Free Comic Book Day 2007-Rogues Gallery Comics and Games

This was my fifth Free Comic Book Day working at a shop, but my first as the owner of Rogues Gallery Comics and Games. And as fun as Free Comic Book Day can be, it's even more fun when you're the store owner.

We had a great Free Comic Book Day. We gave away thousands of free comics; fans especially seemed to like Astounding Wolf-Man, Dark Horse's sampler, Top Shelf's Owly/Korgi flipbook, Marvel's Spider-Man, Fantagraphics Unseen Peanuts and other all-new material. But by the time we were done, we were pretty much cleaned out of everything, a Free Comic Book Day first for us!

From noon until about 3:30, we had comic book creators in the store signing and sketching. Paul Benjamin was clearly in his element, working the crowd, cracking jokes and signing plenty of autographs. We sold quite a few copies of his Pantheon High manga from Tokyopop, and he signed a whole bunch of his copies of Marvel Adventures Two in One Free Comic Book Day offering. Scott Kolins sold several gorgeous prints of pin-ups and covers he had done, as well as doing many a sketch and signing copies of Omega Flight and other works. Billy Tan was there to sign Uncanny X-Men and sketch, and he did quite a few sketches, including a beautiful inked Batman for one of our customers. Everybody seemed to have a good time, and we were packed to the gills while the creators were there, and steadily busy the rest of the time as well.

I worked about 14 hours that day, and well over 40 this week getting ready, but it definitely paid off. Tons of kids and adults came in and got free comics. Everybody seemed to have a good time. And I'd do Free Comic Book Day even if it cost us more money, but instead it was our biggest day for the store yet, even counting our five year history. We did about three to four times our usual Saturday business, and even with the expense of free comics, advertising and related costs, it was a very successful day for us.

Already looking forward to next year, and to figuring out what cool event we can run at the store next.

One of my customers, Dave Figueroa, took pictures, you can see them in a slideshow here: http://www.slide.com/r/eEvPa2bMyD8um8SxgnixmVUz3cMmIIsS

Thanks for another successful Free Comic Book Day! Already looking forward to next year!

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Randy Lander
Owner
Rogues Gallery Comics and Games
1601 S IH-35 #360
Round Rock, TX 78664
roguesgallerytx.com