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Free Comic Book Day books

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I liked the photocovers on the My Favorite Martian, and Barks Duck reprint the best by far. Not sure if the Sponge Bob comic is too violent for 7 year old kids. It was on the flip side of the hilarious Bongo Simpsons freebie.

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How does it work at FCBD? Do they have all the books available and you just grab what you want? We don't have any comic book stores in the state I live in so I've never been to one :(

 

There are 2 stores near me and they both let you take any 3 comics for free, the only difference between the two is the one shop will sell you any free comics later in the week. The other store will give additional free books if you bring in canned goods. Every canned item you donate will get you one additional free comic. The food will then be donated to the local food bank.

 

Wow! I love that idea. I may have to mention that to my LCS.

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I went to two different shops today and they handled it in different ways. The first was limiting everyone to 1 book and anything left over they will let you take your pick of on Tuesday for free just to clear them out. They have been at this a while so they ordered fairly well. There were only a few copies each of the books they ordered. The Mouse Guard HC sold out around 2 pm (I was there at 7 am so I got one).

 

The second shop I went to was allowing everyone to pick 3 books. They had more selection than store #1 including the Voltron, which now I wish I had picked up. They also sold out of the Mouse Guard HC. The owner said the stores were limited to 25 copies. It really is super cool to get a hardcover book free. :thumbsup:

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My LCS had the best day he's ever had in the 15 or 20 years he's been in the business. They had dollar books outside on the sidewalk and did more in a day than most dealers do at a con.

 

Inside, sales were brisk and they literally didn't stop moving (even with several additional staff members) from the time they opened to the time they closed the doors.

 

What I didn't realize is that store owners need to buy the "free" comics.

 

My buddy Andy continues to give them away until they are all gone in the coming weeks.

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I went with my wife and my 4 month old daughter to Paradise Comics in Toronto.

(I might post a pic of my Daughter in the store when I get it off my camera)

They had the books approprioate for kids on a shelp for anyone to grab.

I grabed a few Sponge Bob and other books for my nephews.

My wife and I grabed a Mouse guard hard cover each.

 

The ones mafd for Adults were behind the counter.

 

Every book had the store stamp on it so no good for resale obviously..but the Mouse Guard cover allowed me to use my daughter wetwipes to wipe the in away as if it was never there.

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Pretty smart of your LCS to push the $1 books during free comic day. Get some free comics into their hands, sell them a few $1 books and you may have a customer for life.

 

I've often thought, what if we took the time to sit down with someone who didn't read comics and introduced them to some of the best modern titles going. Walking Dead, Y the Last Man Standing, etc. Bet we would have a pretty good success rate creating comic fans.

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Pretty smart of your LCS to push the $1 books during free comic day. Get some free comics into their hands, sell them a few $1 books and you may have a customer for life.

 

I've often thought, what if we took the time to sit down with someone who didn't read comics and introduced them to some of the best modern titles going. Walking Dead, Y the Last Man Standing, etc. Bet we would have a pretty good success rate creating comic fans.

 

Yeah, getting books into people's hands is the only way to create long time fans.

 

It was a stroke of genius to hit the sidewalk with them. Thankfully the weather was perfect.

 

There is a lot of new traffic in stores as the media continues to successfully bring quality television and movies to the screen.

 

Here's hoping for a fresh generation of readers.

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My LCS have crazy lines and limit you to only a few books so I drove 100 miles to Heroes Aren't Hard To Find to make a day out of it and get some free sketches. Shelton must order 50,000 books as they were constantly restocking all day and there is no limit to what you can get. Some people took their liberties but the only thing I got two of were the accidental flip books that they had in two places and I didnt realize that Superman Family & Young Justice/GL Animated were the same book until I got home, and the Mouse Guard hardback. He also had about 40 long boxes outside at $1 each but you could fill up a longbox for $75. My buddy and I split that deal so I got about 115 books for $37.50. Solid stuff with lots of vintage GI Joe, almost all the Uncanny XMen in the 160/170s, Batman Adventures, prestige books like Batman Cult 1-4, and even a few TPBs.

 

Here is what I call the best of those books: That's an All Star 58 (1st Power Girl) if you can't tell.

 

100_3682.jpg

 

After Heroes, we ran over to Rebel Base, which wasn't participating in FCBD but had 70% off regular back issues, 50% off wall books, and 30% all new issues except this weeks releases. Amazingly I spent less than $15 in there as the store is pretty well cleaned out of good cheap stuff and most of what's left is overpriced vintage.

