Free Comic Book Day

Today is the first Saturday in May, which is one of my favorite holidays: Free Comic Book Day! It's such a fun way to preview the latest comics from all types of publishers. The best contain complete stories; some have previews of a few pages of several titles the publisher is promoting. There's even a full-cover hardcover freebie anthology of Mouse Guard this year. There's a huge array of samples, but the stores I've been to set limits on the number you can take. Last year at our local Oakland, California store the limit was three; at our neighborhood store in Seattle today the limit is six, but either way if you bring several family members, you can get a good supply of reading material for free! Be careful of flip comics or you might pick up the same comic twice like I did: Even though it was clearly labeled as a flip comic on both sides, I didn't realize that Anna & Froga and Moomin Valley Turns Jungle were two sides of the same comic. I was too excited by the Anna & Froga artwork (check out the pic of the worm, cat and frog below). So pretty!

Our local comic book seller, Comics Dungeon, was mobbed when Oscar and I arrived at 11 a.m. Besides shelves of free comics, the store has marked down its kids' comics by 35% and its graphic novels and trade paperbacks by 25%; T-shirts and toys are also on sale. Like most of the crowd in Comics Dungeon, we took advantage of the lowered prices. (The cashier told me Free Comic Book Day is by far the busiest day of the year!) I got a hardcover Nancy book by one of my favorite old-school artists, John Stanley; Oscar bought a Skullboy Army comic. In terms of comics, I gravitate to the all the kids' comics, and my favorites consistently come from Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly. I also love Bongo, Top Shelf, and Kaboom! And I should mention the Voltron Force comic that my friend Traci at VIZ Media edited is in Free Comic Book Day preview form as well. (I don't know anything about Voltron Force and generally avoid the superhero-type action stuff, but I know if Traci worked on it, it's awesome!)

Anyway, free comic book day goes on all day long, so be sure to hit up your local shop!