy the graphic novel due out this fall. It is a little early for a direct promotion, but I can see people investigating the publisher after this most unique and fun effort.

GT Labs

Bongo Comics Gimme Gimme Giveaway, Written by Ian Boothby, Clint Johnson and Chuck Dixon, Art by James Lloyd, Hilary Barta, and Luis Escobar.

A Simpsons and Futurama Comics fan’s delight. But was it worth it? I think it was a pretty good showing for Bongo Comics, but like most Simpsons and Futurama books, they didn’t really capture what made the cartoons themselves so humorous. Sure, they same humor was there, but in the print form it seemed forced and unfunny. Homer being bored at a trip to the museum. Bender deleting his memory because someone told him to “forget you ever saw me.” May have made great gags in the animated show, but in the comic, they just fell flat. The Chuck Dixon penned “The Grotesque Garage Sale of Gargamash” was by far the most interesting story in the whole book. It featured a magician fighting with his mortal enemy at a garage sale over The Baster of Bastur. Quite funny.

Bongo Comics

Buzzboy.By Various.

I have to say that this one was pretty clever. The tagline on this issue read “Who knew comics could be this much fun again?” and they did deliver on that that promise. Three stories could be found in this issue – the first being about the title character, Buzzboy, followed by a Major Damage short (my personal favorite), and one about Roboy Red. All three stories appeared to be excerpts of larger stories, but they were well selected and they gave an excellent insight into who these characters are. This issue was certainly kid friendly, but the stories did not talk down to the reader in any way. In fact, the Major Damage story was almost heart-wrenching. I wouldn’t mind seeing more from this publisher in the future.

Sky Dog Comics

Comic Festival. By Various.

It looks like they debuted this comic at the recent Toronto Comicon – logical since it is intended to highlight the work of Canadian cartoonists. I can’t really say I was too impressed, though. The 23 strips and excerpts of comics ranged from flat out strange to potential-filled, but not incredible. I think a lot of the excerpts were poorly selected – giving someone a page or two out of a story when there is nothing particularly interesting about those pages on their own is not going to win over new readers. For this entry, they would have been wise to either go with fewer selections, or put more pages in the book. The strips themselves couldn’t have much been improved by more pages, but the comic excerpts could have been. A great con giveaway, but as a FCBD book, I can’t see this winning over too many new readers.

Toronto Comics

G.I. Joe, Defex, and Darkstalkers. By Various.

A strong outing from Devil’s Due this year, but not at all why I thought it would be. The issue itself was one of those flip books – one story on one side, then the other upside-down on the other. I don’t love that format, but it isn’t difficult to deal with, so it has never bothered me all that much.

I started with the Darkstalkers story – which was pretty forgettable. I think it was a pretty decent overview of the main character in the series, but I typically find that comics based on video games tend to be weak at best, and this one seems no different. On the flip-side, the Defex story was an exert of a previously printed issue – while decent, I think an original overview would have served much better.

But the real jewel of this issue was the G.I. Joe short. I dropped G.I. Joe a long time ago, but after reading that sample, I am regretting that. If all of the G.I. Joe issues are that good these days, then the series has improved dramatically since I dropped it all that time ago. If you missed it – find a copy of the FCBD book and take a look. Wow is the best word to describe it. What a difference making Cobra an intelligent enemy makes!

Devil’s Due
UDON

Flare Adventures #13. Written by Wilson Hill, Art by Gordon Purcell, J. Adam Walters, and Chris Marrinan.

From the cover of this one, you probably thought the same thing that I did the first time I saw an issue of Flare – a big bosomed blonde beauty who can barely stay in her costume fighting crime. Fanboy’s wet dream, huh? Despite the image that the cover might convey – sexuality really plays a very, very small part of Flare. In fact, she is even aware of it herself, and comments on how much she hates the image that she has (in the story) from time to time.

The Flare story itself is a reprint, but a pretty decent story, and a nice introduction to Flare as a character. The back-up stories featuring Psyche and The Black Enchantress are original though – and very entertaining. One thing you will notice when reading just about anything from Heroic Publishing is the “old school feel” that the comics have. Stories wrap up quickly, and have just as much oomph as the six issue behemoths that are so common these days. I can’t say that this will be to everyone’s tastes, but I think older comic readers who are a little jaded about the all too serious tone that comics take today should enjoy what Heroic has to offer.

Heroic Publishing

Impact University. By Various.

If you have any interest in actually creating comics, this entry most probably caught your eye. It was pretty enjoyable and informative. Granted, you had to power through an overly egotistical introduction that most people probably skipped all together (the smart ones to be sure), but on the artistic side I found it satisfying. Impact includes samples from a wide range of their “instructional manuals,” from Manga Secrets by Lea Hernandez to a taste of Will Eisner’s Comic’s and Sequential Art.

This wasn’t so interesting an entry from a story perspective, but this isn’t really a comic book in the traditional sense. It was an excellent sampling of the products that Impact has to offer. I know there are a lot of people out there who could use a publication like this one – you should check out their site if you missed this one.

Impact Books

Keenspot Spotlight 2005. By Various.

This one was a monster – 120 pages in total. As you might guess from a book this size, there were a lot of different comics to be had here. Unfortunately – nothing really jumped out at me in particular. Not that there wasn’t some serious effort put into the work here 0- it just didn’t appeal to me all that much. You can’t really enjoy them all, I suppose. The original stuff didn’t seem all that interesting or amusing, and the strips inside seemed to rely a great deal on spoofs of mainstream comic properties (Batman breathing in space, or the Incredibles), and even those weren’t terribly funny. Maybe this is an example of something I just don’t get. It isn’t uncommon for me to be the only person who doesn’t enjoy something.

KeenSpot

Manga Sampler. By Clamp and Ken Alamatsu

Manga has never been something I have gotten too excited about. Despite that, I have enjoyed certain manga titles from time to time, and picked this one up with an open mind. Unfortunately, in was incomprehensible.

For one, it was in that obnoxious left-to-right printing style. I know that is a popular gimmick among manga fans, as that is how they are actually printed in Japan. Thing is, that is because it is written in Japanese. Trying to read English written properly, but with the pages ordered improperly is more of a headache than it is worth. I am sure Manga purists are ripping their hair out now, but the way I see it – by printing it in English in the first place, it is already not authentic. Ordering the pages top make the story readable in the language it is printed in seems like a small concession. Beyond that, the story is difficult to understand in the first place – making the formatting issue all the worse.

Mangaphiles probably enjoyed this effort. I am pretty sure it didn’t win over too many new readers, however.

Del Rey Manga

Marvel Adventures. Written by Todd Degazo, Art by Michael O’Hare and Derek Fridolfs.

OK, not only is this a reprint – it is a reprint of a title no longer in publication! Marvel Age Spider-Man Team Up #1 was the source of this issue’s story, and that just brings up bitter memories of Marvel’s inexplicable dumping of the Marvel Age line in favor of Marvel Adventures. Sure, it has a similar theme, but why work that hard to establish brand identity only to dump it for no real reason? Outside of a neat little “How to Build a Comic” feature at the end of this issue, there was very little new to be had here. I really would expect that the major publishers would do more on Free Comic Book Day. Granted, their marketing presence is such that people don’t need to push to sample a Spider-Man comic, but with such strong efforts by the small press on this day – well, let’s just say that all things being equal, Marvel wouldn’t be at the top of my “must sample” list if I were a new reader.

Marvel Comics

Minimate – Free Comic Book Day. From Diamond Select Toys.

This little guy was a trip. When I first saw a picture of it, I wondered how a little Lego-guy wanna-be without even the backing of a well-known comic property behind it was possibly going to get people into the line of toys. Sure, make it a Spider-man minimate, and people will buy it in droves on name association in droves. But to put the product itself up like this – no known superhero, just a plan white mini-mate with the FCBD logo splashed across its chest? Selling the product for what it was, and nothing more? Suicide!

After playing around with this little guy for a few minutes, I found myself glad that my toy collecting days are well behind me. I could easily see myself dropping way too much money on these things. At first, they seem like your typical Lego-man – they even have holes on the bottom of their feet which SUGGESTS that they might stick to Legos. Granted, I was never able to test this theory, but it wouldn’t surprise me. All of the body parts are easily removable and presumably interchangeable with other Minimates – something a kid might enjoy. There is a lot of articulation as well, allowing you to pose your Minimate however you like.
The FCBD Minimate changed my mind about the toy. Heck, if they ever make a Deadpool Minimate, I might end up picking it up. I can see how these things are addiction now.

Diamond Select Toys

Owly: Splashing Around. By Andy Runton.

If I were to give an award for most improved Free Comic Book Day entry, Top Shelf would have to take the prize. Last year they submitted a collection of various strips and short comic stories. This year, instead of a potpourri of both the good and the not-so good, Top Shelf submitted a singe Owly story, to outstanding effect. Owly is an all ages title, and another of those comics without actual dialogue. Runton expertly tells the story of Owly and his quest to win first prize in a bird bath contest through art alone. It is a fun and expressive comic story, and I was impressed with the results. Normally I like to see FCBD efforts from smaller publishers focus on the whole of their line-up, but in this case, I think the single story approach worked better. Having this one outstanding comic be the face for all of Top Shelf will have more people curious about what else they have to offer. An excellent approach. This is one of the few solidly kid-friendly books given out this year – one you could pass on to your youngsters without hesitation.

