May 6, 2023

Free Comic Book Day!

Yes, it was this time of the year when the comic companies put out several collectibles that serve as a way to promote their upcoming books or their characters. It has turned into a celebration of the comic book shop and the hobby.

I have not been able to attend a Free Comic Book Day at my comic shop, Comic World in Dubuque because I am usually spending the weekend at the movie theater. However, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 being the main film out this weekend, and since I had already seen it on the XD screen at Cinemark on Thursday, I was able to rearrange things so I could go to Free Comic Book Day.

I did start the morning at Phoenix Theaters to watch GotG Vol. 3, but after that, I went to spend some time at Comic World. I knew I had several of the free comics pulled in my box by Todd and so I was excited to see what else I could find.

I hope that all of you out there that went to Free Comic Book Day at your favorite local comic book shop were not just cheap losers who went and picked up the free books and left. This opportunity to help support these shops by picking up some back issues or some supplies is too good to pass. Comic World was even giving discounts on certain things.

I wanted to pick up some kind of complete set, a short series, but there were not very many choices. I did wind up picking on up, but it was one that I never would have thought I would buy. I got some comic bags and boards and a Brzrkr comic box. I appreciate Comic World and I happily will give them my money.

Plus, I was finally able to get a certain ‘white whale’ book that I have been trying to get for the last month or so.

It was a great Free Comic Book Day.

Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man/Venom #1. This gave us some hints at future Spider-Man stories (including Kraven), a bizarre creature Called Flexo in Venom and a hint at Jonathan Hickman’s upcoming Ultimate Invasion.

Free Comic Book Day: I Am Stan #1. The comic was released by a company called Ten Speed Press and featured the work of Stan Lee and his time at Marvel. There was a lot of dialogue in this book, and it was an intriguing look at Stan and how the Marvel method changed comics. This saga continues in September and I think I may be picking it up. FCBD promotion worked for this one.

Free Comic Book Day: Uncanny Avengers #1. This one was quite compelling. Who is Captain Krakoa? How about those giant Iron Man Sentinels? And another Jonathan Hickman tease for a book called GODS. I am looking forward to both of these and I have not been excited for an X-Men related book much recently.

Free Comic Book Day: Dawn of DC- Knight Terrors Special Edition #1. So there is a giant company wide event in DC during July and August that takes the DC line into a horror themed storyline. I do not buy very many DC Comics, but I have to say that this promo is tempting. There was a massive list of comics over those two months, a bunch of two issue mini series. Hm. Do I dare?

Free Comic Book Day: Archie Horror Presents The Cursed Library #0. Grabbed this one off the table. It had not been pulled for me, but I do like the horror comic books. But this was Archie Comics (I’ll come back to that later). This was weird, but okay.

Free Comic Book Day: Spidey and his Amazing Friends#1. This would be a fun book for a young reader, who loved the characters from the Disney Junior TV show. I found this something that I was not interested in, even as a huge Spider-Man fan.

Free Comic Book Day: Marvel Voices #1. The Voices anthology books are fine. I have never been too engaged with these anthologies. This book had some good parts. The Ironheart part was decent and it was great to see Ms. Marvel again.

Marvel Spider-Man 2 #1. Not exactly a “Free Comic Book Day” comic, but it was also a promotional book. I was also not a fan of this book even though I love Spider-Man. It did not feel like the character of Spider-Man felt like Spider-Man. It is hard to explain, but it felt very flat. I will not be reading this Gameverse book moving forward.

Local Man #3. Written by and with art by Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley. One of the recent books that was in my box today. I have enjoyed the first couple of issues of Local Man. This book has been setting a great new world and we continue with the life of Jack, our one time disgraced super hero Crossjack.

And then there was the comic set that I bought today…

Archie vs. Predator #1-4 (no, I’m not kidding). Written by Alex de Campi and pencils by Fernando Ruiz. This was so dumb… and, for some reason, I loved it. It was brutal. All of these Archie characters were having their heads decapitated with their spines pulled out and I was here for it. This was complete camp and total silliness in the very best way. I did not expect this and I was pleased at the results.

White Savior #1-4. FINALLY!!! Written by Eric Nguyen and Scott Burman. Art was provided by Eric Nguyen. As I talked about last Comic Cavalcade, I had been going through a lot of problems trying to get White Savior #4 and I was waiting to read all four issues together. Boy, was the wait worth it! This was fantastic! I loved this book. It was irreverent, funny, shockingly unpredictable. It broke the fourth wall throughout. I was totally captivated by this series and I am so pleased that I finally finished it.