Free Comic Book Day is one my favorite geek holidays. All the local comic shops get their groove on and put on a show for the crowds. The objective is to bring new readers to the hobby, energize those of us that read comics, and create new fans of both comics and comics shops.

I am not going to deny the fact that this is a marketing angle. As a lover comics, it is one that I appreciate. It not only exposes new readers to the delights of these stories but also exposes current readers to new types of comics as well. There were well over fifty-two different titles on offer at my local comic shop. They ranged from offerings form both DC and Marvel to a book by Graphic India. This is quite range of tales being told and it made me happy to see such a diversity of options.

Free Comic Book Day has a very festival feel to it. At my local shop, Comic Book World, they put on quite a show. They had the Pickled Brothers Circus there swallowing swords to the amazement of the audience. There were Roller Derby Women signing autographs and showing off their bruises. Also, no Free Comic Book Day would be complete with out a comic celebrity which was filled ably by David Mack.

I had no time to enjoy the day. Other commitments made it impossible for me to spend more time than picking up my comics and seeing the festivities begin. The turnout was good for the start of the day as it took me a bit of time to get through the crowd to pick my five free comics and the one comic I missed from Wednesday. MY haul for the the day was Ramayan 3392 AD, Judge Dredd Classics, The Waling Dead,  Atomic Robo, and Infinity.

I, like everyone else here are Ideology of Madness, am a big fan of Ron Marz. I saw that Ramayan 3392 Ad was done by him which made it a an easy choice. This book from Graphic India is a re-imagining of the myths and legends of India. It plugged easily into my love of mythology of any sort. Marz’ deft hand with story easily introduces the various players in this sprawling drama. He takes the exotic and alien and makes it accessible. Each vignette is illustrated by a different artist with my favorite being Luke Ross. He did the story Seeta. Despite being only three pages, his art captures the energy and vibrancy of the story and makes it jump from the page. The last page is sheer beauty and well worth just contemplating for awhile. I want to pick up this book going forward.

Judge Dredd Classics was a nice little surprise. As the title implies, this is not a new story. Instead, IDW treats us to the Story of Judge Death. It was nice to see this story again as I had not read it in quite some time. The only difference between this and the original was that the art had been recolored. A nice trip down memory lane though I am not sure if it is a good introduction to Judge Dredd though.

I will admit that only picked up The Walking Dead because they had a limit of one per customer. I am not a fan of the zombie genre but was pleasantly surprised by this book. I am unfamiliar with the these characters but found the vignettes to be captivating. From listening to people talk about the books prior, it seems that these may not be stories that are continuing on but have happened in the past. I am more likely to pick up the first trade and start there than to pick up the next issue.

Atomic Robo from Red 5 comics was simply amazing. The story was new to me and very fun. Once again Robo has to stop a runaway experimental robot. The action is fast and clean with the witty banter that I have come to expect from Brian Clevinger. The art us chunky and dynamic. It captures  the feel of a science action story wonderfully. The Bodie Troll story is pure, unadulterated cuteness.

I also picked up Marvel offering, Infinity by Hickman and Cheung. The first part of this book is a an introduction to the coming six issue event of the same name. Cheung’s artwork is superb. The alien feeling of the setting is carried well by his efforts. The story itself was OK. I never really understood what was going on outside of the fact that a planet had the crap kicked out of it and was further brutalized. Oh, and the next planet on the agenda was Earth. there was also a reprint of the Thanos story “Last Flower” and a brief introduction to Marvel’s first Original Graphic Novel, Avengers: Endless Wartime. Overall, I was unimpressed and do not see myself picking up either Infinity or the Avengers OGN.

I also made sure to spend some money to show a little love to my local comic shop and picked up Gail Simone’s The Movement. I have not had a chance to read it yet but look forward to seeing what she has in store for me.