Since 2002, comic shops around the United States and across the world have been celebrating Free Comic Book Day. It's a chance for retailers and companies to show their love to their fans and give back in the form of free comics. Now, every year, on the first Saturday of May, comic fans of all ages can pick out free books from their favorite companies. To figure out if there's a store in your area participating, check out the store locator on the FCBD website.
There is a ton of books being released this Saturday for the event. Let's take a look at just some of the offerings for FCBD. You can find a complete list of offerings on this page.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY/SPIDERVERSE
In this FCBD giveaway, Brian Michael Bendis, along with artist Nick Bradshaw welcome Venom and Captain Marvel to the GotG. Also, this is a flipbook, with the other side being the launch to the November event, Spiderverse, written by Dan Slott. While the GotG book is exciting, you're going to want to pick this up for the upcoming Spidey-event.
ARCHAIA HARDCOVER ANTHOLOGY
Here's what's really cool about Archaia's FCBD offering, aside from the fact fans will get a first look at their new FARSCAPE series, it's a hardcover book. They did this a couple years ago as well, and it was really cool. If you can, get your hands on this to see the cool stories Archaia has to offer.
DC THE NEW 52 FUTURES END
It's your first look at the newest weekly series from DC Comics. This book features an all-star team of DC creators, including Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire, and Ethan Van Sciver. Most of you will really want to pick this up because it's the first time we'll see Batman Beyond, Terry McGinnis, in DC continuity.
VALIANT ARMOR HUNTERS SPECIAL
The upcoming Armor Hunters event is starting up at Valiant! Coming out of the fantastic series X-O MANOWAR, this FCBD offering features writer Robert Venditti and artist Doug Braithwaite, among other Valiant creators. This promises to be one amazing upcoming event, so you may want to check this out too.
2000 AD SPECIAL
The 2000 AD special really does a great job at capturing what 2000 AD is all about. It's a collection of short stories featuring some of this magazine's biggest characters, Judge Dredd, Sláine, Anderson, and more. If you've ever been interested in this magazine, then you'll really want to pick this one up.
Free Comic Book Day also has a ton of offerings for younger readers, not just stuff for the older folks. Here's a couple books you can pick up for the kid or the kid at heart.
BONGO FREE-FOR-ALL
For fans of the world of the Simpsons, you may want to check out what Bongo Comics has in store. Each year, they put out some great Simpsons-related stories for fans, and this year's book, written and drawn by Matt Groening, looks to be a blast.
KABOOM SUMMER BLAST
Boom Entertainment is putting out a FCBD book with a lot of recognizable characters for kids. Their FCBD book will contain stories from Peanuts, Garfield, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Herobear & The Kid. They are also boasting the debut of a new all-ages series.
This is only a small highlight of everything being offered on Free Comic Book day. When you head down there, remember this, Free Comic Book Day is for everyone, so don't be greedy. Leave some books for other people. Many places have a limit to how many you can take. Take a comic loving friend with you and grab different books, then trade after you're done reading, so you're both not grabbing two of everything. As much as you may love comics, there's a whole new generation of folks getting into them, so let them in on the fun too.
See you this weekend, Saturday, May 3rd, at your local shop for Free Comic Book Day! Remember to use the store locator to find the closest participating shop in your neck of the woods!