Post #200: Free Comic Book Day 2012

2012 Commemorative T-shirt* Image
by Jim Lee

It just so happens that my 200th-anniversary post hits just now, but when I realized the timing I thought, what better way to commemorate the milestone than by taking notice of one of the greatest days in a fan-boy/geek's year -- no, not the US release today of The Avengers but rather the 11th annual Free Comic Book Day!  Tomorrow, Saturday 5 May -- as on the first Saturday in May each year since 2002 -- comic book shops across North America and even beyond will offer special free promotional copies of comics from a variety of publishers in an effort to attract potential new customers.  In many shops in larger cities the event has grown into much more than that, into virtually a miniature Comic Book Convention with associated activities including creator appearances, signings and sketches, cos-players (those fan-boys and -girls even geekier than me who show up dressed as their favorite comic book character), gamers, and the like, all having a ball.

Not having the luxury of a comic shop in our own little college town, one of my fellow fan-boy colleagues and I will be hitting the road bright and early for Excalibur Comics, Cards, and Games in Shreveport, a little more than an hour's drive up the Interstate.  For us, it hits at a good time to take a little road-trip celebration, what with finals week having just ended meaning we've survived another semester.  It offers a chance for us to revel for a little while in the ambience of a comic shop, something that is denied us fans forced to get our comics monthly via a mail-order service and thus miss out on the mini-celebratory day that comes each week on New Comic Book Day Wednesday.  And finally, it does offer a chance to check out the variety of titles and genres that are available in today's market.

If you're interested in checking it out for yourself, check out the FCBD site's handy store locator.  Believe me when I say that, anyone who is just open to the medium can find a title to suit their taste and interest -- mystery, horror, neopulp, science-fiction, romance, today's comics are much more than just "super heroics."  And they're not just for kids, either.  In fact, many are specifically not for kids.  Parents, exercise due oversight -- but go into the shop with your kids and you'll doubtless find something that you'll enjoy, too.

Cheers!


... And, by the way, I do have my tickets to see The Avengers later Saturday....

---

* Presumably as another consequence of my monthly mail-order method of buying, although I pre-ordered this months ago, evidently my T-shirt won't come until the end of the month along with my comics that were released on each of the Wednesdays in May.  Rats!  Guess I'll just have to wear one of the last two years':

2010 T-shirt by Sergio Aragones

2011 T-shirt by Darwyn Cooke