Free Comic Book Day 2017

Gold Sponsor Comics

It’s Betty vs. Veronica! Betty and Veronica are America’s sweethearts… until they turn on each other! Pops’ Chocklit Shoppe is being taken over by a huge coffee company. When Betty and Veronica go head-to-head over the issue, all bets are off! Friendships will shatter. Cities will burn. Nails will be broken. Betty and Veronica are back in this all-new #1 from comics legend Adam Hughes (Wonder Woman, Catwoman)! [TEEN]

[Betty and Veronica. Betty or Veronica? Betty vs. Veronica?! Beautiful art (and not just beautiful B&V… even Moose and Hot Dog look great! (And for the record…#TeamSabrina, but wow…Midge!) The story is fun, breaks the fourth wall on the first page, and then the fifth wall of the editor’s screen with pages 19 and 20! Loads of fun for teens and adults!]

Get in line for the foremost Free Comic Book Day four-color giveaway of the year! When Bart injures his back and has to use a rolling backpack, he turns weakness into strength as the “Leader of the Backpack Pack.” Then, Homer and Bart pull an all-nighter and put themselves on high alert to prevent a potential home invasion. Rod and Todd Flanders get separated from Ned Flanders in downtown Springfield and find themselves on an odyssey fraught with many mostly imagined dangers. All that and much, much more, and it’s all free! [ALL-AGES]

[Has Bongo collected these issues yet? They’re always fun, even if you’re only slightly familiar with the characters. Grab it, read it, then hand it to your Simpsons-loving friend who didn’t know there were Simpsons comics!]

BOOM! Studios Summer Blast is jam-packed with three stories of mice, monsters, and one supernatural punk band. In an original Archaia short story of David Petersen’s Mouse Guard, a pair of youngfurs learn a lesson from a grizzled guardmouse on what it means to be a hunter. Next, get a sneak peek of the upcoming KaBOOM! series Brave Chef Brianna. To prove herself as a great chef, Brianna starts her own restaurant… but the only town she can afford to set up shop in is Monster City! Finally, the Lumberjanes introduce your new favorite BOOM! Box series Coady and the Creepies. Coady and her sisters are members of a band heading for the gig of their lives… so long as no one realizes that Coady is actually a ghost! [ALL AGES]

[All three stories are enjoyable. Mouse Guard tells a short tale in flashback, as is expected. Brave Chef Brianna is well told…I expect it to gain a following, especially with the recipes in each issue! Coady and the Creepies…reads okay. I’ll wait and see.]

Return to the wilds of Pandora and the world of the Nav’i from James Cameron’s groundbreaking film Avatar as Jake Sully connects with the flying Toruk, the majestic Great Leonopteryx, by remembering the depth of his bond with his twin brother and great partnerships of history and legend. Also included in this issue: Set in a secessionist community in rural America, Grace Briggs is trying to guide her family peacefully through trying times. But when confronted with armed milita running an opioid ring on her land, she must take commanding steps. Briggs Land is currently in development for television at AMC. [TEEN]

[Avatar is a nice intro…nothing new, just Jake flying around and thinking. Briggs Land…is it post-apocalyptic? A survivalist camp? Anyway, it’s from Brian Wood, so worth a second look when the trade comes out.]

Take a spin through the past, present, and future of Doctor Who universe, in the company of the twelfth Doctor and his brand-new companion, Bill! Featuring Bill’s first Titan Comics appearance, this all-new story is an unmissable experience for fans new and old, with plenty of tantalising teases from Doctors past and present, including incredible clues to the year ahead for all of Titan’s Doctor Who series! Keep your Sonic Screwdriver at the ready and unlock a world of adrenaline-fueled time traveling adventure! [ALL AGES]

[Each year, I keep expecting Titan to add another Doctor to the story… This one is told almost completely in flashback, allowing the four Doctors to all tell part of the story. Of course, it’s all timey-whimey, but it’s the journey, not the destination when it comes to Doctor Who…]

Gertrude has been stuck in Fairyland for decades when she finally hears of a secret passage that may be her way back home. But reaching it is easier said than done as she crosses the border into IMAGE where she’ll have to chop her way through you favorite characters from Saga, The Walking Dead, Savage Dragon, Spawn, Descender, Black Science, Southern Bastards, and any other character I can add to make sure the original art for this issue sends my children to college! [MATURE]

[OH MAN!  You know those “[BLANK] Destroys the [BLANK] Universe” stories? This…this is Skottie Young doing it to Image, via his cute, not-safe-for-comics character Gertrude. I started laugh-choking when I got to the middle spread… I seriously want to see the Image founders recreate that in their more realistic style! GRAB this, if you’re old enough to remember Heroes Reborn.]

