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Free Comic Book Day 2015

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(Note: The first ones are free, Kid. After that, you gotta pay.)

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I’ve been under the impression that our family made Free Comic Book Day a tradition and that we’ve gone every year for the last couple of years. Now that I look at this picture of our first (and only recorded) visit, I realize that memory is, once again, the worst witness. That was at least two–and maybe even three–years ago. A visit to Facebook to check the time stamp confirms that we took a year off from the annual celebration of five finger discounts on the funny pages and I’m not sure why. It might have been birthday parties or something. It definitely was not the quality of comics. Those were actually very good and quite impressive for free.

We missed last year, as mentioned, but I put it on the calendar this year. I also reminded everyone for days leading up to the big event. Some of he story of how the actual day went are told in my previous post. If you can’t–or don’t want to–read the story right now, I’ll give the TL:DR version. We got stuck in parade traffic, got to the comic book store late, got our comics, and didn’t stay for anything else. I almost got suckered into buying a set of Dice Masters. Bound to happen eventually.

So, what about the books? I don’t know if it was just because we were late, but the selection seemed quite underwhelming this year. Maybe it is because I haven’t been collecting for at least a decade. I didn’t recognize many of the comics. The ones that I did know didn’t look that appealing. I mean, really, they’re doing Secret Wars again? Come on, have some originality. In the end, I got TMNT (to see if the hype is real), Divergence, and Secret Wars because I’m a fraud. The boys got Pokemon, Transformers, Sonic/Megaman, and Teen Titans/Scooby Doo. Truth be told, their comics look more interesting, so I’ll leave those for last.

divergenceFirst up is Divergence. This is some DC book that contains three separate stories about their most popular characters. I’m a little frustrated that they’re rebooting again, but it is also maybe a good idea. How much are comics now? $3 isn’t bad. I’m intrigued. Wait, they killed Batman? And Joker? What the hell is this? I agree with Gordon. This is dumb. A reboot is good because it gives a good place to get back in, but will I? The next story is about Superman. The first thing that I notice is that JRJR is now with DC. That seems odd. Lois gave up his secret identity? Maybe I do want to check this out. The Wonder Woman story is also good and I actually write Chris that I’m considering a return to the comic book store. If only the Marvel books are as good.

secret warsYeah, about that. They are not. Secret Wars is terrible. Ultimate End is awful. Inhumans is ridiculously inane. These are all previews and none of them make me want to buy the actual book. In what universe do we live that I’m more interested in DC books than Marvel? Clearly Marvel has given up on comics and prefers to exist in movies and television.

tmntThat brings us to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both Chris and I had strong things to say about Donatello being killed off in a recent story line, but this is actually a pretty good book right now. The only name that I recognize is Eastman, but that might actually be a good thing. I still think that it could have been done without killing Donatello. Still, I might pick up some of the trades to catch up on the story.

POK_201502FCBD2015SolicitationCover.inddNow, onto the books that the boys picked up. Liam read Pokemon as soon as we got back in the car. He called it weird and said that it didn’t follow the main story. It is one of the comics that reads backwards, but I don’t think that’s what he meant by weird. Many of the Pokemon comics are like that. I suspect that he meant the same thing with both statements. I haven’t read it yet, but I trust his judgement.

transformersThe Transformers comic is a full story one similar to the DC books that I read and they illustrate just how old I am. I only recognize Bumblebee, but I suppose that many of the characters are from the Transformers Prime. I’ve always meant to watch the show. Maybe this will be the introduction and reason that I need to start. There is also an interesting little introduction to Transformers vs. GI Joe. The book isn’t bad, but it’s definitely a kid book.

sonicBoth the Sonic/Megaman and Scooby-Doo/Teen Titans books follow the same format as the Transformers. They are full story introductions into the new stories that are coming during the summer. One thing that I notice is that there are multiple Sonic titles. They also blatantly plug a new video game, which is to be expected, I suppose. Megaman is much darker and more intense. Seems like it might be better for older kids and I’m somewhat interested to see how the comics and worlds will cross over. Finally, Scooby-Doo is much more like the older TV show that I remember than some of the more recent TV shows have been. That’s a good thing. I couldn’t even do Teen Titans. There was far too much happening in that book, color and insanity wise for my old brain.

