Free Comic Book Day 2015 Comic Reviews - Part 1

This year there is a plethora of amazing titles coming out from publishers and being distributed by local comic shops for the annual Free Comic Book Day event. If you haven’t already found a local comic shop to attend for this fabulous day, we highly recommend checking for the nearest shop through Comic Shop Locator. But as much as we all love free comics, you need to remember that while they’re free to you, they cost the publishers and the shops money to create and distribute. Because of this, many shops hold some limit to how many free comics a customer might be able to pick up. Because of this, we have went ahead and started reviewing a number of the great Free Comic Book Day 2015 offerings so you can have an idea what to expect and what to go after when picking up your comics this year. These reviews are short, sweet, and generally spoiler free. So take a look at some of what is coming out May 2nd, 2015 at your local comic shop!

Secret Wars #0

This beautifully drawn, by Paul Renaud, prequel to Marvel’s big summer event plays much as a zero issue should, and follows the recent train of DC and Marvel zero issue preludes to events. Through the narration of Valeria and Franklin Richards (the children of the Fantastic Four), readers are given a quick catch-me-up on all that has happened in the currently concluding volumes of Avengers and New Avengers, with the various incursions crashing alternate Earths together with our own. Without really providing any new information, it gives us a wonderfully fun perspective on all the recent events that will get a reader ready for Secret Wars #1. Best of all is the fact that you get commentary from the kids of the Future Foundation. Hickman always does a good job with those guys.

The thing that’s going to make this issue the hit of Free Comic Book Day though is that it’ll appeal to many far outside of Marvel fandom with it’s Attack on Titan crossover in the back. The Avengers/Attack on Titan comic was originally published in Brutus Magazine over in Japan late last year. Now it is finally being reprinted for the first time in America in this FCBD comic! Complete with a few Kodansha ads, as that is the publisher responsible for Attack on Titan both in Japan and State-side, this beautiful piece ends in a way that makes us all hope a sequel can be put together. Definitely THE must have of Free Comic Book Day 2015!

Divergence #1

This is DC’s big FCBD release and publisher Dan Didio and Jim Lee promise it’s no reprint, preview pages, or the like. This is 3 brand new, exclusive short stories leading into the upcoming storylines for Batman, Superman, and Justice League done by their respective creative teams. Surely you’ve already heard the hype about the Batman story, due to leaked spoilers, and those spoilers are right. But how is it? While I personally found the concept ridiculous, at least the story is self aware and I have faith Scott Snyder has a good plan for what goes on in this with an enjoyable twist somewhere down the line. If you like Snyder and Capullo’s current run on Batman, this will unquestionably be a must grab on FCBD.

Now if you thought the Batman spoilers were odd, it’s the Superman story that seems particularly out of character. A new Batman is one thing, but this tale of Superman is particularly jaw dropping. A personal thought is that neither of these titles seem like they’re even about the characters we’ve known for 75 yeas, but then again in the foreword of this FCBD issue, Jim Lee and Dan Didio made small note of that. Gene Luen Yang writes a rather unique Superman tale here drawn by John Romita Jr. If that’s your thing, you’ll probably want to read it. If you’re more of a Truth, Justice, and American Way Superman fan, this could ‘alienate’ you a bit.

The last story, and perhaps the most dramatic and exciting piece that makes this comic really worth pick up, is Geoff John’s Darkseid/Anti-Monitor war prelude for Justice League. Through a great narrative that works almost like a movie trailer, we get a hint at what is to come in Justice League and it looks AMAZING! It makes Forever Evil, DC’s last big event to spill out of Justice League, look tiny and yet it ties together with that and Trinity War in small and subtle ways that can be seen in the art.

While this comic might not appeal to some of the more hardcore DC fans who like to keep a status quo, it is worth picking up to see an early view of how things are going to shake out over the next few months. And if you’re a fan of John’s Justice League, it’s a must have for the trailer like entry into the next major storyline!

The All-New, All-Different Avengers FCBD

I hope that isn’t the name of a new Avengers title this Fall, “The All-New, All-Different Avengers”, because it is a mouthful! Thankfully it is a great read, giving us a preview of things to come post-Secret Wars. We’re seeing a brand new Avengers team mixed with veteran heroes like Iron Man, lady Thor, and Sam Wilson Captain America alongside some younger heroes from the main Marvel Universe as well as an alternate reality character soon to join the main Marvel U during the events of Secret Wars. Written by Mark Waid it has all the fun teases of Marvel’s long lasting continuity and proof that there won’t really be a reboot of Marvel this Fall (as we’ve been saying all along). What you do get is a fun and simple tale about the Avengers attempting to stop a bank robbery by a villainous force. Whether that villainous force will lead into something much bigger later on is hard to say just now, but the complete tale is a fun all ages bit of what super hero comics really should be in the mainstream sense. Mahmud Asrar does a knock out job on art and makes this a must pick up for any Marvel fans. But that’s not all to this issue!