Top Shelf Comix

Roninhood of the 47 Samurai. Written by Jeff Amano, Art by Craig Rousseau.

I guess this kind of qualifies as an Image submission as well this year, huh? I know that Beckett will maintain a degree of independence (Image only signing on to actually publish the books), but this was a great piece of news. I have been a fan of Beckett since I first cracked an issue of Ganglords of Chinatown, and this move means I will get so see a lot more from them in the future.

So the FCBD issue – impressive as expected. As the title suggests, it is an adaptation of Robin Hood, only set in feudal Japan. The change works so well, I am surprised it has never been done before. If it has, I have never heard of it. Of course, this was only the first part of the story, but a powerful start. I am sure I am not the only one who will be scrounging to find the remaining issues of this series.

Beckett Comics

Runners: Remastered #1. By Sean Wang.

There are a few different sort of FCBD comic styles out there – this was the first of the “reprint” variety that I read this year. While I do frown on Marvel’s tendency to simply reprint an old all-ages issue, for these small press companies, this is often a very good idea. Especially in cases like this, where this reprint of the first Runners issue could well spur a boost in sales for the remainder of the series, already available.

The issue itself was a fairly good read. It had a shoot-em-up sci-fi format, with a few fun elements tossed in to lighten the mood. Sci-Fi is still a very under-represented genre in comics, and I think this a pretty solid effort in the Star Wars style action space-opera. Something you should check out if you are in the mood for something action packed and fun.

Sean Wang

Star Wars. Written by Miles Lane, Art by Nicola Scott, and Michael Atiyeh.

Star Wars comics have certainly made a resurgence over the past few years, thank in large part to the prequel trilogy that is about to wrap up this month. What was once only enjoyable to the hard-core Star Wars fan is now a solid story accessible to just about anyone who likes the genre. Dark Horse’s entry this year was clearly meant to act as a bridge between fans of the movie and the comic books that bear the Star Wars name, but might be totally unrecognizable to anyone unfamiliar with the Expanded Universe. The story focuses on Anakin and Obi-Wan, hot on the trail of Count Dooku and General Grievous, only to end up falling into an ambush. Some pretty standard banter between Obi-wan and Anakin was the focus of this book – and it has very reminiscent of Episode II’s dialogue between the two. Star Wars comic fans might find it a little dry and basic, but for a new reader, it actually ended up being a pretty solid introduction to Star Wars in comic book form. Solid package and all-ages friendly – Star Wars is an overall good pick by Dark Horse for this event.

Dark Horse Comics

Superior Showcase #0. By Various.

Ah, now this is something I have some familiarity with. I picked up Project: Superior several weeks ago, a pretty thick anthology book (287 pages at $19.95, and very worth the cost) filled with various cartoons. And I loved it! I was very happy to see that the Superior Showcase issue was just as good, and very much in the same spirit. Many of the strips have the look of a standard alternative stereotype (bad art), but I am a firm believer that a great imagination can make the worst art work. One work at the introductory cartoon, Onion Jack, will confirm what I am saying. This is a talented group of people, and I highly recommend checking out their work if you weren’t fortunate enough to sample their FCBD submission.

Adhouse Books

Uncle Scrooge. By Carl Barks.

Ah, if only Gemstone didn’t overprice their Disney books so much. They made an excellent move here in reprinting the very first full-length Uncle Scrooge story by the legendary Cark Barks – a great all ages piece. Even someone whose only exposure to Uncle Scrooge was through the old Duck Tales cartoon will recognize this incarnation – they are very much the same. Even the plot is similar to a standard episode of Duck Tales – Scrooge, worried about the Beagle Boys stealing his money, enlists the help of Donald and his nephews to hide the money from the would-be robbers. A definite oldie-but-goodie here – hopefully if your local comic shop limited the number of books you could pick up, this one was on your list.

Gemstone Publishing

Of course, as I am sure was a common occurance in most stores, my local comic shop did not get a copy of every issue that was put out for Free Comic Book Day. This was expected, and I wasn’t surprised to see it happen, but I must admit some real disappointment at missing the Flight sampler and the Mortal Coils Presents issues. The Flight issue especially – I was always curious about Flight, and I saw the Free Comic Book Day issue as a great way too see whether it was worth the cost. I hear it was fantastic too. I am really sorry I missed that one.

Overall, in terms of product quality, I felt this year was much stronger than 2004. I have to hand it to the small press- they have taken this concept and ran with it. While the bog boys at Marvel and DC are doing the minimum required to pass without notice, the smaller publishers are putting it all on the line to give you an example of their best work, and doing everything they can to get you to give their work a shot. I hope you are all rewarding them for their efforts.

A solid year – let’s hope they can get it together once again in 2006 for an even better one! And as always, do remember that these books are free. While it is natural that all of us, as comic fans, showed up to get our copies, this day is for the new comic reader. The more people we bring into comics, the healthier the industry will be. So once you are done with your copies – pass them on. Especially those all-ages books – make sure they get into the hands of kids – any kid. You will be doing the comic industry a service!

When you take a look at the small/independent press racks, there are some really, really good titles, and then there are some that are simply abysmal. It is the nature of the beast that is the small press- sometimes all it takes is a half-baked idea, a little time and money, and you too can have your own comic book. Problem is, sometimes the reason you haven’t gotten your comic idea published by an existing company is that you really have no business making comics in the first place!

So you have your outstanding, undiscovered talent on the rise, you have your wanna-bes who are really making a comic simply because they can afford to, then you have your entrepreneurial talent – someone with a good idea that doesn’t quite fit the mold of any other publisher out there. In my eyes, these are the true gems of the independent press – while the larger houses do produce good material, typically they follow some very specific formulas – rarely is there anything really truly different.

I think that Heroic Publishing falls into this latter category. I recently had the chance to read the first four issues of the latest volume of Flare. Never heard of it before? Well, neither had I. Nonetheless, Flare has been around in one way, shape, or form since 1988. Flare has had 37 issues over four different volumes, and is four issues into its latest volume, which got started up late last year. Like many independent press books that have persisted this long over the years, there is a small but devout fan following. These people clearly saw something positive about this series, so that is reason enough to at least give it a look!

Cast of Characters

Terri Feran, known as Flare when in the union suit, is the daughter of a superhero during World War II. Called The Kriegerin, Flare’s mother was a German patriot who fought for her homeland against the Allied aggressors. Eventually realizing the evil of the Nazi’s vision, Flare turned against the rulers of her country and joined the Vanguard of Freedom, and helped to destroy the evil that was consuming her country.

Flare and her three siblings, Olga, Tomas, and Phillip were created by a German scientist, who sought to create a race of supermen to exact vengeance on the world for Hitler’s fall. Flare was eventually sent out to destroy the League of Champions. Flare, like her mother, saw the light, and turned against the Nazis who created her.

Flare’s power comes from the light around her. She can absorb and store light energy, which powers her abilities. She can fly, has enhanced strength and durability. She also has photo kinetic powers which allow her to create all forms of light in many imaginative ways. This ability has caused some to refer to her as the Goddess of Dawn.

Olga, called Sparkplug, Flare’s younger sister, has been featured in a short, back-up story in each issue of the current volume. Sparkplug’s powers are similar to Flare’s, except instead of light, Sparkplug can create electrical energy. The have two brothers – Philip, the youngest, a shape shifter, who sadly was killed by Flare after he murdered a member of the League of Champions. Tomas, empowered with super strength, has been missing for some time.

Terri Feran is a one-time jean model, with a good deal of celebrity outside of her hero gig. While there are those that would love to have her return to that life, she has no desire to be looked upon as a sex symbol once again, instead wanting to focus all of her time on keeping the city safe. She is something of a socialite – being very active in the social circuit is very important to her. She also has a fiery temper – she flies off the handle with the slightest provocation – something her opponents have seen time and time again. She has a good heart, though, and doesn’t let her temper cause her to do things she would end up regretting too much.

Thoughts

I think the first thing that came to mind while I was reading Flare was “old school.” Flare seems very much to be written for an audience who read comics in a simpler time, and still kind of have a soft spot for that style of comic writing. Yes, at times, the dialogue is a little bit cheesy, and the plot devices can be somewhat simple, but that actually adds to strengthen the book. There is quite a bit more “sex appeal” than you would find in a comic of decades past – a good amount of partial nudity and sexual innuendo – so while the layout and storytelling style are of an older age, the content really isn’t. So don’t be giving this one to the kiddies!

One thing I found exceptional about this title was the strength of the serial storytelling. I have found myself criticizing the lack of this ability in comic writers today, and it is nice to see that it still exists out there, somewhere. Something a lot of writers forget when they are writing these massive, six-issue storylines is the fact that these issues are bought one at a time. When writing a serial story, it is important to make certain that each and every part can stand on its own, and is interesting not only because it is part of a greater whole, but because it is an entertaining story in of itself. Wilson Hill has shown himself to be the rare master of this concept. Despite the fact that each of the four issues of the latest volume are part of a larger story arc, each one of the issues stands completely on its own. If you pick up any issue, you quickly get a good sense of who each of the important characters are, and what is actually happening in the story. And unlike the drawn out storytelling style that is so popular today, something of worth happens in each and every issue! I am sure you have experienced the frustration waiting a month for the next part of a story, and not feeling like the wait was worth it – that the latest issue was little more than filler. I am a big believer that comic stories with 5 issues of set-up, followed by a payoff issue are inherently weak. They might be a good story if read in a collected format, but it is short-changing the reader of the serial story.

