Gamertell

Although Free Comic Book Day is all about comic books, there was plenty of videogame tie-in materials scattered throughout. Sure, it was last month, but I finally had time to read through all the good stuff I got and scan a bunch of pages.

Free Comic Book Day is held the first Saturday of May each year (May 5, 2007). Participating comic book stores across the US provide free comics to anyone who walks in. Some places let you take a bunch, some only let you take a couple. The purpose is to help stimulate the comic book industry as well as promote various products. A few stores will also clean out some of their excess stock on these days, setting sales comics out for the taking as well. Just don’t get sticky fingers and grab the stuff you need to purchase.

Here’s a summary of some of the gaming tidbits I found along with plenty of cover art.

Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega’s creation, in the form of an Archie Comics publication, offers an “All-New Story!”  where Dr. Robotnic has Sonic trapped and Sonic’s friends come to the rescue… well, really, Sonic is reporgrammed to be bad, beats up his buddies and only Knuckles can put up a worthy battle.

Penny Arcade 25-cents One-Shot - This was actually released two years ago and sold for only 25 cents but the store I visited had decided to give it away. Lucky for me.

Family Guy - This 2007 freebie included some typical Family Guy style humor, in paneled 2D form. The reason I include it here is for a pair of panels on the thid page, where Peter says:

“If advertisements and television have taught us anything… ... it’s that parents are the anti-drug. So, it’s up to you to teach your kids that drugs are bad, ‘cause they don’t have those warnings before video games anymore.”

I seem to recall those anti-drug messages were seen in the Skate or Die games. Can anyone back me up on that?

Hack/Slash - Flip over the Family Guy comic and you’ll get a few pages of the new Hack/Slash: The Series. It gives a gritty origin story and includes a guy with no skin. Ewie. It also teases, “Slated to be a major motion picture from Rogue Pictures!” on the cover and inside.

Transformers Official Movie Prequel Issue #1 - Though a movie promo book, the story is key here and may have implications for the upcoming Transformers videogame. The big surprise to me was that the Transformers and the Decepticons were fighting over a religious dispute over the all holy “Allspark.”

Site [Free Comic Book Day]