Free Comic Book Day has lots of offering this year for the youngsters in your house

The first Saturday in May is one of the favorite days of the year in our house … it’s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!  While you may think this event is aimed to cater only to teens and adults, it actually has a very large array of giveaways aimed at preschool to elementary school aged children.  I took my children last year to a local comic book store for the event when they were only 3 years old and we picked up a lot of great age appropriate stuff that they could flip through on their own to enjoy the artwork or I could enjoy spending some time reading to them.  Some of the titles we picked up last year were The Smurfs, Yo Gabba Gabba , Disney’s TinkerBell, and Sonic the Hedgehog.  

The kids are 4 years old this year learning the alphabet and their letters but still can’t read.  Nothing less we’ll be going to Warp 9 Comics on Saturday, May 4, 2013 to pick up some more titles that we can enjoy together as a family and can be fun tools to encourage an appreciation of artwork and reading with our children.   Hey and you can’t beat the price … FREE!!!!  

Here’s a list of a few of the comic books that will be available this year that are focused to a preschool to elementary school age audience:

SESAME STREET & STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE 

On side one, Elmo, Cookie Monster, The Count and Super Grover teach you about the magic of reading comics! It's GUARANTEED to chase the clouds away!

On side two, join Strawberry Shortcake and friends on 3 berry sweet adventures!

Includes "The Blue Flu", "The Hunt for Blackberry's Treasure", and "Blueberry's Book Tour".

It's a bushel of fun! 

CLICK HERE for a preview

THE SMURFS 

THE SMURFS return to Free Comic Book Day with two stories never-before-seen in the US! Gargamel has tormented the Smurfs time and time again, always vowing his revenge on the small creatures. But what happens when he is forced to tangle with someone bigger than him- a nasty Ogre? Will the Smurfs let the Ogre destroy Gargamel, or will they decide to help their oldest foe?  Find out in "The Ogre and the Smurfs"! 

CLICK HERE for a preview

DISNEY FAIRIES: TINKER BELL

Papercutz presents DISNEY FAIRIES featuring Tinker Bell, along with comics from the new hit series, STARDOLL! There's only one fairy in Pixie Hollow who can't fly- Water-Talent Fairy, Rani. Why doesn't Rani have wings? Was she always this way? Find out in "Tinker Bell and the Wings of Rani".

CLICK HERE for a preview

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

"Worlds Collide: PRELUDE" - It's TWO free comic books in ONE! Just in time for the start of the epic Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man crossover event, "Worlds Collide," comes a primer issue exclusively for Free Comic Book Day! Witness the journey these two epic heroes from both Sega and Capcom took to finally meet each other - Mega Man's journey chronicled on one side, and Sonic the Hedgehog's on the other! This is the must-have primer for the biggest comic book event of 2013 - as video game icons Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man meet for the very first time anywhere - featuring art from both Sonic and Mega Man comic book fame! 

CLICK HERE for a preview

NFL RUSH ZONE

 A referee's flag is corrupted by the power.  The Guardians must arrive at the Bengals-Titans game and get that flag before the referee throws it, bringing it to life.  And the villainous Coach Carnage is on the recruit for his interstellar team "The Visitors," and it's up to the Guardians, with the help of previous draft picks, to stop him from ruining the draft and taking this year's recruiting class.

CLICK HERE for a preview

PIPPI LONG STOCKINGS

Drawn & Quarterly offers a second FCBD title for the first time this year and it will feature one of the world's most beloved and popular characters, Pippi Longstocking! The Pippi Longstocking Color Special will offer a sneak peak at the brand new Pippi Longstocking title that D+Q will publish in May 2013 to coincide with FCBD. Pippi Longstocking was created by Astrid Lindgren and has developed a dedicated fan base of both children and adults for over six decades. The comics presented here were originally published in Swedish in the 1950s and are now being presented for the first time ever in English. This will be the perfect All Ages comic book, ideal for developing a new readership of kids in the 6 to 10 age set. 

CLICK HERE for a preview

 KABOOM! COMICS

An explosion of All-Ages awesomeness from KaBOOM! this Free Comic Book Day! Sure to be one of the most popular offerings this Free Comic Book Day, the KaBOOM! Summer Blast is 48 pages chock-full of the most popular all-ages comics on the stands today! Featuring excerpts from Adventure Time, Peanuts, Regular Show, Bravest Warriors, Garfield, Ice Age and some brand-new surprises

CLICK HERE for a preview

Don't know where to go to find a comic shop participating in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY? No problem, just go to this link, enter your zip code, and viola you will be provided with the information you need:  http://www.freecomicbookday.com/StoreLocator

On a finale note WOLVERINE ( aka Hugh Jackman ) wants you to go ... watch this video message and make sure you take advantage of this great event:

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

A Dad's View: Sesame Street Live

We bought tickets and took our kids to see Sesame Street Live for the second year in a row last weekend.  From a parent's perspective I have to give the producers of this show kudos for an excellent production.  Sesame Street Live entertains the kids with age appropriate educational content that is family friendly.  In family friendly, I also mean that it throws in some inside jokes and content aimed at keeping the dads and moms in the audience entertained too.  This year's golden nuggets for the adults in the audience were a Jimmy Buffet inspired song number led by Cookie Monster and and a performance by The Count inspired from a classic 80's pop song.

