Free Comic Book Day 2006 stuff (and Action 838)

[dvandom]

               Dave's Free Comicbook Day 2006 Capsules

     Well, it's FCBD 2006, and I got a big pile of stuff.  My review focus
will be a little different than in my usual Capsules, since most of these
books are really intended to be ads, seeing as they're free (to consumers,
that is...stores still need to pay for 'em last I checked).  In cases where I
think you should specifically make an effort to find the FCBD editions, I'll
say so.  Otherwise, my recommendations will be for the comics being
advertised.  

     Before I start, though, I forgot to grab Action #838 on Wednesday, but
managed to get the last copy on the shelf today.  Rather than wait and
include it in next week's Capsules, I'll lead off with it, and then just
splice it into the relevant spot in the archived version of this week's
books.  :)

     Action Comics #838: DC - Part four of the "Up, Up and Away!" arc by
Busiek and Johns.  Right off, I'll say that the "cliffhanger" of part two has
me thinking that the end of this issue will also be a merely temporary
effect.  (Cue giant sized Beaker in the Muppet Movie.)  Cover credits to the
contrary, the actual interior art is done by Renato Guedes, and while there's
some style elements that don't work for me, the visual storytelling is
solid.  Recommended.  $2.50/$3.50Cn

     And now the freebies.  Only one that I wanted to get (Liberty Girl) was
missing, and it's possible that it was never even made (if more likely that
Diamond just screwed up as usual).

     Stargate SG-1 General Jack O'Neill (T-shirt version): Diamond Select
Toys - This is a preview of the upcoming SG-1 figure line, presumably.  One
of the hotter freebies, and likely one of the more expensive one for stores,
so don't expect there to be any left by the time you read this.  While I
wouldn't call it bad, I don't regret not ordering any of the figures in this
line.  Sculpt is pretty good, and the likeness is...okay.  Almost looks more
like a young George W. Bush than like Jack, though.  Jointing is also merely
okay.  The neck is a limited ball joint, the elbows are hinges, everything
else is a swivel.  Shoulders, upper arm (although the right arm bicep swivel
feels like it's paintlocked and about to snap off), wrists, waist, hips
(H-joint style) and knees.  Yeah, the knees don't bend, they swivel to let
you point the feet different directions, which looks ugly given the loose
pants sculpt.  It comes with a little baggie of accessories: a P90, a Zat
Gun, a communicator and what I think is a DHD remote.  Neither hand can
really hold the P90.  The Zat Gun works well in the right hand, while the
other two accessories hold decently in the left.  Overall, if you're a "leave
the toys in the package" collector, you might wanna pick up some of this
line, but this sample doesn't fill me with confidence about the quality of
the line as actual *action* figures.  

