ALL STAR COMICS RECOMMENDS: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2024 REVIEW BONANZA
By Cameron Ashley
Hi! It’s almost Free Comic Book Day once again, can you believe it?
It’s my job to run you through everything available for you, for free, this Saturday 4 May. FCBD is a chance for you, the comics reader, to avail yourself of all kinds of comics from all kinds of publishers for all kinds of readers.
It’s a great day to just celebrate comics, to wade neck deep into this amazing medium and to reap the rewards of all the work that goes into the product as well in just making the day itself happen.
Enjoy FCBD 2024, I hope you’ll find the below useful in steering you towards something really exciting and previously undiscovered - the best kind of comics reading experience - and that the positive energy of the day lifts anyone struggling with difficulties of any kind.
Let’s just kick back, relax and read a pile of comics.
The real world will still be there when we all get back.
Everything is listed alphabetically below with the appropriate rating as determined by the publisher: (A) All Ages, (T) Teen, (M) Mature.
Here we go.
BOOKS FROM THE KIDS PACK!
*These titles are only available as part of the Kids Pack on the day for families with kids under 12. Strictly 1 pack per family
BARKHAM ASYLUM / DIANA AND THE HERO’S JOURNEY
Story and Art byYehudi Mercado / Written by Grace Ellis, Art by Penelope Rivera Gaylord
DC (A)
Jester is one of The Joker’s dogs. He has no idea that his ‘pack’ is a group of criminals led by a psychopath - he thinks The Joker is the happiest person alive. When Batman foils another of The Joker’s schemes, Jester is forced to escape with newfound friend, the streetwise Penny the cat. They are caught, however, and with the pound full, there’s only one other place supervillian pets can go to - Barkham Asylum. Mercado’s a terrific cartoonist, with a great sense of how to use colour. Jester and Penny are immediately likeable and their dynamic, Penny trying to smarten up the overly trusting and naive Jester, fits their cat/dog dynamic perfectly. We don’t get to see them here, but Barkham Asylum is full of all manner of villainous pets (my six year old made me check), and if they are created with the same energy and characterisation as our leads, Barkham Asylum will be quite the good time.
A handful of pages of the recently released Diana and The Hero’s Journey are sandwiched up the rear of this comic. Written by Grace Ellis and attractively drawn by Penelope Rivera Gaylord, young Diana, the future Wonder Woman, must learn all about what makes a hero thanks to the retelling of the adventures of Hero, a legendary Amazon. We don’t get much here, but Gaylord’s , flipping between a black and white manga-influenced style for Hero’s story, and a colourful, painterly style for Diana, is terrific.
INVESTIGATORS: CLASS ACTION
Story and Art by John Patrick Green
First Second (A)
A comic so good my son disappeared with it and it very nearly was not included on this list.
Yes, the InvestiGators, Mango and Brash, are back again this FCBD in this sneak peek of their latest caper, ‘Class Action.’
Fans of creator John Patrick Green’s long-running series (this will be the eighth book in the series) will have to wait until September for the full comic, but this preview is chock full of great little gags and terrific moments of characterisation. Our spy alligators work for S.U.I.T (Special Undercover Investigation Teams) stopping all manner of super-criminals with the aid of allies like Sven, a gadget-designing octopus, and C-Orb, a robot butler.
Green, whose work has grown in confidence and quality since I first encountered it for FCBD when the first book debuted, drops readers right into the action with Mango and Brash about to apprehend the Flora-Fiend, a bad guy trying to harness enough solar energy to power an ecologically-minded doomsday device (oh, the irony). We spend most of this issue running around with Mango and Brash, gaining a good feel for the series as we do so, before we learn that for their next mission, Mango and Brash must go back…to school!
Great stuff for readers of all ages. Green’s cartooning is simple but appealing and, as mentioned, his gags really land. First-Second does a similarly great job in putting this package together, with a brief introduction to the characters and their world, and a back cover hyping the forthcoming ‘Class Action’ as well as providing a rundown of all previous books in the InvestGators series should you, your kids, or a certain boy I know who absconded with this, read it and then did the word search at the rear, may very well want to.
I liked this a lot.
POKEMON ADVENTURES: OMEGA RUBY & ALPHA SAPPHIRE / SPLATOON 3
Written by Hidenori Kusaka, Art by Satoshi Yamamoto / Sankichi Hinodeya
Viz (A)
Inspired by the Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire video games comes yet another in a seemingly endless line of Pokemon manga. It’s difficult for someone, like me, with little to no idea about the property to discuss what is actually happening here, but we get Pokemon battles, Pikachu in an assortment of different outfits, and a potentially cataclysmic event on the horizon, so fans unfamiliar with this series will want to check it out. Yamamoto’s art is perfectly on point for this title, with the Pokemon characters particularly well cartooned.
The video game manga fun continues with Splatoon 3: Splatlands. Once again, there’s a strong presumption that readers will be totally familiar with this property and little thought is given to get newbies up to speed. We’re off to the land of Inkopolis where Team Blue are training for a game called Turf War, where players must cover the stage in ink faster than the other team. Challenged by Team Party Hard, our heroes, joined by a newcomer, may well be in way over their heads. As befuddled as I am by…well pretty much this entire package, this is a good comic for young readers to practise their reading skills as well as getting used to the right-to-left manga panel flow. Ultimately though, this one’s for the fans.
SNOOPY: BEAGLE SCOUT ADVENTURES
Charles Schulz
Andrews McMeel Kids (A)
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Snoopy’s Beagle Scout adventures (little scout adventures that Charles Shulz would periodically take his beloved beagle character on) is this sample collection from Andrews McMeel Kids, just in time to tie into an Apple TV show called Camp Snoopy.
In 1974, Snoopy first put on a scout hat, announced that he was determined to become a “Beagle Scout” (a play on “ Eagle Scout” ) and off he went, into the wilderness, accompanied by his bird pals Woodstock, Bill, Conrad, Fred, Harriet, Olivier, Raymond, Roy and Wilson. The mostly four-panel strips are presented in full colour and, outside of that, there’s not much more for me to add here - it’s Charles Schulz, it’s Snoopy and a bunch of adorable little bird pals traipsing around the woods with generally no clue as to what they are doing. It is, of course, wonderful. A page of fun advice on Outdoor Essentials and Outdoor Activities are included, rounding out this excellent little package.
SPIDEY AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS
Written by Steve Behling Art by Antonello Dalena, Giovanni Rigano, Cristina Girogilli and Cristina Stella
Marvel (A)
The most wholesome Spider-Man of all time returns for FCBD 2024. The show is great, the toys are great and these comics are just perfect for young readers. Steve Behling scripts the assortment of Spidey stories on offer here, and his illustrators Dalena, Rigano, Girogilli and Stella all turn in on-model characters who bounce around the page. Marvel tosses some nice interactive pages in also - an invitation for kids to draw their own Goblin Glider, and a Spot The Difference activity also on offer. Spidey and His Amazing Friends is a terrific pick-up for young and new readers - the highlight of the comic, for me anyway, is a really cute “ How To Read A Comic” page that greets readers upon opening this up, with clear, concise directions on panel flow and word balloons and captions.
Thumbs up all round.
UNICO: AWAKENING
Written by Samuel Sattin, Art by Gurihiru
Graphix/Scholastic (A)
Unico’s back! Originally created by the legendary Osamu Tezuka and serialised between 1976-1979, Tezuka’s beloved little unicorn returns, rebooted, from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint.
Writer Samual Sattin keeps the character’s origin the same, the Goddess Venus jealous of Unico’s ability to inspire people, banishes him and erases his memory, leaving him with no knowledge about himself or where he came from other than his name. I’ll be honest, I was not particularly looking forward to this one, but Sattin’s script is a charmer and Gurihiru’s art homages Tezuka (particularly during the opening few pages), but brings a sleek, modern animated look that’s a perfect fit.
