Sneaking up on us this year.
Free Comic Book Day takes place the first Saturday of May, which this year happens to be May 2nd. That means there isn’t much May to prepare. And it’s not the only free comic event this year, but we’ll save that discussion for tomorrow (barring incidents).
For those of you somehow new to the event, Free Comic Book Day was started by Diamond Publishers, allegedly as a way to help promote comic stores…who have to buy the comics the customers are getting for free in hopes they’ll actually buy something when they’re there and be interested enough in coming back. Of course Diamond probably got money out of it, given all their other questionable business practices that eventually led to their going out of business. Fortunately for fans of the event and free comic books, Universal Distribution Network picked up the event and we still have our favorite gathering of comic fans. Some stores even have special guests from the industry and local creators looking to get some more exposure. The ones near me that I go to will have them. I will not be trying to get interviews because I’m still trying to work videos into my workflow and I may have to start looking for work if I can’t monetize this site at all. Somehow the government thinks I’m able bodied. Shows what they know.
As the previous owners did they have a list of what comics are coming out this year. Unlike the previous owners there are no previews of the…previews. So when it comes to stuff I don’t know I’m going by description as to what looks good to me, or being based in something I already know and are willing to test given how the stuff I used to know tend more and more to be nothing like the stuff I used to love. Still, they have 24 comics to offer. I don’t care about the horror or most of the fantasy offerings, but there are a few things in the list I’m curious about.
The Greatest American Hero (AMP Comics)
I loved this show as a kid. While not the first attempt to bring the show to comics, this one is promising an ending to the series, preferably one that doesn’t include a hippie named Holly. (Look up The Greatest American Heroine if you have the guts. I think they went too far in pitting her against Bill Maxwell.) Does Ralph Hinkley sacrifice himself or just the suit? Will the comedy still be there with the action and will it be modern cringe comedy? This preview will hopefully give us a good taste of what’s coming. They’re also bringing back his son, which disappeared from the story after the pilot. Hopefully that will be worth it.
World Of Archie (Archie Comics)
The cover promises the classic Archie style instead of that “realistic” Riverdale wanna-be as well as Betty and Veronica’s adventures and Sabrina. The description also mentions Josie & The Pussycats, which people might not realize is from the Archie universe as well as Sabrina. It also promises a look at the expanded Archieverse, whatever that means. Curious how they fit all of that in a Free Comic Book Day offering. There’s no color tier like when Diamond ran the show, which I’m okay with for the comic stores sake. (I think they paid more for the higher tier while we still paid nothing. How does that benefit comic stores again?) Hope it connects kids to America’s (formerly) favorite teenager…and doesn’t have him hooking up with Ms. Grundy. Especially if it’s classic Grundy. Yuck!
DC X Sonic #1 Special Edition (DC/Sega)
Personally, I wish Tails had been merged with Superman for the toyline so I could have my two favorite characters of this crossover combined. Plus it would be a nice nod to Captain Super Fox Man the mutant cyborg! Instead he just gets regular Cyborg, which I guess makes sense since they were smart enough to combine Sonic with the Flash and let Knuckles take Superman despite popularity. Fitting characters by similarity makes more narrative sense. (Shadow and Batman, for example.) But enough about the toys. Odds are they won’t factor into the story and it will be interesting to see how this started. Wouldn’t mind getting the full series someday.
It’s also the only DC offering I’ll be getting. A manatee with Aquaman powers wanting to be his Krypto doesn’t interest me, and the “Next Level” sampler has two characters I don’t care about and one I only want to see as a villain (Deathstroke). Lobo I understand because of his appearance in Totally Not James Gunn’s Supergirl, but Batwoman and Slade? Doesn’t seem like the best choice. Use Supergirl and Krypto since they’re in the movie that’s coming up, or even Clayface since that’s supposedly the next DC movie…for some reason. I wouldn’t expose kids to Creature Commandos or Peacemaker at the moment. Especially Gunn’s versions. That’s almost as bad as Archie and Ms. Grundy. The horror comic should be a Vertigo title, not a DC one.
The image is broken on the site so I went with the cover of the original version.
Stitch (Dynamite)
This is a tentative one. Dynamite has been ruining my childhood favorites at least since Voltron. My friend showed me his first two issues of Thundarr The Barbarian and I was out the moment I saw one of my Saturday morning heroes holding a severed head. Not liking what I see of other characters they’ve done, either. I don’t need the grimdark “adult” remake of my childhood, thank you very much! So I don’t trust them with Lilo & Stitch when I can’t even trust Disney with them anymore. If they keep the ORIGINAL AND SUPERIOR ANIMATED movie and TV version of the story, having Joomba trying to stay in the evil scientist club while dealing with Stitch (no Lilo, sadly) could be fun.
Energon Universe FCBD 2026 Special (Skybound)
Speaking of shoving my childhood into the wood chipper, we have Energon Universe. Kill my favorite Autobot in the first issue just to show how adult you are, mass murder of flesh creatures, and you can send me packing easily. Doing MASK again doesn’t help since we have black kid instead of adult father Matt Trakker again. If I decide to get this, and this is another “maybe”, it’s to review it and remind you why I’d stay away from this incarnation even if I had money. Even then I’m considering just looking for a digital version and not build on my clutter.
No, I don’t care how “good” it is. It’s not what I want to see. I don’t give up my tastes because they can tell a story. I’m also still iffy on the two Keenspot webcomic promos for the same reason. I’m trying to reduce my clutter.
Flash Gordon #1 (Mad Cave Studios)
I’ve been curious how Mad Cave’s translation of King Features characters works…although they gave Defenders Of The Earth to Dan “Grimdark All The Things” DiDio so you’ll understand my intrepidation. It’s another first issue reissued for Free Comic Book Day, which is cool to me but we’ll see. I’m not going to hold DiDio against Jeremy Adams, but starting with Flash in prison after seeing the Defenders accused of destroying Mongo in that continuity (assuming they are different ones) isn’t helping their case.
Megaman Mega Showdown, Street Fighter Forever, and Journey To The West (UDON Studios)
I love UDON’s take on Street Fighter and I’ve been curious to see how they handle Megaman because of it. A Protoman/Bass fight sounds really cool. Based on those wins, seeing their take on the Monkey King that inspired Goku and a number of other characters already has my interest. Plus their art is always amazing so I have to get in on that action if I can.
That’s all from the current list that I really want to check out. Hopefully I can get out Saturday, hit the comic shops, get some free comics and buy something out of gratitude (not that I can afford much, but I’ll try to at least get one comic), have a good time, and bring them back home to do my annual #BW_FCBD live tweet review threads on X-Twitter. Even considered doing a post-review live-stream just to test the software. We’ll see how that goes down, but you’re getting the Twitter reviews.
Meanwhile, there’s one more free comic event happening the same time. Come back tomorrow because this is a double holiday for comic lovers.
BW Media Spotlight 