Free Comic Book Day: Lexington, Kentucky
Yesterday I visited two local comics shops, Collectibles Etc. and The Comic Interlude. (There's also A+ Comics and Collectibles, but I didn't have time to go there.) I had thought there wouldn't be a big turnout because it was Derby Day over in Louisville, but I was wrong. At both stores there were quite a few people and (around noon, when I was there) a few titles already all gone. While I missed the crowds at Collectibles (the clerk filled me in), I did see a few parents with kids at Comic Interlude. Everyone seemed excited, and I like to think some of those kids curled up with their new comics while their parents had their Derby parties.
Because I read mostly superhero stuff, I collected The Fantagraphics Funny Book, Top Shelf Tales, Comics Festival!, Bongo Comics' Gimme Gimme Giveaway!, and previews of The Adventures Of Paul, Flight, Owly, Star Wars, and Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards. (I know Star Wars isn't "alternative," but I don't regularly read the prequel comics....)
Of those, I was most impressed by Comics Festival! and Flight. I thought they were the most consistently entertaining, and Flight especially made me want to seek out the two trades. I also really liked The Adventures Of Paul and Owly. (Paul meandered a little and I had some trouble with the pictograms in Owly. I are a little slow, maybe.)
The Fantagraphics and Top Shelf books were more uneven. I have read a couple of Love & Rockets collections, and I liked Gilbert Hernandez' contribution, but not any of the Jaime Hernandez strips. Weird. I also didn't get the Worn Tuff Elbow strip, and I thought the Dan Clowes strip mocking collectors was a little off-putting considering the circumstances. Everything else I liked, though. I enjoyed the Top Shelf collection except for the James Kolchaka strips, and again through no fault of their own I guess I just didn't get them.
Bone Sharps was good, but it probably works better as the first few pages of a graphic novel than a self-contained preview. It did make me want to check out the studio's other work. Finally, the Bongo Comics and Star Wars giveaways were both decent, but nothing special.
This was my first Free Comic Book Day, but it won't be my last. I was familiar with many of these creators, so this was a good opportunity to sample some of them and check out others who were new. Therefore, for me it was a success, and to me it looked like a success at the stores I visited.
Because I read mostly superhero stuff, I collected The Fantagraphics Funny Book, Top Shelf Tales, Comics Festival!, Bongo Comics' Gimme Gimme Giveaway!, and previews of The Adventures Of Paul, Flight, Owly, Star Wars, and Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards. (I know Star Wars isn't "alternative," but I don't regularly read the prequel comics....)
Of those, I was most impressed by Comics Festival! and Flight. I thought they were the most consistently entertaining, and Flight especially made me want to seek out the two trades. I also really liked The Adventures Of Paul and Owly. (Paul meandered a little and I had some trouble with the pictograms in Owly. I are a little slow, maybe.)
The Fantagraphics and Top Shelf books were more uneven. I have read a couple of Love & Rockets collections, and I liked Gilbert Hernandez' contribution, but not any of the Jaime Hernandez strips. Weird. I also didn't get the Worn Tuff Elbow strip, and I thought the Dan Clowes strip mocking collectors was a little off-putting considering the circumstances. Everything else I liked, though. I enjoyed the Top Shelf collection except for the James Kolchaka strips, and again through no fault of their own I guess I just didn't get them.
Bone Sharps was good, but it probably works better as the first few pages of a graphic novel than a self-contained preview. It did make me want to check out the studio's other work. Finally, the Bongo Comics and Star Wars giveaways were both decent, but nothing special.
This was my first Free Comic Book Day, but it won't be my last. I was familiar with many of these creators, so this was a good opportunity to sample some of them and check out others who were new. Therefore, for me it was a success, and to me it looked like a success at the stores I visited.
posted by Tom Bondurant @ 3:52 PM
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