Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day 2017, which is exactly what it sounds like. If you walk into a comic book shop, you’ll find free comics that offer a bunch of samplers and single issues as a way into comics. There’s, quite literally, a free comic book for everyone from the littlest kids to the artistically inclined. If you like what you read, here’s what to pick up next.
DC
Wonder Woman: Year One
DC is all about Wonder Woman this Free Comic Book Day. There’s a reprint of the beginning of Wonder Woman: Year One, part of DC’s relaunch Rebirth, and your shop should have trades of that book on hand for you to read the whole story. They also have a chapter from their DC Superhero Girls line of graphic novels, which feature endearing, family friendly stories.
MARVEL
All-New Guardians Of The Galaxy
If you enjoy Gerry Duggan and Aaron Kuder’s take on the Guardians, consider picking up the just-finished series Star-Lord, by Chip Zdarsky. Or, if you’re a fan of the Heroes for Hire backup story, try the current ongoing series Power Man & Iron Fist, which has two softcover collections and a great ongoing story at the moment.
IMAGE
I Hate Image
In what’s undeniably the weirdest comic book this Free Comic Book Day, Skottie Young’s insanely gory and yet also extremely cutesy I Hate Fairyland gets unleashed on all of Image’s books and ultimately on the publisher’s editorial board. It ends messily for all involved. If the book’s dark sense of humor appeals to you, I Hate Fairyland has its first volume available for $10. Or if you’d like to get the in-jokes, Image just re-released a bunch of first issues this week at a $1 price: The Goddamned and Kill Or Be Killed have been particularly excellent comics for grown-ups.
ARCHIE
Betty And Veronica
First off, some Archie comics skew a little older than the Double Digests you remember, although they’re mostly preteen-friendly. Archie has reprinted the first issue of Betty & Veronica, by Adam Hughes for the day, and you can find all three issues of that book at your local shop if you’d like to read the rest of the story. They also have two short stories based on the hit CW show Riverdale, and volumes one and two of Road To Riverdale, a prelude to the series, will be on shelves.
DARK HORSE
Buffy: The High School Years
Buffy The Vampire Slayer has lived on for years over at Dark Horse, which not only publishes the graphic novels their free comic reprints, it also has several new “seasons” of the show that answer what happened after Sunnydale fell into that giant crater.
BOOM! STUDIOS
Fresh Off The Boat
BOOM! is going all in for Free Comic Book Day, with an issue of their comic based on the ABC sitcom Fresh Off The Boat. That’s of particular interest because it’s written by Gene Luen Yang, a creator who’s dealt with Asian-American issues in the past. Yang’s American-Born Chinese is a powerful book about racial identity and fitting in that’s good for teenagers and adults. BOOM! also has a sampler that features Brave Chef Brianna, a delightful all-ages book about a chef catering to monsters which just saw its third issue out this week, and Coady And The Creepies, a kid-friendly book about a band dealing with the supernatural aftermath of their van crash. If you want something in that vein, but a bit more grown up, try Giant Days, a sweet college-set romantic comedy.
IDW PUBLISHING
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
IDW is putting its licensed books forward this Free Comic Book Day, with a story based on the most recent Nickelodeon take on the heroes on the half shell, with a story from Turtles creator Kevin Eastman that throws back to the days of the Turtles being underground comics instead of kid heroes, and that ties into IDW’s quite good ongoing series. Or you can pick up a prelude to some of their excellent Star Trek comics with Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken, which starts this May and offers an entertaining take on the notorious Mirror Universe in Trek lore.
ONI PRESS
Rick And Morty
The adventures of Rick and his grandson/victim/test subject Morty are just as great on the page as they are on the screen, and there will be several collections at your shop. For something a bit more all-ages friendly, try John Allison’s Bad Machinery, about preteen detectives in the Nancy Drew mold, and also has a preview issue.
VALIANT
X-O Manowar
Valiant has a lot of strong books on the stands right now, and X-O Manowar, a space-faring SF war story, is just one of them. It’s not previewed here, but we particularly recommend Faith, a reconstruction of superhero tropes, and Generation Zero, a smart, well-written teen team book.
Finally, don’t forget to look over smaller publishers. Everyone from art-comics companies like Drawn And Quarterly to pulp labels like Dynamite have free comics for you to read and get hooked on. If something catches your eye, ask the staff where you can read more of it; that is, in the end, what Free Comic Book Day is all about.