Free Comic Book Day 2009 – This Year, Theft-Free!

Free Comic Book Day 2009 – This Year, Theft-Free!

May 05

There are several things that we’re less-than-proud of here in the lushly-decorated Alert Nerd Central Office – my multivolume Raker Qarrigat/Arkillo fanfiction, Sarah’s homemade Gambit doll, and the thing that Chris keeps on his mantle and calls Slimer, but Oh God, what is it really?

However, none of those hold a candle to the way we celebrated FCBD last year – the year when Matt broke into his local comic shop, shot five guys and stole all of the free comics. That’s the way it happened, right?

This year, we were much better behaved, and here’s an infotaining after-action report to prove it…

Matt: It was seven guys, and they all deserved it, because they were lookin’ at me FUNNY.

This year I heard about a great set-up over at Acme Superstore, where they had a bunch of family-friendly activities planned. I decided to take my 3-year-old daughter to her first comic book shop, and prepared her by forcing her to read my complete runs of Amazing Spider-Man, Batman Family, and Lobo.

Jeff, where did you go, and what did you do? Didn’t Humphrey Bogart say that to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca? And if so, why am I saying it to you?

Jeff: It’s because you have an unhealthy obsession with Bogart. You even call your car The African Queen.

This year, I went to Comics On The Green in Scranton, PA and also made a short walk up the street to The Unknown, the other comic shop in downtown Scranton. While a lot of the comic and hobby shops that used to populate this area have closed their doors (which you may have read about in Grok #2), Scranton has managed to sustain two different comic shops within two blocks of each other for years. In fact, both have moved to bigger locations in the past five years.

Comics On The Green is cleaner and more welcoming than it has a right to be. Brad Meltzer told me it was “one of the coolest small town comic shops I’ve ever been in” and that’s high praise, no matter what you think about the issue of JLA where Red Arrow and Vixen are trapped in a collapsed building. It’s well-organized, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, they have a good selection of indie/small press books, kids’ titles, and also have a rocking Silver Surfer statue in the front window that I just flat out covet every time I walk past it (Dave got it from the local cineplex after the Fantastic Four sequel left theaters).

The Unknown is a gaming store that has comics. It’s smaller, has a more tight-knit community and pretty much only shelves DC/Marvel books (I have Eric order Zorro and Dynamo 5 for me, but they’re the only copies of each that the shop gets each month). The store is dominated by table space for card and role-playing games and a massive miniature gaming table.

As you’d expect, the two shops celebrated Free Comic Book Day a bit differently. CotG had balloons, face-painting, a raffle, and an appearance from CotG patron and DC/Dynamite author Scott Beatty, who was on hand all day to sign comics and talk about Batgirl, Joker’s Last Laugh, Raker Qarrigat (squee!) and, of course, Dynamite’s new Buck Rogers book, the #0 issue of which dropped two weeks ago (Tom Derenick, another staple of Free Comic Book Day at ‘The Green, made an appearance as a customer, but wasn’t doing sketches or signing anything this year). The Unknown had a Magic: The Gathering turnout.

Matt, what did your daughter think of Lobo? And more importantly, how did she like the set-up at Acme?

Matt: I think she had a great time. She met a few kids, she got her face painted like a butterfly, and Christian Slade (writer/artist on Korgi) drew a caricature of her while she got to watch. You can’t beat that for, um, FREE. Plus, comics!

I have to give Acme lots of credit for a GREAT set-up. They knew their two audiences well–the geeks, many of them regular customers, for whom FCBD is like a nerd holiday; and new customers (read: kids) who just want to come, have a good time, and do some fun stuff while getting free comics.

Inside the shop was the free comics setup–a long counter, two big rows of comics, 3 per customer. All-ages books conveniently in the front row; everything else in the back row. The shop’s back room was where the face-painting and balloon sculptures were set up. In the front of the shop by the windows were four tables where the guest artists set up. Outside, on the long sidewalk in front of the shop (it’s in basically a stumpy strip mall) were probably 30-40 longboxes of dollar comics, with their own employee sitting at a card table to handle those transactions.

So whatever you are hoping to get from the day, you’re all set. If you’re a harried mom or dad looking to kill a Saturday afternoon, or just someone new to comics, wander in and get your free books, and hey, free face painting for the kids, and would you like to meet an actual comic book artist? If you’re an existing fan, wander in and get your free books, and hey, 25% off all back issues, and would you like to paw through a ton of cheap dollar comics too?

