FCBD 2007

Free Comic Book Day 2007 - Report Back

Previous page

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY REPORT BACK

Comic Heaven on FCBD 2007 !

Saturday 5 May was the 6th annual Free Comic Book Day and celebrated in Cape Town at Readers Den. The day can only be described as PHENOMENAL !!! Before the official opening time of 9am quite a crowd of fans had already gathered. Gearing up for the day, muffins were handed out to those early birds and by 9am an excited crowd started the frenzy, grabbing bargains galore ! The word stampede was mentioned more than once :) The lucky draw as usual was the biggest attractions. With crossed fingers, many customers scored with loads of cool prizes - graphic novels, limited edition comics & action figures!

Our costumed super-heroes were once again out in force : Spider-Man (taking time off from making block-buster movies :) and Captain America ( a suprise comeback from the dead :P also here was Batgirl and a Jedi Knight !!

Of course the free comics were flowing out the door at a steady pace with still some surprised looks from people not expecting the comics to be free with no obligation to buy !  

Our outside sale area was packed for the entire day and by closing time the tables were very much empty. This years extra pay-point helped alot although still fairly long lines were evident . Yet everyone was patient waiting to be helped - so a HUGE thank you to all our supporters for your patience ! 

The day in numbers :

4 costumed characters
10 FCBD "300 " t-shirts given away
11 Readers Den staff helping on the day 
15 Spider-Man 2 movie adaptations given away
50 muffins given away before 9 am
50 copies of local comic Mshana given away
200 Hong Restuarant 20% off vouchers handed out
300 packets of Pretzels handed out
450 discount vouchers given out
800 free comics given away
5000 rands worth of prizes given away

An all round fun & festive day which can only be compared to a mini comic convention !!!
An article appeared in the Sunday Weekend Argus reporting on the event

Finally we'd like to hear from all of you - FCBD newbies and veterans alike - any comments, crits, suggestions, or whatever you want to say about the day, and we'll post some of you comments here on the site :)

FAN FEEDBACK ...

As usual FCBD was awesome! The amount of comics for sale was amazing, and I managed to get my mits on some rare graphic novels for cheap too :D
David

A very cool event. I got some good discounts and was generally happy with it all. My first FCBD and it was great. Being a Star Wars nerd (I was guy in the Jedi outfit) I would love to see more Star Wars action figures and the like there.
Hugh

Great turn out and lots of fun knowing that you're not the only nerd in cape town reading comics/manga ;) Good work, Reader's Den! Bet your ass I'll be there next year.
Rob

What a turn out, its great to see a community building up!  Congrats to you guys hosting such a wonderful event.  My only crit was missing the culture of artists meet the fans.  We had that once and it was quite nice, i think it could only grow from there! :D  Maybe some drawing competitions before next year's FCBD?  Anyway, thanks again, and you can bet i'll be back next year!
Gabriele

As usual, FCBD rocked! well done guys on an amazingly organised and fun day! got some great specials too.
Already looking forward to next year!
Ian

Great FCBD! I had fun and the turnout was great this year. Thanks for the event, once again!
Maybe , more figures and a wider range of manga next year?
Saadiquah

I'm just writing to say thanks for a fantastic Free Comic Book Day.  It
was the perfect finale to my holiday in SA and I've now successfully
landed back in Namibia with enough of a comic stash to last the winter.
Great stuff and I hope to be around for the next FCBD as well!
Liz

The wrong numbers were drawn, they should have been in the yellow 80’s range   8-)
Otherwise great day
Stephen

Thanks for everything on Saturday. My girl and I had an awesome time and you guys were great hosts. The superheroes were super cool, especially Spidey. He was a really fun and friendly hero and did some great poses for pictures.
Only complaint I have is that I did not win any of the excellent prizes...but there is always next year.
One last comment though, must have been the flash on the camera, but check out the white eyes of these punters. FCBD was so big, it raised not only Captain America, but a host of the undead!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v729/Space-Cadet/FCBD2007/FCBBD2007035.jpg 
Best Wishes
Mike

Well, after attending my first FCBD last year and having an awesome time -vowing to attend everyone till I die, this years FCBD was even better! 
Everything was superbly organised and the staff were really friendly and helpfull. My only regret was that I (yet again) didn't win anything in the lucky draws, better luck next year I suppose.
Jody

Better than last year. Moving the prize draw to the staircase was a good idea. People with white white were at a disadvantage during the first prize draw. Thank you for a great event.
Bernhard

This is my second FCBD.  I thought that the venue was too small!  Well organised event.  ReadersDen ++
Adrian

im a newbie
and i just wanted to say i loved the free comic book day, i came to drop my friend off and got soo involved i bought alot of manga and graphic novels,
Zee

It was a great day with excellent bargains and great comics for sale! My only critique is that the comic boxes were too close together which made for a lot of crowding at those tables. Perhaps you could spread the boxes out over more tables?  
The attendance was great and the overall event was improved since 2006 so well done to Reader's Den!!!
Antoine

really cool but maybe nextyear better prizes and more people to come in costume. Maybe exclusive discounts for costumed freaks? Very cool tho will be back next year.
Hylton

It was a great day and the first FCBD I had the opportunity to attend! My only gripe was that I didn't bring more money :)
Graham

Let us know know your thoughts on FCBD 2007 !

Costume rental is available from BKE Costume Rental 

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/