Free Comic Book Day coming up!

What's Free Comic Book Day you ask?

Free Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Based on a suggestion from retailer Joe Field in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer magazine, it was started in 2002 and is coordinated by the industry's single large distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors.

Free Comic Book Day has usually been scheduled in May on the first Saturday after the release of a major theatrical film adaptation of a well known superhero property, in order to take advantage of the film's heavy promotion and related press about the comic book medium. On Free Comic Book Day, participating comic book store retailers give away specially printed copies of free comic books, and some offer cheaper back issues and other items to anyone who visits their establishments. Although retailers do not receive the issues for free, they only end up paying 12-25 cents per copy for the comics they will give away for free.

Typically each major publisher gives out one comic that they think would most likely attract new non-comic readers. There is normally a wide diversity of comics available, although many retailers choose to eschew all but the most recognizable properties from the largest of publishers. The 3rd annual Free Comic Book Day in 2004 featured comics such as Arcana Studio Presents (which had Kade, Ezra and Ant stories), Archie, The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty #1 (a western), Star Wars – Clone Wars Adventures, Teen Titans Go #1, IDW Sampler (which included a CSI and The Shield), and others. In 2005, Fantagraphics published "Funny Book," which was an anthology of major alternative comics talents such as Los. Bros. Hernandez and Dan Clowes. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival also offered "Comics Festival," a compilation of new strips by such talents as Darwyn Cooke, Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca and others.

The effectiveness of the promotion has been debated, but most participants agree that it is a necessary measure for the good of the business. Many of the more successful stores have said that it requires a lot of self-promotion in order to achieve good results, particularly getting the local media to cover the event. Linking the event with movies is also somewhat controversial, as some believe that it shortchanges the comic book medium by making it look like simply a promotional arm of the film industry. In 2005, retailers voted to put it on the first Saturday in May, instead of fixing it to a film release.

The 4th Annual Free Comic Book Day took place on May 7, 2005. The 5th Annual Free Comic Book Day is scheduled for May 6, 2006.

Related Events

In conjunction with Free Comic Book Day on May 6, 2006, TwoMorrows Publishing has announced they will be hosting a promotional Free Magazine Day. Visitors to their website will be able to order any in-stock issue of their magazines Back Issue, Alter Ego, Draw! or Write Now! for free. A press release has stated that "TwoMorrows plans to make this an annual event if response is favorable."

External links

• Free Comic Book Day
• Diamond Comic Distributors
• Comics Retailer magazine
• Free Magazine Day press release on Newsarama

See a list of this year's give-aways here, and check for your closest participating stores at the FCBD site.

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G.T. Labs's Jim Ottaviani's books are always recommended for the young uns.

GT Labs

Some of Jim Ottaviani's outstanding output Jim Ottaviani involves the whole brain in his comics. Starting as a reviewer and interviewer for trade magazines, he moved to the other side of the creative fence in 1997 with the publication of Two-Fisted Science. He has then won awards for Dignifying Science (stories about women scientists) and Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, And The Political Science of the Atomic Bomb. His most recent book, to appear this summer, is Suspended in Language, a 320 page (plus a color supplement) biography of Niels Bohr, the father of quantum physics.

Comics about scientists

Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards

Dignifying Science

Fallout

Suspended in Language

Teleportation: The Official G.T. Labs Guide

Two-Fisted Science

Two-Fisted Science: "Safecracker"

Wild Person in the Woods

Other books

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Locally here:

Earth 2 Comics in Sherman Oaks

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FREE COMIC BOOKS for EVERYONE that walks through our door!!

Guest Appearances throughout the day!!

MARK WAID (DC 52, KINGDOM COME, LOSH)
CHRIS YOST (NEW X-MEN)
SCOTT TIPTON (SPIKE, COMICS 101)
CHRIS RYALL (GREAT & SECRET SHOW, DOOMED)
JOHN ROGERS (BLUE BEETLE, CTHULHU TALES)
ANDREW COSBY (DAMN NATION, CTHULHU TALES)
JOHANNA STOKES (ZOMBIE TALES, CTHULHU TALES)
MICHAEL ALAN NELSON (WAR OF THE WORLDS, CTHULHU TALES)
BENJAMIN ROMAN (CTHULHU TALES, I LUV HALLOWEEN)

And more to be announced!!

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And at Santa Monica's HiDeHo Comics and Books - expect the unexpected - they just survived the Los Angeles Festival of Books - they'll be putty in your hands ...

Welcome to Hi De Ho Comics!

Hi De Ho Comics & Books with Pictures
525 Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica CA 90401-2409

	Store Location: Hi De Ho Comics 525 Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica CA 90401-2409 Directions: Take the I-10 heading West towards the beach Get off on the 4th/5th Street Exit Stay in the left-hand lane and take a Right onto 4th Street Make a Right onto Santa Monica Blvd. heading East We are Between 5th & 6th Street, North on Santa Monica Blvd. Get directions from Yahoo Maps! We have been in the business of selling and buying comics since 1974 and are one of the biggest comic book dealers on the West Coast. We carry a vast selection of titles including Silver-Age, Golden-Age, Independent and Underground Comics.

	We are open 7 days a week · Wednesday-Saturday 11:00AM-9:00PM · Sunday-Tuesday 11:00AM-7:00PM US Phone: (310) 394-2820 · International Phone: 01-310-394-2820

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My heroes:

And for the Guru -

his favorite pervert suit in his proper pose ...

And finally ...that Green Glow from G.T. Labs explained ... - Sparks