It’s this day, this year, and you get free comics at your local comic shop. Pretty straight forward, eh?

But seriously – Free Comic Book Day ^[1] is an annual event, held on the first Saturday of May. Besides being a great way to promote comics and reading, comic shops have individually turned them into mini-conventions, with prizes, costumes, local creators, games, special sales, and even charity work.

While to you it is a day of free comics (check the list! ^[2]), each store buys these comics. The publishers have discounted them to varying degrees (as gold and silver sponsors) , but the shops still pay for them (and considering they bring in hundreds of books for the event, that can add up), so please check your store’s preferences – most have a limit per person, which you can then exceed by paying a nominal price, making a donation to charity, etc. In fact, some regular customers make it a point to toss them some coin anyhow – what’s a couple of bucks, a fiver, or some cans of soup for a fistful of comics?

Find Your Local Comic Shop!

Big shouts out to RX Comics, The Comic Shop, Golden Age, Imperial Hobbies, Lucky’s, and Elfsar ^[3], which I’m linking to because a) I have an account there, and b) the sheer volume of stuff they pack into their FCBD is insane – be sure to bring non-perishable offerings for the Vancouver Foodbank.