As a package, the publishers give us just enough here - the origin, Unico’s arrival in the modern world, setting up some supporting cast (a pair of cats named Jenkins and Chloe) and then dangling the looming threat of Venus’ return. This is a really good little sample of the forthcoming complete book and, from what’s presented here, it’s a well thought out rebooting of the much loved character. The timelessness of Tezuka’s work cannot be overstated, especially just how conceptually strong so many of his comics and anime were. We have the anime version of Naoki Urasawa’s excellent manga update of Astro Boy’s Pluto storyline recently arrived on Netflix, we have Kaneko Atsushi’s punk rock reboot of Dororo, titled Seek and Destroy, coming soon from Fantagraphics, and now this really likeable piece of work, perfect for young readers.
MAIN SELECTION OF BOOKS
ABSOLUTE POWER SPECIAL EDITION
Written by Mark Waid, Art by Mikel Janin / Dan Mora
DC (T)
DC kicks off Absolute Power, its latest epic, this FCBD with a really well put together package laying the groundwork for the event via an exclusive prelude story.
No matter where Mark Waid goes and what he does, he always seems most at home at DC, where his encyclopaedic knowledge of the publisher’s history, his sense of Silver Age storytelling fun and his rock solid characterisation elevate almost any title he scripts. Paired with Mikel Janin for this Absolute Power prelude, the team turns in a rock-solid, intriguing start to this status quo-shifting story. Suicide Squad head honcho, Amanda Waller, is hatching a plan to eliminate superheroes entirely, and a collective of both heroes and villains is aligned with her.
Chief among them is Failsafe, the indestructible robot built by Batman and now inhabited by Batman’s “ back-up personality,” the unscrupulous Zur-En-Arrh. Despite how convoluted this set-up sounds, and it is, Waid and Janin do a great job setting all of this up, aided mightily by the combination of DC’s editorial and marketing teams who slip in character biographies of the main players on Waller’s side - Failsafe, Waller herself and The House of Brainiac, as well as a rundown of all events leading up to Absolute Power and how best to read them. Smart stuff.
Bringing us home is a preview of Absolute Power’s first issue, debuting in July, by Waid and regular World’s Finest collaborator, Dan Mora. Mora, surely one of the most consistently excellent artist’s on DCs current roster, turns in some typically great work and the cliffhanger we are left with here is a gripping one for DC readers. Absolute Power Special Edition is a must-have for DC regulars and those curious about what the publisher has cooking.
Thumbs up.
BARDA
Story and Art by Ngozi Ukazu
DC (T)
The endlessly rich worlds of Jack Kirby’s enduring New Gods are reinvented once more in the pages of Barda, by Ngozi Ukazu. Effectively a retelling of Barda’s journey from leader of Darkseid’s elite Female Furies to her first meeting with Scott Free, Mister Miracle, Ukazu sets the table perfectly in this special preview of the forthcoming graphic novel.
Ukazu’s clearly having a grand time with this project and all her characters, especially Granny Goodness, pop off the page. It’s a style world’s away from the blockiness of Kirby, but his influence can be seen throughout. DC’s YA output has seen some really strong material emerge from it, Galaxy: The Prettiest Star possibly chief amongst it, and Barda seems set to continue this streak. The expository back story is handled really well, and the seeds well sown for Barda’s burgeoning internal conflict as she inevitably shifts from the armies of Apokolips to the forces of New Genesis. This is highly recommended for all ages, and DC’s willingness to push their characters into interesting, stand-alone, spaces is to be commended and supported.
Wrapping things up, we get a few short previewing Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story, a YA graphic novel exploring the origin of young trans hero, Dreamer. Not much to say here based on a nightmare sequence provided by writer Nicole Maines and artist Rye Hickman, other than that it's nicely dark and hallucinatory. Just the icing on the cake that is this very strong preview of Barda. The character is a low-key favourite of mine, so I come in with some bias, but I liked this a lot.
BLOOD HUNT / UNCANNY X-MEN
Written by Jed MacKay / Gail Simone Art by Sara Pichelli / David Marquez
Marvel (T)
Who, indeed, will bite it in Blood Hunt, the latest crossover event from Marvel Comics?
The publisher is hinting at death but given that we are dealing with vampires here, mass undeath would seem an absolute certainty.
Writer very much on the rise, Jed MacKay, is at the helm of this crossover and although the excellent Pepe Larraz is onboard to draw the main book, FCBD goers will not feel ripped off in the slightest with the excellent Sara Picchelli jumping in here for this kick-off sampler. The Darkforce Dimension appears to have breached the dimensional barriers and with it has come a mysterious outbreak of vampirism. All manner of Marvel heroes are lining up to figure out what’s going on as vampires start chomping people on the streets of New York.
I’m not trying to be coy with the above, MacKay is keeping things pretty close to his chest in this issue - how a Darkforce Dimensional breach and a vampire outbreak are exactly connected is not revealed. Also, I go totally spoiler-free on these things, which means I can’t even talk about the last page return of a character featured in an all-time classic run of Marvel comics in the ‘70s, as well as an all-time not-so-classic run of Marvel comics in the early 2010s…’nuff said there!
As big as crossovers such as Blood Hunt can be, the bigger draw might well be the reveal of writer Gail Simone and artist David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men relaunch. With the Krakoan Age over and the X-books undergoing a seismic shift in both creative teams and content, Simone and Marquez unveil this new age through the eyes of mainstay character, Jubilee. It’s a good set up - the new/old status quo set quickly, with the X-Men not just without a country in Krakoa, returned to a world that hates and fears them, but also with the old X-Men mansion renovated, redecorated and occupied by sinister forces, they are without a literal home. At least they have their old logo back.
Marvel fans have good reason to pick this up - it might be a bit crass, but the potential for comic book mayhem in Blood Hunt feels high (a decapitated vampire head flies across a page featuring Daredevil). With Uncanny X-Men, Simone’s an inspired choice to kick off this new X-Men era, especially paired with the slick artwork of Marquez. All in all, well worth your time.
BOOM! BOX: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA
By Various
Boom (A)
Happy 10th birthday to the Boom! Box imprint, Boom Studios’ home for all ages comics. No need to get them a present, instead they are gifting us with this terrific little package highlighting some of the excellent and enduring comics to emerge under their banner.
The always welcome Lumberjanes kicks the issue off with ‘Mixing It Up’, by writer Shannon Watters and artist Ayme Sotuyo. This exquisitely-drawn little number sees the cast forming a band. They may not be any good, but a good time is what’s important, and Mal, Molly, April and Ripley certainly have that. As will readers with this excellent, self-contained little short.
John Allison’s Giant Days, something that’s been on my own personal to-read list for years, is up next, with Allison writing and drawing ‘Fridge Raider.’ Once again about bands, Kully’s day is ruined when an important gig his band is about to play faces cancellation as the support act dropped out. With the rest of the supporting cast getting together to spontaneously form a band for the sole purpose of ensuring the gig goes ahead, can clashing music styles and no actual ability at all triumph? Fun stuff, with Allison’s angular characters, so lively and expressive, stealing the show.
Zawa + The Belly of The Beast by writer/artist Michael Dialuynas (best known for his collaboration with James Tynion IV on Wynd) is up next and this is a massive tonal shift, pulling readers into a world of monsters and sewer creatures. It’s all a little vague for new readers, to be honest, but the art is lively and colourful and the variety of the Boom! Box line is highlighted by its inclusion.
Bringing us home is a The Midas Flesh tale, ‘Paz & Richard’ by writer Ryan North (Fantastic Four) and artist Braden Lamb. Intelligent dinosaurs and space battles and an Earth where King Midas accidentally turned everything to gold, killing all life. North’s script is as engaging as always, and Lamb’s a great illustrator, giving real life to his dinosaur actors. This story only hints at what lies ahead for readers in the title, but the quality of the pages is undeniable.
The Boom Box! 10th Anniversary Extravaganza is a great read, full of excellent, diverse all ages comics. This is a publisher going from strength to strength - I remember having old Boom! Collected editions that just fell apart in my hands upon opening, now their production is top notch and they are a top go-to publisher for creator-owned comics. It’s going to be a big 2024 for Boom! and it’s great to see their all ages line remains a cornerstone of their publishing efforts.
