FCBD REVIEWS 0001


Courtesy of Bob Hoskins and my good friends at Stormwatch Comics in
West Berlin, New Jersey, I have all of the 2013 Free Comic Book Day
giveaways.  As a supplement to the bloggy thing, I’ll be reviewing
them one by one.

Free Comic Book Day: Star Wars and Captain Midnight is one half of
a flip-comic from Dark Horse Comics.  Flip it over and you get Free
Comic Book Day: Avatar...the Last Airbender.

“The Assassination of Darth Vader” is an eight-page story by writer
Brian Wood with artist Ryan Odagawa. Concerning political intrigue
within the Empire and an Imperial Star Destroyer, it makes good use
of familiar Star Wars characters like Vader and Boba Fett.  Which
could lead a Star Wars fan into checking out Dark Horse’s many Star
Wars titles.  That’s a good angle for a FCBD giveaway.  A publisher
wants to attract paying customers to his comics.

Digression.  The inside front cover of this FCBD issue has a brief
paragraph setting the stage for the Star Wars story.  By way of a
general comment, I find Dark Horse’s Star Wars somewhat confusing.
I would recommend to this publisher that they devote more of their
Star Wars inside front covers to giving a new reader some sense of
what he or see is getting into.  End digression.

Backing up the cover story is an eight-page Captain Midnight story
by Joshua Williamson with art by Pere Perez and Roger Robinson.  I
found the story quite readable and it gave just enough background
on the legendary hero and his current circumstances to get me into
the series.  The story continues in Captain Midnight #1, which goes
on sale in July.  Again, this is a good use of the Free Comic Book
Day event. 

Flipping the book over, “Rebound” appears to be a flashback to the
early days of a young man I assume is the hero of Avatar...the Last
Airbender.  The eight-page story by Gene Luen Yang didn’t give me
a true entry into that fictional world, though his writing and the
Ryan Hill art were of professional quality.  I don’t see this side
of the FCBD book as being more than preaching to the converted.  An
Avatar fan might see and, realizing there are Avatar comics, go in
search of them.  I don’t think it would convince a non-Avatar fan
to become interested in the series.

Keep watching for more Free Comic Book Day reviews.

© 2013 Tony Isabella