I happen to have four different Free Comic Book Day comics that were designed explicitly for the day, and I shall review them, from the really good, like, "Atomic Robo," and , "Captain America & Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers," to the pretty good such as, "2000 AD," and the outright weird, "Civil War Adventure". Yeah, Free Comic Book Day was May 7th and we are nearing the end of the month, but I can be slow in getting to stuff.
Atomic Robo (Free Comic Book Day Edition)
I have read some of the Atomic Robo mini-series in the past, but sort of forgotten to pick up the newer ones, and boy have I been missing a lot. This story is just plain great, with hilarious moments, action, and nice-as-always art. I was grinning the whole time I read the story and was definetely reminded why Atomic Robo is possibly Red 5 Comics (the publisher) most popular series and character--he rocks! Oh, there are also some short things promoting two other series but they didn't hold my attention too closely, but what could compare to that dynamite opening tale?
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Captain America & Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers
There was a much beloved, "Thor: The Mighty Avenger" series which has a graphic novel collecting the entire series available now (as the back of this comic advertises). I say was because the series was canceled due to not getting a lot of readers, as all-ages friendly tales that aren't in continuity just don't pull in too many dollars, I suppose. I guess you could say I'm partly at fault myself as I never read the series, but then again I dropped anything with Thor as I got a bit tired of the character before the movie so maybe I get a pass. Anyways, this comic reads as a sort of epilogue to that series, with the same creative team and everything, giving fans of Thor: The Mighty Avenger one last helping. Who knows, maybe if this comic is enjoyed enough they'll bring the series back? After all, it is a quite enjoyable comic, with a World War II Captain America and Modern-Day Thor both being transported back to Camelot where through the machinations of Loki they have to face some trouble (I don't want to spoil the fun) and fun is had by the reader in this very good comic. Plus, as the cover advertises, it's great for all ages, so you can give it your kid, unlike some of today's popular comics with the violence, swearing, cleavage and whatnot.
4 out of 5 stars.
2000 AD (Free Comic Book Day Edition)
This comic series has been coming out in the UK since 1977 and is probably best known in the US for Judge Dredd--who has a short tale in here too. Along with Dredd there are some other short comics that set up other stories, but only Dredd gets a complete short-story. Its a fun comic, and many famous comic writers and artists have worked on 2000AD so it is kind of neat to check out an issue, but I don't know if I would pick it up regularly seeing as how it is an anthology comic-magazine it can be very hit-or-miss, sort of like the comics contained in this issue. Still, pretty good stuff.
3 out of 5 stars.
Civil War Adventure (Free Comic Book Day Edition)
As I stated in my podcast, this has got to be the strangest comic I've ever received for Free Comic Book Day. It has a tale called, "Gator Bait," starring a character with the same name as Bristol Palin's (Sarah Palin's daughter) ex fiancee--Levi Johnston. Oh, and Johnston shoots gators and drinks a lot of moonshine when not driving an axe into the head of his boss before hallucinating his boss is a zombie and jumping in the river and getting eaten by gators. Seriously. There is also a short bit about a runaway slave pointing out even if he is treated well no one wants to be a slave, another story that says how it will be continued in issue #3 about a boy who has to shoot his girlfriend's father or else he'll get shot--which isn't too odd--and some pages about...amputation. Yeah, we get some very graphic pages about how amputation happened during the Civil War and at the end there is a drawing of a bunch of cut-off limbs piled-up with an excited-looking dog standing near them who I guess is pleased he has food for the next few days. I suppose this is sort of educational, but it is more weird and silly than it is a way to learn. I was entertained, so I can give this comic that, but man are those first and last segments odd.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
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