Free Comic Day!

turkeywrap writes "Today is Free Comic Day! Go to your local comic store, pick up some free comics, and support the comic industry. Check and see if there are any special signings or events at a store near you." Ack! I'm in Warren at Penguicon this weekend, and nowhere near my precious comic store! I guess I'll have to pay for my comics ;)

Comments

Do kids still buy comics?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are these still popular? or is it mostly guys in their late 20's and up. I know the comic book stores I frequented as a youth have closed.

Re:How about a BOOK?

[ThomasFlip]

95 percent of children these days don't read anything and don't have the desire to read a book. Comic books are a great tool to help them transition into real literature. And even if its not true literature at least they are reading something !

Why I gave up on comics

[Sabalon]

I had some from the early 80's - X-men and Justice League stuff...interesting sci-fi stories.

In around '92 I started getting some again (a whole bunch of us in college got into it at once). I think I jumped in at the start of the demise.

Anyway, it got annoying that it seemed the stories were going to crap, there was less story because half the pages were "look at the splash" or "we needed three pages to draw her breasts". Also, every other issue was a "special" one with 20 covers, all special in some way. That's fine - I'd buy one copy (in it for the story), but that one copy's price would be inflated because of the special cover.

Other annoyances were the infinite number of cross-title tie ins, the infinite spin-off's and title involving a character (ie. Batman, Dark Knight, Detective, Bat this, bat that, bat screw the customer). Even Image was starting to get bad about this..and valiant to a degree.

In the end I just said enough was enough and stopped...oddly enough the only thing it did do was got me REALLY into Cerebus.

This is why comic books are important

[starvingartist12]

This is why comic books are important

"I'd never actually seen a comic in person before that, and though even then I knew they were lame, I was fascinated by the kind of stories that used both pictures and words."
...
"Truth is, I was a slow student initially, because we were always going from town to town, and the curriculum varied tremendously across locations. (I was also near-sighted, something my father didn't want to admit, so I didn't get glasses until late Junior High School.) So in a very real way, comics taught me how to read, taught me a love of language, and storytelling, and most of all, an appreciation for heroes, for chivalry and bravery and a refusal to surrender."
...
"In addition to the elements just noted, I learned my sense of morality, my sense of right and wrong, from comics. That may sound stupid and naive, but it's true, and that understanding is what propels me to this day."
...
"And there was never any question in his mind about doing the right thing. You just do it. And that, to me, became very important to my moral development. I still tend to see things in black-and-white terms, and if I come into a situation where the only way to keep my job is to do something I don't agree with on principle, I'll quit. It's cost me any number of jobs over the years, but I can't do otherwise. Wouldn't be right.

My family, of course, didn't see it that way at the time, and when my grades slipped, my father blamed it on comics, and as I sat there, he took all the comics that I'd so carefully stored and protected, kept in pristine condition, all my number one issues of X-Men and Spider-Man and the rest ... and tore them in half, one after another, until they were all gone. It still makes me angry. But the other thing about comics is that this was where I first began to appreciate the process of storytelling. I was kind of oblivious at first to the idea of writers, but over time I gradually began to figure it out, that somebody sat down and wrote down these words. And I was entranced by that."

Just who was this person? It's none other than J. Michael Straczynski, writer and creator of Babylon 5, Crusade and Jeremiah (He's currently enjoying getting a chance at writing Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel) =)

My thoughts on this day...

[BeninOcala]

Well, today i went to two different comic book stores in my area. I called ahead a time to make sure this wasn't some sad post /. April fools joke. Sure enough it was legit. First shop i called said he did not have the so called "Free Comic Day Comics". He then told me to come in and check out what he did have for free. When i got there he pointed me to atleast three large tables with boxes marked .50 cents. He told me five issues are free rest make me a deal. I looked for atleast a good half hour, BSing with others who had came in just to shoot the Sheet. I picked out about 11 mags. Brought them up to him he told me happy birthday and gave them all to me for free. Ask me if i wanted a bag i said sure. Out i went to the next store...Smaller selection but he had the offical Free comic day comics...Wasn't that great but hey its free...Asked him what other deals he had...all .50 comics are now .10 for today...found around 20 that interested me, paid my $2.46 and walked out....so hey it was a cool day for me...got around 30 or so comics for a few bucks, they will last quite awhile when i read em on the shitter....take it easy all

Re:Sorry but...

[rtechie]

I'd like to echo your statement because I'm in exactly the same position. In the early 90's I bought lots of comics, many of wich used obvious scam tactics to attract "collectors" like variant and special covers, multiple covers, "special issues", etc. The industry likes to blame the "speculators" but they deliberately encouraged this speculation, quite blatantly. They are ENTIRELY to blame for the collapse of the comic book industry. (It's similar to what happened with Magic: The Gathering, the speculation was clearly BY DESIGN.)

But the big thing was the price. When I started most comics were between $0.75 and $1 and now a great many comics are between $3 and $4. And that's for NORMAL 32-page monthlies. Special issues and mini-series can be even more. I've seen comics with a COVER PRICE exceeding $10. In fact it was the Rune/Warlock crossover (I'm a huge fan of Adam Warlock) with a cover price of $8 for each issue of a TERRIBLE limited series that finally drove me away. Despite claims to the contrary, higher printing costs simply do not justify the higher prices.

The big problem is that the American comic book industry seems content to stay in an increasingly niche market. Most kids no longer buy comic books. Let's say that again, MOST KIDS NO LONGER BUY COMIC BOOKS. That the main reasons are price, competition from other media (movies, tv, video games, etc.), and the fact that comic books aren't marketed to kids. Most comic books are sold at speciality comic book stores that sell mostly to teenage and young adult males. Marvel and DC seem content to stick to this small audience (despite the obvious mainstream appeal of superheroes). While many independents would like to branch out, they don't have any money so they'll ALWAYS be niche.

Like an increasing number of comic book fans, I only buy trades nowadays, mostly of older comics. Frankly, I think the entire industry should move to trades, in a manner similar to the manga industry in Japan.