This Week in Free Comics (01/04/14)

Perhaps Comixology are fooling us, because their offerings this week are light to say the least.

Silver Surfer Infinite Comics #1

This is such an improvement on last week. It's a great (full length) story from the Point One issue, reads kinetically in the Infinite Comics format (or, as Bleeding Cool call it, 'decampi',) and I am engaged with Allred's pop art aesthetic and Slott's narrative ideas beginning to form.

Sure, the Doctor Who parallels are obvious. A lonely figure who can transverse the stars using an abstract, everyday object, joined by a young female companion in her 20s. We join them in media res, just as we joined the Doctor and Susan in An Unearthly Child. (Most Doctor/companion teams, we are able to see the roots of their friendship. Here, we are introduced to Dawn Greenwood in the midst of their travels.) The Surfer, our main protagonist, makes a conscious choice to land on an alien planet; the 'bigger picture' of space seems replaced with fun adventures.

But as a device to entice new readers? It's such a great idea: give them something free which tells a full story, acting as a sample without losing money but probably getting more attention. (A $6 book, by the way, is far from a sample: it's an annual.)

Marvel Unlimited

Nova #8

Another Infinity tie-in.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #3

Meh, the art's pretty.

The Trial of the Punisher #1 (of 2)

A limited series from 6 years ago finally reaching print. It's good, let me tell you that. Any modern Punisher fan, I direct you to this book. Guggenheim should keep writing comics; Francis Yu should definitely continue to draw them. It's a 23 page book (haven't heard that in a while) which takes longer to read than a 23 page book usually does. (This is a good thing.) I don't know if it will be collected in trade given the story length, but I recommend checking it out.

Thor: Road Force #1-2

A superhero team based on a motorcycle company How very exciting. Marvel Studios have been tied with Harley Davidson since The First Avenger, but the fact they are able to make six issues with The Avengers, Iron Man and Thor I really, really do not understand. It's dragging a promo comic into spin-off territory. Who even seriously reads these except for cheese factor? A comics fan can't expect the pinnacle of storytelling, and a Harley fan can't even expect pictures of sexy bikes.