So go down to your local store and free a comic!
If you do choose to head to your store, tell us what you did there. If you own a store, let us know if you have any particularly nifty activities going today.
PAD
So go down to your local store and free a comic!
If you do choose to head to your store, tell us what you did there. If you own a store, let us know if you have any particularly nifty activities going today.
PAD
• 
I headed down to my local New England Comic shop (Brockton) this morning and was delighted to see it packed with comic fans (young, old, male and female). I spent a few minutes chatting with writer Ron Marz (who will be at NEC’s Harvard Sq store this afternoon) and picked up a few free and non-free comics. Overall it looked like a great FCBD on Boston’s South Shore!
Cheers!
The Not So Bumbling FCBD 2010 Adventures of Me and the Bro!
This year’s FCBD trip was a new adventure right from the beginning because I had my brother accompanying me on the journey. He was the designated photographer since there was going to be guests at a couple of stores on our trip.
The first stop was the Brockton, MA location of New England Comics. Of course we were early so while we waited we grabbed a quick completely unhealthy bit of food from the Golden Arches.
When the store opened, we were in and made our way to the FCBD layout tables. Everyone got a copy of The Tick #1 and had the choice of 2 books from the other available titles. There was also a separate giveaway box of miscellaneous books that you could take 1 book from.
I grabbed the G.I. Joe #155 1/2 book for myself and the Bongo Comics Free For All as well as the first issue of Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century. Along with the Tick, the latter two will go into the big box of comic goodness to give out on Halloween. The Bro picked up a couple of comics for his own reading enjoyment.
Big sales included 50% off back issues, 30% off shirts and other merchandise and 20% off trades. I picked up a package of bags and a boards as well as Stumptown #3.
Then it was time to meet Ron Marz. Now I know that Ron is a big deal with readers for his work with Top Cow and Green Lantern among other things. But for me, it has been his Heaven & Earth miniseries and most especially his work on the Crossgen series Scion that made me a fan. I occasionally post on his CBR message board as well. I introduced myself and asked him to sign my copy of Scion #26 (one of my favorite comic books of all-time). Ron said that he hadn’t seen a Scion book in a while. When I mentioned that I posted on his board he asked me who I was. Dummy that I am I said my real name and had to quickly mental slap myself and tell him my screen name. He recognized it and commented that I had good taste in music. He also handed me a copy of the Artifacts FCBD book as well. The Bro took a photo of him and I as well. It was a very nice meet and greet.
Oh, and I got a pic taken with a very beautiful young woman dressed as Psylocke as well.
The second stop on our journey into four color goodness was the New Bedford, MA location of New England Comics. We got there and as soon as I walked in the guest artist Juli Mayers (Justice League cartoon series, etc) called out “Browncoats Forever!” when she saw my Serenity movie T-Shirt.
The Bro and I headed to the table of freebies where it was 2 FCBD titles and 2 miscellaneous freebies as well as a copy of The Tick #1. The Bro didn’t really want anything else so he picked up The Archie and Sonic books for me and gave me his extra copy of The Tick. Those will join my copy The Tick and Owly and Friends in the big box of comic goodness.
I picked up a copy of Ms. Marvel #1 and Green Lantern #3 (the most recent series on both) which will eventually be given away as bonuses on any comic eBay auction I sell. And I got the Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock book for my self. The store also gave away a package of Clone Wars trading cards in their pre-made bags. (Also will be given away on Halloween)
I bought the most recent issues of R.E.B.E.L.S., Batman Streets of Gotham, Farscape, Teen Titans, Detective Comics and The Guild as well.
Then I made my way over to Juli Mayers (wickedunscripted.com) and we had a pleasant chat covering a lot of fan topics (she is a fangirl as well as an artist, which I think is a great combination). I ended up getting a new Black Canary drawing she had done for a nice price and the Bro took a photo of us. The Tick’s art director Bob Polio did a quick sketch of The Tick for me as well.
Next up was lunch. Except that the place we were going to go to for the most awesome roast beef sandwich in the history of roast beef sandwiches had closed down! ARGGHHH!
So instead we headed to the final stop on the grand driving adventure, Over The Edge Comics in Fairhaven, MA.
It was 5 comics per person and the sales were 40% off books and there was a sale on the trades as well. The bargain boxes were lowered to 25 cents an issue.
