ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Free Comic Book Day is a first Saturday of May tradition for comic book stores across the country. This year, the event will be celebrated in Asheville on Saturday, May 3, possibly for the last time.
The annual event offers new free comics to customers in an effort to introduce new readers to a new hobby. Independent comics retailers might create elaborate setups with the special issues, dress up in costume or offer various specials, deals and discounts to coincide with FCBD. Every shop takes a different approach.
In Asheville, there are three comic shops that participate in FCBD:
- Comic Envy, 333 Merrimon Ave.
- Morgan’s Comics, 600 Haywood Road
- Pastimes, 175 Weaverville Road
Morgan’s Comics is easily spotted off of Haywood Road thanks to the store’s unmistakable murals. On the shop’s side, a story-high Batman stretches toward the sky, while a superhero version of Morgan Albritton, the shop owner, stands guard over the front door.
Morgan’s specializes in community engagement. For them, FCBD is like a block party.
Details are still being finalized, but tentative plans include baked goods, raffle prizes, cosplayers, music and face painting, in addition, of course, to tables of free comics.
“We’re going to have comics from little kid up to grown adult. There’s going to be something for everyone,” said Morgan’s employee Bird Pace. “They’re really free. Take them!”
Comic Envy, meanwhile, is a brightly lit haven for a first-time comics reader. The shop is well-stocked and well-organized, which pairs wonderfully with owner Allison Jenkins’ extensive comics knowledge: she can recommend you a title and point to where you can find it.
For Comic Envy, FCBD is an opportunity to get new readers in the door.
“Free Comic Book Day is an industry event where certain publishers print a variety of comics for a variety of aged persons,” Jenkins explained. “Either reprints of classic stories or things that are getting ready to come out to encourage new readers to get into comic books, to give them a free way to check it out if it’s not a medium they have checked out.”
Comic Envy offers five free comics from the FCBD selections, as well as store-wide discounts and opportunities to meet local artists. This year, Jenkins will offer half-off prices on “ratio variants,” special comics with unique covers that come with batch orders. For instance, if Comic Envy ordered 25 issues of “Batman #1,” they would also receive a single 1:25 edition of the issue with a different “variant” cover.
“So, the comics that are the most overpriced in general will be dirt cheap,” Jenkins said. “Then buy two, get one on sets and all independent back issues. So, that’s going to include Vertigo. That’s going to include Image. I never put Image on sale, it’s a weird thing, but I’m really feeling the indies right now.”
Jenkins was thinking about the independent comics because of a crisis in national distribution facing the comics industry. Diamond Comic Distributors, the distribution company which owns the “Free Comic Book Day” brand, recently filed for bankruptcy. Other distributors have faced shipment delays and cancellations.
However, even if the official FCBD event goes the way of the dodo, Jenkins is certain the spirit of the tradition will stick around.
“It is very possible that it won’t be a thing that anyone is organizing, and we’ll have to find a way to stoke interest, and it will be more one store at a time and it won’t be a national thing,” Jenkins said. “We will find a way to celebrate comics, but it may not be the same way.”
Not every comic shop would be too disappointed if the current incarnation of FCBD came to a close.
For Pastimes, FCBD is a lot of time spent with very little return.
“We’re looking forward to that day. I look forward to the future when it’s more like Record Store Day, where people come in and buy exclusive merchandise that’s produced just for that day for all comic shops,” said Chris Atkins, co-owner of Pastimes. “You know, people get excited about Record Store Day and it’s still to buy something. Free Comic Day is to give something away.”
According to Atkins, the cost of FCBD often outweighs the reward when the effort of setting up and purchasing materials is taken into account. Despite the “free” in the name, comic shops still have to order the comics they give away on FCBD.
This year, Pastimes will passively observe FCBD, but their big comic celebration will come the weekend after, when Atkins and co-owner Scott Russell will be open all weekend long for a big store sale.
After all, Atkins said, he loves comics. From his point of view, the problem with FCBD isn’t that people are getting free stuff. It’s that the day doesn’t usually create many lasting readers.
Ultimately, that’s what Pastimes, Comic Envy and Morgan’s Comics are all about: connecting people to a comics passion.
“Hey, man, we might be two old guys who aren’t cool, but we read a lot of comics, and you should be super comfortable here,” Atkins said. “That’s because we love comics.”
For more information about Comic Envy, Pastimes or Morgan’s Comics, visit the shops during business hours on Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 3.
