Saturday you can walk into a comic book shop and receive free comics. That's right, free comics. This will be the sixth Free Comic Book Day.
The first Free Comic Book Day happened in 2002 and coincided with the release of the first "Spider-Man" movie. Some publishers offered books free to thank loyal readers and to lure new ones.
On the fist year only a few titles were offered. But the number of offerings has increased and this year more than 40 titles will be up for grabs.
And not only comics will be given away.
Some of the comic companies are offering toys and previews to titles that are yet to launch.
In Harlingen, Comics Unlimited is making a day of it. On top of the free products offered by comic companies, the store is giving away various other items. There will also be folks dressed as superheroes and Mighty Mike Quinn with Q94.5 FM will be there from 1-3 p.m. as well.
The store is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. dialy and the festivities are expected to go on all day.
One of the store's owners, Rob Quinn, said that there is a lot of anticipation for the Iron Man and Hulk movies. One of Marvel's contributions to Free Comic Book Day is Marvel Comics is "Marvel Adventures: Iron Man - FCBD 2008 Edition."
Other comic movie tie-ins include the "Hellboy/B.P.R.D. -FCBD 2008 Edition" to help hype the new movie "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" which opens July 11.
With the variety of titles and genres available, you can likely find something you like at FCBD whether you're a longtime fan, or you're just curious.
Give comics a chance, it won't cost you anything.
Shawn Munguia does graphics and layout for the Valley Morning Star. He also maintains a blog about cartoons and comics at http://toontalk.freedomblogging.com/. Munguia can be reached at 956-421-9870 or you can e-mail him at shawnm@valleystar.com.
