Free Comic Book Day is fast approaching. We at Comic Book Daily hope you’ve saved the date and made your plans to head down to your local comic book shop.
Let’s check in with a few Canadian Comic Shops to see what they are saying about their plans for FCBD.
The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery – located at 587A College Street in Toronto’s Little Italy will be holding its second annual FCBD event and sale! From 11-7 meet comic book creators such as Ken Wheaton (Popeye), Dave Ross (Iron Man 258.1) as well as Christopher Yao, Sean Ward, R.B. White and David Bishop. Tons of great graphic novels and comics on sale so come on down! Also meet members of Toronto’s X-Men and more.
Happy Harbor Comics. Free Comic Book Day gives us two opportunities. First, to say “Thank you!” to all of those who support us and make us successful and second, to say “Welcome!” to every new and returning reader/collector/fan of this fantastic hobby of ours. So with that it’s our responsibility to make sure it’s the best event it can be. Every year it gets bigger and bigger for us! More guests, more costumes, more fans and, certainly, more comics to give away!
This year through the store, we’ll be giving away more than 12,000 of the FCBD books; half through the store and half through various schools and libraries across Alberta. We work with small towns such as Olds, Two Hills and about a dozen more to host events and bring comics to the attention to the people of those communities.
On top of the free comics, we host a store wide sale, have 12 raffles for great prizes such as hard cover collections and an all-expense paid trip to the Calgary Expo, along with inviting local artists to come and create beautiful, one-of-a-kind art for those who bring donations to the Edmonton Food Bank! Last year we collected more than $800 and 81 kg of food for donation and this year we hope to smash that record!
To help facilitate all the activities we’re hosting for the nearly 2,000 people we are expecting this year, we are installing a 20 by 40 foot tent in the parking lot to house all the FCBD books, and then guide all the people into the shop through our garage bay door where they will meet the artists, can donate to the Food Bank and then shop the day away! We’re very much looking forward to the most amazing FCBD ever!
All the details about our event can be found on our website – www.happyharborcomics.com.ws049.alentus.com/events/FCBD/page_event_fcbd2013.html”
Big B Comics. We’ve participated in every Free Comic Book Day event to date and it seems each year gets bigger and better.
Free Comic Book Day is a day to celebrate comics and by extension the pop culture around comics. Pulling out all the stops with artists, free food, free comics and other special events is a great way to say thanks to Big B’s existing customers.
Our shops also pay a lot of attention to 1st time customers. We focus on making them feel welcome, showing them what products and services the shop offers. Conveying the natural sense of community that exists at the shop goes a long way towards impressing these 1st time visitors. The best marketing tool our shop has is the atmosphere of fun, tolerance and community that is present at such an event.
Free Comic Book Day is about getting people to the shop. No one leaves unhappy or unimpressed.
Big B Comics Barrie, Hamilton and Niagara Falls are all looking forward to the biggest and best Free Comic Book Day yet! We hope to see you there. If you are reading this in places not close to a Big B shop please visit your local comic book shop.
Log on to your fa
vorite local comic shop’s website and see what they have planned.
Please let us know what cool things your comic shop is doing in the comments fiend below.
We’ll gladly profile your shop’s FCBD activities, send us the details.
Don’t forget to bring nonperishable food items to Big B Comics to get extra free comics!
Here’s a snapshot from across the pond…
Orbital Comics London: http://www.orbitalcomics.com/events
“Orbital is pleased to announce we’ll have Kieron Gillen signing exclusively in-store from 4pm on Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) – Saturday, May 4, 2013.
Kieron has been a great friend of the store for many years and we’re excited to have him coming along. He’ll be signing copies of his new series Über from Avatar Press, as well as Young Avengers, Iron Man, Phonogram, Journey Into Mystery, and anything else you can throw at him (within reason).
So, make sure you come on down to join us and Kieron as we celebrate all the festivities of Free Comic Book Day 2013. See you there … and May the Fourth be with you!”
Forbidden Planet London: http://forbiddenplanet.com/events/2013/05/04/free-comic-book-day-discover-comics/
“Free Comic Book Day is perfect for fans and newcomers alike – if you love the idea of comics, these are titles to give you a great taste of what’s waiting for you. You can join the comics revolution – discover comics for the first time or return to the fold to see what you’ve been missing.
We’ve got goody bags for kids and for grown-ups; characters ranging from The Walking Dead to Mass Effect, Judge Dredd and Star Wars to Mouse Guard and The Tick, from Superman to Sesame Street!
Check out the sample of Killjoys, written by My Chemical Romance main man, Gerard Way, which continues the themes and characters introduced in the band’s last album.
Get there early – we’ll have special collectors’ editions for early birds containing Walking Dead, Killjoys, Superman, and Marvel Gold!
*One bag per customer, while stocks last.
Whatever you’re into – get into Forbidden Planet on Free Comic Book Day!”
GOSH Comics London: http://www.goshlondon.com/2013/04/free-comic-book-day-2013/
“On Saturday the 4th of May between 12pm and 4pm we’ll have people painting on windows and an all-new cast of cartoonists on the live drawing table. Come meet Isabel Greenberg, Dan White, Gary Northfield, Mark Buckingham, Laurence Campbell, David O’Connell, Viviane Schwarz, Warwick Johnson Cadwell and Adrian Salmon — in short, a bunch of people we like and whose work we thoroughly approve of.
It’s not just for kids: on top of the regular list of Free Comic Book Day comics we’ve also got a box of small-press giveaways. If you’re a small press person with some old comics taking up space in your bedroom and you want them out of life feel free to bring them down!
It’s going to be busy probably, it’s going to be chaotic maybe, but man, it’s going to be fun and what else are you supposed to do on Free Comic Book Day? It comes round once a year. Don’t miss it.”
For those who can’t make it to a local comic shop we’re offering a free preview weekend with over 700 comics free to read:
http://blog.comicbin.net/2013/04/29/read-700-comics-for-free-as-part-of-free-comic-book-day/
Jason Goldsmith
Founder – ComicBin