Free Comic Book Day 2011

Today, May 7, is Free Comic Book Day! Every first Saturday in May, the comic book industry has free giveaways at local comic shops across the USA. Today we went to our favorite shop, Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, Maryland, to join in the festivities. In addition to the free comics, the store also had sales on pretty much everything, free cake, a book signing by the creators of Stuff of Legend, the 501st Legion (with a guest Jawa), an ongoing raffle, customers dressed up, and tons of fun. Check out all the excitement:

Book signing by creators of Stuff of Legend, strategically located by the cake!

I forgot to bring one of my issues of Stuff of Legend to get signed, but they did have a free comic with a synopsis of the story that I did get signed. The story is about a boy during WWII who gets sucked into The Dark, where the Boogeyman lives. His toys come after him and turn into what they really are (his teddy bear becomes a huge grizzly bear) in The Dark. The story is their hunt to bring him back. The art is great and the storytelling is quite imaginative.

Jawas are interested in cake but unsure if they have mouths to eat with!

The cake was carefully guarded by the 501st Legion, a troop of Imperial Guards who made an appearance last year with Darth Vader and Bobba Fett. Seems like they downgraded to a Jawa. I guess no one is really immune from the bad economy.

Lucy was interested in the Jawa, Jacob in leaving

Lucy was pretty fascinated with the Jawa but didn't want to approach him (or her). The Jawa seemed friendly enough and offered a high five but to no avail. Jacob told me he was afraid of robots and didn't want to go anywhere near the stormtroopers. I explained that they were men in armor, not robots. Jacob was unconvinced. It's time to show him Star Wars: A New Hope so he can tell Luke and Han in imperial armor from a robot.

The empire had a new recruit joining in:

Blond hair probably isn't regulation for the Empire

A customer came dressed as Lady Deadpool and posed with the stormtroopers, who wanted a demonstration of her commitment to the Empire. Here she demonstrates a menacing pose:

Don't get too close with that camera, buddy!

Lucy found Lady Deadpool pretty fascinating. The only problem was Lucy seemed to think she was Spider-man. It's time to show her some Spider-man cartoons so she can tell the web-slinger from an alternate reality hit girl.

We all had a great time at Third Eye. I got my usual comics plus a bunch of the freebies. Also I picked up Zombie Dice by Steve Jackson Games, so look for our first game review in the near (or possibly distant) future.

And definitely support your local comic shop. It's important to have well-stocked stores nearby when the zombie apocalypse comes, because you ain't getting anything from Amazon. And your local store probably has awesome staff like at Third Eye! We'll miss them when we move to England. I hope they celebrate Free Comic Book Day over there.