Don't forget, you idiots. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day. Go find your local comic store and drop by early and pick up some free stuff. Do them a favor and buy something too. This little marketing holiday does nobody any good if your store doesn't increase their business.
For me, the big draw is Green Lantern: Blackest Night #0, which is apparently a key issue in this summer's big GL storyline (that's already started, really). Both DC and Marvel are using this year's FCBD to show off actual current comics events, rather than just reprinting something or rubber-stamping some out-of-continuity all-ages book.
DC's secondary free offering is DC Kids Mega Sampler, which spotlights their line of kids books. Looks like it includes Shazam, Tiny Titans and Batman.
Clark already gets a couple of these on a regular basis, but I'm sure we'll get this one anyway. The book Clark really has his eye on is the free issue of Disney/Pixar Cars. We're under instruction to pick one up for a pal in daycare as well.
Lit snobs, go on alert, because Free Comic Book Day isn't just about mass-marketed adolescent heroic fantasy. There are plenty of indie books up for grabs. If you're not into the capes-and-tights set, maybe there's some other genre on offer. I hear manga is still sort of hot.
Looking at the huge list of free books, this one surprised me... a reprint of the first issue of the original, fully awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Pre-animated series. Pre-Archie comics line. Pre-awful movies. Pre-Power Rangers crossover series. Pre-impossible NES game. Pre-toy line with extreme sports attitude and Barbie-style career outfits. Pre-not awful CG movie. This is the seminal TMNT, from back when it was a parody of Frank Miller's Ronin. And not a parody of itself.
So that's pretty cool. If you don't already have a copy (they reprinted it about a dozen times in the early nineties; I have a fourth printing myself), that book is worth the trip to Free Comic Book Day all by itself.
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