FREE COMIC BOOK DAY RETURNS

One of my family's favorite days of the year is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. Traditionally the first Saturday in May, my kids as well of myself are always geeked to visit local comic shops and return home with a bundle of books to spend the rest of the afternoon flipping through. We've been participating in this event since my kids were toddlers and were bummed that due to the pandemic what had become a family tradition that my children and I looked forward to doing together every year was cancelled for 2020.

I have some big news though ... drum roll please → FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is returning for 2021! Yes the event will be back for its 20th anniversary! To provide some more time for the pandemic to peter out though its traditional May date is moving to August. While the date may be changing though local retailers handing out tons of FREE comic books isn't changing. So mark your calendars for Saturday, August 14 to take part in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2021.

This event is meant to get people to visit these local small businesses which many were severely negatively impacted by the pandemic. I paid my favorite shop a couple hundred dollars up front during the worst of months for a store credit on my future purchases to help with their cash flow. If you appreciate the experience of holding in your hand and reading a physical printed comic book it is essentially to keep these small businesses alive. 

So while FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is a fun and exciting experience, please keep in mind stopping into these shops from time to time to spend some money so these fantastic places will continue to be there for us. After all this event doesn't make sense to have if the foot traffic it brings to these brick and mortar storefronts doesn't help the profitability of its sponsors. All right that is the end of my PSA.

This year's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY will be giving away 50 titles. Check out this video for a run through of all of them:

What is nice about FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is there is normally a selection of comic books that are interesting to all ages. There are some aimed for young readers, others targeted to middle grade ages, most are for teen audiences and even a few specifically for adults. Here are a few of my favorite FREE COMIC BOOK DAY selections in 2021 for each of those groups:

YOUNG READERS

MIDDLE GRADE READERS / TWEENS

TEENS

ADULTS

Unfortunately, this year there won't be a Free Comic Book Day edition of The Tick. Doah! Other than that seems to be solid lineup of titles that will be available this summer.

For more information about the event go to freecomicbookday.com