Free Comic Book Day Recap

When it comes to the beginning of May there are always two things to look forward to, new Marvel movie and Free Comic Book Day.

As the years have gone on I have undergone a shift from always seeing the new Marvel movie and no comic to only comics and not going to see the new Marvel movie.  Sitting in a packed theater rubbing elbows with strangers and listening to shrill children isn’t fun for me.

On the upside, I am not sleep-deprived for work Friday and for sure ready to get up early Saturday morning for Free Comic Book day because of it.

This year my boyfriend, our friend, and I decided to go big instead of going home.  We wanted to visit as many comic book stores as we could.  In our area we have three.

First stop, Tribe Comic and Games.  This little shop is my favorite.  I remember when it was in a nearby smaller location.  Needless to say, we had to go there and visit our buddies there.

The set up they use were series of banquet tables with stacks and stacks of comics on each. You could only get five. But, there was no pressure to pick something.  The atmosphere was very come and see what is here and take it if you like it.  No pressure, no frills.  We wanted to pick up our usual issues as well.  But, like any holiday shopping, everyone wants to get something.

Next stop was the well-known Austin Books & Comics.  This was a bit of an odd set up.  They converted the parking lot to a tent structure for the free comics.  10 was the limit.  Everything was organized down to exiting the area with staff counting and bagging your comics.

Then it got weird, and I got a bit frustrated.  There weren’t any signs for this only the exit staff telling people what was going on:

• If you had a free comic bag, you couldn’t go into the store (people can’t steal comics by putting them in the bag, makes sense)
• They didn’t tell you couldn’t go into the store until you made your way to the end of the tent and had your times counted and bagged.
• If you wanted to go inside, then you had to leave your bag with the tent staff (and hope no one else takes your bag mistake…and deal with the growing line of people trying to get their bags)

We didn’t even want to bother with all that. We took off to the next place after this misjudgment in planning.

The last place we visited was Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy Austin , which was a huge mistake. The line to get in was longer than the building.  Not worth it.

So, we went to Terra Toys and had so much fun playing with toys instead.