Free Comic Book Day 2023

Today is one of the great days in nerd culture - Free Comic Book Day.  First started in May 2002, the day is an annual promotional event for North American Comic Book publishers to attract new readers to independent comic book stores.  The event is typically held the first weekend in May and generally coincides with the release of a new comic book movie.  This year sees the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

To truly make it a free comic book opportunity, each year, the major (and many minor) publishers create special comics designed to be given away by the comic book stores.  Sometimes, this new offering just contains reprint material of popular comics made by the publisher that tie into their promotional activities for the year.  Often though, they create an entirely new offering that sets the stage for their events for the year.  Either way, it's possible to find a store and rack up several completely new comics that you can obtain for free.

Stores usually join in with sales, promotions, and the like to help make it truly an accessible event for all.  This event is really for the local comic book shop after all, helping to drive traffic their way.

So, if you have one, support your local comic book shop today.  If you need to find one, you can use the link below to find one near you.

https://www.freecomicbookday./StoreLocator

Happy reading everyone!

Nerd Convergence

Yesterday represented a unique convergence in nerd culture, particularly in Dallas.  It was May the 4th, the increasingly official Star Wars Day.  It was Free Comic Book Day, a now 17 year tradition of comic book promotion and comic book store promotion by publishers releasing truly free comics for comic store patrons.  And it was the second day of Dallas Fan Expo, a comic and pop culture convention held at the Dallas Convention Center.

This Keeler Crew decided to celebrate by attending the second day of Fan Expo.  Avalyn was very excited to attend.  We even engaged in a little light cosplay.  Avalyn and Jude got to wear their pjs that look like Captain Marvel and Spider-man respectively.  Jamie wore her Agent Carter dress and official hat.  I brought the shield and wore my Captain America shirt.

And while it was fun, it was very clear it will be something more engaging for the kids when they are a little older.  A little to overwhelming now.  And it probably didn't help that it was smack in the middle of nap time.

Lot's of cool stuff all around though.  The Jurassic Park jeeps and the Back to the Future Delorean.  The casts of Back to the Future, Boy Meets World, and a handful of the Goonies were there.  Lots of comic creators including legends like John Byrne and Mike Zeck.

I was able to get a couple of comic creator autographs to add to my book, and purchased a Captain America print from Mike Zeck.  I think this will be my tradition for conventions.  Last convention I attended I got a great Captain America print from Mitch Breitweiser.

All in all, a good day, though lessons learned.  We'll wait for the kids to be older next time.  That just means Jamie and I can go and make a longer day of it until then.

Just a couple of photos to share.

Avalyn was really excited by the Jurassic Park exhibit.  The Jeeps and the Dino skeleton.  This and the How to Train Your Dragons photo op.

The swag.  Our passes, the signed print of the good Captain, as well as the Super Smash Brothers poster Avalyn got playing Nintendo Switch in the Family Zone.

Until next time.