It’s Nerd Christmas, everybody! As you’re busy rushing to your local comic shop to participate in all the fun, here’s a slightly early look at what you can expect from one of FCBD’s many offerings.
R.I.P.D. “For Fear, They Mirror True”
R.I.P.D., or the Rest in Peace Department, follows two agents who police the spirit world. This Free Comic Book Day offering is a fast-paced tale with some good art and and some neat twists and turns that does a fine job of introducing the rules of the R.I.P.D. universe while telling a fun and satisfying tale. There were a few elements I didn’t fully get as a new reader, but I enjoyed the issue and got what I missed the first time on a subsequent read. For fans of offbeat supernatural mysteries, this is a great story to pick up for Free Comic Book Day, especially with the recent release of the R.I.P.D. film trailer.
Killyjoys “Dead Satellites”
This is a strange comic, even for me. We’ve got supernatural creatures running a robot city, a girl in a gorilla suit, and the strictest bedtime I’ve ever seen. Killjoys starts off solid introducing concepts of this world but then goes off on some weird tangents. I didn’t care for this FCBD offering as much, because it didn’t feel like a complete tale, but more of a teaser for the start of Killyjoys. The art has a more cartoony and light feel to it, but the story looks great and does a masterful job of tossing all of these offputting elements together and somehow making them work. I’d liked to have seen the issue focus on one group of characters and tell a complete tale instead of dividing its time to introduce more of the important characters. That said, the delightfully weird combination they have in this story has me intrigued to learn more of the world’s rules and want to know why the hell that girl is wearing a gorilla suit.
Mass Effect “He Who Laughs Best”
The Mass Effect comics have been quite good as they’ve taken the time to fill in holes in the characters’ stories, but for Free Comic Book Day this year, a very special character’s story is told: how Joker earned his place on the Normandy. Joker has always been a fantastic character, and he shows his greatest strengths in this issue. We also have some light shed on the Turians’ part in creating the Normandy and the sort of control they exercised over her in the beginning. The art of Mass Effect is a little rough. It didn’t have the same life to it I wanted to see, but the dialogue and the situations make up for it nicely. With fast flying, plenty of snark, and political disagreements, this is one FCBD tale you don’t want to miss!
