Free Comic Book Day

The Free Comic Book Day is a joint marketing campaign of comic publishers and distributors. It takes place in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 2010 annually. The date is on the second Saturday in May, a week later than the American model, the Free Comic Book Day, which has been held since 2002.

Are involved and have included these publishers and labels: Alligator Farm, Carlsen Comics, Comic Festival Munich, comic plus , Cross Cult, Edition Moderne, Egmont Manga & Anime, Ehapa Comic Collection, Finix Comics, lumberyard publisher, the association Comic ( ICOM ) mosaic stone by stone Verlag, Panini Comics, reproduction, Salleck Publications, writer & reader, splitter publisher, Tokyopop, tinplate Comics and diaphragm publisher.

Objectives of the event are to interest potential customers for comics and existing customers more to tie his own words:

• To bring people the joy of reading comics in more detail,
• To attract new readers and returning former comic readers back to the medium,
• Thank comic buyers and collectors for their continued financial support.

For these reasons lie on Free Comic Book Day at participating merchants by participating publishers printed specially for this day free from comic books. Some dealers also offer their customers the framework programs, such as book signings local comic artist, family reunions or discount offers.

The Free Comic Book Day was for the first time on 8 May 2010 planned by 17 German comic publishers as Community Action in support of comic dealers and reacted with 147 the participating comic shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A total of 169,600 free comics were produced, with the requirements of 30 different comics, depending on the number of orders received by dealers to the organizers, 4800-7200 issues per title faltered. The entire production and licensing costs contributed the publishers, only the printing costs were passed on to the dealer ( 40 cents per issue).

In 2011, on 14 May, 28 publishers on Free Comic Book Day involved. Thus, as all relevant German comic publishers were so good involved. The number of participating dealers comic rose to 166, of which 8 are each based in Switzerland or in Austria. The range of 44 different books ranged from superhero on science fiction, fantasy and horror titles to cartoons, manga, indie comics and comic biographies. In addition, a Kids logo was introduced as a novelty compared to 2010, with the comics were identified that are also suitable for children.

On 12 May 2012 the third edition 19 comic publishers were represented with a total of 30 free stapling. Likewise, the fourth edition, which took place on May 11, 2013, at the 197 participating merchants.