I know it is to get people's butts in comic book stores but it would be cool if they let comixology give these away several days or weeks after the event.

Our main comic shop has become so nuts on comic book day that it isn't worth the hassle. I remember taking my son there when he was 3 or 4 and it was a fun time with several people. He's 10 now and it with several hundred people all acting like they have never seen a comic book before. Snatching and taking everything. If you don't show up a few hours early now to stand in line, forget getting any of the comics. We skipped last year and this year because of it.

I ended up finding a copy of this at another shop, where I also got a Rocket Raccoon sketch by Skottie Young. I also picke up Sex Criminals Vol 1 and Itty Bitty Hellboy, which felt a bit odd to buy together.

They usually do. I think they'll be up tomorrow.

Took my kids for the 3rd straight year and they loved it. Our shop gives away 1 of everything if you want it, but the kids only take what they want, which is plenty.

We bought a lot more this year than in the past, as they had discounts on almost everything. The only downside was how packed it always is. I would have liked to peruse a little bit more, but it was just too hard to get around the store.

I had to hit two stories this year. The first one had no limit on the books you picked up BUT they didn't have every title. So I hit another store in Pasadena that had a limit of 10 books to get the remainder of what I wanted. The only book I couldn't find anywhere was the Legal Defense Fund comic. No one had that at all.

I ended up with a stack of kiddie stuff that I'm sending to a friend's daughter. I also ended up with 2 copies of the Mouse Guard hardcover. Need to see if a friend needs it first but if not, it's up for grabs.

I ended up buying a re-print of the Rocket Raccoon mini-series for my son because he's dying for anything Guardians of the Galaxy right now.

I was out with the family early today, and we swung past my shop about 10:30. Normally they don't open until 11 on Saturdays, but they were open and there was hardly anyone there (last year we swung by about 1 and it was packed). They had a limit of 6 per person, but between me and my 3 girls, that was more than enough for everything we wanted.

I really wonder if this actually does anything for the comic business, or if it's just something where people go "Ooooh free stuff! and never come back again till next year. I also think this is just a yearly ritual for some people now where they get free comics and see the new super hero movie that came out.

Here's my day so far:

• early morning Weight Watchers meeting has me down 10 (!) pounds, so happy and feeling more justified to spend money.
• 10am opening at my local shop is crazy madness. They are allowing three this year, but ten if you bring a food donation. I get my three, choosing ones that appeared to not be in my Mile High 'full set', and vow to come back later with a donation.
• Hit my other local shop. He's cool, but much smaller and only gives a book or two to each customer. I luck out by being the first customer to ask for the elusive 2000 AD freebie, and get his only copy. Buy a trade at 33% off, Demon Knights vol 3, as a thank you.
• Check the library that is right next door and hear that they too are participating, but not until noon.
• Hit Walmart for some canned food.
• Return to my local store with the food donation and get my other 7 freebies.
• Go home and get my wife for round two.
• Check out the library's offerings. No FCBD books, just random donations from the local store. Jen and I get an Action from a few years ago.
• Hit that second shop for a freebie each (kid titles for our daughter) and buy a couple recent Phantom Strangers to be nice.
• Drive to my main shop's sister shop 12 miles away for 4 freebies each and some half price recent fare like Sandman Overture and Miracleman.
• Hit my main shop again with Jen and her food donation for her ten for our daughter.
• I'll go back one more time tonight to scour the racks for stuff in the last year I'd like at 50% off; and talk to artists like Mark Wheatley.

Did anyone score a copy of the Hip Hop comic? Mine had some writing on it, which I thought was done after the fact. It's very subversive stuff and threw me in for a loop. I thought someone was fucking with me.

Digital sounds far easier then the chaos that is today.

So here's my official haul:

Hip Hop Family Tree (just noticed it says for mature readers, so it IS a bit controversial)
Guardians of the Galaxy
Rocket Raccoon
Far From Wonder: Volume One Hatter M
The Tick
Showa: A History of Japan
Atomic Robo
Future's End #0
Teen Titans Go! #1
Mouse Guard


As far as the Hip Hop comic it looks like someone wrote on the cover in a sharpie and it says FREE - the issue is numbered #187 and there's more writing on the back. On the back it says:

"Question: What kind of store doesn't carry hip hop family tree books?

Answer: A store that doesn't like to make money!!!"

First smallest store they have you a bag of 10 mixed comics and he held 5 others for me because he knew I wanted them. Also filled a small box for ten bucks

Second store you could pick 3 and then 5 back issues they put out (actually finished my animal man run here). Then spent 30bucks on nickel and quarter books and a couple posters for my niece

Last store with a 5 dollar donation to a charity you could get all the books. I donated but grabbed only the last three I needed and filled a small box of all new52 titles I needed for 20bucks


Today was a successful day!

They really need to expand this to the entire weekend. Most comic book shops are small places. It's basically impossible to move around the store on Free Comic Book Day. One local shop that allows 6 comics per customer was mostly wiped out of everything but the DC issue by 2:00 PM. They are a fairly big shop and had an artist or two signing stuff, so a line was taking up half of the store. I did notice a lot of older customers this year (50 and up). The industry seemingly gets older every year.

The stores that allow one free comic do much slower business from what I can tell. I'm surprised at the number of stores that don't participate, unless the tracker on their site isn't listing every retailer.

I missed out
Had some needed house repairs done today and couldn't get away. Really bummed but I guess there's always next year. Sounds like some of you had a fun day.

The place I go to you get two of the free comics. I decided to get The New 52: Futures End and Guardians of the Galaxy freebies. The real attraction though is that they put all their single issues plus trades/graphic novels on sale. I wound up with a decent haul of trades.