You take something like that, and you advertise it properly, and I can’t imagine how it doesn’t help your business. Acme threw a textbook Free Comic Book Day celebration, and the place was hopping when I was there in the morning, and I’m sure it stayed that way all day. Lots of kids, lines to meet the artists, and literally elbow-to-elbow along 30-plus longboxes outside.

There’s no Free Movie Day, or Free Music Day (one could argue every day on the internet is Free Music Day, but I won’t, because I fear the RIAA). Comics may occupy a low rung on the pop culture ladder, but it’s the only industry pushing its best foot forward in this way. And sure, we could quibble about how lame some of the books are, and how many stores just don’t “get it” and instead choose to throw an insular event designed only to bring in the same schlubs who are going to come back in a few days anyway for another Wednesday fix…but there ARE plenty of good free books, and there ARE shops that nail it.

We just need awareness, that’s all. FCBD should be the lead story on at least one local newscast in many metropolitan areas where it takes place. It deserves a write-up in the Friday weekend/calendar/entertainment section in every local newspaper. Managers and employees should be doing wacky spots on morning zoos where they answer inane questions about Wolverine. Done right, it’s a great event, and it deserves a bigger push.

Anyway. I blacked out for a second there. Jeff, you awake?

Jeff: *Yawn* Wha-?

I think that you’re hitting the nail on the head – FBCD is a unique way for retailers to promote the hobby. I was talking about the future of the brick and mortar hobby/geek industry with a retailer friend of mine over the weekend, and a successful Free Comic Book Day proves how vital getting people out and into stores can be to growing the hobby. Of course, it’s easy to do it poorly (don’t market the event anywhere, don’t plan any other promotions, etc.) and then complain that you ordered all of this stuff that isn’t moving the way it should and that people are taking the free stuff without actually buying anything else. However, I also saw kids running all over the store and parents buying stuff for them. I heard what I’d guess is a seven year old boy vehemently defend Aquaman’s coolness, and that warmed my heart a little bit. I saw couples browsing in the store, and that was kind of exciting (and listening to a guy explain the Clone Saga to his girlfriend is pretty funny).

By 5pm, it looked like the tables were pretty bare, but I noticed the things that went the fastest were probably TMNT, Atomic Robo and Owly. What were the really popular books down where you were?

Matt: Most popular books–hard to say. Acme had tons of all of them, or so it seemed, and today (Monday) I wandered over to a nearby shop at lunch, and was able to pick up some of the books I missed, including Blackest Night 0 (atop a large stack of said book). The same shop didn’t have any Avengers left, however, so maybe that says something?

I picked up the Avengers offering, which I thought was a decent done-in-one though not new-reader-friendly whatsoever; the Savage Dragon issue, which wasn’t my cuppa; and Resurrection 0, which was an intriguing if obscure intro to this creepy post-alien-invasion series. The first trade is six bucks and I’ve already got it on order. So that was a good “get.” My kid loves the Top Shelf Owly book; it’s got an Owly, a Korgi, and a Johnny Boo story with a Yam Yam story on the back cover. And it’s in black and white, which to comics nerds seems cheap, but to kids means it’s ALSO a coloring book. Can’t beat that.

Only books I wanted and still haven’t seen are the Robo issue and the Love & Capes issue. What did you snag?

Jeff: I got Owly (the last Owly), Blackest Night, Avengers, and Robo. Didn’t see Love and Capes, but I wanted that, too. The Robo story is maybe my favorite out of the bunch – it’s accessible, it sets the tone of the book very well, and has some other good preview material in it. Like you, I saw a ton of Blackest Nights at both shops. Everybody took one, I think, but they just had a ton on hand.

Matt: Yeah, I needs me that Robo.

So that’s about that, I think. FCBD 2009. We had joy, we had fun, we had Wolverine in the sun. Or something. Any final thoughts?

Jeff: I’ll close with an anecdote, I guess. I was going to have Scott sign my Green Lantern 80-page Giant #3, but when I pulled it out of the longbox, I discovered that Scott already signed it – then I remembered that he was in the store the day I bought it off the rack.

I think that FBCD continues to be a good idea, though each store’s mileage is going to vary based on what they put into it. If anything, I think the crowd was bigger this year than it was last year, which echoes the ‘shadow economy’ that I’ve read people commenting on at cons. And we didn’t steal anything.

So there it is, Nerdians. What did YOU do for Free Comic Book Day?