Free Comic Book Day 2007

Netpoet · Post by **Netpoet** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:25 am

Shishio wrote:
Col wrote:How did it get delivered? Was it in an envelope?
It wasn't delivered to me. I got to see it early because my friend owns a comic book store.

Cheater! :p {/end envy} That's pretty cool, actually. Do you get to see new comics before they're released?

>Net

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:34 am

No. The Free Comic Book day stuff is an exception, because it was shipped early so that retailers weren't, you know, rushing to set up on the day.

New comics day around here is Wednesday, (And all across Canada and America, I believe.) so I can see new stuff then, like anyone else, if I want.

I don't get it early, but I can hang out as much as I want, while reading as many comics as I please.

And hey, don't get too jealous. Seeing as I wanted to read the CG book, my friend asked me to review the rest of the stuff and let him know what was for kids, etcetera. I couldn't review everything, because my brain was melting. The stuff I did read was utter fucking garbage.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:45 am

cortland wrote:I haven't gotten a copy yet, but I'll be sure to snag a couple extra copies next week for anybody who would like one.

I may need one...I don't know whether or not our comic book store is going to carry them, and I'd like to get an extra one to send to a fan who wanted to see it.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:17 pm

Shishio wrote: And hey, don't get too jealous. Seeing as I wanted to read the CG book, my friend asked me to review the rest of the stuff and let him know what was for kids, etcetera. I couldn't review everything, because my brain was melting. The stuff I did read was utter fucking garbage.

Sounds like that free Transformers book I got at a FCBD once. Pure ass.

Spqrblues · Post by **Spqrblues** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:42 pm

Don't read this if you don't want to inject a dash of grumpy into your day.

Here's a review (of a sort) on the usually quite entertaining Comics Worth Reading blog:

These titles, in my opinion, missed the point of the day:

Keenspot and Comic Genesis are webcomic samplers, so there’s nothing from them for retailers to sell the rest of the year. They’re riding the coattails to get low-cost advertising. Looked at uncharitably, they may even be trying to poach comic shop customers. I don’t know why a retailer would choose to give these out. (They’re also wildly varying in quality and printed on cruddy newsprint.)

I note that the blogger did not at all address the individual comics themselves, other than to say "wildly varying in quality"--but in quality from "awful to awfullest"? From "not so bad to fantastically mind-blowing"?

In another thread I questioned whether being on ComicGenesis caused potential readers to look down on a comic; but here I think we're finding a general scorn for webcomics as a whole: Comic shop retailers who see free comics online as competition, rather than the wellspring of new readers who will want printed compilations and will visit a comic shop to see what's to be found there. If the shops want to stay strong, they should be encouraging the print publishers to produce works of a type or quality that can't be found online, including books that are so nifty you just want to hold them in your hands and play with them, or artists so fantastic you want to support them and carry them in your bag to pull out and show people. It's my opinion that webcomics support the industry as a whole. But retailers might insist on seeing it otherwise. It would be interesting to google around and find more retailers' opinions.

So... is the sampler really printed on cruddy newsprint? Aw.

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:04 pm

spqrblues wrote:So... is the sampler really printed on cruddy newsprint? Aw.

Newsprint has a long and glorious history in comics. Cerebus was printed on newsprint. The Tick was printed on newsprint. All of the biggies were printed on newsprint back in the days before it cost $14.99 for a single 20-page issue. Why in my day we liked comics to be printed on newsprint; they were much better than those other comics printed on papyrus.

As for "riding the coattails to get low-cost advertising", I could be wrong but I thought that's what Free Comic Book Day was all about...

Col · Post by **Col** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:16 pm

"Missed the point of the day"? You mean getting new people to read comics? Yeah, we're way off with what we're putting out.

Spqrblues · Post by **Spqrblues** » Wed May 02, 2007 6:17 pm

Col wrote:"Missed the point of the day"? You mean getting new people to read comics? Yeah, we're way off with what we're putting out.

It seems the blogger/comic shop perspective is that FCBD is all about getting customers into the store who will continue to buy the titles in the FCBD books and increase store revenue. I can see why a comic shop would feel that way ("what's in it for me?"), but I'd like to think that some stores participate in FCBD for the love of comics. I'm not sure how much it costs them to stock FCBD titles, but if it's not just a nominal fee... well... they probably don't want to do it solely for the love of comics.

So for them it's not about popularising comics or expanding the readership or raising the profile of comics in society in general (all of which is what I'd want FCBD to be for). Though you'd think there'd be profit in that, too.

