Things To Do
Free Comic Book Day falls on Saturday, May 4, with 48 titles published specifically for the occasion.
By Luis Gomez
April 25, 2024
South Florida comic book stores will be celebrate Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 4.Tate's Comics photo
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Think of the complimentary comic books you receive on Free Comic Book Day like free samples you get at the supermarket. One of the main goals is to give you a taste of a product for free in hopes that you will enjoy it and become a regular customer.
This year's Free Comic Book Day, which takes place on Saturday, May 4, features 48 titles published specifically for the occasion. The lineup includes well-known IPs such as X-Men, Spider-Man, Pokémon, Encanto, Hellboy, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And just like with the supermarket samples, the highly coveted comics can run out quickly.
The comic book shops foot the bill, so they decide which comics they'll have in stock. They typically order anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand comics, and at around 30 to 50 cents each, the cost can add up.
Do the comic book shops tend to see a return on their investment?
"I think the overall goal of the program has always been to bring awareness and new readers to comics for all ages," says Stephen Korka, owner of Korka Comics in Miami and Pembroke Pines. "This is why the books offered are very diverse in content, appealing to all different types of individuals. Many come for the sales, of course, and then there are the few that just want the free books, and we won't see them again till next year."
Some shops plan special sales and giveaways around the occasion. Docking Bay 94 in Coconut Creek is setting up a tent outside for comics that are 50 percent off.KnoWhere Toys Comics & Gaming in Hialeah will have a buy-five-get-five-free deal on comics. And because Free Comic Book Day coincides with Star Wars Day (AKA May the Fourth Be With You) this year, Knowhere will also give away Star Wars pins to its first 50 customers.
Some shops book special guests for Free Comic Book Day. Actor Ray Park — who played Darth Maul in the Star Wars films — is tentatively scheduled to appear Saturday, May 4, at Past Present Future Comics in West Palm Beach and Sunday, May 5, at the shop's Davie location.
click to enlarge
Tate Ottati of Tate's Comics says his store mostly focuses on kids' books to introduce them to comics at an early age.
Tate's Comics photo
And then there are those comic book stores that offer only free comics on Free Comic Book Day.
"We used to do big events for Free Comic Book Day," says Tate Ottati, owner of Tate's Comics in Lauderhill, which celebrated its 31st anniversary in March with a blowout involving food trucks. "It was almost like a convention in the store with artists signing books. But the amount of money we spent on that compared to the money we made that day wasn't worthwhile."
"I cut back a lot from ordering 5,000 or 6,000 Marvel and DC comics to ordering 700. This year, I focused more on the kids' books. A kid is more likely to [suddenly] get into comics than an adult. If people get pissed that I don't have more mature titles in stock at three in the afternoon, well, they should have come earlier."
The first Free Comic Book Day took place May 4, 2002, to coincide with the release of the first Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man film. As the story goes, comic book store owner Joe Field came up with the idea after seeing the popularity of Free Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins. The annual event organized by Diamond Comic Distributors has since been celebrated on the first Saturday in May because that's when Marvel usually releases its big summer blockbuster movie.
The music industry eventually adopted its version of Free Comic Book Day in 2007 to promote independently owned record stores. Typically held the third Saturday in April, Record Store Day sees stores offering deals and records specifically pressed for the occasion.
Ottati believes Free Comic Book Day could learn a thing or two from Record Store Day.
"The record stores took the idea and, I think, made it better," Ottati says. "The publishers promote it as a group instead of how the main [comic book] publishers butt heads. I wish Diamond [Comic Distributors] would try to get the publishers together to do one giant publishing push around Free Comic Book Day, so it's not just about [the publishers] pushing their own stuff. Rising tides raise all ships."
Participating Miami-Dade and Broward Stores
Docking Bay 94 Comics and Games. 7710 NW 56th Way, #100, Coconut Creek; 954-427-1694; comicsandgames.com.
KnoWhere Toys, Comics & Gaming. 7312 W. 20th Ave., Hialeah; 786-502-2256; knowheretoys.com.
Korka Comics. 10538 SW Eighth St., Miami; 786-717-5557; and 7641 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines; 954-962-3322; korkacomics.com.
Past Present Future Comics. 5917 S. University Dr., Davie; 954-434-4822; ppfcomics.com.
Tate's Comics. 4566 N. University Dr., Lauderhill; 954-748-0181; tatescomics.com.
Phil's Comic Shoppe. 6512 W. Atlantic Blvd., Margate; 954-977-6947; facebook.com/philscomicshoppe.
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