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Free Comic Book Day books - what did you think?
LibraryBoy
Posts: 1,803
Another FCBD is in the books. What did you get, and what did you think about them?
For my (no) money, Archaia pretty much won FCBD this year on format alone. What a gorgeously put-together book that was, right down to the "This book belongs to..." part in the front. It was like a Little Golden Book of Awesome. The stories varied for me in terms of what I liked (Rust didn't really go anywhere, I thought, and as pretty as the Cursed Pirate Girl story was to look at, I had a really hard time actually reading it; I need to go and get Cow Boy now, though, because that was really fun), but this has to be the best of the bunch, no question. I'm getting a copy in my next DCBS box, but when I saw this at the store, I couldn't wait and had to grab it then and there.
Abnett and Lanning's Hypernaturals from BOOM! was so, so good, too. If you enjoyed their Legion or Marvel Cosmic work, you'll probably dig this, too, because it's very much in the same vein. This has me so excited for the series now and would definitely be my favorite if not for the Archaia book.
The My Favorite Martian book from Hermes Press was a pleasant surprise. I like those old Dell/Gold Key TV and movie adaptations now and then, so it was fun to read this one. I don't know that I liked it enough to go buy the $50 hardcover collection, but still, this was a nice little bit of nostalgia chow.
I liked both of the stories by Zack Whedon in the Star Wars/Serenity issue from Dark Horse, but thought it was weird they were both "charming rogue has to stop people from stealing his ship" stories. I get that that was probably on purpose, but still, it did feel a lot like reading the same story twice, even if it was a good one.
The Avengers reprint from Marvel was an odd choice. I get wanting to have Avengers content out there, but I figured they'd pick something that more closely resembled the movie.
I was disappointed to see that the Superman Family Adventures preview was just the same one from the final issue of Tiny Titans. And the Green Lantern and Young Justice stories just weren't very good, I'm afraid.
Still have more to read, but that's what I've gotten to so far. Your thoughts?
For my (no) money, Archaia pretty much won FCBD this year on format alone. What a gorgeously put-together book that was, right down to the "This book belongs to..." part in the front. It was like a Little Golden Book of Awesome. The stories varied for me in terms of what I liked (Rust didn't really go anywhere, I thought, and as pretty as the Cursed Pirate Girl story was to look at, I had a really hard time actually reading it; I need to go and get Cow Boy now, though, because that was really fun), but this has to be the best of the bunch, no question. I'm getting a copy in my next DCBS box, but when I saw this at the store, I couldn't wait and had to grab it then and there.
Abnett and Lanning's Hypernaturals from BOOM! was so, so good, too. If you enjoyed their Legion or Marvel Cosmic work, you'll probably dig this, too, because it's very much in the same vein. This has me so excited for the series now and would definitely be my favorite if not for the Archaia book.
The My Favorite Martian book from Hermes Press was a pleasant surprise. I like those old Dell/Gold Key TV and movie adaptations now and then, so it was fun to read this one. I don't know that I liked it enough to go buy the $50 hardcover collection, but still, this was a nice little bit of nostalgia chow.
I liked both of the stories by Zack Whedon in the Star Wars/Serenity issue from Dark Horse, but thought it was weird they were both "charming rogue has to stop people from stealing his ship" stories. I get that that was probably on purpose, but still, it did feel a lot like reading the same story twice, even if it was a good one.
The Avengers reprint from Marvel was an odd choice. I get wanting to have Avengers content out there, but I figured they'd pick something that more closely resembled the movie.
I was disappointed to see that the Superman Family Adventures preview was just the same one from the final issue of Tiny Titans. And the Green Lantern and Young Justice stories just weren't very good, I'm afraid.
Still have more to read, but that's what I've gotten to so far. Your thoughts?
Comments
I say it every year but I wish shops or someone would offer the option to *buy* a set of the books. Most places have a few book limit and I could not care less about getting them for free or dealing with the crowds and stuff when I already have a pull list... I'm not the target audience but I want the books. Let me pay $20 or so and get them all and I'd be a happy man.
