He did not, in fact, have this. Funeral arrangements are being made.
Will Lill Comics Free Comic Book Day
Will Lill Comics (May, 2025)
COVER ART: Steven A. Wilcox
BACK COVER ART: Ron Stewart
COVER COLORIST: Montgomery
Four comics sampled from the rather small Will Lill library. Or at least small at Drive Thru Comics, which the comic itself keeps pointing to in order to get the comics. A recent updated version also points to their website, which from the ad seems to be using Ko-Fi to get them. I didn’t know you could use that service for that. I thought it was a sort of donation thing, like Patreon without the monthly subscription and perks.
I wonder if I should look into that?
At any rate, let’s get to the comics.
Stella Raj
WRITER/COLORIST/LETTERER: William Montgomery | PENCILER: Ben Ferrari | INKER: Kurt Belcher
So we aren’t going to get full stories in this one, are we? We learn that Stella is part of a bounty hunter group called Galaxians, that Stella doesn’t know what a vacation is, that her boss is half human (someone didn’t want to draw pupils or irises I think–I get them confused), and that she can change her clothes with superpowers. She’s off to track down a recurring escapee called J’Nem escaped again, and that’s it. So we don’t really get to see her do anything cool, and somehow I’m supposed to be convinced to check out the comic she’s from, Tales Of WLC. I like the character design while her white-eyed half-human boss kind of creeps me out.
Oddity: “Second Chances”
WRITER/CREATOR: William Montgomery | COLOR ASSIST: Shayne Cui
From outer space to Illinois in 1955. A criminal shoots a guy he’s sure snitched on him about some operation. Then a lot of smoke, a white haired woman calling herself Oddity coming to punish him for all his murdering, he shoots her, go to that same comic to see anything cool beyond that. They’re really not taking the time to show off anything beyond the first two pages. It would have been better to choose a scene that shows off what these characters can do.
Lightning Marval: “(Not Just) Turkie Deep!”
WRITER/ARTIST: William Montgomery | EDITOR: Lloyd Smith
This one is going more for humor. Jive Turkie uses gadgets and constantly playing disco music (which this comic apparently hates–boooooooo) to fight the hero, grows giant sized, go to that same comic or his own mini-comic. At least we get to see the hero who spelled his name odd fly and shows to be really strong. Again, we really aren’t learning anything about these heroes except they exist.
“Tag Team”
STORY/ART: William Montgomery | SCRIPT: John Michael Helmer | EDITOR: Michael Waggoner
A crossover between Will Lill’s Firefox and our old acquaintance Beetle Girl from Lucky Comics. Beetle Girl drops in on some crooks who don’t realize that their robot is only interested in allegedly bringing Firefox to justice. You’ll have to read Beetle Girl #34 A(?) to read more. Somehow this this something surprising. While STILL not a complete adventure it not only made Beetle Girl look more competent than any of the Lucky Comics Free Comic Book Day books I’ve reviewed, we get to see them use their abilities or gear to take on the robot and the bad guys. Considering what’s gone on previously that’s a bonus.
overall
They might have been better off picking better scenes in the first three stories, or doing a set of bios or something that gave us enough of a look at these characters to see if we want to read more of their adventures. Only the final story comes close, plus boosting the rep of another publisher’s heroes who hasn’t looked so good in other previews, but I still prefer self contained stories to get me interested in the full run.
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