Comic relief

From superheroes to horror to kid stuff, our guide to Free Comic Book Day offers graphic fun for all.

By Douglas Wolk

Read more: Books, Douglas Wolk, Comics, graphic novels, Books Features

May 2, 2008 | This Saturday, May 3, is the seventh Free Comic Book Day -- an annual tradition in which comic book stores around the country give away free stuff, host creator signings, put things on sale, and generally encourage merrymaking. (To find a store near you that's participating in FCBD, see this site.) As usual, both major and independent comics publishers are publishing special issues that will be given away in stores -- 41 different titles in all, although not all participating stores carry all of them, and most stores have a limit of a few freebies per customer.

This is a big week for American comics in general -- it's no accident that Free Comic Book Day falls on the day after the "Iron Man" movie's opening, and superhero buffs may also want to snag a copy of "DC Universe Zero," a 50-cent special that came out this Wednesday. For that matter, a few independent publishers have arranged to distribute giveaways this weekend outside of the FCBD system: Keep an eye out for "Diamond Comics" and "Nerd Burglar."

The official 2008 slate of free comics includes almost no mature-readers-only titles, and a wide selection of kid-friendly titles -- although, as usual, some are much better than others. Here's a quick overview of most of the giveaways you may find at your local store, sorted by category.

Long-Underwear Types

"All-Star Superman" (DC)

A reprint of the first issue of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's splendid reinterpretation of Superman. It's so finely tuned and compressed that it sums up his origin in eight words, Quitely's artwork is exquisitely airy and worth lingering over for its subtle details, and the whole thing's brimming over with crazy ideas and joyful energy. A

"Atomic Robo" (Red 5)

A pretty clever idea -- a shirt-and-tie-clad robot in the Cold War era, dealing with the threat of Communist nuclear science -- it's decently if a bit awkwardly executed, with appealing design and color work. The "Neozoic" backup, about two adventurers' fight with a dragon, is just as pretty but more clichéd. B+

"The Death-Defying 'Devil" (Dynamite)

Yet another "dark, modern" revival of a character from the '40s. The mute hero of this one was once known as Daredevil, but has no relation to the character currently bearing the trademark. Not only is it a (tediously familiar) setup for an actual story to be published elsewhere (in "Project Superpowers"), we only get 10 pages of story amid all the ads. C-

"Love and Capes" (Maerkle Press)

A neat little romantic comedy in superhero drag: The Crusader wants to find exactly the right moment to propose to his girlfriend, but family issues, holidays and occasional spates of crime fighting are getting in the way. It's an airy, self-contained coda to the recent miniseries, and artist Thomas F. Zahler makes visual ideas from contemporary animation work on the page. A-

"Marvel Adventures Iron Man & Hulk & Spider-Man" (Marvel)

This old-fashioned action-adventure story (part of Marvel's line aimed at younger readers) teams up three of the superhero world's big movie stars, and also features Machu Picchu, gigantic talking ants and magic rings. It's funny, energetic and mercifully self-contained -- smart 11-year-olds will treasure this. A-

"The Moth" (Rude Dude Productions)

Steve Rude is a first-rate superhero cartoonist -- his stuff is kinetic, elegant, witty and smooth. That's still no excuse for throwing together a bunch of unrelated pages from his 4-year-old miniseries about a circus-based mystery man, adding a little narration, and calling it a "collector's edition." C

"X-Men" (Marvel)

Give them credit for offering a complete, otherwise unavailable story of the mutant superheroes (and a spunky Welsh teenage girl who joins the team), drawn by star artist Greg Land, whose photo-inspired style works well here. Mike Carey's story is X-Men-by-numbers, but it's a decent introduction to the long-running series. B

Horror Business

"Broken Trinity Prelude" (Top Cow)

Stjepan Sejic's artwork often looks like a cross between movie CGI and heavy-metal soft porn, but he's got some mighty impressive design chops. If this teaser for a Witchblade/Darkness/Angelus crossover had an even vaguely coherent or interesting story, it could be promising. Sadly, it doesn't. C+

"EC Sampler" (Gemstone)

Curious readers of David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague" may want to see the early-'50s stories from EC Comics that caused all the ruckus. The four short stories reprinted here are peculiar choices, though -- Harvey Kurtzman and Alex Toth's "Dying City," a brutal tale of the Korean War, is still powerful, but the others are marred by corny twist endings. B

"Hellboy" (Dark Horse)

Three short, complete tales set in Mike Mignola's chiaroscuro-laden, Lovecraftian horror-adventure mythos. They all get over on mood and mystery more than plot, but they're treats for fans of the series (or the movie), and "Out of Reach," a police procedural that ties in with Mignola's "B.P.R.D." project, is actually chilling. A-

"Salem: Queen of Thorns" (Boom! Studios)

A preview of screenwriter Chris Morgan's new series about a demon hunter in 17th-century Salem, where the infamous witch trials are complicated by the actual presence of the supernatural. It loses points for obviousness -- think the guy who says "secure the rabble and discipline these cowards" might be a villain? -- and for cutting off just as things get going. C+

Didn't This Used to Be a Book/TV Show?

"Bongo Comics Free-For-All! 2008" (Bongo Comics)

A trio of Simpsons stories -- the superhero parody is slightly less funny than a not-so-good episode of the series, the manga parody is borderline offensive (what, they can't do better than kamikaze and bad-translation jokes?) and the one about Bart refusing to bathe ... well, the less said the better. C

"Graphic Classics" (Eureka)

Some of these five adaptations of supernatural literature are appropriately weird and distinctive-looking, especially Milton Knight's frenetic take on Lord Dunsany's "A Narrow Escape" and Simon Gane's blobby, wildly distorted version of Conan Doyle's "John Barrington Cowles." But impressionable youth might come away from this thinking that Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley are boring. B-

"Maximum Ride" (Yen Press)

The first installment of a series based on James Patterson's fantasy novels about a family of part-human, part-bird hybrids. NaRae Lee's artwork is a decent evocation of generic manga, and fans of the books won't be too disappointed, but this excerpt doesn't even manage to communicate the premise of Patterson's story clearly. C+

"Transformers Animated" (IDW)

Constructed from stills from the first episode of the Cartoon Network show, this one-shot features the shape-changing robots battling giant bugs. These drawings were made for the small screen, not for the page; it's a jumpy mess in print, and this is ultimately a comic book based on a TV show based on a movie based on another TV show based on a line of toys. C

Next page: Say hello to artsy "Ignatz," eye-gouging manga and cavemen riding Segways!