The Bro picked up a copy of DC Kids, Owly and Friends, Shrek and the two different Marvel titles with Iron Man in them. All of which will be headed to the Halloween box. In the bargain box he found a copy of G.I. Joe #15 featuring the character Kwinn, a character he loves. So I picked that up for him big spender that I am.
As for myself, I picked up two issues of Arak Son of Thunder and 2 of the G.I. Joe Order of Battle comics from the bargain bin. I also bought the most recent issues of Usagi Yojimbo, Doctor Who and Conan. Oh and Volume 3 of the Star Comics trade series.
As for my FCBD pickups, I got War of the Supermen and Toy Story for the Halloween box and the two Oni Press books and Love and Capes for myself. Oh and we each got one of those War Machine Heroclix offerings as well. Mine will be given away on Halloween as well.
I made arrangements with the store to buy the leftover kid titles next week. And I got the sad news that the store will likely be closing at the end of next month. Kind of a downer way to end the day but overall, it was a fun filled day of comic joy and for a change I got to share it with The Bro.
And, please, buy something. It’s not free for the retailers. They actually have to purchase the “free” comics from the distributor.
I was basically in and out but my store had a local roller derby team because he wanted something different.
I got to my regular shop, Gryphon Games and Comics in Fort Collins about 11:30. They had opened early for FCBD. For promotions, they had some back issues on sale and some action figures, games and trading cards discounted. I picked up comics like Owly and Mouse Guard for myself and some of the kids titles for friends with young kids.
They also had gaming demos going and those were getting some interest. The owners are supporters of the local roller derby girls and had members of two teams on hand to sign their trading cards and sell tickets to the next bout.
The shop was nicely busy and looked like it was going to stay that way all day.
I couldn’t go because a) I have a bunch of homework to get done this weekend and b) the owner of my LCBS is creepy and I can only take so much of him. Perhaps next time, though…
Just got back from Free Comic Book Day at Lee’s Comics with a copy of:
Bongo Comics Free-For-All!
DC Kids Mega Sampler 2010
The Library Of American Comics
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #155 1/2 by Larry Hama and Agustin Padilla
The Tick #1
From the 20% Off Back Issue Sale At Lee’s Comics:
Adventure Comics #418 Starring Supergirl In “Face Of The Dragon!”
The Brave and the Bold #46 Presents Strange Sports Stories
Showcase #56 presents The Super-Team Supreme Doctor Fate and Hourman: “Perils of the Psycho-Pirate!”
Superboy #183: “Him — Superbaby… Now Mighty Lord Of The Jungle!
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #60 featuring “The Fantastic Army Of General Olsen!”
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #69 featuring “The Dynamic Duo of Kandor!”
The Invaders Annual #1 1977 with a cover by Alex Schomburg.
I wasn’t able to stop in but I did drive past my small local shop. They had a few Star Wars items and a Free Comic Book Day sign out front. There were a handful of people hanging around that I saw from different age groups.
And I’m sorry Logan but it’s “Free Comic Book Day” not “Free Comic Book Day but Please Buy Other Stuff because it’s Not Free for Retailers Day”. Buying some stuff is great but for regulars, that’s what Wednesdays are for (or whenever they pick up their bags) and if the day is really to help promote comics and pick up new readers by offering a free comic or two, there shouldn’t be a guilt trip attached. Not that I don’t get your point.
I’ve never been to a comic-book store on a Wednesday. Saturday is my normal day. (I have gone on some other days before, but it’s rare.)
I got the free Iron Man and Thor book, which I didn’t like, and the Archie, and the Tick. It was the first Tick I’ve ever read. I had no idea it was a reprint of the very first issue until I got home and read it. That was kind of cool. (How long did the series go before Arthur showed up?)
I also got a bunch of non-free books, one of which was by Peter David. (I haven’t read it yet.)
.
The store was really crowded. It was the first time I’d ever seen more than three or four customers in there at the same time. There were even several girls, which is pretty rare.
I’d been in there on a couple of previous Free Comic-Book Days, and it wasn’t nearly so crowded. I hope that means business is booming.
Tom,
I agree with you, though I understand what Logan is trying to say.
He’s obviously hoping the day leads to increased readers and sales, which all of us who love the industry should want.
