FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! 2013

The first Saturday of May is one of my favorite days of the year! Yup! FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

This year I went on a FREE COMIC BOOK DAY adventure with my guy Dave, my nieces Celia and Effie and my comic book/ podcast pal Matt. The five of us went to five comic book stores across Los Angeles and had a ton of fun.

Effie, Celia and Cat!

Yup! The day started with a visit to GOLDEN APPLE on Melrose. We lined up at 10am as the store opened. We waited in line quite a while but got comics, Jarritos sodas and free soft serve ice cream. We got autographed UGLY DOLL comics and met a super WONDER WOMAN. Only one of us got the Iron Man HEROCLIX! Those guys went fast! GOLDEN APPLE has always done a great job on FCBD and this year did not disappoint! About an hour after we left the GOLDEN APPLE some craziness occurred! Check THIS OUT!!!

Gettin' comics and Jarritos!

Thanks ICEMAN for the soft serve! 

That's good soft serve!

WONDER WOMAN and WONDER KIDS!

Then off to a quick stop at MELTDOWN on Sunset Blvd. Meltdown was the bigger disappointment of the day. But comics were snagged for all!

Outside MELTDOWN!

Then into the valley we all drove to make our way to the groovy EARTH-2 on Ventura Blvd. It is one of my favorite shops but not one I get to that often. There was a line of people getting comics, the store was packed. This was the place my nieces and I splurged on comics. I got my weekly comics and found more goodies. Yeah, it's hard to resist comics, new, old and free!

STORM TROOPERS!!

Sketching!

Gerard Duggan was coming!

SUPER FIGHT!

After a lunch break the comic book search continued and we settled in at BLASTOFF COMICS in North Hollywood. There was a great 50% off trade sale going on. The store is very sleek and caters to collectors. It's a super cool spot. My nieces and I found some graphic novels before we left!

Gimmie Gimmie!

More Sketching going on!

And then the last but never least shop on our tour was HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank. This is the store I visit most, just after GOLDEN APPLE. The place was pretty busy and the staff looked beat. It had been a long FREE COMIC BOOK DAY for everyone. I couldn't resist the cute please of my nieces and we found some HEROCLIXS and more kid comics. 

And that concludes the FCBD 2013 adventure. As my nieces and I say, we wish everyday was FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! YUP!!

Free Comic Book Day 2010

Last Saturday, May 1, 2010 was FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and I had myself a fun adventure with my niece Celia. Celia, at the age of 5, loves reading comic books, she's partial to Wonder Woman and can name all the members of the JUSTICE LEAUGE. Yes, I am quite proud of that!

The plan of attack was to see a Fraggle and get some comic books by visiting a few of my favorite shops.

First up was MELTDOWN COMICS on Sunset Blvd. where they had "RED FRAGGLE" making a special appearance! My nieces love the FRAGGLES!! Watching Celia the moment we walked into the store and seeing Ms. Red Fraggle herself I couldn't have been happier. Honestly, there's almost nothing better than seeing kids love the things you love.

Celia was a bit shy at first so we just watched others take pictures with Red and wandered the store and picked up our stack of free comics. We also met the artist and writer of the new Fraggle Rock Comic Book and they signed a poster for Celia which she clung to tightly.



After a while Celia got her courage and wanted to meet Red, so we got in line, just before it got cut off and it was AWESOME. Celia walked away saying "RED SAID IT WAS NICE TO MEET ME." Awww, I loved it!



COMIC BOOK DAY was off to an awesome start and while at Meltdown I saw a dozen familiar faces, a few New Bev-ers and fellow comic book nerds.



Off we went then to GOLDEN APPLE COMICS on Melrose Ave. They had a BBQ and jumper in their parking lot. We scored even more comics and I bought Celia her own copy of the new Fraggle Rock book along with an old Justice League Unlimited back issue. After mingling and wandering the shop we made our way to our final destination.



HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank is an awesome little shop that I often visit with Celia. Once we walked in we saw SUPERGIRL and that totally made Celia's day, they talked about WONDER WOMAN and Super Heroes and it was all just so cute!

I think the day was an absolute success! Sharing my comic book passion with my niece and her embracing it just gives me hope for the comic book future! That's what FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is all about, spreading the word on Comic Books, getting everyone, young and old excited for stories that push the imagination.

I can't wait till FREE COMIC BOOK DAY in 2011 and you know that come Wednesday (New Comic Book Day) I'll be at some shop buying my books!


COMIC BOOKS KICK ASS!!!!