Picked up:
Batman: Birth of the Demon
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
Batman: No Man's Land Volume 1
Batman: No Man's Land Volume 2
Batman: Through the Looking Glass
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
Wolverine: Origins Volume 4 Our War

Seemed like a really lackluster set of books this time around. Nothing I would go out of my way to get.

Last year I picked up the Walking Dead book and the Judge Dredd Classics #0. (And it looks like IDW had already cancelled Judge Dredd Classics; I think #8 was the last one solicited and that was months ago.)

Went into Comixology and I did not spot any "Comicbook Day" exclusive. They do have a section of free comics but most of those I had already gotten.

Hit my regular shop and picked up New 52, Uncle Scrooge Don Rosa, Guardians of the Galaxy, and 2000 AD. In the past, they've had a limit of four, so that's what I took, though there was nothing posted, and I later overheard something about different quantities on the kids' titles and the older titles. They were offering 25% off everything so I picked up Sex Criminals TPB 1 as well (and the owner had mentioned it to me a while back when I was buying Saga and mentioned Lazarus).

They had some cosplayers, including a Zatanna. Actually, she was blonde and didn't have a top hat so I guess she was supposed to be Black Canary. Whatever--the fishnets got my attention.

I then went to my secondary shop and got Buck Rogers in the 25th century and Mouse Guard. They had a limit of five, but they also toss out some other random stuff, so I got Must Read Valiant Greatest Hits #1 (5.99 cover price), DC Entertainment Essential Graphic Novels (basically a catalog but somewhat interesting), and Image Firsts: Fatale #1. They were offering 10% off everything, and Phil and Katja Foglio were doing a signing. That was a bit awkward because I sort of know Phil, but wasn't sure he'd recognize me, and I didn't really have anything to say, so I kind of slinked around awkwardly. I just don't like the vibe in that store as well--some of the workers are fine but the main guy is a bit belligerent. And the line was long so I didn't buy any other items.

So I was satisfied with my haul overall, though I wish I'd gotten the Rocket Raccoon.

I echo the point about small stores. It's really hard to navigate with an unusually large crowd in there. Great to see the kids, though.

It's an interesting question of what it does for the industry. I felt a bit bad since I wasn't positive I hadn't picked up Fatale at the same store last year, and while I generally try to buy something else to support the stores, I realized a lot of those purchases are still sitting in Free Comic Book Day bags from last year. I saw Manara Library 2 on the shelves, and regretted that I still haven't read the first one I got last year. Generally my pattern is to purchase trades online, then drop into stores when it's convenient and I feel like browsing. I saw some floppies that looked interesting but I don't really enjoy collecting that format so I'm not a good LCBS customer.

Since someone else brought it up, I thought this was the weakest line-up of freebies for FCBD in years. Over the years this has become more and more geared towards independent comics. Did Marvel have anything besides the Guardians issue?

They also had a Rocket Raccoon book.

Nickel and quarter boxes!?! I'd go broke if I ever saw those again. I don't think I've seen anything under 50 cents this century.
Yeah, nothing screamed 'must get' at me this year either. I'm sure I'll end up really liking a few of them, but I've only read one so far, Epic, to see if it was suitable for my daughter, and it was mediocre. I know I'll love the Duck book and Mouse Guard story at least.
Yeah, nothing up last I checked. And I guess they've never gotten them all in past years. Looking at my cloud, there are only 35 or so FCBD books in there, and that covers several years.
Does any company ever do more than two books? Marvel did the two this year, as did DC if you count Teen Titans Go (which I'm sure to love as well).
I would love to meet Phil, was just thinking about his work the other day. I should have ripped out all of his What's New strops before I sold those Dragon magazines decades ago.

My total haul:

Archie Digest
Bongo Free-For-All
New 52: Futures End
Guardians of the Galaxy
Kaboom! Summer Blast
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Rise of the Magi
Transformers Vs. GI Joe
Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck
2000 AD Special
Rocket Raccoon
Buck Rogers
Project Black Sky
Epic
Fubar: Ace of Spades
Giant Size 4-Comic Bundle
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Hip Hop Family Tree Two-In-One
Les Miserables
Mouse Guard HC
Scam: Crosswords
Skyward & Midnight Tiger
Sonic/Megaman X
Steam Wars
Street Fighter
The Smurfs
The Tick
Uber: First Cycle
Valiant Universe Handbook
V-Wars


The only thing I couldn't find was the CBLDF Defend Comics book.

I spent most of my time running around to bookstores looking for Neil Gaiman's "The Sleeper and the Spindle", which was on sale May 3rd only as part of California Bookstore Day. Of course the Indy Bookstores were about as useless as ever "Gee, how were we supposed to know people would want those"? So that went nowhere, but luckily I found one for only double msrp on the Amazon marketplace (which is way better than the quadruple msrp the handful available seem to be going for on ebay).

I then finally hit my most frequently visited lcs, where I was as recently as last Wednesday, only to be told that Mouse Guard was only available if you brought in a certain amount of canned food. Wtf?!? Of course the complete crap was still there. So I then went to another shop where they actually had them all grouped and customers would ask for a certain letter corresponding to the group. No Mouse Guard here either, so I got the Aspen entry, Grimm Fairy Tales and one other, and will search the Amazon market for a decent deal on Mouse Guard.

The moral of the story: I'm spending more time and money at Amazon and reminded anew of how badly the local Independent stores often fail.

I found my bag from last year and I did indeed get Fatale #1, thereby costing myself a fifth freebie this year. Oh well.

Are people really into Mouse Guard or is the popularity of it due to it being a HC?