A few days later than planned, but I finally finished reading the second half of the comics I acquired from this year's Free Comic Book Day.
Now, I had planned to write for Friday. However, real life kind of put a delay in this and so, while a whole extra weekend late, I finally finished the final five comics.
And much like with the first half, my thoughts on these ones were just as varied.
1. Spider-Man/Venom #1 - A two stories in one freebie, this issue saw lead ins to stories for both Spidey and Venom, the former facing an old for and the latter facing a new one (presumably). The Spidey half didn't take for me as, while the art looked great and the story seemed interesting, the character of Spidey was just downright unlikable. I don't think this is Zeb Wells' fault, its just simply my opinion of the character.
The Venom side had more temptation though. While this character also struggles to captivate me, the reveal of a new foe, one who might be older than even Venom has me genuinely intrigued, not least due to the presentation. The art on this one is my main draw, with Cafu's style imbue a lot of Stefan Casselli from Secret Warriors in my head. There was also a preview of the the new Ultimate Universe event but, out of the three, this issue has me considering this Venom arc in some form.
2. Clark & Lex and Fann Club: Batman Squad - Another two in one issue, and this one felt very much chalk and cheese. The first story, an all-ages tale about the first meeting of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, was an intriguing opener for what will apparently be a full graphic novel. Coupled with the rather unique style of artwork which I really liked (and don't think I've seen anything like it before), this eleven (ish) page taster has me tempted to check it out.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Fann Club: Batman Squad preview. Sadly, I just didn't like this, for very little of it seemed to tickle my fancy. The main character, while no doubt written in a way to appeal to much younger readers, really grated on me as I found it a chore to get through. The artwork, meanwhile, was cutesy and very much in keeping with the tone, but again just didn't resonate with me. In the end, this freebie was once again 1 for 2 in titles I found interesting.
3. Spidey & Friends #1 - An adorable comic following the adventures of Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy in their Spider personal, this free issue is an adorable kiddy comic in the vein of itty bitty Hellboy.
There's nothing inherently wrong with this read, with three short stories charting the characters' adventures, and the art is nice enough. However, I know that this isn't meant for me and there is little included (as cute as it was) which sways me from that thinking.
4. The Umbrella Academy/The Witcher - a split issue focusing firstly on the Umbrella Academy which seemed more of a Prelude for an upcoming series as we followed a previously unknown character focus on a strange anomoly. This was followed by the eponymous White Wolf as he attempted to cure an affliction befalling a town.
The Umbrella Academy story did little to convert me to the series (despite the Netflix show having hooked me) as the story wasvery confusing, leaving me with no idea what was going on. The Witcher, however, did a much better job as the story was easier to follow and the art was a nice style to match the world. In the end, thiscwas another case of one story taking my fancy while the other not.
5. Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story - A Prelude (or maybe more accurately the opening to the graphic novel proper), this issue saw a young Lois Lane set off on her journey to become the world's greatest, pullitzer prize winning journalist.
I have to confess, I don't think this concept was designed for me, a nearly 40 year old man, and it certainly started off that way. However, the further I progressed, the style and tone, accompanied by a Rosie Alexander style of art, seemed to connect to me more and more. This seems like an interesting coming of age tale and one that I might check out at some point in the future.
And so, that's now all the free comics read. Once again, as with the comics in part 1, I found the quality to be so so, with some good but also some which were not my thing.
Still, there was still some which piqued my interest and I do plan/hope to check out at some point in the future.
In the meantime though, I can get back to the comics on my pull list.
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