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Free Comic Day has failed to attract the well-deserved hype the event deserves. Usually scheduled during the weekend of a highly anticipated super hero movie this event is supposed to attract new comic fans, and bring lost fans back into the ranks. For three years I have observed this event from a distance. Every year, I hope for a little more, and every year I am greeted with the same disappointment: limited selection, repeated titles, and to boot the stores in major shopping districts are often empty so anyone looking for a chance to connect with like-minded fans will spend most of the time talking to his or herself.
Why is Free Comic Book Day not even a blip on anyone's radar? Well, for starters Free Comic Book Day is not actually free. Stores that chose to participate have to pay .15 cents per comic. According to one proprietor, Bishop of Comic Book Heaven in White Plains, New York, "One year we elected not to do it because of the cost and the low turnaround and because of low turn around there is no real benefit for stores".
Additionally there has been little press or promotion for the event, besides a few notable mentions here and there in the mainstream press, the event has yet to garner the anticipated status that an affair attached to the word FREE should garner. The lack of promotion by the event's organizers was the central concern for owners and employees of comic book stores. Donna Rubin of American Legends in Scarsdale, New York, missed the deadline because she was not notified; despite the fact American Legends participated in last year's Free Comic Book Day!
Have Comic Book companies and their Distributor in an effort of solidarity essentially alienated their most loyal customers and partners in the empire-the comic book store proprietor? The people, who despite slumps in the customer base, managed to maintain profits just enough to keep the passion in the public eye?
Alright that was a little too romantic, but a fact is a fact, these stores are central to the sales of comic books today. Yes, there is the Internet, but the electronic space cannot provide the same human and multi-sensory interaction that takes place in comic book stores of the 21st Century. These stores are meeting places for savvy entertainers, seeking intellectual conversations and a multimedia exchange, from RPG to video games.