The first Saturday of May is in fact Free Comic Book Day in both North America and in the UK, not sure if other countries have this event in their local stores, Free Comic Book Day has been around since 2002 around the same time when Spider-Man was released in Cinemas to take advantage of the film's heavy promotion and related press about the comic book medium and thus the first event was held May 4, 2002, one day after the film's opening.
Since then there has always been a film based on a comic series or Superhero franchise to help boost sales in comics and Cinema boosts during the first two weeks. However, if you do live the UK like I do the Bank Holiday weekend slides in on that weekend in the first week with it being a Bank Holiday Monday in the UK, so this sort of a perfect way to spend the weekend plus grabbing some free comics and manga. The good news is that Free Comic Day is on the Bank Holiday weekend this year if you live in the UK and also a great way to spend a three day weekend if you think about it. It was called off and changed to a later date for both 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 but most stores had all the free comics in which were both set around August during that time, but like most comic book fans would say it was more traditional to have it in May instead of later in the year.
On Free Comic Book Day participating comic book store retailers give away specially printed copies of free comic books, you do get a mix of comics, including Marvel, DC, Archie, Bongo and Dark Horse comics. Manga like VIZ Media, Shoenen Jump and Kodansha Comics would throw in the first few pages of a new Manga series that'll be released in a few weeks or months or even welcoming new people into reading when it comes to Comics and Manga. In addition to comic books, some stores also give away other merchandise, such as mini posters and other movie tie-in memorabilia.
This year's Free Comic Day which will be on May 7th will offer comics like Spider-Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Clementine; The Walking Dead, Stranger Things Doctor Who, Pokémon and 2000 AD. There are many more to the list if you look on their website, however there are many more series and franchises that you can get for free. Not all stores, but certain stores across countries or even places where you live would have a back issue department where you can pick up Issues of certain Comics at a really cheap instead of paying full price for a comic that was released a few months back like December issue of Star Wars or Superman or even Batman you can easily pick that issue for 50p; If you like in their back issue boxes it'll also include certain board games, and graphics novels as well at a good price, making it cheaper than buying them online from sites like Amazon. Some retailers and stores would organize stuff like a quiz, cosplay contest, or getting an artist to sign stuff which you can either get for free or pay a very small price for something you would request.
As I've already said this is also a good way of getting someone or even a friend into a new series or even getting them into this kind of thing, if they want a good story plot or even a unique art style that you can get into some issues and volumes making it a reason why you should pick up later issues in the future. But it is nice that this has become a yearly event every year since 2002 you can tell it's been here for quite a while and hopefully they'll carry this tradition in the future, especially if you live the UK because it feels kind of special if you are a comic nerd or a manga geek and a great way to spend your weekend.
Don't forget to mark it in your calendar or on your phone that May 7th is Free Comic Book Day.
Have you picked up any good free comics in the past?
Let us know in the comments-