Review- Free Comic Book Day Review Part One

Free Comic Book Day Review Part One

I have been lackadaisical in my reviews lately and did not do a Free Comic Book Day overview this year. Rather than do one at this late date, I'm just going to list two stores with each batch of Free Comic Book Day comic reviews. Please note that the comics reviewed here did not necessarily come from the shop listed in this review, nor does the shop endorse these reviews.

Not all of the comics that I'll be reviewing over the three parts of my Free Comic Book Day reviews will be FCBD editions. Some are singles that I paid for on FCBD while others were offered for free as part of the FCBD festivities.

The first shop that I hit this year was Detroit Comics in Ferndale, MI. Detroit Comics has recently celebrated ten years in business. Brian and crew are a friendly bunch so stop in and hello.

Resurrxion Free Spotlight #1 (Marvel, cover date May, 2017)

This is a fat 52 pager with previews of 11 different X-Men titles which have been relaunched as part of Marvel's supposedly new fan friendly line. Excuse me, eleven titles is new fan friendly? Come on Marvel. This is ridiculous. Some of these ideas were interesting in a way, but eleven titles? What kid can afford this? Hell, what adult can afford eleven titles for one line of comics? Ridiculous.

Secret Empire Free Previews Spotlight #1 (Marvel, cover date June, 2017)

I have come to the conclusion that I have outgrown modern Marvel Comics. My son really enjoys whatever new comics he reads by them. Maybe I am too old and jaded and have seen it all too many times before. Any way you slice it, the writing and artwork no longer resonate with me so I won't be buying them. There is nothing in this comic that makes me want to throw money at it. I will stick with old Marvel Comics and leave the new Marvel Age of Comics to my son.

Miserable Americans #4 (Independently published by artist Evan Derian, copyright 2016)

Coming in at issue 4 of a series is like walking in late to a movie. Locally produced and published here in Detroit, Miserable Americans is a series about the clones of President John F. Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln who are on the run from some secret organization that is trying to kill them for reasons that are as yet unknown. It was intelligently written (two or three typos aside) and there is so much story and characterization crammed into this issue that I am intrigued enough to read more.

2000 AD Free Comic Book Day Prog 2017 (2000 AD, cover date 2017)

2000 AD is celebrating it's fortieth anniversary this year, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. This year's FCDB sampler starts out with a story by a character who goes all the way back to the beginning of the series, debuting in #2. Judge Dredd leads the charge in a story that is a sequel to one of the stories that I've recently read in one of The Complete Case Files phonebooks. Blackblood is one of those early '90s British feeling comics, heavy on the robotics and light on humor. Hope has the potential to be an interesting read. Judge Anderson doesn't interest me at all, while Dreams Of Deadworld shows what happens in Judge Death's dimension, where life is a crime and the sentence is death. This is an interesting strip that I would be willing to read more of.

The second shop that we hit this year was Time Travelers in Berkley, MI. Time Travelers is a well stocked shop, although I swear some of those toys have been in those glass cases since the first time I walked in there roughly 25 years ago. They have an ample selection of everything: comics, toys from all eras, video games, cards, and more.

The Incal: Free Comic Book Day (Humanoids, cover date 2017)

Humanoids (the US branch of Les Humanoides Associes) offers English language translations of European comics. The first 26 pages of the book, the first published in the Jodoverse line of Humanoids books, are presented in this FCBD edition. I read and loved Metabarons as well as Technopriests, but this left me cold. It's interesting in a “this is how it all began” sort of way but that's about it. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

Star Trek: The Next Generation- Mirror Broken #0 (IDW, cover date May, 2017)

In the original Star Trek television series they had that parallel universe where everything was the opposite of ours. Spock was evil, and since goatees are evil, evil Spock had one. So on and so forth. The Next Generation may or may not have had such an episode as well. I haven't watched an episode since it originally aired in the '80s.

This was an absolutely fantastic read. The writing and artwork are flawless and it reads and feels like an episode of the television series.

Afterlife With Archie- Halloween ComicFest Edition #1 (Archie, cover date 2014)

I borrowed the first trade from the library and found it to be unreadable. I could barely make it through an issue. This version is printed in “black and white” (really grayscale and black) and I enjoyed it well enough to want to read more...just not in color.

Doctor Who: Free Comic Book Day 2017 #1 (Titan, cover date June, 2017)

I know next to nothing about Doctor Who but enjoyed this comic. It's slick and polished stuff. I can't say how well it relates to the source material, nor do I care.