The Free Comic Book Day That Wasn't

As you may know, this past Saturday was the annual Free Comic Book Day event at participating retailers. We here at Exfanding made sure to do our part in getting the word out about the event, what with our multiple posts on the subject and a Twitter reminder (or four).

One of those Tweets even mentioned the fact that, despite its name, Free Comic Book Day is not free for the retailers. They have to pay the shipping costs for all of those "free" books.

And as a way to say thank you to your local retailer (not only for the "free" books, but also for being there, week in and week out), I encouraged everyone to go to their LCS, pick up their free books, and then maybe even spend some money on something new.

While it's true that lots of stores have some kind of event centered around FCBD, it's also true that many stores are just trying to break even on that once-a-year Saturday.

And in this economy, it's important to support small, local businesses. You know, like comics shops.

Ya know, the way things are today, comics shops are as close to an independent bookstore as many towns have. In a lot of cases, comics shops are the best kind of indy bookstore, as they sell product that is very much not in the mainstream and they cater to a niche clientele.

So if we like comics, we should support the people that sell them, especially on days like Free Comic Book Day. Right? Sure.

Except...

Sadly, I didn't follow my own orders, and I failed to make it to a comics shop on Saturday. This, despite the fact that two of the shops in my area held signings/sketch opportunities with artists whose work I really like.

So it's a double whammy (yes, I just used the term "double whammy") of things I didn't do so well.

When a store has a signing, and not all of the regulars show up, there's the chance that the creator may feel slighted, especially if the store is pretty dead. And that's not fair to the shop that went and set up the signing. Nor is it fair to the creator, who has to sit there and stare at a wall.

Now, from what I've heard, this didn't happen in either store in my area, and both signings went very well.

So I feel a little less badly. But only a little. Oh. And I didn't see Thor, either. Yikes.

I'm a bad geek, what can I say?


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And if you're wondering what it was that kept me from going to the stores on Saturday, well. It was a Mother's Day lunch and get together.

See? Maybe I'm not all bad.