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The Adventures of Jellaby As always, a treat. Good for kids! Atomic Robo Action geology! Atomic Robo, as always, delivers for Free Comic Book Day. Avatar A Lady Kyoshi story! Itty Bitty Hellboy! AWESOME. Gossamyr/Past the Last Mountain Lovely art, intriguing stories. Help the CBLF Defend Comics The first half is a brilliant history of Dr. Frederick Wertham, the Comics Code Authority, and censorship of American comics in mid-century USA. More than enough to make up for some of the shorter stories being a bit on the nose. Hip Hop Family Tree I'm a sucker for non-fiction in comics. What I don't know about Hip Hop could fill several books. Hip Hop Family Tree, from which this is an excerpt, is undoubtedly one of them. Kaboom! Summer Blast This could have been nothing but the Adventure Time and Steven Universe comics and I woulda been happy, but the rest were also quite enjoyable! Manga Classics Les Miserables/Pride & Prejudice A real treat for fans of either original work. Showa: A History of Japan Definitely a series I wouldn't mind reading more of. Spongebob Freestyle Funnies OMG Maris Wicks science comic! Good for kids! But I expect you had already guessed that. Top Shelf Kids Club Yes, good, more please, especially the Coraline-like Maddy Kettle. Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck Duck comics from Carl Barks, or just in his style, you can't go wrong. Good for kids! All You Need is Kill/Terra Formers All You Need is Kill: Based on the novel that Tom Cruise movie is based on. Nice to see a female character highlighted. Terra Formers: Absolutely not enough context for me to understand or care about the larger manga this is excerpted from. Archie Digest What it says on the tin. Bongo No Futurama comic? I am disappoint. Buck Rogers Buck Rogers strips from various eras. Far from Wonder Ben Templesmith's art is always a treat, but I don't find the story here particularly compelling, and the chosen issue's treatment of female characters shades towards the trite. Hello Kitty and Friends I had no idea Hello Kitty was so cute. Also, bonus Catbug art! Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel's smart, working to make sure everybody knows about their new weird movie. Hard to say how well folks unacquainted with comics will take the Thanos and Spider-Man previews, however. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers NOSTALGIA Project Black Sky Interesting set up and story. The art is a little too referenced for my taste, but interesting. Raising a Reader Helpful info on using graphic novels in children's education. Rise of the Magi Forgettable, but inoffensive. Rocket Raccoon Good for kids, and also amusing for adults. Scratch 9/Run & Amuk Scratch 9: Typical kids stuff, but it does have President Obama punching the head of his evil robot double. Skyward/Midnight Tiger Typical fantasy story, cute African-American superhero origin. The Smurfs First half is classic Smurf comics, but my advice is flip to the middle for the Ariol story and some neat dinosaur facts! Street Fighter Pretty decent. I can see it being a real treat for fans of the game, as well. The Tick Cute. /shrug The Zoohunters/Damsels in Excess The Zoohunters: A feast for the alien-opera loving eyes in the style of Saga that could turn out to have a neat little story within it as well. Damsels in Excess: T&A masquerading as female empowerment with a misandrist villain to boot. 2000 AD Probably nice for Dredd fans, and with a neat story here and there, but I found most of them mostly mindless. Armor Hunters/Rai I knew as much at the end of the comic as I did from reading the title. Bleeding Cool Bleeding Cool's Free Comic Book Day is more of a magazine than a comic. Entropy Difficult to read in its graphics, its lettering, and ultimately, its content. Epic I was with this until the teen superhero's secret weakness turned out to literally be the presence of cute girls. Gag me with a spoon. Fubar I know there's an audience out there for very serious and gory Iraq/Afghanistan war stories where the Taliban has developed a bioweapon that turns people into zombies, but it is not me. Grimm Fairy Tales Generic nice fantasy people fight generic bad fantasy people. The Intrinsic Cute, and I love the multicultural cast, but ultimately doesn't make me interested in reading more. Magic Wind Poorly translated old west nostalgia that does nothing to subvert the racist overtones of the genre. Megaman/Sonic the Hedgehog I found this one pretty forgettable, but maybe it's not so much for fans? Overstreet's Comic Book Marketplace For those who aren't familiar with the comics world's most famous guide to the after market value of issues, this is not a comic, but a magazine. Giant-Size 4-Comic Bundle Pandora's Blogs/Duel Identity: When they say leave your readers with questions, they mean to making them interested in knowing more, not to confuse them. Magika/The First Daughter: Good for kids/tweens. Tesla: Unamused by the portrayal of Marie Curie as a jealous woman. Also, Mark Twain's friends didn't call him "Mark." Wayward Sons: Forgettable. Shadow Children/Darchon: Could turn out to have some interesting stuff in it./Laughably self-serious. Scam: Crosswords Scarred-up hit man has grim outlook on life that someone thought would make him cool instead of generic. Sherwood Texas/Boondock Saints Sherwood Texas: Forgettable. Boondock Saints: Forgettable with shades of racism. Steam Wars Cute concept, but the transformation of Princess Leia — I mean, Duchess Imoen — into someone who accepts Han Solo's — I mean, Hansel Lowe's — authority immediately, hesitates to take a gun from him when offered, and shouts "eek!" when coming under fire ultimately turned me off completely. Uber Interesting enough as a sci-fi concept, but I can't help but be disappointed that it's not a comic. Valiant Universe Valiant Universe gives various profiles of its characters and titles, but in prose. Come on guys, it's called free comic book day. Zombie Tramp For mature readers! Surely I hold within my hands a book of thought and nuance! Let me count: sexualized violence against women, rape as a backstory, sexual assault. Also, what kind of mature readers situation are we in where curse words are blanked, but we can draw a monkey's cock and balls?

Free Comic Book Day is a wonderful holiday when comics companies create special issues to be handed out to readers entirely free of charge. The idea is to bring more folks into comic shops, and to put a best foot forward to introduce readers to new titles they might not be reading. Diamond Distributors kindly shipped us fifty one of the issues which will be available this Saturday at participating stores, and we’re here to let you know which FCBD comics will make you salivate for more, and which can be safely shoved in the back of the longbox.

This gallery does not include the Free Comic Book Day titles from DC Comics, IDW Publishing, Oni Press, Scholastic, and Archaia, who once again are offering a lovely FCBD hardcover. And remember, if you do attend this year’s Free Comic Book Day, make sure to buy something from your local shop. The comics are free to you, but not to them, so pay them back for all the wonderful work they do to by buying a trade. This year, I’m personally recommending the first volume of Rat Queens (and not just because they put a quote from The Mary Sue on the back).

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