My son &
I had a nice father and son bonding morning on Saturday May 4 as we threw on
our Spider Man t-shirts and took a trip to the local comic book store for FREE
COMIC BOOK DAY. Free Comic Book Day is a
special event that takes place each year on the first Saturday in the month of
May when comic book retailers give out issues to anyone who comes into their
shops absolutely for FREE. This year
there were 52 Free Comic Book Day issues to choose from with titles ranging
from Superman to Sesame Street that would appeal to everyone from preschool
children like my son and daughter to a 40 year old geeky dad like me.
A big part
of the fun of the day was interacting with a wide range of people in line
waiting for a chance to grab a bunch of free comic books. If you enjoy people watching this was the
place to be! There was a very nice lady
who stood in line next to us that told us the whole history of the X-Men
characters while I tried not to stare out the HUGE butterfly tattoo inked across
her cleavage that was very visible due to her very low cut blouse; a group of
bikers clad in riding leather that looked like they could have been from the
cast of the History Channel’s VIKINGS who of all things were discussing what
they liked and didn’t like about that show; guys dressed up as storm troopers from
the local 501st Garrison who everyone wanted to get a picture with;
a group of kids wearing their karate uniforms and practicing their moves on the
sidewalk after just getting out of their class from the studio that was next
door to the comic store; and we can’t forget the friendly little girl in the Wonder
Woman costume who came up to my little boy to tell him she loved his Spidey
shirt and struck up a conversation with him about which tv show was better on
the Disney Channel: Doc McStuffins or Sophia the First. We were having a blast
just hanging out in line talking about super heroes and villains with people
who were die hard comic book fans as well as parents who had never read a comic
but brought their kids up to enjoy the promotion. My wife and daughter really missed out when
they decided to go shopping rather than join us guys on our excursion.
The fun
continued as we gawked at all the comics we had to choose from when we reached
the front of the line. The comic store
we were at allowed each person to take 10 issues…which is pretty generous as I’ve
heard some retailers limit people to selecting 2 or 3 comics…and we had to go
through to pick and choose from all the ones available. We grabbed Disney Fairies and StrawberryShortcake for my daughter. My son chose Batman& the Teen Titans, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Smurfs, and Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles. I picked up for myself TheWalking Dead, Star Wars, Buck Rogers, Prince Valiant, and The Tick. We also picked up Mouse Guard, the SteamEngines of OZ, and World of Archie Digest for the whole family to enjoy
together.
After
grabbing a treasure trove of comics we stopped to get some Superman ice cream
on the way home. Than we enjoyed a few
hours of just sitting back relaxing and enjoying our haul of goodies. Free Comic Book Day has two goals, first to
reward loyal customers with a fun event that will encourage their continued
business and second, to entice new readers to enjoy reading comic books and get
them to buy the publishers’ products in the future. They accomplished their goal when it came to
our family! My kids can’t read yet, but
they’ve been going through the artwork in their books over and over again and
have been asking me to read the stories to them. I have a feeling they are going to be future
customers! I am a regular consumer of
Star Wars and The Walking Dead comics so they built up some additional brand
loyalty with this customer who is going to keep buying these publications by
providing me a nice Darth Vader story to read and an exclusive Tyreese comic
for my collection this year. Plus, I was
very impressed with the preview of the new comic Steam Engines of OZ which had
great artwork and a nicely written dramatic and suspenseful story, so Archana
Comics most likely picked up a new customer through their FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
issue. Steam Engines of OZ is set 100
years after Dorothy’s visit in the Wizard of Oz where the Tin Man rules the
Emerald City and the “Wicked” Witch of the North is trying to save the land
from his dictatorship with the story portrayed in the steam punk genre. My interest was peeked after reading the
first issue of this new series.
If you haven’t
enjoyed FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, I highly encourage you to check it out next
year. For more information, visit www.freecomicbookday.com
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