I remember a few years back, some customers were complaining to one shop in Philly that one of the bigger stores in Philly not only didn’t make a big deal out of Free Comic Book day, but made it that a kid/anyone had to spend 410 for their “Free” comic. That kind of bûllšhìŧ is not only cheesy but counterproductive. It’s not taking the chance that at least 1 in, say, 10 of those who pick up a free comic will lie it enough to come back and, who knows, maybe spend as much as i do per month on comics. It is such a cool idea that so many have yet to take full advantage of – well, the shops run by fanboys pretending to be businessmen anyway, versus the people who are running great businesses and have great stores in large part because they are fanboys. There really is a difference. A huge one.
The day started with two friends and I heading to Zeus Comics in Dallas for their annual FCBD quarter comic sale. Picked up several of the free books, and 110 books from the quarter boxes. Filled some holes in some series, since money’s been too tight to go get my regular new books for a few months. One of those large holes filled was getting approximately (and appropriately) 1/3 of Trinity, leaving me missing only 1 issue. Oddly, even found a block of Blackest Night #8 in there, so picked it up.
From there, we went by my regular store, Keith’s Comics. Made me wish I had my son with me…they had a woman doing face painting for FCBD. (Didn’t take him because I knew he’d be bored within the first 10 minutes of us digging through the quarter boxes at Zeus.) Picked up a couple of the free books that Zeus had been out of and hadn’t replenished their stock before we left. Also picked up Blackest Night 6 & 7 (so I could read that story), Brightest Day #0 and Flash #1, which also garnered me the new Flash ring.
After that, we made a stop at the evil Lone Star Comics, as one of my friends was looking for one particular FCBD book that he hadn’t found at Zeus or Keith’s. As much as I dislike them, and don’t like spending money there, I ended up buying a Star Wars Miniatures game AT-ST Scenario Pack on clearance for $1.99 and a New Teen Titans Jericho figure on clearance for $4.99.
One more stop at Awesome Comics, where my friend finally found the free book he was looking for.
Lunch and back to his place where we all went through what we’d gotten (especially after raiding the quarter boxes).
Finally, as the other friend and I were on our way back to my place, we stopped at Comic Book Craze, where I picked up the missing issue of Trinity.
A good time was had by all.
–Daryl
I got a late start, so a lot of stuff had been picked through by the time I made it to New Dimension Comics McMurray early enough to meet artist Chad Cicconi, but not to get one of the free sketches he had been giving. Colin (the incredibly cool owner) had hot dogs and soda outside for everyone and a huge range of discounts inside. He allows folks one of each of the free books (and the “What’s Next?” and “Image First” books that are priced at $1) and had everything sorted into age-recommended classes.
.
Since I didn’t show up until about 4:00 (5 hours after he had scheduled to open, although early birds started coming in while he was setting up shortly after 9:00), I missed the Tick, GI Joe, Fearless Dawn, and Gaga books, but since the Tick reprinted a book I already had, it didn’t trouble me a lot. I was more saddened by missing the Owly. In all, I probably walked out with thirty free books.
.
I’m glad that I was required to purchase stuff to get the goodies, because there are many people who would be interested if they think they’re getting something free (including my students, all of whom I tell about FCBD and show posters and business cards for local shops).
.
For me, it was impossible to resist the siren call of the quarter boxes, dollar boxes, and other discounted back issues.
I went to pick up my month’s “stash”. I was amazed at how crowded the store was. While waiting in line, I heard a young mother behind me talking to her pre-teen daughter. She was telling her that Daddy (who wasn’t there) wanted to get her a comic whose series the girl might find fun: “Fantastic Four”. I couldn’t resist telling the little girl that when I was her age, FF was the first comic book I bought with my own money (FF #8 — $0.10)
I’m not trying to be funny here, I’m really not, but I guess I don’t understand why anyone who is a regular comic reader would go on a hunt for all, or most, of the free books. For collecting purposes? Isn’t that counter-productive to the point of FCBD? Or is that part of it too? I’m not trying to be a jerk, I just always thought it was meant for kids and readers who have lost interest.
Because we want to read them?
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Isn’t that reason enough?
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To expand, though…may want to read some of them because they’re by creators we enjoy, related to series we enjoy, or because they’re not something we normally read but they’ve piqued our interest and we want to see if we enjoy it.
.
I’ve gone on the hunt for some of the FCBD books for those reasons, or because I’ve thought they might interest my son.
