Jim Shooter at Free Comic Book Day and VIP Raffle Info

Published · Updated

Hey everyone! It’s that time of year again! We’ll have an email out soon with all the Free Comic Book Day details but for now let’s talk about our guest of honor this year, Jim Shooter!

Jim’s had an incredibly prolific career, writing for DC comics at age 14, then becoming Marvel’s Editor in Chief from 1978 to 1987. Jim’s written some of my favorite Avengers comics, as well as the original Secret Wars!

Check out more on this amazing man!

This was the inspiration for this year’s FCBD poster, the cover of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8.

This year we’ll be giving this 11×17 cardstock poster out for free with any purchase starting now! If you know somewhere that would be willing to hang one up, please take a second one and let us know where’s it’s going to go! (We appreciate the help to spread the word about Free Comic Book Day.) Thanks to Jameson Campbell for the artwork.

Luckily, the Secret Wars graphic novel just came back into print, and we have lots of copies waiting for you at the shop.

This year, everyone will be able to pick out twelve free comics from the ones that will be available, which you can check out here: www.freecomicbookday.com

Jim will be doing an open signing at the shop for Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 7th from 10 am to 6 pm. In the spirit of the day, your first signature is free. After that, you can buy five signatures for $30, and you can only do that twice. (Meaning, the max amount you can get is 11, to help keep the line moving on the day.) You can get right back into the end of the line and do it all over again if you’re so inclined.

This year we will also be hosting a VIP event the night before FCBD, just like we did with Jim Steranko and Chris Claremont.

Tickets for this event, which will be from 6 pm to 9 pm on Friday, May 6th, will go on sale in the shop at noon this Monday, April 4th. Tickets are $50 each and are limited to 50 seats. You can buy the tickets in person or you can call in a credit card. (we will not accept other forms of payment.) Please be ready with your name, phone number, email, and credit card number so we can keep the phone lines moving. To be clear, these events have always sold out fast in the past.

At the VIP event you will get:

  • A live Q and A between Jim and I. (We will also broadcast this on Facebook Live for those who cannot attend.)
  • Three free signatures. (you may not bring additional items in to sign, we need to keep the night moving.)
  • A copy of Avengers #211. ( I’ve actually got 400 copies of this book, and we’ll be giving them out to the first people in line for Shooter on Saturday too.)
  • We brewed beer this year, and you will get to pick between a Secret Wars Red Ale or a ‘Nefaria’ Pale Ale. (Count Nefaria was the villain in my first Avengers comic, #165, also written by Shooter.) You must be of age to get the beer, and you don’t have to drink it at the event. (I’ll make sure it’s cold though, just in case.)

We were excited to brew beer again, the first time since the pandemic hit. It’s our favorite team-building exercise!

We’ll also have some raffles for some cool stuff at the end.

Oh yeah! You get to pick out your free comic books early, so you don’t have to wait in line on Saturday!

The VIP event helps us to finance Jim’s appearance, which everyone gets to enjoy on Saturday, so thanks to all who choose to participate.

As I’m getting older it’s important for me to get to meet these creators that were so influential to me, to show them the hospitality of our shop, and to introduce them to the community you’ve all helped us to build.

Will be giving you more details about Free Comic Book Day soon, but for now we wanted to get this info out.

Thanks as always everyone!

Here’s an image to share on social media!