Free Comic Book Day's Top Five Comics

-Rebel Zero Blog Protocol Initiated…
-Acquiring Signal…
-Signal Strength 100%...
-Connected to Rebel Zero…

I suppose a welcome is in order for this fledgling blog. Welcome. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let us begin.

Free Comic Book Day was last weekend and I braved the crowds that formed inside of my local comic book shop (Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC) to acquire as many of the free books as I could plus my ever dwindling pull list (a topic for another post). The shop tried something different this year by working the free titles into the shelves with the rest of the books instead of putting them all in one spot. I certainly see the logic behind doing this as it may spur an impulse buy of another comic next to it. Unfortunately, it caused quite a few looks of confusion among the non-regulars and I was asked more than once where the new stuff was. All in all, it wasn’t terrible. Good to see the amount of kids I saw looking wide eyed at the shelves, pointing to comics and shouting to their parents, “Look Dad! It’s Spider-Man!” The industry needs that.

So, this first blog post is dedicated to the top five free books I read. I think I got about 15 of them. Some stood out while others couldn’t have, in good conscious, charged anymore than FREE for what you got. Here’s the list…

#5. Comics Festival!

I think I surprised myself with this pick as I don’t really lean towards comedy books (Nextwave being the exception). However, this book made me laugh in a few places. The book’s a collection of stories from various Canadian creators. The stories are random, wildly inventive, and hilarious. I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore when I read the first story called Sardine: Moon Pie by Emmanuel Guibert. In the story, a character named Pierrot is making “moon pie”. What you later find out is he’s actually making the moon that he’s cooking in a skillet-catapult contraption that he plans to launch and stick to the sky. When he launches his moon pie, it gets intercepted by a group of baddies and Sardine and his gang set out to retrieve the pie. It’s crazier than bed bugs, but I like this kind of thing. It was almost like reading Dr. Seuss.

Perhaps my favorite story would be Blackbeard by Kate Beaton. Blackbeard’s breakdown after a series of probing questions makes me laugh every time I read it. Not a small feat.
After reading all of the stories, I felt like I’d gotten a lot for the price of FREE so it made my list. I’ll also be hunting down some of the creators and checking out other stuff they’ve done in the future.

#4. Cyber Force/Hunter Killer First Look

Back in the day, you couldn’t have found bigger Image fans than Rebel One and me. I can still remember 9th grade “Principles of Technology” class where we’d rush through our work to open our backpacks and pour out the latest Image comics we’d scored. Cyber Force was always a big one. I still remember the twisted love triangle between Ripclaw, Warblade, and Misery in the “Killer Instincts” crossover with the WildC.A.T.s. Man, was Jim Lee ripping it back then or what?

Well, time moves on. Cyber Force hasn’t been on my radar since high school and I haven’t really missed it. After reading the First Look free comic, I might consider giving them another shot.

I was comforted by seeing Mark Waid’s name written at the top of the book. I knew I was in good hands. This guy has penned all kinds of comic gold including Kingdom Come and 52. I’d seen Kenneth Rocafort’s work elsewhere (Madame Mirage I think it was) and I enjoyed it with this outing being no different. The Hunter/Killer concept is intriguing enough and pretty much all of the original Cyber Force characters showed up except for Impact (wonder what happened to him?). The story was decent, using an interrogation scene to get the reader up to speed on the important characters and their purpose. I also appreciated the “Cyberdata Case Files” in the back of the book that caught me up with the Cyber Force characters. I’m kind of thrown off by the whole Shaman/Killer thing Ripclaw’s got going on. I thought Shamans were peaceful agents of change not death dealing heroes, but this is a comic book and I’ve certainly read stranger things. End of the day, it gets on the list because it seems to have a compelling story and I suppose the nostalgia of seeing the old Cyber Force members gave it the boost to get it to #4.

#3. The Avengers

Rebel One won’t mind telling you how much he doesn’t like the Dark Avengers. He also won’t mind telling you how much he doesn’t like Dark Reign in general. I agree with him on most of it. The way Norman Osborn came to be the most powerful man in the Marvel U. just doesn’t sit well with either of us. The man makes the kill shot that takes out the Skrull Queen while the press watches and suddenly the world names him the Chosen One and hands him the keys to its most powerful organization? Wasn’t he the same guy throwing pumpkin grenades and cackling maniacally not too long ago? Ah well, its comics I suppose. I do think a lot of good stories have spun out of Dark Reign. Matt Fraction on Invincible Iron Man stands out as well as Dark Avengers.

