Looking Back on FCBD 2018

So my daughter Randie and I made our way to the best comic book shop on Earth, Acme Comics of Greensboro for Free Comic Book Day. It was a lovely Saturday morning and good day to be out.

 

I wasn’t particularly keen on it. Over the course of the previous two days, I had been experiencing the worsening symptoms of a cold. By Friday, I had a particularly bad cough, enough to elicit a complaint at work.

 

Not sympathy, mind you. A complaint. I assured my manager that would endeavor to die more quietly.

 

Friday night, I was feeling a general all-consuming cruddyness so medicated myself with cold medicine and crashed,

 

When I awoke Saturday morning, I still felt yucky. But Free Comic Book Day has become an annual father/daughter type of thing and I did not want to disappoint her.

 

Besides… free comics.

 

After a stop for breakfast, we arrived at the shopping center where Acme Comics is located where we were a bit surprised to find the line to not be that long.  We had a wait of about an hour before we crossed the threshold into the inner sanctum of Acme Comics. 

 

Most years, we’ve had to wait about 2, sometimes 3 hours. 

 

Not feeling particularly well, from a selfish point of view, I was grateful for the shorter duration of the wait. From a more objective perspective, I was worried.

 

We live in a time where comic book related stuff enjoys unparalleled popularity. Case in point: the global box office domination of Avengers: Infinity War.  But the comic books themselves seem to struggle for an audience. 

 

Free Comic Book Day is meant to draw eyes to that medium and re-spark interest in comics. A shorter than normal line for Free Comic Book Day at Acme Comics of all places was not a good sign to me.

 

And also Acme is facing new competition. A comic shop in neighboring Winston-Salem opened a new location in Greensboro within the past year. Was Acme, a venerable 35 year old Greensboro institution, facing a serious hit from this interloper?

 

What I did not know at the time is Acme had opened at midnight and as the second hand ticked into what was technically Saturday morning, Acme started giving out free comics until 2 AM. When the shop officially re-opened Saturday morning at 10 AM, Free Comic Book Day had already been going on for two hours.  Hence the shorter line.

 

The store itself was still packed and bustling with sales being rung up to accompany the free largesse. So it looks like Acme was still having a good day.

 

With a bounty of comic books, Randie and I made our way back home to the Fortress of Ineptitude. Experiencing a downturn with my cold, I re-medicated myself and crashed back into bed. I needed rest before my next planned excursion for the day.

 

Next up: Off to the THEATRE!