Review Date: Friday, May 16, 2014
Here in Bongo Congo
As all good Bongo Congo subjects know, Saturday, May 3
was National Free Comic Book Day! And in honor of our
Kingdom's favorite annual holiday, Good King Leonardo
has issued his annual decree that we review four of
the many wonderful free comics that were available
that day, both nation-wide and at our favorite local
pop culture emporium, That's Entertainment! So let's
get right to it and see how these freebies faired in
quality and whether or not all good readers should
check-out the comic titles that each is promoting: |
Skyward and Midnight Tiger
Publisher: Action Lab Comics
Various Writers & Artists
Action Lab Comics issued a double feature comic
book on Free Comic Book Day that co-starred two of that publisher's titles,
Skyward and Midnight Tiger. Skyward is a young reader-oriented
Viking-style action-adventure series and led the issue. The series is
scripted and drawn by Jeremy Dale, with colors by James Rochelle. The
second story featured teenaged superhero Midnight Tiger and is written by
Dewayne Feenstra with art by series creator Ray-Anthony Height and colors by
Paul Little.
As mentioned above, Skyward is an action-adventure
series set in an historical world populated by pre-technological tribes similar
in nature to the Vikings. This issue's very brief, eight-page story is entitled
"Past Sins" and serves more as a quick orientation to the Skyward
storyverse rather than as a stand-alone story. The main characters
are a teenaged girl Effie and her teenaged brother Aric, who stand vigil over
their mortally wounded father Hargan, their tribe's Chietain.
Very quickly, Hargan reveals the backstory of their world to the kids: how the
four existing warring tribes used to be one big, peaceful tribe, until they
were attacked and decimated by a mysterious tribe of outsiders. When
their father passes, Aric vows to never trust any outsiders. Switch to
the final scene, in which an outsider kid named Quinn and his dog Jack, who
actually seem to be the main charcaters of this comic book title, are
about to arrive as refugees in the tribe's village.
The lengthier, twelve-page second story provides
the origin tale of teenaged superhero Midnight Tiger. We meet Gavin, an
African-American teen living with his widowed dad in Los Angeles. This is a
reality where both good and evil X-Men-style "metahumans"
exist, using their animal hybrid enhancements to battle amongst regular
humans. When Gavin innocently stumbles into such a battle and is mortally
wounded, the good guy metahuman named Lionsblood secretly gives the kid a
transfusion, thereby saving Gavin's life and empowering him with
Lionsblood's enhanced strength and acrobatic abilities. By story's end,
Gavin has designed his Midnight Tiger costume and is off-and-running to live
the Peter Parker/Spiderman-style life of an angst-ridden teenaged hero.
I wasn't previously familiar with either of
these comic book titles and enjoyed learning about both of them from this
giveaway freebie issue. The Skyward story was the weaker of the pair, for
two reasons. First, there's no real plotline; the brief introduction essentially
serves as a comic book version of an advertisement, just explaining the
structural world of this series. Secondly, the two main characters
of the title, the kid Quinn and his dog Jack, are barely featured in
this promo blurb. I also wondered about the publishing legs of
a title that doesn't seem to have any fantasy elements. While
interesting, its more of a historical fiction tale and I wonder if today's
young readers will stick with such a mainstream offering. However, in terms of
production quality the series seems like a very good version of the historical
adventure comic book genre for young readers to enjoy.
I got more of a positive kick out of reading
Midnight Tiger. A tip-of-the-review-hat is due to the creative team for
successfully avoiding the trap of following in the well-worn storyverse
footsteps of such well-known earlier teen hero titles as Spiderman.
This series is very fresh and unique in terms of structure and
characterization. The metahuman dilemma of human-animal hybrid heroes and
villains has its own unique feel to it, and the Los Angeles society that Gavin,
his father and friends live-in also has its own feel, blending our
real world with a sort of post-apocalyptic atmosphere; things seem to be just
at the start of societal unraveling, as these metahumans selfishly rage at each
other in street battles while the humans do their best to avoid getting killed
or hurt as a sideffect. There's a lot of good storytelling potential that this
series can explore with these fresh themes front-and-center in this title.
So a thumbs-up positive review recommendation
is deserved for these two new series as promoted in the Free Comic Book Day
giveaway. While both titles are worth reading, its worth noting
again that Skyward is more of a kid-oriented historical adventure tale
while Midnight Tiger offers a traditional teenaged costumed superhero
storyline.
Atomic Robo 2014 Free Comic Book Day
Issue
Publisher: Red 5 Comics
Brian Clevenger: Writer
Scott Wegener: Art
Anthony Clark: Colors
One of the most popular comics issued nationwide
every year on Free Comic Book Day is Atomic Robo. Published by Red 5 Comics,
the series stars the aforementioned atomic robot, created in the 1920's by
famed inventor Nicola Tesla, the real-life inventor rival of Thomas
Edison. Atomic Robo story settings alternate in various historic
periods between the 1920's and today, and feature Robo having very funny
action-adventures, along with a team of scientist support characters, as Robo
fulfills his corporate duties as the head of Tesladyne, his international
corporate scientific thinktank. The series is scripted by Brian Clevenger with
art by Scott Wegener and colors by Anthony Clark.
