By Dan Brown

It’s been a month since Free Comic Book Day. 

So the time is right to go over the freebies handed out at local comic stores like L.A. Mood on May 2 to put a spotlight on the ones that stand out.

What really jumped out at me this year are the mini-comics from local creators, more on that in a moment.

There were more than 40 titles in all, with something for members of every fandom. 

Such heroes as the Hulk, Spider-Man, Judge Dredd, Archie, the Thundercats and the Transformers show up. Publishers from Dark Horse to IDW to Image to Boom! are represented.  

Off the bat, I noticed how Titan Comics extended its streak for having the best cover of the FCBD lot, with the Scourge of the Serpent preview featuring a Roberto De La Torre rendering of everyone’s favourite barbarian, Conan, almost being swallowed by a giant snake. 

It’s a dynamic image and recalls the glory days of the Cimmerian over at Marvel, when he was drawn by John Buscema.

And no surprise, Marvel put out a Fantastic Four sampler – the new FF movie, First Steps, comes out July 25, so expect lots more hype. 

The story concerns a group of bored teenage aliens who summon Marvel’s First Family by occult/scientific means. The Thing even gets to bellow, “It’s clobberin’ time!” but I’m not a fan of Johnny Storm’s handlebar moustache. (Nor Pedro Pascal’s, as regular readers of this column are aware.)

There is a symbolic passing of the torch in I Hate Fairyland, with Byron illustrator Derek Laufman taking over art duties from Skottie Young. You can’t help but dig the four-page splash section Laufman supplies, including a glimpse at Hellicorn – his spoof of a certain demonic anti-hero.

London/L.A. writer Sam Maggs is also part of the local contingent, handling script duties on Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins. The backup story is a Black Hammer prologue written by another Southwestern Ontario comic creator, Jeff Lemire.

Now, about those mini-comics . . . 

They are not to be missed!

Many of them were published by Kitchener’s Studio Comix. 

There’s a horror offering from Becka Kinzie titled Gehenna: Death Valley in which the characters recognize they are not acting wisely: “This is the stuff from horror movies! Stupid people doing stupid things!” one proclaims when they ignore warnings not to trespass

In Wendy and the Sprite, Eric Olscvary sets himself the challenge of writing and drawing a comic about . . . a pile of snow. He more than rises to the occasion.

Craig Ferguson and Alfonso Espinos offer readers a tale of the Night Spike, which has a Spy vs. Spy flavour and is also self-aware. At one point, after some back story is related, the Night Spike’s sidekick admits she embellished saying the duo had fought in the Secret Wars: “Well, I just said that to make the flashback a bit more dramatic!”

I greatly enjoyed Scott Wojcik’s Cereal Box Time Machine, which tells the story of a trio of young siblings who get their hands on an all-powerful magic wand. They wish for a time machine – in the form of a cereal box – and are transported to a magical setting where they must rid a far-off land from a dragon who looks suspiciously like an overgrown version of their own cat.

And I was utterly charmed by The Mini-Fridge Space Adventures from Roxy Reed Creations. It features a spaceship in the shape of a kitchen appliance with a penguin piloting the craft. The whole thing reminded me of Bob Burden’s Flaming Carrot. 

It also appears the mini-fridge of the title is larger on the inside. Hey, if it worked for a police call box, then why not?

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.