Free Comic Book Day 2025, starring Amy’s Amazing Shirt.
Well, I survived another Free Comic Book Day, more or less, making this the…geez, I don’t know how many there have been since it started. It launched in 2002, there was one year during the beginning of COVID where it didn’t really happen as such, and it’s 2025 now. Someone good at math can probably figure it out…I think it’s about 215 of them by now? At any rate, I’ve done ’em all, and plan to keep doing them as long as 1) FCBD remains a thing, and 2) my old bones can continue to do it.
Anyway, this year was The Most Financially Successful One yet, given the associated in-store sales I always have along with the giveaways. It’s been a general uphill trend along these lines since I’ve opened, with only one year showing a slight decline from the previous years (not counting the COVID year, of course).
It’s one of the ways I can put a specific measurement on how well my FCBD events do, since I’m not really in a position to do exact headcounts of attendees or anything. Number of comics given away can be another less precise measurement, but I upped my orders quite a bit this time, and included several of Image’s dollar reprints of various Spawn titles, Astro City, Lady Mechanika, and so on. Here’s a look at some of the tables I had out in front of the shop…you can see another just past the graffitied mailbox:
It was apparent that I gave away a LOT of comics, but still had some leftovers, which is fine; I have a box in the shop to give them away to any folks unable to make it day of. And I have some deals in place with local schools to take on some of the excess stock.
In terms of which FCBD book seemed to be the most popular, it looks like the Fantastic Four/X-Men book was the tops:
…while DC’s kid book preview for the Wonder Woman-adjacent Kanga-U didn’t seem to grab a lot of attention, for whatever reason:
…and I did have a large number of kids pass through, so who knows? Just one of those things. I’m sure I’ll give away plenty of them from the leftovers box.
Helping along the day’s success was special guest, comics writer Amy Chase, as pictured here with her close personal friend X-O Manowar:
Whenever I have a guest for a signing, which admittedly isn’t often, I’m always afraid that the poor person will just sit there being ignored while people just pass ’em on by. Not this time…FCBD is of course the highest-trafficked day at my shop, and Amy had no shortage of attention from fans young and somewhat-less young buying her stuff and getting signatures. Which of course made me happy and relieved.
Oh, and did I get a signed comic for myself? You bet I did:
Speaking of relief, I worry, every single time before the event gets underway, whether I’m going to have any kind of turnout, whether my sales are going to do well, that sort of thing. The “sales” bit became even more of a worry when, after the inception of COVID, I started putting the free comic tables outside. “People will just grab the free comics and take off, nobody will come inside to buy anything!”
And as usual, I’m a big ol’ worrywart for nuthin’, as the line started to gather around 10:30 AM, and looked like this just moments after the event began:
The inside of store looked a lot like this for several hours:
As is typical, the first half of the day is the busiest, with things leveling off afterwards though still remaining reasonably busy.
So all in all, another great Free Comic Book Day, and even though even as I write this I remain a little achy and sore, I look forward to doing it again. I know there’s some question as to what will happen to FCBD with the Diamond bankruptcy/sale, but I believe it’ll continue on, in one form or another. Even if I have to do it on my own, I’ll find a way. “Hey everyone, come by for your free copies of Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1!”
Special thanks to my dad, my girlfriend Nora, pal Dorian, and former boss Ralph for helping keep the craziness under some kind of control. And thanks again to Amy for bringing her charm to the shop as well!
And real big thanks for this nice note a very young lady gave me during the festivities:
You’re very welcome.
Okay, that thank you note is the cutest thing ever.
Congrats on another successful FCBD! It sounds like you really know how to make it an event. No wonder so many customers show up.
I saw that Kanga-U title and until this post I didn’t realize it was a DC title or Wonder Woman-related. I think that’s a failure of cover-design.
Glad your shop did well!
Did you also order the Udon FCBD comics that weren’t available through Diamond?
Matthew – yes I did…I ordered all the FCBD books, regardless of distributor of origin!
KANGA-U is clearly a hit-and-miss in a desperate attempt to appeal to kids – and even though I am far from a little kid of today, even I can tell that the art and concept is not at all what they are into.
Mike, congrats on your MSFSOY FCBD!
Err…MFSOY
To think that over Mikester’s career the comic industry has gone from “Chasing Amy” to Amy Chase. Progress!
Congratulations on a great Free Comic Book Day!
Today–Cinco De Mayo–is also National Cartoonists Day, so be sure to read some Nancy or whatever tickles your fancy!
To quote Zippy: “Are we having fun yet?”
Great thank-you note, and kids in the shop too!
Glad you had a great day! And that note is adorable.
“Hey everyone, come by for your free copies of Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1!”
PASS!
“I saw that Kanga-U title and until this post I didn’t realize it was a DC title or Wonder Woman-related. I think that’s a failure of cover-design.”
Yeah- it just looks like a random funny animal book.
The FF book looks cool!
I like that all the stacks have a giant washer on top to keep them from flying away!