Free Comic Book Day! whatcha gettin...

[drew]

52 books this year, some cool stuff

I am after the Walking Dead, Star Wars, maybe the Valiant, DC, a few others

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/1/27/981

What are you guys after?

[JohnMayo]

Thanks for Diamond sending out some advance review copies, I've already gotten:
DH STAR WARS CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT AVATAR
MASS EFFECT KILLJOYS RIPD
MOLLY DANGER / PRINCELESS
MOUSE GUARD / RUST FLIP BOOK
OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE
STAN LEE CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE PREVIEW
STRANGERS #1
THE RED TEN #0

I've got the following coming from DCBS:
ATOMIC ROBO & FRIENDS (Net)
BLEEDING COOL MAGAZINE (Net)
HARBINGER WARS SPEC (Net)
MARVEL GOLD CLASSIFIED (Net)
SUPERMAN SPECIAL EDITION (Net)

The others I want to get include:
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HULK AGENTS OF SMASH #1 (Net)
VALIANT MASTERS SHOWCASE ED (Net)
WALKING DEAD SPECIAL (Net) (MR)

Things have been busier than I expected this week so I've only read the Red Ten #0 issue. I highly recommend it. Not only is it a great intro to the series but it has a contest for a free hardcover in it. The back cover has a crossword puzzle you can answer if you read the issue carefully. The puzzle provides a clue for the online content. Brilliant way to get people to read the issue closer. Great use of a Free Comic Book Day issue.

[drew]

nice, gotta get my hands on some of those

[ctowner1]

ATOMIC ROBO & FRIENDS
MARVEL GOLD CLASSIFIED
MOUSE GUARD / RUST FLIP BOOK
SUPERMAN SPECIAL EDITION
WALKING DEAD SPECIAL

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L nny

[JohnMayo]

I went to Austin Books and got the following:
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE HULK AGENTS OF SMASH #1
DC NATION SUPER SAMPLER #1
DONALD DUCK FAMILY (from 2012)
HARBINGER WARS SPEC
INFINITY
MASS EFFECT KILLJOYS RIPD (didn't realize I already had this flipbook)
SUPERMAN SPECIAL EDITION
THE TICK
WORLD OF ARCHIE DIGEST
WORLDS OF ASPEN

Then I went to the new location of Capstone Comics and got:
ATOMIC ROBO & FRIENDS
APHRODITE IX #1
MANKIND THE STORY OF ALL OF US (from last year?)

I have a few of them on order with DCBS but this way I have the option of reading them sooner and don't run the risk of missing them on the off chance something goes wrong with the DCBS order.

The parking lot at Capstone is an accident waiting to happen which will make it unlikely for me to visit them too often.

I drove past the new Dragon's Lair location but the parking lot was full so rather than search for an open spot, I headed home.

I was too tired to swing by Tribe Comics and Games. I'll try to head over there soon and see what new super hero RPGs they might have.

Between a long week at work including a midnight code deploy, the teleconference Friday night and a few other things going on, I started the day exhausted.

[drew]

i took Bob's advice and me and a buddy hit 6 shops to check out all the promotions and see what was new and of course grab some free comics.

Very surprised at the stores that limited to 1 or 2 free comics, here was breakdown for the stores we hit in Columbus Ohio

Comic Town- 4 freebies, but also a 75 cent sale on all back issue so I stocked up on New 52, Marvel Now and the latest Image to the tune of 50 bucks, so FCBD ain't free kids...

Laughing Ogre- 0 free comics, line out the door and down the block but went in anyway to meet Brian Wood and he signed a Star Wars for me, nice guy chatted him up for a while, no line for a guy writing 3 great great books (Mara, Massive, Star Wars) that you would have to go to a ComicCon to see but 300 people in line for a 20 cent comic - go figure (why I didnt grab a Mara and Massive for him to sign also-I have no idea)

Moore Comics - 1 measly free comic, but I found a couple injustice back issues issues so worth the stop,

World's Greatest Comics - 4 free, and all current comics buy 2 get 1 free, so had to pick up the Mark Waid Green Hornet, East of West 2, and Ten Grand...I Had To!

Dave's Club House - 1 free comic, nerd central with heroclix tourney going on, got some more back issues and a Blackacre 1 that I had been looking for

Capital City Comics - last stop - 5 freebies, 30% off the Premium Wall so picked up Saga 4/5 first prints both for 20 bucks and some more books that will be in my DCBS box but I lost control of my better judgement today...Brian Wood was the highlight (credit card statement will be the lowlight) but a great day all around...VIVA la FCBD

[SpideySavestheDay]

I took my kids with me to experience our first FCBD. We only made it to a few stores but thy had a great time.