I wonder if there is any real collectors value to these books. I actually didn’t think so, but after the first shop I went to “sold out” of The Tick right in front of me, I booked on to another shop who, at first glance, didn’t have anymore either. I asked an employee just to be sure and he said he would go to the back and get more. He came back with just one for me. It made me think that they were hording them.
As for what I picked up, I got the two Iron Man books, War of the Supermen, G.I. Joe, The Simpsons and The Tick. I only got one each of the books I actually wanted to read and thus leave more copies for the kids.
I didn’t actually buy anything on FCBD itself, but I spend $200 a month at the first shop, and spend a fair amout at the second shop, mostly on trades that my regular shop sells out on.
I have a few of reasons for chasing the books. One is that I’m sufficiently compulsive that I enjoy the chase. Another is that there are stories and illustrations that show up in FCBD books that haven’t shown up elsewhere (although those usually end up finding their way into a collection at some point). A third reason is that I use prior FCBD to tell people about each successive FCBD. So while Gaga may not interest me, that might be the book that really excites someone later.
Well, some of us regular comic readers have limited funds, so this is a good way to find out about writers and characters we’re not familiar with, since we might normally just stick to the stuff we know.
I confess I completely forgot about the event, being a bit absent-minded at times. I’m surprised Newsarama didn’t remind readers.
I chase the various titles that are kid friendly because I end up giving them out on Halloween.
And considering I go back to the stores the next week and buy up their leftover kid friendly titles, I don’t feel even a twinge over doing so.
Picked up the latest issue of Thom Zahler’s Love and Capes. He always has a regular issue that he releases for FCBD so you have to get that issue if you want to read the whole story. Boomarang Comics in Lewisville had a face painter and someone dressed up as Batman (and a very attractive Batgirl dressed up as well). Lots of TPB’s on sale. A nice event.
I tried to get my girlfriend’s kids into coming to the store with me. I even offered them $5 to help me with yard work after we were done. But, neither came.
.
I went to my regular shop, Comic Town, and picked up my held books. I got one of the Iron Man books and the War of the Supermen freebie.
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Then I went to the Laughing Ogre, the city’s oldest and biggest comic store. Unfortunately, a few years ago they had a decidedly unfriendly staff so I moved to CT. Now, I go there just for issues that CT has sold out of.
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But, the Ogre’s staff this day was polite and friendly. Both stores had a lot of people I’d never noticed before. And, both had a lot of kids. I saw a good number of people who told their kids they could have three comics, two of the freebies and one other.
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The Ogre sold out of issues of Super Hero Squad early in the day.
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I also picked up two manga books for the kids. A Pokemon guidebook for Jon (11-yrs old) and a Fruits Basket book for Kay (12-yrs old.) Kay already had the FB, so they let me exchange it for a Pretear book.
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Afterwards, I went home and did yard work while my girlfriend tried to debug my computer and the kids played WoW on theirs.
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All in all, it was a good day. 🙂
.
Theno
I forgot to mention: I picked up the Seige issues of Mighty Avengers so that I could see the rest of what was going on in Thunderbolts.
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While the whole Ultron vs Pym thing was interesting, it did nothing to tell me what happened to Herc or USAgent. And, the most recent issue of Thunderbolts felt more like a commercial than a story to me. Like I was watching one of those BBC America teasers about the show that airs before the show.
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I felt the same way about the recent issues of JLA. I have no clue what is going on, even though I’ve gotten all the issues since the new team debuted. I thought for sure that the two pages of JSA were a teaser for their own title, but then the next issue of JLA had more on it.
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I’m really close to dropping JLA and I’m not planning on picking up Mighty Avengers based on the issues I read yesterday.
.
Theno
Theno, just let you know that was the final issue of Mighty Avengers so you wont have to worry about it. Pym and Quicksilver will be in Avengers Academy coming out later this month.
Re: Hercules you’ll want to pick up back issues of Incredible Hercules, or Hercules Fall of an Avenger to find out what happened to Herc…he might get better.
Re: USAgent well you saw Mighty Avengers and Thunderbolts thats about all they will tell us til Siege or the aftermath is released.
And for someone reason I really liked Thunderbolts this month just because it allowed Pietro to shine, own Mr X and closeout the Dark Reign Osborn Thunderbolts. The Luke Cage preview did feel hamfisted but at the same time felt like a throwback to Busiek’s idea of the Thunderbolts.
