Free Comic Book Day '09 Photo Report
On Saturday, May 2, nearly 2,000 comic book stores worldwide opened their doors and gave away over 2 million comic books – at no charge – to visitors as a part of Free Comic Book Day 2009.
Check out the photos accompanying this article for an overview of this year’s Free Comic Book Day festivities, and read on for retailers' reactions to comics' biggest day of the year.
“It was by far our busiest FCBD in 8 years,” said Marsha Giroux from Phoenix, AZ’s Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing National Award-winning All About Books & Comics. “We've been in business for 27 and it was fantastic to see so many kids and families in the store. You'll see lots of photos of kids with painted faces. We hosted a comic carnival with contests and prizes, spoke on local radio, had a face painter doing superhero faces and raised over 600 cans of food for our local food bank while having a record day!”
Marsha also shared this email her partner and husband Alan received from a customer named Art, who summed up the feelings of fans everywhere quite nicely:
I just want to say that I was really impressed and have been with your store. Today – Comic day – just felt special. Parents and children enjoying the store and having fun. That is pretty special. I was only there a short time but I am sure everyone that came in had a great day...
I enjoy stopping in and you and Marsha can be proud of All About Comics. All these comments mean nothing to the bottom line but I hope it does mean something special to you.
Carol Vandenberg & Gordon Mood, proprietors of London, Ontario's LA Mood Comics & Games, reported a huge, happy turnout for their multi-store "crossover" on Saturday:
"In our city (London has a population of 400,000) we do a Comic Shop Crossover on Free Comic book Day. We create a passport to visit the five comic stores in London; get the passport stamped at each store and drop off the completed passport at the last store and they are collected and drawn for prizes that are donated by each of the stores. We received over 500 ballets this year, a 30% increase over last year. It creates incentive to visit all the stores in London and makes the day more worthwhile as people get free stuff at each of the stores and they really get a chance to check out what London has to offer the comic collector.
"We are starting to get more out-of-towners as it's more of a 'comics festival!' One person said it was 'like a pubcrawl with comics instead of beer.' Visitors are very impressed by the cooperation shown by the stores for this event. One out-of-towner said this was the first time he visited London for FCBD and no other city he's visited on this day was as busy as ours!"
Chris Niles from Laredo, TX's Legacy Comics & Collectibles found great promotional "partners" in his local television station, KGNS-TV's Pro 8 News, and nearby cinemas:
“We were on the newscast of two TV stations for the day before and the day of FCBD," said Niles. "We also have advertising at two local theatres on about 32 screens every showing every day that was promoting FCBD 2009. That really helped since [X-Men Origins] Wolverine … had opened.”
Omaha, NE's Krypton Comics drew in huge crowds with a special appearance by the star of TV's The Incredible Hulk (and King of Queens), Lou Ferrigno:
“FCBD this year was out of control fun,” said Krypton owner Dean Phillips. “We had Lou Ferrigno (aka The Incredible Hulk) here doing a signing. The line wrapped around our shopping center and didn't let up for the entire signing! Superstar artist/writer Phil Hester was also in attendance and set a personal record for amount of sketches done in a day! Several other local artists that take part in Fredd Gorham's Artist Jam did free sketches until their hands hurt. The R2-D2 builders group, the 501 Central Garrison and a group of other customers dressed as their favorite characters and thrilled the crowd during the wait to see Mr. Ferrigno! Our goal on FCBD is to introduce as many new people to the great world of comics as possible and try to gain a few new customers in the process. We set a record of over 2500 people through our doors!”
Longtime FCBD supporter Ralph DiBernardo, owner of Rochester, NH's Jetpack Comics, organized a "block party" that involved several neighboring businesses and numerous local artisans, turning the event into The Rochester Free Comic Book Day Festival:
“Everyone was very pleased that we had created a very family oriented free event,” said DiBernardo. “In a discussion with Jay Piscopo (creator, Cap’n Eli), he pointed out that we were only going to grow the comic industry if we were able to get children back into comics, and that this event was a good step towards that. I could not agree more.”
Good weather and a great crowd made FCBD at Lima, OH's Alter Ego Comics special for fans (and proud owner Marc Bowker):
“FCDB 2009 was an overwhelming success at Alter Ego Comics,” said Bowker. “We were fortunate to have excellent weather, which allowed for a huge $1 comic sale outside. Comic characters Spider-Man, Catwoman, Robin and the Joker came to life to entertain our guests waiting in line. One child even brought a sign that read ‘Spider-Man, I’m your #1 fan’ and got it signed by his heroes. We’ve been open for four years and this was our fourth FCBD. This year, we gave away more comics and had our best sales day ever. I’m already looking forward to next year’s FCBD!”
Additional FCBD09 photos, submitted by retailers and fans, can be found at these websites:
- All About Comics
- Cosmic Comix
- Flying Colors Comics
- Jetpack Comics
- Krypton Comics
- LA Mood Comics (& here)
Finally, these thoughts from Free Comic Book Day spokesperson Elissa Lynch sum up the feelings of everyone at Diamond and those who work behind-the-scenes to make the event happen:
“This year was by far the best Free Comic Book Day publicity wise. Not only did we have Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman, tape a PSA about the event, but FCBD09 was mentioned in some of the top circulated newspapers in the United States and almost every big paper in New York,” said Free Comic Book Day spokesperson Elissa Lynch. “It was also the #8 searched item on Yahoo! and featured on Maxim.com, Wired.com, TVGuide.com, Parenting.com, and many other popular websites. This goes to show how hard the retailers are working to make this event a huge success each year. My many thanks to the publishers, retailers and reporters who worked together this year to get the word out about Free Comic Book Day.”
