Free Comic Book Day 2024 is on Friday, May 3, 2024: what is the history behind FREE COMIC BOOK DAY ?
Friday, May 3, 2024 is Free Comic Book Day 2024. Free Comic Book Day, taking place on the first Saturday of May, is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores.
Free Comic Book Day, taking place on the first Saturday of May, is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores.
Free Comic Day (to not be mistaken with Comic Day) remembers the standard graphical novel, with comic stores offering free comics to fans, fanatics and new visitors alike. Why don't you go to your local comic store and find out what you admire? In the end – you can find a totally free comic!
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. Brainstormed by retailer Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics in Concord CA in his "Big Picture" column 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. The next event will be on May 1, 2010.
Free Comic Book Day is scheduled on the first Saturday of May. It has often been tied to the release of a major theatrical film adaptation of a well known superhero property (for example, 2009's FCBD was the day after the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine), 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. Retailers do not receive the issues for free; they pay 12-50 cents [1] per copy for the comics they will give away for free.
Publishers produce special edition comics geared to attracting new non-comic readers. There is a wide diversity of comics available, from traditional comics fare like Archie and Disney, super-heroes from Marvel and DC, manga from Tokyopop, as well as work from independent publishers.
The 6th annual event on May 5, 2007 featured comics from 40 different publishers, including the following ten titles that were available at all participating retailers:
* Archie Comics – The Adventures of Little Archie
* Bongo Comics – Bongo's Free for All 2007
* Dark Horse Comics – The Umbrella Academy, Pantheon City 2007, and Zero Killer
* DC Comics – Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century 2007
* Dynamite Entertainment – The Lone Ranger / New Battlestar Galactica Flip Book 2007
* Gemstone Publishing – Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse 2007
* IDW Publishing – Transformers the Movie Prequel #1 2007
* Image Comics Astounding Wolf-Man #1 2007
* Marvel Comics – Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift 2007'
* Tokyopop – Choose Your Weapon 2007
In its first six years, more than 2000 retailers in more than 30 countries have given away more than 12 million Free Comic Book Day special-edition comic books. The success of the promotion rests with each participating retailer. Most participants agree that FCBD has been part of a healthier comics market and growing comic book sales over the last several years.
FCBD has garnered tremendous press coverage in all media. The first event was May 4, 2002, just a day after the opening of the first Spider-Man movie. Linking the event with movies was somewhat controversial, as some believe that it implied the comic book medium was simply a promotional arm of the film industry. However, successful FCBD events in 2005 and 2006 did not have specific date tie-ins to comics-related movie openings, proving that the event is more than capable of standing on its own, while the 2004 event was linked with the July opening of the second Spider-Man movie and was deemed less successful for falling outside of the regular school year. The current public relations associate for the event is Elissa Lynch [1].
Free Comic Book Day has three main purposes:
1) To introduce everyone to the joys of reading comics.
2) To call back former comic book readers
3) To thank current comic book buyers for their continued support.
Previous events:
The 8th annual Free Comic Book Day was May 2, 2009.
The 7th annual Free Comic Book Day was May 2, 2008.
The 6th annual Free Comic Book Day was May 5, 2007.
The 5th annual Free Comic Book Day was May 6, 2006.
The 4th annual Free Comic Book Day was May 7, 2005.
The 3rd annual Free Comic Book Day was July 3, 2004.
The 2nd annual Free Comic Book Day was May 3, 2003.
The 1st annual Free Comic Book Day was May 4, 2002.
In conjunction with Free Comic Book Day on May 6, 2006, TwoMorrows Publishing hosted a promotional Free Magazine Day. Visitors to their website were able to order any in-stock issue of their magazines Back Issue, Alter Ego, Draw! or Write Now! for free.
Official website
when is free comic book day??? ?
Free Comic Book Day does not mean that comic book stores give away their regular inventory. All the comic book companies that participate in FCBD print special issues that they send to each comic book store and the stores give away those comics for free. FCBD 2009 will be on May 2.
The Umbrella Academy is published by Dark Horse Comics. The comic that Dark Horse is releasing for FCBD is Aliens/Predator so it definitely won't be the Umbrella Academy.
The comic book stores that I go to had really good sales during last year's FCBD so it may still be worth it to go there since you can probably get the issues cheaper assuming they are not sold out. To find the comic stores near you go here:
What do you get on free comic book day?
Free comic book day is an attempt by the comic publishers to revive what is (arguably) somewhat of a dying industry. The goal is to grab people's interest and get them in comic shops where they will hopefully see something they like and get hooked (it totally worked on me last year). Each publisher will put out a few titles that are meant to be a sample of the kind of stuff they do. Sometimes the free comics will provide a preview of upcoming series. For instance, last year's free comic book day, DC gave out Blackest Night #0, a preview of the upcoming Blackest night series. When you go, there will be 5 or 6 different comics for free worth checking out. Everything else in the store you'll have to pay for. However, comic shops usually take advantage of free comic day to have pretty epic sales.
