Giant-Size Adventure #0

This is the first of the official Free Comic Book Day books that I'm reviewing this year.

Title: Giant-Size Adventure
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Kevin Juaire, David Lawrence, Chris Crosby
Artist: Wilson Tortosa, Sebastian Cheng, Tina Francisco
Colorist: Katrina Mae Hao
Letterer: Zach Metheny
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book.

First story is The First Daughter, featuring the teenaged daughter of the (fictional; near-future) President of the United States as a superheroine.

Tasha's alien mentor/advisor sends her to Long Island and the site of a long-abandoned lab where a time-traveling menace is about to reappear.

But in the midst of the fight, Tasha discovers that she while she may be the First Daughter, she is not the first First Daughter to don a costume and fight monsters. In fact, thanks to some convenient memory-wiping, there have been a whole succession of First Daughters, even in the case of presidents who where believed to have never had children.

This sounds pretty goofy, but the shear awesomeness of Abby Lincoln just about makes up for it.

This was a fun book that didn't take itself too seriously, avoided sexualizing the female lead character, and presented an interesting character in the alien mentor, who showed enough hints of manipulation to make the reader question his status as a good guy.

Flip the book over and you've got Magika, a fantasy story about a world that closely resembles ours, well, aside from ogres and the like. Niko, a boy from Earth, has been living in Magika long enough to have made some friends. But when one friendship gets strained, Niko is led into a confrontation with a clan of apple-ogres.

This was a fun book, with gorgeous artwork, and the beginnings of some good character interaction.

Rating: 7.5/10

Kidzoic Presents: Richie Rich / Kung Fu Panda

I decided to review this one because I'm including it in my 24-Hour Zine, which is about geeky parenting. Kung Fu Panda is one of only a couple of feature-lengeth films that the Kiddo has watched (the other is Kiki's Delivery Service).

Title: Kidzoic Presents: Richie Rich / Kung Fu Panda
Date: 2011
Publisher: Kidzoic / Ape Entertainment
Writer: Jason M. Burns, Quinn Johnson
Artist: Tina Francisco, Dario Mazarra, Chris Houghton
Colorist: Dustin Evans, CV Design, Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: David Hedgecock
Cover: Jack Lawrence, Rolando Mallada

Flip book from the 2011 Free Comic Book Day offerings.

The first Kung Fu Panda story starts out too wordy (even for the character in question!). Tigress has been poisoned by bandits and it's up to Po to travel through a series of dangerous locations (one was actually named "The Canyon You Should Never Cross"!) and defeat a seemingly invulnerable armored pangolin in order to retrieve the antidote. Introductory sequence was weak, but it got better once the action got going. The second Kung Fu Panda story was wordless (much relief after the first story!) and showed the whole team of animal warriors in action. Cute, fun little story.

Flip the book over and you have Richie Rich trying to prevent a (generic) villain from setting off a volcanic eruption that threatens to destroy the beach where Richie Rich and his companions are trying to enjoy their vacation. Fairly simple and straightforward story that lacked some of the flavor that old Richie Rich comics have).

Rating: 5.5/10