Free Comic Book Day 2026 at CNJComics

Hey True Believer, it’s that time of year again! Welcome to the opening salvo of information for our 25th annual Free Comic Book Day! (It’s also called Comics Giveaway Day now if you’re standing on your head, but we’re too invested in the brand to call it anything but FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!) We’ve been told we have one of the most comprehensive events in the country, and we’re out to make sure that statement sticks around after this year’s event.

Free Comic Book is celebrated by over 2,000 independently owned comic book shops in America and abroad. It’s always observed on the first Saturday in May, this year on May 2nd, from 10 am to 6 pm. The reason for the season is the free comics, and there are over 45 different titles to choose from. These aren’t just junk books that we’ve got lying around, either; each book was created just for the day! In our shop, you’re allowed to pick twelve books per person! You can go to www.freecomicbookday.com to check out half of the books, and this website to see the other half: https://prhcomics.com/2025/12/16/comicsgiveawayday2026/

Don’t let the logistics of two different companies hosting the event make your brain hurt; that’s our job! You just come and enjoy the festivities.

Now here’s the part that’s hard to wrap your head around: “the free comics aren’t the most important part of Free Comic Book Day.” It’s a day to enjoy the hobby, engage others in the community, and introduce new people to something that you love, all on a day when the industry puts its best foot forward.” We love it when you bring new people into the shop on the day, and we do our best to make them want to come back. That’s the job.

We have a lot going on this year, and quite a bit of it is still fleshing out, so we’ll be giving you a quick look right now. Keep checking back with us for more details leading up to the date.

We host FCBD in a vacant storefront 50 feet from the shop, and we kinda take over the whole bend in the plaza.

We have over 20,000 comics to give away, but the best advice we can give is to come early for the best selection. We slowly run out of books throughout the day, so the early bird gets the worm. We have a great system to keep the lines running, and there’s stuff to do while you wait.

Books this year include stuff like:

The Armageddon/X-Men special. The Avengers have to stop the Red Hulk on a rampage, plus the X-Men and DOOM!

DC X Sonic #1. The crossover of two amazing universes!

Spidey and his Amazing Friends. A great all-ages book with Jeff the Land Shark and… Symbie?

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe/Dungeons and Dragons Special. Get yourself ready for the new MOTU movie this summer!

Honestly, we just chose these four books at random, but there’s so much more to pick from. Find your joy while you pick out your twelve books! (did we say come early for the best selection? We did? Yes, do that!)

The FCB room is also where we host our vendor space, and you’ll find twenty different vendors selling their goods, artwork, and comics. (We’ll have the full list of them in an upcoming email. )

The big news this year is that we have an amazing guest of honor, David Michelinie. Dave is the creator of Venom, Carnage, Scott Lang’s Ant-Man, Taskmaster, and more. Dave has written groundbreaking runs on Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, and Iron Man, including the iconic Demon in a Bottle storyline. David has been in the shop before, but never for FCBD. In the spirit of the day, Dave will be giving one free signature per person, then he’ll be charging $10 each, with all of the money going to a cat charity he works with in his home state of Delaware, Purring Pals. www.purringpals.org (somewhere up above Winston is looking down on us, and approves of all of this.) Seriously, how cool is that? There are so many key books David has written you can get them signed it’s hard to pick just one, so bring some cash and help some cats.

David’s appearance has actually given us our theme for the year, so here’s this year’s lithograph, designed by Jameson Campbell, an homage to Amazing Spider-Man #300 and the first appearance of Venom, with a very Cleveland spin.

You can actually pick this print up now at the shop, and it’s free with any purchase. We’ll have some to give away on FCBD as well, and it would be a great item to get signed if you’ve got nothing else.

We’ve also got about 400 copies of a reprint of Venom Lethal Protector #1, which David wrote, that we’ll be giving out free to the first people in line. (so I guess everyone will have something else to sign!)

Please respect our one free signature per person rule out of respect for David. Think of the cats, too.

The Rust Belt Monster Collective will be returning as well, painting a twelve-foot mural live outside the shop. Expect it to be on theme featuring Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage! We love watching this crew work together and seeing it all come together at the end of the day.

We know the kids need a place to burn some energy from time to time, so we have a kids’ area set up in the foyer next to the shop. This is always a hit and a welcome relief for parents.

This year, we also created custom capes for kids!

They look awesome, they’re free, and the way the kids get them is really cool. I’ve been a Cleveland Firefighter for over 32 years, and for the 25th Anniversary of this event, we decided to invite the firefighters from our local Cleveland station out. There will also be a smoke trailer, so kids can see what it’s like to crawl through a smoke-filled environment in case they ever have to do it at a house fire. Visit them early in the event, and they’ll get you a cape! They’ll be set up in the parking lot. (Honestly, the Ghostbuster: Cleveland group typically comes out in force, and I’m excited to see a Fire Department/Ghostbusters crossover, as watching Ghostbusters as a kid led to my career in firefighting.)

We’ll also have our usual photographer capturing everything, and @sonnyboycomics will be vlogging for us as well!

We hope you spend a little money in the shop that day if you can, and to that end we’ll have 50% off back issues all day!

As I mentioned earlier, we have other things that are coming together to make the day special. (We’re even looking into bringing out the Action Comics #1 backdrop again for photos.) So stay tuned to our Facebook page and check the weekly email for updates.

That’s it for now! When we look back at the troubling times we’re currently going through, I think we’ll remember the people who tried to bring people together as opposed to pulling them apart. Putting together this year’s event has been a positive experience, and we hope you come out and enjoy the day with us. We love comics, that’s a fact. We love people who love comics, and we love FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!