ARCHIE DIGEST #1
Publisher: ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS(W) Various, George Gladir (A) Various, Fernando Ruiz (CA) Dan Parent, Rich KoslowskiThe world’s most famous teenagers for over seven decades are all here in this FREE digest! Packed with non-stop laughs and gaffs, we challenge you to find a FCBD offering with more pages than this! The perfect introduction to the world of Archie and his friends, this digest is filled with stories from some of the best creators in the business!
A great collection of short stories from a variety of eras! There’s an interesting “She’s Josie” section (before she formed a band) featuring a very hipster-ish Pepper.
BONGO FREE-FOR-ALL
Publisher: BONGO COMICS(W/A/CA) Matt GroeningIt’s the foremost FCBD four-color giveaway of the year! Bart and Milhouse seek superheroic origin stories by attempting to acquire “accidental” superpowers… and learn that with trying to obtain great power comes great irresponsibility! Plus: Bart and Prof. Frink become trapped in between dimensions when a science demonstration goes awry, and C. Montgomery Burns takes us on a guided tour through the bowels of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant!
Old-timers might remember the Jack Benny episode where he visits his vault… Montgomery Burns’ vault is way more interesting!
Milhouse pictures how Krustyburgers are made, and Itchy whitewashes Scratchy!
DC THE NEW 52 FUTURES END SPECIAL EDITION
Publisher: DC(W) Brian Azzarello & Various (A) Ethan Van (CA) Ryan SookJump on board DC Comics’ epic weekly series beginning with this all-new FCBD issue that features tomorrow’s Dark Knight, Batman Beyond (making his first appearance in The New 52), battling an army of cyborgs to avert an Apocalypse in the future which could destroy the DC Universe of the present! But that’s not all; there are still more surprises to come. Stay tuned for more details!
Issue #0 to this summer’s event from DC. The comic is a bit bleak, if only to set the stage for how important Terry Batman’s mission really is! Yeah, Ultron stole Brother Eye’s shtick, and this series kinda steals the plot from Terminator. But that’s comics…
DH AVATAR HELLBOY JUICE SQUEEZERS
Publisher: DARK HORSE COMICS(W) Gene Luen Yang & Various (A) Faith Erin Hicks & Various (CA) Faith Erin HicksIn Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sokka follows Suki as she gives a lesson in manners and encourages a young girl’s strength. Itty Bitty Hellboy has fun toying with nemesis Rasputin, and the Juice Squeezers crew leap into action to defend one of their own against a persistent bully. Hilarity ensues
ZING! Avatar exploits the bullying zeitgeist, and offers a solution: martial arts! Juice Squeezers was fun, but I have no idea what the series is about. David Lapham is the author, so it must be good…
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GUARDIANS OF GALAXY
Publisher: MARVEL COMICS(W) Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Slott (A) Nick Bradshaw (CA) Sara PichelliIn an all-new story by award-winning writer Brian Michael Bendis and acclaimed artist Nick Bradshaw, the Guardians of the Galaxy welcome Venom and Captain Marvel to the team for the launch of a not-to-be-missed death-defying epic! PLUS: Writer Dan Slott lays the foundation for 2014’s top secret Spider-Man event that will rock the Wall Crawler’s world forever!
A good intro to the Marvel 616 version, featuring Flash Thompson and Tony Stark.
Then there’s an appearance by Thanos, to tease “Infinity Revelation”, and Spider-Man celebrates Talk Like Shakespeare Day!
HELLO KITTY SURPRISE
Publisher: PERFECT SQUARE(W/A) VariousHello Kitty and her friends star in all-new comic book adventures, and this time they’re letting their imaginations run wild! Plus: Don’t miss the sneak peek of Perfect Square’s upcoming tribute book celebrating Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary.
Bonus feature! Perfect Square introduces exciting Bravest Warriors adventures featuring the irrepressible Catbug!
A great title for young readers, as there is very little text, but lots of story to decipher! (Have the child read the story to you!) Yes, Boom! Studios has the license for Bravest Warriors comics, but Viz/Perfect Square publishes search-and-find books!
