I enjoyed FREE Comic Book Day with my kids last
Saturday (May 5) with a trip to the local comic book store to pick up some
freebies. This was the 10th
Anniversary of this event which has been held the first Saturday in May since
2002 and is scheduled to take place again next year on May 4th for
an 11th year in 2013. On Free
Comic Book Day, you can stop by participating merchants and pickup free comic
books drafted specifically for this event that give you a taste of what the publishers
and titles have to offer. Some of the
comic books available feature full stories and others have snippets that
showcase various artists and storytellers.
It’s a great way to introduce comics to children, provide existing
readers a taste of different materials to sample, and encourage comic
connoisseurs and potential new customers to support local brick-and-mortar
comic book stores.
My kids picked up special FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
editions of TINKERBELL, MEGAMAN, PEAUNUTS, DONALD DUCK FAMILY ADVENTURES,
SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES & YO GABBA GABBA! We also grabbed a really nice
hard bound book from Archaia Entertainment featuring a MOUSE GUARD story and
some stories featuring some of the publisher’s other titles including Jim
Henson’s THE LABYRINTH and Jeremy Bastian’s THE CURSED PIRATE GIRL.
My daughter’s favorite comic book was hands down
the Adventures of Tinkerbell which she took to bed with her and still hasn’t
let go of today. My son’s fav has to be
ArchieComic’s MegaMan which he has been racing around the house with the last
two days. Both of them also have really
enjoyed the MOUSE GUARD & OTHER STORIES book which they’ve asked me to read
to them several times over since we got home from the comic book store
yesterday.
I picked up a few comic books for myself too,
including Free Comic Book Day editions of Marvel’s SPIDERMAN which gives a good
glimpse off the rebooted movie coming out in July; a sample of Dark Horse’s sci-fi
offerings in a STAR WARS / SERENITY double feature, an edgy overview of DC
Comics THE NEW 52 titles, an AVENGERS feature giving a glimpse of an upcoming
series featuring super villain Ultron, and a nostalgic MY FAVORITE MARTIAN story from
Hermes Press.
As an example of how providing a free sample can
generate new customers, we discovered THE CURSED PIRATE GIRL for the first time in the
Archaia hardbound book and that looks like a title our family will be enjoying
in the future and picking up at our downtown comic book store. Looking into the title a little more online
after reading the segment included in our Free Comic Book Day offerings, I was
pleased to discover that Jeremy Bastian is a local artist who lives and works
in Michigan. Archaia must recognize that
there is some extraordinary talent in our state, because David Peterson, the
author and artist behind MOUSE GUARD, is also a Metro Detroit resident that
just lives down the road from us.
For more information about Free Comic Book Day,
CLICK HERE to visit the official website.
The Web site provides a search service where you can enter your zip code
to find local participating retailers.
Additionally, it provides some interesting background on history ofcomic books and each year they provide an overview of what special editions
will be available at comic retailers for the event.
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