Readers will also get an Uncanny Inhumans tale by Charles Soule and Brandon Peterson, set right after the Terrigen Mist cloud of Inhumanity (the event immediately following Marvel’s Infinity event) crosses into Mumbai, India. You’ll see a few more brand new Inhumans as well as some familiar heroic faces (both Inhuman and not). While not the greatest Inhuman read, the last panel has a twist that will surely have people talking and curious just what has happened and will be unfolding in Uncanny Inhumans.

Wrapping up this FCBD title you’ll also get a 3-page preview from the already released Max Ride: First Flight #1 by James Patterson. It’s a great compilation and fun read, so we highly recommend making this title a priority pick up for Marvel fans!

Teen Titans Go/Scooby Doo Team-Up

This one is a perfect free comic for kids. Mixing up the classic cartoon characters of Scooby Doo with DC’s heroes, the Justice League (in their old Super-Friends form), while getting the modern cartoons of Teen Titans Go you can’t go wrong! Plus the comic has a few fun games in-between stories that younger audiences might enjoy as it plays to the fashion of activity books, something parents certainly can’t complain about.

In the Teen Titans Go tale, Starfire and Raven throw an all girls slumber party that has one simple rule: No Boys Allowed! Of course one of the male Teen Titans is going to break this rule, along with a villain, for disastrous consequences. It’s a fun, quick hitting bit of humor that contains everyone’s favorite animated titans as well as some cool and subtle DC cameos in the background.

Meanwhile, across town at the Hall of Justice, the Super Friends play host to Scooby Doo and their gang of teenage mystery solvers. It seems 7 uniquely colored ghosts are haunting the heroes’ home and have kidnapped Superman. Now the Justice League is asking for Shaggy, Scooby, and the rest of the gang to help unmask these dastardly devils. Taking on the roles of the Junior Super Friends, so as not to raise suspicions, the crew crack the case pretty quickly. But discovering who these ghosts are is not the end of this tale, as the comic continues in a future Scooby Doo Team-Up graphic novel. For kids this will be a fun and goofy little tale, but for older fans of the Super Friends show this will be like the story Convergence missed. We discover the fate of the Junior Super Friends who’ve all grown up, see some familiar faces and costumes from the old show, and find out Aquaman…really does live up to his ridiculous reputation of the era when he can’t even operate a fire hose properly. Cute, funny, and perfect for younger readers or someone wanting remember that innocence in comics.

Legendary Comics

This year Legendary has once more put together a sampler platter of comic previews for upcoming titles. With a few great quotes from creators and a mission plan in the opening we dive into short previews of comics like Chris Roberson and JB Bastos’ Black Bag, Steven Grant and Pete Woods’ Cops For Criminals, Joshua Fialkov and Marcos Marz’s Pacific Rim, Michael Dougherty’s Trick R Treat OGN, & Michael Dougherty’s Krampus.

Black Bag is a quick 4 page preview of a somewhat contrived story that makes Mr. and Mrs. Smith look like Oscar gold; a house wife who has a secret job carrying out the government’s dirty deeds. The preview has no words, simply art, and the art is somewhat basic and lacking. Visually there is good story telling in what is shown, but this feels like the artist could’ve used a few more years to fine tooth his work.

Cops For Criminals ends up with just a simple image, not particularly detailed, and a description of what it will be. Once again, sounding like a bad C level movie, this story is about a federal agent who becomes a victim of the system he once defended and now joins the side of criminals to seek out justice.

The Pacific Rim preview is the first to break Legendary’s FCBD offering out of mediocrity with a notable creator on board and a visually stunning preview. The story promises to continue the tale of the Pacific Rim film with new Kaiju and more epic robot battles.

The Trick ‘R Treat preview isn’t a preview at all, more like a comic solicitation, but it has me quite excited. An original graphic novel set to release this October, the stories are by Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, and Todd Casey leading directly into the sequel to the brilliant horror anthology. This OGN will be written by Mark Andreyko and have 4 tales drawn by top comic artists like Fiona Staples, Zid, Stuart Sayger, and Stephen Byrne.

