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Free Comic Book Day

Started by Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK, 20 April, 2017, 05:48:05 AM

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Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK

Can anyone explain how free comic book day works please? Never done it before. Cheers

TordelBack

#1
Comics shops get the chance to buy several tons of repackaged adverts from their media conglommerate suppliers which they then hand out free to swarms of customers who they won't see again til next year, unless it's on eBay flogging their freebies.

Remarkably many shop folk manage to do this without letting on what a miserable business it is, and the day can be fun for kids.

Tharg produces a couple of new and exclusive strips and a nice cover, and packages it with some ecelectic reprint into a satisfying comic, and there's some annual nonsense about anthologies or larger format books being banned, until they aren't. And chances are you won't see a copy for a few years unless you're prepared to buy a 'Free Comic' that has cost both Tharg and your LCS from some online gouger.

CalHab

Comic shops distribute free comics to ungrateful and avaricious "customers", who then proceed to go back to buying books online until next year. All decent comics are either siphoned off by some shops to be sold as "excess stock" on eBay the following day, or are sold by the "customers" for wildly optimistic prices. Can't wait.

Fungus


Smith

Quote from: CalHab on 20 April, 2017, 07:41:22 AM
Comic shops distribute free comics to ungrateful and avaricious "customers", who then proceed to go back to buying books online until next year. All decent comics are either siphoned off by some shops to be sold as "excess stock" on eBay the following day, or are sold by the "customers" for wildly optimistic prices. Can't wait.
Buying books online?Buying?:|

Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK

So you just turn up and they give you a free comic?

O Lucky Stevie!

Quote from: TordelBack on 20 April, 2017, 07:10:47 AM
Comics shops get the chance to buy several tons of repackaged adverts from their media conglommerate suppliers which they then hand out free to swarms of customers who they won't see again til next year, unless it's on eBay flogging their freebies.

Remarkably many shop folk manage to do this without letting on what a miserable business it is, and the day can be fun for kids.

Tharg produces a couple of new and exclusive strips and a nice cover, and packages it with some ecelectic reprint into a satisfying comic, and there's some annual nonsense about anthologies or larger format books being banned, until they aren't. And chances are you won't see a copy for a few years unless you're prepared to buy a 'Free Comic' that has cost both Tharg and your LCS from some online gouger.

& let us not forget the annual, incongruous cry of, "But the subscribers!?"
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK on 20 April, 2017, 10:47:04 AM
So you just turn up and they give you a free comic?
Pretty much. What you get depends on what they buy in. Various shops also decide on limits. My closest retailer doing this is in Reading, and they've stipulated people can choose a single book. Other places let you leave with armfuls. I'll probably end up heading to eBay again, inevitably, for at least one comic. (I'd personally like two: 2000 AD and Doctor Who, assuming the latter's on this year.)

Colin YNWA

Yeah its all about getting people to visit bricks and mortar comic shops.

It will vary from shop to shop but at my LCS you turn up a bit before it opens and marvel at the cue of over 20-30 people who came much earlier. They open the door and you orderly file past the stuff they have ordered (there is some cost to the shops). Its a mixed bag some reprint fodder, some great stuff. A lot of stuff for kids, which is pretty cool.

Ya pick what you want (I think my LCS limits to 5 a go - take your children you can get more!) and jobs a good un.

There are also lots of places that hold event, encourage cosplay, have signing and what not.

Generally all smashing fun and then after people have time to either flip the stuff for silly money for a brief time or get upset about people flipping stuff for silly money as they don't have the patience to wait a brief time.

Dandontdare

#9
Of the two main comic shops in Manchester, Travelling Man simply lay out everything on a large table with a snaking going queue around it - you can help yourself to (one copy only) of any title you fancy. They also give out sweeties and encourage kids to dress up. Forbidden Planet is more of a hassle - they tend to get a long queue outside and admit people half a dozen at a time, who get to choose a set number (6 or 8 IIRC) of comics from the titles on offer.

As has been pointed out above, the big corporations simply slap together a few previews and lots of adverts, whilst Tharg produces a quality publication (despite the best efforts of the FCBD people to ban anthologies or large-format comics)- three new strips and a few classic reprints.

People often complain that these freebies aren't officially available elsewhere, but they forget that this event is not about promoting the publications, it's about the retailers getting feet through the door of your local comic shop. Sadly and inevitably, the system is abused by people (and unscrupulous retailers) grabbing large numbers of the best stuff and then sticking them on ebay.

It's a good event for finding things that you would never normally buy - Hip Hop Family Tree was an unexpected highlight for me in recent years.

Jim_Campbell

I'll mention that BOOM's FCBD offering also contains a decent chunk of new, original strip. I don't know if Black Mask are doing one this year, but last year's book had new We Can Never Go Home and Young Terrorists strips.
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