In between Age of Ultron viewings, you should’ve taken some time this weekend to support your local funny book peddler like these fine folks…
You could be cynical about the lines and fair-weather fans at your local comic store during Free Comic Book Day, but I like to think of it the same way I feel about Christmas shit: For a brief time once a year, everyone is into the same stuff I am. On last week’s Cape Crisis, we asked our listeners to snap a pick of the FCBD goings on, and of course, I participated too, starting with my favorite comic shop in the Bay Area, Mission Comics.
SEE?! Even grisled old prospectors were down for the festivities! I also did Free Comic Book Day one better by not only hitting multiple stores (buying one to two items at each store and not just ravaging their free supply FYI), but traveling across the San Francisco Bay to join my buddy/Cape Crisis cohost Hank at Dr. Comics and Mr. Games in Oakland as seen above. 
Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one to participate. A ton of you did in the forums and on Twitter. Obviously, this was awesome to see, but we’ve got a packed show this week. Discussing Age of Ultron is essentially the closest thing Cape Crisis has to a Super Bowl, so I wanted to highlight some of your local comic stores/FCBD adventures below in case we can’t get to them. Enjoy! First up, Laser Time’s resident Comic Dude, Jon “Jonwahizzle” Waugh. His resident home, JetPack Comics, not only had a line going out the door. 
They competed in a Millarwolrd cosplay competition… 
And yes, they fucking WON! 
Greetings from Calgary!
Free Comic Book Day at Central Ohio’s Laughing Ogre! cc: @LaserTimeShow @CAntista @hEnereyG pic.twitter.com/iYsh0sCgRr — Robert (@23Breach) May 2, 2015
annual.gift.man.who.lives.on.the.moon put together an awesome little infographic from his trip to the Outer Limits. Click the image to enlarge.
Please get in touch with me, Gift Man. I’ll be needing that Roger Rabbit book ASAP. Here’s Beeks with a look at Madness Comics and Games in Plano, TX
.@hEnereyG @CAntista Greetings from Madness Comics and Games in Plano, TX pic.twitter.com/94lZaLMNSB
— Beeks (@thebeeks) May 2, 2015
TomSJ3 snapped some pics from Comics on the Green in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Say hi to Leslie Knope for us! Wait, what… 
Like so many of us, DankK failed at Free Comic Book Day by spending money. It’s okay, that’s sort of the point!
@CAntista Today seemed like an alright day to start reading comics. Got a shitload of Star Wars in Traverse City MI pic.twitter.com/QDxGbcerqh — DanK. (@DanK_) May 2, 2015
Contrary to popular belief, you can’t just waltz into a comic shop and start scooping free issues into a bag. I had to give charitable donations to get more than three issues my local shops and I was happy to do it. Here’s I’mCastorTroy with more from New Jersey:
My family and I had a really good time at Time Zone Gaming and Comics in Fords, NJ. They do a deal where you they normally give 3 free books for free. But if you donate $10 to All Fur Love you can get as many of the free comics as you want. So we donated $20 so both of my kids could get some free books. I also picked up Superman: Doomed graphic novel and my some got a really cool Godzilla figure from the 2014 movie
D’Awwwwwwww
Alexander Keeling appropriately enough hit up Aftertime Comics in Alexandria, Virginy!
@CAntista @hEnereyG Afterlife Comics in Alexandria, VA #FreeComicBookDay pic.twitter.com/dhNhe6ysE0
— Alexander Keeling (@CaptainAKrunch) May 2, 2015
TwoTeaspoonTurtle took a break from being a complete shithead to showcase Metropolis Comix in Elk Grove, CA, which like many comic stores, drastically discounted their normal wares for curious strangers. I, for one, also took crazy advantage of this. Metropolis Comix in Elk Grove California had not only a 75% off sale on t-shirts but a 65% off discount on all backstock books, so I loaded up. 
Here’s Evil Steven with a look at comics from the set of the new FX show, Fargo.
@CAntista you wanted to see my local shop on #FreeComicDay. Here you go, #ParadoxComics in #Fargo ND pic.twitter.com/vClsh3pTAM — Evil Steven (@SMFick) May 2, 2015
mrnivek’s experience at Alter Ego in XX will make any Lumberjanes fan totes jelly.
Pretty fun time, got to my favorite comic shop Alter Ego in Cedar Rapids, IA and picked up some Marvel titles I needed, some free Marvel titles but didn’t see many sales like I see others have had. But I did get a Lumberjanes 13 signed by Brooke Allen making a appearance at another local shop.
