Free Comic Book Day

So Free Comic Book Day was yesterday and I finally pulled the trigger on my subscription/pull list.

Here’s the final list:

100 Bullets
Amazing Spider-Man
Astonishing X-Men
Batman
Detective Comics
Ex Machina
Fables
Fallen Angel
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Nextwave
Powers
Sensational Spider-Man
Squadron Supreme
The Ultimates
X-Factor
Y: The Last Man

I was a little underwhelmed by the fact that my local comic book store (yes, it’s mine now that I’m a subscriber) – Titan Games and Comics in Smyrna – didn’t give me a subscription card or decoder ring or secret handshake. Something this important deserves some kind of ritual or physical artifact, don’t you think?

I should be able to pick up the first of my comics next week, depending on the solicitations and publishing schedules. To be honest, I like the idea of going once a month and getting one big stack as oppossed to 3 or 4 each week.

Who knows. I’ve got time to decide.

The best part of signing up for comics on Free Comic Book Day was, of course, the free comic book. The title I got, Ex Machina Special Edition #1, wasn’t even on the list of titles available. It just happened to turn up and since I’m subscribed to Ex Machina, I picked it up.

It truly did not disappoint. I’ve read most of the series via BitTorrent and I’ll likely buy the back issues or a trade to have them with me – they’re that good.

Other than that, I’m just warming up to the idea of being a comic book reader and comic book collector again.

It’s kinda nice.

2 thoughts on “Free Comic Book Day

  1. Don’t be disappointed in Titan yet. They’ll have your membership card waiting in your folder the next time you go in.

    As for your list, it’s solid, brother. You have some pretty good books on there, including a few of my all-time faves (Powers, Ex Machina, Y the Last Man, Squadron Supreme, Ultimates). In fact, I can barely find the “guilty pleasures” on the list–you know, the books only you like that all your friends make fun of? Maybe Fallen Angels will become that book. 😉

    One word of advice about your pickup schedule: I recommend going twice a week. You can coincide it with your paydays, and it will ensure that you get in with enough frequency to catch almost any new series on the shelves before it’s sold out. That way, if you’re not one of those geeks that subscribes to Previews and plans their comic buying months out, you can impulse shop and still sample new releases. I always pick up my subs first, then carry them with me as I do a slow scan of the racks. That way, if there’s something I heard about but didn’t have the foresight to request, I usually run into it on the shelf and can add it to the pile before checkout.

    I haven’t been with Titan long, but the one thing I’m curious about is the personalized service I may or may not receive. My last comic shop would pull things they thought I may be interested in, and then give me the option to say no. So they were sort of looking out for me. I’ve been into Titan about a half dozen times now, so it’s probably a little early for that. But I’m curious to see if it happens eventually.

    Oh, and one last thing: Every time I go into Titan, there are random geeks just hanging out. Sometimes watching sci fi on DVD, sometimes just talking about geek topics. Nobody really hung out at my old shop–maybe it was too out of the way. I’m not yet sure if I like that or not. 🙂

  2. Whoa, just reread my last comment, and realized I put “twice a week” instead of “every two weeks.” My bad! I mean you should go bi-weekly to coincide with your paydays. Sorry about that!

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