The Free Comic Day issue's story is set in
present-day Centralia, an abandoned Pennsylvania coal town, where two subplots
unfold. In the first, college student Elizabeth Foley goes exploring
through the town trying to figure-out why its abandoned, while in the second
plotthread Atomic Robo and his team are in Town for the same purpose. In
a brief flashback to 1962, we learn that a weird rockmonster event occurred
there that Atomic Robo was involved in and doesn't want to reveal to his
team. As one of the aforementioned rock monsters pops-up on the present-day
scene, both Elizabeth and Robo's team come together and without spoiling any
details here, have a humorous action-adventure and of course, save the day in
typical, semi-wacky Atomic Robo style.
This comic book succeeds on two counts: first, as a
pretty good freebie introduction for newcomers of the storyverse of Atomic
Robo and secondly, as a decent stand-alone story for loyal, regular readers of
Atomic Robo, such as myself. The regular Atomic Robo title is structured
in five-issue story arcs, and the annual freebies always nicely balance those
more detailed multi-issue story arcs with quick single stories that serve as
fun and fresh sidebars to the longer series tales. I was slightly
disappointed that the famed Dr. Dinosaur was nowhere to be found in this issue.
Robo's Free Comic Book day giveaways have become known as featuring the nutty
professor evil dinosaur foe and have become popular collectibles in and of
themselves. But even without featuring our favorite idiotic dinosaur evil
genius foe, the 2014 giveway issue is still a very entertaining tale that
readers will enjoy. And it's all for free, to boot!
As a final review note, the issue also includes two
other brief secondary tales from Red 5 Comics, one promoting a little kid's
fantasy series entitled Bodie Troll and the other introducing a new
fantasy/horror series called Haunted. Bodie Troll is geared toward
preschoolers and it quickly bored me so much that I couldn't even finish
reading it for a review comment. The Haunted title promo presents the
concept of a barrier breakdown between our reality and "the spirit
world," resulting in evil spirits and ghosts turning our world into a
Terminator-like battle for the survival of reality and mankind. The
freebie tale seemed to offer an equal balance between intriguing story elements
and abject plot illogical stupidity, so I'll take a review pass on this back-up
tale also and suggest that readers check it out on their own to
make-up their own minds about its entertainment worthiness.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Free Comic Book Day Issue
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Gene Luen Yang: Writer
Faith Erin Hicks: Art
Cris Peter: Colors
The freebie from Dark Horse Comics for this year's
Free Comic Book Day featured Avatar: The Last Airbender, a graphic
novel series based on the movie from a few years back with the same
name. The comic book is scripted by Gene Luen Yang with art by Faith Erin
Hicks and colors by Cris Peter.
I didn't see the movie that this series is
based-upon so I don't know how faithful the comic book/graphic
novel storyverse is to that film. But the comic book presents a
fantasy-based series starring Suki, a teenaged girl living in historical Japan
who is an airbender, one who has apparently been trained by the royal
Avatar to harness super-style martial arts powers. In this freebie
storyline, Suki and her boyfriend Sokka befriend Giya, a shy, insecure teenaged
girl who needs some coaxing out of her introverted shell. Without being a
detail spoiler, by means of telling a fable in flashback, our duo succeeds in
building some self-confidence in Giya, to the point that by the end of this
one-shot tale, Giya and her friends are now in self-confidence airbender
training themselves as taught by the current royal avatar, alongside Suki and
Sokka.
This is an excellent teen-oriented comic book story
that succeeds both as mainstream comic book entertainment and as a learning
tool to offer a valuable life lesson to young readers about self-worth and
personal empowerment. I recall reading reviews of the Airbender movies
that gave it lousy reviews across-the-board, which it most likely deserved
given the consistency of that trashing from all reviewers. If that's
the case, the comic book creative team deserves a lot of credit for
transforming a piece of movie trash into a decent and high quality comic book
reading concept. I'm sure that this Free Comic Book Day giveway issue is
a typical example of the regular Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel
series, and as such I can highly recommend this title as one of the better
youth-oriented new issue series out there right now, for the reasons listed
above.
Two additional Dark Horse title samples round-out
this giveaway issue, an "Itty Bitty Hellboy" short and a story from a
series entitled "Juice Squeezers." The Itty Bitty Hellboy tale is a
two-page short that succeeds in providing a cute, funny G-rated little kid
version of the well-known Hellboy character. "Juice Squeezers"
is so crappy a tale that I offer it up right now as The Worst Story Of The
Year, and its only the month of May, right now! I'm confident that it will
still hold that title come December 31, 2014. Involving teenagers, giant
mutant ants and regular-sized ants biting many of the characters in their
butts, the concept had some gross-out storytelling potential. But with a
lousy script and incredibly bad artwork, it tanks fast from any cult-level
likeability down into the cesspool of unredeemable failure.