The other LCS (right across the street from the above) was not doing the free comics since they cut ties with Diamond not to long back and are just sticking with back issues were giving away grab bags with some bargain bin books got some Avengers title and a Batman one.
Didn't shop the sales at either place since the 1st one has 99cent sales at least 4x times a year and the smell was not worth it to me. Really,people need to at least take a whores bath if they're going out in public. The 2nd on has many many many long boxes of 50cent ones everyday and it was elbow to asshole in that one and I don't want to get to know anyone that closely....well maybe Kate Beckensale.
Anyone get the Overstreet one? I'd like to if the horror stories in it were reprints or new ones. The brief article I read about it did not say.
Valiant-Fun,but I would have rather had more actual comic pages.
Parked in the back lot & got let in the back door, decided to just watch until the line died down.
It was 45 minutes before the end of the line got out of the parking lot!
Fantastic turnout. Lots of kids. Fully half the books at The Tangled Web were kids' books.
Had fun listening to nearly everyone there trading Avengers highlights.
Haven't had a chance to look at all the books I eventually grabbed, but the Serenity story was worth the trip by itself.
The horror.
Dinosaurs vs Aliens has me interested and I really can't for Revival to hit.
The original plan was to take a trip all the way out to Muncie because Mark Waid had a signing at a store out there, but it didn't happen. Instead we hit our not-so-local shop in Portage.
They had a good turn out while we were there. It appeared there were a lot people new to the hobby. While we were there the staff seemed overwhelmed by the number of people asking 'where do I start with (insert title/character here)." I was even approached a few times and helped some folks find some Hulk and Green Lantern books.
Of course there were a lot of people asking for anything related to the Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, Cap and Thor. There were a couple of small press indy creators doing sketches and a branch of the 501st.
What else I found was the X-Men Keepsake Collection by Jim Lee. It's not banged up or folded or anything the corners are rounded up a little bit. I also found the X-force one by Rob Leifeld which I gave to a friend because a) it was rob leifeld and i didn't really want it and b) he's in good with the LCS owner so I wanted a witness in case I got the "that's not suppose to be in the dollar box, it must be a mistake"
It's sealed up and had a price tag of 20.00 on it so I'm not sure if I got something worth getting or just another piece of junk like all the X-men #1's from the 90's I usually find in the dollar bins
Read the Archaia book and the two stories that stand out the most are RUST and COW BOY. I'm actually thinking of picking up those trades. They're both all ages titles but not overly kiddie like. What did you guys think of those titles?
(That was the same year they had Blackest Night #0. The best FCBD ever for me!)
And don't get upset about it, we all like getting stuff for free. I picked up the DC New 52 free book even though I know full well that it isn't going to make me add or drop any DCnU titles. But they gave me a free book so I'm grabbing it. And of course, the book my inner nostalgic geek was the most excited about was Transformers 80.5 even though, again, I know full well that I'm buying that series when it comes out anyway.
I just wished I picked up the Buffy and Witchblade books because I know they were both new content, although I will be getting those in HC when they eventually come out and that is the reasons I didn't get them.
When it comes to the books, I find some way to pay my shop for them and I make sure I only have them pull 1-3 books for me and the rest I come in on Monday and if any are left I will grab the few others I wanted to read. I figure that gave everyone a fair chance and I'm not hogging anything or keeping anyone from a shot at a comic. That's just how I personally handle it. I even offered to pay for a stack of Archaia HCs so that I could have my two copies and there would be even more to give away or for my wife to hand out extras to her class. They weren't taking second orders on it though because of the demand and they were all gone. Next year I'm going to do that with the all-ages stuff, have the shop stamp them all with their info, and have her give them out at school.
I wouldn't sweat it though, that is what the day is about and trust me there are tons of people out just to snatch up as many free books as they can and then flip them on ebay. My friend combated that with the Archaia HC by keeping them behind the counter and giving them to people/kids that either asked or he thought would like it. He was able to keep from people taking a bunch of them at once that way too, which was happening at other shops.