Can't Wait for Saturday (Part 3)

It's finally here; today is Free Comic Book Day. As we prepare to load up our backpacks and head out to our LCS's on this grandest of holidays, we feature a few "stragglers" who answered our questions about what they are doing today, as well as updates on signings and a few news stories.

So first, our stragglers ... who also happen to be our staffers!

Stephanie Chan, Pulp Arcade, The Great Curve and comic book colorist

Believe it or not, this will be the first time I attend a Free Comic Book Day. My big plan is to make sure my driver, Dean Welsh (colorist of the upcoming graphic novel Half Dead) wakes up early enough to take us to the comic shop before it closes. The local comic shop is actually out of town so we have to travel to the city for many basic needs (so we'll probably hit the computer stores, the Chinese grocery store and go out for sushi, too). The big question going through my head is, "Will I be able to get a variety of free comics by the time I get to the store, or will they run out?"

I'm looking forward to X-Men/Runaways not just for what sounds like a fun meeting between the two teams, but there's also a Franklin Richards back-up story! Dean hopes to get a copy of Free Scott Pilgrim and we both definitely have to get a copy of Owly Breaking The Ice!

Shane Bailey, The Great Curve/Near Mint Heroes

I was looking over the list today and I'll have to go with FREE SCOTT PILGRIM too. It's one of those books that I didn't think I would like going in, but ended up loving. I hope a lot of the people picking this up on Saturday have the same reaction.

Tom Bondurant, The Great Curve/Comics Ate My Brain

We're having a Kentucky Derby party Saturday afternoon, so if I get by the LCS it will be in the morning. If nothing else, I can comment on what I see and talk to the owner about how well it's going. My LCS just moved a few months ago and FCBD happens to coincide with other big sidewalk-sale-type events in the new shopping area where he's now located.

Several creators have updated their blogs or MySpace pages with store appearances. Stuart Immonen will join Cameron Stewart, Ty Templeton, Leonard Kirk and Kalman Andrasofszky at Toronto’s Silver Snail Comic Shop at 367 Queen Street West, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Kody Chamberlain will be signing comics and pimping a new t-shirt:

I'll be hanging at And Books Too on Johnston Street for Free Comic Book Day in Lafayette, LA. Here's the shirt I'll be pimping. If you're in the area, please drop by. I'll have the full Punks pitch to show, and all the original art from Tag issue 1 and some 30 Days of Night stuff too.

I'll be sketching, talking comics and whatever else comes up.

Paul Dini will be at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

And Jeff Parker will be giving out secret information at Cosmic Monkey Comics in Portland:

This is more a reminder to myself, that I'll be signing at COSMIC MONKEY COMICS at 10227 NE Clackamas Street in Portland this Saturday, from noon to 3:00pm. Come on down, try to get secret information out of me, just try.



There's been additional media coverage of FCBD; my favorite is this one by Ben Tinsley of the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

Though comic books don’t have a very literary reputation, educators say they can provide the same function as other children’s books — acting as a gateway to more advanced reading and thought.

“We want to get these kids reading. Whatever promotes reading will do,” said Claudia Seabaugh, a sixth-grade teacher at Bedford’s Stonegate Elementary.

Introducing children to stories and characters that pique their interest — whether it’s in a comic book, novel or audio book — is what will keep them going, said Delia Kelly, a mother and a librarian assistant at the Euless library.

“Once you get hooked on a series, you take off.”

"Literary reputation." Heh. Go pick up a few graphic novels today, Ben. The First Second stuff that came out this week. Persepolis. Watchmen. Maus. Anything by Chris Ware. Sandman. Blankets. Love & Rockets. Berlin. Authority. Then let's talk about advanced reading and thought.

In honor of FCBD, Salon takes a look at the state of the super hero:

But what keeps DC's and Marvel's readers coming back to them is that they've each built an enormous, proprietary version of the world as a setting for their stories. Each one has its own (more or less) consistent history, physics and even theology. The major characters who appear in them all have some kind of metaphorical significance, and their adventures can be read as allegories about the ideas those characters represent. The individual comic books that belong to the "DC Universe" and the "Marvel Universe" (if you want to sound even geekier, you can call the latter the "616 Universe") are facets of huge, flawed jewels, episodes in two much bigger, nonlinear stories, created by hundreds of writers and artists over decades. Some of their contributions are brilliant, some are inept, most are toward the lower end of the scale, but there's a real pleasure in investigating the immensity of those fictional worlds.

And then there's my favorite headline from the Torontoist: Comic Books Want To Be Free! Yeah, they do. So free some comics today, take'em home, crack'em open, and enjoy!

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