Free Comic Day + Reviews

On Saturday, 12th May, there was Free Comic Day in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Of course, whenever there is something for free and especially if it’s something to read (or to eat, but that doesn’t necessarily apply here) I need to have it, so I went into town and got myself some free comics.

The Free Comic Day (Gratis Comic Tag) is an initiative that has been going on for several years now. It’s based on the American Free Comic Book Day and it’s basically bookstores giving out comics that have specifically been printed for this day for free. These comics are from different publishers and span a variety of genres and styles. Some of them are more like samples of a bigger comic or manga while some contain whole issues of a series.

Various bookstores not only give out comics but also do some other events like drawing courses, exhibitions or author signings, but I’m from a smaller town so I didn’t get to experience any of that stuff.
I did, however, get to pick up about 25 comics out of the 35 available this year and want to present to you the 3 I’ve already read.

Super Mario Adventures

The first one I wanted to read was actually Super Mario Adventures which is a collection of comic strips from the Nintendo Power magazine published in the 90`s and put into this collection by KAZÉ manga. Compared to the others I could have chosen this seemed like the easiest read and since I haven’t read a comic in years that seemed like a good place to start.

I knew this wouldn’t be a masterpiece but it actually delivered everything I expected from something Super Mario related. It had all the characters fans know and love, it has some cute humor and it has Princess Peach playing a Mario game in her spare time. What more do you want?
The art style is cute, colorful and simple with an over-the-top charme to it. I liked it for what it it. It is a shame that it ends mid-story, but this series continued for a year originally, so what else could they have done?

EKHÖ 1: New York

This is the complete first issue of the Ekhö mirror world series by the French authors/artists Arleston and Barbucci, published in Germany by the publisher Splitter. In a wonderfully detailed art style it presents the story of Ludmilla, who has changed over to the mirror world after accepting her aunts heir, and the poor guy she accidentally has dragged with her.

While I did not care for the story or the dynamic of these two characters, the world is really interesting, having some fantasy and steampunk elements. I love the art style, which mostly uses the color brown/orange and blue within the mirror world. The plot itself seemed too much like a mixture of everything and especially Ludmilla didn’t seem sympathetic to me despite that I think she is supposed to be relatable to the reader. I found her to be a little bit bitchy and annoying, but that’s just my taste.

Courtney Crumrin

This sample of the first issue of Courtney Crumrin by Ted Naifeh, being published this month in Germany by dani books. The cover art really appealed to me due to the mixture of looking like spooky horror and being marketed to children.
The art inside looks just as haunting but cute, which really fits the story that features real life and fantasy type threads to the young Courtney who has recently moved to her scary old uncle.
While it starts out as a lot of books about children do, being the new kid in school, with bullies and finding new friends, it does have something special and is definitely not only for kids. It seemed really creative and interesting to me and it made me interested to know were all this will go and fascinated by the creatures in it.