4 out of 5

I know, just that this is such a cute and compact hardcover for free deserves five stars.  It is jam-packed, for sure, but I guess I’ve found it makes sense to rate these things on how well they satisfy the ’cause’ of FCBD: roping in new readers.  And to that, this 2014 collection misses a couple beats.

David Petersen’s Mouse Guard tale is of his usual amazing quality – a nice, little compact bit with a father relating an old Black Axe tale to his son that gives us the overall themes of the MG series as well as hinting at the world-building Petersen has done so well.  Royden Lepp’s ‘Rust’ short is a super smart addition to his series: by giving us a little view into Jet’s ‘training’ before the war, Lepp finds a perfect snapshot for inciting new reader intrigue and also doesn’t ruin any of what’s captured in the series.  Adam Smith’s / Kyla Vanderklugt’s (a) ‘Labyrinth’ short, showing how a simple but friendly monster gains access to the Labyrinth, captures the chummy, open feel of the Jim Henson tales, and Tom Hammock’s / Megan Hutchison’s (a) ‘Will O’ the Wisp’ short, about a raccoon’s nighttime adventures, probably isn’t my speed overall, but the tale is incredibly cute and definitely enough to make me want to see if the hardcover collection has enough raccoon bits to merit my purchase.

Sean Rubin’s ‘Bolivar’ short is a four page sorta-gag that ends up falling flat.  There’s a nice sense of unleashed imagination on those pages, but the overall aim of the strip is unclear, and so it’s easy to bypass.  And the concluding ‘Farscape’ action sequence has some great art by Ramón K. Pérez (also writing), but there’s a bit of a “you had to be there” feeling that makes the occurrences depicted a tad confusing.  Adding to the underwhelming feel of these two strips is that they’re not included in the summary “buy these hardcover collections to see more” pages, which mention all of the other tales.  It’s fine if there’s not collected material of Bolivar or Farscape, but you should point readers to where they can experience something more.

So that’s all.  It’s an awesome little book to have on your shelf, and definitely a great addition if you’re a fan of any of the highlighted books, it just misses a couple marks on the FCBD concept.