All About Books and Comics in Phoenix- One of the older and best stocked stores was giving away a free book plus five more with a $5 purchase. What was great about this place was the free comics included issues of overstock Marvel NOW and DC titles. The kids got their face painted with the Wonder Woman tiara.

Drawn to Comics in Glendale used the opportunity to include all the local small business owners. Free comics were scattered between 10 different stores that all had discounts and family oriented activities. Picked up the FCBD Superman and my kids convinced me to buy My Little Pony (35% off).

At that point the kids ran out of gas.

It's great to read what other cities' LCS's did.

[BobBretall]

I was very happy today when I was in line with my purchases at a local shop here in Southern California (Nuclear Comics). I was behind a guy in line with 2 young sons, the oldest was 10. They had free comics & were also buying comics. He told me they had gotten into comics at last year’s FCBD and had been voraciously reading comics ever since.

This is the real point of FCBD, to get new readers into comics. I was so happy to see the smiling kids with their hands full of comics. A lot of them free and some extras purchased.

I only visited 2 shops this year but I got my hands on all 52 FCBD comics between Nuclear Comics and my primary Local Comics Shop – Comics Toons’n'Toys.

Nuclear Comics opened at 9am. I got there about 20 minutes early and was in line behind about 30 people. By the time they opened the line was at about 60. They had 1000s of comics on sale for $1 each, all their newer comics & back issues were 50% off, and they had a couple of artists in the shop doing sketches & signing autographs. They also let you snag as many free comics as you wanted, I got 48 of the 52 and bought a big pile of stuff from their sale. I spent about 90 minutes there prowling their back issue sale & picking up some recent issues I'd been skipping at half-off to give them another chance.

From there I went to Comics Toons'n'Toys, who opened at 11. I got there a bit before opening & they had a HUGE line. Must have been 200 people. I wanted the 4 I had missed earlier, since I'm a regular customer (unlike about 90% of the people in line) I slipped one of the guys there a slip of paper with the 4 comics I wanted & he grabbed them & put them in my pull box for me (they were limiting to 5 picks).

Joe Davidson was in line with his daughter so I hung out & chatted with them for about 30 minutes before moving on to check out the store-wide sale, free cookies & candy, and the “easy up” pavilions out front set up to provide shade for a LOT of local artists drawing sketches & selling their wares (including Norm Rapmund & Chyna Clugston). Slid back into line with Joe & picked up the Iron Man HeroClix I realized I had also missed.

Had lunch at the food truck they had there for the event. I spent about 2 hours here & then headed home, a bit less motivation this year to go around to lots of different stores, it's funner to visit lots of places when you have someone to go around with.

[JohnMayo]

48 free comics from a single store? Wow. I thought Austin Books was being generous with a limit of ten comics.

[GABE!]

As successful as FCBD has become over the pass 11 years, I'm still perplexed as to why Diamond and the whole comics industry haven't started advertising this event on a nation wide scale. It would be great to see tv commercials or billboards promoting this more to get new readers to visit local comic shops

[exharrison]

He told me they had gotten into comics at last year’s FCBD and had been voraciously reading comics ever since.

This is the real point of FCBD, to get new readers into comics. I was so happy to see the smiling kids with their hands full of comics. A lot of them free and some extras purchased.

Do you think there is any positive impact of FCBD issues like Walking Dead where it has stories that won't be reprinted in trades? Or does that only pull in collectors/current readers and no new ones?

[Perry]

Anyone here know if their local libraries also had FCBD comics? I have heard from a couple different people now that there was an article in the paper about it. If that is the case nationwide, I think that would be awesome.

[drew]

Newark (OH) Public Library also gave away 4 FCBD comics on Sat. they teamed up with the LCS so you could get 4 their and 4 at the store...

[Perry]

Newark (OH) Public Library also gave away 4 FCBD comics on Sat. they teamed up with the LCS so you could get 4 their and 4 at the store...

[WebWiz20]

[comicsjayne]

I went with the kids to local comic shop here in Wisconsin. The shop did a great job. The kids could take all the books they wanted if it was a kid FCBD. However, not all the books I wanted were there. I ended up making an order from Graham Cracker Comics and Mile High Comics online to get what my LCS didn't have. Overall fun day with the kids. The books have not left the car yet so they can reread the stories.