FCBM7 Day 1

It's day one of the Seventh Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our first selected entry is from Jeff Trammell. The five comics that Jeff listed are:

1. Morning Glories
2. Invincible
3. Y, the Last Man
4. Deadpool
5. Amazing Spider-Man

And his other thing of interest is video games.

For Jeff I have the first issues of two of Boom! Studios' new Stan Lee line: The Traveler by Mark Waid & Chad Hardin; and Starborn by Chris Roberson & Khary Randolph.

And as a bonus comic, Jeff gets a copy of A John Stanley Library Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Halloween Treat featuring Nancy and Melvin the Monster.

Jeff's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
5 entries
3 free comics sent so far
30 days remaining

How Publishers Discourage You From Buying Single Issues of Their Comics

Exhibit #1: Boom! Studio's Irredeemable: Volume 1 collects issues #1-4 of the series.
* Cost to buy the individual issues (at $3.99 each): $15.96.
* Cost to buy the collection: $9.95
* Your penalty for buying the individual issues: $6.01

Exhibit #2: DC/Vertigo's Madame Xanadu Vol. 1: Disenchanted collects issues #1-10 of the series.
* Cost to buy the individual issues (at $2.99 each): $29.90
* Cost to buy the collection: $12.99
* Your penalty for buying the individual issues: $16.91
(plus there are no ads in the collection!)

When readers know there's going to be a cheaper collection soon after the issues in it are published, why should they shell out the $$$$ for the individual issues?

FCBM4 Day 31 part 5

It's the final day of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month, and I'm giving away free comics all day long!

Our next selected entry for today is from Matt Golec, whose five comics are:

1. Marvel Zombies
2. Astro City
3. Sleeper
4. Top Ten
5. Girl Genius

I'll be sending Matt the first issue of Enigma Cipher, the conspiracy thriller by Andrew Cosby, Michael Alan Nelson, and Greg Scott.

For Matt's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Uncle Scrooge ashcan.

Matt's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

Stay tuned, because I'll be giving away free comics all day long...

Current FCBM Statistics:
47 entries
93 free comics sent so far
0 days remaining

FCBM4 Day 28.5

It's still day twenty-eight of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month, and I'm giving out more free comics!

Our second selected entry for today is from Franco Ippolito, who listed his five comics as:

1. New Avengers
2. The Boys
3. B.P.R.D.
4. Incredible Hercules
5. Mighty Avengers

For Franco I have the first two issues of the Boom! reboot of Keith Giffen & Ross Richie's Dominion , the alien invasion/super-powers comic by Michael Alan Nelson & Tim Hamilton.

For Franco's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Iron Man ashcan.

Franco's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

Time is running out, but you can still send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
46 entries
68 free comics sent so far
3 days remaining

FCBM4 Day 27.5

It's still day twenty-seven of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month, but we're running out of time. So I'd better give away more free comics!

Today's second selected entry is from Dina Greenberg, who listed her five comics as:

1. Walking Dead
2. Fables
3. Locke & Key
4. DMZ
5. Doktor Sleepless

Since I think she'll enjoy it, I'll send Dina the first two issues of Tag, the zombies-with-an-Internet-twist comic by Keith Giffen & Kody Chamberlain.

For Dina's bonus comic, I'm sending her the Uncle Scrooge ashcan.

Dina's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

Time is running out, but you can still send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
45 entries
61 free comics sent so far
4 days remaining

FCBM4 Day 17

It's day seventeen of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Iris Krus, who listed her five comics as:

1. Jonah Hex
2. Criminal
3. Casanova
4. Futurama
5. Gødland

Isis says that she likes "heroes, guns, funny, scary." I'm pretty sure that she will enjoy the action and energy of the first issue of Cover Girl by Andrew Cosby, Kevin Church, & R. M. Yankovica.

For Iris's bonus comic, I'm sending her the Uncle Scrooge ashcan.

Iris's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
39 entries
34 free comics sent so far
14 days remaining

FCBM4 Day 11

It's day eleven of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Ted Melnick, who listed his five comics as:

1. Hellboy
2. Fantastic Four
3. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
4. The Spirit
5. Swamp Thing

Ted is a fan of the pop-horror of Hellboy and Swamp Thing, so I suspect he'll also like the original Cthulhu Tales anthology from Boom! Studios.

