May the 4th (Be With You) and Free Comic Book Day hit on the same day this year, which made my hope for a whole Star Wars themed party a bit unattainable, but we did get to have an accidentally too busy FCBD.

We only went to one participating shop, but before that went to another shop we enjoy mostly because, for once, my brother was also with us, so it seemed like a good excuse to drive an hour out of the way.

So, first stop was Villainous Grounds.

This is one of my favorite shops to visit and it’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to stop in.

We all grabbed a little something before we grabbed our drinks – FYI, I highly recommend their hot chocolate – and then headed toward our actual FCBD destination- my local shop, Not Just Comix.

I try not to be too grabby with freebies on FCBD – I like to let my nieces get more than me since they’re still newer readers, exploring what they may like. But in exchange, I make sure I spend money.

This is something super important that I don’t think everyone grasps about FCBD: these books aren’t free to shops. They pay for them. In exchange, it brings in a bounty of customers. A lot of shops have a rule about FCBD, only allowing a few books and only if you make a purchase. But I frequently see people just come in, take multiples of every free book, and leave.

So, while I picked up only three free books, I still spent a decent amount of money. Not just in the 25 cent room Not Just Comix has every year, either.

The only unfortunate thing, is that I didn’t get to stay long, because we had movie tickets at a theater around 30 minutes away, and we were rushing. Poor decision making on our part, I know.

But, here’s the hauls.

From Villainous Grounds:

My mom bought me the Batman mug, and I grabbed the Harley candle. Because come on, I need all the Harley.

I’ve been on a Scarlet Witch kick, so I’ve been looking for books. Found the first 5 issues from this series. I’m not sure how many, if any, I’m missing from this series, but what I’ve read so far I enjoy.

Some miscellaneous books I needed to catch up on buying.

From Not Just Comix:

My FCBD books.

Exciting DCEASED covers (you can read my review here) and the first issue of Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion. Yes!

I’ve been wanting this Batman novels, and finally grabbed one: The Killing Joke. Super excited to read it!

From the 25 cent room. I wish I had more time to dig through the boxes. But hey, more Scarlet Witch.

This was honestly my favorite purchase of the day: Doomsday Clock promo poster. If you know me, you know Watchmen is my favorite thing after Batman. So a poster of Rorschach punching the Joker? Yeeeeah. Need it.

The last thing we did for the day was see Endgame. I had a tiny Black Panther fan that needed to go:

How was your Free Comic Book Day? What goodies did you buy? What free books did you grab? Let me know!

-Angel