DC Comics has an early holiday gift for readers: They are giving away the first issues of their digital-first comics all week long, so you can load up your e-reader with Batman, Superman, even the Vampire Diaries.
The official press release says they are giving away one comic per day, but when I checked the DC digital store and the comiXology website this morning, both had all the comics available now, as did the DC and comiXology iOS apps. So you might as well grab ’em all now, so you’ll have something to read while traveling or recovering from your turkey coma.
Here’s the lineup, with the days in case they go back to doling them out one at a time:
Today: Legends of the Dark Knight #1
Wednesday: Batman ’66 #1
Thursday: The Vampire Diaries #1
Friday: Smallville #1
Saturday: Batman Beyond #1
Sunday: Batman Li’l Gotham #1
Monday: Adventures of Superman #1
The nice thing about these comics (aside from being free) is that you don’t have to be a hard-core superhero fan to enjoy them. DC’s digital-first comics are designed to be accessible to new readers, so the stories are self-contained or very short, and you don’t have to know all about some complicated backstory. It’s like comics were when I was a kid! In fact, Batman ’66 is based on the old Batman TV show that was on when I was a kid, and it has the same goofy humor and over-the-top graphic sensibility that that show had. This comic makes full use of digital-only techniques like having the background of a panel change, or a word balloon drop in, with every swipe. Adventures of Superman is more of a classic comic story, a well crafted, well drawn story of Superman fighting a villain with telekinetic powers. That means we get to see him fly through the air and throw around enormous objects—he even hoists a car into the air, in what may or may not be an homage to the cover of Action Comics #1. Anyway, you can’t go wrong with any of these comics—they all feature talented artists and writers, and hey, the price is right! Just grab ’em now, before they disappear.
A former book editor and newspaper reporter, Brigid Alverson started MangaBlog to keep track of her daughters¹ reading habits and now covers comics and graphic novels for Comic Book Resources , School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly Comics World, Robot 6, and MTV Geek. She also edits the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. Brigid was a judge for the 2012 Eisner Awards. Send her an email to wordballoons@gmail.com