Free Comic Book Day 2009 Freebies!

Did everybody do their civic duty and head to their local comic book shop on Saturday for Free Comic Book Day 2009?  I know I did, I have the freebies to prove it!

The Mighty Archie Art Players (Archie) -- I liked this one.  The Archie books are always a lot of corny fun, but this one, with four shorts all involving the gang in a historical setting of some kind, made me laugh (especially a joke involving a Roman Archie's reaction to seeing an Egyptian slave Betty).

Bongo Comics 2009 Free For All (Bongo) -- Hilarious stuff -- the long series of jokes about "free" comics were great, and the "team-up" of sorts with Leela and Amy was a lot of fun.

Disney/Pixar's Cars (BOOM!) -- I liked Cars, so I am probably pretty prone to liking this origin story of sorts for Lightning McQueen.  Plus Darrell Cartrip!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Dark Horse) -- The Star Wars side of this was pretty sweet, but the flipside sampler of DH stuff was a mixed bag.  I liked the Usagi Yojimbo short, but the rest, meh.

Blackest Night #0 (DC) -- As a set-up for the big event this summer, this special definitely did it's job and did it very well.  I wonder if this will be collected with the rest of the series?

Transformers Animated/G.I. Joe (IDW) -- The Transformers side was much better than the last one, being more than just screencaps of the toon.  The GI Joe story was pretty cool, although the Origins one I had seen before.

The Avengers (Marvel) -- Not bad as a New Avengers/Dark Avengers team-up, but nothing to convince me that I still don't like Bendis' take on the Avengers side of the MU.  The smaller size didn't bother met at all, by the way.

Ape Cartoonapalooza #2 (Ape Entertainment) -- Fun, like last year's book.  RPM is sort of like Transformers meets MASK, isn't it?  Also intrigued by their online stuff at www.apecmx.com.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Evolution of a Hero (Archie) -- I got bored with this recap of the 200+ issues of the Sonic Universe, as I was expecting an actual comic and not a text piece.

William Shatner Presents #1 (Bluewater Productions) -- Tek War stunk back in the day, and it still stinks.

Warhammer Fantasy (BOOM!) -- Cool fantasy stuff, although focusing on Chaos for a freebie is a little strange.  I wonder how much of this will go over non-Warhammer players' heads though.

Aliens/Predator (Dark Horse)-- Double winner here, with both sides being strong previews of the upcoming titles.

DC Kids Mega Sampler (DC) -- Reprints, but of the good kind, with Tiny Titans and Batman: The Brave And The Bold leading the way.

Nancy & Melvin Monster (Drawn & Quarterly) -- I really enjoyed the Melvin Monster side, enough to consider getting the collection this is a sample from.  Nancy... well, maybe I am just not getting it, because this was just weird.  And yeah, I know that's kinda the point, but still...

Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man (Marvel) -- AKA Marvel Adventures: Wolverine.  I really liked this All-Ages appropriate comic, even though Wolverine is not a reall AA character.  The Alpha Flight in-jokes were great.

TMNT #1 25th Anniversary Reprint (Mirage) -- I had read this before, but it still rocks even after a quarter of a century (!!!).

Owly and Friends (Top Shelf) -- Owly and Johnny Boo are always sure things, but the Corgi story in here is just plain bizarre.

Comics Festival! 2009 Volume 3 -- Haven't read this one yet.  Flipping through it, I didn't have much of a desire to do so.

Gone Missin':  The following titles were nowhere to be found!  Did anyone out there pick these up?  And if so, what did you think of them?  (Personally, I am most bummed about the two Gemstone ones; I mean, EC Comics AND Uncle Scrooge?  Who wouldn't be disappointed?)

Gumby Two-In-One (Wildcard Ink)
Arcana Studio Presents
EC Comics Sampler (Gemstone Publishing)
The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck/Mickey & The Gang (Gemstone Publishing)

I think it was a mixed bag this year, but some good stuff definitely shone through.  What did YOU think about FCBD 2009?