The comic book industry is rallying old and new comic book readers encouraging them to check out their local independent comic book store. As a way to reach out to the community, they have created a yearly event called, Free Comic Book Day. This is exactly what the name implies. Specialty comic book shops across North America give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their shop. The day has three main purposes:
1) To introduce everyone to the joys of reading comics.
2) To call back former comic book readers.
3) To thank current comic book buyers for their continued support.
The event first started in 2002 and is coordinated and marketed by Diamond Comic Distributors. In its first six years, more than 2000 retailers in more than 30 countries have given away more than 12 million Free Comic Book Day special-edition comic books. The overall effect of Free Comic Book Day is a welcome boost to comic book sales (to participating retailers) and positive impact to the overall health of the comics market.
The good news is that this is an annual event. The bad news is that you just missed it yesterday on May 2nd. Hopefully the PR around this day (such as my blog) encourage you to not wait another year and to step back into your local comic book shop.
Interesting that this is a movement of independent or small chain comic book shops. It is one issue for a large franchise to give away a a sample, but for many small businesses it is much more impressive.
Posted by: Joseph Sherman | 05/04/2009 at 10:07 PM