Today, just for you guys…no charge.
It’s Free Comic Book Day! The day that makes Halloween, Christmas and Super-Bowl Sunday feel like a stomach cramp on a sewage dump. Get out to your local comic store and grab some goodies, and remember to bring the kids, we need to get them addicted while they’re too young to resist.
Hee hee. I drew the naked people anatomically correct before I blurred it all out. That’s the real perk to my skill set, I can draw out-of-shape naked people ANY time I want.
Stop reading the internet you fools. GO OUT FOR FREE COMICS!
TY THE GUY OUT!
When everything’s free, everything’s a free bonus, but you get one anyway.
For those who live in Toronto, come on down tonight, to the COMIC BOOK LOUNGE for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY (just east of the corner at College and Clinton!) then come back in the evening and watch ON THE COUCH…our live comic book talk show. I’ll be at the Lounge all day, doing sketches from 2.00 pm until 7.00, when I’ll take a break for dinner and come back for the talk show! Too much fun for one location!
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For last week’s distaff Bun Toons, drawn by my daughter and my daughter in law, click the bunny boy.
For Every Bun Toon Ever (constantly FREE, just like FREE comic book day!) click the bunny boy again!
Ty Templeton's ART LAND!! 
And again, I must lament that I live in the Louisville, KY area and we already kinda have an annual event on the first Saturday each May: The Kentucky Derby. It makes going out obnoxious in the first place, and since I have Crohn’s disease, I live in mortal fear of traffic jams. Fortunately for me, I have a friend who is determined to head out this morning and he lives much closer to the comic shops than I do and he has graciously offered to try to snag me a couple of the books that interest me.
Speaking of the free books, I have a question. Now, I entirely understand the reliance on licensed properties such as Transformers, Star Wars and this year, I even get The Smurfs. What I don’t get, however, is why there aren’t more flip books combining a licensed property with an original comic book series. It seems to me that, especially with so many shops placing restrictions on how many issues each customer may select, that Joe Sixpack is just snagging comics based on things already familiar to him and not really being exposed to anything else.
Oh, and a 48 page hardcover for Mouse Guard? That’s insane.
It’s up to the companies what they put out–and the reality is that the free comics are only free for the reader…they cost the company, they cost Diamond–they cost the retailers who pay a quarter for each of them, which is why you will see restrictions in smaller shops.
Some shops see a return in FCBD–people discover the shop and will come back, or at the very least, they buy something while they’re actually in the store. Other stores feel like all they do is lose the money they spent buying the free comics books, and there are some where owners downright resent FCBD.
Oh, I’m well aware of the actual cost of FCBD and the mixed feelings of retailers. And I entirely get why many, if not most, retailers place restrictions on how many free comics each customer is allowed to snag. That all makes sense to me.
My question was specifically why publishers don’t make more of an effort to combine a licensed property that’s likelier to appeal to Joe Sixpack with something he might otherwise have overlooked. You know, “come for the Star Wars, stay for the Atomic Robo,” that kind of thing.
I wish I had a local store to hit for the festivities! My regret every year. (:
This will be a great day.
I get to go out to my LCSes thinking of anatomically correct cartoon adults and Ty on a couch.
Thanks much, Ty!
Cheers!
Steven Willis
XOWComics.com
Lord almighty, Ty – you really had me laughing with those rules. They are a must-see…the government should step in to distribute them to all.
My FCBD experience this year was a special one. I got to the local shop in the late afternoon (solo, I should add, because I’m fearless like that), popped my head in not recalling which books were being offered this time, and my Comic Book Guy said he was all out of everything. I was surprised, but glad for him – the shop was packed. He passed me a copy of Diamond so I could see what would have been available, and I gasped – the Archaia book with the Labyrinth short story! He heard my little reaction and asked me what I’d spotted. I said the Archaia book, which I’d completely forgotten about…and then he sighed, reached under the counter and said “Man, you are LUCKY…this is my last copy!” And passed it to me, just like that. I told him he was awesome and suggested a high-five. He turned back with a fist-bump…which I high-fived (again, cause I’m super hip) and my insides did a little dance.
I wish I could say I then proceeded to buy a couple of dozen books in a show of thanks, but I was actually on my way to someone’s surprise party, and risked being late to swing by the shop. I read it on my way there, made it in time to shout “SURPRISE!” and totally liked the Labyrinth story.
It was a good day 🙂 So remember all – Comic Book Guys are Friends!
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