Today is 'Free Comic Book Day' (npr.org)

An anonymous reader writes: "Walk into a comic shop this Saturday, May 6, and you'll get some free comic books," reports NPR. "You can find your closest shop by typing your ZIP code into the Comics Shop Locator on the Free Comic Book Day page... While you're there, buy something... The comics shops still have to pay for the 'free' FCBD books they stock, and they're counting on the increased foot traffic to lift sales."

There's many familiar characters among the 50 free titles this year, according to Gizmodo. Marvel's free comics are a Guardians of the Galaxy tie-in by Brian Michael Bendis and a Secret Empire prequel, "which has seen Steve Rogers transform from a patriotic superhero to the fascist leader of an invasive Hydra force that has taken over the U.S." Meanwhile, D.C. Comics will re-release "the excellent second issue of the current Wonder Woman Rebirth series," and there's also comics based on Rick & Morty, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Comments

Re: Comics!

[Anonymous Coward]

The real news is that Slashdot posted it the day of instead of the usual 3 days after the fact.

Re:Ideological slant?

[BarbaraHudson]

The vast majority of the titles existed long before the election - some before hubby Bill entered office.

Why I don't read comics anymore

[PRMan]

"which has seen Steve Rogers transform from a patriotic superhero to the fascist leader of an invasive Hydra force that has taken over the U.S." Yep, this is why I don't read comics anymore.

Re:Why I don't read comics anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you never seen all that "superman is a dick" stuff?

He slaps jimmy or lois on the cover or something then people get shocked and just have to buy and read it to see what the deal is, it turns out he's mind control or it's a dream or something.

This is the same thing, but happening slower because of "decompression". (Which, incidentally, is why I don't read comics anymore. What would be a single issue back in the day is stretched out into a several issue story arch lasting months of years. Their inability to tell a complete story in a single issue is infuriating.) They did successfully get us talking about a captain American story, when was the last time that happened?

Plus, the US hasn't exactly been on it's best behavior since 9/11. People are disillusioned. The DNA of the snowden leaks were all over the Winter Soldier movie. Shit, how would you feel if you were writing the Captain America comic recently? I see so much shit that's clearly blatantly unconstitutional, it boggles the mind. If I was writing it, I'd feel a responsibility to address some of this and not just ignore it.

Bogus (last year)

[bill_mcgonigle]

I took my kids to a Newbury Comics last year. We happened to be in the same shopping center (not a special trip).

What they had were four thin, special-purpose, mostly-ads, obscure comics to choose from, none of which interested my kids. One of them took one anyway, and it was almost entirely devoid of any kind of plot. A few action panels, but nothing like a beginning, a middle, a conflict, a resolution, and an end. Just unknown characters doing a few things that didn't make sense out of context.

My advice: skip it and buy your[self, kids] a real comic book.