Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Comics, Yearning To Be Free...

Today, May 5th, was the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day. A goodwill, open house sort of affair that's meant to bring in potential new readers, try to lure back lapsed ones, and give a little boost to those who are already in the hobby. The stores have to pay the publishers different amounts for each of the comics, etc., so the freebies are advertising, the cost of which is partially borne by the comics shops. That's an important thing to keep in mind.

After some other morning business (that'll be a separate post) I made a circuit of four comics shops -- one local to me now, and three others from back in my stomping grounds of years gone. Aside from free items (which I'll get to in a moment) it also gave me a chance to check in on some stores I hadn't visited, well... probably in a year.

Aside from the comics, one the free item I was out for was a Batman Heroclix. This one is the same 1940s sculpt seen in the recent Origin set, but this one has a different dial. Unlike the one pictured here the free one has a purple ring, not a silver, which only means that it's not tournament legal. Big deal. It's a cool addition to my diminutive legion and I'm happy to have one.

As for the comics, the full list of what was potentially out there this year can be found here. I'm sure some places tossed in leftovers from last year, and others may have taken advantage of the day to unload some junk stock -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

With the understanding that I've yet to read any of them, here's what I picked up or had handed to me (which I'm noting because some of these titles I wouldn't have picked up, even free, were they spread out on a table top for selection) during my travels today:

Amazing Spider-Man: This one's something of a unique move for Marvel, inasmuch that this is an original work -- not some compilation or reprint -- which will lead into an issue of Amazing that won't be out until August. Written by rising Marvel force (and still somewhat un-gauged by me) Dan Slott.

Bongo Comics Free-For-All! 2007: A 32-page compilation of Simpsons and Futurama comics.

Gumby: Published by Wildcard Ink, it's a black and white comic (with color cover) featuring work by Shannon Wheeler, Rick Geary, Mark Bode and Bob Burden.

Transformers Official Movie Prequel #1: IDW decided to give out the prequel to their 4-part adaptation of a movie I'm unlikely to see this side of cable and the bottom of several strong drinks.

Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century #1: From DC, and done not only much in the style of their Teen Titans, Go!, but by that series writer (and former Legends APA member) J. Torres, is a kid-directed (well, that's how it looks to me) treatment of the Legion of Superheroes. It's an introduction of all the members and Clark Kent, who we may only refer to Superman or Young Superman, but not Superboy, since DC no longer owns that name.

Dark Horse provided a mix with three titles, though the one that takes the lion's share of the issue - The Umbrella Academy - makes the issue title. The other items are presumably samplers for Pantheon City and Zero Killer... whatever any of them are. I'll find out eventually.

From Rude Dude Productions, we have a Nexus sampler in Nexus' Greatest Hits. All work by Mike Baron and Steve Rude, this sampler is a lead-in to the soon-to-be-published issue #99 of the series. Since #98 was published in 1997, when the series ceased publication, it's been a long time in coming. Most of the first 7 pages of #99 are previewed at the back of the issue.

Dynamite Entertainment came out with a flip book, half of it Battlestar Galactica Season Zero and The Lone Ranger.

Legion of Evil Press/Toronto Comics Arts Festival came up with a Comics Festival 2007 Edition. This should be an interesting one, with well over twenty creators involved.

Justice League of America #0. Essentially a retrospective of the team's history as it's currently considered canonical, and kick-off of the ongoing series written by Brad Meltzer. Twenty three artists and/or inkers chipped in on this one.

Renaissance Press offered Amelia Rules!, which I'd never heard of before.

Viper Comics Presents Volume Two.

Impact University Volume 3. With an intro by Gail Simone.

Antarctic Press brings Pirates vs Ninjas #1. (Maybe they'll take each other out.)

How To Draw, brought to us by Wizard.

Image presents the further stretching beyond all practical limits of Robert Kirkman with The Astounding Wolf-Man #1. I really wish he'd just stick with his Image titles, not that I have any intention of reading any of them other than Walking Dead, but he's not doing any good for the Marvel Universe -- though I know his Marvel Zombies work sells well.

Marvel Adventures Iron Man & Hulk brings more of that out-of-continuity, all-ages stuff that the Marvel Adventures line offers.

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse reprints "The Robin Hood Adventure" and "Mickey's Rival."

The star stores of the day were Bagged & Boarded, which had an attentive staff, was very free in what they allowed people to take, and had a huge sale going on, and Wade's Comic Madness, which not only had a huge sale of its own going on, but Wade continued his FCBD tradition of creating bags packed with 18 comics for the older patrons and a different assortment for the kids. Both places were hopping by mid-afternoon when I arrived.

I really should mention Comics and More, which had things going on, too -- and is the local venue where I'm most likely to go to play Heroclix. That was my first comics shop stop of the day, though, and I didn't hang out there long since so much was still ahead to be done.