The video is a few months old but the list hasn’t changed much. Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, where various publishers create either an original story or just cheap out and make an excerpt of something they’re promoting, and force the comic stores to pay for them anyway so you get free comics. (So please buy something while you’re there.) You can see the full catalog over at their website. (Note that this link will only link to 2023’s offerings until they replace it with 2024’s.)
Going over the full list there’s actually nothing in the Gold Comics list that interests me this year. I’m not into horror, I’m disappointed with the current status of Star Trek and the DC & Marvel universes (though if there are any issues left I might at least look at them to see if it’s at least worth a review), and the Conan/Red Sonja universe was never one of my interests. On the other hand there are a few in the Silver Comics list that sounds interesting. Sadly they don’t have a lot of previews this year so I’m going on concept for a lot of it. Still, if I can get out this year (and that depends on whether or not I get a good night’s sleep, which hasn’t happened much this week) there are a few that I might want to check out. Here’s my list, and I’m curious what yours is.
- 2000 AD presents The Best Comic Ever: This is the comic that gave us Judge Dredd, so seeing what an all-ages version of this anthology looks like intrigues me. Usually it’s kids stuff being turned into adult stuff. Please tell me there’s a kiddie Judge Dredd where he just shoots nets or pies or something at the baddies. Even if it’s a like, tell me anyways because I totally want all-ages Judge Dredd just on general principle. It will be a bit of payback against the “adults” who like to co-opt kids stories so they feel better about watching or reading it.
- Animal Castle: This is one I want to look at first because I’m curious if this is talking animals standing upright or fully anthro humanoids. It’s going to be a preview for volume 2 with a flashback to volume 1. Might be interesting.
- Crimebuster: Take out the aliens and missing mom and it sounds like one of the comics I was coming up with in the 1990s. That alone makes me curious. This one actually has a preview and it looks like it might be good.
- I Am Stan Lee: A preview for a graphic novel about Stanley Liber and his rise to comic hierarchy. I don’t know if the full one will also go over how everyone close to him basically screwed him over and manipulated him in his last days but I don’t expect that to be in the preview. Sadly the preview pages are not working on the site as of this writing.
- Kotto Kotorra: Taking a cue from Woody Woodpecker or The Three Caballeros, I can’t tell which right now, it’s the cartoony adventures of a parrot in Puerto Rico. It looks like a fun comic in the style of classic cartoons.
- Mech Cadets: Giant robots. I’m in.
- Smurfs: It’s more reprints of Peyo’s comic, the one that inspired the Hanna-Barbera cartoon I grew up with and the Nickelodeon one today’s kids are getting, which is still better than the live-action movies. I’m curious to see this one.
- Street Fighter 6: Udon Studios and Street Fighter have been a winning match for me and if I had an income I’d buy the regular comics. Hoping the trend continues with this one.
Being me, some may be surprised by some of the absences. The Marvel offerings including a story with Venom and a “diversity” comic which I’m probably not allowed to read because I’m white but will be called racist for not reading just the same. DC has some Pride comic, and the same thing there as I’m straight. Plus I’m betting it will be about their sexual orientation and not kicking supervillain butt and just happening to be gay or some other skin color than caucasian. That’s the way it always seems to go with diversity comics, but I’ll ramble about that later in the week if I can get enough sleep to do it right. I usually enjoy IDW’s Ninja Turtles stories but this year it’s something set in the original cartoon (possibly tied to the recent “Cowabunga Collection” game collection or the more recent game Shredder’s Revenge according to the previews plus the usual “die in the game, die for real” trope) and the Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which didn’t impress me when I watched it.
I was actually surprised that Dark Horse is making Star Wars comics again, but it’s set in the joke that is the High Republic and I’m not enough of an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan to add to my clutter when I’m trying to cut down my oversized collection. The Star Trek one is some original thing I’ve never heard of and Lower Decks, which despite surprising praise from SF Debris I’m just not that into. All that said I will, if I get to go, check out the other offerings to see if I might be interested. And remember BUY SOMETHING WHILE YOU’RE THERE!!!!!!! I can’t stress this enough. Comic stores LOSE money on these because they still have to buy the comics since the publishers aren’t giving out free advertising. They want to draw potential readers to the comic store and that’s why they’re going along with this but please…buy a comic, buy some merchandise, get a set of boarders and bags, SOMETHING to make this profitable for the stores. As stores keep closing they could use the help to stay open.
Beyond that, have a happy, safe, and fun Free Comic Book Day. I’ll do the live-tweet reviews and a follow-up article once I’m done in place of Saturday Night Showcase. Unless I’m not able to go; then I’ll just have the usual Showcase. Enjoy May 6th!
BW Media Spotlight 