The artwork, thus far, has been a tad bit inconsistent. This can be explained pretty easily, however – there already has been a couple different artists working on the regular storyline, as well as different artists working on the Sparkplug back-up stories. While the work inside each story is generally very good, the art style of the more solid lead story tends to clash a bit with the typically weaker art on the back-ups. I have to say that that the work by Gordon Purcell and Terry Pallot on the first three issues were pretty well spot-on for the look and feel I thought a book like this should have – a more modern look with an “old-school feel.” J. Adam Walters took over the main story with issue 4, and is set to do the next issue. I have to admit I didn’t like his take on the characters quite as much. While the panel-layout is certainly solid, and the character presentation is consistent, I just didn’t like the look he was going for. Particularly how he handled hair – while it is a very “retro” style of art, I felt it took it just a tad too far. The hint of old school in the art was enough for me – I wasn’t looking for total regression! Perhaps it will grow on me by the time next issue rolls around.

The production quality of this book is off the chart. Simply holding an issue of Flare in one hand, and holding an issue of your favorite Marvel book in the other will speak volumes. The Flare issues have actual weight – despite being a standard 32 pages, they have a feeling of substance. The cover and paper are of an appreciable weight, and the print quality is outstanding. No ads either – another big plus. All at $2.99 – keeping the price below that magic $3 mark that usually turns off 90% of the comic buying public.

Bottom Line

It is a good read, and worth asking for next time you are at your comic shop. It is pretty easy to order a copy on the Heroic Publishing website as well – though, I would imagine, as with all independent publishers, they would prefer it if you inquired about it at your local shop first. If the comic stores don’t know people are interested in a book, then they don’t end up ordering any. And since I am all about supporting the small press, any little thing we can do to help out is all the better! Also on the website, a number of preview pages are available, if you would like to get a small taste of Flare before buying. Also, this year Heroic Publishing will have a Free Comic Book Day submission, the Flare portion of which will reprint the Flare story from the second issue of the current volume.

Flare captures a good many things that are missing from comics today. There are a lot of comic writers working on some major titles that could take some very serious lessons from the way that Wilson Hill structures his stories. There is something to be said for a deeper, more mature story, but we have gotten those in comics today at the expense of the format that was most appropriate to the medium. Comics should not only be accessible to those who read on a monthly basis, but also to people who might occasionally pick up an issue of their favorite title. If comics ever want to grow beyond the direct market once again, it needs to find a way to get that back.

Credit Where Credit is Due
Flare is
Written by Wilson Hill
Art by Gordon Purcell, Tery Pallot, and J. Adam Walters,
Colors by Mike Estlick and Tom Luth,
Letters by Albert Deschesne,
Created by Stacy Thain, and
Published by Heroic Publishing

For a column that tends to focus on smaller titles in need of a little marketing boost, I do tend to get back to Marvel books an awful lot, I know. I do rant my fair share about what I often feel to be Marvel’s insane practice of printing 50 or so (only a SLIGHT exaggeration, believe it or not) X-Men books a month, only to kick their precious few unique titles out the door with little promotional support at the slightest sign of market weakness. But Marvel does have their gems – they just don’t really give them the support they deserve, and they tend to fade away quite quickly. On rare occasions, however, if you make enough noise on behalf of a limping Marvel title, sales go up to a point that Marvel is forced to continue printing it.

Another thing I have been really hard on Marvel for is their flighty nature when it comes to new ideas. Often times, it seems like they come up with a great concept, give it a lot of attention for about six months, then let it flounder for the next six months, until the next great idea comes along. Remember MC2? How about EPIC? Maybe Marvel Age rings a bell? All great ideas that Marvel gave up on with little or no effort made to make the concept really work.

Tsunami is another of those mini-imprints that Marvel toyed with, but quickly abandoned when the next shiny new idea flittered across their line of site. Titles like Namor, Sentinel, Inhumans, and Venom were targeted towards a slightly younger crowd, using a manga-lite art style in an attempt to bring in those high school and younger readers that have become so enthralled with import manga books. Marvel threw these titles out there, and frustrated that they did not immediately begin to bring in a wash of new readers (with little to no promotion outside the direct market), Tsunami soon fell off the face of the Earth.

Every now and again, Marvel decides to throw a neglected title a bone, in an attempt to appease angry readers, and a title on the brink of failure begins to see some modest success. Spider-Girl, repeatedly on the chopping block, was saved by angry readers four times. Another title, Runaways, late of the Tsunami imprint, recently made a comeback in the guise of a “Second Season,” and enjoyed some amazing success totally selling out the first issue of its second volume.

Runaways seems to be the latest title Marvel has held up as an example of their “listening to the fans, and giving them what they want.” Despite my suspicions about Marvel’s motivations, if they are actually promoting an original title of some quality, I am not about to scoff at it.

Recalling Runaways Volume One sales numbers, it is likely that there are a lot of you out there who missed out on it, and are only now curious about the book after hearing about the latest issues sell-out performance. And that is where I come in.

Runaways is the story of a sextet of teenagers, who discover that their parents run a powerful crime syndicate known as The Pride, a group which has a stranglehold on the Los Angeles/Southern California area. Reeling at the revelation that their parents are super villains, the kids flee, and discover that they each have gifts of their own. Striking it out on their own, the six must learn to fend for themselves, all the while on the run from their parents. Little do the other five know, one among them is a mole- secretly loyal to their parents, with an agenda of their own.

Cast of Characters

Alex Wilder, the only one of the group without any appreciable offensive powers, is a mental prodigy and a highly adept strategist. As such, he serves as a natural leader for the group, and is the only person who can decipher the “Abstract,” a text outlining the history of The Pride, and their long term goal for the destruction of mankind.

Gertrude Yorkes, daughter of a pair of time travelers from the future, and very much a socialist at heart. Her parents traveled to the future and genetically engineered a velociraptor for their daughter, and programmed it to respond to her mental commands. Planning to give it to her on her eighteenth birthday, they locked the creature inside a trap door hidden in their basement. Gert and the “kids” discovered the beast when searching for information about their parent’s activities as the Pride.

Karolina Dean comes from a happy family, the only one she knows. She finds out that the allergy bracelet her parents have made her wear for as long as she can remember in fact keeps her powers in check – powers that she has gained through her alien heritage. She is, at first, distraught to find out that she is not actually human. That is, until she discovers that she can fly.

Chase Stein is a “jock” from a family of nerds. His abuse father is a tech-geek, making his public living through his inventions. The runaways break into his work-shed, where Chase gets his hands on a couple pieces of technology – a set of X-Ray goggles, and a pair of gauntlets called Fistigons, which can, among other things, act as flame-throwers.

Molly Hayes is the youngest member of the group, almost twelve. Throughout the beginning of Runaways, she is concerned with the “changes” her body is going through. Everyone around her assumes that she is preoccupied with puberty, and does everything they can to avoid the topic of conversation with her. Eventually everyone around her realizes that she is talking about something else entirely.

Nico Minoru, a typical “Goth girl,” was attacked my her mother when she was discovered in the Stein’s workshop. Instead of being harmed by the weapon called the “Staff of One,” Nico absorbed it into her body. Later she discovers that she can summon the staff when she bleeds, and it allows her to cast all sorts of spells. Trick is – each spell can only be cast once, any attempts to cast the same spell multiple times will result in a “malfunction” of some kind.

Thoughts

On the whole, I was very pleased with Runaways. I picked up the first three trades (digest sized collections at $7.99 a pop), which collects the whole first volume of the series up until its first cancellation. Quite a bit of fuss was being made about the first issue of the “second season” (which ended up selling out), so I decided to give the trades a try before picking up that issue last month.

The entire series takes place in the Los Angeles area, which is actually a pretty unique local for heroes in the Marvel Universe. The Pride, the children’s parents, controls pretty much all aspects of the area, from the organized crime to the police department and city governments as well. The very few Marvel heroes that have made appearances in this series almost seem like fish out of water, and that is kind of a unique thing. Most of the Marvel Universe is set far on the East Coast, where it would be nearly impossible for a criminal organization to gain the kind of power that The Pride has. There you bump into a different hero every few blocks – villains there do what they can to just scrape by, only dreaming of the kind of power The Pride has achieved. It made for a unique story, I have to say – a story where it really isn’t possible for the Avengers or the Fantastic Four to come running makes the kids’ experience all the more perilous.

