Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics in Whippany, New Jersey sent in his thoughts on Free Comic Book Day (see '2005 Free Comic Book Day in the Books') and declares it was 'a rousing success:'

The day was a rousing success for us at Fat Moose Comics.  It was almost as inspired as the very first FCBD.  We had a store full of people all day long except for the last two hours; by that time things had slowed down quite a bit and we still had visitors, but at a more sporadic pace.  This FCBD was a relief in that the last two FCBD's didn't go very well for us, so we were thrilled in the return to form.

I also learned something from all the customers who came in during the day.  My mantra for years has been that a vast number of potential customers has been wasted away over the years; I truly believed that there were large groups of people that didn't care about comics because they didn't know comics still existed.

What I found out this year was that in reality, there are literally thousands and thousands of people out there who would jump into the comic marketplace if they felt it was a pool worth diving into.  Marvel's (and DC's to a lesser extent) publishing practices have kept most of these people away all this time.  And a large percentage of these people have always known about comics!!

Constantly raising prices and targeting their products (I'm talking editorially here, not about the distribution and mass-market retailing mechanisms) in an insular way to an ever-shrinking customer base, Marvel and DC (the big freaking-two!!!), have alienated untold numbers of Americans who might otherwise have embraced the comic book form.