Giant-Size Thrills #0

Another Free Comic Book Day flip book from Red Giant by way of the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Giant-Size Thrills
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Benny R. Powell, Mort Castle, Kevin Juaire
Artist: Ricardo Jaime, Vincenzo Cucca
Colorist: Marlon Ilagan, Mariacristina Federico
Letterer: Zach Metheny
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book. First up is Darchon, an urban fantasy story focusing on a man who can see monsters that are invisible to most people. He sees himself as a friend of Darchon, a wizard/detective character from a pulp adventure comic magazine. How much of this magical world is real and how much is delusion is left somewhat unclear.

Flip the book over to find Shadow Children, telling the story of a boy and a girl growing up in a magical dimension, and eventually making their way back to our world.

Neither of these stories managed to hook my interest much. Both were going for a dark fantasy vibe, with Darchon in a straight-up world filled with unseen demons, and Shadow Children putting a dark spin on a fairyland type of setting.

The stories had some appealing visuals, especially Shadow Children, which also appeared to have some complex and well thought out worldbuilding behind it. But none of the characters in either story were all that engaging, and neither story hooked me with its plot.

Rating: 4.5/10

Giant-Size Action #0

I got a whole pack of these flip book from Red Giant Entertainment during Free Comic Book Day. Here's one that features Nikola Tesla.

Title: Giant-Size Action
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Benny R. Powell, Terry Keefe, David Lawrence
Artist: Nigel Raynor, Bong Dazo
Colorist: Jay David Ramos, Michael Bartolo
Letterer: Benny R. Powell, Zach Metheny
Cover: Studio Hive
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book.

First story is Tesla: The Future Is Mine, featuring Nikola Tesla, in some steampunk flavored historical action. The story features appearances by Pierre Curie and Mark Twain, but the main character is really Mathilde Poincare (the scientist/mathematician Henri Poincare is never actually mentioned, but it would make sense in story terms for Mathilde to be his daughter).

Tesla (who is not actually all that appealing a character here) manages to pretty much end up as the damsel in distress, hanging off of the Eiffel Tower only to be rescued by Mathilde in a scene that's a lot of fun. Mathilde is intriguing. Tesla has potential. As does this story.

Flip the book over and you get: Wayward Sons, an urban fantasy that seems to be influence by a hodgepodge of mythology. It opens with a father and son practicing swordplay. When the son's magical powers manifest themselves, the father takes the son to meet a young woman with psychic abilities of her own.

Then there is a random encounter with a minotaur. No, really. A minotaur just kinda shows up and they fight it. Alanis the female "Wayward Son" (why the gender-specific title if the main characters are one man and one woman?) pulls out a bow and proceeds to go all Katniss Everdeen on the minotaur and it's off to the next stop on the quest to defeat whatever big evil is out there dropping minotaurs into people's living rooms.

This was harmless fun. It had good pacing and tolerable dialogue, and the potential to get more interesting as it continues.

Potential is kind of the watchword here. It will be interesting to see if either series lives up to that potential.

Rating: 6/10