For Ted's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Iron Man ashcan.

Ted's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
32 entries
22 free comics sent so far
20 days remaining

FCBM4 Day 1

It's day one of the fourth annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our first selected entry is from Dexter Roberts. The five comics that Dexter listed are:

1. 100 Bullets
2. Scalped
3. Criminal
4. Jack Staff
5. Locke & Key

Dexter seems to be a fan of crime comics, so for Dexter's free comic I'm choosing:

The first issue of Steven Grant & Mat Santolouco's 2 Guns, a cops & robbers comic with a twist.

For Dexter's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Iron Man ashcan.

Dexter's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
8 entries
2 free comics sent so far
30 days remaining

Quick Boom! Reviews

Two recent comics from Boom! Studios showcase the worst and best that the publisher has to offer.

Unfortunately, Warhammer: Forge of War #1 is a muddled mess. The story by Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton would appear to be about some sort of fantasy-era battle, flashing back to the minutes of preparation before the battle. But as a reader I could neither follow said battle nor did I care one whit about who the participants were. The art by Rahsan Ekedal is on the surface competent but lacking in any sort of fluidity or dynanism required of an issue-long battle scene. Perhaps this comic will make sense to a die-hard Warhammer fan, but I suspect that even they will find a better use of their $2.99.


On the other hand, Cover Girl #2 is a joy to read, even better than the first issue. Last time we were introduced to up-and-coming leading man Alex Martin, an actor who witnesses something he shouldn't and whose live is placed in jeopardy because of it. This time out we and Alex meet Rachel, Alex's new no-nonsense bodyguard, along with Rachel's partner Dwight. The story by Andrew Crosby and Kevin Church moves along at quick pace, the dialog crackles, and there's plenty of action, plot, and character to go around. The art by Mateus Santolouco and R. M. Yankowicz fits the script wonderfully, clear and dynamic with just the right touch of cartoonishness when needed. Here's a comic that not only gets the big things right but also the little things, such as introducing the characters by name within the first couple of pages and providing a recap of the previous issue that fits organically with the story in just a third of a page. And there's plenty of story here to make it $3.99 well spent.


Ratings:
Warhammer: Forge of War: 1.5 (of 5)
Cover Girl: 4 (of 5)

(copies of the above comics were provided by the publisher for review)

Quick Boom! Reviews

Let's take a look at some recent #1s from Boom! Studios (all comics $3.99 ea.):

From top to bottom, Salvador #1 (writers: Mark Polish, Michael Polish & Sebastian Jones; artist: Steph Stamb) look sand feels like a repurposed Silver Surfer proposal. A mysterious, silver-tinged, faceless humanoid falls to Earth, gliding on a couple of large feathers. In this wordless issue, full of many full-page splash panels, he just kind of glides around. It looks pretty, but it's over very quick and feels very derivative.


Also somewhat derivative, but this time overtly, is Dominion #1, a repackaging of Keith Giffen & Ross Richie's aborted Image series from a few years back. This time out the action moves from Australia to Chicago, courtesy of writer Michael Alan Nelson & artist Tim Hamilton. All over the city random people break out with barely controllable super-powers, apparently as a prelude to some sort of alien attack. Hopefully this time out the series will last long enough that we'll get a feel of what's going on.


Hunter's Moon #1, written by Oscar winner James L. White and drawn by Dalibor Talajic, is the story of a corporate mover-and-shaker who takes him estranged son on a rural hunting trip. But things veer into thriller territory when things go wrong. Having the main characters be an African-American family in what would typically be the domain of white protagonists is not only encouraging from a diversity point of view, but also brings race issues subtly into the mix. This is an effective first issue that leaves the reader wanting to see what happens next.


