Free Comicbook Day

[justinsayne]

Today (May 5th) is Free Comicbook Day. Participating Comic shops all over the world will be giving away, you guessed it, free comicbooks. You can find a participating comic shop near you by clicking on the following link

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/storelocator

Here is a comprehensive checklist of all the free comics that will be made available for this years FCBD.

Free Comic Book Day 2012: Your Comprehensive Checklist
by Matt Adler

We all know comic books are expensive these days, right? Well, on the first Saturday in May, the industry comes together to try to make amends, by offering new and old readers alike free comic books that you can pick up right at your local comic book shop. That’s right, free.

Now, just hold your horses for a moment… not EVERY comic book in the store will be free. But a wide assortment of publishers do produce special edition comics for Free Comic Book Day, as it’s known, and you are the lucky beneficiary. So what do you need to know to reap the rewards of this bonanza?

First off, every store is different, particularly in just how many free comics they’ll let you have. ‘Cause the dirty little secret of Free Comic Book Day is that for the retailer, the comics aren’t REALLY free. They do pay a small amount for each comic they order, so they can have them on hand for all the good little boys and girls who dream of being superheroes one day. So be kind to your hard-working funnybook merchant; if they say you can have as many comics as you like, by all means, dig in, but if there’s a strict one comic per person policy, try not to scowl menacingly. You can always go shop-hopping to round up the other comics you want to grab.

Remember, only special FCBD comics and flipbooks are free. You are not entitled to a CGC 10.0 copy of 1938′s Action Comics #1, or even more recent non-FCBD comics. But don’t worry, you’ll be able to easily identify FCBD books both by their placement and by the spiffy FCBD logo imprinted upon them.

Here’s a checklist of free FCBD issues to look out for:

Avengers: Age Of Ultron Point One – Story by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Bryan Hitch (MARVEL)
Spider-Man Season One – Story by Cullen Bunn, Art by Neil Edwards (MARVEL)
DC Comics The New 52 Special Edition – Story by Geoff Johns, Art by Jim Lee & Various (DC)
DC Nation Superman Family Flip Book – Story Art Baltazar & Various, Art by Dario Brizuela and Christopher Jones (DC)
Star Wars/Serenity – Story by Zack Whedon, Art by Fábio Moon & Christian Dalla Vecchia (DARK HORSE)
Buffy/The Guild – Story by Andrew Chambliss & Felicia Day, Art by Jonathan Case & Dexter Vines (DARK HORSE)
Image 20 – Story & Art by Various (IMAGE)
Witchblade Unbalanced Pieces – Story by Tim Seeley, Art by Diego Bernard (TOP COW)
Mega Man – Story by Ian Flynn, Art by Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante (ARCHIE)
Sonic the Hedgehog – Story by Ian Flynn, Art by Ben Bates & Terry Austin (ARCHIE)
Peanuts/Adventure Time Flipbook – Story by Charles Schulz, Vicki Scott, Ryan North, Art by Charles Schulz, Ron Zorman,Vicki Scott, Paige Braddock, Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb (BOOM!/KABOOM!)
The Hypernaturals – Story by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Art by Brad Walker (BOOM!)
The Censored Howard Cruse – Story & Art by Howard Cruse (BOOM!)
Smurfs & Disney Fairies Featuring Tinker Bell – Story & Art by Various (NBM / PAPERCUTZ)
Transformers #80.5 – Story by Simon Furman, Art by Andrew Wildman (IDW)
Mouse Guard / Labyrinth & More HC - Story by Jeremy Bastian, Nate Cosby, Royden Lepp, Jim McCann, Ted Naifeh, David Petersen, Art by Jeremy Bastian, Chris Eliopoulos, Cory Godbey, Janet Lee, Royden Lepp and David Petersen (ARCHAIA)
Atomic Robo & Friends – Story by Brian Clevinger, Art by Scott Wegener (RED 5)
2000AD Judge Dredd Special – Story by Rob Williams & Various, Art by Dom Reardon & Various (REBELLION)
Bongo Comics Free For All / SpongeBob Freestyle – Story by Matt Groening & Various, Art by Matt Groening & Various (BONGO)
Yo Gabba Gabba Free Comic Book Time – Story by Jamie S. Rich & Various, Art by Mike Allred & Various (ONI PRESS)
Bad Medicine #1 – Story by Nunzio DeFillipis & Christina Weir, Art by Christopher Mitten (ONI PRESS)
Animal Planet World’s Most Dangerous Animals – Story by Joe Brusha, Art by Various (ZENESCOPE)
Jurassic StrikeForce 5 – Story by Joe Brusha, Art by J.L. Giles-Rivera (ZENESCOPE)
Anti – Story by Peter Calloway, Nathan Edmondson, Art by 12-Gauge Studios (12-GAUGE)
Finding Gossamyr / Stuff of Legend - Story by David Rodriguez & Various, Art by Sarah Ellerton, Charles Paul Wilson (TH3RD WORLD STUDIOS)
Moomin Color Special – By Tove Jansson (DRAWN & QUARTERLY)
Burt Ward Boy Wonder - Story by Jeffrey Renaud, Art by Ramon Salas (BLUEWATER)
Overstreet Comic Book Marketplace – Written by Robert M. Overstreet, J. C. Vaughn (GEMSTONE)
Dinosaurs Versus Aliens – Story by Grant Morrison, Barry Sonnenfeld, Art by Mukesh Singh (LIQUID COMICS)
Graphic Elvis Preview – Story by Stan Lee, Various, Art by John Cassaday, Various (LIQUID COMICS)
Top Shelf Kids Club 2012 – Story and Art by Andy Runton, James Kochalka, Christian Slade, Chris Eliopoulos, Ray Friesen, Jess Smart Smiley (TOP SHELF)
Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Family Comics - Story and Art by Carl Barks (FANTAGRAPHICS)
Barnaby - Story and Art by Crockett Johnson (FANTAGRAPHICS)
Worlds of Aspen 2012 – Various (ASPEN)
Antarctic’s Zombie Kid – Story and Art by David Hutchinson, Fred Perry (ANTARCTIC PRESS)
Rockhead & Zinc Alloy 2-For-None – Story by Scott Nickel, Donald Lemke, Art by C.S. Jennings, Doug Holgate (CAPSTONE)
My Favorite Martian Special Edition – Art by Dan Spiegle (HERMES PRESS)
Arcana Presents Intrinsic – Story by Sean O’Reilly, Casey Jones, Art by Various (ARCANA)
Infernal Devices Clockwork Angel – Story by Cassandra Clare, Art by HyeKyung Baek (HACHETTE)
Lady Death The Beginning – Story by Brian Pulido, Mike Wolfer, Art by Marcelo Mueller (AVATAR)
Valiant Preview – Cover by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic (VALIANT)
Voltron Force Shelter From The Storm – Story by Brian Smith, Art by Jacob Chabot (VIZ LLC)

