• Published May 12, 2016

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Another free comic book day has come and gone and I had the opportunity to spend it in a unique way. It has been 15 years since the first free comic book day was held in the US and the event has grown in leaps and bounds. I was able to experience free comic book day by visiting two comic book shops: Outer limits Melvile and Cosmic Comics. They were both full of people eager to get their hands on the free comics that were available on hand and as such I was able to get interviews with the store owners so that they could tell us a little about the event and what it meant for them and the impact it has had on the comic book business.

First stop was Cosmic Comics:

My friends and I didn’t have to wait long in the queue despite the fact that earlier in the day it had been snaking its way around the block. When we eventually got to the door we were ushered inside where I requested an interview with Shane Brocklebank , the shop owner.

In the previous years have you seen a growth in terms of the popularity of comic books and free comic book day and the number of people who visit your store?

Shane: Yeah definitely, especially when they put comics on the internet since then people have read up on the comics they like, and then they come over to the store to buy the ones they like. The movies don’t influence them so much as they don’t want to commit to something that will fade a few months down the line so they come in for t-shirts or key-rings.

Do you think the popularity of comics will continue in subsequent years

Shane: I think it will with the release of movies almost every month. People will come in and collect comics and those people who collected in the past and then stopped are starting to collect again so I think that this will continue.

Cosmic comics had a wide assortment of comics action figures and an assortment of t-shirts and small items like key rings etc. People were keen to participate in the event and it was evident by the number of customers who were walking in and out of the shop when I was there.

After this I made my way to Outer Limits Melville. I went it, looked within the store which had a substantial collection of comics and asked to speak to the owner Grant who accepted the request for a brief interview.

How long have you been hosting free comic book day and has it grown over the years?

Grant: We have been hosting free comic book day since 2002 and it has grown with each year.since all the comic book shops started. The misconception about free comic book day is that the comics are free. They are free to the public but not to the shops since we still need to buy them. To start off not all the comic shops participated and it slowly grew until it got to the event that it is today where people go from shop to shop collecting all the free comics..

Do the movies have an influence on the number of people who come to get free comics or who regularly buy comics from you?

Grant: It does help, but the hype of the movies doesn’t spill over into the comic book world. People who see a movie are not necessarily going to go to a comic book shop to read a comic book. Younger people are likely to start collecting but there is a bit of a parallel. It’s more common in the States where geek culture is more in the fore front, but a little more slow in South Africa.

Outer limits Mellvile also had a wide selection of comics, graphic novels, and action figures that, if I had enough money with me I would have purchased on the spot.

It was quite interesting listening to the responses that both Shane and Grant had about the popularity of comics and the fact that people were collecting comics not for their ties to movies. The idea for hosting free comic book day around the first weekend of May was to tie into the summer blockbusters which by and large were superhero movies. When the first free comic book day was held in 2002, it was meant to coincide with the release of the first Spider-man movie starring Tobey Maguire. This trend has continued to until this year with the release of captain America: Civil War in the US.

The main concern that I had, and I think that this might have to be considered by other event organisers in the future, is that Free comic book day fell on the same weekend as Geekfest here in Gauteng and FanCon in Cape Town which may have affected the overall turnout at the various comic book shops. This isn’t a criticism of any events that occur at the same time but perhaps this could affect the decisions by the shops whether they would consider going to other events or not.

The three main purposes of free comic book day were: to call back former comic book readers, entice new readers to pick up the medium and to thank the current buyers for their support. Based on the conversations that I’ve had with both Grant and Shane, I would say that the day has achieved all three of these objectives.

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Metal Pangolin

His arms are heavy, knees weak, eyes are straining, ‘cause he’s been reading comics from DC, Marvel, Image etc. more than even he can name them. He’s nerdy, but on the surface he looks calm and ready, to review comics, and lets not all forget that, when he writes stuff, it makes people laugh out loud, in real life, he almost never opens his mouth , so watch out....

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Article Tags: comic book feature · comic books · fcbd · featured · free comic book day · Interview

Article Categories: Comic Book Feature