3 out of 5

Free books are generally commercials to a certain extent, I get that.  FCBD gave a different face to it, and a lot of those are great, and geared more toward exposure than screaming ‘Buy me!’, but if you’re getting a sampler book / preview stuffed in your bag, you don’t expect much.

This ‘Share your Universe’ initiative is an attempt to encourage crossover appeal in the Marvel Universe of film, animated, and comic, but it’s a kid-geared focus, so we’re talking about Saturday morning cartoons and assuming your son or daughter was one of the bawling kids at the PG-13 Avengers matinee, because, hey, McDonald’s toys.  But let’s give this mini collection some credit for actually being entertaining and properly representational of its books.  Plus, the Ultimate Spider-Man bit (Eugene Son, art by Nuno Plati) and the Avengers bit (Gage, pencils by Chris Jones) are self-contained, so whether they’re original material or not, it’s nice to get a full story.

S-Man is properly jokey in every panel (in the modern kid sassy sense) and there’s a nifty teamwork lesson spread over this brief chase and battle with Juggernaut and Batroc, PLUS some actually amusing comic references for the, eh, adults in the crowd.  Heh.  Plati’s pencils are clear, with well-defined action, though the backgrounds majorly disappear in favor of force lines… but perhaps this is carryover from the cartoon.  On the flipside, our Avengers story – Bruce Banner visits a scientist who claims he can help rid him of the Hulk, and then BOOM it’s the Mad Thinker oh shite – gets the whole operatic feel of the team within its few pages.  Chris Jones art has a lot of personality for a cartoon-proxy and he does a good job of not just sticking to typical muscle male and skimpy female models (a la Justice Leagues Superman / Wonder Woman templates… though maybe that’s thanks to Paul Dini).  So on the strength of those two shorts, I would’ve actually approved the freebie for FOUR STARS (GASP I CAN’T BELIEVE HE’S WRITTEN THIS MUCH ABOUT A SAMPLER BOOK)!  Even the ads are acceptable ’cause they’re spread out and fit whatever tale they buffer.

BUT the Van Lente pages from Iron Man (James Cordeiro art) are a stupid filler, not self-contained, not even ending at an appropriate spot to build much tension and it they just go full on BUY ME with it… not using a ‘to be continued in the monthly comic’ trick, but rather CONTINUED IN THE IRON MAN DIGEST.  Fuck yer mother, kids, ask her to drop ten bucks so you can see the next two pages.  Yes, the digests in and of themselves are great ’cause they’re small and cheap, I just don’t appreciate the directness of the ploy.  Distract me first.  With candy.  With lengthy reviews.