18 out of 57 isn't too bad.

I got my hands on a set of wheels and raced to my parents' place in the early morning where various siblings dropped off their kids to join me for a Free Comic Book Day adventure. I had on my list three different comic book stores that I was tipped off to visit and with my Ty Templeton's "Bigg Time" trade paperback in my satchel, off I went.

My first comic store was thankfully inside a mall since it was raining outside. The line-up wasn't too bad, maybe a 30 minute wait at most and I kept the kids occupied by giving them my mobile to take pictures of the few cosplayers milling about. I did manage to get three photos worth sharing here thanks to a friendly guy who offered to take them for me so I could keep my place in line. Funny how it was all female and not the male, haha. The Storm Trooper was cool but not really worth hunting down since I'm not much of a Star Wars fan and the Electro looked a little too shy. Every time I attempted eye contact, he practically ran away. Oh well. At least I got Harley, Supergirl and Wonder Girl:

At this particular store I managed to get my hands on nine free books although the one book I really, really wanted to get (V-Wars) was already gone. Annoying but this is free stuff, right?

I let my nephews and niece pick out twenty-five comics for thirty-bucks, plus some mini graphic novels starring Franklin Richards and yay, they still had some door-crashers for me to take advantage of! Twenty bucks for batches of trades that would have cost one hundred dollars all together otherwise? You best believe I grabbed what I could; Marvel 1602, Spider Island, Thor and Young Avengers (Children's Crusade) :

However, the best was getting to meet Ty Templeton! He was surprised I had a copy of "Bigg Time" and we chatted a bit about the characters and how hilarious I found them to be and he scribbled this lovely doodad, which was freaking awesome:

Time was a-wasting so off to another comic store (after going to the closest McDonalds' drive-thru for McFlurries) and there I got my hands on another nine books, including the Archie freebie but I gave it to one of my sisters who wanted it which is why it's not pictured here:

Yet the happiest find at this place was getting three Marvel Premier hardcovers of Hercules for fifteen bucks. Fifteen. Bucks. And yes, I did bat my eyelashes and flirted. I even got a couple of hardcovers for free. (I make no excuses, this is just what happened. I regret nothing):

I bought a Supergirl trade for my niece, a Minecraft zombie action figure for one nephew and superhero erasers for the other. This is what they wanted, who am I to argue and besides, I grabbed a few first editions of Black Widow, Justice League United and a Captain Marvel Variant. For fifty cents each, wouldn't you?:

So, that is my Free Comic Day Adventure. The first of what I am sure will be many others.

(edited to remove personal info)

Wow you got some nice deals. Pretty wicked dedication on your part too.

Grendel ! awesome

Sounds like a good day. :)

Cool story mate.

Nice haul! I was in a rush yesterday, and I got to a bookstore that has a somewhat forgotten comic section on its third floor (BMV Books in downtown Toronto if you ever get a chance to go). Their FBCD stuff was easy to get at and not hard to handle, but across the street there was a lineup for another store that had a big thing going on, with cosplayers and signings. I guess each comic store can turn FBCD into a mini comic con experience if they want, but some just go for the bare bones approach.

They had a Strawberry Shortcake too, but the place I went to had a 10 book limit, and I missed it!

@renchamp: I went back to my usual LCS today, and while they had some leftovers from yesterday, the Strawberry Shortcake was gone :( Too bad, the one last year was even not so bad.

@razzatazz: It's great you managed to find a quiet place to pick up some books, I wouldn't have thought to go to BMV. I was told to hit Stadium Comics, a store located in the western part of the GTA which was where Ty Templeton was but it was a heck of a lot smaller than I thought it would be, despite being in a mall. The second place was X Comics in North York and it was dead, dead, dead by the time I got there. The third comic store on my list was located in Hamilton but I didn't bother since I got a good selection at the first two places. One thing for sure I knew not to do was go to the Beguiling or the Silver Snail. I imagine those places were chaotic.

So cool though, thank you for the info and I'll make sure to hit BMV next year.

@wolverine08: Thanks, dude.

@renchamp: Awh. I am so sorry you couldn't get out there. That Hello Kitty book will be making it's way back to my niece once I've finished reading it, I still feel guilty not leaving it with her in the first place...

@darling_luna: Oh wow, someone who knows about Grendel! It's a huge book and it's going to take a while for me to get through but it does look really interesting.

@v_scarlotte_rose: It was excellent, yes. I felt strangely awkward initially while waiting in the line-up but I have no idea why. I am really happy I was able to participate in the day, for sure.

@timelordscience: I only got to two stores instead of the intended three but I was happy enough with what I got. Besides, I hit my budget pretty quickly so that's a good thing as I suspect I would have burned past that limit had I continued on, haha.

Sorry everyone, I didn't know anyone commented on this. I didn't receive any notifications so I hope none of you felt unappreciated for commenting all this time.

(edited to remove personal info)

@hislolita: Oh sure, I am not sure what to be more excited about - a new female member on the Vine or a new Canadian. Niagara Falls is pretty close though and I guess you guys have your own little comic culture with your own comic convention.

BMV is not spectacular, but they do have some great deals on comics (and all books).

Sounds like a really nice day, I wish they would have stuff like that over here too.

@razzatazz: There wasn't a Strawberry Shortcake comic this year, Ape holds the license and they didn't put anything out this year.

@bruxae:

That's too bad, where are you from? I heard Australia had a Free Comic Book Day this year so maybe other countries will catch on. I think it's a brilliant idea.

