Free Comic Book Day 2019

May 04, 2019 was more than a celebration of Star Wars as it was also the annual event - Free Comic Book Day. Like the past few years, I took the family up to Nikelspot Comics in Fort Mill, SC to see my local comic shop crew and to pick up some free books and hopefully some good deals as well.

There was rain in the forecast for Saturday so we hit the shop early, hoping to beat the rain and the crowds. I'm glad I did because some of the free books already seemed to be low in number. This year the shop allowed us to pick 7 titles each. I had forgot that I already had the Marvel titles on their way in my monthly DCBS order, however I'm sure I can find someone to gift the ones I picked up. I was glad to see there were books from some of the smaller publishers as I wasn't sure if those would get ordered. There were so many books for the shop owners to order and since they aren't free to the shops, I didn't exactly know what I was going to find. Thankfully I was able to walk away happy with these 7 books:

I honestly don't know much about Animosity Tales, but that's what FCBD is all about! I read the synopsis of the issue the day before the event and it sounded pretty cool so I was glad to see this book offered on Saturday.

I've been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since the original movie, but more so the Sarah Michelle Gellar led television show. When season 7 ended on television, season 8 was turned into a Dark Horse comic. I followed it for awhile before I dropped out of buying new comics for several years as my wife and I began our family. Now that Buffy is back in the pages of a new comic, here I am being drawn back in. When it comes to Firefly, I can say I've never watched the show.

I don't know much about Lady Mechanika, but I picked up last year's FCBD book and enjoyed it so I figured why not get this year's too? Joe Benitiz art is beautiful and if I had room in the comic budget this may be a book that I'd pick up on a regular basis.

Thanks to the Key Collector comics app, I was clued into Antarctic Press' superhero title, Punchline, some months ago. The first issue shot up in price on the secondary market almost instantaneously making it hard for the average comic reader to acquire/read. This FCBD version reprints the first issue and hopefully wet's the readers appetite for more...which is coming in the version of a TPB soon.

I was a little undecided if I wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Spawn but you can see which direction I went. I believe this is a reprint of the very first issue. I know the title is closing in on 300 issues so this was a nice flash back. Had I been willing to look past Marvel comics when I was in high school I might have read and enjoyed Spawn, but as it is I've never read an issue. I was tempted when Angela made her way over to Marvel, but I do plan on sitting down w/ this issue soon. After all, even if I don't care for the story I can gaze at the beautiful Todd McFarlane art!

This Year of the Villain by DC Comics wasn't part of FCBD, but the fine folks at Niklespot were handing it out (to at least the adults) with their free books. I only read one DC book (Wonder Woman) so I'm not sure how much I'll get out of this, but I do appreciate the kind gesture regardless.

I'm still behind on reading my current books that I almost don't want to even crack this cover because I don't want it to spoil anything for me!

Same goes for this issue of Spider-Man. I know it's the start of a wild ride featuring Venom and Carnage and I can't wait to see what happens.

The shop also put out some new dollar (long) boxes and since it was FCBD the books were buy one get one free. I absolutely love digging through cheap boxes so while I was digging through the boxes looking for some deals, my wife took my daughters inside the store so they could get their name on the sketch list. Bernie Cooke was at the shop once again providing free head pencil sketches. Since we were pretty early both my girls were able to get on his list and have one of their favorite heroines sketched. I was a little surprised to see that they both chose a Marvel character (even though that warms my heart) since both of them really like a lot of the DC female characters thanks to Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls. However on this day they made their daddy proud.

My youngest daughter, Winnie (7) chose Squirrel Girl. We both were surprised to see that Bernie also added her companion, Tip Toe on her shoulder!

My oldest daughter, Olivia (9) chose Spider-Gwen. Not too surprising since she takes her Marvel Rising doll of Spider-Gwen with her everywhere.

As I mentioned, I was digging through long boxes outside while the girls were shopping inside the shop and here are the books I left with:

I was surprised to see Avengers #260 in the box, but glad none the less. This book has picked up some steam with Avengers Endgame. For those of you that may not know, this issue is the first cover appearance of Nebula and contains her origin story.

I picked up the Avengers West Coast issue for the Bloodties crossover story. I had forgotten that this series ended right after this issue too, making it a little tougher to find (at least in cheap-o boxes).

After I found these 3 issues of Captain America I could've called it day and left happy. Neither book I'd say is in Near Mint condition, but they were good enough for me. #252 does show some discoloration to the white background, but then again it is from 1980 so I expect it to show some age.

Keeping with the Marvel heroes I found a stray issue of both Daredevil and Iron Man. I was particularly happy to find this issue of Iron Man because the Armor Wars II storyline is what got me reading Iron Man. That and the gorgeous John Romita Jr. art!

My CLZ Comics app told me I was looking or these two issues of Incredible Hulk. After I pulled them from the box I realized I had them on my want list because of their brief tie-in tothe Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

I'm still plugging away on completing Morbius' first run and with these three issues I'm getting ever closer to completing the series. Poor Santa.

 

I wasn't looking for this issue of Spirits of Vengeance, but how could I pass it up with a cover like this? Plus, it has Venom so it was an easy choice.

The Tomb of Dracula was another one of those older books that I didn't expect to find, but was happy to pick up. I believe this is only the 3rd issue of this title that I have in my collection.

This issue of Marvel Comics Presents was purchased not for the Wolverine story (even though I'm sure it's at least decent), but for the 4th story contained in the issue featuring a Thanos story.

Punisher filled a small hole. Not a title I actively seek out, but will pick up when I find issues that are in good shape that are also cheap.