Now obviously Marvel’s Age of Ultron Point One book is going to be of interest to many, given that it leads into a big upcoming storyline. But you may also be curious to check the Hypernaturals, to see Abnett and Lanning doing the cosmic thing over at Boom! Studios. Archaia is really presenting a nice offering with a 48 page HARDCOVER sampling of some of the best works they’re publishing. And how wrong can you really go with Jurassic StrikeForce 5, which is apparently about mutated dinosaur humanoids armed to the teeth fighting against eeeevil aliens? Do be aware that some of these offerings are reprints of existing material… not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that. As they say, if you haven’t read it, it’s new to you.

And hey, the fine folks behind FCBD have even made it easy for you to find a shop participating in the big day. Just use their handy-dandy Store Locator and away you go!

One last note. Free Comic Book Day is a great day for retailers, regulars and new customers alike. Have fun. Meet people who share your love for comics. Thank your shop for their great service, selection, value, or heck, even for just being there in these troubled economic times. And please, make it worth their while–stores like my favorite retailer, Fourth World Comics in Smithtown, NY are plunking down the time, money, and effort to host this event for you and your community, so reach into that wallet and pick up that extra trade paperback or collectible you’ve been wanting. You’ll be glad you did.

Question: If you had to pick only five of these books, what would you get? Once you’re back from the big day, let us know what you picked up!

Personally after I pick out a few of the freebies I want, I plan on stocking up on some tpbs as my store places all tpbs on sale for 50% off. They also have Star Wars characters come down (mostly Stormtroopers, but this year they're getting a Vader, a big step up from last year when they had a Darth Maul) to pose for pictures with everyone.

For more information on the free books follow this link to a page where you can get a description for each book.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/1/27/981

 

[Richard Blonoff]

My local store has a 20% off sale every year today, 40% off back issues. Great success.

I believe they are supposed to have people dressed like The Avengers this year as well so many Black Widow pictures will be taken I am sure

 

[Shotaro]

My local store has a 20% off sale every year today, 40% off back issues. Great success.

I believe they are supposed to have people dressed like The Avengers this year as well so many Black Widow pictures will be taken I am sure

And they will be posted too... Right?

RIGHT?

 

[Richard Blonoff]

And they will be posted too... Right?

RIGHT?

If the Chick dressed as Black Widow is hot then yes, if not then still yes so long as I get some good shots with the guy playing Hulk. Three years they had a pro body builder come in, and painted him green, hopefully they do that again

 

[justinsayne]

Some stores, mostly ones in major cities are having creator signings, you can find out if one of those is happening at your LCS by going here.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/1/27/199

I am soooo fired up. My shop opens in about 2 and half hours & after I stock up on all my awesome goodies, I finally get to see the fucking Avengers!!!

Best. Day. Ever. (for this comic fanboy anyway)

 

[Sparky]

All over the world except Australia.

 

[justinsayne]

My LCS typically only lets us take 2 of the free comics provided. The 2 I'm thinking I'll be grabbing are Witchblade, & probably either the DC New 52 book, Avengers book, or that Image 20 book, I can't decide. I'll probably be forced to make a last min. decision, which will hopefully be made easier by the number of copies left for each issue.

 

[justinsayne]

...And I'm of to LCS for some gooey comic goodness, then AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!