Krampus does the same as Trick ‘R Treat’s involvement in the Free Comic Book Day issue, but with less effect. It tells us the film will get a graphic novel adaption of the upcoming movie this November, written by Brandon Seifert, but gives us no art of details beyond the movie’s basic premise. From there the rest of the comic is just advertisements for some of the titles Legendary has already released, and they don’t even do a good job selling some of these great titles. Overall you get all the real details from this comic in this description and it is easily a comic you can skip grabbing this FCBD.

Hatter M: Love of Wonder

Writer Frank Beddor’s contribution to this years FCBD is a wonderful reprint, or rather selection, from his 5^th volume in the comic spin-off of his Looking Glass War novels. Reprinting a selection from later in the volume, the story continues to follow Hatter M, the Mad Hatter of the Looking Glass War’s universe, in his on-going adventures. If you already have this great story then you can probably skip this free offering. But if you haven’t read the comics for Looking Glass War or have yet to pick up volume 5 it is a great read with eerie and yet wonderful art.

Pokemon

The Viz release for this Free Comic Book Day is surprisingly a Pokemon reprint from the Pokemon: XY, Pokemon Adventures: Emerald, and Pokemon Adventures: Black and White mangas. Formatted in the Japanese style, to read right to left, this one might stand out a bit to newer manga readers who will identify with the classic Japanese pocket monsters, but might not recall a time when this comic format was traditional for manga releases in the US. It’s kind of fun to see these stories in a full size, but the previews are short and not necessarily ideal jumping on points. In fact, the Emerald story drops you into volume 26 of the series! Unless you really need a Pokemon fix, this free comic might be better left for the manga readers unwilling to step out of their comfort zone, and looking for some familiarity.

Kodansha Comics Featuring Attack on Titan

Kodansha is our other manga publisher providing free comics this year, and they took a more traditional route with a free preview book formatted both in the Japanese style, of reading right to left, and tankoubon sized printing. This thick little novella contains 6 previews, including ones for Attack on Titan, Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Noragami, Vinland Saga, Inuyashiki, and Your Lie in April. These are all great little previews that might get more of the mature manga readers into a few awesome new titles. It also works great in grabbing the currently popular trend of Attack on Titan to draw those readers in to the new titles. Personally it was seeing Gantz creator Hiroya Oku’s name that caught my eye most in this, but there are some fun reads in all of the previews presented.

Defend Comics

A new offering, right on the tail of a previous one just weeks ago, from the CBLDF, this is yet another free copy of Defend Comics. This one features a collection of awesome shorts where indie creators are promoting the fight against censorship and promotion of comics. That’s something we can hopefully all get behind. Gene Luen Yang, the future writer of Superman coming this June, has a wonderful little piece involving his previous work on Shadow Hero. Amusingly the Rabbids make a second appearance this FCBD here, Andi Watsons’ Princess Decomposia. You also can find some classic Beanrworld and Archie in less than classic tales. The book has many offerings from creators currently published through First Second Books, all of which I’d recommend checking out and believe the original stories contained in this comic might lead you to think similar. It also has a page you can send in to donate and become a member of the CBLDF, otherwise known as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a great organization that exists to protect free speech. In previous years I’ve sadly seen CBLDF’s books not so quickly flee the free tables, but I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s a great company with a strong purpose and greater message!

And Then Emily Was Gone

Two rather dark and twisted tales come free in this comic from Comix Tribe. Both are lead ins or perhaps selections from upcoming graphic novels, And Then Emily Was Gone and Oxymoron Killing Time. Both are surprisingly quite good and interesting reads for you darker sequential art fans who might want a twist of horror and adult humor in your comics. Best of all? If you liked these stories you and post a selfie with the book, promoting the awesome comic shop you got it at, to win a chance at a free graphic novel from Comix Tribe! Now that’s something more publishers should do!

Super Mutant Magic Academy/Step A Side Pops

A comical offering from Drawn & Quarterly, this free comic will be right up your alley if you’re a fan of witty (though not always) Sunday comic strips like The Far Side. Drawn & Quarterly has put together a flip book, with stories from two separate comic series on either side. Step A Side Pops is Kate Beaton’s humorous and anachronistic sequel to Hark! A Vagrant, which tends to give an old English twist to the funny pages. Meanwhile, Super Mutant Magic Academy reminds me of Kyle Baker’s old X-Men comic strips, in that they give a mutant mix in the old highschool humor, that might take a more indie flavor to appreciate. Both series have collections you can ask your local comic shop for if you end up hooked.

That’s all for this round, but check back later this week for more of the awesome FREE COMICS coming out this weekend!