Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell: Free Comic Book Day

Title: Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell: Free Comic Book Day
Date: 2013
Publisher: Papercutz
Writer: Paola Mulazzi, Teresa Ridice, Tea Orsi, Jim Salicrup, Stefan Petrucha, Jayjay Jackson
Artist: Benedetta Barone, Daniela Vetro, Roberta Zanotta, Caterina Giorgilli, Jayjay Jackson
Colorist: Stefania Santi, Litomilano, Studio Kawaii
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Cover: Emilio Urbano, Elisabetta Melaranci, Andrea Cagol
Editor: Jim Salicrup, Michael Petranek

There are three Fairies stories here, plus a backup story based on the Stardoll website.

The real centerpiece is the tale called "The Wings of Rani". This story of how the water fairie Rani lost her wings is adapted from the novel Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. It's a really great story, and the framing sequence in the comic is well done too. Unfortunately, due to the flashback nature of the story, there were some points where it lost some of its emotional impact and felt more like a summary than the real story it needed to be. Still, this was a pretty lovely tale of friendship and sacrifice.

The other two Disney Fairies stories were humorous shorts. The art is nice throughout, and I liked some of the fairie dialect, especially "I'd fly backwards." as an expression of regret and apology.

The Stardoll story really just introduces the characters, who are students in a design/fashion-focused high school in Los Angeles. One nice touch was the focus on a variety of fashion-related career paths, not just modeling and fashion design. The plot has the brother of one of the main characters trying to turn their house into the setting for a reality TV show that he is planning to film and then upload to the internet.

Not much else happens, as the story doesn't get far before it runs out of space. It didn't do much for me,but I'm neither a fan or the website nor much of a follower of fashion. I'd fly backwards.

Rating: 6.5/10

Geronimo Stilton And The Smurfs

Another kids' book from Free Comic Book Day 2011.

Title: Geronimo Stilton And The Smurfs
Date: 2011
Publisher: Papercutz
Writer: Elisabetta Dami, Peyo
Artist: Peyo
Editor: Jim Salicrup

This is a Free Comic Book Day special meant to introduce the Italian childrens' cartoon Geronimo Stilton to new readers in the US. The main story is an excerpt from the Geronimo Stilton: Dinosaurs in Action graphic novel. The story is a fun one, involving mouse journalists, feline pirates, time travel, and dinosaurs. The story had a nice logical flow to it, and it had enough complexity to stay interesting.

The backup feature in this comic is the Smurfs. There is a full 10-page Smurfs story, plus a selection of newspaper-style Smurf strips that run at the bottoms of the pages devoted to Geronimo Stilton. The small Smurfs cartoons were fun. They had a nice surreal touch, but didn't require any previous knowledge of the Smurfs, and each individual gag strip stood on its own.

The longer Smurfs story presents a smurf version of submarine warfare. Once again, I liked the complexity of the story. It was a huge improvement on the previous Smurfs comics I reviewed, although to be fair, Papercutz is translating Smurfs and Geronimo Stilton material directly from the overseas sources. Whatever the source, they have some good, enjoyable titles that will appeal to all ages.

Rating: 7.5/10