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If you live in a location with few, if any, local comic stores, your plan for the day is very clear cut; go where you can and enjoy! That being said, for others the experience can be similar to San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), where Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) becomes all about choices. Depending on where you live, you may have upwards of 20 choices on where you spend your FCBD. Similar to how I approach SDCC, I'm an advocate of being very careful about my strategies for the day, so here are a few things to consider:
Know Your Options: I'd like to say this is simple and you could just go to www.freecomicbookday.com and be set, but it isn't. Although the site provides ideas on which shops have free books, it does a very poor job of assessing quality through aggregating the activities at the shops. There is an option to see signings for FCBD, but it only contains those shops that have made the point of submitting their info (which is very few). My only recommendation here is that you do a little homework to find all that's offered in your area. It may take a few tweets or phone calls to ask for specifics, but it could be well worth the effort. Some of the best FCBD experiences end up working like a speakeasy.
Quality vs. Quantity: Like anything in life, not all shops approach FCBD in the same manner. Some shops will bring in big name comic talent as well as other perks to accentuate the FCBD experience; which sounds great, but these shops will take much more time. You must decide how many shops you want to see that day. For example, if you plan to attend FCBD at the Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, CA to get autographs from Rick Remender, free sketches from one of the many talents, and to take a gander at those Matty SDCC exclusives, this will likely be your only shop for FCBD. The line to get in and the experience itself will take many hours; and despite its proximity to other great spots, it's unlikely there'll be time to see other comic shops.
Waiting in Line vs. Driving Time: One major decision to consider on FCBD is your desire to wait in lines versus your desire to drive to multiple shops. Again, it becomes about opportunity costs. Both of these tasks can be tedious and unsettling to some, but which do you prefer? Despite how most of my expeditions take me to places with large lines, I hate lines. That being said, my decision to wait depends on the carrot at the end of the stick. Three hours to wait for an SDCC item that I won't be able to get elsewhere, unless I pay scalper prices? Okay, I'm in. One hour to get FCBD books, a sketch from a local artist, and a hot dog? I'm out.
The Ethics of Spending on FCBD: Not to take this essay to a place of ethical discourse, but I do believe there are some considerations we must all make on FCBD about spending. First off, we can each only support a comic shop to the best of what we can afford. Despite this, whether you are in a position to spend $5 on Saturday or $500, there is a question of how, where, and why. FCBD is not free for the comic shops (they not only pay for the various perks they provide, but also pay for the "free" books they give away), so there is a decision to be made as to how you'll vote with your dollars. For example, if an individual had $50 they were comfortable to spend on FCBD, is it better to spend it all at one shop that has gone all out or to divide it among a couple shops that may not offer as much? In the former, you are leveraging more of your money at a shop that has spent more and will make more. In the latter, you are spending less money per shop but potentially making a larger statement. This can be a double-edged sword, as you're rewarding a shop that may not have put together much of an event, but at the same time you may be helping them to better understand the importance of FCBD, which could result in improvements in the years to come.
My Strategy for FCBD: Taking all of the above into consideration of this specific scenario of FCBD, I am a quantity guy. I go to enough cons that there aren't many signatures or sketches that I couldn't get at the next show and I already have my FCBD books secured through the shop where I have my pull list, so I'm not really hunting for freebies either. So, my hunt is more about culture and experience. I want to see how varieties of different shops approach FCBD and how they interact with fans. I also like to spread my money around to a few places. I'm very big on voting with my dollars. I drop a comic after two bad issues, because I won't support something I don't enjoy; so, when it comes to FCBD, I want to let several shops know I support them if they are making efforts to make FCBD an enjoyable experience for fans. A shop doesn't need Geoff Johns, but they do need more than a table with a few free books on it. Ideally, I'll go to several shops and spend $15-$20 at each. My voice/vote may end up being small at each shop, but I like the idea of communicating to several store owners that FCBD is important and I appreciate their participation. Furthermore, social media allows us all to share our experiences and, even if my wallet won't allow much spending at the many shops I'll visit, I can lend support by helping get the word out of their efforts. If I can help five comic shops each earn one more customer this year, I will have had a successful FCBD.
This year, we are making a bit of an adventure out of the day and heading toward San Diego, CA to take a look at several shops in Temecula, Escondido, and the associated areas of San Diego. We've traditionally focused a great deal on Anaheim, Riverside, Los Angeles, etc., so this year we're leaving the region to look at what a different part of the state is doing with FCBD. Needless to say, I'll have many tweets if you'd like to follow along.
