Free Comic Book Day & May the 4th
The good and the bad
You probably know it’s been a big week for the comic industry—Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) and May the 4th landed back-to-back. Here in Australia, FCBD also fell on Election Day, which made it a bit chaotic. Picture this: bouncing between polling booths and the local comic shop while half the country is out on the roads.
While I love seeing people around the world enjoying free comics, I’ve got to admit, I felt a bit deflated this year. And yeah, that’s mostly what this post is about—maybe not the hype-filled comic celebration you were expecting.
Let’s start with the good: FCBD was still great. I made it to my local comic shop, Big City Comics—sadly, for the last time on FCBD. Mark, the owner, decided a while ago to stop selling singles and move to trades only, so this was his final event. And the next closest shop? An hour away, in an area I’m not too keen on driving to.
The cool part? Mark’s not one of those “4 comics per person” guys. Everyone got a full haul. You might’ve seen my stack on Instagram—thanks to Mark’s generosity. I genuinely feel for folks who didn’t have a shop like his nearby. If only everyone had a “Mark.”
Now, May the 4th (which is today as I write this) was… a bit of a letdown. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but it honestly made me feel like the industry is shifting in ways I’m not too thrilled about.
I went to the Melbourne Comic and Toy Fair today. I bought a priority ticket—not expensive, just wanted to get in early since I don’t stick around long at these things. There were over 120 stalls… and maybe 5, 10 at most if you’re generous and you count the ones that had 1-2 shortboxes next to their pile of figures or TCG. Most were all about TCGs. I used to be a heavy Magic: The Gathering collector, so no hate there, but this definitely is not something that a comic collector wants to see.
In contrast, the Geelong event, despite being much smaller, had way more focus on comics and felt a lot more aligned with what I love. I’m not sure why this Melbourne event was so skewed—maybe it’s just a coincidence, or maybe TCGs are taking over. I just hope it’s not the new norm.
Also? Not a single indie comic creator in sight.
I left literally empty-handed, which is something that probably never happened for me at one of these events.
Oh, and the kicker: for something happening on Star Wars Day… there was barely any Star Wars content anywhere.
Thanks for reading!
May the force be with you all, and hopefully we can get some more comic-related material on events that have “comic” in their title!