Comments on: Free Comic Book Day!

by: Kat Kan

Sun, 03 May 2009 18:02:40 +0000

Thanks to the donations of FCBD comics from my local shop, I’m doing FCBD Redux at my school on Monday. Believe it or not, the teachers are the most excited about it! They’ve been asking me about FCBD since the beginning of the school year. They select comics to keep in their classrooms for the students to read when they’ve finished some class work and have to wait for the others to do so. They’ve told me the comics work wonderfully with the usually disruptive boys who don’t like to read; they will sit quietly (for a while at least!) with comics. So, tomorrow should be fun!

by: Russell

Sun, 03 May 2009 15:59:21 +0000

Let me give a shout out to Graham Crackers Comics in Wheaton, Ill., which hosted me on FCBD. They had a teriffic turnout. I was there for about 3 1/2 hours and the story was busy the whole time, peaking around 1 with (I’d guess) 30-40 people in the store at that time. They had about a dozen cosplayers (mostly X-Men, GI Joes and assorted Imperials), a ton of parents with kids and a really great atmosphere. The best part was seeing sooooooooo many parents (some comics collectors themselves) come into the store with children and get books like Owly, Cars and the DC Sampler for them.

by: Russell Smith

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000

I have to give a shout out to the excellent turnout for FCBD for Acme Comics in Greensboro, NC. They hosted signings and sketching opportunities from industry pro’s such as Sean McKeever, Kelly Yates, Jonathan Hickman, Mark Morales, Jeremy Dale,Chris Samnee, and the biggest “draw”, Mike Choi! While the lines were long (not a bad thing for this kind of opportunity), I really appreciate the fact that the staff handed out ready-made gift bags of over 20 FCBD books for each customer, as well as separate gift bags specifically geared towards kids. They had a separate tented area outside which featured Brian Defferding (of Bendis Board fame), as well as SONIC artist Michael Watkins. Well done, Acme Comics!

by: SK

Sun, 03 May 2009 12:03:20 +0000

My local also had a sale at the same time so I did buy quite a few additional stuff. I put up a photo of the event and a list of stuff I bought here :

http://sigmatestudio.com/2009/05/free-comic-book-day/

by: Al

Sun, 03 May 2009 01:18:47 +0000

Local stores here ranged from those handing out ONE (1) per customer, to the other end of the scale: “take up to 6 from this section, and as many of last year’s as you want.” All stores were busy, and told me that sales and traffic were strong. And yes, I bought stuff:)

by: Ed

Sat, 02 May 2009 22:47:39 +0000

I passed by Commuter Comics next to the South Orange, NJ train station and they had a great crowd. It was nice to see lots of folks dressed up and loads of smiling kids and teenagers thumbing through comics out on the sidewalk.

Having handed my friend a stack of comics just moments before, he turned and just said “Man, it really is Freed Comic Book Day! This is great!”

by: James Kochalka

Sat, 02 May 2009 21:41:13 +0000

I’ve been to some incredible FCBD events, that brought in tons of new readers, especially tons of kids.

My local store isn’t doing it at all this year, though. I’m really disappointed, since it’s the first time in years I’m actually going to be home on FCBD.

by: Nate Horn

Sat, 02 May 2009 21:23:37 +0000

I’ve never been to one of these. I’ve never heard good things from people I’ve talked to about them. The stories I’ve heard have all been like Kat’s - vultures taking all the free books early and no new sales resulting. I’m sure there have been success stories, but I’ve never heard anything that made me feel like going to one of these.

by: Kat Kan

Sat, 02 May 2009 20:31:33 +0000

My local shop kept it low-key for a second year in a row after several years’ of what we call the “vulture feeding frenzy” (people swarming in and wiping out all free comics within one hour and not buying a single item from the shop). I helped sort the comics into broad age categories, then the co-owner and I stayed behind the table to welcome people to pick comics, make suggestions, describe the comics, and just talk comics in general. We had no frenzied swarms, but a nice steady flow of people, including some families from my son’s school (I’m the school librarian) who came because of my item in the school’s newsletter on Friday. And some people did actually buy some comics, basing their selections on what they picked up for free. That was a terrific thing to see (it was the first time in several years).

by: Pete Kilmer

Sat, 02 May 2009 19:37:38 +0000

Absolutely huge this year for our stores here in Indianapolis. Swear to god our turnout this year is at least double what it was last year, I know my transaction count is up this year.