FCBD at Flying Friggin Colors!!
Some people have Christmas, others have Thanksgiving or Halloween. We get free comic book day.
Every year on the first Saturday of May, people line up outside of comic book stores all across the world to collect on free comics, which just about every single major publisher out there participates in. Mostly as chance to get new readers involved, or to attract old ones that have wandered elsewhere, publishers scramble to present free looks into some of their best series. Publishers like Marvel and DC will even use free comic book day to launch their blockbuster summer hits- last year I believe that they even killed off one of their major characters leading into Civil War 2 or something like that. Either way, it's a big deal dudes, with comic stores in Italy and England even participating. Hell, even Hugh Jackman talks about FCBD on all the talkshows.
Who created this event, you ask? Who pioneered the national giveaway that comic fans celebrate every year? The one and the only Joe Field!
Joe and Family
Joe Field is one of the most influential and famous retailers in the country. Beside FCBD, he's also started Wondercon, the Retailers Association, and Superhero Day at AT&T park, to just name a few. The guy pals around with Both Stan and Jim Lee, and is good friends with artists that would make me pee da pants I'd be so nervous to talk to. Joe's store, Flying Colors Comics is in Concord California, and just so happens to be my weekly comic addiction fix.
This year, Joe asked me to be the guest artist for FCBD, which is an incredible honor, and a staple in my life. I was asked to do ten minute sketch covers for guests, and all the money I'd earn would go to the Hero Initiative. Needless to say, i agreed immediatly, and spent a good portion of every day for two weeks practicing for a day I knew would be crazy. I did finger pushups, and kept my drawing hand submerged in a glass of blessed holy water while I slept. I was ready.
I got to the store at 10am and didn't stop drawing until the day was almost over at 7pm. Here's what it looked like:
At the end of the day I tallied up 42 sketch covers, and raised over 400 dollars for the Hero Initiative! Afterwards, I went home and tried to read some of my free comic book day comics, but passed out before I could even make it through one issue.
My favorite sketch cover of the day