Comic Bento Subscription Box Review + Coupon – August 2016

Comic Bento is a geek/comic subscription box that sends a surprise selection of graphic novels with at least $60 worth of comics in every box!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes

The Subscription Box: Comic Bento

The Cost: $25 ($20 + $5 s/h)

The Products: A surprise selection of graphic novels with at least $60 worth of comics

Ships to: US and Canada

Good To Know: I’m calculating value for each novel based on their sticker value and not from online websites like Amazon.

Check out all of my Comic Bento Reviews to get more information on this subscription. Check out all of our Comic Subscription Reviews and Geeky Subscription Boxes in the Subscription Box List. Rate, review, and follow this subscription on the Comic Bento profile page.

This month’s box featured animals. From gun-wielding dinosaurs to sharks – this month had a little bit of everything.

Sam & Fuzzy Fix Your Problem – Value $10 on Amazon

I wanted to start with my favorite graphic novel of the bunch – Sam & Fuzzy. This had a Calvin & Hobbes feel to it, but it Calvin & Hobbes also ran a professional assassination business. Sam & Fuzzy is a long running internet comic – so don’t fear, there’s plenty more to read when you’re done here!

Here’s a look at the artistic style – which also helped with my Calvin and Hobbes vibe.

Homecoming Vol 1 – Value $9.99

This one loosely follows the animals theme by claiming the Aliens as the animals in the story – kind of a stretch.

From Amazon:

Nobody ever said being a teenager was easy… Just when you thought it was safe to go back to High School…Aspen Comics proudly presents an all-new series created by Michael Turner, Scott Lobdell and David Wohl. HOMECOMING! Hunter Wilson is just an average American teenager in an average American town, but when the beautiful and amnesiac Celeste arrives in his backyard, Hunter’s life will change forever. He discovers that Celeste had disappeared from that very house 10 years earlier, and now she’s back with little memory of who she was — but with strange, fantastic abilities and the knowledge that dark forces are rapidly approaching! Now, Hunter must help Celeste regain her memory while he tries to keep himself and his friends safe — and if that wasn’t difficult enough, Homecoming is just a week away and he doesn’t have a date to the dance yet!

This wasn’t my favorite story – I don’t see myself continuing this one.

Jurassic Strike Force 5 Vol 1 – Value $9.99

Ok – this one does not stretch the animal theme at all. The title pretty much explains the premise of this one – Dinosaurs melded with the human shape by aliens, one group are evil while the others are out to stop them. Think action movie with dino/human creatures.

XOC: Journey of a Great White – Value $19.99

This was one of the weirdest reads for me. At first, it reads like a Planet Earth documentary, but then seals are talking. It’s weird. Essentially, it follows a Great White on a journey from California to Hawaii and documents its encounters with other species. I’m not entirely sure who the attended audience was for this – I assumed a younger reader, but then numerous seals were massacred by a school of sharks.

Here’s a look at the art and storytelling style.

Pokemon Print

Lastly, they included a free postcard print featuring a couple different Pokemon. The three exclusive prints were done by Ali R. Thorne.

Verdict: I’m really liking Sam & Fuzzy, but that’s where my interest ended this month. I like Comic Bento and the idea behind it, but it feels like a higher risk of missed value than the single-issue comic subscriptions. In the months where I didn’t like 1 or 2 of the titles, it was a real hit to my value – but when they go 4 for 4, it’s a great value – so it makes this one a higher risk/reward in the comic subscriptions genre.

What did you think about the August Comic Bento? Do you subscribe?