Mark Welch of Comic Cubicle in
It's the morning of Saturday, May 3, 2008 and I'm rustling around in a box of clothes in my attic, looking for an old Free Comic Book Day shirt that I can sport for the occasion. Like an omen, there appears a black shirt with a familiar purple logo. I pull it out of the box and a chill runs down my spine as I see the date on the bottom: SATURDAY, MAY 3. A bat might as well have flown in the window at that moment. My glee at finding this shirt from Free Comic Book Day 2003 turns even brighter as I discover the shirt still fits. It's already been a good day.
Unlike my apparel, this year I did invest in some "First Saturday in May" material that I can use for future years. Other than that, I spent little on promotion, instead utilizing existing avenues like e-mail, store newsletter, and the FCBD website to attract customer awareness of the promotion. The traffic was a steady trickle for most of the day, but nothing overwhelming. We had beautiful weather to compete with and merchants from other stores around me were commenting on business being extremely slow at their establishments. So I was happy with the turnout and had resigned myself to a "good" FCBD. Then, very early in the evening, crowds began to arrive, and they all brought their proverbial brothers along with them. 2008 turned out to be my third best FCBD (just barely behind last year's second best, and 2006's best).
There seemed to be more awareness of FCBD as an event than in previous years, and some out-of-towners shared stories of past events at their stores "back home." I think there are a lot more people out there that are enjoying comics than we see frequenting our stores regularly. If FCBD is bringing them out, that's a great thing. One of my favorite customers told me that he was out of comics for a long time, and one of the early Free Comic Book Days got him back into collecting. Now he's sharing his love with his two young children, who look forward to their weekly trips to my store with their dad. If FCBD can accomplish just a few scenarios like this each year, then this may be the best thing that's ever happened to the comic book industry.
As with any promotion, I'll use the data I've gathered this year to make decisions next year, and I'll probably be completely surprised by who turns out and what happens. But that's part of the fun of FCBD. As for my trusty May 3 shirt, it's heading back to that box in the attic. But I'll be looking for it the morning of May 3, 2014. I hope it still fits.
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