scoobyIn closing, other than TMNT the adult books were disappointing. DC was better than Marvel, but that’s not saying much because Marvel were awful. The kid books were all full story, mostly decent, fun, and more interesting than the adult ones. I doubt that I’d enjoy any of them as a month to month. There is some glimmer of hope. They are doing what Chris and I thought they should do and trying to hook young fans into comic books. I don’t know how successful, but both boys have asked to read some of my old books. I also asked them if they wanted to start collecting comics and they both said yes. Once again, they failed to hook me enough to get me to start collecting, but I might invest in trades of TMNT, at least, so that’s something. Also, definitely going to sign up for Marvel Unlimited because they have another free month trial. I’m not fully back and I might never be. However, I’m at least partly still in, so there’s hope for us old guys, too.

Snap *censored* Pop Culture

Unlimited Marvel?

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(Editor ‘s Note: TLDR, Shut up Marvel and take more of my money!)

We are not just about games here at 2 Guys Gaming. I used to be a comic book collector. Wait. That isn ‘t the right verb tense. I still have boxes of comics in my closet. My name is Shawn and I am a comic book collector ( ?Hi, Shawn. ?) currently on hiatus. I started collecting as a teenager, but got rid of that collection when I no longer wanted to move those boxes. I picked up the hobby again a few years ago after moving into our house because I knew that we wouldn ‘t be moving again for a long time. Also, several of the story lines at the time intrigued me. This was during the Infinite Crisis at DC and Civil War at Marvel, so they didn ‘t disappoint. The books became more and more expensive but the profit margins stayed more or less the same for local stores. After moving once for cheaper rent, our town store finally went under and I had no easy access to that particular paper drug.

I kept collecting The Walking Dead, Y: The Last Man, and some of the Ultimate Marvel titles for a couple of months. The Ultimates were the first to go, then inexplicably Y, and finally I gave up on The Walking Dead last year just when it is reaching its most popular. I know I sound like a hipster, and I just might be, but I like the original stuff better. The story is getting too depressing for me in my old age. With the habit finally kicked, like any addict, I was ripe for another. As our oldest son grew up, I noticed that he shared my affinity for video games so I told him about Pokemon. He started playing and immediately became a Pokekid. When I then told him that there was a card game, we started visiting that section of Wal*Mart and Target more often. During one of these trips, I saw that Magic cards were still a thing. Enter a new cardboard crack ( ?Hi, Shawn! ?) after I picked up a Deckbuilder ‘s toolkit. Most of my hobby budget has gone to Magic since giving up comic books.

The reasons for this are threefold. First, a new set of Magic cards are released only every few months instead of every week. Instead of spending 25-50 dollars per week, I ‘m only spending 100-150 about three times a year. Second, the cards are much smaller and easier to store. I have thousands of cards stored in boxes that take up the same room as only a couple hundred comics. They were much easier to sort into those boxes, too. While the comics remain in disarray, the cards are separated by color and card type. Third, I rarely read comic books more than once. All of those comics sitting in my closet are most likely fated to remain there until the estate sale. I am constantly changing decks and adding new cards, so even the ones in storage probably won ‘t stay there very long. If they do, they still have a chance to be played eventually. Fourth (1, 2, 3, 4? Bear with me, I ‘m only a mathematician), the cards have a more immediate and larger resale value than the comics as long as you play the market right. This article isn ‘t about Magic. This article isn ‘t about Magic. Sorry, many of my recent articles have been about Magic. There is a point to all of this. What is the point? Oh, right. Magic clearly became my hobby addiction of choice.

However, as an adult child, I never truly outgrow any of these frivolous endeavors. Therefore, when I received an email for a free (or discounted, I can ‘t remember) month of Marvel Unlimited, I took notice. I promptly forgot all about it and missed the promotion. Luckily, there are many free comics available on the app to get me hooked and spend my money. Let ‘s see what this app is all about.

The first thing I do is scroll to the free books to see what is available. I recognize most of them from when I last collected, but a few catch my eye like the first issue of Red Hulk. That was about the time that I stopped reading. There are also two versions of Guardians of the Galaxy, one from 2008 and one from 2013. Finally, I recognize and file away 1602. I saw the title when I collected, but never checked it out at the time. Nothing else interested me in the free bin this month. They have other titles like Deadpool, but I feel like Deadpool by himself might get old. I really liked his team up title with Cable, but that one isn ‘t free if they offer it at all. Still, those 4 books might be enough to get me to sign up for a membership for a month at least.