 

Headed back to Heroes for the free sketching that began at 1PM and got some free sketches and shot the breeze with the fellow art collectors in line. Good times. I had gotten most everyone appearing at least once but I since I collect Two Face and Green Arrow, I got them to do whichever they didnt do for me last year. Here's what I got :

 

Cully Hamner Green Arrow

 

hamnerarrow.jpg

 

Lason Latour Two Face

 

twofacelatour.jpg

 

Budd Root Poison Ivy

 

ivybudd.jpg

 

All in all a fantastic FCBD 2012!

 

 

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People are already trying to get $25 for the Mouseguard comic online :P

 

Wish I could say I'm surprised, but I figured this would happen.

 

Went to two differnt shops & neither had the 2000 A.D. book (which I think was magazine sized like last year). One shop said it was ordered, but it didn't ship. Did anyone see a copy? Or here similar stories?

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People are already trying to get $25 for the Mouseguard comic online :P

 

Wish I could say I'm surprised, but I figured this would happen.

 

Went to two differnt shops & neither had the 2000 A.D. book (which I think was magazine sized like last year). One shop said it was ordered, but it didn't ship. Did anyone see a copy? Or here similar stories?

 

There were a bunch at my shop, but I assumed it was the one from last year. My shop often puts out leftovers from the year before.

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My LCS had the best day he's ever had in the 15 or 20 years he's been in the business. They had dollar books outside on the sidewalk and did more in a day than most dealers do at a con.

 

Inside, sales were brisk and they literally didn't stop moving (even with several additional staff members) from the time they opened to the time they closed the doors.

 

What I didn't realize is that store owners need to buy the "free" comics.

 

My buddy Andy continues to give them away until they are all gone in the coming weeks.

 

Yep those books are not free for the lcs. We do sales every year on this day. 50% off magazines, 3 for 1 comics, discounted premium comics, tons of toys for $5, trades 3 for $10, discounts on all the games and upstairs toys as well.

 

I sold just to one family 3 long boxes of 3 for $1 books.

 

This day is our biggest sales day beating out Christmas.

 

I beat my record last year for sales in the basement as well.

 

Even sold out of the guest writers book as well and the print artist said it was one of the best days he has had selling his art.

 

Over 2100 customers thru the door and given books upstairs along with more free books downstairs where I was. Bigest line we had in the 4 years I have done this event.

 

Had a cosplay league that was all thru our store and outside taking pics with customers while they where waiting in a 30 minute line to get in.

 

I ended up walking up and down the street telling everyone to come downstairs after they where done upstairs to come check out the basement and events, deals going on, book signing, large print artwork and so on. Also this year we brought all the magic cards downstairs and the guy running that spot was having tutorial games with people to learn the game.

 

Amazing event.

 

I was so tired when I got home and was eating a piece of cheese and fell asleep lol. This morning I woke up with a chunk of cheese in my bed.

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FCBD was packed at my LCS. Never seen it so busy.

 

I took my daughter (4 yrs old) and my neice (2 yrs old). Thought if I went up there around 1pm, the main rush would be over. Nope. Store was packed!

 

By the time we got there, alot of the free books were gone, but the girls were able to pick up the following books:

 

Hayden (my daughter) got - Yo Gabba Gabba, Spider-Man, and Toy Story

 

Sammi (my neice) got: Yo Gabba Gabba, Archie, and Toy Story

 

There was a girl there dressed as Harley Quinn and, to my surprise, the girls liked her. I thought they would freak out (especially Sammi).

 

They had fun there. It was fun taking them. They were pretty excited to go. My daughter was a little upset that the Spidey book didn't have any Spidey in it though (it was very much like Ultimate Spidey, were it looks like the "origin" is going to run over a few issues). Marvel recently did another freebie Spidey book (based on the USM TV show). They should've put that one back out on FCBD. Lots of Spidey in that one.

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But really, how much do the free comics cost the stores (each)?

I'm just curious, that's all.

 

wonder why many a shop couldn't do the same with overstock and have their own FCB type events in september when the weather is still decent. true, there are tons of great kids books, and many shops may not have a deep inventory for that, but it's not like you can't go to a show and pick up long boxes of kids type books at 25 cents a pop if you work out a deal or something.

 

we go to one place that is trying very hard to be a "drop by" place for parents with young children to spend a few bucks (in a neighborhood with a lot of young families), while also having a regular selection of regular comics. i hope they survive

 

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I think I read in another thread, it costs the retailers 15-cents per book. They also have to pay advertising costs, banners, etc...

 

Gator said he spent about 2K on Free Comic Day. I forgot to ask my LCS how much they spent.

 

That said, Gator said he had a ton of people come thru his store. My LCS was the same. Just jam packed when I was there (and they only had some local indy creators).

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