Free comic book day is tomorrow, Saturday May 6.
What is it you ask? It’s free comic books. Free free free!
The FCBD website has a list of all the comics to be distributed, which varies by location. Many comic stores use this as a big deal, so often invite special guests, so check out your local shop to do if they’re doing anything cool. On my first FCBD two years ago, I learned a valuable lesson: don’t take EVERYTHING they have to offer. They’re not going to be worth anything as collector’s items, and if you don’t like them, they’re just going to take up space in your collection. Leave the ones you’re sure you won’t be interested in- like when I took an Archie comic that first year.
There are a few I’d highly recommend picking up:
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #1
A reprint, sure, but a fun issue to kick off the series.
X-MEN/RUNAWAYS
I don’t know if this is a new issue or not, but you owe it to yourself to pick up anything with the Runaways, a really awesome series about a group of kids who happen to be the children of supervillians. My guess is that this book will give you a good jumping on point for the series. Ignore the X-men stuff, since only one or two of their books are any good nowadays. (IMHO 🙂 )
FUTURE SHOCK
Mainly for Invincible. Invincible is superheroics done right. Not sure about the gimmick with this one (showing all these characters in the future) but it at least should give you a sense if any of their books are appealing.
FREE SCOTT PILGRIM!
I’ve enjoyed issues of this from the past, sort of Bill & Ted meet Tenchi Muyo in a rock band. Err, I just came up with that, but it’s fun. The solicitation I read for the issue says that Scott Pilgrim gets a chance to date the girl of his dreams, but only if he can beat all of her ex-boyfriends in combat.
THE PREPOSTEROUS VOYAGES OF IRONHIDE TOM!
Free Comic Book Day is one of the few chances to get an issue based on name of the series alone. This is one of those that I know nothing about, but will get for the title.
OWLY: BREAKIN’ THE ICE
Take pure cute, in its most undilluted form, and squish it into comic pages. You have Owly. Great for kids (no dialogue!), and enjoyable to read even as an adult, Owly is worth picking up even as a gift: trust me, you’ll find someone who likes it.
I’m sure I’ll end up picking others, and if anything surprises me, I’ll let you know.
And remember: FREE.
Wow, thanks for the recommendations, I actually hadn’t paid any attention to what the free ones were this year, nor do I ever. So thanks for the heads up, let me know if you want to go by the store -together-, you know, on a date or something…
How to run a Free Comic Book Day:
First, make sure you’re actually participating. If I walk into your store expecting free comics, and you give me a long winded excuse why you’re not participating, I am unlikely to view your store as having good customer service, and will not patronize your store as much.
Second, do not restrict how many free comic books I can take, especially if I am about to hand you a subcription form for 15 comics that I will be buying from you monthly. Restricting it means that the Indy comics don’t get into the hands of as many people. If you want to make sure you have plenty, make the “Gold” sponsors a limit 1 (which is all the big companies) and give me a chance to experiment with all the little guy comics that I would not look at otherwise.
Third, make sure I know where the comics are. Don’t just have a big box with a closed lid sitting on your counter. At the very least print out a small sign.
I try not to be one of those consumers that has a sense of entitlement to a lot of things I shouldn’t. However, if your marketing makes me all excited about getting into a comic shop and trying new comics and seeing if there’s a new series I want to pick up, and I walk into your store and get a different experience, I end up being a dissatisfied consumer. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and don’t get me excited about an event then pull the rug out from under me.