Free Comic Book Day For Me Then (2002) and Now (2011)

In 2002, when Free Comic Book Day was first launch, I was working as a teacher?s assistant while pursuing a bachelor?s degree. After years of feast or famine working as a graphic artist, I switched careers. I was barely living then, paying my bills and buying comics on a shoe string salary of 13k. Free Comic Book Day sounded like a joke to me at the time, why would publishers and comic shops give those books away when I was willing to pay for them every Wednesday. Still I saw the value in this event, that is to get new and more interest this hobby. It didn?t hurt that the day happened to coincide with Spider-man in the theaters. I was in comic book heaven, I didn?t care what the free books were about just that they were free and there was buzz about comics in Hollywood. I was so excited I sent an email to coworkers (a chosen few teachers), explaining Free Comic Book Day, how comics encouraged reading and that there was potential value in the hobby. Needless to say, many of the teachers didn?t respond, and the few that did, sort of scoffed at me.

Fast forward 9 years and things are much different. I didn?t send an email to my coworkers; I posted a news link and a comment on my Facebook wall. This garnered many responses, all favorable. Free Comic Book Day has gotten bigger and bigger each year since its inauguration and now it is a May main event. Today, I make 7 times my shoe string salary and I buy all the comics I want. ;-)

I picked up a number of comics from 2011 Free Comic Book day. I have some old favorites that I like to get each year, however I must admit I was pleasantly surprised with the additional stories and previews in the Mouse Guard book. I loved Return of the Dapper Men, so to see a preview for the new graphic novel was a treat. I liked that Archaia didn?t advertise the content of this free comic book issue. And how wonderful to see a preview of Jim Hansen?s Tale of Sand, since seeing a promo poster at C2E2 for this story I?ve been very interesting in its release. The artwork in Dark Crystal was interesting though I?m on the fence about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the standalone story of Baltimore. I read the Plague Ship miniseries and have since looked forward to more stories about this character. The recap and preview of The Stuff of Legend comic was awesome, I am a fan but my bias aside the guys at Thi3d World Studio write one hell of a book. The Intrepid Escape Goat was fun; it reminded me of Indiana Jones meets the Mummy, mixed with Houdini, what a good time. I was a little disappointed in Jake the Dreaming, it was very text laden and wasn?t a comic as much as a preview of the graphic novel. Selected chapters were printed for this book and I guess I?ll just have to wait for the graphic novel release to determine my like or dislike. Worlds of Aspen 2011 had an image of Lady Mechanika on the cover, though the story is a repeat from issue 1, I still picked the book up. Joe (Jose) Benitez?s artwork for this series is eye catching and I couldn?t resist. Last year, Oni Press pushed a book entitled The Sixth Gun. The cover art looked interesting and I quickly came to realize that the story was just as good if not better than the art. This year, I pulled Spontaneous with the hope that I had another winner.