2017 Free Comic Book Day prog reviews

Richard · 07 May, 2017, 01:14:27 PM

Surprised no one has started this yet -- am I the only squaxx who actually made it to a participating shop?

Anyway, a very good Dredd take by Matt Smith, his best yet I think. Can't say much more about it without giving away the ending, so I won't. But it seems like a story that will appeal to new and veteran readers alike, and the opening page is an excellent way to start a story. And there's some nice art by Phil Winslade.

There's a decent Blackblood one-off by Pat Mills and a new (to me anyway) artist called Kei Zama, and I'd like to see more of his/her work in the prog some day. There's also a digital link to the first Blackblood one-off, with some beautiful painted art by Kevin Walker.

There's an Anderson story by Dan Abnett, featuring (this isn't a spoiler) the return of Trapper Hag. This grated with me a little at first because Trapoer Hag was killed in 1999, but I suppose this story could be set before that happened, and it works on its own terms. There's link to the first TH story.

There are reprints of Hope and Dreams of Deadworld. And there's a one-page Tharg the Mighty story by Henry Flint, which promises (I hope) some interesting reprints to come later in the year.

The whole thing is printed on top quality paper, which is nice. And there's a tribute to Steve Dillon on the back cover.

All in all, this is a strong FCBD prog and it should entice some new readers.

DrRocka · 07 May, 2017, 01:23:38 PM

I thought it was a bit slight, compared to previous years, but the Dredd and Blackblood are both great. I just wanted it to be longer, I think.

dweezil2 · 07 May, 2017, 01:31:16 PM

Picked my copy up at the southern contingency meet up (a very merry time was had by all) and have only read the Dredd and Blackblood episodes so far, but they were both excellent!

Tharg once again showing how a FCBD issue should be done!

It's a little dissapointing that the art was squashed down to U.S comic book dimensions and that a Prog sized issue wasn't also available-maybe a condition imposed by the FCBD organisation to ensure 2000AD's inclusion this year?

Regardless, a fantastic Prog and well worth hunting down!

Richard · 07 May, 2017, 02:03:16 PM

If you put this year's prog on top of a previous one, the size difference turns out to be less than you might think. But yes.

sheridan · 07 May, 2017, 03:17:43 PM

I've not tried following the links, as the QR codes last time were too small for my phone to read, but I'm familiar with the Kev Walker solo Blackblood story. With all the Hammersteins and Blackbloods that have appeared in Savage since, I like that the original two we saw are differentiated by [spoiler]Hammerstein being the prototype with complex emotions and Blackblood having the supernatural element added to his construction[/spoiler].

I liked the Dredd tale Forty Years of Hurt (and managed to figure out who the antagonist was related to before Dredd did) though not sure how somebody not familiar with the two and/or three preceding stories would find it. I happen to have somebody in this flat who hasn't read the preceding tales and has their own copy of the FCBD comic, so shall have to ask them once they've read theirs.

Nice Ashley Wood (I think) ad for threeA toys.

Blackblood: General Public - I liked this, though I've not (re-)read the new Mars ABC Warriors stories as much as I should so not quite familiar enough with the context, but it worked. I liked Sam Gretton's robotic speech bubbles - can't say I've noticed the font/typeface being different before.

I'm wondering what the limited edition replicas are going to be, so even though I probably won't buy them I'm looking forward to the pictures which will inevitably appear on the forum once more is made available.

I won't comment on the reprints.

Hag Team - I thought Trapper had already died in the comic but wasn't sure (late nineties / early noughties were a busy time for me and while I still have all my comics, it wasn't practical for me to re-read them as they were often a few counties away). A good enough tale and well illustrated. I'd like to see Dani's work on a longer strip - probably something more horror-themed like Fiends from last year. And because it's difficult to narrow somebody down by just the name 'Dani', I'm going to leave this link to her deviantart page here: Dani Strips.

