Free Comic Book Day is almost here … what are your plans? Seeing Iron Man? Meeting a creator? And, of course, picking up some free comics? There will be plenty to do this year; the FCBD site has a list of signings and events. Of note: meet the original Image creators at Atomic Comics in Mesa, Ariz, or meet tons of creators at CAPE! in Dallas.
We contacted a bunch of creators to see what they had planned for Free Comic Book Day and what book they were looking forward to the most. Here’s what they said …
What are you doing on Free Comic Book Day?
Jeff Parker, writer of X-Men: First Class, Marvel Adventures, Interman and many more: I’ll be at Super Villians Inc. in Nottingham, Maryland signing Marvel’s Marvel Adventures FCBD book, written by me and Paul Tobin and drawn by Alvin Lee and Terry Pallott!
Shannon Eric Denton, editor at Wildstorm and writer of the upcoming Aces for AiT/Planet Lar: I’m taking a break from signing this year but will be at all the Atomic Comics stores in the Phoenix area. Going to stop by and say hi to the three Image founders I’ve worked/currently work for and say hi to the rest. Looking forward to catching up with old friends like Mike Kunkel and more! This year is going to be fun…and more importantly it’s only 2 days till Cinco De Mayo after FCBD! Viva Margaritas…I mean, Mexican Independence from France!
Todd Dezago, writer of Perhapanauts: Because I live way out in the middle of nowhere, I don’t really have any local comic shops to spend Free Comic Book Day at. I will be sitting at home, quietly, reading some cool old Brave and the Bolds …
Ben Towle, creator of Midnight Sun for SLG: I’m actually not doing anything signing- or appearance-wise. I’m planning on just heading down to Ssalefish, our local comics shop, along with the rest of the hoi polloi to pick up some free schwag.
I am, though, contributing to a pretty cool FCBD book. As they did last year with the book Eats, Wide Awake Press, a publishing collective of Southern cartoonists, has put together a themed anthology for the event. This year the theme is dinosaurs, cavemen and the like and the name of the book is Piltdown. Printed issues will be available locally, but a free electronic version will be posted May 3rd at www.wideawakepress.com.
Other folks contributing include J. Chris Campbell, Patrick Dean, Dustin Harbin, Josh Latta, Joe Lambert, Pat Lewis, Brad McGinty, Andy Runton and many more. FREE I tell’s ya!
Ryan Claytor, creator of And Then One Day: Signing from 11am - 3pm, May 3rd, 2008 @ “Comickaze”
5517A/B Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117-2342
(858) 278-0371
David Gallaher, writer/co-creator of High Moon: High Moon artist Steve Ellis and I will be taking to the streets of New York and handing out free copies of the Zuda Sampler, which features eight sample pages from High Moon, Bayou, Pray for Death and The Night Owls. We’ll be stopping by Midtown Comics, Jim Hanley’s Universe and Forbidden Planet.
Paul Maybury, artist on Aqua Leung: I’ll be attending CAPE in Dallas Texas. Signing copies of Aqua Leung and enjoying the sunny weather.
Thom Zahler, creator of Love and Capes: I’ll be flying to Texas and appearing at CAPE in Dallas, along with 80 other creators, where I’ll be doing sketches, signing books and talking to readers old and new. It’s from 10-6 in Craddock Park, near Zeus Comics.
Jamie S. Rich, writer of Cut My Hair, The Everlasting and 12 Reasons Why I Love Her: For the second year in a row, Zeus Comics and Games will be hosting Joëlle Jones and I at CAPE in Dallas. The line-up is huge, just check http://www.capeday.com, and you’ll see. It’s cool to be with all of those people. We’ll be bring all of our books, some preview pages from You Have Killed Me, and I was hanging out with Joëlle last night while she was putting together a new sketchbook to sell at the show. Personally, I want to go just to get me one of those. I am pretty sure we will be at the live art auction they have on Friday night’s, too, so people should be looking for that. I’ll be there breaking bottles over Chynna Clugston’s head, repeating over and over, “Is there ever going to be a Strangetown #2? Is there ever going to be more Blue Monday?”