@razzatazz:

Not having a car of my own makes it difficult though, haha.

(edited to remove personal info)

This is such a cool story. A Canadian Comic Book day is something I need to attend at some point in my life. However, in Dublin it was rainy and cold. No surprise there but it did make me feel quite listless so we didn't get to our LCS til about 5 and wonder of wonders! There were still LOADS of books left though we didn't have as many titles as you did across the Atlantic. The left overs were given to a children's hospital I believe. I also got KFC and the blu ray editions of Kill Bill, Malcolm X (my sister's pick) and Boyz in Da Hood (also my sister's pick. I would have preferred a Red double feature). So all in all, it was a good day. Nothing compared to yours but good nonetheless.

@akindoodle:

That's wonderful to know Ireland celebrates the day as well! Great idea about the leftovers being given to a children's hospital, I hope the same thing happened here. Sounds to me you had a good day and your sister is lucky to have a brother like you who is willing to give in to her.

@hislolita: Oh, you already missed this year's unless you mean the Fan Expo. That is pretty cool too though and lots of cosplay there. I am from Canada, not from Toronto though, just living here now.

@pikahyper: AH HA! You've finally entered my domain! How goes it in the land of Wikis?

@hislolita: Haha.Thank you. She would have nagged me to migraines (and I'm actually a sister too).

@hislolita: FCBD is celebrated in a bunch of countries, Australia was big this year and the UK. There is also Gratis Comic Tag in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, it's pretty big too, 30 awesome comics this year.

@The_Deathstroker: I'm still in the forum pretty regularly, just look at my post count.

@pikahyper: Yeah, but you barley post here.

We could always see more of Le Pika.

@The_Deathstroker: probably cause off topic is a cesspool :P

@pikahyper: So you've said >_>

.... Come with me on an adventure of the Off Topic Forum!!!

@The_Deathstroker: only reason I posted here this time was to reply to Razz.

@pikahyper:

D:

I thought we was friends! And razz didn't even reply to you!

@pikahyper:

That's amazing. The guy who works at my local LCS said it was North America only but I've learned to not take his word on much when it comes to comics.

@akindoodle:

No idea why I assumed you were male. Sorry!

@razzatazz:

There was one already? I only knew about the one that's held in the summertime and that's because I remember it from a Jonas brother's concert (god, don't ask...) I hope you're enjoying Toronto.

@The_Deathstroker: she is one of the few people I follow.

@pikahyper:

But-but.... :(

@hislolita: it used to be North America only but I'd say about four years ago it jumped up in popularity as more and more shops figured out that the low start up costs can bring in a lot of profit when combined with sales and other events, they really are little mini's cons most of the time. I'm thinking about trying to convince both of my local library systems to join up for next year, having FCBD at the 40+ libraries in my vicinity will be a huge draw for their circulations as it will bring in a massive amount of new patrons and get more kids to read. If that happens along with the massive amount of LCS here Southern California will be a FCBD utopia :P

@hislolita: It's grand. :)

@hislolita: Yes the Toronto Comic Con is in early March, but then the Fan Expo is a combination of everything sci fi and fantasy, including comics. It is in late August this year.

@hislolita: I am from sweden, comic books aren't really a big thing here. DC and Marvel cant even be bought in normal stores so I dont see this happening any time soon unfortunally.

Nice blog lola! :-D It would be a great idea if you start a comic book blog. ;-)

Keep up the good work. ^_^

Oh wow, haha, this brings back memories. Today is Free Comic Book Day too. :)

Thanks for the comment. When I wrote this, I had a lot of projects I wanted to embark on with this site but things changed mighty quick. You're sweet, though. <3

Oh cool. Very nice day you had it seems. I can't believe I missed this. Sorry I didn't post sooner.

Yours truly, Frosty

Nice finds! I've personally never taken advantage of Free Comic Book Day, but that's probably because I'm too lazy to leave the house on Saturdays.

@ryagan: I'm in that mindset right now myself. I didn't make any real plans to do anything today for FCBD unlike last year but I might pop out later this afternoon and take a peek at my local store. It won't be anything like last year since I won't be heading home. Or my former home, haha.

Thanks for the comment. :)

@dboyrules2011:No sweat, I didn't put this up on the forums so you wouldn't have seen it. I wrote it about a week after joining this site, anyway. :)

Frosty, eh? I like that nickname. Very cooooool.

@ms-lola: Ah, I see. Hehe.

Thanks a lot. It be my new signature. ^_^

Yours truly, Frosty

Are you planing on doing blogs in the near future lola? :-D

@rocketraccoonthingy: Not really. My enthusiasm for this site disappeared pretty quickly after posting this one. I skipped out on this year's FCBD but I did check out a couple of comic cons since then and would have written about them but, meh. No motivation. I did get to sit in the Batmobile and Kit (the car from the Nightrider show from the 80's) this past weekend, though. That was cool. (:P)

You were able to sit in the batmobile? Awesome!!!!

I hope you get some motivation from my blogs (i know i sound like an ass) because, your blog is really nice and I pretty much want to see more. :-D

@rocketraccoonthingy: As always, you are a doll. <3

@ms-lola: Awww. :3

Where is that? Place looks sick.

@regiebravo: You mean where the cosplayers are? It's a comics store just northwest of Toronto, Canada (if that's what you meant) called Stadium Comics.