FCBD 2010

From ICv2, we get a report on Free Comic Book Day at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark, Delaware, from Dave Williams: Free Comic Book Day was a success at Captain Blue Hen Comics. More than 1,400 customers came to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. Our visitors came from all over the state and from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to enjoy art activities, see the guest artists and characters, and to get free comics. We gave away thousands of comics to readers young and old — everyone from infants to teens to senior citizens. Visitors donated approximately 30 cubic feet of food. Our loyal customer Mike Clarke said it best, "Free Comic Book Day at Captain Blue Hen was a day for smiles."

Comic book artist Jim Valentino, who was on the steering committee for the first FCBD in 2002, says: “I think it's essential that we introduce more people to the enormous talent, energy, ideas, and the wide range of subjects, genres, and approaches the field has to offer. And what better way to do that than to have an open house where everyone is invited? People who have never walked into a comic specialty store before come to it; they bring their families, and hopefully see what they're missing. I do whatever I can to promote the event,” Valentino said in a FCBD news release, “ — I'm usually in at least one store during it and have been in as many as three in a single day. I think it's one of the most important days of our calendar year and I'm proud to watch it grow and develop.”

 FCBD was a brilliant promotion in its earliest manifestations, but I wonder if the original excitement about giveaway comic books hasn’t become a little mired in the purely financial swamps. Retailers have to buy the comic books they’ll give away; and publishers must print them. Publishers justify this expense by producing special comic books manufactured expressly for the occasion, and these are not much more than brochures touting their other titles or forthcoming series. Retailers defray their costs by controlling how many free comic books a customer can glom onto.

Both of these maneuvers are entirely justified, but they’re also a little on the chintzy side. They suggest that the original impulses that animated the event — Valentino’s desire to introduce newcomers to the medium in some fun way — have dissipated somewhat. The happy frenzy has fizzled.

A few years ago at my previous location, a comic book store gave up ordering special FCBD titles for the event. It cost too much, I was told; and the pay-off was too small. And this was a campustown store. Instead of giving away FCBD titles, the store reduced prices drastically on some surplus inventory. The bloom had gone off the rose for this store.

But if you can get 1,400 customers to tramp through your store on FCBD, that’s good. And then it’s doubtless worth all the extra expense to everyone involved. At the Mile High Comics store where I do my trafficking in “newsstand comics,” the guy behind the cash register was delighted at the turn-out. As long as most store operators feel this way, FCBD forever!