CONAN: BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE
Written by Jim Zub Art by Jonas Scharf
Titan (M)
I don’t know about you, but I thought everyone involved with keeping the Conan property alive and thriving had lost their collective minds when the comics licence passed from Marvel, only a couple of years into their return to publishing the character, to of all places, Titan. This is not meant as a slight to Titan, who have published quality and varied work for a very long time (I am so thankful they have brought Phillipe Druillet’s body of work to English), but even they would have to admit their profile, compared to Marvel’s is, well, a bit David vs Goliath. However last FCBD, Titan officially launched its own Conan The Barbarian comic and all involved knocked it out of the park. Since then, we’ve also seen the return of Savage Sword of Conan in, of all things, its classic newsprint (!) magazine format. A year later, here we are, with Conan: Battle of The Black Stone freshly arrived for us to sample for free, and it is really good.
Slight spoiler, but this thing kicks off Titan’s first ever Conan event, a story that expands beyond the borders of Hyperborea and crosses time, space, and into the worlds of some surprising characters. Regular Conan The Barbarian scribe, Jim Zub, remains on board and, ever the solid hand, unfolds this story excellently. We get some classic Conan violence, a hint of the mystery to come and then, bang, we’re off to the races, with all players revealed.
I’m unfamiliar with the work of artist Jonas Scharf, but it’s spot-on throughout. Scharf’s work is detailed and lively, with a dash of Mahmud Asrar about it (for those who read Marvel’s recent Conan run). Titan gets extra applause from me for including not just the classic excerpt from The Nemedian Chronicles that precedes all great Conan comics, but the Hyperborean map, complete with a short blurb on where this particular story finds our barbarian hero. These are the details essential for new readers, and I wish all publishers took such care to include them in their FCBD offerings. Conan: Battle of The Black Stone is a real blast - created with true love and affection for creator Robert E. Howard’s work and conveying a sense that we’d better all jump on board because the best is yet to come. If you’ve been on the fence about whether or not Titan’s Conan slate is worth your time and money, this one’s for you.
THE CURSED LIBRARY PRELUDE
Written by Jamie Lee Rotante (and Various), Art by Craig Cermak (and Various)
Archie (T)
As an attempt to, as the editorial by writer/editor Jamie Lee Rotante puts it, “open the door to new fans” and “demystify the often-difficult process of onboarding readers to a comic company that’s existed for over 80 years,” this prelude to Archie Comics’ horror anthology, The Cursed Library is a bit of a mixed bag. Granted, those comments are regarding Archie’s commendable publishing attempts to streamline things as a whole, but this FCBD issue is so overstuffed, readers may find it hard to pick out any particular ingredient of interest.
Wrapped around a framing device by Rotante and artist Craig Cermak featuring Jinx Holliday, the daughter of Satan, reading excerpts of various cursed texts to a captured Iola, deposed Queen of hell, we readers are presented with tiny slices from Cursed Library tales, Madam Satan, Madam Satan: Hell on Earth, Camp Pickens, Welcome to Riverdale, Jinx: A Cursed Life and Strange Science.
As a one-shot, this is unfortunately incoherent. As a sampling of the various stories within, it’s too clipped to form opinions on any of the content. I do like how transgressive these comics feel as a whole, however, Archie Comics is leaning into the occult and satanism hard with this one and the cover by the great Robert Hack is typically excellent. If you’re a fan, I’m sure you’ll be curious to see how edgy things might be getting and rightly so. If you’re new to any of these titles, or just curious after watching the Sabrina The Teenage Witch show, I’m not sure how much you’ll get out of this. Overall, a bit of a fumble, in my opinion, from the normally rock-solid Archie Comics’ FCBD output.
DOCTOR WHO
Written by Dan Watters, Art by Kelsey Ramsay
Titan (A)
The fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa on telly, makes his comic book debut this FCBD in a snappy little number by writer Dan Watters and artist Kelsey Ramsay. I’ve got quite a bit of time for Watters, he’s imaginative and unafraid to get deeply weird. Recently a guest on comics podcast, Ideas Don’t Bleed, Watters hinted that upcoming work might be getting a little more straightforward. I’m guessing his upcoming Doctor Who run might be an example of this, and it’s smartly written - the big, mad ideas are still there, but there’s restraint exercised, and readers can expect a straight-forward time travelling tale with a tease of what’s to come, and who this new Doctor’s comics antagonist will be.
Kelsey Ramsay does a good job here, the artist has a lot thrown at her by Watters, from keeping the likenesses of The Doctor and his assistant, Ruby Sunday consistent, to alien worlds,to glimpses at some of The Doctor’s darkest ever times, to eighteenth century England. If this is the kind of thing readers can expect from the new Doctor’s comics adventures, we’re in for a good time - this is easily the best Doctor Who comic I’ve seen from Titan (they pretty much release one every FCBD), with a focus on a broad appeal outside of Whovians and a rollicking, highly-accessible little tale. Titan does a great job on the marketing side, with a handy guide of all its Doctor Who comics, featuring a slew of past Doctors, and some good little artist process pieces up back. This is a strong entry in the FCBD 2024 line-up.
DYING INSIDE #0
Written by Pete Wentz and Hannah Klein, Art by Lisa Sterle
Vault (M)
Your enjoyment of Dying Inside #0 will largely depend on how you feel about fourth wall-breaking narrators talking to you about suicide for 20-odd pages. The script by Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy fame and Hannah Klein asks for your indulgence…a lot of it. Ash is a young girl planning to commit suicide. The whole comic is the set up to this event, why Ash wants to end her life, and it predominantly takes place inside her bedroom. Before we go any further, I should add that there’s a big disclaimer both on the cover and inside warning readers about the depictions of suicide, depression and self-harm found inside and, much like those descriptors, I’d advise anyone struggling with these issues to please skip the rest of this review and, obviously, stay away from this comic.
Ash is a huge fan of Elliott Smith, a favourite of mine as well, who tragically killed himself - he stabbed himself in the heart, an act that seems impossible somehow, as well as being the ultimate statement on how much anguish he was in. Ash is planning her suicide to match Elliott’s and…I’m not sure how I feel about his tragic death being used to set up a book about a depressed teen and, apparently, witchcraft.
Lisa Sterle does a solid job drawing these pages, there’s great detail poured into Ash’s bedroom, records spilled on the floor (Angel Olsen, points for that), clothes piled up. The stripped back colours are a good choice to match the tone of the book and the mindset of the character. I’m sure there will be some healing for Ash in the complete book (on sale now), a reason for her to change her mind and live, and how much of a mistake her consuming worship of Elliott Smith is and perhaps where to get help for suicidal ideation, but we don’t get that here. We get a single issue of a character telling us she’s going to kill herself and how she’s going to do it, which is just like how Elliott Smith did it. Oh, and a magic knife.
If this sounds like the comic for you, awesome. I just would like Ash to stop talking at me incessantly, please. This feels like a possible misstep from Vault, a publisher with an ever-increasing line up of strong titles to showcase, but my misgivings will probably be offset by the popularity of one of its writers and I’m sure there’s a sizeable audience for the book as a whole.
ENERGON UNIVERSE 2024 SPECIAL
By Various
Image/Skybound (T)
Robert Kirkman’s stealth launch of Hasbro’s Transformers and GI Joe properties was undoubtedly a sales highlight of 2023. If you, like me, have yet to catch up on the Transformers, Void Rivals and GI Joe comics from Kirkman and friends, you now have no excuse with the Energon Universe 2024 Special free for all this FCBD. I suspect this one might be quite hotly anticipated.
Things get off to an absolutely chaotic start in Transformers by the great Daniel Warren Johnson who scripts for the arriving Ryan Ottley. There’s a lot crammed in here and I’d have to spoil a lot to explain it but we get an Optimus Prime vs Megatron brawl and a betrayal that would seem to set up a major storyline in the Transformers ongoing monthly book. Weirdly, this reminds me of early Image comics, it’s insanely bombastic - characters flying towards each other without backgrounds, loads of exposition and kinetic, cartoonish violence. It’s impossible not to get swept along, however, and that early 90s energy suits this perfectly. Regular readers will absolutely want to ensure they get their hands on this. Special shoutout to letterer Rus Wooten for the John Workman-inspired sound effects, great stuff.