The Monarch · 07 May, 2017, 07:00:24 PM

fairly good issue i mean the only actual complaint i had was the odd pirates of the caribbean ad shoved in there for no reason (especially since it has the american name of it and not the uk name) but thats just how good this issue is when thats my only nitpick

moly · 07 May, 2017, 07:23:25 PM

Who is doing the limited edition replicas ?

sheridan · 07 May, 2017, 07:28:27 PM

Quote from: The Monarch on 07 May, 2017, 07:00:24 PM
fairly good issue i mean the only actual complaint i had was the odd pirates of the caribbean ad shoved in there for no reason (especially since it has the american name of it and not the uk name) but thats just how good this issue is when thats my only nitpick

I thought that was a good thing - we're used to internal Rebellion ads (which may or may not be cross-charged), but an external ad means someone is paying Tharg to advertise.

Colin YNWA · 07 May, 2017, 07:44:32 PM

For me the reduced sized was a big disappointment but you gotta figure it was a requirement to participate?

Inside we get three new stories (and a bit) as mentioned and some well selected reprint, Hope with some US name recognition going on and Deadworld with some character recognition and linked to an advert for a big figure from 3A.

Of the new stuff I really enjoyed the Dredd and Blackblood, the latter was a little build on a punchline but it was fun. The Anderson I'm sorry to say felt utter slight and insignificent. Just didn't work for me, which given it was written by Dabnett whom I've been drooling over of late is a disappointment... well at the price that seems churlish! At the back is a really nice little Tharg one pager detailing the impact of the archive purchase, great fun and lovely Henry Flint art.

All in all a stonking package compared to everything else I picked up and so once again well done Free Tharg.

Geoff · 07 May, 2017, 08:48:14 PM

Given the current strength of the weekly prog I was a little underwhelmed by the FCBD one. I don't think any of the strips in there would really draw me in with the exception of Hope perhaps.

Robo-K33F · 08 May, 2017, 02:49:54 PM

Hello all - thought I'd pop by to answer a few questions.

Trapper Hag didn't die. He escaped the Iso Cubes but was then recaptured by Dredd in the two-part Revenge of trapper Hag waaaaaaaay back in 1999.

The extent and size of the FCBD prog was dictated to us by the FCBD committee.

Kei Zama is a she.

Thanks for going out and picking up our 2017 offering.

ZenArcade · 08 May, 2017, 02:57:23 PM

Like others when I picked mine up courtesy of Paul Trimble at Enniskillen Comic fest on Saturday, I was a wee bit disconcerted by the American sizing (I think this format really lessens visual impact). But I understand this is a requirement for FCBD nowadays.
The contents were fine. Blackwood and. Deadworld were particularly good.
All in all a good FCBD prog. Z

sheridan · 08 May, 2017, 05:28:16 PM

Quote from: Robo-K33F on 08 May, 2017, 02:49:54 PM
Hello all - thought I'd pop by to answer a few questions.

Trapper Hag didn't die. He escaped the Iso Cubes but was then recaptured by Dredd in the two-part Revenge of trapper Hag waaaaaaaay back in 1999.

The extent and size of the FCBD prog was dictated to us by the FCBD committee.

Kei Zama is a she.

Thanks for going out and picking up our 2017 offering.

Thanks, Robo-K33F!

Richard · 08 May, 2017, 07:02:16 PM

Thanks Robo.

Leigh S · 08 May, 2017, 07:25:03 PM

When I finally got it, twas great - Nostalgia and Comics really dropped the ball by giving out more early bird tickets than there were comics, so that by the time my wife adn the kids got there (I was working), they were all gone, despite them queing for an hour and being at teh front of the pleb queue. I was lucky that my kids both got a copy in the random bags given out by FP!

The Dredd and Blackblood as ace - not normally a fan of an artist following a style so close as the Blackblood follows Bisley's, but it worked for me, perhaps because the Mars setting stuff held up as well as the rest.

Trapper Hag and sis just had very odd dialogue - wasnt he quite a pompous alien? Art was good, though didnt quite match the examples of Dani Ks art online or from last years prog for that matter?

all good stuff though!