by Phoenix Comics and Games

It’s finally back. After a full year gone and a short delay, Free Comic Book Day 2021 is coming up fast! Join us August 14th for a full day of signings and free comic books! Curious? Read on to find out more!

What is Free Comic Book Day?

Short answer: exactly what it says on the tin.

Longer answer: Free Comic Book Day is a comic book industry holiday and tradition that began in May 2000, when shops around the country banded together and on a single day offered up a selection of comics to anyone who walked in. The idea behind this – show people of all ages and walks of life that there’s a comic out there for them.

Now, over twenty years later Free Comic Book Day (or FCBD for short) is celebrated around the world, with various publishers each contributing 1-2 books from their lineup of new releases for passerby to come partake of. Shops celebrate with signings and guests, sales and contests for cosplay and more!

Here at Phoenix, we’re celebrating this year with some fun and wonderful guests, a fun few promotions during the course of the event, and of course, lots and lots of free comics!

Free Comic Book Day Covid-19 Precautions

Alright, before we get into the fun stuff, let’s take a second and talk about this pandemic that’s still going on. Our staff has been fully vaccinated, as have both of our guests, but due to the rise of the delta variant we have to ask that the following precautions be taken during what we expect to be a very busy day:

• Vaccinated or Not, masks will be required to enter the store.
• We’ll be limiting the customers inside the store to no more than 40 people at a time.
• Please limit your stay to no more than 10 minutes.
• Please do not make multiple visits to the store during the day if possible.
• If you are immunocompromised or unable to be vaccinated, but wish to participate, please contact us ahead of time so that we can work out how to let you participate!

We don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but taking the necessary steps to ensure a safe and enjoyable FCBD experience is one that our team takes incredibly seriously.

Free Comic Book Day 2021 Signings Line-Up

We’ve got two wonderful guests making return appearances this year for FCBD. From 11 AM to 2 PM, we’ll be hosting G. Willow Wilson and Kazu Kibuishi!

G Willow Wilson

Creator of the new Ms Marvel; writer, essayist, and all around wonderful person. G Willow Wilson has a rich and diverse bibliography that ranges from prose books to graphic novels. Her most recent works include Invisible Kingdom and the Dreaming: Waking Hours series!

Kazu Kibuishi

Author and Illustrator, Kazu is most well known in the comic book community for being the creator and editor of the Flight graphic novel anthology, along with his own long-running series Amulet and Daisy Kutter.

FCBD Promotions

In a normal year, FCBD is also our birthday, and while we had to delay it this year we’re still quite intent on celebrating eight years of being here and getting to be your friendly local comic and game shop. So here’s a few things we’ve got going right now.

2D8 Percent Off Everything in the store!

Yup, you read that right. We’re eight years old now, so when you come up to the counter to make your purchases, you get to roll two 8-sided die. You’ll get that discount on whatever you’re picking up that day!

Bulk-Back-Stock Bargains!

Over the last year we’ve had a lot of comics accrue beyond what we can keep on the shelves. Some of this back stock we clearance out, but a lot of it just doesn’t have space here on the shelves. During FCBD, we’ll have all of that stock out near the tables that host our free comics. For $20 or $30 (tax included), we’ll give you one of our trusty paper or plastic bags for you to stuff full of back stock comics! Our only rule – it’s gotta fit, so no tearing the bag.

FCBD Rules

There aren’t a whole lot of rules when it comes to Free Comic Book Day at Phoenix, but we should clarify how we expect the event to work, just to avoid any confusion.

• Check signage on the tables for the number of comics that you’re allowed to take.
• Take what looks interesting and fun to read!

That’s really about it as rules go. We’ll adjust the number of comics that folks can pick up throughout the day to make sure there’s still plenty of books to go around.  If you missed out on a book that you wanted, or you’re just on a mission to collect all the FCBD comics, we urge you to also visit one or two of the other local shops (here’s a link to the FCBD store locator to help). And above all, have fun and enjoy yourselves!