Robert Kirkman and regular artist Lorenzo De Felici present a new chapter of Void Rivals, the comic that launched the Energon Universe. Autobot Hot Rod is on the trail of a missing ally “obsessed with an old Cybertronian legend” (regular readers will be more up to speed on this than I). De Felici is the star here, bringing at blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments an almost Alex Toth look to his normally sleek, fine-lined art - there's a small panel on page five that looks like it came off of an old Toth animation design sheet, and that’s about the highest praise any artist in comics could get.
New readers will probably be as baffled as me as to what’s going on here and some extra context would be greatly appreciated (there’s an editorial on the inside back cover that helps which probably should be on the inside front - new readers are advised to read this first!), but the craft is top-notch all round.
A-list creators continue to come out for Energon this FCBD with writer Josh Williamson and artist Jason Howard closing the Energon special out with a short GI Joe tale featuring Duke, Baroness, Flint and Lady Jaye. Williamson brings the espionage thrills and marries them well to the action/superhero vibe and Howard brings his typically angular, square-jawed characters to the property. Howard’ a great fit for GI Joe, comfortably at home with the weaponry and vehicles required to pull this off, as well as the big action beats. Not much more needs to be said other than that I seriously doubt any fans of these comics will be disappointed and it’s likely to win over quite a few more. Consider me in the latter group - the hype around these comics is well-founded.
EYE LIE POPEYE #1
Marcus Williams
Massive (A)
The world’s greatest sailor-man, Popeye, returns in the manga-flavoured Eye Lie Popeye, by writer-artist Marcus Williams. While Popeye has always been partial to a good fracas, Williams chooses to drop the character, along with his entire supporting cast, into a setting that resembles the shonen manga of Dragon Ball or One Piece - titles referenced as influences on the inside cover. Me? Personally, I think seeing as we already have Dragon Ball and One Piece, it might be nice if this was a bit more… Popeye…
There’s nothing overtly wrong here, however; Williams’ work is flashy, obviously manga-inspired, and the characters' visuals are updated to suit the setting well. The story sees a journalist trying to uncover the truth about just how Popeye lost his eye - with various characters chiming in with their versions of the story - before sea monsters are revealed and all of Popeye’s cans of spinach (the source of his bursts of super-strength) are missing…The ongoing series launches next month and, as teasers go, it’s a good package, it’s just not for me. I am old, however, with Popeye collections of classic E.C Segar work on my shelf. Reinventing things for a new audience is never the worst idea and Eye Lie Popeye, speed lines and all, may well be the sailor man for you. My son found it quite appealing, in fact.
FLASH GORDON #0
Written by Jeremy Adams Art by Will Conrad
Mad Cave (T)
It’s licensing fever over at Mad Cave, with Flash Gordon joining Gatchaman (see below) in the publisher’s output for 2024 and beyond. Jeremy Adams, current Green Lantern writer and quite freshly off a lengthy and popular run on The Flash, is aboard this latest incarnation of Flash Gordon comics. He’s a solid choice - he gets the pulpiness of the character’s adventures and embraces it, delivering straight-up, solid, no frills pulp hero action. Veteran artist Will Conrad joins Adams and he’s another really good choice. The characters all look great, including a redesigned Ming The Merciless who loses all semblance of the racist “Yellow Peril” trappings of his look over the many decades.
Adams and Conrad deliver a really solid kick-off to their run with Flash and co. on the planet Mongo thwarting yet another plot by Ming to blow up Earth. The status quo is obviously familiar, but there’s a cliffhanger at issue’s end that literally changes everything. Long-term fans should absolutely check this out as Adams and Conrad deliver something so familiar it’s like slipping on an old pair of shoes but upend things perfectly at this issue’s conclusion. Mad Cave gives readers a full publishing schedule of Flash Gordon books right through 2024, including not just this series, but a return of the beloved Defenders of The Earth team-up series and collections of the complete Sunday strips. Fans of space heroes should make this a must for the day.
GANNIBAL
Masaaki Ninomiya, translated by Alex Kon
Ablaze (M)
The much-anticipated English translation of Masaaki Ninomiya’s, TV-adapted Gannibal rapidly nears and publisher, Ablaze, whets the appetite with a great little teaser issue this FCBD.
Daigo arrives in the mountainous rural village of Kuge as a replacement for the village’s last policeman, who has gone suspiciously missing. His young family arrives with him, slowly setting up a quiet home surrounded by trees and snow-capped mountain tops. It feels like a tranquil gig for a lazy cop, and Diago’s something of a slacker, so seems a good fit. Things get quickly upended for Daigo, however, as rumours of Kuge Village’s strange history of cannibalism collide with the discovery of a partially-eaten corpse.
Ninomiya is far from the greatest draftsman in Japan and is extremely reliant on photo reference for backgrounds, but this sample of Gannibal (which runs a full fifteen volumes in length if I’m not mistaken) is compelling, well-paced stuff. The grisly history of cannibalism is smartly mixed with creeping paranoia and classic small-town conspiratorial groupthink. Readers will be left with the tantalising sense that Daigo is fast sinking in well over his head and his allies may very well be few, if any. Good stuff.
GATCHAMAN #0
By Various
Mad Cave (T)
Mad Cave brings back classic anime, Gatchaman, shears off all traces of its English-language identity as Battle of The Planets and delivers a lively, colourful comic filled with three short stories wrapped in a lovely Chris Samnee cover.
I grew up watching Battle of The Planets, so I have an undeniable soft spot for this. Writer Cullen Bunn and artist Chris Batista kick things off with “Episode Zero” that functions as a solid introduction to the characters for newbies and showcases some fluid, highly-detailed artwork from Batista, who is clearly a fan. His faces in particular look ripped from the anime, and our lithe heroes flow across the pages. Bunn teases the set-up for his run on the forthcoming ongoing at conclusion and it’s an intriguing one.
From the reverential artwork of Batista, we move to the thick lines and dramatically sketchy art of Daniel Hansen - an artist I’m unfamiliar with - for “Inner Compass” a story scripted by notable artist in his own right, Tommy Lee Edwards. I can’t recall Edwards scripting before, but he’s well matched with Hansen, an artist as equally fond of inky blacks. “Inner Compass” is a simple little short featuring a wounded Ken, fierce aerial warfare, and mentor figure, Red Impulse. Striking stuff.
Rounding us out is “The Rival” by writer Steve Orlando and artist Kath Lobo. It’s an aesthetic shift again, this time into something slick and luminous - ‘Gatchaman goes Big Two’ if that makes any sense. This will either work for you or not depending on how you would like your vintage anime characters depicted. Focussing on series villain, Berg Katse, Orlando and Lobo deliver a short tale of betrayal and intrigue, with a climax you’ll see coming from a mile off. A set up for a July mini-series, Gatchaman: Galactor, this is the weakest piece here but does its job of demonstrating just how at home this property can feel filtered through a modern superhero comics aesthetic, unsurprising given how dynamic the character designs are.
Gatchaman fans will be intrigued by this package, particularly as it’s perhaps, sans all BOTP names, descriptors and additives, as ‘authentically’ Gatchaman as we have seen in Western comics. The waves of comic book nostalgia continue to be surfed in 2024 and, with a Gatchaman ongoing and various mini-series already planned, as well as obtaining the licence to all things Flash Gordon (see above), Mad Cave is diving right in.
