Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures Free Comic Book Day 2025

This is a 2025 FCBD book that I picked up at Most Excellent Comics and Gaming in Enfield CT USA at Free Comic Book Day 2026.

Title: Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures Free Comic Book Day 2025
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: May, 2025
Writer: Dave Scheidt, Brandon Hoang
Artist: Andy Duggan, Bellbessa
Colorist: Dan Jackson, C. E. Chant
Letterer: Comicraft's Tyler Smith and Jim Betancourt
Cover: Andy Duggan

Jedi younglings Lys, Kai, and Nubs are on a training mission, dropped into a swampy wilderness by Master Yoda and tasked with a scavenger hunt. The younglings encounter a series of ever-more-fantastical monsters and come up with creative (and nonviolent) solutions to each encounter. This was a reasonable introduction to this all-ages series, although much like Marvel's old Ewoks series, the creatures felt more like generic fantasy monsters than something with the flavor of Star Wars. Still, this was fun and easy to get into and follow.

The backup story is an Avatar: The Last Airbender story featuring some interesting variations on existing characters. Their battle against Fire Nation soldiers in a ramen shop is fun, but the ending is (intentionally) a bit of a cop-out.

Rating: 5.5

Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King Free Comic Book Day 2026

From Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day 2026 at Most Excellent Comics and Gaming, Enfield CT USA.

Title: Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King Free Comic Book Day 2026
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2026
Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Jao Canola
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Tyler Smith
Editor: Chris Butera

This was a really interesting introduction with parallel stories of Conan fighting as a mercenary along the border of Zingara and Argos back in the Hyborian Age, and 20th century soldier fighting in World War I, and surviving as a veteran of that conflict. American soldier Stephen Costigan isn't the mythic hero that Conan is, but he survives horrors just as brutal as those of Conan's time, and eventually in the aftermath of the war, he steps into his own encounter with the dark magic of the Hyborian Age. The parallel stories are fun, and they're very nicely presented in the artwork. To make this more intriguing, the 20th century plotline is actually adapted from Robert E. Howard's pulp story "Skull-Face", which had its own references to Howard's own mythos.

The story is just an introduction, but it does a good job of setting up both timelines, and an essay at the end explains the connection to Howard's pulp writings.

Conan isn't a title that I pick up expecting to find something new and innovative, so this was a pleasant surprise, both because of the innovation and because it was honoring Robert E. Howard's legacy in doing so.

Rating: 7.5/10