So in sum, my thumbs-up positive review
recommendation is for all good fanboys and fangirls to enjoy the main featured
Airbender tale, get a quick laugh out of the Itty Bitty Hellboy story, and then
rip the Juice Squeezers tale out of the back of this freebie issue and throw it
away. And of course, follow-up reading this issue by checking-out the regular
Avatar: The Last Airbender series of graphic novels, all available at That's
Entertainment!
Bongo Congo Free For All!
Publisher: Bongo Comics
Various Writers & Artists
Included in the 2014 Free Comic Book Day inventory
is the annual Bongo Comics Free For All! The issue features five Simpsons
stories offering a wide variety of the many well-known and beloved characters
from the long-running Simpsons cartoon show. Various artists and writers
took turns producing the five stories.
The lead story is entitled "With Great
Power..." and features Bart and his wimpy sidekick Milhouse in an homage
to comic books. When the boys realize that accidents seem to be the
source of their favorite fictional superhero's powers, naturally they attempt a
variety of accidents themselves to try and join the superhero club.
"Agent Vs. Agent" is a two-page Itchy and Scratchy riff on the
well-known Mad Magazine feature "Spy Vs. Spy." The third tale
is entitled "Mr. Burns To The Rescue" and centers on Mr. Burns
searching through his mansion's basement for his missing lackey Smithers.
Naturally, the Burns mansion basement is chock-full of all sorts of weird and
delightful diversions and people.
Our fourth tale is a two-page quickie entitled
"Krustyburger Konfidential." Once again, Bart and Milhouse take
center stage, this time in a fantasy riff as they imagine what it would be like
if their beloved Krusty Burger fast food outlet was staffed by a bunch on
chimpanzees. The issue wraps-up with a nine-page final tale entitled
"Synchronicity For Two." When Professor Frink gives a guest
lecture at Bart's school on quantum mechanics, things naturally go awry, with
Frink and Bart sucked into another quantum dimension. And as a nice
change of pace, the final page of this freebie issue features a "Where's
Waldo" challenge starring Martin Prince as the hard-to-spot character.
I never cease to be amazed how both Bongo Comics's
Simpsons titles and Archie Comics both manage to consistently offer-up the
perfect blend of comic book story entertainment and cultural relevancy.
This 2014 Free Comic Book Day freebie is just a latest example of this
well-balanced creative achievement. While stories two through four are
well-written standard Simpsons fare, the first and fifth stories are the
lengthier, edgier tales in terms of some actual literacy in the telling.
"With Great Power..." is a heartfelt and just plain wonderful homage
to the concept of superhero storytelling origins, with a quiet life lesson in
its conclusion about the reality of everyday life versus the fantasy of comic
book stories. And where else but in a Simpsons comic book could a wacky
tale like "Synchronicity For Two" give us a kid-based
action-adventure tale balanced with an easily understandable lesson on the
fundamentals of quantum mechanics?!
So if you're already a Simpsons comic book fan,
keep on reading these well-crafted and highly entertaining tales. And if
you're a newbie, the latest Bongo Congo Free For All! is a great place to dip
your reading toe into the storyverse of all things Simpsons!
Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenge was our annual
competition for you to tell us what upcoming summer blockbuster movies you're
most looking forward to seeing. And our contest winner is (drumroll,
please...) Mike Dooley who offers-up a few choice movies for our
consideration. Mike writes that he enjoyed already viewing the first
early-release summer blockbuster of the season, Captain America: Winter
Soldier. He's also looking forward to the big special effects of the
upcoming new Godzilla movie and is anticipating hopefully enjoying Sin City 2.,
adding that "the first movie was a great one and I look forward to a
sequel." Good choices all-around, Mike! So congrats to Mike
who wins our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment!
New Contest Challenge Announcement!!!
Our latest contest is an old Saturday morning
cartoon show trivia question. Your challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com no later than Wednesday,
May 28 with the correct answer to the following question: What famed
national radio personality provided the voice of Shaggy, Scooby-Doo's sidekick
in the ever-popular Adventures Of Scooby-Doo cartoon show? Hint: this
person has been in the national news this past week for an odd reason. As
always, in the event of multiple correct entries, our contest winner will be
chosen via a roll of the dice. Please note that our $10.00 first prize
gift certificate to That's Entertainment is redeemable for regular retail
merchandise or in-store, ongoing specials, only.
That's all for now, so
have two great NHL playoff-watching (Go Broons!) and
comic book reading weeks and see you again on Friday,
May 30 Here In Bongo Congo! |
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