HELLBOY / STRANGER THINGS
Written by Mike Mignola / Derek Fridolfs Art by Mark Laszlo / Jonathan Case
Dark Horse (T)
Free Hellboy! Always a good thing. Interesting that the legendary Mike Mignola is halfway through the second book in his brand new comics opus (beginning with the forthcoming Bowling With Corpses - I am so excited for this) and instead of that, we get more Hellboy. This is not a complaint - Hellboy is always a welcome read, and he remains so here. In this short tale, scripted by Mignola and drawn by Mark Laszlo, we are transported to Bucharest in 1983, where Hellboy is investigating the murder of a woman who visited a local fortune teller. Our fortune teller turns out to be more than at first appears and will soon do anything to see what lies ahead for our favourite BPRD member. Clever stuff. New readers will see glimpses of all that lies ahead of them, and Hellboy of course, and those familiar will be reminded of just how amazing and evergreen Mignola’s creation is, and Laszlo’s lively and exaggerated cartooning just adds to the fun.
A Stranger Things tale by Derek Fridolfs and Jonathan Case rounds this issue off with a short tale of Argyle and Jonathan Byers titled, “Deliver Me From Evil!” Functioning as a way to build out Argyle’s backstory, this is all perfectly fine stuff with little from me to add apart from the observation that it looks like Jonathan Case has been reading a lot of Love & Rockets lately. All in all, another solid FCBD effort from Dark Horse Comics.
INITIAL D / KAINA OF THE GREAT SNOW SEA
Story and art by Shuichi Shigeno / Written by Tsutomu Nihei Art by Itoe Takemoto
Kodansha (T)
A quick word before we start: Do not read this one tired. Kodansha’s FCBD 2024 effort effectively comes with two front covers featuring Initial D, and, exhausted, I started from the wrong end, assuming this manga was flipped to read left-to-right. It is not. Halfway through a bewildering read of Tsutomu Nihei and Itoe Takemoto’s Kaina of The Great Snow Sea, I realised my mistake. Oops.
For those unsure, Shuichi Shigeno’s Initial D is a massively popular manga that ran from 1995-2013. Ostensibly about car racing, this thing is at least in part responsible for the global popularisation of Japanese street racing, which is pretty monumental when you think about it. So, well before The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Shigeno was hard at work on this.
Kodnasha has begun re-releasing the series in a collection of chunky omnibus editions, collecting two of the original tankobon volumes - so that’s roughly 400 pages per omnibus. As much manga as I’ve read (a lot), I’ve never touched this thing before and given my general dislike of all things car culture and motorsports, I never thought I would. I’m pleased to report, however, that the sixteen pages of Initial D presented here have more than won me over.
Shigeno’s art has a rough indie charm about it and it does not look like a modern shonen manga at all. In fact it feels closer to the arthouse stylings of an early Minetaro Mochizuki. I love that this looks and feels a little rough; there’s an immediacy about the work. We don’t get much story here, but wisely, Kodansha includes an absolutely kick-ass blurb at the conclusion.
In short, high schooler Takumi Fujiwara is an incredible driver and nobody knows it. As a tofu delivery driver to pay the bills who’s forced to navigate the “treacherous roads of Mount Akina,” he’s managed to master “racing techniques that take most drivers a lifetime to learn.” Everyone has their eyes on the local street racing team instead of this delivery boy, as well as a mystery car seen streaking across these dangerous roads. Seriously, I doubt there’s a person alive who cares less about cars than I do and I am now officially in on Initial D. If you’ve been wondering about this manga, or just after something completely different to read, this is for you.
The less weird the work of Tsutomu Nihei has become, the less interested I have personally been - I think Blame! and Biomega are spectacular feats of surreal and rambling comics world-building that feel like the urbanisation of Japan’s sprawling cities has been horribly mutated (just last night I saw an instagram gallery of aerial shots of Tokyo’s massive sprawl, it looks endless). The more Nihei has gotten away from that, the less interested I’ve been. Reading most of Kaina of The Great Snow Sea backwards like a moron did not help, but one should never doubt someone with the imaginative scope of a Tsutomo Nihei.
Kaina…, by Nihei, working with artist Itoe Takemoto, sees the creator tackling a post-apocalyptic environmental disaster, with “seas”of snow rising and the world returned to something like the middle ages, with viking ships with skis instead of sails, pulled across the vast snowy terrain by strange creatures and warring lands. Kaina, the blurb at the rear tells us, is one of a handful of humans who believe they are all alone, but of course, he’s wrong. We don't get to meet Kaina here, instead readers are given a chunk of action-filled worldbuilding, with a princess leading her soldiers into battle against invaders from an enemy land. Nihei’s widescreen imagination is on display in this story and Takemoto is up to the task of drawing all the odd things asked of him. The pages are quite spare, the advantage of having nothing but snow as your landscape, but readers of fantasy-based manga should check this out, it promises to be a unique ride.
JONNY QUEST #0 / THUNDERCATS #1 / SPACE GHOST #1
By Various
Dynamite (T)
Joe Casey writing Jonny Quest is a tremendous pairing and the new series of this animated classic, forthcoming from Dynamite, should prove to be a strong read month in and month out. Fans will want this #0 issue solely for the incredible cover by Chris Samnee, who in a perfect world would be drawing this title regularly. If I’m not mistaken,the last time we saw Jonny Quest in comics was in DC’s Future Quest title, a team-up book featuring a number of the Hanna-Barbera characters and illustrated by the awesome Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner. The cast of Jonny Quest, designed initially by none other than all-time-greats Alex Toth and Doug Wildey, has an insane artistic pedigree and Sebastian Piriz gamely steps up for this latest incarnation. Piriz is fine, it’s unfair to compare his work to that of Wildey and Toth, or even Shaner or Samnee, but while I do understand why Dynamite has gone for someone with a slightly less cartoonish look to their work, some charm is lost. This is not meant as an insult, the stylistic shift is a deliberate one, as Casey and Piriz’s Jonny Quest is coming out swinging for the fences.
A few pages of the recently launched Thundercats comic by writer Declan Shalvey and artist Drew Moss follow. Giving readers the chance to dip their toes into the series, the team looks to have a solid handle on things, particularly Moss whose work is detailed but keeps a clean, animated look to it.
Taking us home are a few pages of the freshly debuting Space Ghost series by David Pepose and artist Jonathan Lau. It’s the weakest of the material collected in this comic, but we get a serious, action-driven incarnation of the character, and although the pages here don’t actually feature any Space Ghost, some familiar faces are front and centre for fans.
Come for Jonny Quest, stay for the rest. It’s a bit strange we get supplemental interviews for both Space Ghost and Thundercats but not for lead feature, but this is overall a strong package that should have enough intrigue for fans of any of these properties.
MAD
By Various
DC (T)
Mad creators past and present are featured in this great little FCBD giveaway from DC, collecting many of the magazine’s superhero-focussed spoofs from its long publishing history. Names such as Kurtzman, Aragones, Martin, Davis and more are represented here, each poking fun at a gaggle of DCs iconic heroes, with Batman and Superman top of the list. With comics taken from the ‘50s all the way to the very recent past, many coloured for the first time, this is a great little sampling, a perfect cleanser as you make your way through your FCBD haul. Printed on uncoated stock (yay!), this comic also provides a totally different aesthetic to boot.
Complete with fold-in on the inside back cover, Mad FCBD is a great little package. It’s also fine for younger kids in my opinion, despite the teen rating. Superman says ‘crap’ and there’s a couple of other tiny moments that push that particular envelope slightly, but I think we all have much bigger worries about what our children may be consuming than this (EDIT: My six year old thinks this comic is great). Plus, If there’s a clearer example of how to read comics than seven numbered panels of late-’70s Sergio Aragones, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. Thumbs up.