While I did enjoy this series – there was one thing that bugged me a great deal. Vaughan on his soap-box. He gets quite preachy on occasion throughout the series, making his politics all to clear in the course of the story. At first he makes the attempt to disguise it in a character – the old “this isn’t ME saying these things, it is all what this character believes,” but eventually he doesn’t even bother. I have said it many times before, and I will say it again now – politics have no place in comics. If you are writing a story that deals heavily in the subject, or the story is supposed to be some clever metaphor outlining your philosophy, that is one thing. But Runaways isn’t The Jungle, nor are 99% of the rest of the comics on the stand today. I don’t read comics to be preached to, and if Vaughan were to lay it on any thicker, I am not sure I could stand to read the story. With luck, now that the election is long over, he will start to temper the urge to preach. It really distracts from an otherwise solid story. We don’t really see to much of that in Y The Last Man (Also an outstanding series you should be reading), so I am not at all sure why he decided to inject it into this series, sorry to say.

One other minor thing that bugged me about this story is Vaughan’s inexplicable urge to throw out “period jokes.” I suppose dick and fart jokes went out with the nineties, and menstruation humor is “in” in the naughts… it was just a little off putting. The biggest example of this was seen throughout the first volume with Molly. Sure, the twist was a good one, but he took it way too far and played it up way too much. It wasn’t too graphic, mind you, it was just a little bothersome to me.

Beyond all that Runaways is, perhaps, one of the most original of Marvel’s titles on the market these days. As a whole, Marvel seems totally unwilling to give new ideas a shot, and to be frank – the fans encourage that attitude. Why give something new a try, when you can go back to the old stand-bys of Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, hmm? Here we have a story where the protagonists are all original characters, their antagonists are just as original, and they only have a cursory interaction with the heavy hitters of the Marvel Universe. If that isn’t a recipe for original storytelling, I don’t know what is. Vaughan takes advantage of this opportunity, and puts together a pretty compelling story – to his credit.

The art? Oh what to say about that. The bulk of the penciling duties are performed by Adrian Alphona with inks by Craig Yeung. As I mentioned before, as a Tsunami title, Runaways was drawn in a Manga-lite style, and as I am not a biggest fan of the art style, that is kind of a negative to me. Looking past the exaggerated mouths and featureless faces, I do have to admit that on the whole, the look is not too bad for this title. The characters are fairly realistic in appearance, they have a distinct look and consistent appearance, and never once was I confused about what was going on, on panel, nor did I ever have to strain to figure out just what character I was looking at. In fact, the only time I was ever really put off by a character’s look was the way that Takeshi Miyazawa drew Dagger – hard to look past, but not a crucial element to the story. Overall, the art adds to the overall presentation of the tale, and like I always say – that means the art succeeds in it’s task.

Bottom Line

Runaways is worth checking out – and it is really inexpensive to get caught up on. The first eighteen issues are available in three digest-sized trades for a mere $7.99 a piece – far cheaper than your standard trade. I have become a real fan of this collected format of late, and this is a good example as to why. The most recent issue, #1 of Volume 2, enjoyed tremendous success, selling out almost immediately. So if you can find a copy in your local comic shop, do snatch it up! I am nearly certain that Marvel intends to reprint this issue next week along with issue #2, but I wouldn’t let missing it stop you from checking out the second issue (due next week), it is off to a pretty decent start. This opening arc features a group of heroes that Marvel has shown very little love to, including Turbo and Darkhawk from the New Warriors, Ricochet from Slingers, and Lightspeed from Power Pack. Oh, and that Chamber guy is there too, if anyone out there actually cares about him…

So, be on the lookout for issue 2 next week, but I do recommend picking up the first digest if you decide you want to try out the series.

Credit Where Credit is Due
Runaways is
Written by Brian K. Vaughan,
Pencilled by Adrian Alphona,
Inked by Craig Yeung,
Colored by UDON’s Christina Strain,
Lettered by Virtual Calligraphy’s Randy Gentile,
Edited by C. B. Cebulski, and
Published by Marvel Comics.

Once upon a time, if you were going to make a super-hero comic, you had a pretty simple formula to use. You had your good guy, who went after the bad guys. The focus of the story was the action itself, and all that personal, real-life stuff was shoved in the background.

Over the years, people started to demand stories that were a little more sophisticated. Especially in recent years, the heroes in the comics we grew up loving grew deeper, more personal. Then, of course, we wanted realism in our comics. We wanted the heroes in our books to deal with stresses that they actually would if they existed in our world.

We have come a long way from the days – stories have become more mature, more complex, and more personal. We even get superhero books from time to time that are more about the character’s lives, and less about fighting evil. As a result, we as readers have more of a reason to care about these new creations beyond their cool super powers. And since just about every possible combination of super powers has been used already, it is good to finally have a fresh approach.

When I first heard about Ultra, I was a bit skeptical. The first issue’s cover, a mock-up of a Time Magazine cover, featured the caption “The Private Life of a Super Heroine,” with Ultra herself standing, head obscured by the title, with her breasts front and center on the cover. Expecting another all-too-common T&A comic with little story potential, I almost gave this one a pass. Almost. Thankfully, Image has been putting out some great stuff lately, and I thought that I would give this mini a shot.

Ultra tells the story of a heroine whose life is turned upside-down by the prying eyes of a tabloid magazine. That isn’t the only parallel to the real world – heroes all have agents, are all marketed. Their work is an actual job, they have celebrity endorsements – the works. Problem is, when one of them makes a bad move in their personal life, it is all over the front page of the news. And some are willing to pay big money just to have a chance at tearing down these celebrities’ pristine images.

Cast of Characters

Pearl Penalosa, known as Ultra to the public, is lonely. Ever since her last rocky relationship (with Captain Steel), her dating life has been virtually nonexistent. After a night out with her friends Jen and Liv, she gets talked into seeing a fortune teller who tells her that she will find her true love within seven days. Skeptical, she tries to forget about the fortune (despite constant reminders by Liv), until she meets Jason, an ordinary, non-superhero guy, who she thinks might just be the one the fortune teller told her about.

Pearl is under contract with Heroine, Inc., an agency that exclusively represents female heroes. Her agent, Will, is always on the lookout for her best interests – mostly her financial and image interests, but since money and image are tied to a personal life, Will is right on the front line when Pearl’s life gets a little rocky.

Jennifer Janus, known as Cowgirl, is the “good girl” of the trio. Her boyfriend (Sweet of the crime-fighting duo Sweet and Sour) seems a little too friendly with his side-kick, leading many to believe he is, in fact, gay. Her father is the mayor, her mother a former sex-pot heroine, Jen grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. The fortune teller tells Jen that she would “receive what you have been given within 7 days.”

Oliva Arancina was recently hired to take on the Aphrodite mantle for Olympus, Inc. A former super-model, Liv lives up to her new heroine roll with many frequent liaisons. She urges the three to go to see the fortune teller, and uses Pearl’s fortune to push her into the arms of any man that will have her. Not so much interested in finding real love for her friend, she really thinks Pearl just needs to get “some action,” and soon. Liv is the wild-girl of the trio, reckless with her love life (and her driving). Her fortune, “You shall suffer a loss within 7 days,” seemingly came true almost immediately, with yet another car accident. Whether that was THE loss referred to, however, is still up in the air.

Thoughts

On the surface, there is a Sex in the City aspect to this story, and it is really easy to get distracted by that and miss a lot of the fun, subtle stuff that peppers each and every issue of this comic. The first time through the first six issues, I completely missed a lot of the Sweet and Sour stuff, which was hilarious. So when you do read Ultra (you should), I recommend you do so carefully. There is a lot more here than super-heroines and sex.

One fun gimmick you might notice if you look at the cover scans is the magazine parodies. The Luna Brothers take it even deeper than a simple pin-up cover – believe it or not, they actually are pertinent to the story in each issue. A good part of what goes on in Ultra is about how the media perceives the protagonists, and the cover is glimpse into that perspective. At the end of each issue is a two page “story” (or in the case of issue 6, a “pictorial”) in the spirit of the magazine spoofed on the cover. These spoofs add a whole new dimension to the comic, providing exposition on each of the characters, that would otherwise be cumbersome to tell in the story, and shedding a different light on the happenings in the main story itself.

The art? Well, it is shiny! Despite not being the best art critic in the world, I do know when I like what I see, and I like this. The facial expressions really make this story – there is a lot of emotion conveyed through the art. One of the most striking things about the art, however, is the characters themselves. One of my more resent pet-peeves is the inability of some artists in comics to draw more than one or two body types. Look at your average Michael Turner comic, and you will notice that while the characters are gorgeously drawn, there is really no difference between them aside from outfits and hair colors. In Ultra, though – the characters are different. They have different body types, and distinct, individual looks. I never had a problem figuring out who was who, no matter what action was happening on panel. I have to give a lot of credit Jonathan Luna – diversity in body types is a rare thing in comic art of this type, and his work is very impressive.

The story seems straightforward in the beginning, but it becomes totally unpredictable. Six issues into it, I have given up trying to figure out how this is going to end. The Luna Brothers have thrown in twist after twist in this story making it so compelling that I was actually a little let down by the action-oriented nature of issue #6. Yes, there are some element of this plot that would make for a good “chick flick,” but I do feel there is a lot to offer anyone who enjoys a well-told story. It is a little tough to describe without getting into specifics, but since Ultra is an eight issue mini-series, I do want to avoid spoiling you as much as possible.