Stopped by my usual store, Newcastle comics in Maryland Heights ( St. Louis Area) MO. There was a family in and some Gamers. Pretty much business as usual.
Picked out a bunch of the Freebies that looked interesting.
Bought my usual hold list and added “The Guild” after checking in with Felicia Day’s blog last week.
My local shop, Acme Comics of Greensboro, NC, invited numerous guests (Jeff Parker, Christos Gage, Jonathan Hickman, Chris Samnee, Chris Giarrusso, Evan “Doc” Shaner, Jeremy Dale, Kelley Yates & Chris Fason) to the day’s events and set up a tent for them. (http://www.acmecomics.com/node/1370)
While the shop itself gave away hundreds of bags of comics, the guests provided free sketches to all attendees. They managed to convince almost all who received a sketch to allow the store to scan their newfound treasure and have posted the lot of 165 sketches on their Facebook account (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165749&id=31429154134&ref=mf).
Incidentally, they’ve just been nominated for the second time for the Spirit of Comics Eisner Award. Others can subscribe with DCBS, but I’ll take my Local Comic Shop.
I own Sarge’s Comics Comics in New London, CT and we always throw a big party on FCBD. It is a time for getting “Civilians” into a Comics store, and we really do that well..
It’s always difficult to count the actual number of folks strolling through, but I estimate it was on par with previous years numbering over two thousand.
We ordered seventeen thousand comics, which was down a bit form last year’s 20K.
We gave out fifteen thousand books. Of these four thousand were given out in the leadup to FCBD at pizza parlors ( free with every delivered Pizza ), barber shops, gas stations, the Stonington Ten cinema ( thanks for the popcorn guys, the FCBD attendees loved it ), THe local staples, School upon school, classroom upon classroom.
Stickering and placing invitation fliers in each of the early books is quite exhausting given how close to FCBD many of the tiles come. But we managed. Every book given out gets an address sticker with pertinent info about the store and a great photo of the 501’st Star Wars Stormtroopers in our entrance.
The remaining two thousand books we give out all year. We order extra on the early reader titles like Owly and sonic and greet new families with them when the come into the store.
As to events, well, biggest sale of the year, 50% off all back issues in the bins, and discounts on every category we have, RPGs, CCGS, miniatures, tee-shirts, statues, etc.
Warhammer games were going on in the game room for curious onlookers, and an assortment of artist/writer/creators were on hand for sketches and signing. Many return each year for the friendships they’ve made with each other and the community. Artists were on hand almost all day from 10AM until 6PM.
Unfortunately one of our regular guests, Ox Baker was unable to attend, but we carried on missing his bellowing all the while.
No real limits to the Free Comics . We just asked that if multiples were taken that they be deployed in a manner proper with the spirit of Free Comic book day, you know, ..FREE!
Yes, we carried all the titles, some deep, some less so.
I’ll still be giving some Iron Man out at the theater this week.
Costumed characters abounded. It has become an institution as important to many as Halloween or an Anime convention. The Consquad Garrison of the Star Wars 50’1st laid the framework for all the costumed fun. Thanks guys’n’ gals!
Families drove fifty or more miles to experience the fun and be in the famous group shot. Here is one from last year to give you an idea:
http://www.pbase.com/harpozep/image/112526813
All in all a great experience for the community and our store. I’m sure we can do even more in upcoming years.
Here are some videos of the mayhem/fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE71E6pBabw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it35t6RgbDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3oqftXRhqQ
Oh and one parting thought. Hit girl was a HIT! Here she is with Black Widow ( her mom ) and officer Josh:
http://www.pbase.com/harpozep/image/124140787
Best,
Robert
Well went to my LCS (Amazing Bookstore) and was allowed a choice of two books. Thor/Iron Man was already gone (but my coworker may hook me up with her son’s copy since its just sitting around the house, lol) but I scored my Gi Joe 155 1/2 (offically dropping Dixon’s GI Joe for RAH when it returns in July) and the last copy of Waid’s Irredeemable/Incorruptible flip book.
It was great to see Hama pick up where Marvel left off, and its been way too long since we saw Fangface back to his classic mannerisms, CC’s been truly missed. LOL. And dámņ Mark Waid, I now have a new series to pick up.