Free Comic Book Day 2018

Free Comic Book Day has passed for another year, making it the fifth one  I have participated in with my friend and fiancé! This year, I decided to take more photos and try to document the day a bit more so I can make a proper post about it! If you are unsure what Free Comic Book Day is, it's a day each year (first Saturday of May) where comic books all over America give away free comics that are made specifically for the day! It's a great way to get together with all your friends, see (or make) amazing cosplays, get some free comics, or even support your local comic book store by buying something if you can. Let's jump right into how my day went!

My fiancé Matt and I were actually a bit heartbroken because there was a chance we were going to miss this year because of his job. But the last minute (the day before, May 4th) we got the news he actually had the day off so we were able to go! Now, our comic book store, Double Midnight Comics, is in Manchester, New Hampshire and we live in Maine. We have been going there for the last five years, it's huge and it's one of my favorite places in the world. Going somewhere else would definitely be cheating for me so it's either DMC or nowhere. Which seems dramatic, but we take this seriously. It is about a two and a half hour drive, and we always like getting there and hour or so before doors open, which was 10AM.

So we were up, dressed, and out the door by 5AM. We got into NH, got to our friends Jessey and Donnie's house, grabbed breakfast, and then were in line chowing down on Taco Bell breakfast impatiently waiting with all the other people in line. For context, Jessey is one of our best friends, we met her college and basically lived with her in the dorm rooms for the majority of the time. She's known Matt and I for the entirety of our relationship (this year will be our ninth anniversary) and she's basically my sister. Donnie, is her husband who is just as a nerd as we are and easily fits into our little nerd group. They're obviously adorable together. I'll include some silly photos of us taking photos. One new thing they had was this cardboard frame going around so it would slowly go up and down the line as people took pictures with it as we were all waiting for the event to start. Which I really liked, and I hope they do more things like this because waiting in line can feel forever when you're just so excited to get your comics and see all the artwork and artists. DMC is in this mall strip so there's this nice sized parking lot where the cosplayers and the workers of the comic store will walk around and be a great distraction but I still really loved the frame.

Left: Donnie & Jessey Right: Matt, Rolo, and Me

We of course brought my pup, Rolo, who was dressed up as Spider-Man like Matt, so they both got a lot of a great compliments. Rolo wears this outfit every time (this is the third year he's joined us) and I think it's so sweet when people remember him each year. I think it's so cool that people want photos of my little pup and I of course love the idea of people talking about how cute my pup is in his little sweater. There's this family, a mom, dad, and two little girls, who Rolo even recognizes when he sees them because of how often we see them at this event. Each year the girls are dressed up and they're adorable. Rolo loves kids and gives them love and basks in all the attention he gets from them.

Matt, Rolo, and Me

Standing in line with all these people who also love the stuff we love is a lot of fun and it's very safe. Everyone is so nice to each other in line and we talk about all kinds of stuff. Of course, the four of us haven't even seen Infinity War yet (Matt and I are going Tuesday) so we had to be careful when people in line around us brought it up. But all these little kids in their costumes, fawning over Rolo, showing off how proud they are of their hard work is one of the coolest things. It's cheesy but I love how excited everyone gets to just participate in this event each year. We joke around, we admire the amazing cosplays that obviously took incredible time and talent to make.

Me with some of these AMAZING Star Wars cosplayers!

Unfortunately, before we got into the comic store I got a bit sick. Nothing too crazy but enough that I was dizzy and I had minor panic attack. My anxiety in crowds mixed with three hours of sleep was not a great combo and I found myself leaning on Matt a lot for the hour and a half we waited in line. The photos and talking to people definitely helped distract me and I cannot express how amazing my best friends are because despite being embarrassed and feeling guilty they made me feel safe and comfortable. Once we got into the comic book store it didn't get too much better, because it was such a warm enclosed place. So I grabbed the comics I wanted, and Matt was nice enough to get me some amazing  artwork from some of my favorite artists while I sat outside getting some air. Once again, my friends are beyond amazing. When you're inside the store grabbing comics and taking everything in it's a bit of a rushed experience because you don't want to hold up the line or take too much time with the artists and make people wait forever. So once we left the event we drove to Jessey and Donnie's place and we were able to properly look over our hauls and what we got.

Left: My artwork & free comic haul. Right: Comics I bought.

The first print is from local artist, Julie Murphy, from Wicked Little Studio. I have her prints all over my apartment and I love her art so much. She has an amazing Wonder Woman print and I absolutely loved it when I saw that Matt got it for me. My second print came from the one and only Babs Tarr, one of my favorite comic book artists or even just artists in general. I'd love to get her artwork all over my walls. I got quite a lot of free comics, and I am very excited to take hours of the week and go through them because I got so many great ones. Matt was sweet enough to get me some Faith comics (who is my favorite superhero) and an owl (favorite animal, next to elephants) graphic novel by another of my favorite artists, Sara Richard. I have two owl prints on my wall done by Sara Richard and they're so pretty.

Once we got settled in the house with our comics we decided to eat some pizza. Yes, I am a pineapple (and jalapenos, but they weren't available) on pizza kind of person, I am so sorry that I am so controversial, We (well, me and Jess) also had some amazing strawberry rhubarb mead (first time I tried mead!) and then we chilled for hours just talking. Both Jessey and Donnie are in our wedding parties so we were talking about life, wedding stuff, and just everything in between. Because we live so far apart it's so nice to catch up but it also makes me really bummed that we don't get to see them more often. Especially since we were once so used to seeing Jessey daily for nine months of each year for about five years. 

After that, Donnie had work so Jess, Matt, and I got some ice cream before we had to head back to Maine. We went to Creamland, an ice cream shop that is always a treat to go to because their ice cream is always so freaking good. They even had dog icecream! So Rolo was absolutely spoiled, of course. Although the free comics and the event is always great, it's honestly moments like this that make me look forward to our trip each year. The thought of ever having to miss one makes me so sad, and I am so happy we were able to keep up the tradition for a fifth year.

Thanks for reading! 

Have you participated in Free Comic Book Day? If you didn't know about it, do you plan on participating in the future?