MALEFICENT #1
By Soo Lee
Dynamite (T)
Dynamite has launched a line of Disney Villains comics, and readers are treated to writer/artist Soo Lee’s first issue of Sleeping Beauty’s “Mistress of Evil,” Maleficent this FCBD. Right out of the gate, Lee’s first page is excellent - a highly detailed four panel page that takes us deeper and deeper into the woods, as foliage thickening, light fading, we approach something sinister. Cracking stuff. We then immediately meet the young Reynard, clearly in a place he shouldn’t be and on the run from all manner of creatures. Maleficent saves him from a potentially terrible demise and Reynard, fascinated with her magic and her occult accoutrements, decides he wants one for his own…
Lee’s figure work is nowhere near as impressive as when she chooses to uncork a thoroughly realised background, but the panels flow perfectly and the whole thing whizzes by - the visual storytelling is really strong. It’s compelling and engaging and the set up for the series, which seems to involve random secondary characters interjecting themselves into Maleficent's life with disastrous results, is pretty ripe with promise. This, however, is a complete done-in-one and it’s a strong single issue, regardless of your taste in comics. All wrapped up in a cover by Jae Lee, this is highly readable and I give it a big thumbs up. I’m not sure why Disney just doesn’t have Marvel make Disney comics rather than constantly outsourcing them, but if Maleficent is an example of the current strength of these comics from Dynamite (which also includes Hades, Scar, and Cruella De Vil in the Villains line, as well as Lilo & Stitch and Hercules comics) these characters are in good hands.
MARVEL VOICES #1
By Various
Marvel (T)
With previews of Marvel Voices: Spider-Verse, Marvel Voices: Avengers, Marvel Voices: X-Men, Marvel Voices: Pride and Marvel Voices: Wakanda Forever, this FCBD sampling of the Marvel Voices line runs the risk of being too overstuffed for any individual story to make much of an impression on readers. However, anchored by a terrific, brand new, little Spider-Man India story, ‘Bollywood Dance Party,’ by writer Nikesh Shukla and artist Tadam Gyadu and a great editorial sense selecting scenes from the various titles, ranging from complete shorts to climactic scenes, overall, this is a pretty successful showcase of the diversity found across the Marvel Universe from characters to creators. Somehow there’s even room from an interview with veteran Filipino X-Men creator, Whilce Portacio, an editorial by Sana Amanat and a pin-up by Angelique Roche depicting the long history of diversity found in The Avengers characters. There’s a lot of meat on the bone here.
Pulling this thing off is a high-wire editorial act and, while no individual editor is credited, whoever is responsible for assembling this package should probably get a raise - it’s been very carefully constructed. Marvel Voices is a proud and celebratory comic featuring the work of too many creators to individually name, and while some stories are inevitably stronger than others, Marvel readers will find a lot to enjoy within its jam-packed pages.
MONSTER HIGH
Written by Jacque Aye, Art by Siobhan Keenan
IDW (T)
Mattel’s Monster High toy line comes to comics via IDW and while I know very little about the property, I do know a fair bit about comics and here’s why this one works. We get a short introduction page setting up this world, its characters and generally providing everything readers need to know to enjoy this before going right into five pages of comics by writer Jacque Aye and artist Siobhan Keenan. Focussed squarely on the character of Frankie Stein as she navigates drama with her friends and her hard working dad (the original Frankenstein monster, I think) who is hard at work trying to perfect the process of reanimation.
There’s a good little cliffhanger for a mere five pages of comics, and Aye’s script does a solid job of fleshing out just what’s going on with Stein and her friends, and Monster High classmates, Draculaura, Clawdeen Wolf and Cleo De Nile. After this, we get full character profiles and diary entries of our cast of monsters, an interview with Jacque Aye, and what looks to be the entire publishing schedule of Monster High comics into 2025 (!). All in a smartly-designed little giveaway package. I feel like clapping.
Shoutout to editor Riley Farmer for not only proving that less is more but also understanding exactly what can be achieved in an FCBD comic and delivering in all aspects. Sure, this is not really the comic for everyone, but in terms of meeting its aims, especially for its target audience, it absolutely overdelivers.
ONE PIECE: ACE’S STORY - THE MANGA / STATUS ROYALE
Art by Boichi (from storyboards by Ryo Ishiyama) / Story and Art by Ru Xu
Viz (T)
Fans expecting to see the wonderfully rubbery (in many ways) cartooning of Eiichiro Oda may be in for a surprise with One Piece: Ace’s Story. Adapted from the novel by Sho Hinata & Tatsuya Hamazaki, this slice from volume 1 of the adaptation sees the titular Ace, full name Fire Fist Ace (of course), older brother of One Piece protagonist Monkey D. Luffy as he gains fire powers bestowed on him by eating the devil’s fruit. Boichi’s art may be world’s away from Oda’s cartooning, with a more modern shonen manga look, but it’s appealing and nicely detailed.
Ru Xu’s Status Royale fills out Viz’s FCBD double feature, set in the world of the titular futuristic VR sports. If you want to be an elite VR sports player, Status Royale is “the game you have to master,” and Vell, formerly a casual gamer now looking to take down a friend her betrayed her in-game, assembles her own team of players to master this complicated and difficult VR sports game. This one’s for the gamers, for sure, with elaborate rules about combos and movesets and customisable VR experiences that left this particular reader pretty cold. That’s fine though, this one is absolutely not for me. The world building, and rules of the games, seem well constructed, at least from what we get here, and younger gamers may well find that this right here is the comic for them.
ROMEO VS. JULIET: A KILL SHAKESPEARE ADVENTURE
Written by Anthony Del Col, Art by Stefan Tosheff
Gemstone (T)
I’ve not read Anthony Del Col’s original Kill Shakespeare series, but the comics garnered a fair bit of praise (smartly included here in this FCBD giveaway). This follow-up, Romeo vs Juliet, sees the series move from IDW to Gemstone and a focus on perhaps the world’s most famous lovers now turned enemies. Described by its writer as a “western fantasy story” , Romeo vs Juliet pits the leads, who survived the original play, against one another in a world populated by all sorts of Shakespearian characters. It’s kind of like Shakespeare gone Marvel; Hamlet is featured prominently, as is Bardolph from Henry V (and other plays) and the land of Padua, in Italy, seen in The Taming of The Shrew.
There’s easter eggs ahoy for buffs of The Bard, but Del Col’s not letting his story get bogged down in the minutiae of the legacy of everything that he’s playing with and that’s a wise choice. Stefan Tosheff turns in solid work, he’s got a lot on his plate here and the effort is commendable. There’s some juicy twists - Juliet is not only alive but pregnant and her and Romeo are headed for a climactic face-off. Readers could do with a little more set-up, I suspect, to totally buy in here, but this is an intriguing glimpse at a clever remixing of The Bard’s work. Ultimately, if this leads more younger readers to the original plays, that’s a terrific win and the creators’ enthusiasm here is palpable. A definite curiosity.
SPIDER-MAN / ULTIMATE UNIVERSE / VENOM WAR
By Various
Marvel (T)
Ah, the annual FCBD Marvel smoosh-’em-all-in book has arrived! Spider-Man, The Ultimates and Venom share the page count with teasers of upcoming events and storylines. These things always try to do a little too much, but fans of any of these properties will obviously want to add this to their collections.
A Spider-Man story titled, “Target: Peter Parker” kicks us off. Written by regular Amazing Spider-Man scribe, Zeb Wells and drawn by fan favourite, Ryan Stegman, this is honestly a little unnecessary. Peter Parker takes his date, Shay, to The Dough Chateau, a restaurant more famous for hosting children’s parties than hot dates. The obligatory band of animatronic mascots loudly, obnoxiously plays and pretty quickly we release something’s up with these automatons as they break off stage and attack Peter Parker. The final panel payoff is what this thing is really all about and I’ll not spoil it, but the juice isn’t really worth the squeeze here and this is something completists only really need to worry about with so many quality comics on offer this FCBD.
Up next is what is likely every reader’s main event of this comic, the arrival of Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri’s The Ultimates. Given the popularity of the new Ultimate line as a whole, it’s perhaps surprising that Marvel didn’t just dedicate this entire issue to it and an argument could be made that it’s a mistake that they didn’t. This eight-pager, slickly illustrated by Frigeri, sees the Earth 6160 versions of Doctor Doom, Captain America and Iron Lad visiting Damage Control, on this world a secret storage facility containing all manner of super-artefacts. Lots of Easter eggs are thrown in here clueing readers up on who or what may or may not be around in this new world, and the payoff is a good one. Camp and Frigeri already feel right at home in the Ultimate universe and the line’s team-up book is in sure hands.