I picked Red Hulk as my first book to read. I ‘m not sure why I didn ‘t read it when it was released. Jeph Loeb is one of my favorite writers and a must read. I think that I was so enamored with the World War and Planet Hulk storylines that I didn ‘t think anything could top them at the time. Reading issue #1 of Red Hulk now, I was right. I never would have gotten past this issue back then. That ‘s not to say that it is bad. It isn ‘t. The story got me interested and left off with a cliff hanger that had me immediately wanting to read the next part. It just wasn ‘t on the same level as the other two stories and would have gotten an unfair comparison at the time. Now, though, I definitely want to read the next issue. Point #1 to Marvel Unlimited.

I went with the 2008 version of Guardians of the Galaxy for my second pick. Guardians used to be my favorite title when I was younger and I ‘m glad to see that it is getting love again. Marvel made what some would consider to be a niche story into one of the most fun movies that I ‘ve watched recently. Okay, let ‘s read some Guardians. Well, that ‘s disappointing. Not altogether surprising, but still disappointing. When I opened the app, it immediately informed me that it stopped working. This happens only about 20% of the time and the app always starts back up with no problem. It is a minor inconvenience, but it is real. I wouldn ‘t call this a full point deduction. I already don ‘t like paying for digital content, though, especially buggy digital content from a publisher as large as Marvel. One half point from Marvel.

(As an aside, what is this score that I ‘m keeping? What scale am I using? How do I know when enough points have accumulated to purchase the app? This whole enterprise feels very arbitrary. Oh well, what are we around here if not arbitrary. Onward and upward!)

As far as the content of the two Guardians titles goes, they both more or less follow the standard for Starlord and the gang. Similar to the movie, Marvel uses both first issues to introduce the team of mostly lesser known heroes. Yes, I just made another thinly veiled reference that I liked Guardians before they were cool. It ‘s already been established that I am a wannabe comic book hipster.

I enjoyed the 2008 version better than the 2013 version. Both books were good in their own ways. It ‘s just that the 2013 book was written by Brian Michael Bendis. I usually like his stuff. His writing style didn ‘t seem to fit the personality of the Guardians of the Galaxy very well. I didn ‘t recognize the 2008 writers name, but he wrote the comic in a much more fun style. Guardians of the Galaxy is ultimately about the absurd and the writers (I just checked and there were two. That ‘s usually bad news for comic books or movies) captured that spirit much better than Bendis.

I also just learned that Neil Gaiman wrote the last free comic that I want to read. Yes, I am way behind the times, but we already knew that. Almost everyone is a fan of Neil Gaiman, even if they don ‘t know, and I am no different. Well, I am different because I do know that I ‘m a fan. You get what I ‘m trying to say. Hopefully you do because I ‘m not entirely sure and I don ‘t think that either of us is ready to suffer yet another of my lengthy explanations. So, we understand one another? Yes? Good. Let ‘s move on. Arbitrary 3/4 of a point to Marvel. Current arbitrary score: 1 and 1/4

1602 takes several familiar tales, some based in fact and some based in fiction, and fuses them into a whole new and highly entertaining story. Marvel Knights has always been famous for those types of comics and this one is a good introduction into the MK style, especially for non comic book fans. Even if you are a comic fan, there is enough to keep you interested and entertained. I don ‘t know how the comics rotate into the free app, but this one is free right now. If you ‘re somehow like me and never read it, I recommend that you give it a chance. Arbitrary 7/8 of a point to Marvel. Current arbitrary score: 2 and 1/8

Well, more or less, four for four (That was awkward to type and I ‘m sure just as awkward to read. Please don ‘t try to read it out loud. I ‘m afraid of the potential consequences.) on the free comics. For the low, low price of 9.95 (or is it 9.99?), I can have access to the rest of the issues and thousands more. I know that the content is digital. I also know that I sound much older than I am by making that statement. Hey, kids, get off my lawn with your internets and iPods! At least it is good digital content and much cheaper than the alternative. Takes up a lot less room, too. That is not a small consideration for a pack rat like me. I ‘m going to do it. I ‘m going to sign up for the paid version of the app for a month and reassess at the end of my subscription. I didn’t get sued yesterday, so let’s try again today. Give me an excelsior!