AudioShocker

Free Comic Book Day 2008 has arrived. Below you will find a list of the books I'm hoping to snag this May 3rd at my local comics shop (Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA, USA). This FCBD reading list is in order of awesome to totally awesome (i.e. best for last).

Note how there are no selections from DC Comics, seeing as how they intend to provide two books that have already been published. LAME! You can click on the thumbnail image of the comic cover to download free preview pages (if available).

Transformers Animated from IDW Publishing. I'm not a huge Transformers fan, let alone really a fan at all. But this is a nice cover image and interesting concept -- an adaptation of the first episode of the new Transformers TV relaunch. Consider my curiosity piqued.

X-Men from Marvel Comics. I know this should probably be higher on my list, but I always get a bit burned by Marvel's primary FCBD offering -- they rarely deliver. It looks like Marvel is trying something out it did last year in Spider-Man: Swing Shift. This X-Men comic will be the launch point of the new X-Men status quo that hasn't even debuted yet in the regular series. Worth checking out.

Arcana Studio Presents from Arcana Studios. I'm going strictly off the strength of the solicitation here. The book has four different samples in it. Not normally how I like to roll, but they each have an interesting hook to them. I'd like to see more and this is free!

Cartoon-Apalooza from Ape Entertainment. Five original short stories including three first appearances of new creative properties. The cover art looks great and the concepts all sound very fun. What's not to like?

Maintenance from Oni Press. I heard an interview with the Maintenance creators a few months back on Around Comics. Basically, these two guys are the janitors at an evil corporation run by mad scientists (think AIM from Marvel). Like my other picks, this has a strong cover and a strong solicitation.

Bongo Comics Free-For-All! From Bongo Comics. The Simpsons and Futurama comics crammed into a pocket-sized digest. The preview pages look fun and I tend to like to pick up at least a couple things from Bongo Comics a year. Why not make sure that one of those things costs me $0.00?

Marvel Adventures from Marvel Comics. Astute ComicShocker readers already know that I enjoy me some Marvel Adventures comics (particularly Avengers and Hulk). Here we've got Hulk, Spidey, and Iron Man (hey, doesn't he have a HUGE movie out this weekend?) all in one. Last year we got the first appearance of Marvel Adventures Hulk and it was sweet. The free Marvel Adventures Iron Man ashcan from Halloween 2007 was awesome too. Nuff said.

Comics Go Hollywood from TwoMorrows Publishing. Last year's offering from TwoMorrows simply blew my mind. It got me hooked on Write Now! Magazine. It was also jam-packed with content. It took me like three days of riding the bus to-and-from work to read the whole thing. That's what I call FCBD quality!