Free Comic Book Day (1 Viewer)

[Robert Floto]

Saturday, May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day at your local comic book shop for those who are interested.

You can find out what titles at Free Comic Book Day May 3rd 2008.

 

[TravisR]

I'll be getting that EC Sampler and the Simpsons book.

 

[streeter]

I can't wait! I did this for the first time last year and it was great. I went to Midtown Comics in NYC and got a big bag with pretty much all of the comics.

 

[Robert Floto]

Tomorrow is the day!

 

[Mick Wright]

The comic shop I went into only gave away 1 book per person. I told them never mind.

 

[streeter]

Midtown Comics again gave out all of them (44 or 45).

 

[TravisR]

The books aren't free to the retailers money so I don't blame them for putting a limit on people (especially when every year, I see people grabbing everything whether they're interested in it or not). Of course, when they limit the number of books or don't carry them, the store looks bad and it pisses off its customers. In the end, Free Comic Book Day is designed as a promotion for the industry but it's a waste of money for the retailers because they 'have' to particpate and spend money to keep their customers happy but they get little or no new customers.

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

At Newbury Comics in Burlington I took my 4 1/2 year old daughter who loves Spider-Man. They had the books behind the counter, so I just asked if it would be greedy to just ask for one of everything. The girl was very friendly and said no problem, I wouldn't be the first.

Looking through the books at home, I was very happy to see about 10 titles that were kid-friendly, so my daughter could have her own 'stash,' and wandering around, I bought her a few more books that she picked to put some cash Newbury's way.

She was thrilled with her pile of comics - I think they've made a future comics reader of her!

 

[streeter]

How does it cost the retailers money? Aren't these all promotional editions that are provided to the stores for free?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Nope! I'll try to get an average cost by my local comic book retailer this week. The publishers do provides these comics at a substantially lower cost/issue than the usual fare, but the retailers do incur costs during this promotion.

 

[Harpozep]

I missed this thread. Been real busy since FCBD.
Well, I own one of the larges Comic Stores in New England and we throw a huge FCBD bash each year.
Sarge's Comics : Comics, Manga, Collectibles, Gaming Supplies & More

It costs us over 10 K each year to do it but we look at it as an advertisement and a hell of a party!

We had over two thousand people attend last year. We gave out seventeen thousand comic books, most of them kid friendly!

Over sixty people in costumes came to enjoy the fun and cosplay. Always a good time, sure some folks only come once a year for the swag, but many are picked up as semi regulars, and that is whet it is about.

It's great to get the kids reading things besides video game instructions!
We give out a few thousand comic books to schools. I just gave 600 Halloween comics to a school. They all cost us money, so, no , unfortunately nothing is free for the retailer.
Here's a pic from this year's FCBD:



Hundreds more on my gallery pages:
Robert Miller's Photo Galleries at pbase.com