Malinda Brown & Robert  Miller of Sarge's Comics Etc. in New London, Connecticut had a very successful Free Comic Book Day (see '2005 FCBD in the Books') by making the event a lot of fun for all concerned:

 

Free Comic Book Day this year, despite all attempts by Mother Nature to thwart it, was a wonderful success.  Not being able to use the sidewalk for tables made it a bit crowded, but didn't deter the fun at all.  The wind machine out doors was set too high as well, but it cooled the folks in costumes who ventured out for air.

 

Any of the random foot traffic we would have lost because of the rain was made up by our Hulk out on the street.  He roared, he bumrushed cars at the stoplight, he climbed onto busses... ( well, figuratively!).  All in the name of free comics!

Our favorite customer of the day was a two-year-old boy who tried to take one of the Stormtroopers home, thinking he was just a very large action figure!

 

The comics and shirts arrived in a timely manner, much improved over last year when we were still receiving comics the week of FCBD. The shirts this year were also much better.  The fabric was less itchy, and the fit was superb.  My only qualm was that more of the smaller sizes weren't available.  The small and medium sizes were unavailable from Diamond mere weeks after they shipped, leaving some of our smaller volunteers in much larger sizes.

The titles available this year were awesome.  From Owly for our younger customers, to the independent titles for the people looking for something new, everything was great.  The only thing I'd change would be to have a rating of some sort on the cover to warn people of the content.  A simple 'G' and 'Not G' or 'M' would suffice.  Moms need to know if little Susie or Johnny is going to open the comic and find cusswords or nudity.  The blame falls on us, because we didn't warn them.  Less complaints means more satisfied customers and happier employees.

 

Due to an oversight (Ok, Previews is a pass/fail test each month and we failed on this one), we didn't have any of the FCBD bags, but we found an alternative in clear bags.  These ended up being a little better.  By using clear bags, it was a little easier to make sure Rotten Ritchie isn't trying to sneak out the new Wolverine with his free Star Wars comic.

The talent we had this year was overwhelming.  Artist/Writer Kieth Champagene (Armor X, JSA) was signing for fans; Ben Morse from Wizard Magazine was on hand and gave out some of the Wizard Top 100 Comics books; Artists David Quintana and Shawnti Therrien Drew sketches for fans; and Illustrarator Randall Ensley came to show his wares.  Ox Baker the wrestler shouted and carried on as well.

 

Sailor V, Beldandy, and other cosplayers greeted our customers, while we had our favorite Furries in costumes rounding out the madness and mayhem that IS a Sarge's FCBD tradition!


Special thanks to the New England Garrison of the 501st Storm troopers and friends.  They once again made the event so special for everyone.

We also coupled the event with our annual FCBD sale, which made a lot of folks quite happy and helped clean out some stock.


Who needs movies to piggyback FCBD on?  Not us!
 
As an esteemed colleague once uttered: ' Best Day Ever!'


P.S., A big thanks to Bongo for participating this year!