KABOOM SUMMER BLAST
Publisher: BOOM ENTERTAINMENT(W/A) Mike Kunkel & Various (CA) VariousKaBOOM! Summer Blast is the perfect way to share timeless properties like Peanuts, Garfield, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Herobear & The Kid with new readers young and old! KaBOOM! Summer Blast also features the debut of a brand new all-ages series!
Tons of fun! Those question marks? One of them is “The Amazing World of Gumball”, the other is “Uncle Grandpa”!
There’s a modern Peanuts story, as well as some Sunday reprints. Finn and Jake visit a bog.
Nermal is the star of the Garfield story, and we get a teaser of the new Hero Bear series.
Mordecai and Rigby roll a d20, and Stephen Universe creator Rebecca Sugar pens a story involving every fanboy’s nightmare!
MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS
Publisher: PAPERCUTZIn 1993, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers burst on the scene in an explosion of colorful combat, bizarre monsters, incredible robot battles, and Megazord-sized fun, spawning a global phenomenon and an ever-expanding storytelling universe. These comics present the stories fans have been waiting over 20 years for: all-new stories featuring the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! This is a never-before-seen Power Rangers story starring the six Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and is not a reprint of any existing material.
An introduction to the six Rangers and their powers, as well as a story where the Rangers must defeat an ally gone rogue!
RISE OF THE MAGI
Publisher: IMAGE COMICS(W) Marc Silvestri (A) Sumeyye Kesgin (CA) Marc Silvestri[no summary]
So we get a teaser of the series, which doesn’t explain how the fantasy realm in the story ties in with the modern image on the cover. Eleven pages of story, the rest is sketches.
SPONGEBOB FREESTYLE FUNNIES
Publisher: UNITED PLANKTON PICTURES(W) Graham Annable & Various (A) Jacob Chabot & Various (CA) Jacob ChabotUnited Plankton’s all-new SpongeBob comic book for FCBD 2014 starts with “Relocate!”, in which we finally learn the answer to the age-old question: “What if Squidward, SpongeBob, and Patrick’s houses all became giant robot creatures and stomped around Bikini Bottom?” Also: the debut of the saltwater super-sensation, Mermaid Girl, and SpongeBob schools Patrick in the ways of comic-book making in “SpongeBob ComicSnob!” Plus: comics from James Kochalka, Sam Henderson, Nate Neal, and Andy Rementer!
Squidward moves his house (giving new meaning to the term “mobile home”) to escape his pesty neighbors.
Then we meet the mysterious “Mermaid Girl” for the first time!
And then SpongeBob teaches Patrick and readers how comics are made!
TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE
Publisher: IDW PUBLISHING(W) Tom Scioli, John Barber (A/CA) Tom Scioli[no summary]
This is pretty cool… it’s got the Bizarro/Strange Tales vibe, as Tom Scioli goes somewhat off model. This story takes place before the initial G.I. Joe cartoon/comic book series, and, well, just read the commentary at the end of the book to catch all the stuff you missed. (Seriously, there are five splash pages in a sixteen page story!)
WALT DISNEY SCROOGE DONALD DUCK GRAVITY
Publisher: FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS(W/A/CA) Don RosaIn “A Matter of Some Gravity” by fan-favorite Don Rosa, saucy sorceress Magica De Spell turns Scrooge’s life sideways – literally! – when she distorts the forces of gravity! Then, in “The Sign of the Triple Distelfink”, Lucky Gladstone Gander faces a 24-hour luck jinx – and battles to hide it from a gloating Cousin Donald! Only ever published in the USA in under-printed mid-1990’s editions, these Rosa classics are back like you’ve never seen them before!©
Fantagraphics is collecting Don Rosa’s Disney stories into ten volumes!
This issue reprints “A Matter of Some Gravity”, in which Donald and Scrooge get side-swiped by Magica De Spell! Rosa has lots of fun with this, using the layout to help tell the story! Plus an “anniversary” story for Gladstone, where we learn his secret origin!
Two variant covers?!
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While the characterization was good, Future’s End kept me confused as to whether it was more “Terminator” or DC’s “Age of Ultron.” I dunno. I’ll stick with it for a few weeks, but I have a feeling it can get very old and derivative pretty fast.
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