It’s that time of year again where comic book enthusiasts get to celebrate their love for the genre! For over a decade, the first Saturday in May has been Free Comic Book Day, a day where participating brick and mortar shops comic book shops around the world open their doors and give away free comics and more. The catch? There is none! You just need to come in.
It seems that each year the comic book shops have been upping their game for this special day and many are making it a great event with guest artists and writers in attendance, offering other specials beyond free comics and even having cosplayers come in to entertain the crowd!
With 50 books being offered for free, the choice can be a bit daunting on which ones you should pick up, so we decided to poll our ScienceFiction.com comic book experts to help you with your pull list so you’ll be raring to go when the doors open bright and early tomorrow morning!
Here’s what some of our writers suggest:
Tony Schaab:
- The Tick: few characters have been enjoying wacky adventures in comics for a longer time than my favorite big blue hero. If you’ve never read a Tick comic and think you know the character from his various TV shows, you owe it to yourself to get to know the character in print.
- X-O Manowar: Valiant’s greatest character headlines this all-star get-together of the company’s biggest ad best names, including Faith, Ninjak, Harbinger, and Bloodshot. This one’s a can’t-miss issue!
- 2000 AD: one of the stalwarts of the printed sci-fi arena celebrates its 40th anniversary in style! Come for the all-new Judge Dredd story, but stay for the several other amazing tales & features this magazine has to offer.
- Time Shifters: if you’ve had a long-burning desire to read a wacky story that involves a robotic Abraham Lincoln that rides a dinosaur, you’re in luck – Time Shifters has got you covered on that, plus a bunch of other nutty things stuffed into this story.
- Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken: the Trek universe goes back to one of their all-time favorite alternate universes to put goatees on characters and tell us how bad they can be. This time, it’s TNG’s crew that gets the treatment – here’s hoping we get an “evil” version of Mot the Barber!
Brian Tudor
- DC Comics Gold Book
- Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken
- Marvel Secret Empire:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Prelude to Dimension X
- The Tick
Jason Motes
- Marvel’s Secret Empire: The ending was already spoiled online, but this is a pretty major game changer for the Marvel Universe. It won’t make detractors of the Hydra-Cap storyline happy though.
- Archie’s Riverdale: Because sorry The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale is the best comic book show on The CW! This is a prequel comic that shows Archie at work at his dad’s construction company and meeting the mysterious Miss Grundy.
- DC Wonder Woman Rebirth: Two of the most popular Wonder Woman creators, writer Greg Rucka and artist Nicola Scott team up to relaunch the flagship female hero for a new generation… just in time for the major motion picture.
And there you have it! The top picks from our very own ScienceFiction.com comic experts. Whether you are a long time comic book reader or new to the world of comic books, Free Comic Book Day is a great event and one that shouldn’t be missed!For a full list of books that will be available for the taking and to find a comic book store near you that is participating in this event, head to the Free Comic Book Day site.Let us know what you picked up and whether you thought our recommendations were spot on!