This year's show was titled "Elmo Makes Music" and the premise of the show was that a new music teacher has just moved to Sesame Street. Oh no! the moving van with all her musical instruments never arrived so she can't teach the residents of Sesame Street.  Bert & Ernie come to the rescue by leading an effort for everyone to collect everyday items that can be used as instruments to replace the lost ones.  The catch is though they want to do this in secret for the new music teacher, Jennie, so they have various exploits as they look for items while trying to surprise her.  While Elmo is the headliner for this year's show it's Bert & Ernie who the show really centers around.  In fact, Bert & Ernie really steal the show from Elmo with several Josh Groban like ballad performances.

A big difference from last year's show "Elmo's Super Heroes" (see my past blog post) is that while Elmo plays a big part in "Elmo Makes Music" the production does not revolve around him.  In "Elmo's Super Heroes" the focus really was around Elmo while in "Elmo Makes Music" their is a fuller cast of contributing characters with Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, and The Count getting a lot more stage time.  My wife and I differed on which show each of us liked best.  She liked last year's show because it was filled with more of a story line outside the typical Sesame Street story lines with lots of special effects.  In comparison, "Elmo Makes Music" was more toned down but had more of a feeling like you were seeing a traditional Sesame Street tv episode being filmed right in front of you.  I enjoyed this year's show more than last year's because I appreciated that the tradition Sesame Street characters I grew up with (Cookie Monster, The Count, Big Bird, Bert & Ernie) had a bigger role while last year the focus was mostly on the newer trendy Elmo, Telly and Zoe that my kids loved but as a parent I didn't relate to as much.

The Cookie Monster is one of my all time favorite Sesame Street characters and while he doesn't get a lot of stage time when he is in the story he makes his presence felt!  In "Elmo Makes Music" he leads the Sesame Street gang in a Jimmy Buffet inspired rumba song and dance about cookies that was a fresh blast of Caribbean fun on a cold February day in Detroit.  Interestingly despite the title, Elmo only really sings during a segment meant to be just like the tv show's "Elmo's World" sketches.  This segment really didn't seem to catch the attention of the  kids in the audience despite Elmo being such a highlight attraction, maybe it was too much like what they regularly see on the tv show.  All in all "Sesame Street: Elmo Makes Music" did a great job of  keeping the audience's attention, often by having everyone interact in the songs and skits which made for a great time for everyone.  If you have a child between ages of 2 and 5 I highly recommend you check out Sesame Street Live.

Parent-to-parent though, if you go watch out for the over-priced souvenirs.  They have these awesome looking glowing wands and swirly light toys for sale that I went to the souvenir stand to check out for my kids but than I saw the price tag.  At $15 each that would have been a $30 purchase to get one for each of my kids (you know have to get one for each to avoid World War III from breaking out) for something that would have probably ended up in a toy chest or junk drawer the day after the performance.  Sorry kids but NO.  The fortunate thing is they really are discreet with the souvenir stands and you can easily avoid them and keep your kids from begging you for them as long as the parents sitting next to you don't buy them for their children.  Beware though, the one thing you can't avoid and they are NOT discreet about selling are the notorious Elmo balloons.  When they break for intermission  they bring these helium filled wonders out into the theater for every kid to see and want.  As a parent all I can say is "Oh the horror!" when you see these balloons being sold for $12 and you have to admit they are pretty cool but again looking at the sticker shock $24 is a lot of money for a couple of balloons.  Here's a secret ... you can buy the same balloon at Party City so surprise your child with one later on when it really is a special surprise. So if you don't want to loose a paycheck on souvenirs be prepared for them and know how you are going to address the situation with your kids before you go.

Your kids are only little once and Sesame Street Live is a nice indulgence for parents to thrill their kids with and enjoy some quality family time together.  Unfortunately there really is a limited time frame in which this show will appeal to children with the show being most age appropriate for ages 2 to 4.  So if your kids are in that age range don't miss out on what is a really great experience and check out Sesame Street Live the next time it comes to town.