Every year, on the first Saturday of May, (May 7th this year, and in just a few week's time!) there is an event called Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). This is exactly what it sounds like - an opportunity to get comics for free!
All you need to do is go into a comic shop, or other participating venue, (for example my local library takes part), and they will give a selection of free comics. These free comics are ones specially produced for FCBD - in other words, you can't pick just anything from the shop and expect not to pay for it.
At the time of writing, comics being given out this year are as follows:
Superhero books:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Green Lantern Flashpoint special edition - this could be a good introduction to Green Lantern ahead of the film due to be released soon!
Captain America and Thor - if you enjoy the Thor film you should get this book!
Silver Scorpion - introducing a new disabled superhero
Young Justice and Brave & the Bold sampler - for younger readers, this will be very good.
Film/TV adaptions:
Avatar Last Airbender/Star Wars/Clone Wars
Darkwing Duck/Chip Dale Rescue Rangers
Geronimo/Stilton/Smurfs
Kizoic/Kung Fu Panda/Richie Rich
Sonic the Hedgehog
The Tick
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse
For younger readers:
Pep Comics' Betty and Veronica
Locke and Key
Mouse Guard Dark Crystal
Super Dinosaur
Bongo Comics Free For All (Featuring characters from The Simpsons)
Inspector Gadget
Jake the Dreaming
James Patterson Witch and Wizard
John Stanley Summer Fun
Misadventures of Adam West
Rated Free for Everyone - containing Power Lunch and Sketch Monsters stories
Top Shelf Kids Club
For adult readers:
2000 AD
Darkness 2
Baltimore & Criminal Macabre
Fantasy/speculative fiction:
Magic the Gathering: Path Planeswalker II preview - this is based on the fantasy card game.
Spontaneous
Worlds of Aspen Elric Balance Lost - A fantasy story, linked to Conan the Barbarian and Michael Moorcock
Other:
Atomic Robo (This could be an all ages book, I'm not really sure..)
Civil War Adventure - this is billed as being historically accurate, but I'm not convinced it will serve as an educational tool of children. The writer holds rather conservative views and isn't known for writing for younger readers.
Deadliest Sharks and Prehistoric Predators - this is billed as a book for animal fans of all ages to enjoy
Ice
The Intrepid Escape Goat
The comics will be about 22 to 36 pages long and usually feature a few different stories in them.
If you see a title listed above that you particularly like, don't be afraid to ring up the shop in advance and see if they can reserve a copy for you. Some places will reserve issues, some won't. In my experience, it's best to get to the stores early as stocks are limited and shops tend to run out.
The official website for Free Comic Book Day can be found here. On it, they have a page for new readers to comics, here, covering genres, formats and definitions, history, comics for younger readers and helpful links. This is a great resource and I would encourage everyone to check it out.
As for finding a participating shop, the FCBD website has a store locator function here, and we at New readers...have also developed a list of friendly comic book shops, you can see it here.
All you need to do is go into a comic shop, or other participating venue, (for example my local library takes part), and they will give a selection of free comics. These free comics are ones specially produced for FCBD - in other words, you can't pick just anything from the shop and expect not to pay for it.
At the time of writing, comics being given out this year are as follows:
Superhero books:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Green Lantern Flashpoint special edition - this could be a good introduction to Green Lantern ahead of the film due to be released soon!
Captain America and Thor - if you enjoy the Thor film you should get this book!
Silver Scorpion - introducing a new disabled superhero
Young Justice and Brave & the Bold sampler - for younger readers, this will be very good.
Film/TV adaptions:
Avatar Last Airbender/Star Wars/Clone Wars
Darkwing Duck/Chip Dale Rescue Rangers
Geronimo/Stilton/Smurfs
Kizoic/Kung Fu Panda/Richie Rich
Sonic the Hedgehog
The Tick
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse
For younger readers:
Pep Comics' Betty and Veronica
Locke and Key
Mouse Guard Dark Crystal
Super Dinosaur
Bongo Comics Free For All (Featuring characters from The Simpsons)
Inspector Gadget
Jake the Dreaming
James Patterson Witch and Wizard
John Stanley Summer Fun
Misadventures of Adam West
Rated Free for Everyone - containing Power Lunch and Sketch Monsters stories
Top Shelf Kids Club
For adult readers:
2000 AD
Darkness 2
Baltimore & Criminal Macabre
Fantasy/speculative fiction:
Magic the Gathering: Path Planeswalker II preview - this is based on the fantasy card game.
Spontaneous
Worlds of Aspen Elric Balance Lost - A fantasy story, linked to Conan the Barbarian and Michael Moorcock
Other:
Atomic Robo (This could be an all ages book, I'm not really sure..)
Civil War Adventure - this is billed as being historically accurate, but I'm not convinced it will serve as an educational tool of children. The writer holds rather conservative views and isn't known for writing for younger readers.
Deadliest Sharks and Prehistoric Predators - this is billed as a book for animal fans of all ages to enjoy
Ice
The Intrepid Escape Goat
The comics will be about 22 to 36 pages long and usually feature a few different stories in them.
If you see a title listed above that you particularly like, don't be afraid to ring up the shop in advance and see if they can reserve a copy for you. Some places will reserve issues, some won't. In my experience, it's best to get to the stores early as stocks are limited and shops tend to run out.
The official website for Free Comic Book Day can be found here. On it, they have a page for new readers to comics, here, covering genres, formats and definitions, history, comics for younger readers and helpful links. This is a great resource and I would encourage everyone to check it out.
As for finding a participating shop, the FCBD website has a store locator function here, and we at New readers...have also developed a list of friendly comic book shops, you can see it here.
If only we'd have a free comic book day over here :/
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