Free Comic Book Day 2009

On Saturday 2nd May 2009 there is a promotion taking place in Comic shops around the world called Free Comic Book Day. For this day a lot of comic companies produce Free editions of their comics. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse,IDW and Image always release title and a lot of the time the material is exclusive and not just reprints. Whilst there is a plethora of titles being released I wanted to recommend a couple of books that have been released. I have read these 2 comics and out of all the FCBD comics released, these titles stood head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion.

Contract #1
Writer: Garan Madeiros
Artists: Kevin Sharpe, Rick Ketcham, Mark McKenna
Publisher: A First Salvo

The comic starts a character called Jessie Garrett going home and having a days rest from being mercenary and running her own Merc company, "The Stellar Rangers". She's gone home to see her dad however she ends up finding a stranger in her home who is a friend of her father and ends up giving him a recap of her life so far and revealing why she became a mercenary.

Now from the cover on the comic I expected the comic to have Jessie running around half naked through out the comic. The character appears to be drawn like a lot of comic "Bad Girls" but in all fairness there whilst there was a lot cleavage shots in the comic it really did not distract me from the story. I really enjoyed the story and wanted to know more about the characters in the comic. In some ways the comic really reminded me of a cartoon that used to be on in the summer holidays when I was a kid, called " The Galaxy Rangers".
The writing in the comic was easy to understand and a pleasure to read. The artwork through out the book was very dynamic and fast paced. I especially liked Kevin Sharpe artwork at the start of the book and would like see a lot more of his work in the future. A great introduction to a new character and I will be ordering the issues that have already been released.

The Stuff Of Legend
Writers: Mike Raicht and Brian Smith
Artist: Charles Paul Wilson III
Publisher: Th3Rd World Studios

This is with out a doubt my favourite FCBD Comic that I have read so far. The story follows a young boy is trying to get to sleep late one night, when all of a sudden The Boogeyman attacks the boy and his dog and kidnaps the boy and takes him into the dark world of the closet. What follows is the assembling of a small force of Toys who embark on a mission to rescue the young boy from the The Boogeyman and his army of long forgotten toys. The issue focuses on the boys abduction and the assembling of the toys who seek to rescue him.
I really enjoyed this comic. The writing was superb and easy to understand. I loved how each of the toys had their own character and all seemed to have their motivation for rescuing the boy. The artwork is truly spectacular and at times reminded me of Dave McKean in places. I honestly cant wait to order this comic and read the full story.
Prior to reading this I had no idea what the comic was about and I had never heard of Th3Rd World Studios. Now I know who they are, I will hopefully be checking out some of their other titles if they are of a similar standard to this.

So tomorrow go to you local comic shop and see if they are participating in FCBD and if they are pick up the 2 title above as you wont be disappointed.