Free Comics! Hooray! I know it takes a great deal of time, effort and money to pull this thing off, and I’m grateful to all involved, especially Joe Field (Flying Colors Comics) who first pitched the idea. I have no insight into whether or not it actually grows the industry, brings in new readers or whatever, but it sure is fun and it gets me to my LCS on a not-Wednesday and I usually grab a couple of extra things at cover price.

The 8th Annual Free Comic Book Day event is coming up this Saturday, May 2 and looking over the list of what’s going to be available (remembering that my mileage may vary as much as your own), here are my top 5 wants:

ATOMIC ROBO AND FRIENDS (Red 5 Comics) by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener.
I’ll let the boys’ own website explain why Atomic Robo is just a six-pack of awesome. Here they are talking about the first AR collection: Atomic Robo and The Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne is “a collection of his exploits from a secret mission for the U.S. Army in 1938 to unearthing a long-forgotten underground complex in modern Italy. In between he battles a 5,000 year old steampowered pyramid, Stephen Hawking, and the rigors of Mars.” And they’re giving away a free sample of the newest series? Include me in. Besides, they’re already Eisner-nominated, the first step towards getting Eisner-nominated again! Plus, the start of a new run, Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time #1, hits the stores on Wednesday April 29th, so it’s twice the Robo action this week.

NANCY AND MELVIN THE MONSTER (Drawn & Quarterly) by John Stanley.
John Stanley is a comic book genius and rightly so. His name deserves to be as well-known as Stan, Jack, Steve, and Will. This promises to be a great sample of his work on both Nancy and his own creation, Melvin The Monster (and serves as a sneak preview to D&Q’s forthcoming Melvin collection). The want list was invented just for this book.

BONGO COMICS FREE FOR ALL (Bongo Comics) by Various
The description of this on the FCBD website about this issue’s contents leaves a lot to be desired. But going on reputation alone, this promises to be funny and has both Futurama and The Simpsons, and hopefully stuff from Bill Morrison. I’m in.

COMICS FESTIVAL! 2009 VOLUME 3 (Toronto Comics Art Festival) by Various.
Hard to say what’s inside here, but it boasts some of my favorites. I’m in for anything that has work by Emmanuel Guibert, Kean Soo, Ramon Perez. And just what is the Toronto Comics Art Festival? It’s a place where all of us should be lucky to call home, that’s what.

FCHS (Adhouse Books) by Vito Delsante & Rachel Freire.
I don’t know anything about this – but it sure looks interesting and if it’s around, I’ll grab it. The hype says this has an “Archie meets 90210” vibe with “all of the sex, sports and alcohol that was your Senior year.” I was a comic book nerd in high school, so I’m curious to see what I missed. I do know that FCHS started out as a webcomic (that ended last year when the deal with Adhouse came about). You can see some of the run at the Chemistry Set website. This FCBD issue of FCHS is all a sneak preview of the big 120-page collection that’s coming out in August. So, well played, Adhouse!

HONORABLE MENTION
BOOM! Kids is offering up an excerpt of Disney/Pixar’s Cars #1 by Alan J. Porter and Albert Carreres. This is something that I’d ordinarily want because my kids love the movie. But I bought the first issue a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll just encourage you guys to grab this variant. It’s a terrific comic book, especially for fans of the movie, and a great entry point for the younger crowd to start getting hooked on comics.

VERY HONORABLE MENTION
Tom Heintjes is an old friend who’s been doing backbreaking Compton’s Encyclopedia-type of work with his magazine Hogan’s Alley. In celebration of FCBD, he’ll actually mail you a free copy of the printed version of the magazine (sent to you via old-fashioned snail mail, free, baby). All you have to do is send him an email (hoganmag@gmail.com) on Free Comic Book Day (Saturday, May 2 only) and give up your name and mailing address. So before you run down to your LCS and start grabbing stuff, click your mouse a few times (and no, that’s not a euphemism) and get a copy of the magazine that celebrates over 100 years of cartooning history. No obligation for anything else, no hidden fees, nothing to opt in or out of. The offer is for US residents only, however. If you want to see what Hogan’s Alley is all about, check out their website for a peek. My favorite pieces: an historical overview of the advertising agency that specialized in comic book material, Johnstone & Cushing, an interview with Dan Piraro (Bizarro), and an absolutely terrific and essential interview with Walt Disney storyman and artist Bill Peet. And that’s just at the online home, so imagine what the printed magazine must be like!

MARVEL and DC: Oh, and for fans of the continuity-empowered, corporate crime-fighting team-up, relaunch, and reboot comics, Marvel has some kind of Dark Avengers giveaway (The Avengers by Brian Bendis and Jim Cheung) and DC has a Green Lantern thing (Blackest Night by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis).

You can find more info about Free Comic Book Day over at the FCBD website. They also have an interview over there with Erik Larson, one of the original founders of Image Comics and the creator of Savage Dragon. And if you scroll down, you’ll see additional Q&A’s with Chuck Dixon, Chris Warner, and Tom Brevoort.

Thank you, Free Comic Book Day!

(Illustration by John Stanley, from Melvin The Monster)