Bottom Line

The Luna Brothers have created themselves one heck of a world here, one I hope that we get a chance to see more of in the future. Not that I am demanding a sequel already – one of the reasons I love minis so much is because there is little reason to save anything for “next time.” But as we saw with Noble Causes, Image doesn’t seem at all shy about releasing a title as a mini a few times before giving it the go-ahead as an ongoing. Ultra, as a concept, is clever and unique, and skillfully put together. Even if this mini is the end of Ultra, I can’t wait to see what else these two will put together next.

As I said before, Ultra is an eight issue mini, the first six issues are out on stands right now. Issue #1 just went into it’s second printing, and the second issue just sold out at the distributor (so if you see it in stores, snatch it up!). Issue #7 is due out on shelves this Wednesday, February 16th, and the trade collecting the first eight issues is due out in April of this year.

If you are curious about this title, and want to see a little more before deciding to pick it up, do check out the Luna Brothers website at LunaBrothers.com. You can find general news and info about Ultra there, as well as on sale dates and preview pages of the first issue.

Some of you might remember that I mentioned misplacing the second issue of this series some time ago, and I actually ended up spending three months trying to track another copy of it down so that I can read the rest of this series. I did find a copy, and this article should be enough proof that I really think the search was worth it. If this is an example of the kinds of things we are going to be seeing from Image these days (and I think it is), the publisher is in very good shape. It takes a lot to impress this normally jaded reviewer, and I am pleased to say that the Lunas did so with very little difficulty. I am going to be sad to see this one end.

Credit Where Credit is Due
Ultra is
Written by Joshua Luna and Jonathan Luna,
Art and Letters by Jonathan Luna, and
Published by Image Comics.

When I first read about Aftermath in Previews, it raised my eyebrows. Devil’s Due – perhaps in an attempt to reinvent themselves, or in an effort to expand their readership, launched this new line of superhero comics. The premise was pretty simple, if not a little unoriginal – a brand new group of “hero” books for a brand new generation, without all of the continuity baggage that comes along with the more venerated comic universes.

Of course I was skeptical – who wouldn’t be? This sort of thing has been tried before, and usually after an initial good start, most of these titles tend to slowly fade away.

But hey – it is Devil’s Due, and even though I am luke-warm on the 80’s revival books like G.I. Joe and Voltron, I have been enjoying the heck out of their other stuff, from Misplaced to Cosmic Guard and Hack/Slash. So I decided that I would give one of the Aftermath titles, Defex, a shot.

Defex, the story of a super powered group of college students, is being written by Marv Wolfman of the New Teen Titans fame, with art by Stefano Caselli and Sunder Raj, who have done some recent work on the G.I. Joe Master and Apprentice series.

The story starts simple enough – five students from the University of California at Freemont Springs are put together in a lab group for their class. Their assignment – to research the biological applications of “nanotubes” technology. For this task, they are given their own lab (which is disguised as a water tower, for reasons they can’t understand), with all of the materials needed to accomplish their task.

During their research, they come across some information about latent abilities in the DNA of all humans. They decide that it might be possible to adapt the nanotubes to unlock these abilities, and get to the point where they need to ask the university for permission to test their ideas. Unfortunately, they are denied. After a night of drinking, the quintet awoke to find that they had tested the nanotubes on themselves. Of course, would this be a “hero” book if they didn’t develop super powers as a result?

Unbeknownst to them, the five were actually brought them together for a specific purpose by a group known as The Black Ring. Mr. Michaels, the group’s professor, deliberately hand-picked the team, and set them in a certain direction in their research. One of the five students is actually a “mole,” someone placed there by Michaels and the Black Ring to help guide the group to accomplish what they ultimately did – find a way to use nanotubes to alter the DNA of a human and unlock latent abilities..

The Black Ring, shortly after their transformation, sent a group of soldiers after the students, to bring them under closer control.

Cast of Characters

Ariel Davis first described her power as a smell, though it could be more of a “sixth sense” in nature. She can sense those around her within a certain radius, and can even use her powers to specifically pinpoint someone’s location if properly motivated.

When Mia Sanchez’s powers first manifested, felt an overwhelming urge to run. She did so – right through the steel side of the water tower, through the woods, and right off a cliff into the ocean. She seemed to gain enhanced strength and durability from the experiment, however, she is still uncertain how to activate these abilities on demand. Mia, prior to the experiment, was diagnosed with cancer. It is uncertain whether or not the tumor will be healed by whatever changes occurred in her body, though there was evidence that her immune system and blood chemistry were radically altered by the nanotubes.

Jack Morgan, the group’s “bad boy,” is often seen smoking a cigarette (GASP!), and seems to have a definite attraction for Mia. Jack has demonstrated an ability to affect the emotions of those around him. He can also affect more powerful emotional changes directly, but to do that, he has to establish a very intimate link with that person’s mind, exposing all of their thoughts to him.

Shortly after Haley Rin woke up, strange quills began to grow all over his body, and shoot out, just like a porcupine. As he eventually gained some control over his ability (with the help of Jack’s powers), he found that he could transform his body to mimic the abilities of countless animals. His powers are not actual shape shifting (like Beast Boy, who becomes the size of the animal he is mimicking), when he turns into a porcupine, he is still the same size and basic shape of a human, with some added animal enhancements.

Tristan Warfield’s powers manifested in an extremely unusual manner. When the group awoke after their night of drinking, they found Tristan was stuck to the ceiling in some sort of cocoon. After the team fled the water tower, Tristan emerged from his cocoon a very different creature – mindless and feral. He was eventually captured by the Black Ring, who conducted further experiments on him, and successfully removed the blockage from his brain that prevented him from accessing his human personality. He is eventually “freed” by his friends, and though he can think rationally again, his body is still the only one of the five that is actually disfigured.

Thoughts

Despite my initial skepticism about the whole Aftermath line, I found that I really enjoyed Defex a great deal. Overall, the story is off to a pretty solid start, and from the looks of future solicitations, it looks as if the groundwork for some decent longevity is being laid.

When reading the first three issues, the one thing that I tried to keep in mind was the concept behind the title, and the Aftermath line as a whole. As I understood it, the goal was to create a group of titles that were similar in style and genre to all of the superhero books we grew up loving, but without the decades of continuity baggage, and with a more modern evolution of characters and setting. (Boy, that was a mouthful, wasn’t it?) The thing is, that goal isn’t all that unique. Almost every publisher that puts out a new superhero book starts out with a similar goal. But rarely is it ever so defined in advance in this way, and I think that is one thing that Aftermath has going for it. It isn’t just trying to create a series of superhero books, it is deliberately trying to capture the feel of the more venerable superhero titles, while at the same time making them contemporary enough to appeal to a modern reader. In the case of Defex, I think it is safe to say that they have enjoyed some early success.

Is this story a masterpiece? Heck no. I could spend a few pages pointing out problems, nitpicks, and things I otherwise found to be silly. But then, who really cares? Most heroes have somewhat silly origins, and somewhat contrived stories. Whether they have a vat of chemicals dumped on them, are bitten by a radioactive bug, or are struck by lightning – superhero books always have played fast and lose with scientific reality, and Defex is no different. In fact, that is one of the things that makes the story so enjoyable – that it doesn’t try too hard to take itself so seriously.

Granted, I did have a few nit-picks, but then, I always do. There is a tiny, tiny bit of politics snuck into the story a few times for no real apparent reason – thankfully, it wasn’t to dominating, and was easy to ignore. If there is one thing when a comic writer feels the need to take a moment and preach to the reader – I appreciate that it was kept to a minimum. Beyond that, there are a few technical inconsistencies within the story itself, but they aren’t anything that a little more vigilance by the editor couldn’t fix.

The art is solid and consistent – and though my artistic eye is still somewhat untrained, I think the art helps the story along quite nicely. But hey, as long as I don’t have to strain my eyes at a page to try and decipher what is going on, and as long as I can tell the characters apart without much difficulty, I am usually happy. I don’t know if it is intentional or not, but I also have come up with my theory about who the mole on the team based solely on clues I felt the art team left – and that, if it pans out, is all of the proof I need of good artist participation in the storytelling.

Bottom Line

If the other titles in the Aftermath line are as good as Defex has turned out to be, then I have to conclude that Devil’s Due has made a really positive step forward with this line. Longevity is going to be the real test, however, and that is something we won’t be able to judge for a long time. For now, however, I am enjoying the read, and that is the most important thing in the end. If you are a fan of the superhero genre, and have a particular liking for team-books, you might want to give this one a try. It has some good potential.

Defex is shipped monthly at a cover price of $2.95 per issue. Issue #4 will be available on shelves in February. For more information, you can visit the Aftermath mini-site at Aftermathcomics.com.

Credit Where Credit is Due
Defex is
Written by Marv Wolfman, with
Art by Stefano Caselli and Sunder Raj,
Lettered by Dreamer Design,
Edited by Mark Powers,
Graphic Design by Mike Norton, and
Published by Devil’s Due Publishing.