Dan Harmon & Justin Roiland’s hilarious hit Adult Swim animated show Rick and Morty has its own critically-acclaimed comic book series from Oni Press! Join degenerate superscientist Rick Sanchez as he embarks on all-new insane adventures with his awkward grandson Morty, his teenage granddaughter Summer, his veterinary surgeon daughter Beth, and his hapless son-in-law Jerry. Catch up on their escapades with this special Free Comic Book Day issue, which includes the story that started it all: Part One of “The Wubba Lubba Dub Dub of Wall Street.” Plus, an exclusive first look at the upcoming miniseries Pocket Like You Stole It! [TEEN]

[The main story is kinda-sorta about time travel. The back-up story…I don’t know, since it’s an excerpt, and there’s no real clue what’s going on.]

The Marvel Universe is under siege from the greatest threat it has ever known! Everything has been leading to this as Nick Spencer and Andrea Sorrentino bring the entire Marvel Universe together for the highly-anticipated SECRET EMPIRE series! UNITED THEY STAND against a common foe, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Defenders, the Champions, the Inhumans, Spider-Man and more must hold together as an unwavering front! Yet even their combined might may not be enough to withstand the awesome power of Hydra!
Then, after his globetrotting adventures Spider-Man has returned to his friendly neighborhood as Chip Zdarsky and Paulo Siqueira present a sneak peek at PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN! A new companion series to the best-selling Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker is back in the Big Apple he’s brought the Ol’ Parker Luck with him! Don’t miss your first taste of this back-to-basics and high-flying ongoing series!  [TEEN]

[I’ve seen this sort of thing before, so all those images of the fight… it doesn’t affect me anymore. You know the heroes will eventually win, and five years later, Marvel will issue a dark depressing “What If?” special issue. As for Peter Parker… YEAH, I want to read more! THREE new characters, and lots of intrigue!  Pick up PPSS-M if you need to escape from the “Illinois Nazis” next month.]

Space… The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the I.S.S. Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to conquer strange new worlds, to enslave new life and new civilizations… to boldly go where no one has gone before! Return to the Mirror Universe with the Next Generation crew in a way you’ve never seen them before in this prequel to the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries, Mirror Broken! Captain Jean-Luc Picard will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Terran Empire’s newest starship, the Enterprise-D. And no one had better stand in his way! [ALL AGES]

[So, goatee Spock has mucked things up, the Cardassian-Klingon Alliance has bottled up the Empire into the solar system, and biker Picard is in command of the ISS Stargazer. We get a nice introduction via Lieutenant Barclay and the other character analogues.
Also included: sneak peeks at the Boldly Go anthology series, the Star Trek/Green Lantern sequel, and Waypoint, another anthology series set in the original timeline. Aside from the ST/GL pages (which isn’t bad…) everything intrigues, and I’d read more when I can! The only disappointment…no Discovery teasers!]

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards’ power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light. This FCBD special features excerpts from the manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. [TEEN]

[Nicely done, but not for me. I guess it helps if you know his backstory.]

New York Times-bestselling writer Greg Rucka and fan-favorite artist Nicola Scott weave the definitive and shocking tale of Diana’s first year as Earth’s protector. Paradise has been breached, Ares stirs, and the Amazons must answer with a champion of their own… one who is willing to sacrifice her home amongst her sisters to save a world she has never seen. Wonder Woman’s journey begins in this epic origin story! [TEEN]

[DC’s getting a little bit better. I’d rather that a kids title was the Gold selection, to guarantee wider seduction of the innocent, but at least it’s not an event tie-in. Since it’s not a Zero Issue, that means this is a Rebirth reprint. (Don’t call it a reboot!) “Year One Part One”, giving us some character development before they meet. Enjoyable, but why not a tie-in with the movie? Like a prequel to the movie…   Oh, and DC, yeah, your Essential Graphic Novels catalog is great, but I don’t think many stores have copies. Why not a link to the digital edition found online? Maybe hosted on the FCBD site?]

First: The biggest Valiant debut of all time begins with an all-new prelude to X-O Manowar from visionary storyteller Matt Kindt and blockbuster artists Tomas Giorello, Doug Braithwaite, Clayton Crain, Ryan Bodenheim, and Mico Suayan! Then, comics superstar Jeff Lemire begins the march toward Bloodshot Salvation with the first appearance of A Major New Character! Plus: Faith, Harbinger Renegade, Ninjak, Psi-Lords, Secret Weapons, Shadowman, and surprise revelations for Harbinger Wars 2! [TEEN]

[Not my cuppa, but it reads well. Secret Weapons is the most interesting of the three.]