What are your plans for FCBD? Let me know here or on Twitter.
Know Your Options: I'd like to say this is simple and you could just go to www.freecomicbookday.com and be set, but it isn't. Although the site provides ideas on which shops have free books, it does a very poor job of assessing quality through aggregating the activities at the shops. There is an option to see signings for FCBD, but it only contains those shops that have made the point of submitting their info (which is very few). My only recommendation here is that you do a little homework to find all that's offered in your area. It may take a few tweets or phone calls to ask for specifics, but it could be well worth the effort. Some of the best FCBD experiences end up working like a speakeasy.
Quality vs. Quantity: Like anything in life, not all shops approach FCBD in the same manner. Some shops will bring in big name comic talent as well as other perks to accentuate the FCBD experience; which sounds great, but these shops will take much more time. You must decide how many shops you want to see that day. For example, if you plan to attend FCBD at the Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, CA to get autographs from Rick Remender, free sketches from one of the many talents, and to take a gander at those Matty SDCC exclusives, this will likely be your only shop for FCBD. The line to get in and the experience itself will take many hours; and despite its proximity to other great spots, it's unlikely there'll be time to see other comic shops.
Waiting in Line vs. Driving Time: One major decision to consider on FCBD is your desire to wait in lines versus your desire to drive to multiple shops. Again, it becomes about opportunity costs. Both of these tasks can be tedious and unsettling to some, but which do you prefer? Despite how most of my expeditions take me to places with large lines, I hate lines. That being said, my decision to wait depends on the carrot at the end of the stick. Three hours to wait for an SDCC item that I won't be able to get elsewhere, unless I pay scalper prices? Okay, I'm in. One hour to get FCBD books, a sketch from a local artist, and a hot dog? I'm out.
The Ethics of Spending on FCBD: Not to take this essay to a place of ethical discourse, but I do believe there are some considerations we must all make on FCBD about spending. First off, we can each only support a comic shop to the best of what we can afford. Despite this, whether you are in a position to spend $5 on Saturday or $500, there is a question of how, where, and why. FCBD is not free for the comic shops (they not only pay for the various perks they provide, but also pay for the "free" books they give away), so there is a decision to be made as to how you'll vote with your dollars. For example, if an individual had $50 they were comfortable to spend on FCBD, is it better to spend it all at one shop that has gone all out or to divide it among a couple shops that may not offer as much? In the former, you are leveraging more of your money at a shop that has spent more and will make more. In the latter, you are spending less money per shop but potentially making a larger statement. This can be a double-edged sword, as you're rewarding a shop that may not have put together much of an event, but at the same time you may be helping them to better understand the importance of FCBD, which could result in improvements in the years to come.
My Strategy for FCBD: Taking all of the above into consideration of this specific scenario of FCBD, I am a quantity guy. I go to enough cons that there aren't many signatures or sketches that I couldn't get at the next show and I already have my FCBD books secured through the shop where I have my pull list, so I'm not really hunting for freebies either. So, my hunt is more about culture and experience. I want to see how varieties of different shops approach FCBD and how they interact with fans. I also like to spread my money around to a few places. I'm very big on voting with my dollars. I drop a comic after two bad issues, because I won't support something I don't enjoy; so, when it comes to FCBD, I want to let several shops know I support them if they are making efforts to make FCBD an enjoyable experience for fans. A shop doesn't need Geoff Johns, but they do need more than a table with a few free books on it. Ideally, I'll go to several shops and spend $15-$20 at each. My voice/vote may end up being small at each shop, but I like the idea of communicating to several store owners that FCBD is important and I appreciate their participation. Furthermore, social media allows us all to share our experiences and, even if my wallet won't allow much spending at the many shops I'll visit, I can lend support by helping get the word out of their efforts. If I can help five comic shops each earn one more customer this year, I will have had a successful FCBD.
This year, we are making a bit of an adventure out of the day and heading toward San Diego, CA to take a look at several shops in Temecula, Escondido, and the associated areas of San Diego. We've traditionally focused a great deal on Anaheim, Riverside, Los Angeles, etc., so this year we're leaving the region to look at what a different part of the state is doing with FCBD. Needless to say, I'll have many tweets if you'd like to follow along.
What are your plans for FCBD? Let me know here or on Twitter.