Before I get started this week, I would like to let you all know that this is going to be the last “official” version of Still on the Shelf to appear on Comixtreme. It has been a fantastic couple of years there, and I wouldn’t give them back for anything, but the time has come for me to try a little something different with Still on the Shelf, which means I must move on. I just thought I would take this chance to say thank you for reading and give a big thanks to everyone who has given me a chance to have this little outlet here (you know who you are), I do appreciate it. And to anyone who followed this column from there to here, a big fat welcome to you! Enjoy your stay!

One thing I have been fretting about over the past few weeks was an appropriate topic for this week’s important column. Well, this past Wednesday, one was handed to me that I felt couldn’t be more perfect. If I may share with you, the very first paragraph of March 25th, 2003’s Still on the Shelf #1 –

“I (and I know many of you) have seen many of my pet favorite comics get cancelled with no ceremony. We all know that most X-titles, the major Batman books, and all other titles of that nature are relatively safe from cancellation no matter how bad things get. Their sales are typically too high to worry about getting the axe. However, books like some of my favorites, Slingers, for instance, will get cancelled no matter how much promise they show due to low sales, corporate re-invention, or any other excuse you can possibly imagine. We have all had this happen to us at one time or another.”

Yup – I am one of those Slingers people. You probably come across us from time to time. We are the ones who are always carrying the torch for the tragically short 1998 series (My, my, has it been so long?). We are the ones when discussing those series which we thought were amazing, but got cancelled due to “low sales,” always have to bring up Slingers. We are the ones who, every time ChrisCross comes up in conversation, have to add how much we miss Slingers. We are the ones who aspire to become a skilled and popular comic book writer, simply so that we can convince Marvel to let us have a crack at the Slingers. To bring them back.

So what was it that made me decide to talk about Slingers this week, of all weeks? Well, those of you who read Wolverine, or at least has seen some of the conversations about issue #23 this week might know that we lost one of the Slingers this week, something has seemingly plunged a stake into any hopes of a return for the series. Aside from Hornet’s death itself, the thing that bugs me the most was the way that the death itself was handled in the comic. But I will get into that later.

When it came to the reaction to Wolverine #23, I was kind of shocked by the almost lack of buzz surrounding the death. We all know that among comic fans, when a character is killed, no matter how well the death was written by the writer, no matter how appropriate or noble it was, there is always discussion. Always debate. Always that group of people who think that despite how well the death was presented that it was WRONG to kill that character. In this instance, we have a death which could not have been handled worse, yet very few people seem agitated by it at all.

It finally occurred to me that either most people didn’t care about the Slingers one bit, or they simply had no idea who Hornet even was. Now I am not the kind of person that would judge anyone poorly for not liking the same things that I do – and this is no exception. I bear no ill will towards those that don’t share my view of Slingers. I did think, however, that this would be an ideal chance to share with everyone my thoughts and knowledge about the Slingers, and maybe get a few people to remember this series, and maybe even to agree that the way Hornet was written off in this week’s Wolverine was a bad, bad thing. I can hope, in any case.

Cast of Characters

Ritchie Gilmore, a wrestler at ESU, takes his assignment as Prodigy very seriously. He has a strong but stubborn personality, and sees himself as the leader of the group. However, unlike most great leaders, Ritchie can’t relate well with those he hopes will follow him. Instead of inspiring the rest of the Slingers, Ritchie often tries to force them into obedience, with less than stellar results. He sees his team’s unwillingness to follow his lead, and perform and act as he would have them a weakness, and weakness is not something that goes hand in hand with the work of a hero. He is constantly on the verge of leaving and going solo, but he has a tremendous sense of loyalty that keeps his bitterness in check. Prodigy has no natural “powers” of his own, but his suit gives him the ability of limited flight (quite possibly “Hulk-like jumping,” it is never clearly defined), super strength, and is bulletproof – all powers granted to him by his costume, which is of unknown origin.

Cassie St. Commons was the daughter of a rich, socialite couple. Rebelling against her parents, Cassie became something of a “Goth chick,” with all of the attitude and looks that go along with that. Early in her training as Dusk, Cassie slipped (or stepped- may have been suicide) off the ledge of a building, and fell to her death. She returned to life with a set of strange and not-yet fully-explored powers, including teleportation, a semi-psychic connection to those she cares about, and a few devastating offensive attacks. Cassie is involved in something of a love triangle with two of her teammates – though she is aware of Eddie’s feelings towards her, she finds herself attracted to Johnny, who is dating someone else.

Johnny Gallo, Ricochet (called Rico for short), is a Brooklyn native whose mother was murdered when he was very young. He is also a mutant – something he doesn’t like to talk about very often, and struggles to keep a secret. He can sense danger, not unlike Spider-Man’s “Spider-sense,” has a heightened agility, and can jump very high. He uses various bouncing disks as weapons, something his teammate Hornet is constantly redesigning and improving for him. Johnny at first tried to hide his life as Ricochet from his girlfriend, but he did not do a very good job, and she eventually found out. He also has a very troubled relationship with his father who is cold and uncaring towards him, and has been that way ever since the death of his mother.

Eddie McDonough was normally a shy, unconfident person, something that came from growing up crippled. One of his arms is crippled – palsied, and completely useless to him. That is, until he puts on the gauntlets from his Hornet costume – these give him full use of both arms, something Eddie found to be very liberating. As Hornet, Eddie also has the ability to fly, and he can fire a tazer-like “Hornet’s Sting” from his gauntlets. Eddie is a mechanical wizard, and is often seeking to improve his own costume, and his friend and teammate Ricochet’s disks. Despite the confidence boost he has gotten from being Hornet, he is still shy and non-confrontational as ever outside of his costume. Hornet appears to have been killed by Wolverine in the recent Wolverine #23.

Issue Synopses

Spider-Man: Identity Crisis
Sensational Spider-Man #26-28. – Written by Tom DeFalco, Penciled by Joe Bennett, Inked by Bud LaRosa, Colored by Bob Sharen, and Letters by RS & Comiccraft’s Kiff Scholl. $1.99
Amazing Spider-Man #433-435. – Written and Penciled by Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo, Inks by Rich Case, Colors by Gregory Wright, and Letters by RS & Comiccraft’s Kiff Scholl. $1.99.
Peter Parker, Spider-Man #90-92. – Written by Howard Mackie, Penciled by John Romita Jr., Inked by Scott Hanna, Colored by Gregory Wright, and Letters by RS & Comiccraft’s Kiff Scholl. $1.99, and
Spectacular Spider-Man #256-258. – Written by John Marc DeMatteis, Pencils by Luke Ross, Inked by Al Milgrom and Dan Green, Colored by John Kalisz, and Letters by RS & Comiccraft’s Kiff Scholl. $1.99.

After a $5 million bounty is put out for the web-slinger, Peter Parker finds it nearly impossible to venture out as Spider-Man without someone attempting to collect on his head. He takes on a quartet of different new identities – Ricochet, Hornet, Dusk, and Prodigy- so that he can go out and clear his name, and find the identity of the true culprit behind the beating of Norman Osborne. With the name of Spider-Man cleared, and the $5 million bounty lifted, Peter Parker retires his four alternate identities, closing the book on their short careers. Or so he thought.

Slingers #0 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by Adam Pollina, Inked by Jimmy Palmiotti, Colored by Kevin “Stick” Tinsley, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. Free with purchase of Wizard.

This issue served mostly as an introduction to the new heroes who have picked up Spider-Man’s discarded identities – giving a brief overview of their names and powers. Of note in this preview issue is the fact that it is the only issue in which Dusk is actually alive. The action in this issue surrounds a simple gaps between buildings. To each of the three men on the team, this distance is easy enough to traverse by using their powers. Dusk on the other hand – is not having such an easy time of it. Prodigy makes an ultimatum – she makes the jump, or she is off the team.

She doesn’t make the jump. Whether she intended to kill herself or not is in question, but whatever her motivations, this issue ends with Dusk having fallen to her death. Of course, this is far from the end of her story, but it does serve to shake-up the team quite a bit.

Slingers #1 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $2.99 (4 Variant Editions).

This issue was infamous for reasons beyond being a new #1. Slingers #1 came in four Variant Collector’s Editions, where not just the cover was different, but aspects of the story itself were different from edition to edition. Each edition had certain chunks of the story which were told from the perspective of one of each of the Slingers. It made getting the entire story somewhat challenging – as you had to both buy and flip through all four versions to get the entire story. And interesting idea, but ultimately, a failed one. I never saw that idea used ever again.

A suicide might not seem like something that would attract the attention of Spider-man, but since the victim was wearing the Dusk costume, something all-too-familiar to the web-slinger. The appearances by those wearing costumes he abandoned gets his attention, and he sets out to track down the would-be heroes.

Prodigy breaks up a drug smuggling operation set up by a low-level Maggia by the name of “Jimmy Eyes.” Jimmy Eyes swears revenge on Prodigy for his affront. Hornet stops a domestic violence situation with a couple from his school. However, things get weird when he mistakenly calls the girl by her name. She freaks out (“How did you know my name?”) and runs after her fleeing abusive boyfriend for protection. Ricochet breaks a date with his girlfriend to go out “on patrol,” only to end up saving her later in the night, and meanwhile, in the morgue, Cassie, thought dead, awakens and .. leaves.

Prodigy and Ricochet nearly come to blows over the death of Dusk, and Prodigy’s hostile and militant attitude towards the rest of the team. Prodigy declares that it was better that she died now, than later when it would matter much more, and departs.

