Saturday May 4th is Free Comic Book Day (Photos)

April 27th, 2013

Peter Nolan

To comicbook fans, Saturday May 4th is something akin to Christmas, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, Chanukah, and St. Swithin’s Day all rolled into one. The premise of this retail event is that on one day of the year (the first Saturday in May) comicbook shops all across the country will have a group of comicbooks that have been specifically been produced to be given away free of charge. That last sentence actually bears repeating. On Saturday May 4th which has been designated as Free Comic Book Day (FCBD ) by the comicbook community, comicbook shops will be giving away a group of comicbooks for free. Now this doesn’t mean that everything in the shop is free. It means that certain books that have been produced specifically for this event are free, and will be given away.

This year, there are some 12 comicbook publishers (including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW and Archie) as well as an additional eight other companies (UPS, Lego, Wizkids, others) who are official sponsors of the event. This year there are a total of 52 comics that are available — the most ever produced in a single year over the 11 years of the event. Some of the comics that you can expect to see include Avengers Assemble Hulk Agents of Smash #1 (Marvel), DC Nation Super Sampler #1 (DC), Star Wars Captain Midnight Avatar (Dark Horse), The Smurfs (PaperCutz), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New Animated Adventures (IDW), The Walking Dead (Image), World of Archie Digest (Archie), and many other.

While not all comics are necessarily “kid friendly” most of the comics that are to be distributed are suitable for general consumption. This is because most of the publishers want to reach the widest audience possible with their products. FCBD is a way for comicbook companies to make their comics available to potential readers who might not have tried reading their comics, or might not even be aware that these titles exist. It was conceived as a way to help promote the industry and to help increase readership. Now, to be sure, different shops across the country have different policies on how many free comics you can receive, but rest assured that every patron to participating comicbook shops will receive at least one free comic. To locate a comicbook shop near you that is participating, follow this link.

As a part of the celebrations, many shops around the country will also be holding in-store signings with comicbook professionals, plus Hollywood also tends to release a big-budget comicbook movie on that weekend. This year, Iron Man 3 will be hitting the theaters the first weekend in May to help kick off this terrific event. So, if you are into comics, used to be into comics, or want to be into comics, then you want to be heading out to your nearest comicbook shop on Saturday May 4th to check out what comicbooks look like in 2013.

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Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing comicbooks for some 30 years. During that time, his reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web. Subscribe to receive regular comicbook articles and reviews.

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