 

[X]

So I've never actually taken advantage of this day until this year, but it was a bit crowded at my local comic shop so I just meekly grabbed a copy of the Avengers from the piles and took off. I probably could have taken one of every free one, couldn't I? Oh well, it wasn't the best looking batch of comics and the Avengers one was the only one that really looked interesting to me. Reading it now. Been so long since I bought a single issue of any comic, I'm so used to trades by now. Once I start making some more money I'm going to have to start picking up some titles again.

 

[justinsayne]

I had a great day, got a free Thor heroclix, which is on my "shelf o' random crap", facing off against the GL on I got at last years FCBD. Also grabbed the Witchblade freebie, & the Star Wars/Serenity freebie. Then I took advantage of the 50% of sale and picked up the Vols. 3-5 of DMZ, & then the first two Vols. of Northlanders, so basically lots of stuff written by Brian Wood. I then hung around a bit tried to snag as any photo's the stormtroopers, jawa, Darth Maul, & Darth Vader as I could get, sadly the camera on my phone is a pile of shit, so I only got one of two pics that came out decent. The best was seeing some little kid (about 4-5) whip out his lightsaber an challenge Maul to a duel. Saw a guy dressed up the saddest Iron Man costume I have ever seen. I then went & got my ticket for Avengers, had about an hour and a half to kill so I went & got Lunch after that, then it was back the the theater where I enjoyed the fuck out of the Avengers!

Such an awesome day.

Xfear, you didn't grab the Buffy freebie? I saw that & figured that would be one you would grab for sure if you hit up your LCS today.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

I had a great day, got a free Thor heroclix, which is on my "shelf o' random crap", facing off against the GL on I got at last years FCBD. Also grabbed the Witchblade freebie, & the Star Wars/Serenity freebie. Then I took advantage of the 50% of sale and picked up the Vols. 3-5 of DMZ, & then the first two Vols. of Northlanders, so basically lots of stuff written by Brian Wood. I then hung around a bit tried to snag as any photo's the stormtroopers, jawa, Darth Maul, & Darth Vader as I could get, sadly the camera on my phone is a pile of shit, so I only got one of two pics that came out decent. The best was seeing some little kid (about 4-5) whip out his lightsaber an challenge Maul to a duel. Saw a guy dressed up the saddest Iron Man costume I have ever seen. I then went & got my ticket for Avengers, had about an hour and a half to kill so I went & got Lunch after that, then it was back the the theater where I enjoyed the fuck out of the Avengers!

Such an awesome day.

Xfear, you didn't grab the Buffy freebie? I saw that & figured that would be one you would grab for sure if you hit up your LCS today.

Pray tell is it the one from the Avengers movie?

 

[Shadowmancer]

did anyone get the Dan "muthafucking" Abnett one?

 

[justinsayne]

Pray tell is it the one from the Avengers movie?

This one

did anyone get the Dan "muthafucking" Abnett one?

I have no idea what the hell you are talking about

 

[Shadowmancer]

The Hypernaturals, I am a fan of Dan Abnett's writing.

 

[justinsayne]

Oh, no I was only allowed to take two so I grabbed Witchblade, & Star Wars/Serenity (only cause I'm a big Firefly/Serenity fan & wanted to read the Serenity story).

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

As Justin is aware, my comic shop is brutal and I have no idea how they survive.

I went in to pick up some books for Free Comic Day, and then went to PURCHASE a number of trades and single issues I had in my folder and no one wanted to serve me. They were too busy playing Magic & League of Legends to make money.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Whilst Magic was a release weekend, That is fail

 

[.]

My local shop guy didn't care. He had those and a bunch of other Nightwing, Batman & spiderman ones for free.

 

[X]

I had a great day, got a free Thor heroclix, which is on my "shelf o' random crap", facing off against the GL on I got at last years FCBD. Also grabbed the Witchblade freebie, & the Star Wars/Serenity freebie. Then I took advantage of the 50% of sale and picked up the Vols. 3-5 of DMZ, & then the first two Vols. of Northlanders, so basically lots of stuff written by Brian Wood. I then hung around a bit tried to snag as any photo's the stormtroopers, jawa, Darth Maul, & Darth Vader as I could get, sadly the camera on my phone is a pile of shit, so I only got one of two pics that came out decent. The best was seeing some little kid (about 4-5) whip out his lightsaber an challenge Maul to a duel. Saw a guy dressed up the saddest Iron Man costume I have ever seen. I then went & got my ticket for Avengers, had about an hour and a half to kill so I went & got Lunch after that, then it was back the the theater where I enjoyed the fuck out of the Avengers!

Such an awesome day.

Xfear, you didn't grab the Buffy freebie? I saw that & figured that would be one you would grab for sure if you hit up your LCS today.

...There was a Buffy freebie?!??!?! Fuck.

Man I just grabbed the Avengers and took off, I should have stuck around and grabbed more but it was crowded and I had to meet a friend so I was in a hurry. I didn't see any Buffy book, but if I did, fuck, I would have grabbed that in a second.

Next year I'm going to take better advantage of this glorious day.