The next day, the team comes together to avert a potential disaster. (NOTE: This section is broken up between the four issues, and is told from the perspective of each of the four Slingers in their individual issues). Mac Garrity, a worker for the Transit Authority, opted to commit suicide, instead of dealing with a sickness that is taking over his body. He routed two subway trains to converge on the same track – the very spot where he would be waiting, so that the trains will end his life. Prodigy uses his strength to derail one train, Ricochet manages to derail the other (with less than pretty results), while Hornet was supposed to swoop down and get Garrity off the tracks. Unfortunately, he doesn’t want to be rescued, so he pulls out a pistol and opens fire on Hornet, causing him to crash. Hornet eventually “rescues” the man, who seems strangely angered that he is not dead. Dusk watches the scene unfold from afar, but Bleenks in to rescue a boy who falls from the upper tracks just after the train rescue comes to an end.

Prodigy returns to the old, run-down Atlas Films Studio where we meet the Slingers’ benefactor for the first time – a very old Black Marvel. Ricochet and Hornet converge at their “spot,” to let off some steam, while Dusk still lingers in the background, unwilling to reveal herself to her teammates.

Slingers #2 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull, Tom Simmons, and Don Hillsman, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99 (2 variant covers).

Spider-Man sees the faces of the remaining three Slingers in the paper attached to a story about the train derailment, and stumbles on to Ricochet riding on a bus. Rico flees, and eventually gets away from Spider-Man by jumping into a Subway train. Meanwhile the Black Marvel sits in his studio, watching movies about himself from years past, reminiscing about the “Golden Age” of heroes.

The Slingers (minus Dusk) go check out the Grand Royal Hotel construction site, which is rumored to be doubling as a maggia operation. Ricochet and Hornet travel through the drainpipes, while Prodigy takes a more direct approach. While in the sewers, Ricochet and Hornet discover that the maggia are planting chemicals of some kind in the basement. Before they can find out more, they are attacked by giant rats. They call Prodigy for help, giving away his position to the maggia that he is spying on at the construction site. The maggia attack, and Prodigy has to flee. Ricochet eventually escapes the sewer, but Hornet is trapped within by a collapsed tunnel. Rico calls for help once again, but Prodigy – angry that his mission was spoiled – crushes his communicator and leaves Rico to his own devices.

A newly “alive” Dusk struggles to regain the memory of her past life and death by visiting her home. Her parents are just receiving the news that their daughter was found dead, and that her body subsequently vanished. This revelation stirs some memory in Dusk about the events surrounding her death.

Slingers #3 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull, Hillsman, Morales, and Candellario, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99.

Rico thinks that Eddie is surely dead beneath the rubble, but Dusk arrives to teleport Hornet to safety. Neither of the guys know exactly how Hornet was saved, they are just both relieved that everything turned out ok. Rico discovers a spider-tracer on his pants, and an exposed Spider-Man reveals himself to the pair. Thinking that Spider-Man wants to ask them about the death of Dusk, the two flee, and Spider-Man pursues. The spectacle nearly causes a traffic accident, so Hornet and Spider-Man briefly come together to prevent a tragedy. Afterwards, the two take off while Spider-Man is left holding up a giant freeway sign.

Dusk briefly manifests herself to Eddie, who breaks down at the sight of her. She begs him not to fear her, and disappears. Meanwhile, Rico’s girlfriend confronts him with her suspicions that it was he who saved her from the attacker, and Prodigy reports his failure at the Grand Royal back to the Black Marvel (now in costume), who praises him for abandoning his weaker teammates.

Slingers #4 – Written by Joseph Harris, Art by Oscar Jimenez, Eduardo Alpuente, Felix Serrano, and Richard Starkings, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by Comicraft. $1.99.

Rico’s father discovers his copy of the Black Marvel Strikes, and decides to watch it for old time’s sake.

Meanwhile, at the opening of the new Grand Royal, The Black Marvel sets his plans in motion with Prodigy impatiently waiting in the wings for his mentor’s signal. Hornet and Ricochet rush to the hotel, having figured out that something is not right with their “mentor’s” plans. Dusk has a brief encounter with Spider-Man at the scene of her death which leaves the wall-crawler somewhat confused and unsettled.

Hornet and Ricochet arrive and come to blows with Prodigy, who believes they are getting in the way of their mentor’s wishes. Rico is thrown off the roof of the hotel (to be later saved by Dusk), and Hornet and Prodigy take their fight into the hotel. Hornet’s argument and an attack by some maggia thugs plant enough doubt in Prodigy to question what is going on, so Prodigy takes off to see what is in the basement.

Finally, the Black Marvel sets off a string of bombs in the hotel, and then “arrives to save the day.”

Slingers #5 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull, Colored by Jean Segarra-Rosa, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99.

Fire erupts throughout the hotel, and The Black Marvel is stunned that no one seems willing to allow him to save them. The four Slingers eventually come together and reject, en mass, the actions of their mentor, and spring to action to save the lives of the people in the collapsing hotel. Prodigy holds the building up long enough for everyone to escape, and gives his cape to Hornet to wrap around a child to protect him. The building collapses with Prodigy still inside. Among those rescued is Rico’s girlfriend, who tricks him into revealing to her his identity.

Peter Parker pays a visit to his attic, where he finds his original Prodigy, Dusk, Ricochet, and Hornet costumes still safely tucked away in a chest.

Slingers #6 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99.

A mostly character driven issue in which Hornet, Ricochet, and Dusk come to grips with everything that has happened to them over the past six issues. The “love triangle” is introduced here for the first time, and Hornet catches Dusk plant a kiss on a shocked Ricochet.

Prodigy, meanwhile, pulls himself from the rubble of the hotel. His suit protected him from the fire, it seems, and search parties never discovered his body. Prodigy tries to decide what to do next. Meanwhile, deep in the subway system, Jimmy Eyes comes face to face with The Griz.

Slingers #7 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by Greg Luzniak, Inked by Bob Almond with Jimmy and Peter Palmiotti, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99.

Remember the giant rats from issue #2? Well, they make an appearance here again, this time, taking out an unlucky city worker. Their search broadens, and they finally find the one they are looking for – Eddie (minus his Hornet uniform), who they drag down a manhole and into the sewers. Dusk senses Eddie’s distress, and bleenks over to get Ricochet to go and help him. Dusk and Ricochet find a pair of the giant sewer rats in Eddie’s dorm room, and follow them to where Eddie is being held and tortured by The Griz.

Slingers #8 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by Greg Luzniak, Inked by Bob Almond with Candelario and Minor, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by RS & Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis. $1.99.

With Eddie secured as a hostage, The Griz tells his story to Cassie. It seems that The Griz is actually one Mac Garrity, the very same man who was rescued by Hornet back in issue #1. Garrity was hired to do some work on the Grand Royal Hotel construction. While working in the basement, one of the barrels of nuclear waste that the Maggia were storing down there fell over and spilled on Garrity. Feeling the transformation into the monster he was not coming on, Garrity decided to kill himself. But Hornet saved him, and the Griz was born. The Griz swore to pay Hornet back for saving him, and forcing him to endure the pain of the transformation, and the loss of what was his life. Dusk, sensing the stand-off, flees for the moment, and The Griz retreats farther into the sewers with Hornet.

Prodigy resumes his career as a crime-fighter, this time solo, and cape-less. He finds, however, that he is unable to prevent accidents from happening, that there was something about his cape that allowed him to better control his powers. Without it, people are getting seriously hurt, no matter how careful Prodigy is. He decides to rejoin his team-mates, and get his cape back.

Ricochet and Dusk return to the aid of Hornet, and this time succeed in stopping him from accomplishing his goal of putting the remaining Nuclear Waste in the city’s water supply.

Slingers #9 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull and Don Hillsman, Colored by Felix Serrano, Lettered by Bullpen DS. $1.99.

This issue starts with a flashback to when Rico’s mother is killed by Nanny and Orphanmaker (yes, that Nanny and Orphanmaker). Flash forward to the present day, when Rico is kidnapped by the Orphanmaker so that Nanny can make up for “failing” Rico the first time, and do things right this time around. To accomplish this, Nanny reveals that Rico’s father must die as well, so that Rico would truly be an orphan.

Rico escapes and foils the Nanny’s plans, and ends up revealing his secret to his father. In the end, Rico returns to his room to find Prodigy, who asks for his help.

Slingers #10 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by ChrisCross, Inked by Rob Stull and Don Hillsman, Colored by Rick Taylor, Lettered by Sharpfont and P.T. $1.99.

Dan Lyons, The Black Marvel is laying dead in the hospital, when Mephisto comes calling, looking to claim his soul. It seems that the suits that the Slingers are wearing were created by Mephisto, and granted with certain powers so that The Black Marvel could use them to become a hero once more. A deal with the devil, if you will. Mephisto takes his soul, and The Black Marvel dies.

Mephisto turns his attention to the newly re-united Slingers – curious about what happened to the tools he created. Finding them lacking, he causes the “heroes” in the billboard that overlooks the building they meet at to come to life, attack the quartet, and eventually drag them down into his realm along with the soul of the Black Marvel.

