Celebrated on the first Saturday of May, Free Comic Book Day is a day that has a three fold purpose. It’s designed to thank current comic book readers for their support, to introduce new readers to the joys of comic book reading and to call back those who may have loved comic books in the past but have been away from them for awhile.
History
In 2001, Joe Field suggested in one of his columns that Free Comic Book Day should be started. Reception to this idea was through the roof and on May 4th, 2002, the day was launched the day after the Spider Man movie being released in theaters. Comic books that are distributed are usually cheaper comic books that are made especially for this day. However, that isn’t always the case. Some comic book stores give out a multitude of different comic books and/or memorabilia on this day.
Customs, Traditions and Celebrations
Comic book fans can celebrate this day by traveling down to a participating comic book store and picking up a free comic book. And if you are a fan of the whole comic book industry, then you might want to give the whole industry some free advertisement by giving a shout out to them on this day on Facebook or Twitter.
When is Free Comic Book Day? | |
| This year (2019) | May 4 (Saturday) |
| Next year (2020) | May 2 (Saturday) |
| Last year (2018) | May 5 (Saturday) |