     Comic Genesis: Generations 2006: Comicgenesis.com - A bunch of samples
of webcomics, the Keenspot and former Keenspace books are even more ad-like
than most FCBD stuff.  Unfortunately, none of these samples led me to want to
see more, and many of them actively repelled me.  I did think the "How to
join Comics Genesis" thing in the middle was a good idea, though, as it's not
just about the hosting service but also includes tips on how to get the
software you need to start your very own (probably crappy) comic.  There's
also a flipbook side with a much more extensive sample of God Mode, one of
hte many computer gaming strips I don't read.  And the sample isn't changing
that fact.  The main benefit to the reader of picking this FCBD book up is
that it's slightly better than archive-trawling in terms of helping you
decide whether to start reading a new strip, since one would hope that the
samples represent some of the better material available, which just looking
at the current strip won't necesarily do.
     Keenspot spotlight 2006: Road Trips: Keenspot - Keenspot is like the big
leagues for Comic Genesis, it's for the strips that have proven themselves,
and last I checked was by invitation only.  So you'd expect this book to have
higher quality than the CG one above.  And...well, it does.  But there's
still a lot of mediocrity between these covers, and I'll state right now that
again I wasn't inspired to check anything out that I didn't already read.
Now, this 96 page book is probably worth seeking out anyway, because most of
the stories are actually new for this volume, revolving around the loose
"road trip" theme.  So you're getting a lot of complete (if short) stories
instead of just excerpts.
     Buzzboy #1 (FCBD cover): Sky Dog - Buzzboy has been around for a while,
but this is the start of a new series focusing on his youthful sidekicking
days, and there's a retail version as well (with a different cover).  This is
essentially an ad for itself, with enough lead time for people to order the
second issue if they like the freebie.  Sound business planning.  The story,
though, tries too hard to be retro-camp, and I found a lot of it fell flat.
Plus, while not newcomer-hostile, it didn't really make a connection for me
as a reader unfamiliar with the existing book.  I don't plan to order #2.
     The Preposterous Voyages of Ironhide Tom: AdHouse Books - You know how I
said some of these were worth grabbing on their own?  This is one of them.
Minimalist (but clearly confident and talented) art and writing, and very
funny (albeit dark).  AdHouse doesn't seem to put out regular comics, though,
and all of their "here's what we have coming out" items are TPB.  Joel
Priddy, who's responsible for almost all of the pages in this, has a 128 page
work due in December, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it in
Previews.  Meanwhile, if you can find a copy of this FCBD comic, grab it.
     The Fantagraphics Funny Book: Fantagraphics - Mature Readers label,
which means there's some cussing and a few crudely drawn breasts or
genitalia.  It's almost archetypical pretentious indy humor comics, and to be
fair, some of it is actually funny.  But none of it inspires me to seek out
the works of the included creators.
     Impact University FCBD volume 2: Impact - Excerpts from various upcoming
how-to-draw books from Impact, plus a few pages from Peter David's how-to-
write book.  Basically, a trick or two from each book, enough to give you a
feel for how they proceed.  Most of them look to have what I've found to be
the typical how-to-draw pacing...too fast to help a novice ("and then a
miracle occurs" sort of transitions) and not enough detail to help someone
who's ready for advanced stuff.  A few tricks here and there that could be
added to one's skills, but not really a good value.  PAD's book, on the other
hand, is likely to be dense-packed enough to really be useful, although the
layout is distracting and annoying.
     Owly "Breakin' the Ice": Top Shelf - I should note that the Owlie strip
in Comic Genesis 2006 changes its name at the end of the strip, and makes at
least one joke about being confused with Owly (something I did myself last
year).  :)  This is a cute little story about Owly and his friends trying to
make the acquaintance of a group of migrating geese.  The only words are
sound effects, as everyone thinks and speaks in pictograms.  While there's
some amusing moments, I found it overall to be just too damn precious, and
I speak here as someone who checks cuteoverload.com daily.  While there's a
lot of stuff out there aimed at kids that adults can appreciate as well, I
think this one is purely kid-level.
     Future Shock: Image - Four page advance looks at eight Image comics.
Not new stories written for the special, just stuff taken from books hitting
the shelves soon.  Few of them struck me as good choices.  Fear Agent was
just sort of confusing, G0dland was nauseatingly camp (which the book may be
in general, in which case this would at least be a *representative* choice),
Invincible's is good for existing readers but doesn't even include the title
character.  Noble Causes has an okay "clip", but didn't grab me.  Savage
Dragon and Witchblade set up cliffhangers of a sort, and were decent
teasers.  I liked the joke in Shadowhawk better when Gravity did it last
year.  Spawn, oddly, was probably the best of the lot.  It solidly
established the essential conflict of the character, and his ties to at least
two other people in the book.  And that he's the good guy, no matter how
scary he looks or how demonic his origins.  
     Conan/Star Wars Flipbook: Dark Horse - Nice short Conan story written by
Tim Truman (normally known for his art) and drawn ably by Paul Lee.
Something of a shaggy dog story, but I liked it.  The Commander Cody story on
the flip side was kinda dull.  Just a storming the objective combat tale with
a tiny bit of comic relief from the droid troopers.  It doesn't make me want
to buy any Star Wars Clone Wars comics.  OTOH, if Conan writing duties end up
in Truman's hands after Mignola's run, I would certainly be willing to give
him a chance based on this book.
     Transformers Beast Wars/Infiltration Flipbook: IDW - Aggressive
flipbooking here.  The cover stories are reprinted excerpts from TF: Beast
Wars the Gathering #1 and TF: Infiltration #3.  However, each is backed up by
a short preview of upcoming titles.  BW gets backed up by a 6 page (including
ad) preview of TF: Stormbringer, with Jetfire and the Technobots returning to
a post-apocalyptic Cybertron.  This is mostly a mood-setting piece, with a
little background exposition, but not so much it feels like they're talking
for the audience.  The Infiltration side gets 4 pages of Hearts of Steel,
although the three story pages are such deep background that we don't really
see anything of the 1800s designs beyond the ad on the first page.  Hopefully
this will be the one good book Dixon can write each month.  Now, I will be
buying both Stormbringer and Hearts of Steel, because I am a Transformers
fanboy and would probably buy anything with Transformers on the cover, if
only to complain about it.  But for everyone else, I think Stormbringer looks
pretty good in both story (Furman) and art (Figueroa).  Hearts of Steel has
nice Guidi art, but the narration we get from Dixon on these three pages
doesn't fill me with confidence.
     Amelia Rules FCBD 2006: Renaissance Press - Jimmy Gownley goes all out
for these FCBD books, with an all new full length color story.  I laughed out
loud several times while reading this, and chuckled on most pages.  THIS is a
comic for both kids and adults, I just wish it came out more often (and that
Diamond didn't shaft my store on it so often).  You need to find this comic,
and also buy the regular series.  It's a funny story.

   Dave Van Domelen, "Reggie, there's *no way* I'm involving 'The Captain.'" "AW, C'MON! WHY NOT?!" "Because I don't want the night to end with two cop cars, a TV crew, and a call from the Vatican." "That was *one* time! ONE time!" - Amelia and Reggie, Amelia Rules

Comments

[aardy.livejournal.com]

Only one that I wanted to get (Liberty Girl) was
missing, and it's possible that it was never even made (if more likely that
Diamond just screwed up as usual).

My store had a stack of Liberty Girl (though I gave it a pass), so it most definitely came out and your store simply got shafted.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

DHD or GDO?

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

My SG-fu isn't strong enough to tell. Looks almost like a lightsaber hilt or something.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Probably a GDO (Garage Door Opener) then. That's the device they type their code into so Stargate Command will open the Iris for them.

Aside from just trying to sound like an annoying Stargate geek, if it had been a DHD, I would have gotten excited about the figures for that prop alone. :)

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Googled up an image of the GDO, it seems to be one of those, yeah.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Nutbunnies. I'd love to have a DHD to stand up next to my Blue Beetle and Black Canary figures, so I could play Stargate League of America.

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my local comic shop where I have a box was not participating in Free Comic Day, so I didn't even get to snag the TF book. And sadly, the one comic shop close enough to be convenient is run by a guy who is thoroughly convinced that everyone who sets foot in his shop is there for the sole purpose of stealing as much stuff as they can, and has employees hover over everyone accordingly. Also, he's a real dick. Even the pull of free comics (and possibly action figures) isn't enough to get me to set foot in there willingly.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Well, in a few days I imagine the "free comics" will show up on the 'Net, and you can hardly steal something that was given away free, can you?