Written By Scott Braden
When Scott Campanella – owner of J&M Comics and Games in Eldersburg – handed a young man a free comic book recently, he wasn’t just reaching out to a new customer, he was celebrating the medium.
“This is the comic book world’s opportunity to showcase itself,” said Campanella. “The distributors and manufacturers of the comics are supporting us in this. It would be foolish not to try to take advantage of that by using the occasion to advertise the business and throw a party. Free Comic Book Day is a big celebration.”
On Free Comic Book Day, participating shops around the world give away comics absolutely free to anyone who enters their stores. The brainchild of California comics shop owner Joe Field, the event made its debut on May 4, 2002 – the day after the first Spider-Man film hit movie theaters. Since then, the dates for all Free Comic Book Days, including this year’s event, have been scheduled on the first Saturday in May. They also tend to coincide with the release of a noteworthy comics-based film, like this year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman.
On May 2, Carroll County comic book stores gave away 1,100 free comics to readers of all ages. More than 2 million comics were given away worldwide. That not only made this a fun event for fans, but also an excellent opportunity for retailers to further the exposure of comics – and reading – as hobbies.
The tools to achieve that – this year’s free comics – included BOOM! Studios’ Disney/Pixar’s Cars, Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars – The Clone Wars, Fantagraphics Books’ Love & Rockets, and IDW Publishing’s Transformers Animated/G.I. Joe, among others.
“The object of Free Comic Book Day is to promote awareness of the medium,” said Keith D. Forney, owner of Gotham Comics in Westminster. “Comic books are an entertainment medium like movies or television, but it is probably the least understood and appreciated.
“When you say comic books to most people, they think of two things: super-hero action/adventure, a la Superman and X-Men; or child-oriented humor books like Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse.”
The first comic book, according to Wikipedia, was Famous Funnies, published in 1934. Action Comics, which inroduced Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman, came out in 1938. A parallel genre developed into the more serious “graphic novel.”
“But,” said Forney, “comics are an entertainment medium. And like every other entertainment medium, they are extremely diverse. They cover every genre from science fiction, fantasy, horror, slice-of-life drama, super-hero action/adventure, comedies, true crime, you name it.
“In fact, I have no problem saying there’s a book out there for every age and every taste. You just have to make a little effort to find it. Free Comic Book Day is the one day during the year when the entire industry gets together and tries to make people aware of that fact.”
During Free Comic Book Day, Campanella had WTTR AM 1470 on hand to broadcast the festivities. The radio station gave away Baltimore Orioles tickets and other promotional items during the event. Members of the Star Wars-themed 501st Legion, clad in imperial storm trooper uniforms, also made an in-store appearance.
Forney made use of Free Comic Book Day as a different kind of promotional device: “I use it more as a lead in to my anniversary celebration, which occurs two weeks later.”
Since its initial launch in 2002, Free Comic Book Day has increased in popularity every year. According to Timonium-based Diamond Comic Distributors – which coordinates with comic book publishers and retailers on every aspect of the event – the promotion’s continued success is attributable to getting the word out.
“We think the event has become so huge because of all the great press it gets,” said Elissa Lynch, Diamond’s public relations associate. “The retailers also create such great events at their stores each year that people want to come back and bring their friends the next year.”
Besides enabling retailers to promote their stores, Free Comic Book Day also gives them the opportunity to give back to their individual communities. Each store, which is independently owned, reflects its neighborhood. And one way of giving back is to promote reading in the community.
“I had a woman come in here and say that her nephew was struggling in reading,” said Campanella. “The teacher recommended that she buy him a couple of comics to help him along. So, I have a shelf of children’s comics at the front of the store that’s age-appropriate and at their eye level.”
“I also coordinated some events,” Campanella added. “The Eldersburg branch of the Carroll County Public Library wanted to celebrate Free Comic Book Day as well. They [received] promotional materials that I had arranged through Diamond.”
Besides partnering with J&M Comics and Games and giving away free comics to kids, the Eldersburg branch, which has celebrated Free Comic Book Day for the past three years, had an artist on hand to teach a class on drawing cartoon figures. It also invited its patrons to dress up as their favorite super-hero.
According to Dee Krasnansky, a library associate for the Eldersburg branch, participating in Free Comic Book Day allowed the library to promote reading in a fun way.
“It’s been proven that comic books are a way to draw kids into reading,” said Krasnansky. “Although some people might think that kids aren’t reading these things, they actually are. And it’s on a more sophisticated level because they have to look at the pictures and the text, and make sense of both. So, more than one thing is going on at the same time.”
With that, what’s the last word on Free Comic Book Day? Campanella sums it up: “The idea is to get our names out there and get people interested [in comics]. Comic books … stand the test of time.”
