Things Kid Chris said to me at work today:
“Say, I like Blue Beetle…what’s he up to nowadays?”
“So, is Gladstone Gander like the Longshot of the Disney Universe?”
Given some of the comments left on my post from earlier today, I thought I’d describe how we handled the Free Comic Book Day event at our store.
As pal Dorian had noted, we divided up the FCBD comics into three packages…All Ages, Teen, and Adult, to be given away to the appropriate age group. And we didn’t limit the customer to just one of the packages…if they were old enough, people could take one of each package, thus allowing them to get every FCBD comic that was released this year.
We rearranged the front of the store, placing two large tables right inside the front door where we had the packages laid out, as well as copies of FCBD books left over from previous years, and extras from this year’s assortment. Oh, and not to mention the free Batman Heroclix and the little FCBD Mini-mate. We planted a couple people behind the table to greet the customers (including the cheeriest of our crew, the aforementiond Kid Chris) and pass out the goodies.
Within about three hours we blew through all of our previously prepared packages of comics and had to rush to make more. We had a steady flow of customers throughout the day, with only the very occasional lull. Plus, nearly everyone who came in didn’t just grab the freebies and run. Most people bought something as well (sometimes just a comic, sometimes a stack of trade paperbacks).
So, all in all, it was a successful day. We gave away a lot of comics, made a lot of people happy (including our regular customers, a bunch of new customers, including lots of kids), and we managed to make a little money that day as well. Well done, well done…drinks are on me!
Plus, as per usual we had a few people come into the store today going “oh, wait, Free Comic Book Day was yesterday?” Don’t worry – we gave ’em free comics anyway.
I know someone else out on the Comicsweblogosphere must have linked this sometime recently, but it took my old pal Evilbeard to finally get me to look at Something Awful’s photoshopping shenanigans regarding the Brandon Routh Superman. It’s all worth it for the Composite Superman at the bottom of this page.
As announced in this post of mine, I have an extra copy of Couscous Express to give away, and all you gotta do is send your name and address to contest (at) progressiveruin.com to enter the random drawing. Deadline is Friday, May 20th…please see this post for rules and restrictions.
