Free Comic Book Day 2019

The first Saturday in May has come and gone for another year, and like last year I celebrated it at Nerd Out Comics and Comics & Stuff in sunny Tampa.  Comics & Stuff has since moved to a new location, but the experience was comparable.  Inexplicably, Tampa folk just aren't interested in queuing up, with or without costumes!  This was always a highlight for me, in three other states, three other stores, by which I know I have a decent sampling of the event.  Comics & Stuff, with its larger new location, had a bigger turnout than last year.  I got there after it opened, but the place was crammed, I mean literally crammed (also, I hate people who have no spatial awareness, as in won't even consider moving unless you ask them, and then ask them again when you come by again).  Nerd Out, I arrived early.  Like last year they had a table of this year's releases, and other tables filled with older freebies, right outside the store.  I got a ton of comics there, all freebies.  Didn't go inside.  Comics & Stuff, obviously I went inside, bought a few new comics, too. 

Anyway, here's what I came away with (Comics & Stuff had a four comic limit, Nerd Out three), for this year's releases:

• Animosity Tales (Aftershock) I've sampled Marguerite Bennett's comic as a paying customer in the past. 
• Bloodshot (Valiant) I've been a fan of this incarnation for a few years now. 
• Deadly Class (Image) Kind of want to see the TV version.
• H1 Ignition (Humanoids) Mark Waid's attempting another startup...!
• Interceptor (Vault) Written by Donny Cates, who I imagine to be one of those current writers capable of securing a real audience.
• Punchline (Antarctic) Looked good.
• Stranger Things (Dark Horse) With all due respect to fans of the TV show, my hook was the Black Hammer backup.
• Year of the Villain (DC) This was actually a twenty-five cent comic released a few days earlier, but Nerd Out was giving it away.  (Yay, Nerd Out!)
• Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You (Marvel) Another unofficial Nerd Out freebie that didn't count to its limit.

And what did I score with Nerd Out's older freebies?

• Avatar (Dark Horse) A FCBD 2017 release.  A lot of people have been attempting to downplay James Cameron's achievement in the past decade.  I've kind of been part of it, by dismissing the basic story as Pocahontas redux.  But I've been coming around.  It's still like nothing else anyone has done.  The last time that happened at the movies, it was Star Wars.  See where that one went?
• Bad Machinery (Oni) A FCBD 2017 release.
• Battle Angel Alita (Kodansha) A Halloween ComicFest 2018 release.  I have yet to see the Robert Rodriguez movie.
• Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: Defender Vol. 2 #2 (CBLDF) Released in 2017, featuring Batwoman on the cover.
• Help the CBLDF...Defend Comics (CBLDF) A FCBD 2017 release. I feel bad not really having supported the fund financially.  But certainly a worthy cause.  Featuring Jeffrey Brown.
• Fresh off the Boat (Boom!) A FCBD 2017 release, featuring Gene Luen Yang and Jorge Corona.
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel) A FCBD 2017 release.  Also featuring the Bendis Defenders.
• The Incal (Humanoids) A FCBD 2017 release.  Apparently a much-admired graphic novel, by Jodorowsky and Moebius.
• Marvel Previews: Captain Marvel (Marvel) I liked the movie.
• Marvel Previews: Avengers Endgame (Marvel) I haven't seen it yet...!
• Ms. Marvel  (Marvel) A Halloween ComicFest 2018 release.  Revisiting the beginning of a run I much admired in the beginning.
• People of Earth: Experiencer's Guide to Aliens (DC) A promo comic for the TV show.
• The Amazing Spider-Man #1: Behind-the-Scenes Edition (Marvel) The Spencer/Ottley reboot, pencil art only...!
• Spill Night (First Second) A FCBD 2017 release.  Written by Scott Westerfeld.
• Steam Wars: Strike Leader (Antarctic) A FCBD 2017 release.  I think it might be safe to say that a project that began as a steampunk Star Wars has become its own thing at this point.
• The World of Krypton (DC) A promo comic for the Krypton TV series, featuring a vintage John Byrne reprint...!
• Wonder Woman (DC) A FCBD 2017 release...!  Clearly a good year for Nerd Out...not to have given away enough of its freebies.  And a good year to find good stuff two years later.  Reprinting the Rucka Rebirth launch.
• Marvel Universe: War of the Realms (Marvel) The Jason Aaron event primer.
• Captain America 75th Anniversary Magazine (Marvel) Pretty sure I've actually gotten and read this before.  Didn't seem to hurt to pick up another copy and do it again.  Dude just helped defeat Thanos (uh, spoiler!!!).