It's almost Free Comic Book Day!

[ScottA]

I missed them all as well - was helping my brother move stuff all day.

[samurainoir]

Looks like those of us that do want the Adam West book might have to pay through the nose for it on ebay...
The Speculator Hits Of Free Comic Book Day 2011 Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movies and TV News and Rumors

[Brue]

prices of promos are often up while the collectors scurry to get a copy then they drop to a value of ZERO again. after i read mine i can pass them along. obviously they will not be mint if i have read them but hey, that's what they are for isn't it? reading.

[rche]

prices of promos are often up while the collectors scurry to get a copy then they drop to a value of ZERO again. after i read mine i can pass them along. obviously they will not be mint if i have read them but hey, that's what they are for isn't it? reading.

couldn't agree more.

[number 6]

FCBD was a real bust for me here.

The comic book store here opens at 10 on Saturdays, guess there were people lining up before the store even opened, which is no surprise, I was kinda expecting that.

I got there about 11:15, still a line out the door, took me about 15-20 minutes to actually get in the store, then another 15 minutes in line inside to get to the counter were the comics were being given out.

In years past, the owner will let you have 1 free comic, then pay a buck for each additional comic. This year he did some joint effort with the fire department to raise money for charity. You get 1 free comic and each additional book you had to make a $1 donation towards the charity. Which is totally cool.

When I'm about 5th-8th away from the counter, the rep for the fire department takes off. When I get to the counter, I hear the owner saying that because the firefighter took off they'll no longer take donations, so only 1 comic per person. Never mind that there's about 50 people in line in the store that have been told they can get more than 1. Why they couldn't continue to take donations without the firefighter there is beyond me.

Which was only a half-disappointment because when I got to the board where you see what comics were available, about half were already sold out and the store had only been open for an hour and a half! The Thor/Captain American book (which the owner must have known would be in big demand) was already gone. This is an all-day event that they had hyped on T.V. several times last week! I don't think he even ordered the Adam West book, which is the one I really wanted.

The owner has a great store, one of the cleanest, well-organized comic stores I've ever been in. But he's always tended to be VERY conservative when ordering and purchasing back-issues. I understand that from the business side of the equation, but I wish he would loosen up a bit on FCBD. He always does crazy business on FCBD, I don't see the point of hyping the thing on local news and then turning the bulk of the people away virtually empty handed.

I guess next year I need to show up at least half hour before they open to at least have a shot at getting anything decent.

Sorry, just had to vent. Was really look forward to this.

[spaceace35]

I hit three local shops today. Picked up pretty much one of everything that was free. What I don't keep I'll give to my brother. I also bought a bunch of old 1970s magazines for 25¢ each. Dynamite, Bananas, Cracked, Crazy, Electric Company and a KISS magazine.

man you hit the jackpot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[palitoy]

Hit two local shops, my son got Simpsons & Green Lantern and my daughter got her annual Tubby book (She loves Tubby comix but we only ever find them on FCBD) I bought a Mighty Crusaders TPB for $6, my son got some Star Wars cards and my daughter got her face painted. A pretty big win all around!

One store had Green Lantern waving on the street corner, which nearly caused an accidents. Both stores had a Darth Vader, one was chubby, the other short, I never found the "just right" Darth.

[VintageMike]

While I initially got nothing there turned out to be a nice surprise when I went to my to pick up my books today. at my regular store. This store is close to work but not to my house so I basically just go on Wednesdays during lunch. He asked if I was there for Free Comic Day and when I said no he pointed me to rack full of FCBD leftovers. Not wanting to take advantage I just took an Amazing Spider-Man (what I wanted most anyway) and a Captain America/Thor.

[HardyGirl]

That just plain sucks. Why would he charge for comics that are supposed to be free? Isn't that the point of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY??

FCBD was a real bust for me here.

The comic book store here opens at 10 on Saturdays, guess there were people lining up before the store even opened, which is no surprise, I was kinda expecting that.

I got there about 11:15, still a line out the door, took me about 15-20 minutes to actually get in the store, then another 15 minutes in line inside to get to the counter were the comics were being given out.

In years past, the owner will let you have 1 free comic, then pay a buck for each additional comic. This year he did some joint effort with the fire department to raise money for charity. You get 1 free comic and each additional book you had to make a $1 donation towards the charity. Which is totally cool.

When I'm about 5th-8th away from the counter, the rep for the fire department takes off. When I get to the counter, I hear the owner saying that because the firefighter took off they'll no longer take donations, so only 1 comic per person. Never mind that there's about 50 people in line in the store that have been told they can get more than 1. Why they couldn't continue to take donations without the firefighter there is beyond me.

Which was only a half-disappointment because when I got to the board where you see what comics were available, about half were already sold out and the store had only been open for an hour and a half! The Thor/Captain American book (which the owner must have known would be in big demand) was already gone. This is an all-day event that they had hyped on T.V. several times last week! I don't think he even ordered the Adam West book, which is the one I really wanted.

The owner has a great store, one of the cleanest, well-organized comic stores I've ever been in. But he's always tended to be VERY conservative when ordering and purchasing back-issues. I understand that from the business side of the equation, but I wish he would loosen up a bit on FCBD. He always does crazy business on FCBD, I don't see the point of hyping the thing on local news and then turning the bulk of the people away virtually empty handed.

I guess next year I need to show up at least half hour before they open to at least have a shot at getting anything decent.

Sorry, just had to vent. Was really look forward to this.

[thunderbolt]

^^^^The problem is that the stores still have to buy the books. Since they are at best promos for upcoming events or companies in general, you'd think the publishers could eat the cost to make it truly free for the dealers.

[number 6]

That just plain sucks. Why would he charge for comics that are supposed to be free? Isn't that the point of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY??

Actually, I don't really have a problem with him charging/requiring a donation for extra FCBD books.

What gets me is that he clearly doesn't order enough to meet demand.

Added to that, he doesn't do any of the other kinds of promotions that were going on at some of your stores. No price breaks on new comics. No discounts on back issues.

He was giving 10% off on trades, but he does that every Wednesday when new comics come out so big whoop-tee-do. Plus, he had absolutely no signage up advertising that he was offering the discount. The only way you found out about it is if you actually walked up with a trade and checked your receipt after the sale.

Again, from a business standpoint, I can understand not wanting to take a bath on this stuff, but some of the trades and back issues he has have been sitting on the shelves for years. What financial advantage is there to that? Offer some decent discounts on the one day a year when you know you're gonna do big business, clean some of that old stock out, and make some room for some new stuff.

The owner told me once that when the economy is doing great his business really doesn't go up much, and when the economy goes in the dump, his business doesn't take much of a hit. He does steady business and I guess he's happy with the status quo.

[Janson]

^^^^The problem is that the stores still have to buy the books. Since they are at best promos for upcoming events or companies in general, you'd think the publishers could eat the cost to make it truly free for the dealers.

From what I understand the publishers are eating the cost, its Diamond Distributors that is collecting all the money for the event. They are the ones who are supposed to be advertising the event, I have yet to see an ad for FCBD that wasn't advertised in previews. Has anyone seen or heard a commercial for the event in its 10 years. You would think that they would just do ad with one of the many Marvel comic movies that they coincede the event with every year.