Mike Damman got a special guest appearance from DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! In Michagan
@Milktoasted @CAntista shoutout to #FreeComicBookDay in Michigan! pic.twitter.com/Kzv85QM4bm
— Mike Damman (@DammitDamman) May 2, 2015
@CAntista #FreeComicBookDay in Eau Claire, Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/cuWdJ6WTNF — Matt L. (@D0CCON) May 3, 2015
@CAntista 66 Surfs Up Joker figure pic.twitter.com/OMN2LRhVGG
— Warren (@NineSixTwo) May 3, 2015
@CAntista comix in GR, MI pic.twitter.com/42Mx3Nf6jf — Very_Funny_Reply_Guy (@Milktoasted) May 2, 2015
Forgot to take pics at store, but here’s what hubby and I got at Tribe Comics in Austin, Texas. @hEnereyG @CAntista pic.twitter.com/3hYEo1gEkz
— Michael (@SciFiDriveIn) May 2, 2015
Alpha Comics in Calgary, Alberta about an hour ago. Tons of children here. @LaserTimeShow @hEnereyG @CAntista pic.twitter.com/3y0IzAsvWT — Julian Barber (@JJBSterling) May 2, 2015
And I don’t want to make anyone feel guilty for not attending Free Comic Book Day festivities, but you should probably be thankful just to have one in your area. As Mercenary Q reported from across the ocean:
Turns out there are no free comics here in Scotland so there isn’t much to report (Still bought the news issues of Star Wars) but I did remember to take a picture of the outside of the shop as I was leaving on the Bus.
And somehow sadder still, from AngryFruitSalad
Incredibly sadly, this was my Local Comic Shop on FCBD. The owner of my local comic shop, an amazing man named Rob Charpentier, died last year of cancer. Jeff Lemire wrote about him since he was Jeff’s Local Comic Book Guy too.
And last but not least, it would seem that Dave Notter and I are kindred spirits.
@CAntista we share the same #FreeComicBookDay glory!! #UncleScrooge pic.twitter.com/fuCzpLo6gd
— Dave Notter Jr. (@RadMartigan84) May 3, 2015
See?
I have obtained the holy grail of #freecomicbookday
A photo posted by Chris Antista (@seeantista) on
Now to start reading these fucking things. Thanks for playing along, everyone. We’ll be lightly recapping all this, and of course, our take on Age of Ultron on this week’s Cape Crisis. Sorry if we missed ya!
These all make me happy, so very happy.
So many happy people. I hope that the 100 articles about P.T. today remind everybody that digital doesn’t mean forever. (Physical isn’t forever either but I can still bust out my Metal Gear Solid demo almost 20 years after the release. :D)
Also, that Darth Vader #1 is always going to look great on my wall.
Dammit, hope I’m not too late to upload my story before cape crisis
Very simple question: how do you upload a photo on a forum reply?
Just make sure you click the reply and not the quick reply. There should be three blank slots in which you can upload. Easy peezy.
This was awesome. It was a really good Free Comic Book day.
Now I wish I took a picture from inside the store as well (I posted the D20 store in Eau Claire). It certainly wasn’t as eventful as these other pictures though.
Went down to my store but the line filled the whole store(and went out the door) so it was impossible to look for things so I ended up leaving with no comics. Very disappointing but I couldn’t wait around all day and there aren’t any other stores close to me.
Thanks for posting this Chris.
Awesome article Chris, thanks for the shout out! Here’s an article on bleeding cool that has more of our pics (including me sending Millar a video as “Nemesis”). http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/05/jetpack-comics-of-new-hampshire-wins-mark-millar/
We’ve also got a complete gallery on our site too!
http://jetpackcomics.com/fcbd/millarworld
wow chris you are so edgy liek waao
Good one!
Great article Chris! So cool to see there’s fellow Lasertime fans in Columbus (Not Calgary!) hitting up the Laughing Ogre! It’s my favorite shop! My girlfriend is always disappointed by how clean and friendly it is, not the run down comics shop she pictures in her head. 🙂
Here in Oxford, UK, a big famous city with no comic book stores whatsoever. We had two, they’re both long gone. Sigh.
Awesome post! That Dr. Doom was holding it down in a hot, humid 80 degrees afternoon. There was an excellent Ms. Marvel there too, but she left just before I came out to take a picture.