Welcome to yet another installment of my 2020's Free Comic Book Day reviews. My pals at Stormwatch Comics in West Berlin, New Jersey send me these FCBD comics so I can read and write about them in the bloggy thing. Only twice have I actually reached my goal of reading and writing about all the FCBD comics available in a given year. Maybe this time I’ll three-peat that achievement. I think I can do it, but it’ll take me until sometime in mid-2021 to complete this particular mission.
When I read and review FCBD comics, I look at three areas.
QUALITY: Is the material worthwhile?
ACCESSIBILITY: Is the material presented in such a way that someone coming to it for the first time can follow it?
SALESMANSHIP: After reading the FCBD offering, would someone want and be able to buy more of the same?
I score FCBD offerings on a scale of zero to ten. Each category is worth three points with the tenth point coming from my interest in seeing more of what’s ever in the book.
John Patrick Green’s InvestiGators Take the Plunge Sneak Peek [01: First Second] presents the first three chapters of a graphic novel aimed at kids 7-10. In a story replete with puns and corny jokes, we learn the title characters work for S.U.I.T. (Special Undercover Investigations Teams), wear vests that are actually Very Exciting Spy Technology, are prone to mistakes and have an arch-enemy who is a mix of crocodile and saltine cracker. The arch-enemy’s name is Crackerdile.
QUALITY: Pretty good. Neither the writing nor art is sophisticated, but young readers will enjoy this goofy series. This giveaway comic include a handful of puzzle pages.
ACCESSIBILITY: Between the inside front cover test and the writing, no one should have difficulty getting into this series.
SALESMANSHIP: Good. While there aren’t a lot of ads for this title and other First Second books, the ones that appear will be useful for readers who enjoy the issue and want more of the same.
SCORE: Nine points out of a possible ten points.
Invincible #1 [Image/Skybound] reprints the inaugural issue of the “coming soon to Prime Video” super-hero book from way back in 2003. It’s written and lettered by Robert Kirkman, drawn by Cory Walker and colored by Bill Crabtree. Here’s the Wikipedia summary of the series:
Invincible is the son of Omni-Man, an extraterrestrial superhero of the Viltrumite race. Invincible inherited his father's superhuman strength and ability to fly and he has sworn to protect the Earth. As a teenager he had trouble adjusting to his newfound powers and coping with the reality of his origins.
QUALITY: The issue is well-written and well-drawn. Not spectacular, but mostly fun and quite entertaining. I qualify the “fun” part of it because it opens with the young hero killing a villain. Though that might be justifiable from time to time, it didn’t seem to be so here.
ACCESSIBILITY: Being a first issue, a reader gets in on the start.You get just enough background to get into the series. There will be more information down the line.
SALESMANSHIP: Good. There’s a page listing the various Invincible collections, plenty of cool information on the animated series, and a back cover ad for another Kirkman creation.
SCORE: Eight points out of a possible ten points.
Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics by Tom Scioli [Ten Speed Press] features a 21-page excerpt from a graphic biography of the legendary creator. Scioli makes no secret of his respect for Kirby, citing Kirby’s work as how he learned to do comics himself. The excerpt is choppy, but fun.
QUALITY: The excerpt is very Kirby-centric, minimizing the creative role Joe Simon played in some of their joint creations, but still very well done.
ACCESSIBILITY: Between Scioli’s loving introduction and the story excerpt, this comic book is easy to get into.
SALESMANSHIP: Impressive. Ten Speed Press is an imprint of Random House. This issue has several pages of house ads pitching graphic novels and other books.
SCORE: Ten points out of a possible ten points.
Lady Mechanika FCBD 2020 [Benitez Productions] is the annual Free Comic Book Day offering from creator, writer, artist and publisher Joe Benitez. The title character is the sole survivor of an insane scientist’s experiments, horrific experiments that left the woman with mechanical limbs. This issue features 25 pages of excerpts from three different Lady M series.
QUALITY: Every year for as long as I can remember, I have praised the quality of the Lady Mechanika art, stories and writing. Every year, I vow to read the whole series from start to the most recent. Every year, I fail to fulfill that vow. I really hope I can fulfill the vow this year. It’s not like I’m going to any conventions for the next several months.
ACCESSIBILITY: Excellent. Now I may not be the best judge of this because I’ve been reading these FCBD Lady Mechanika comics for more than a few years, but I recall being able to follow the character from the first one without any problem.
SALESMANSHIP: Excellent. Four pages of house ads will direct you to all of the Lady Mechanika series.
SCORE: Ten points out of a possible ten points.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa (Viz) was always going to be a hard sell for me. I generally don’t like comic books based on role-playing games or video games. I especially do not like comic books that try to emulate these things and make the asinine assumption that making characters more powerful is somehow the equivalent of interesting character development. And, yes, I am thinking of DC Comics’ most recent abysmal examples of how much the publisher and its writers neither appreciate or remotely understand my creation Black Lightning.
This FCBD issue starts with an 18-page excerpt that starts with the protagonist proclaiming how powerful he has become and doesn’t get any better from there. That’s followed by 14 pages of intended-to-be-humorous “Special Weapons Training” gags.
QUALITY: Minimal at best. The art isn’t bad, but the writing never becomes interesting.
ACCESSIBILITY: Almost non-existent. After reading this comic book, I still had no clue who the characters were or what it was about.
SALESMANSHIP: Two pages of house ads for comics/products relating to the featured excerpts. They weren’t convincing.
SCORE: One point out of a possible ten points.
That’s all for this session of Free Comic Book Day reviews. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.
© 2021 Tony Isabella
Great reviews, Tony! It's always fun to explore all these FCBD issues each year.
ReplyDeleteI read the full Tom Scioli book. Highly recommended!
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