I've mentioned before of my affection towards some of the Star Comics series so I quickly snatched up this issue of Silverhawks. 

Wonder Man was purchased solely for the continuation of the Operation: Galactic Storm story and nothing else!

Of course no dig through the dollar boxes is complete without some Spider-Man, right? Found one lone issue of Amazing the collection needed and surprisingly an issue of Spectacular I needed. This issue (98) is also the first appearance of the villian, the Spot.

 

The original clone story got me reading Spider-Man so I love all of the spin-off series such as the 2nd volume of Scarlet Spider. I wasn't reading comics when this series was new, but have actively picking up issues here and there.

The last book I found was this What If one shot that looked to be right up my ally. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to diving in.

I've had a little bit of a X-Men itch lately and have been picking up select stories from the 90's, such as the Phalanx Covenant. I picked up a few parts to this story back in March at a local show so this issue leaves me with one issue I believe.

I was surprised that I didn't have any issues of Hulk 2099 before now. I'm working on building the entire 2099 catalog before I sit down and read them all in chronological order. This issue of Ravage 2099 is the last issue and can be really hard to find at times.

 

I remember hearing something about Timestorm 2009-2099, but I've never seen these issues before nor have I read them. Since I'm working on a 2099 collection I thought I'd go ahead and grab these too.

The last item I grabbed (and more of an impulse buy) was this Toy Biz Marvel's Most Wanted Spat & Grovel. I remember this small series of figures when they were new and how sought after they were...well more so Blink than X-Man or Spat & Grovel. I grabbed this for $3 because I was curious more than anything. You can expect a full review of this toy on the blog at some point in the near future.

Overall Free Comic Book Day was a success for me and my family. My wife got some comics for her classroom (she's an elementary school teacher), my girls got their free books and a sketch and I too walked away with a nice little stack of books. Thanks again to the great staff at Nikelspot Comics for participating in the annual event. Until next year...

Free Comic Book Day Haul

This past Saturday (5/5/12) was the annual Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) event.  I'm lucky enough to have a big and equally awesome comic book store located in Charlotte, NC (Heroes Aren't Hard to Find).  Each and every year they do up FCBD big.  In addition to all of the free books available they bring in all sorts of artists to do free sketches.  Yes, free!  Most of these guys and gals don't skimp on the sketches either.  In years past I've gotten some awesome art from Mark Brooks that he easily could've charged $40+ for.

While my interest in comics may have waned a bit I was still excited to attend the event so I took my oldest daughter and met my brother for breakfast before the event.  Other than one book I really didn't know which publishers were participating and what titles would have free books.  I figured Marvel would do something Avengers since the movie and all just launched in the U.S.  Pretty much though I was flying blind.

After we ate we got to the store about 15 minutes after they had opened and the crowd was already out of control.  I'd like to say I had fun browsing the comic racks, but there were so many people in the store I couldn't step back from the rack far enough to see anything that was on display from the middle down.  If the fire marshal had driven by I'm sure the store would've been fined by the sheer amount of people crammed inside.

I did manage to get my hands on a fair amount of free comics for myself and a few for my daughter.  I wanted to browse the discount boxes they pulled out, but both my daughter and I were already tired of being stuck in the crowed so we left and went to Target.  I promised her a new My Little Pony so I had to make good on my promise.

Back to the books.  Here is what I ended up taking home with me.

I have no idea what this book is about, but that's what FCBD is all about - trying new things.  Arcana Comics decided to launch this new title with issue #1 being the freebie.  From a marketing angle I can see this working as plenty of people will read the first issue and many may want to know what happens next and pick up issue #2.

How could I pass up a free Star Wars comic?  I also noticed the Whedon name on the front so I thought why not.

I didn't notice at first, but the Star Wars book is actually a flip book w/ a Serenity story on the reverse side!

Flip the book over and you'll see why I was interested...

Wrath of the Titans baby!  I can't wait to read this one as the cover is awesome looking.  Check out Medusa there in the lower corner.

Never been much of a fan of Witchblade, but it was free and I saw Tim Seeley's name on the cover.  I loved his art from his Devil's Due G.I. Joe days.

Image decided to go with a big flip book packed with stories from several different series - none of which I'm familiar with.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.  Need I say more?

I became a huge fan of Abnett & Lanning with their various cosmic stories over at Marvel Comics so I'm really eager to read this.  If it's as good as I hope I may have to look into this title as a regular read.

This is the book I was wanting the most...Transformers: Regeneration One.  Simon Furman finally gets to continue the stories he started way back when for Marvel Comics.  I actually already have this book coming to me thru my mail order subscription so Arkvander - if you're reading this and forgot about this book - it's all yours.

I wasn't surprised to see a freebie Avengers book.  From flipping through it while at the shop it appears to be a new story.  Not a fan of Bryan Hitch's cover art though, blah.

I didn't know about this Spider-Man book, but with the new Amazing Spider-Man movie right around the corner this one shouldn't be a big surprise.

Both the Avengers and Spider-Man book have this big ad on the back.  Since I dropped ASM from my reading list last fall I really don't know what this is about...but I'm intrigued.  

Outside of the obvious reasons to be excited about FCBD it acts as a perfect launching pad of sorts for the big annual comic book convention that Heroes also hosts - Heroes Convention.  This year my wife is planning on coming with me to hunt through all those bargain boxes.  I think she is more interested however in getting a hotel room in uptown Charlotte so she can have a night to sleep with no children!  I do look forward to this time we get to spend together and her help will be much appreciated.