2 Guns #1 is one of the most effective first issues I've read in a while. The story starts off with what looks like an homage to Pulp Fiction, but quickly veers off in a multitude of direction. At the core there's an undercover DEA agent who ends up planning a bank heist, with motives that may or may not be entirely pure. Veteran writer Steven Grant shows that he's still got plenty of writing chops, and artist Mat Santolouco is with him every step of the way (and special notice for colorists from Popart Studios, whose bright colors help the story to pop off the page). The story if full of plot, action, and characterization, without ever feeling too rushed or condensed.

Ratings:
Salvador #1: 2 (of 5)
Dominion #1: 3 (of 5)
Hunter's Moon #1: 3.5 (of 5)
2 Guns #1: 4 (of 5)

(review copies of the above comics were provided by the publisher)

Quick Review: Cover Girl

My weekly package from DCBS seems to be delayed. But I have at least one of this week's comics in front of me, since Boom! was kind enough to send a review copy a couple of weeks ago:

Cover Girl #1 is as much fun as you'd expect coming from writers Andrew Cosby & "Beaucoup" Kevin Church. There's a c-list Hollywood star tough-guy wannabe who gets mixed up in a possible conspiracy, so the studio hires tough-as-nails female bodyguard to look after him. The art by R. M. Yankovicz is attractive while keeping the action moving and the story flowing. My only complaint is that the colors on a book like this should be brighter; this isn't a Vertigo book. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5).

Quick Boom! Reviews

Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #2
by Dan Abnett, Ian Edginton, & Greg Boychuk
Boom! Studios, $2.99

There's plenty of macho posturing and "glory of war" speechifying in between the battle scenes ehre--it's like 300, in space! Considering how unfamiliar I am with the Warhammer 40,000 game setting I managed to follow the story fairly well, though I suspect if I were a fan of the game and all its offshoots it might resonate with me a bit more. Competently done as a tie-in comic.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Mr. Stuffins #1
by Andrew Crosby, Johanna Stokes, & Lee Carter
Boom! Studios, $3.99

A top secret agent program is "liberated" from the company that created it and ends up getting installed in a child's toy: a robotic teddy bear. The bear becomes a super agent, protecting its owner, young Zach, and dodging the corporate goons who want it returned at all costs. It's a high concept comic and the creators pull it off, packing a lot of story and action into 22 pages.

Rating: 3 (of 5)



Tag: Cursed #1
by Mike Lieb & Chee
Boom! Studios, $3.99

A sequel of sorts to the previous Tag series, this first issue introduces us to Ed, a small town hardware store owner who is also the writer of the "Tag! You're It!!" blog that we saw the characters in the original series refer to. It seems that Ed was once tagged himself, and carries the guilt of having passed on the curse, a guilt that is beginning to manifest through hallucinations. So Ed decides to do something about it. There's a bit too much inner monologuing and set-up for my tastes, but hopefully with that all out of the way things will pick up in the second issue (and maybe a slightly brighter color palate as well--I know it's a dreary horror comic, but it could use a little variation imho).

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Review copies of the above comics were provided by the publisher.

Video Review: Fall of Cthulhu #0-1

Trying something new here on YACB: a video review! Using the iSight camera on my iMac and the direct to YouTube video capture. So now you can hear and see how big of a dork I am:



That's Fall of Cthulhu #0-1 by Michael Alan Nelson & Jean Dzialowski, published by Boom! Studios at $3.99 ea.

Don't know if I'll do this again; the YouTube quality for showing off the images of the comics doesn't work too well. But it was an interesting experiment.

Quick Boom! Catch-Up Reviews

I've fallen way behind on my review copies sent by Boom!, so here's an attempt to get caught up:

Talent #3-4 bring the miniseries by Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski & Paul Azaceta about Dane--the lone survivor of a plane crash who has the abilities & memories of all the other passengers--to a satisfactory close, although it is left open enough for the story to continue should the creators & Boom! so desire. The story here is as much about the various groups that seek to control Dane as much as it is about Dane's compulsions to make things right in the lives of those he has 'absorbed.' Paul Azaceta's art--definitely in the Michael Lark-style mode--fits the story being told well, and hopefully we'll see more from him in the future. Hopefully Talent will continue as well in some form; its high concept seems perfectly suited to be a television series so maybe some enterprising Hollywood producer will give it a go (just as long as it doesn't meet the same fate as Global Frequency...)


