“Yesterday’s” Comic> Dark Horse’s FCBD 2014 All-Ages Sampler

I’m sorry but that’s a terrible dance routine.

Free Comic Book Day 2014 All-Ages

Dark Horse (May, 2014)

You may have caught my tweeted reviews during Free Comic Book Day but this is another comic I have to go through and it starts with Avatar: The Last Airbender, or rather Sokka and Suki are in a shell shop when they see the manager harassing a female customer because girls aren’t real collectors. Yes, most of this story is an analog for the “fake geek girl” argument and how stupid it is. Suki confronts them about their attitude but when they get on her case they soon learn not to mess with a Kyoshi warrior, who also offers to train the girl and her friends.

The story takes place after the TV series, in the current comics where the four kingdoms are trying to get along. I love the little things, like Sokka offering to help just to be nice because he knows the firebender owner and his big flunky are no match for his girlfriend. I also like the swipe at “fake geek girl”, with seashells standing in for comics. (Hey, the shells are even flammable. Oops.) The only complaint I have is the art. Don’t misunderstand. Hicks’ art is great for her style and I like it, but the regular comics’ art looks just like the show and it’s a shame to not see that in the sampler. This is my favorite story of the trio.

The Hellboy story…well, look whose on it. It’s Hellboy as only Baltazar and Franco can do him. Hellboy goes over to talk to some ghost named Rasputin. (I don’t follow the comics but I did a quick search and he’s Hellboy’s nemesis.) Hellboy isn’t convinced he’s a ghost until he makes him rattle some chains, wear a sheet, and then he locks the ghost in a coffin. Maybe it means more when you follow the comics?

The last story is from a comic I’ve not heard of. Juice Squeezers follow the adventures of a group of kids in a city surrounded by giant insects. And yet one kid keeps an ant farm that the local bully pours down his pants. To get revenge the cast find a giant ant to steal her pheromones so the bully will be chased around by normal ants. I don’t get this series but the art was good and the story was well told so maybe it will find an audience if it hasn’t already.

I’m really keeping this one for the Sokka and Suki tale but the other two were still good. Obviously you may not find these since this was a Free Comic Book Day offering. I reviewed this and tomorrow’s FCBD offerings more for completeness and I am trying to lighten my comic load.