I'm not sure why the blogger thinks FCBD isn't also about advertising and self-promotion. What else would it be?

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Thu May 03, 2007 3:13 am

spqrblues wrote:So for them it's not about popularising comics or expanding the readership or raising the profile of comics in society in general (all of which is what I'd want FCBD to be for). Though you'd think there'd be profit in that, too.

Not every comic book store thinks that way. I believe I saw that there would be some webcomic artists at both the Silver Snail and the Beguiling in Toronto for Free Comic Book Day.

Turnsky · Post by **Turnsky** » Thu May 03, 2007 3:23 am

Kat North wrote:
cortland wrote:I haven't gotten a copy yet, but I'll be sure to snag a couple extra copies next week for anybody who would like one.
I may need one...I don't know whether or not our comic book store is going to carry them, and I'd like to get an extra one to send to a fan who wanted to see it.

no comic book stores here, so i wouldn't mind a copy M'self.

Spqrblues · Post by **Spqrblues** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:12 am

ataraxia wrote:I believe I saw that there would be some webcomic artists at both the Silver Snail and the Beguiling in Toronto for Free Comic Book Day.

That's good to hear.

It has to be beneficial for any store, to get people who hadn't previously gone there to walk through the doors, especially anyone who might think of comic shops as unpleasant places.

We might not manage to get our contributors' copies before FCBD, but do we have an idea when we'll get them or if they've been sent out? (I'm going to start phoning around to stores where I'm going to be that day to see if anyone is carrying the sampler, just in case, so I can be sure to get one.)

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:21 am

spqrblues wrote:It has to be beneficial for any store, to get people who hadn't previously gone there to walk through the doors, especially anyone who might think of comic shops as unpleasant places.

I think that's the big benefit for most comic book stores- not to get people hooked on a story they'll come back and buy, but just to get them in the doors of the shop and maybe convince them this is a place they'd like to return to again later. Of course I don't run a comic book store myself so this is all just ignorant opinion.

Col · Post by **Col** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:39 am

ataraxia wrote:...but just to get them in the doors of the shop and maybe convince them this is a place they'd like to return to again later...

The first step is to make their shop not look and feel like a basement.

Dr Legostar · Post by **Dr Legostar** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:42 am

saturday i will be back in my home town, which happens to have a very awesome comic book shop. Last year they did not have the CG free comic book, i'm hoping this year will be different, but we'll see. Also, i'm dragging vort along.

Spqrblues · Post by **Spqrblues** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:17 am

Hmm... maybe if contributors can't get copies for whatever reason (lousy mail service, whatever), we can get a PDF of the entire thing so we can see how it all turned out.

But, that's anticipating trouble, so first I'll wait and see whether my copy gets here in a week or so

Cortland · Post by **Cortland** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:42 pm

I got my copies in the mail today, and they look GREAT!

The cover artwork looks especially awesome! Humbug, you hold your own against all the pros out there, so be proud!

Ataraxia · Post by **Ataraxia** » Thu May 03, 2007 4:02 pm

Col wrote:The first step is to make their shop not look and feel like a basement.

Yes, that is quite important. Trimming the neckbeards before Free Comic Book Day would probably also be a good tip.

Pimpette · Post by **Pimpette** » Fri May 04, 2007 5:33 am

cortland wrote:I got my copies in the mail today, and they look GREAT! The cover artwork looks especially awesome! Humbug, you hold your own against all the pros out there, so be proud!

Awesome.

I will begin obsessively checking my mail now.

Shishio · Post by **Shishio** » Fri May 04, 2007 5:49 am

spqrblues wrote:So... is the sampler really printed on cruddy newsprint? Aw.

Sorry to disappoint you, but yes, it is.

As for webcomics hurting the print comic industry, I feel that is bullshit. I know there's a pervasive doom and gloom attitude within the industry/community, but I believe that things will only get better. I would expalin why, but I'm too fucking lazy right now. I wrote an article on this before which I should rewrite someday.

But to summarize, my belief is that things like manga, webcomics, and the growing popularity of graphic novels will introduce more people to comics, in turn making them more popular, which will in turn result in even more people becoming comic creators, and creating more great stuff, (Yeah, a lot of it will be crap, but there will be great works created by this generation as well.) and so on and so forth.

Nanda · Post by **Nanda** » Fri May 04, 2007 6:41 am

They used to piss on underground comics, too, and look how far they've come.