Second Wave #6--by Michael Alan Nelson & Chee--would also seem to be the end, as AFAIK there have been no further issues announced. This series has been plagued from the beginning with a format chnge from color to black & white (which appeared to be unknown to Chee when he was doing art on earlier issues) and a title change seemingly every other issue as well. At least there are tones and backgrounds in most of the art in this issue, which I'm guessing means that Chee was finally planning on his art being reproduced in black & white, and the art is definitely improved for it. The story about a second alien invasion from Mars (following up on the initial War of the Worlds) started out strong, but along with presentation issues the story also degenerated into clichés and by now I've pretty much lost interest.


I expected to lose interest in Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1 within the first three pages, but surprisingly I didn't. I have virtually no familiarity with the tabletop miniatures game on which this comic is based; as is typical with these sorts of thins there appears to be a huge amount of world building and back story to the game with which I'm sure its adherents are intimately familiar but casual readers are not privy to. Surprisingly writers Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton provide just enough information so that I'm not totally lost (and there's a two-page text feature at the end with background info should I care to learn more). It would seem that there's a galactic war going on, with the factions combing backwater planets to recruit warriors to fight for them. It's overly violent, which is to be expected from this sort of thing, and ale illustrated by Lui Antonio. At $2.99 it's cheaper than Boom!'s typical output, so I'm assuming that they're planning on increased sales from a known licensed property to make up the revenue. Let's hope that's the case because I'd hate to see the production quality take a nose-dive like it did with Second Wave.


What Were They Thinking: Monster Mash-Up #1 is another of those comics where they take old comic stories and re-mix them with new dialog. It's pretty much the standard stuff you'd expect, and would be completely forgettable if not for blogger Kevin Church's "Hairy Grrls," in which a frustrated narrator to the story is the real star, with laugh-out-loud bits in nearly every panel. Worth the $4 for those seven pages alone.


Ratings:
Talent #3-4: 3.5 (of 5)
Second Wave #6: 2 (of 5)
Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1: 2.5 (of 5)
What Were They Thinking: Monster Mash-Up #1: 3 (of 5)

(Review copies of the above comics were provided by the publisher.)

Review: Pirate Tales #1

Pirate Tales #1
Boom! Studios, $6.99

Pirates, so they say, are the new zombies. And thus it makes sense that the company best known for its Zombie Tales anthologies would put together an anthology devoted to Pirate Tales.

As with most anthologies, it's a mixed mag. The most visually interesting story here is "The Walk," with each page being both a panel of the story and a section of the deck of the pirate ship. Unfortunately the story by Joe Casey (who is always hit-or-miss for me) doesn't do much for me. "Wolf on the Wave," by Johanna Stokes and Julia Bax, puts a female spin on an old-school pirate tale; and John Roers & Lee Carter's "Namesake" gives us a tale of modern-day high-seas piracy.

My favorite story of the lot is the last one, "Rum & Inspiration." The art by the always wonderful Fabio Moon is great as expected, and Christopher Golden turns in a solid story of pirates in a bar, with a twist at the end.

In all, another solid outing from the team at Boom!

Rating: 3 (of 5)

(A review copy of this comic was provided by the publisher)

Quick Boom! Reviews

The Savage Brothers #2
by Andrew Cosby, Johanna Stokes, & Rafael Albuquerque
Boom! $3.99

With its second issue, The Savage Brothers unfortunately takes a turn for the boring. It's page after page of zombie killing as the titular brothers rescue a woman in distress; and when they're not killing zombies they're acting like pigs. These days if you want to do a zombie comic there has to be more to it then having your characters run around killing zombies, no matter how competently done it is.