Rounding things out is a four page preview of Venom War by the ubiquitous Al Ewing and artist Iban Coello, who seems much more at home here than he does on the current run of Fantastic Four. A villainous Eddie Brock is teased as Ewing and Coello push the cosmology of the symbiotes further forward - much intrigue for Venom readers for sure.
Again, I imagine The Ultimates is the draw here, and curious readers should find much to enjoy there as the reconstruction of the Ultimate line continues strongly.
STAR WARS
Written by Charles Soule / Greg Pak Art by Ibraim Roberson / Ramon Rosanas
Marvel (T)
Having not read the Star Wars and Darth Vader comics since the early days of Marvel reclaiming the licence, it’s good to see the properties remaining in rock solid shape. Following Jason Aaaron’s run on Star Wars and Keiron Gillen’s run on Darth Vader, we move forward in time to what’s arguably the period most beloved by fans, The Empire Strikes Back and its aftermath.
Marvel gives us a chunk of the ‘new’ issue one of Star Wars by writer Charles Soule and artist Ibraim Roberson. All the classic Star Wars notes are here - the banter between characters, lightsabers firing up, blaster shots whipping past. We get a collection of our heroes returning to the frozen planet of Hoth to rescue a number of rebel soldiers accidentally left there following the fierce battle we see in Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, they are not alone - the Empire still has troops stationed there and fireworks ensue. Roberson’s artwork is perfectly suited to Star Wars, realistic, with character likenesses consistent but not slavishly adhered to. This is solid work.
Where Marvel gave us a chunk of issue #1 of Soule and co.’s clean start on Star Wars, they drop readers right in it with Darth Vader - this story appears to be right up to date, 45 issues into the series. New readers need not be too alarmed - there’s clarity given to the current situation via the expository dialogue of literally the first panel, and the final panel hook is a good one. Pak’s clearly at home on the series - I personally thought Kerion Gillen’s 25 issue run was one of the best mainstream books on the shelves as it was coming out and, while there was a run between that and this (by Charles Soule), Pak’s tenure is approaching the combined length of both of those runs.
Ramon Rosanas is a solid choice to draw the series and the detail that he, and Roberson for that matter, bring to the work makes the worlds in which these stories are set unmistakably Star Wars. Unsurprisingly strong stuff. Lapsed Star Wars fans or those new to the comics should put this on their radars.
STAR WARS: YOUNG JEDI ADVENTURES / PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES
Written by Daniel Jose Older, Art by Andy Duggan / Written by Paul Tobin, Art by Luisa Russo
Dark Horse (A)
The second of two Star Wars comics this FCBD features a tale from the Young Jedi Adventures series, which to be completely honest I know mostly from the cute toys I see in Kmart. I am all for the kids having some Star Wars that’s totally for them, however, and that’s exactly what writer Daniel Jose Older and Andy Duggan give us - this skews very much toward the younglings and padawans. There’s a great message here about friendship and how much easier things can be if we put aside our differences and work as a team, with Yoda’s youngest charges working to avoid a disaster. Duggan’s art is well suited to this, working in a clean but thick line, and he’s not skimping on the details of the tech nor the characters, providing what may well be the perfect entry point for the next generation of fans to the Star Wars universe.
Finally, we explore the origins of zombie dictator, Zomboss, in…uh… ‘The Origins of Zomboss’, a Plants vs. Zombies story by writer Paul Tobin and artist Luisa Rusell, who turns in multiple renditions of the head zombie as we learn his history from ‘Zomhoss’ (a cowboy), to Zomboat (a sailor), Zomloss (a Loss Prevention Officer) and…well you get the idea. Fans of bad puns will find much to enjoy here, as will those of diverting little comics where houthoused vegetables battle gangs of zombies.
STORIES FROM THE ATLAS COMICS LIBRARY
Written by Stan Lee, Art by Joe Maneely, Gene Colan, Basil Wolverton & Bill Everett
Fantagraphics (T)
My word. Look, the last thing probably any of us need is to begin collecting yet another series of high-end reproductions of vintage comics. However, your arm, like mine, may be twisted after reading Fantagraphics’ FCBD offering, Stories From The Atlas Comics Library. For those unaware, before Marvel was Marvel, Marvel was Atlas, rising from the ashes of the comics industry that followed the near collapse caused by the Wertham-instigated Senate Hearings and “birthed during the Cold War, during the Bomb-threatened 1950s” (as the intro here tells us), Atlas Comics stepped in to try and fill the mammoth boots left by EC Comics. They couldn’t fill them, nobody could, nobody arguably can today, and Atlas went away, became Marvel, reinvented the superhero, and here we are, about to read Blood Hunt…
Seriously though, as reductive as the above history is, it’s worth noting the talent involved in Atlas Comics efforts - Maneely, Colan, Everett and Wolverton are all represented here. Al Williamson and John Severin were also involved; it’s an insane roster of talent and they are all getting the deluxe treatment thanks to Fantagraphics across of two lines of books, one focussed on individual titles (like Adventures Into Terror) and (where my interest is particularly piqued) editions focussing on individual artists, with the Joe Maneely edition currently out.
What Stories From The Atlas Comics Library does best is showcase just what a loss the tragic death of Joe Maneely was. Capable of pushing out seven pages a day, Maneely was as versatile as they came. The work selected for Stories From The Atlas Comics Library is all excellent and proves exactly why he was pegged to be Stan’s artist of choice before falling between train carriages to his death in 1958 having lost his glasses. The world truly is not fair.
Six stories are included here, “The Raving Maniac'' where Stan gets right up on his high horse and gives it to all the Wertham-types of the world aided by Maneely’s excellent art, “The Clock Strikes,” a classic EC kind of twister, with early, beautiful early art by the legendary Gene Colan, “Where Monsters Dwell”, a bonkers SF monster comics with the unmistakably rubbery art of Basil Wolverton, “Rain,” torn from the old EC War Comics mould - Maneely going all Harvey Kurtzman, “Pascal The Rascal” a send-up of Hank Ketcham’s excellent Dennis The Menace comics, with Maneely again shifting styles impeccably, and “The Kiss of Death”, a skeleton-filled occult horror shocker with superbly atmospheric art by Bill Everett. This is a treasure trove.
In short, Stories From The Atlas Comics Library is amazing. An essential item from this year’s FCBD line-up.
STREET FIGHTER VS. FINAL FIGHT
Written by Chris Sarracini, Art by Jeffrey ‘Chamba’ Cruz, Edwin Huang, Joe Ng & Joshua Perez Panzer
Udon (T)
Arcade video games collide in Street Fighter vs Final Fight! Chris Sarracini turns in a story that moves faster than a question mark kick, literally spanning years, and drawn by a small gang of artists including Chamba Cruz, who has drawn more Street Fighter comics than you would think any human capable of.
This one’s quite convoluted, but it’s fun in its own ridiculously soapy way, with street fights and city politics and romance gone wrong, it’s a wild time with characters from both franchises sandwiched into weird roles like mayors and cops. I laughed a few times, which I’m not sure is the desired intent, but everyone involved seems intent on ensuring that fans of the games get what they paid for, which in this case is nothing, so you can’t really go too wrong.
Metro City has turned into a cesspool, can Cody clean it up in the space of 20-odd pages that literally span years? The gumption of a writer who would take on a challenge such as this, cramming what would be the length of most Image ongoings into something able to be saddle stitched, must be mentioned. There’s a great review of Three Days of The Condor on Letterboxd, that goes like this: “crying that the book was called six days of the condor—sydney pollack snorted a line and was like don’t worry girls i can do it in three”. This is the retro video game fight comic book equivalent. Leading into a forthcoming Final Fight miniseries, Street Fighter vs Final Fight is an overly ambitious lead-in, but much like its characters, this comic goes down swinging.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Written by Juni Ba and Paul Allor, Art by Fero Pe and Andy Kuhn
IDW (T)
IDW’s lengthy run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics continues with a solid entry for FCBD 2024. With a major relaunch forthcoming, it’s a curious choice to not highlight the new, renumbered series, but perhaps the Jason Aaron-scripted run has enough publicity. Instead, readers are presented with a new vigilante character, Nightwatcher, cut firmly from the grim and gritty mould, who’s determined to ensure that humankind’s exploitation of mutants comes to an end. Who is Nightwatcher? You’ll have to read the forthcoming series to find out just who is under the helmet, but writer Juni Ba sets the tone, and Fero Ba brings the street level action for this little number that injects themes of postcolonialism and othering into a fairly classic ‘80s vigilante comic framework.
