This has become an annual rite for daughter and I, not just for the fun opportunity of scoring a couple of bags of free comics but for the mutual endurance test we have to go through to get to those freebies. We arrived Saturday at 11:45 AM and by 2:30 PM, we were walking away with our gratis goodies. That was a long wait and we were both very tired. But it was, as they say, a good kind of tired. And for a lot of us in that line, its the biggest test of physical endurance that doesn't involve manipulating a game console we're likely to encounter. (That may seem like a cliche but speaking for myself, it's true.)
Our local comic shop (LCS) is Acme Comics in Greensboro NC. Under the stewardship of Jermaine Exum (otherwise known as Lord Retail), Acme has become a significant part of the local retail community and a well regarded shop on the comic retailer scene nationally and internationally.
It seems like ages ago (seems like? I think it really has been ages ago) that I first discovered Acme Comics. My access to comics in my youth came from the squeaky spinner racks at Dameron Drug and The Pantry Convenience Store. But if those racks represented a world, Acme Comics gave me a universe. Not just Marvel and DC but other publishers like First and Eclipse. Not just what was new but access to the great and storied past of comic books. Wow! Boxes upon boxes of classic comics reaching out across the years. It was a wonderland for me.
Acme Comics was also my first real exposure to a community that surrounded these colorful printed adventures that consumed our imaginations and our budgets. Yeah, I knew other people read comics but through Acme Comics, I encountered people who understood them. There was for the first time in my life others who spoke the same language, shared the same excitement.
That's the true beauty of Free Comic Book Day. While its hard to beat the appeal of free comics, ultimately that's not what drives hundreds of us to stand in line for hours. This is our time, this is our party, this is our holiday. This is the chance to stand together in the sun, proud of what we do and who we are.
And it's our chance to share, to join in this maddeningly enticing habit, to become apart of...no, not a world but a universe of adventure.
Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You
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| Waiting in line Friday at Acme Comics in Greensboro are (from left) Aaron Bell of Pinehurst, Laura-Lynn Perdue of High Point and Kristen Herring of Greensboro. (Photo from the Greensboro News & Record) |
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| Super beings gather to defend Acme Comics. |
News sources for Acme Comics and Free Comic Book Day:
Greensboro News and Record
WFMY News 2
Bleeding Cool
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