{"id":55,"date":"2008-05-05T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/2008\/05\/05\/my-free-comic-book-day-experience\/"},"modified":"2008-05-05T00:07:18","modified_gmt":"2008-05-05T04:07:18","slug":"my-free-comic-book-day-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/05\/my-free-comic-book-day-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"My Free Comic Book Day Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I was in Orlando on Saturday.\u00a0 I was bummed that I would miss Free Comic Book Day<\/a> in Tallahassee (specifically at the Cosmic Cat<\/a>), so I decided to visit a couple stores in Orlando.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first comic store I visited is called A Comic Shop<\/a>.\u00a0 This is truly a cool shop.\u00a0 It was rated the #1 comic shop in Orlando in 2007 by one of the local TV affiliates.\u00a0 If you\u00a0want to see more about that shop, you really need to visit their MySpace Page<\/a>.\u00a0 They’ve got some really great “Secret Invasion” videos and pictures they’ve created (including a pro-human, anti-alien protest).\u00a0 Funny stuff.\u00a0 Its worth stopping by their MySpace page just so you can see the photos of “The Girls of A Comic Shop<\/a>” (the Girls website\u00a0isn’t complete yet, so to see more pics you gotta visit their MySpace page).<\/p>\n

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I enjoyed the atmosphere and chatted at great length\u00a0with the staff about the brilliance of Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man.\u00a0 Then I got my Free Comic Book Day edition of Project Superpowers<\/a> signed by the artist who was actually there on-site, Andy Smith<\/a>.\u00a0 I didn’t realize several companies were producing original comics for Free Comic Book Day (rather than simply reprints of previously published items).\u00a0 Mr. Smith was very nice and we talked briefly about various comics.<\/p>\n

Before I left I bought a few other\u00a0items, such as Captain Marvel #5 and the latter half of the\u00a0recent Action Comics story featuring the Legion of Superheroes.<\/p>\n

\"Sci-FiAfter that, I went to another comic book shop called Sci-Fi City.\u00a0 I was fully expecting to be let down after such a great experience at A Comic Shop.\u00a0 Wow was I wrong.\u00a0 In addition to the ginormous store, there was a definite buzz in the air.\u00a0 In one area of the store they had tons of miniatures gaming going on (with some really neat\u00a0elaborate battlefields).\u00a0 Then on the comic side, there were of course the free comics, but also several creators.\u00a0 I was stunned when I walked in and read the sign stating that Chuck Dixon<\/a> was there.\u00a0 THE CHUCK DIXON<\/a>\u00a0– one of my comic writing heroes!\u00a0 How cool is that!\u00a0 This is the guy I had just mentioned in my blog the day before<\/a>.\u00a0 And the blog I wrote on Thursday about 1997<\/a> was inspired after reading one of the comics he wrote (Batman\/Wildcat<\/a>).\u00a0 Some of the books Chuck Dixon has worked on include: Birds of Prey, Robin, Nightwing, Airboy, Batman, Punisher, Batman & the Outsiders, and the list goes on and on<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ConnorI spent a little while talking to him, mostly being a total fanboy and not stringing together very coherent sentences.\u00a0 You’d think I’d be fine given the number of creators I’ve met over the years, but for some reason Chuck Dixon just wows me.\u00a0 His simultaneous runs on Robin, Nightwing, and Birds of Prey was a fantastic example of writing stand-alone comics, yet\u00a0finding a way to have a level of interconnectedness that doesn’t put the reader off.\u00a0 I mentioned that I’d recently re-read his great Batman\/Wildcat<\/a> mini-series from 1997 and he then indicated the artist of that book,\u00a0Sergio Cariello<\/a>, was sitting just a few seats down.\u00a0 Very cool!\u00a0 I tried to find copies of Batman\/Wildcat to have them both sign, but the store didn’t have any.\u00a0 I mentioned this, and then Mr. Dixon\u00a0was kind enough to instead give me a signed comic\u00a0from his own personal\u00a0stash.\u00a0 It was a trade paperback of his recent Connor Hawke mini-series.\u00a0 That was so nice of him!\u00a0 I asked if there was any charge and he said no, but a donation to the “Books for Soldiers<\/a>” program is always appreciated.\u00a0 He explained how the program sends books (including comics) to soldiers abroad.\u00a0 I saw a few singles and fives in the donation cup, looked at the cost of the trade paperback he gave me, and then donated $20 to the program.\u00a0 It really is a neat program.\u00a0 I thanked Mr. Dixon, told him how highly I thought of his writing, and moved on.\u00a0 Running into Chuck Dixon was truly\u00a0a case of serendipity.<\/p>\n

Before I left I bought a few other items, such as the first half of the recent Action Comics story featuring the Legion of Superheroes (now I have all six parts and can read the whole story) and an Aquaman “First Appearance” action figure<\/a> (the Sword & Sorcery Aquaman<\/a>).<\/p>\n

So to sum up, while I didn’t get to visit the comic shops in my own hometown on Free Comic Book Day, I did have some fantastic experiences that I won’t soon forget.<\/p>\n

Tell the world about ONCE UPON A GEEK:<\/h3>