FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2012

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 10^thAnniversary 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 4^th for an 11^th 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 DAYeditions 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.