Free Comic Book Day!

Free Comic Book Day is something of a tradition with my friend Mark, myself, and my wife. It's a mini holiday for us. We get up early, run to our local comic book shop Heroes and Dragons, and dash into line in the hopes of snatching up a gem or two before the rest of the masses have taken everything but the Sonic The Hedgehog comics. We then stop by a local Waffle House (in this last month's case it was a Shoneys) and proceed to eat breakfast in a very antisocial manner while reading our comics.

Typically, the free comics come in three varieties. The first is the teaser comic; it doesn't really have a story, it just gives you a plot summary with pretty pictures. The second is the double issue which takes four or five pages out of two different comics and places them together; more bang for the publisher's buck so to speak. The final variety is the full length comic that actually tells an entire one shot story.

I was surprised to see that the Marvel comics that I picked up were mostly one shots. I've become sick of Marvel the last few years because of their refusal to let their characters die...but I'll confess I was very impressed with what they handed out in the free comics. I picked up a Thor/Captain America one shot that was well drawn, humorous, and much to my shock, enjoyable to read. There was a Spiderman comic that had a prologue to a "Spider Island" story line that actually peaked my interest in Spiderman. I doubt that it'll end up being any good in the long run, because Marvel has a way of totally screwing over Spiderman as a character, but I'll give them kudos for putting out an intriguing idea in a free comic.

So you should put Free Comic Book Day on the calendar for next year. It's a fun tradition, an inexpensive date, and if nothing else, it's always fun to "people watch" when comic book nerds gather en mass.