Rating: 2 (of 5)



Jeremiah Harm #4
by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, & Rafael Albuquerque
Boom! $3.99

Rael Lyra is gone from the title, but it maintains the same level of senseless violence as the first Earth-based storyline draws to a close, more or less. Thankfully for the last few pages this title finds a semblance of a plot again, giving the book an interesting direction and the semblance of hope that the title might be worth sticking around for.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



The Black Plague #1
by Joe Casey & Julia Bax
Boom! $3.99

A three way battle breaks out between the mob, a 'science organiation' with designs on world domination (think Hydra), and The Black Plague, a long-thought-dead super villain (in the Batman villain mode--complete with henchmen and a secret hideout). Writer Casey adds in a framing sequence of a retired hero and a retired villain playing chess in the park, and a twist of sorts to the set-up. Bax handles the art chores well. This is a one-shot that serve as a prelude to an upcoming mini-series and should appeal to those of you looking for a slightly different take on the whole super-hero/super-villain thing.

Rating: 3 (of 5)



(review copies of the above comics were provided by the publisher)

Dave's (Half) Dozen: Indy Comics

Continuing my look through the October Previews (for comics supposedly shipping in December), here are a half dozen indy comics that I feel are worth your attention:


DinoWars: Jurassic War of the Worlds #1
(Antarctic, $3.50, p. 222)
Ros Espinosa's latest has a race of intelligent dinosaurs returing to Earth after 65 million years away--and they're pissed!



Cthulhu Tales: "The Rising"
(Boom!, $6.99, p. 248)
The first Cthulhu Tales was a good deal of fun, and there's no reason to expect that this second offering won't be more of the same.



Mr. Stuffins #1
(Boom!, $3.99, p. 250)
Another piece of high-concept pop-action from Boom!: A teddy bear secret agent!



Code #1
(Guardian Line, $2.99, p. 286)
One of three new Christian-themed titles debuting from new publisher Guardian Line this month, Code could be the best of the lot. A baddd-a$$ techno-sage in a trench coat and fedora with a comprehensive knowledge of saced writings. "Evil had best sit down and shut up." Indeed.



Maintenance #1
(Oni, $3.50, p. 309)
Jim Massey & Robbi Rodriguez bring what looks to be a fun comic about a couple of janitors at an evil science think tank.



The 3 Geeks: Jim's Jerky!
(3 Finger Press, $2.00, p. 318)
Rich Koslowski takes a break from 'serious' graphic novels to come back to his original series of three comic-loving guys.



I covered mainstream comics a few days ago. I'll have the collects and graphic novels picks in a day or two.

Quick Boom! Reviews

The Savage Brothers #1
by Andrew Cosby, Johanna Stokes, & Rafael Albuquerque
Boom! $3.99

Hey, do you like zombies? Do you want to read a story about a couple of good ol' boys hunting down zombies in a post-apocalyptic future? Well folks, Boom! certainly know their audience, and The Savage Brothers is the comic for you. There's not too much to say here, because if Boom! know anything it's how to produce a good, solid zombie comic. There's plenty of zombie-killing action, and artist Albuquerque delivers it well.

Rating: 3 (of 5)



Second Wave #4-5
by Michael Alan Nelson & Chee
Boom! $2.99 ea.

There are two curious things about the Second Wave comic: First, why they keep changing the name; the first couple of issues were War of the Worlds: Second Wave; then it was Second Wave: War of the Worlds; now with issue #5 it is simply Second Wave. Second, why with each issue the production values go down. These latest couple of issues are drawn as though Chee was expecting them to be computer colored, though instea they's black and white with scant or non-existing backgrounds; some panels shaded, others not. It's reaching a point where it is becoming distracting. I assume this is because of Boom!'s insistance that this remain a $2.99 title instead of the $3.99 they charge for their other comics in color; it seems a curious choice and, at this point a wrong one as it is adversely affecting the quality of the product. I'm also not terribly impressed with how the story is going, as the evil sheriff is just too unbelievably evil. All in all, this comic is just opportunity wasted.

Rating: 2 (of 5)



Talent #2
by Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski, & Paul Azaceta
Boom! $3.99

The second issue of this mini continues the story of Nick Dane, the lone survivor of a downed aircraft who now has the skills and memories of everyone else on the doomed plane; and the secret organization that it out to get him. It's still packed with tension, excitement, action and drama. My only regret is that it is scheduled to end after four issues, as this premise could keep them going much longer. Talent is probably the best comic that Boom! is currently publishing.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)



(review copis of the above comics were provided by the publisher)