LUCKY THIRTEEN: Hi There! A few days back we posted a sneak peek at the comics on offer via an album on our Facebook page here. Did you get out to Free Comic Book Day today? The image above is from the official t-shirt, did you get one? Well - there's still time! And if so, this is a "live article" and we will add your contributions (quotes, pictures, costumes, contests, fave spots...) as we receive them.
Here in Dallas we managed to get out to three shops, and they all had different approaches to the overall experience which we will try to share. The event goes on wherever you are until closing time. So here we go....
We started our trek at Keith's Comics (Mockingbird location) and they had their smaller (but packed with lots of goodies) shop all set up with several staff on hand. They had a stand at the front of the store and allowed visitors to take three free comics per guest. It was crowded and they had lots of new vinyl figures from Funko, Diamond Select Toys, Figma and Figures Toy Co. They also had a sidewalk sale on books for up to 75% off. Though because of the limit we decided to move forward to another shop on the other side of town.
Next we headed over to Zeus Comics on Inwood. Here we were delighted to find ourselves "between stocking" - they chose to re-stock for FCBD every few hours, and not only that, they had the widest selection of all three shops we stopped in on. Outside there was a puppy adoption thing going on in the parking lot, and right next door at Common Ground Games they were celebrating their 2nd Year Aniversary - congrats guys! So it was a festive atmosphere all around.
Zeus had the comics tiered from kids at the bottom (obvious smart choice) to more adult titles at the top. Further, these guys truly had their act together, and has been doing this since the even started 13 years ago. While we were there my partner got me #1-4 of the newest Star Wars series :) Oh, they also had local comic artists drawing and signing comics too! Since we didn't find some of the books we were seeking they invited us back at 2PM, when we arrived an orderly single line of maybe 20 folks had queued and once it was our turn we pulled from the assortment, and they allowed for visitors to take any from the selection, and even provided a paper bag for each person as well. Great customer service, bravo!
Lastly, in our effort to triangulate the Metroplex we headed over to Titan Comics, and the place was alive and hopping with loads of revelers - it was like a mini Comic Con. I like this sizable shop as they always have a nice selection of Sideshow Collectibles and tons of Hiklaris and other real fun stuff including rare books. Unfortunately since I was last in that sold that Batman Armory from Sideshow (darn it)! They limited the free comics to five a person and had a smaller selection than Zeus by far, but perhaps the same at Keith's, tiered similarly for kids thru adult titles. At this shop there was a very large diverse crowd, and there were many small kids looking at the comics which is a great sign for the future of comics - however, I noticed many of the lil' ones were Latino - so I say we should hope for comics in Spanish in years to come? The below images show the sidewalk events as well as a DJ and face painting for the lil' ones. It was definitely the most festive stop in our trek!
Finally...what's YOUR story? Send your thoughts here or via our Facebook page pinned post! We will add your quotes, photos and experiences as they are received.....
PS: After buzzing all around town we managed a solid take-home of comic gems to read over the coming weeks...many are new to us! The only title sadly not located was The Phantom. They say it's in a title after all.
MEANWHILE...IN OHIO!.....
Lennon, one of our trusty editors, sent us these two pictures (above). I didn't notice any official plastic bags here - though Dallas has pretty much rid itself of such things. That said, he got a good-lookin' Southern Hobby Garruk figure while out and about with his kids - way to go! All this, while the new Ultron figure kept him company upon the dash! He also had this to say:
"I went to Epic Loot Comics & Games is the first shop I went to very clean and nice set up. I met the interview artists there. I really want to interview the black guy he does stuff with Cartoon Network Steven Universe and a bunch of other things. The shop had a lot of newer things. more of a modern comic shop. The second shop is Bell, Book & Comic. It was the older of the two you could tell that the customers where regulars and the shop had a nice community base. there are two shops. One houses back issues. The other is full of toys comics and newer stuff. I like both shops I found the Magic exclusive at Bell costed me 14.10 there was a sale going on. I would go back to both shops for different reasons. Epic for the cleaner experience and Bell hunting for exclusives." And he provided additional images:
And additional comments via Facebook....
McWilleyhausen, who does our The Marvel Select Minute column said: "I went to Blue Line Collectibles in Philadelphia, PA and Collector's Corner Double-Play in Burlington, NJ....Had some cosplayers at Blue Line and a lot fo awesome sales."