Free Comic Book Day - July 3rd

Newsarama reports on the offerings for this year's Free Comic Book Day. As in years past, this is NOT free for the retailers.

I urge serious comic book fans who have a good relationship with their local stores to offer to pay for a set of free comics for your store. Yeah, you heard me. Offer to pick up some of the tab so the burden isn't on the store itself. In return, ask for a copy of each free comic that the store gets. Make the deal, get more "free" comics, and allow the store to give away more comics. It's a win-win situation.

And, Paige, if you're reading this, I'd like to pay for some of the comics this year. I said I would last year, and I mean to keep my word. I'll pitch in to help you pay for the "free" stuff.

Now, as Johnny B did, here's my thoughts on the offerings this year:

Gold Sponsors:

Archie: I Was a Teenage Comic Book Character: Always good for the kids. Archie always puts out something of interest.

The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty #1: Hmmm, don't know. Looks interesting, from Beckett, which is a company I'm unfamiliar with. We'll have to see.

American Power: Prequel: From CrossGen. A Prequel instead of one of their proven series. Interesting. I'd be more impressed if it didn't seem like Chuck Dixon is single-handedly writing every CrossGen title at the moment.

Star Wars – Clone Wars Adventures: Yeah! I like seeing this. The Clone Wars cartoons were the best Star Wars I've seen since the original trilogy, so it's nice to see a new adventure based on them.

Teen Titans Go! #1: This ought to be popular, if the success of the show is any indication. I have to admit, it's growing on me, and I haven't watched many episodes. Just the Aqualad ones.

Duel Masters #1: No idea on this one. Looks like a standard bit of Manga-ish fare. We'll have to see when it comes out.

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: It's Mickey, It's good.

IDW Sampler: This will be popular, as it's got a CSI story in it. I seem to recall my little sister responding to the CSI comic with a hurt look of "why didn't you tell me!" at me. In other words, push this one on the TV show fans.

Image Comics Summer Special: This one look like its mostly a pass. No Age of Bronze, no Wildguard. Boring.

Marvel Age: Spider-Man #1: New art from old story? We'll have to see.

Silver Sponsors:

Wild About Comics #1: Hey, it's got Licensable Bear™, how bad can it be? Seriously, About Comics is a good company, so this ought to be a fun one to read.

The AdHouse Books FREE Comic Book Day Comic Book: The word "floppy" in their ad annoys me. I don't know why. Still, this appears to be a collection of 24-hour comics, which ought to be fun.

Alternative Comics #2: MATURE READERS. These anthologies always have at least one cool thing. I hope I get this one.

Arcana Studio Presents #1: Hmmm... This might be the book that finally gets me to look at Ant. With three different stories, this one will offer good value.

Astonish Comics #1: I want this one. Herobear alone makes it worth it, then add in the others and we've got something that should be a lot of fun for lots of people.

Back in Black: Brian Pulido Unleashed at Avatar: Another prequel, this time with three different titles. We'll have to see about this one.

A Bunch of Baboons: Six short stories. Looks like it could be very good.

Del Ray Manga Sampler: Looks like this one also offers a couple of sneak peeks. Retailers take note. Manga is good right now.

Best of Dork Storm Press #2: Me want. This will have a PS238 story, and that's enough to get it.

Dr. Chaos’ Comic Cavalcade: The solicit sounds fun: "Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the rest of the gang aren’t too happy about Free Comic Book Day stealing their holiday thunder". Hope I get it.

Reggie-12: Robot kid fighting giant robots. Humor book. Ok.

Johnny Raygun Classics #1: Another attempt to bring back the Silver Age? We'll have to see how well it succeeds.

Keenspot Spotlight 2004: This is a 100+ pager, which suggests value for money. However, it is Keenspot, which has ... um... slightly lower standards. I would be prepared to be surprised or disappointed in this one.

Sore Thumbs Election Special: Hmmm. A liberal activist and a conservative video game shop owner. Like we need to be reminded of the civil cold war. We'll have to see.

From Pixels To Paper 2004: Keenspace.com's Third Dead-Tree Sampler of Independent Webcomics: Webcomics on dead trees! The title says it all, doesn't it?

The NBM Sampler: Boneyard, Rumble Girls, Dungeon: Another book, another sampler. I can see this year's FCBD taking a LONG time to review if I somehow manage to get everything.

The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius: Secret Crisis Origin Files: MATURE READERS. A reprint of an earlier tale which will let my hubby finally get a good look at Judd Winick's non-Green Lantern work.

Love Fights #1/Everest: Facing the Goddess Preview: MATURE READERS. After reading Whiteout, I'm interested in seeing what Rucka can do. I'd definitely like this one.

Amelia Rules! Special Edition: Must get this. Amelia rocks, and this is a great one for girls. Get lots of this one, retailers!

Delicious Seasons: I almost bought this one when it was solicited in Previews. I would love to check out this preview to see if I made the right choice.

Slave Labor stories #2: Looks like this one is going to be another anthology, and I'm kind of interested in seeing the Pirate Club story. So I hope this one gets into my hands.

Top Shelf Tales: Four of the fascinating creators out in comics today, playing in an anthology. Another one I'd like to get.

Bronze Sponsors: A Fine Line, Arcana Studios, Claypool Comics, Colburn Comics, Little Rocket, Lone Star Press, Mirage Studios, Nite Owl Comics, Strawberry Comics, and Street Legends Ink. I don't usually get much from the Bronze Sponsors, as I'm intent on getting the special books, so I don't know that I'll have anything to say about any of these guys.

You can still read my Rapid Reviews of last year's Free Comics: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI. Because of last year's Free Comics, I hunted down and bought all the Leave it to Chance I could find, which I've been loaning out to people.

So: Offer to help! Get those free comics out there! Promote this sucker! And try something new. That's what this day is for people who already read comics... give something new a chance. After all, it's free.