Ask anyone their favorite holiday and they’ll probably say either Christmas or Halloween. Why? Because those are the ones where you get free stuff. Free stuff is awesome, and I loved those holidays growing up too. But no one tells you where all the free stuff comes from until you grow up and realize it’s adults like you. NowI’mthe one giving out free candy on Halloween, and for every Christmas present I get, I have to give one back? No thanks.
There’s still one truly free holiday, though: Free Comic Book Day. There’s no catch to it either, it’s got ‘free’ right in the name. If you head out to your local comic store on Saturday, May 4th they’ll let you just take a bunch of comic books for free, and you don’t have to give them a comic book in return or money or even say thank you. I mean youshouldsay thank you, but you don’t have to.
Okay, there’skindofa catch. You can’t just take any comic book you want for free, you have to choose from a selection of Free Comic Book Day Comic Books. These are little sampler books that the publishers send out to all the stores for this event, and the selection is different every year. Marvel and DC typically use the day as an opportunity to preview their big summer events, while smaller publishers tend to have one-shots and first-issue reprints available to give new readers a taste of what they have to offer. There’s always a wide selection of books available for readers of all ages and preferences, but this year, Free Comic Book Day is for the gamers.
Video game tie-ins have gotten really popular over the last couple of years with books like Bloodborne, Skullgirls, Among Us, and the Cyberpunk anthology series. There’s even more coming later this year, too, like Ninja Gaiden and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands: Land of the Giants. For Free Comic Book Day, there’s a surprisingly eclectic mix of game-inspired books to pick up - completely for free, if I didn’t mention that already.
Viz is releasing a dual-cover book (the kind that has two stories and you have to flip the book upside down to read the second one) for Pokemon and Splatoon. The Pokemon story comes from Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Adventures, which is a surprising choice considering that series ended eight years ago, but hey, who doesn’t like Hoenn? The Splatoon story is a sample from the ongoing Splatoon 3: Splatlands manga. The Splatoon series already has 19 volumes available, so I’m excited to check it out.
One of the weirdest books coming this FCBD is Far Cry: Cull the Herd. Batari, the villain from Far Cry Primal, uses magic to transport Far Cry 3’s Vass, Far Cry 4’s Pagan Min, and Far Cry 6’s Anton Castillo into the prehistoric era. The villains are forced to team up and fight dinosaurs. Comic books are so rad I can’t even believe it sometimes.
The last video game comic is two games in one: Street Fighter vs. Final Fight. The story features battles between beloved characters from both fighting game franchises across multiple eras and promises to include everything from the original Final Fight up to Street Fighter 6. After last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter mini-series, it was high time for another good crossover.
There are plenty of non-video game comics to pick up next Saturday too. I’ll be snagging the Marvel Ultimate Universe preview, Archie Horror Presents: Cursed Library Prelude, Romeo vs. Juliet: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure, and all three Disney comics,just to stay on brand. You can use the official store locator on theFree Comic Book Daywebsite to help you find a store that’s participating in the holiday. If you go, ensure you buy something to support your local comic store while you’re there. Nothing’sreallyfree, after all.
