My FCBD Reflections

Yesterday I went to my very first Free Comic Book Day (FCBD)!!! It felt so good to be around some of my fellow nerds! I've known about FCBD for about a year now, though last year I simply sat on the fence and moped in disgust at my severe timidity. This year, refusing to let my timorous nature get the best of me once again, I set out to my local Library which was holding the free FCBD events for my area.

Sadly, I was a bit late for most of the really fun stuff, but I did get to see a cool guy dressed up in a (very well made) Storm Trooper suit! There was also some free popcorn and a few giveaways (I was surprised they gave away a copy of Watchmen, seeing so many children were there! lol).

I was only allowed up to three comics, so I chose to get two from Marvel (Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man, and The Avengers), plus one from DC (Blackest Night). I think these were some solid choices, and I'll be sure to give my review of them all once I've read them (I'm still reading my graphic novels first). I was a bit bummed that I missed out on the TMNT reprint of their original first issue! That would have been an outstanding addition to my burgeoning TMNT collection of "stuff".

What I was happy to see were the masses of young minds and old gathering to thrill in their shared love of the comic medium! I began reading and collecting comics roughly around 1989, and I remember going to comic stores where there might be anything between 0-10 people in the shop on any given day! When I'd talk about superheroes at school, many of my friends were so ill-informed as to think Superman and Spider-Man existed in the same world, or had regular run-ins together! Being a fan of comics was a relatively small niche back then, so I am immensely happy to see that it has finally "arrived" in the mainstream world, where people are really beginning to see that this is a wonderful medium for telling all kinds of delightful stories. I anticipate that future celebrations will grow increasingly more lavish and "geeky"! Maybe next year, I'll even fully unleash my inner nerd and attend Free Comic Book Day as Han Solo or Boba Fett? Let us only hope!