“Splinter’s Day Off” by Paul Allor and Andy Kuhn rounds out this year’s TMNT effort. I liked this quite a bit - a short, clever little story that highlights the character’s interpersonal relationships, stresses their differences, and brings the ninja fights in a short but really well crafted eight pages. Solid work all around and Turtles fans have something to look forward to with this.
TONS OF STRANGE
By Various
10 Ton Press (T)
Who the heck is 10 Ton Press and why are they only one of a few companies smart enough to be printing on uncoated stock? These are just two, of many, questions passing through my brain while reading 10 Tons of Strange, an anthology showcase of some of the publisher’s output.
If you, like me, are beginning to worry that as solid as this FCBD line-up, it needs something more offbeat, well, fear not - this is the one for you. Under an EC Comics-inspired cover by Matt Richie, three distinctly different but equally odd comics are presented. Each is charming in its own quite distinct way and each may well leave readers scratching their heads (in a good way) wondering where on earth these comics have come from.
Kicking things off is ‘Saturday Night Sip N’ Saber’, a Charley & Humphrey adventure by writer Justin Sane (no, really) and artist John Hageman Jr, whose awesomely cartooned pages bring to mind Ren and Stimpy by way of Dave Cooper. Neither Charely nor Humphrey are identified by name in the strip (apologies if I missed that) but I believe Charlie is a dog and Humphrey a horse. This odd couple find themselves in a dive bar on an unnamed planet, clearly Tattooine, on ‘Sip N’ Sabre night’, an event where attendees are invited to drink that weird blue Star Wars milk stuff and build light sabers from scratch. Things go wrong, that’s all I’ll say here. The gags are passable and I’m curious what other adventures these two might get up to, but Hageman Jr is the star of the show here, with lively cartooning and really popping colours that put paid to the old fib that computer colouring is best showcased on glossy paper. Fun stuff.
My personal favourite comic here, The Oarsman, is up next by writer Cole P. Sanders III and artist Matt Richie. In this video game-inspired comic, the titular Oarsman, ferrying around in his boat, accepts his latest mission - to rescue a small child from an island populated by five ruthless pirates. The entire tale is told without any dialogue, and honestly, from the clever panel layouts, to its stoner comics vibe, this six pager ranks very highly for me on the best comics of FCBD 2024. I enjoyed this a lot.
Switching things up completely is Becoming Frankenstein: Elizabeth’s Tale by writers Mel Smith and Sean Hood with art by veteran artist Mike Gustovich (!) who is still at the drawing table 40 plus years into his career, and finished by Vic Moya. The tonal shift here may give readers some mental whiplash, but this black and white excursion into what’s become known as the Outlaw Comics aesthetic is not unwelcome, right down to the dodgy lettering - there’s an incredible typo oversight here that normally would irritate but just somehow adds to the DIY charm on display.
Elizabeth Frankenstein lives (unlike Mary Shelley’s novel) and takes centre stage in picking up the pieces of the work of her husband, Victor, after he has been institutionalised. Determined to not just understand but track down Victor’s missing monster, Elizabeth finds herself increasingly drawn into her husband’s work.
10 Tons of Strange will absolutely fly under the radar this FCBD. It shouldn't - it’s offbeat, charming, genuinely well made overall and, with The Oarsman, features a really, really strong comic. Fun stuff for those seeking a different flavour. We should consider keeping our eyes on this publisher.
THE VALIANTS / NINJAK VS. ROKU
Written by Ryan Cady, Art by Al Barrionuevo / Written by AJ Ampadu, Art by Emiliano Correa
Valiant (T)
Another year, another attempt to relaunch the characters of the Valiant universe to something resembling prominence. I was around for peak Valiant, like Barry Windsor-Smith Archer & Armstrong, and somehow, for a while there I seem to recall that, of all things, Bob Hall’s Shadow Man was one of my favourite things to read. For years, good, solid creative hands were brought in to work their magic on the Valiant characters (from the Garth Ennis and Jamie Delano Shadow Man to the more recent Josh Dysart’s Harbinger, Duane Swierzynski and Jeff Lemire on Bloodshot, Matt Kindt’s work, Peter Milligan’s work) but in 2024, this all feels like a distant memory.
The Valiants FCBD is, sadly, pretty rough. This attempt by new publisher Alien Books to assemble the Valiant heroes into an Avengers-like team after a major disaster leaves everything feeling even more C-grade than before, like that meme about when you order something from Wish.com. The back-up feature, Ninjak vs. Roku is worse, amateurish and utterly derivative. The dialogue in the final climactic panel, Roku kicking Ninjak in the face (it’s hard to say, the murky grey-green colour doesn’t help the weird anatomy on display), literally goes:
Roku: No Chance.
Ninjak: Urg!
“The beating continues….”
Indeed it does.
WITCHES OF BROOKLYN
By Sophie Escabasse
RH Graphic (A)
I’m unsure if this is a new tale or a slice of one of the four (!) Witches of Brooklyn comics by Sophie Escabasse. Either way, this feels complete and done-in-one and functions as a terrific introduction to Escabasse’s characters and world. Young, orphaned, Effie is adopted by her aunts, Selimene and Carlota, two older ladies who just happen to be witches. Effie picks up the family trade under the tutelage of her aunts and, presented here, is a kind of day-in-the-life of Effie as she goes about the business of making potions.
Under strict instructions to make a potion from a certain page on a certain grimoire, Escabasse puts her spin on one of the old classic magician narratives - the wrong spell. The cartooning is solid, the characters distinct and there’s a real warmth to this work, with Effie and her friend desperately trying to cover up their mistake.
A quiz and a maze round this comic out and readers are made aware of all of Effie’s existing adventures and where to find them. There’s a broad appeal to this work and if you’re looking to engage a younger reader in the world of comics, Witches of Brooklyn would be a really good place to start.
THE WORLDS OF JAMES TYNION IV
Written by James Tynion IV Art by Werther Dell’edera / Eryk Donovan / Michael Dialynas
Boom (T)
Industry powerhouse James Tynion IV has three of his creator-owned titles spotlighted by Boom this FCBD, in what might actually be a first - I can’t recall any FCBD offering being squarely focussed on the output of a single creator, right down to its title.
Anyway, small sections of Something Is Killing The Children, Memetic and The Woods are presented here, along with a splash page advertising the return of another Tynion property, Wynd, with artist Michael Dialynas. This is one of those FCBD packages I tend to run a little lukewarm on - cramming together a scene or two from multiple books with zero context outside of them or a word from the creator…I’m not sure how much readers not already aboard the Tynion express will get out of this.
The Worlds of James Tynion IV does smartly lead off with the killer opening scene from the first issue of Something Is Killing The Children, however, and new readers should find that extremely compelling. A fine package of some quality work here, for sure, but perhaps it's because I’ve listened to quite a few interviews with Tynion and the guy knows how to market and who he’s marketing to, and for a comic bearing his name, it doesn’t feel like his fingerprints are on it at all. If I sound conflicted, I am, but ultimately, if you are looking for some quality genre comics and are new to this particular writer, you should absolutely pick this up. The new reader may well find this gives them all they need and more.
That’s it! Choose wisely and I hope you all have a wonderful Free Comic Book Day, there’s some terrific reading ahead.
And from us, thank you again Cam for this titanic effort. We doubt there is a review of the FCBD books as good and detailed as this in the world and we are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to host it.
But like Cam said.
Enjoy your reading!
