Comics Roundup for 5/11/11

This Roundup includes my selections from Free Comic Book Day, so I'll start with those:

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse - This was the big surprise for me this year. I've picked up various Disney comics before, and I've always liked them, but this one impressed me even more than they usually do. Basically this issue is a preview for the big hardcover collection of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse newspaper strips. I had never heard of Gottfredson before, but after reading a bit online about these strips, it got my curiosity up enough to at least pick up a free comic. I was already aware of the upcoming collection of Carl Barks Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics, and I'm already planning on getting those, but I hadn't heard about this collection until just recently.

Anyway, the thing that impressed me was how modern these strips felt. Oftentimes, when reading comics from the 1930s, there's often something that feels somewhat stilted and awkward about them - at least, in my experience anyway. Perhaps that's because the art form was still relatively new at that point.

This is the kind of comic that I hope to share with my son someday. Mickey's a fun, feisty character with a strong moral center. It's definitely the sort of thing you could hand to a little kid for them to read, but it's not the sort of thing that talks down to them. I could easily see myself eating something like this up when I was little. Shoot, I found myself eating it up now, and I can't wait for the hardcover collection.

Green Lantern: Special Edition - The folks at Flying Colors Comics handed this one out to everybody in line. I'm glad, because I was planning on having it be one of the three comics of my choice. Little did I realize that it's mostly a reprint of a comic that I already own.

The Amazing Spider-Man - They did a nice job with this one, as it's reader friendly and still fits in with the current continuity for us regular readers. Basically, it dealt with the problem that Spidey's facing now that his spider-sense is on the fritz. His whole style of fighting was based on that extra sense, and the only thing he has going for him now is his strength and agility. What he needs is to learn how to use them effectively.

Baltimore - This is a horror comic from Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy. I enjoyed it, and I might even pick up the collected edition of the series on a slow week. I also liked the Criminal Macabre backup story, which was a cross between horror and noir.

Fear Itself #2 (of 7) - I guess they brought back The Hulk's wife, Betty, some time ago and made her the Red She-Hulk. Anyway, that's hardly a revelation to anybody who's been reading the Hulk books lately though, I suppose. Anyway, I don't have much to say other than I think this is a fun series. I understand that something major is going to happen to the Bucky Captain America next issue.

Moon Knight #1 - I figured I'd give this new series a shot considering the creative team of Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev. It was okay, and I might at least check out the second issue. The surprise ending felt a bit gimmicky though, so we'll see.

Hellboy: Being Human - We get the return (although in flashback) of Roger, the Homonculus, in this issue. I always thought he was interesting, so it was nice to see him back. This was a pretty satisfying one-shot with Richard Corben's art adding to the overall creepy feel.

Batman Incorporated #6 - This is shaping up to be one of my favorite series. This really is a version of Batman that we haven't seen before - at least, we haven't seen all these versions of Batman lumped together into one version before. Grant Morrison is doing an effective job of combining all of the elements of the various Batman stories over the decades and fusing them into one character.

The New Avengers #12 - While I'd rather keep up with what's going on with the present-day team, the flashback story of the 1950s team is interesting enough. I'm still trying to figure out the connection between the two stories, but then again, maybe I missed it and need to re-read the issues that started this story.

Flashpoint #1 (of 5) - This begins DC's newest event, and even though it's a solid read, it doesn't feel like anything I haven't seen before. (Basically something has happened that altered reality, getting rid of most of the superheroes.) I guess the only thing that makes it stand out is that it provides some emotional conflict for the main character, The Flash.

The Amazing Spider-Man #660 - This was nothing too special, as it wrapped up the storyline involving the Freedom Foundation versus The Sinister Six. Also, it resolved Peter's current crisis with his girlfriend, Carlie.

FF #3 - Why is Spider-Man on this team again? He didn't do too much. Other than that, this is a pretty good series, with a loopy plot that would make Grant Morrison jealous.

The Flash #12 - This is the last issue of this series. Seems kind of abrupt to me, but maybe they wanted to end it if Geoff Johns was going to leave the character. I wonder what they'll do with Barry Allen once Flashpoint is over.