Slingers #11 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by Javier Saltares, Inked by Perrota and Mahlstedt, Colored by Rick Taylor, Lettered by Sharpfont & P.T. $1.99.

Mephisto, curious to see how his “boon” of creating the Slingers was spent, offers them a bargain – Forgive the Black Marvel for all he had dome to them, and he will release his soul from its eternity of torture. The Slingers argue about the merits of this deal, and Mephisto, impatient, separates them, and puts each of them through individual experiences that shine a bright light on their most humiliating personal weaknesses. He then draws them back together, and then – their egos beaten down, he sends his hoards against them.

Slingers #12 – Written by Joseph Harris, Penciled by Javier Saltares, Inked by Minor, Perrota, Ramos, and Rubenstein, Colored by Rick Taylor, Lettered by Sharpfont & P.T. $1.99.

Things look grim for the Slingers as an unending wave of demons attack them. Dusk, angered, finally taps into the depths of her powers, and in one powerful attack manages to wipe out almost all of the thousands of demons surging towards the Slingers.

In the end, the Slingers lay down everything that Mephisto gave them, their identities – everything that initially made them “heroes,” and confronted him as themselves. They saw through Mephisto’s tricks, ignored his misdirections, and gave the Black Marvel their forgiveness for what he had done. The Black Marvel’s soul was freed, and the Slingers left Mephisto’s Realm.

The New Warriors #1 – Written by Jay Faerber, Penciled by Steve Scott, Inked by Walden Wong, Colored by Kevin Somers, and Lettered by RS/Comicraft/LA. $2.99

The Slingers’ appearance in this issue is brief. Speedball, attempting to reform the New Warriors, approaches the Slingers to see if they would like to join the team. Their response? Uproarious laughter.

Contest of Champions II #3. – Written by Chris Claremont, Pencils by Oscar Jimenez, Inks by Eduardo Alpuente, Colors by Atomic Paintbrush, Letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft/LA. $2.50.

The Slingers go head to head with the New Warriors in a game of basketball, and are barely defeated. The New Warriors advance.

Wolverine #23. – Written by Mark Millar, Pencils by John Romita, Jr., Inks by Klaus Johnson, Colors by Paul Mounts, Letters by Chris Eliopoulos.

Solo appearance by Hornet here – and the one that I was referring to earlier. Hornet never appears alive in this issue – his body is discovered in the aftermath of a mind-controlled Wolverine’s rampage. He is mistaken for Spider-Man by a damage control worker.

Thoughts

Six years is a long time, and it seems to have flown by a lot faster than I thought it would. I remember back when Slingers was cancelled (along with Nova, another series I was reading), and the news was sad. But at the time – I wasn’t all that worried. Books got cancelled time and time again, and the concepts always seemed to pop back up every few years. Look at Power Pack – that gets cancelled every time they put it out, but we are all set for the latest Power Pack series from Marvel coming up early next year. So it was only a matter of time before the Slingers would come back – somehow, somewhere. Right?

Well, in a way they have, and not at all the way I had hoped. Hornet met with a seriously unceremonious death this past Wednesday in the pages of Wolverine, and it made my blood boil. It wasn’t the death that did it – it was the way the death happened.

For those who read the series, we all remember what kind of hero Eddie McDonough was. Quiet, unassuming, bookish, shy with women. It is probably safe to say that as a character, he was more like all of us than any of the Slingers. He may not have been your favorite member of the team, but he was the one who you could empathize with the most.

He was young, eager, but new at the game. The very thought of talking to Spider-Man terrified him – he fled rather than face the potential suspicion of a veteran like that. Not a coward – he just knew when he was out of his league. If Hornet would run from a suspicious Spider-Man over a misunderstanding, how do you think he would react to a rampaging Wolverine?

So here we have Wolverine, mind-controlled, on a rampage. Most heroes would not confront him, because if he killed them, they would become tools of the Hand. as well. Well, we know the real reason for this was that Wolverine could not be beat, else there would be no story, and they couldn’t have Wolverine actually kill any main heroes for obvious reasons… So they had to bring out someone who may be recognizable, but whose death would have absolutely zero impact on the current state of the Marvel universe, or on any future plans that may be in the works. Enter Slingers, or specifically – Hornet.

Regardless of the political/ financial reasons for choosing Hornet to die, the actual execution of his fall was handled quite poorly indeed.

Hornet (along with the rest of the Slingers) was a character I grew to care about. I will be the first to admit that perhaps the original Slingers series didn’t have the most blockbuster stories. Not that they were bad in the least, but there was a lot, in the end, that was left unclear. But the appeal of this series wasn’t the so much the story as the characters. The Slingers were vibrant and real characters that you could relate to. They may have been seen by some as a cheap Spider-Man rip-off attempt, but the one thing they really took from Spider-Man was his appeal and relatability to the reader. These were students with flaws. Inexperienced kids who were terrified about what they were doing, had no idea if they were doing it right, but were driven to help those in need, and in part thrilled by the excitement of it. Ritchie, the proud and driven loner. Cassie, a depressed rich-girl. Johnny – the pretty-boy from a troubled home. And Eddie – intelligent, but flawed.

But sometimes in a story people die, and sometimes it is a character you care a lot about. And what is the Marvel Universe but a giant tapestry weaving together all of the stories of all of the characters? As comic fans, when a favorite character goes away for awhile, we don’t look at it as an end, rather, a break in the story. For Slingers fans, the moment Hornet, or any of the Slingers, appeared on panel once again, it was Marvel’s way of picking up the story once again. Only Marvel cheated us.

They killed Hornet, but they refused to give us closure. There was a great story here, they just refused to tell it.

Hornet: the young, inexperienced hero, sees a dangerous veteran, with the hoards of Hydra at his back, on a murderous rampage. None of the heroes will confront him. People are dying. He KNOWS that he may not be able to stop him. He knows that he will probably be killed if he tries. But against his fears, his instinct is to try and stop him. To try and save the lives of the innocents in Wolverine’s path. There is tons of inner conflict and turmoil, but in the end, he makes the effort. He tries to stop the rampage – and he fails. He falls, but he dies a hero.

That may have been a story that fans of Slingers could have lived with – but we were denied that. Instead, we are left with questions. Where was the rest of the team? Why did Hornet go solo, when he knew someone (Dusk) who could probably end Wolverine’s rampage on her own? And why in the world was Hornet the only hero anywhere brave enough to face Wolverine, who really isn’t all that powerful in the grand scheme of things? And why weren’t we allowed to see Hornet swallow his fears, and rush into battle against impossible odds, only to die in the end? Why were we, as fans, denied that?

We also get the insult – a group of people who don’t even know Hornet’s name. The hero with more guts than any of them gets his head cut off by a woman who has no respect for him – a woman who can’t even refer to him as a “Super-Hero” without it dripping with sarcasm. It wasn’t enough to deny fans of the character a decent death, but the scene had to be written in a way that tells us that the character was barely worth the four colors he was printed in. To me this felt like a huge slap in the face from the House of Ideas. Why did I bother investing my time, money, and dedication on a concept Marvel found worthless? And what about the creators whose energies went to crafting these characters? Were there efforts wasted? Marvel seems to think so.
I am not so much of a fanboy that I will get bent out of shape when a favorite series gets cancelled. Sure, I am disappointed, but I understand the business end of things. If something isn’t selling well enough to make a profit, then you have to pull the plug. It is economics – and as much as I love comics, I know that the big publishers are in it to make money.

But this – this shows total lack of respect towards your readers. On one hand, it is an insult to Slingers fans for all of the reasons I have stated. On the other hand, if you couldn’t care less about Slingers, and read this issue as a fan of Wolverine, it is an insult to you that you are being sold a story that has no internal logic. Aside from Dusk, there are dozens of heroes in the Marvel Universe with the power to put an end to Wolverine’s little pillaging spree with almost no risk to themselves – instead, they toss a character out that they think no one will remember just so they can have “killed a super-hero.” You, my friends, were cheated out of a story that made any sense just so that they could have a few really cool issues showing Wolverine killing a whole bunch of people. And hey – if that is what you are looking for, I am glad you got it, but I think you were swindled in the deal. Come on, at least do something like giving Wolvie the “Power Cosmic” so that other heroes being afraid of him at least makes a little sense.

Bottom Line

In the end, the Slingers series will always have a special place on my comic shelves. No trade that I know of exists at this time, but with some hunting, you should be able to track down the back issues. Harris wrote a tremendous character driven story, and I am firmly convinced that ChrisCross will never see the day where people stop mentioning to him that they loved his work on Slingers.

One thing is certain, however – comic deaths are one thing that you can almost always count on to be temporary. Slingers and those who enjoyed that book might be something of a joke at Marvel these days, but things change. One day there will be a new captain of the ship called Marvel, and perhaps he or she will see fit to throw is Slingers fans a bone. A four issue mini would be nice! Stranger things have happened in comics. If Power Pack can get a new series, anything is possible.

“I wore these things for about two seconds, then locked them up in a trunk where they stayed. Second rate identities either way, but still … they’ve got fan clubs. Maybe one day I’ll understand the attraction.” – Peter Parker, Slingers #5.