Free Comic Book Day Wrap-Up

Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is an exciting day in the year of a comic book fan. I know more seasoned comic fans perhaps aren’t as excited about it, given the fact that a lot of these comics tend to be glorified previews, but I just love the idea of a day that is geared towards getting new fans into comics. Here are some thoughts on the issues that I read this Free Comic Book Day:

Speed Racer #0

This was a preview of the book to come, but that’s ok – sometimes that’s a good direction to go in for FCBD. I am impressed by David Pepose’s narration ability in this book, specifically his ability to get me hyped for a series that I have no prior thoughts or feelings towards. As someone who does not watch anime or read manga, I am generally wary of these adaptations because they tend to not be my cup of tea. However, as Pepose starts to build this world by using a conversation between two police officers or detectives, I can tell that we will be getting the quality we’ve come to expect from Pepose’s work.

The tone set by Pepose and Co. is very different than what I expected going into this issue. The mood was mysterious, but exciting, with Speed Racer’s face not being fully revealed until the end. He gave us enough story to pull us in, but left enough out to keep us wondering what will happen next – perhaps leaning more on the latter than the former.

Issue #1 will be worth checking out. Even though this seems like it’ll contain different themes than Space Ghost, I can tell the quality is going to be present.

Superman’s Good Guy Gang Special

I am constantly looking for books for my kids. Call me uptight, call me a prude – but the world’s view on what is appropriate for kids and my view consistently find themselves further and further apart. Thankfully this FCBD installation by Rob Justus is great for young readers. Oddly enough, this book finds itself with the blue FCBD logo (reserved for teens and up) when I think it should be green (all ages) but it does clarify that its for ages 5+. Perhaps there may be content in the full graphic novel that deserves this designation, but that remains to be seen. This short preview of the graphic novel provides a silly take on Superman and Guy Gardner as 8-year-olds, meeting Hawkgirl for the first time.

The first thing I noticed is that this lineup is what we will see in this summer’s Superman movie, which is promising to see. I know a lot of fans of Marvel and the MCU can take issue with “synergy” but this seems harmless and a good way to connect to the younger audience. This didn’t feel like a very faithful adaptation of the characters but given that this is a book about the kid versions of these characters, I’m more than ok with that. It’s meant to be a goofy, funny take on them and it accomplishes that. My son was laughing reading this and expressed interest in the full graphic novel, coming out this July.

Energon Universe Special 2025

This was easily my most anticipated issue of this year’s FCBD issues and it did not disappoint. Being caught up on G.I. Joe was extremely helpful as the G.I. Joe portion of this special immediately follows the events of G.I. Joe #6 – and shows what we can expect in future G.I. Joe issues. Without spoiling too much, I love when we get Transformer presence in these G.I. Joe books, and I can see us getting closer and closer to G.I. Joe and Transformers crossing over. The Transformers story was focused on Jazz and didn’t really tie into the Transformers series, but was a fun story nonetheless. I thought the Void Rivals story was odd – it was essentially previewing something that will happen in issue #25; The Quintesson War. I can see that we’re leading towards something with these mysterious masked figures but issue #25 is at least 7 months away. However, given solicitations for #19 through #21, we won’t be seeing the same break that we saw earlier in the series after the first arc.

Star Wars

This was a great teaser for the various Star Wars happenings coming up. We get an issue centered around Luke following Return of the Jedi, written by Alex Segura. This was kept vague enough to make me curious as to what will happen next (Luke and a character named Rynn Zenat – sorry if she’s been around, this is the first I’ve seen her! – mention saving their friends??) so it serves as a good preview to this new era of Star Wars Comics. Segura is absolutely crushing it on Dick Tracy from Mad Cave Studios, so I anticipate that he’ll do the same with his Star Wars run. The next story focuses on the behind-the-scenes Vaneé, who has served Darth Vader on Mustafar for years. Following Return of the Jedi, he is looking for a purpose and may have found one in what is a familiar face, which you’ll see in the pages of Legacy of Vader. The final story features one character that prequel movie fans will recognize and another that readers of the Inquisitors comic series will recognize – Qui Gon Jinn and Tensu Run, respectively! This was a fun combination of these two areas of Star Wars, and while I did not like how the Inquisitors series ended, I like Tensu Run as a character and it was cool to see him interact with Qui Gon. This story leads into the pages of Jedi Knights, which isn’t a series that was previously on my radar – so mission accomplished Star Wars FCBD issue!

Spider Man/Ultimate Universe

I have not been following the Ultimate Universe, and I have been lightly following Amazing Spider-Man, so I wasn’t sure if I was the target audience for this. Well, this ended up being one of my favorite FCBD issues this year! The Amazing Spider-Man story was a bit more standalone and showcased the quippy Spider-Man that Joe Kelly has written well so far in his first couple issues of the new ASM run. Additionally, and this surprised me quite a bit, John Romita Jr. puts out some of his best art I’ve seen in years. His art is always dynamic and exciting, but usually has some uncanny faces – well this story is action packed and hardly sits still, so it plays to JRJR’s strengths. I was pleasantly surprised by this Amazing Spider-Man entry.

As for the Ultimate Universe piece, I was expecting to see nothing that piqued my interest. I was surprised again, as this story focused heavily on Miles Morales, whose book I have on my pull list currently! Miles has been through it, to say the least, and The Maker stops by and invites him to join him in the new Ultimate Universe – and this story will continue in the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion book, where Miles will visit the new Ultimate Universe. This preview introduced me to this upcoming series, and was certainly enough for me to at least trade wait it, maybe even pull the single issues.

DC All-In/Absolute Universe

DC and Marvel had the same idea – showcasing ½ main universe, ½ alternate universe. Its hard to say who did it better, but I generally enjoy DC more, so I’ll say DC. The regular universe showcase was for Dan Slott’s upcoming Superman Unlimited, which seems like its going to be Superman at his roots, which I’m excited for. As long as Slott doesn’t try to introduce the Superverse with a thousand different versions of Superman, I’m confident he’ll do well on this book.

The Absolute Universe story was written by Jeff Lemire and it was fantastic. The name of the story was “Mirror, Mirror” and starred Mirror Master. I need to get these spoilers off my chest, so if you haven’t read it yet, don’t go below the cover image:

 Absolute Mirror Master and Prime Earth Mirror Master are connected between these universes!! I was really hoping this book would show us how the universes connect and it didn’t disappoint. I got “Watcher” vibes from Mirror Master observing the Absolute Universe heroes, and was beyond hyped to see Prime Earth Mirror Master appear on the last page. We’re going to have a big summer when these universes collide! Definitely one of my top moments from this set of FCBD issues.

Overall, this Free Comic Book Day had plenty of quality to go around from several publishers – there was something for everyone! Unfortunately for my wallet, I think this FCBD has convinced me to add more books to my pull list – but that’s what’s best for the comic industry at the end of the day, isn’t it?