Mike Carey, writer of X-Men: Legacy, The Stranded, Crossing Midnight, Lucifer and lots of other comics: I’ve got two books coming out on FCBD - an X-Men comic for Marvel, starring Pixie, and the first issue of The Stranded, from Virgin Comics, which is going to be a flip book with Dan Dare as the other half - very cool. By way of marking the occasion, I’m doing a signing at They Walk Among Us in Richmond, from 2.00pm to 5.00pm. Should be a good day, because Jamie McKelvie will be there too.
Colleen Doran, creator of A Distant Soil and artist on The Book of Lost Souls, Orbiter and Stealth Tribes: I’m going to be at home in quarantine. I have whooping cough and am contagious. I do not like large doses of antibiotics. They make me nauseous. So I cough as well as spend a lot of time in the bathroom.
What Free Comic Book Day book are you most looking forward to?
Mike Carey: Probably Drawn and Quarterly’s Gegika, which has two seventies stories by manga masters Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Seiichi Hayashi. But I’m also keen to get hold of Owly and Friends for my kids.
Shannon Eric Denton: The ultra-rare, super-secret WildStorm book! And outside of his usual Shadowline awesomeness, Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits by Dwight MacPherson… who incidentally has a story in my upcoming Grunts: War Stories TPB. Hoohah. Storm out!
Ben Towle: Man, that’s tough. If I had to pick one, I guess it’d be the Drawn & Quarterly “all manga” book. I’m dying to see what D&Q is going to be publishing as they get into Japanese stuff.
But close contenders would be the Bob Burden Gumby coloring book and the Gemstone book of EC reprints. I mean, Kurtzman, Feldstein, Toth, Wally Wood, c’mon!
(And of course, I’m gonna get the Wizard “How to Draw” book. I’ve gotta learn how to do that spine-crackin’ pose on the cover where you can somehow see a woman’s boobs and butt at the SAME TIME!)
David Gallaher: Atomic Robo and Friends by Red 5 Comics!!!! And, I’d love to get my hands on the FCBD All-Star Superman edition. As a whole though, I’m really impressed by this year’s offerings.
Ryan Claytor: I’m looking forward to seeing some of the more modern and thoughtful all-ages stories, like Owly and Friends and Amelia Rules! Comics and Stories. I showed Owly to my mom a couple years back and it made her wish she hadn’t retired from teaching. She wanted to share that book with her third graders in a bad way. And Amelia Rules really is the contemporary Peanuts. I forget what reviewer said that, but the quote has stuck with me as a lofty and accurate description of Amelia. Jimmy Gownley tackles tough topics both directly and realistically, yet in a friendly and relatable way.
If I can get my hands on some goods from the lesser-known publishers, I’ll do that too. I.G.N.A.T.Z.: International Graphic Novels at their Zenith #1 and Gegika: A Drawn + Quarterly Manga Sampler will be at the top of that stack, but it seems like if it doesn’t come from the big four, the print runs are a lot lower, and consequently harder to find ‘em.
Paul Maybury: Gumby’s Coloring Comic Book Special #1 FCBD 2008 edition. First off, I need more practice coloring. Second, I can always go for more adventures involving block heads…I mentioned I was going to Dallas, right? (kidding).
Jamie S. Rich: Well, technically I am not the audience for these things, now, am I? That said, I was flipping through the haul they have down at Floating World Comics here in Portland, Oregon, and the Graphic Classics anthology has a new story drawn by Simon Gane that is just gorgeous. I loved Simon’s work on the SLG book Paris, and he should be drawing more stuff in that vein. His style for these stories is just amazing, and it gets better the more you stare at it.
Thom Zahler: I tend to go for the cartoonier stuff. So Tiny Titans, Gyro Gearloose, Kids Love Comics … I’ll make sure to pick up one of each.
Jeff Parker: I’m torn between the EC Comics Sampler and the Gyro Gearloose book. Of course, I’ll just get them both because THEY’RE FREE!
Colleen Doran: Next year’s, since this year I am sick as a dog.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
did Marvel reduce the size of Pixie’s chest? She looks small for a Land rendering. And I remember someone commented/complained about making her a sexpot (since she’s a teenager) in a recent Joe Fridays. Someone should dig up the cover for FCBD when originally posted and compare to the one shipping tomorrow. You know, someone other than me.