Dark Avengers stands out because it’s such an off the wall concept and it gives Brian Michael Bendis an excuse to write a book about a bunch of criminals dressed up like the Avengers. If he wasn’t writing the book and Mike Deodato, Jr. wasn’t drawing, I doubt I’d pick it up every month. Now, with the Free Comic Book entitled The Avengers, Bendis mashes the Dark Avengers with the legitimate heroes, the New Avengers, together in a stand-alone tale where they face off against a Frost Giant. Bendis writes a decent one-shot story here where things start to boil over with the two teams until Osborn cracks the whip and asks his unit to stand down. They team up to take down a ticked off frost giant using the Twilight Sword, which only a god can wield. Luckily, Ares is standing around and he retrieves the sword ending the fight. The highlight of the book for me was Thor punking down Osborn. After watching Osborn pretty much operate unchallenged throughout the Marvel Universe, it was nice to see that there’s a line even he won’t cross.

Jimmy Cheung deserves the most credit here I think. His artwork propelled this book to number three on my list. I’ve been a fan of Cheung since he drew Scion for CrossGen some years ago. He’s always been a strong artist and he doesn’t hold back here at all. The second panel on the last page where Capt. America is staring down Osborn is probably my favorite scene in the book. No words necessary, it was all in Cap’s eyes. Great panel.

I’ll probably keep Dark Avengers on my pull list for the time being. Even if the concept is far-fetched, it’s an interesting diversion.

#2. Love and Rockets

Here’s another unconventional title that made the list based solely off its originality. Throughout my time as a comic reader, I’ve seen the Hernandez Brothers’ names show up in a lot of places in respect to great comic work. Can’t really explain why, but I just never pulled the trigger on picking up any of their stuff. With the free comic book, I got a chance to give them a shot and they’ve made a believer out of me.

There are four different stories in this book and the reader is sort of thrown into the mix, not fully aware of everything that’s going on. It’s cool though because I came out of the stories wanting to know more about everything (the true purpose of a free comic I would assume) and I’ll certainly be hunting down the trades.

The thing that stands out about the book is the breadth of stories told. Ranging from the big superhero type story to the smaller slice-of-life type story, the Hernandez Brothers deftly craft compelling stories regardless of genre. The artwork is magnificent. It’s not the overworked, over-rendered stuff you’re used to seeing in comics all the time but simple, clearly defined line work that’s the mark of a true master. I’ve read through it a few times and I’m completely carried away by it. I’m so carried away by the book until it traded places with the number three book as I wrote this post. Rebel One, expect to see me hunting the trades down like a madman come HeroesCon.

#1. Blackest Night #0

I suppose this should come as no surprise seeing as how the internet is abuzz with how good this thing is. That buzz is well deserved as Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis blow the doors off the next DC Mega Event. Rebel One’s been following the Green Lantern books faithfully as I bash my head against a wall wondering why I’ve yet to add the title to my list (It’s on the trade list for HeroesCon so the bleeding should stop soon).

If there’s one thing about Geoff Johns it’s that he gets it. He knows how to put together a comic book. In this intro to the Blackest Night event, Johns scripts a grieving Hal Jordan and Barry Allen standing at the unmarked grave of Batman. Johns deftly catches us up on current DC events through the conversation Jordan and Allen have in the graveyard. The flashback to Batman being held back by his fellow League members from punching Hal’s lights out was hilarious and Jordan showing Allen a construct of his own funeral was awesome. I think what grabbed me about the book was how many people have died in relatively short stretch of time. I’d forgotten all about the Martian Manhunter dying and it hasn’t even been a year has it? Everything seems very heavy and very big, like there’s a shoe that’s yet to drop and when it does, nothing will be the same. That’s how comics should be.

Ivan Reis is becoming a mega artist right before our eyes. He can do the big splash (that page with the Flash showing up is outstanding) and he can do the quieter conversational moments. The page with the Black Lantern standing there with Batman’s skull in his hand is as creepy and haunting as it should be. This guy should be at the top of DC’s list when it comes to doing the big event stuff. He just knocks it out of the park every time.

I also appreciated the rundown of all the Lanterns in the spectrum at the back of the book. I haven’t been a regular reader on the Green Lantern book but clearly there’s a lot going on and this book makes me want to hunt down every single issue leading up to Blackest Night. DC should take a bow here. They used the Free Comic Book day concept to set up their big event for the summer. They brought two of their biggest guns with Johns and Reis to the show and electrified the air surrounding Blackest Night. DC’s the company to watch this year. Period.

-Rebel 0 Blog Protocol Signal interrupted...
-Attempting to reestablish connection to Rebel 0 Blog Protocol...
-Connection terminated...