The Day before Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow and like any happy fan I am going down to my LCS and picking up all the free crap that I can. Well okay, I don’t randomly grab just anything, I prefer to actually pick what I’ll be reading. Last year had some good stuff but this year looks to be the best so far.

Also a side note, if I am able to get all these comics, I may divide the reviews in two, half on one day half on the next, so no Week’s End this week.

A second note, I’ll be dropping 4 comics for the sake of cost, those comics are: Detective Comics, TimeStorn, Gotham City Sirens, Secret Warriors.

Avengers

Written: Brian Bendis

Art: Jim Cheung

Say what you want about Bendis’ work with the Avengers over the last few years you can’t deny the man has had a powerful influence on the franchise and that he continues to be a driving force for the Marvel Universe. Some of his best stuff has been when he teams up with Jim Cheung, my favorite artist right now at Marvel and their team up here is a must read as we see Thor possibly finding himself a place as an Avenger once more. We know by now he doesn’t like the Dark Avengers so I doubt he’ll join them, Mighty Avengers already has Herc plus it’s run by Loki and this is written by Bendis so I’m guessing he’ll join the New Avengers. But man I’m really looking forward to this.

Savage Dragon #148

Written and Art: Erik Larsen

Erik Larsen has to be the boldest man in comics today, even bolder than Robert Kirkman. Now a first or a zero issue makes sense for a FCBD comic, even a reprint, but an important in continuity issue like #148 of Savage Dragon? Whoo, takes a big pair of brass ones to give that out for free. I can see why he’s doing it, Savage Dragon has been doing poorly in sales, though I see that 145 definitely helped, but this is a great way to get more people into the book and I’m all for more people reading this great comic. Now for anyone who missed out on #145 (shame on you, I told you it was great!) there are no excuses to miss out on this.

Blackest Night #0

Written: Geoff Johns

It’s no secret by now to say that I’m interested in Blackest Night. This is looking to be the biggest event DC has ever had (or at least the best, if we’re going to compare it to Final Crisis) and I love the concept of the dead rising. For one I’m a big zombie fan so that alone has my interest, but zombie aliens? Oh hell that’s just too perfect to pass up. Throw in Doug Mahnke and Ivan Reis as the art talent during this event and I’m really wanting to check it out. But I’ve never read Green Lantern before in my life though I must admit I’ve always been curious about it. I’m hoping this zero issue can do a good job of helping me catch up on what I need to know about the GL series so far, all the other Corps and villains here and finally I’m hopeful that we get enough to tease and excite for Blackest Night, for if we do, I’m on board for sure. Also it looks good in it’s dealing with the death of Batman from Hal Jordan’s perspective, even if this is only for a minute or so.

Aliens/Predator

Written and Art: Various

I’ve decided to trade wait on Dark Horse’s upcoming Aliens and Predator comics. Despite my love for the franchises and their really well done adaptations. But with this free one shot sampling of both stories I can’t help but want to check this out and see if Dark Horse still has that awesome adaptation power for these franchises.

Atomic Robo and Friends

Written: Brian Clevinger

Art: Scott Wegener

I read the Atomic Robo one-shot from FCBD last year and was a total moron in that I’ve been putting off getting the collection book of the series for a whole damn year now. It was such a fun read and I wanted more, but somehow time slipped by and I forgot about it. I look forward to this one shot and maybe it can kick me in the ass enough to go out and buy the damn trade.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Evolution of a Hero

Written: Ian Flynn

Art: Tracy Yardley

I was going to check out that new series Sonic Universe but decided against it. I just have no need to read a Sonic comic book, I get my fill of the Blue Dude with ‘tude whenever I pop in one of his games. But that cover alone grabs me, we see all these versions of him, even that awesome art style for Sonic Battle. As a fan of Sonic I’m going to at least check this out as it looks good.

Mercy Sparx: Under New Management

Written: Josh Baylock

Art: Matt Merhoff

This kind of grabbed my attention when I was looking through the list of all the available Free Comics. Something about it seems painfully familiar but I can’t recall what. I think I may have seen a preview of it a while back but it’s just not ringing a bell. Will be checking this out an pure curiosity alone.

Radical 2009 Preview
Written and art: various

Only picking this up for the preview of David Hine’s new horror book about Vampires and Zombies.

Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer Preview

Written: Mark Waid

Art: Kenneth Rocafort

I forgot to mention my interest in this series in the last Solicit Commentary, but this really does look cool. For one the talent behind it is great, Waid is a strong writer and Rocafort is an absolutely incredible new artist who’s talent is fresh and exciting. I’m checking this out mostly for the creators, the characters and story doesn’t interest me much though really and I doubt this will make me pick up the upcoming mini-series.

TMNT #1 25^th anniversary reprint

Written and Art: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

Thanks to my local blockbuster that had all the original VHS tapes of the original TMNT show I grew up just like many children of the 80’s got to with the TMNT. I was a huge fan as a child and have all 3 films on VHS (been lazy about getting the new movie on DVD) and as a fan I always wondered where did these turtles come from? As in their production history. Who started it all. When I found out they started as a comic that was so awesome for me. I can’t wait to pick this up.

Wolverine One-Shot

Written: Fred Van Lente

Art: Gurihiru

When my friend and I stumbled on this issue while looking through Marvel.com, and saw that “Origin of an X-man” on the cover, we both slammed our heads into the desk. Really? His origin? Again? Ugh...but uh, on the bright side the talent behind this is some grade A stuff. Van Lente is a great writer and this should be a fun and cool read. From the looks of it this is recreating the Wolverine/Hulk battle (though we already got that in Wolverine #50…) I’m psyched to check this out.

That’s it for now folks, check back tomorrow for the reviews!