Okay dudes, I only discovered this day last year so this year is my very first free comic book day. I was determined to make up for missing out on it last year and make this year's super ultra hard to forget! And let's just say, it totally did not go the way I had planned.
It all started the night before May 4th. I was staying up late trying to study for an exam, and for some strange reason I decided to not bother sleeping that night. And when I stay up, I have a habit of saying these words out loud: "Who needs sleep, Batman never sleeps". And as per usual, I did say something on the lines of that, and continued working until dawn on my studies (whilst having various movies and distracting songs in the background).
Sunlight hits my bedroom, I start getting ready for school, etc etc. All's good and right with the everyday world until BAM, I get to the train station. On the pathway heading to the train station platform, next to a tree, is a dead bat, body intact with its bat wings and bat mouth open for the world to see. I didn't want to be late for my train so I didn't give it another minute to investigate how it died (I do know that there wasn't any blood around), and so I went on my way to class.
Test start. Test done. I felt pretty uneasy about that test, I did leave a few questions blank, so for the remainder of the class, it was a battle to 1) Not stress out and 2) Try to stay awake. Luckily I had planned ahead and packed some liquids to drink, so that kept me going for the next 2hours. Class done. Rejoice! I start heading towards the comic book store to claim my free booty, hoping that there would actually be some good stuff left considering my class finished at 2:30pm.
Rock up to the first venue; Kings Comic, and there's a mad line =I . Took the challenge of patience and had a nice little talk to the person in front of me. He had tried to get into this store before but decided to go to the 2nd store in the city in the hopes that by the time he had got back, the line disappeared, but alas here we were. So I asked if he had gotten any good comics from the 2nd store and he said only 1 was decent, and that got me a bit worried -- maybe only 'leftovers' will be available. But I accepted that possibility after 20mins of waiting in line, but when I got to the store, some of the stuff that I wanted was still there -- Walking Dead and Sonic. I got to pick one more, so I picked Teen Titans/Batman. Got my stash from store 1 and headed to store 2. I noticed a good number of cosplayers roaming around, which made me think maybe next year I should just for the fun of it. A lot of little kids out too, which was nice to see, especially since most of their parents were actually getting into it. There was one whole family that was Adventure time related, it was so cute.
Anyway, so get to store 2, and it was as busy as store 1 but since it was a larger store, there was more space to breathe. I get to the freebies, and I'm not sure if I wasn't looking at the board properly, but I didn't see any "good" stuff left, so I picked Tinkerbell for the sake of me being a girl and liking cute things (I really wanted Adventure Time *tear*). Anyway, so strolled around the artist alley; Lots of great artists, didn't find anything that I really wanted to get my hands on though, then looked around to find something to buy since it was 20% off all comics and manga, ended up buying Phoenix Wright vol.4 for my bro, and started heading out. Found a bench and decided to have a looksie in the the bag, and BAM 1) Manga comic in there alongside my TinkerBell comic (woo) and 2) Voucher for Lucky Dip Prize. So I rush back into the store and found the place to redeem the prize, had a quick look but didn't really see anything that caught my eye, so I started flipping through the pages of each one, which eventually lead to having a conversation with the staff member in charge of the give a ways. I eventually told him that I was an artist looking to learn new art techniques so he started suggesting some of the free books to me, we had narrowed it to 2-3 books, but I kept being picky and ended up helping him out, explaining to other customers that a voucher was required to obtain a free book. We kept talking and then his friends needed a conversation with him so I just quietly went back to my choosing. I asked if there were any more books and he shook his head and we again continued our conversation about comic book artists. Another few lost customers later, he pulls out a big book from underneath the table and started explaining what that book was. It was Absolute Batman and Robin Reborn, by Grant Morrison, one of his fav artists (it looked awesome and it was still in its plastic wrapping). I told him it looked cool, and went back to my 2 books from the box. After a good 10 mins he then says (or something on the lines of: ) "You know what, I'm going to give you this, the big prize, you can have it". I literally dropped the books that I was holding (Some other Batman Book and Vampire Knight Vol.16) and died on the spot (Not that I have a soul or such). I insisted I just take a book from the box but he literally handed it to me and took a photo of me holding it and told me that it was now mine. Still in shock, I managed to ask for his artist name and talked about art for just a little bit longer before I drowned him in my thankfulness and forgiveness (That I had made him go through all the trouble). I hugged the book, with all my might and started heading home. And as I left the mall, a black Lamborghini was conveniently stopped in front of the mall entrance, and I had noticed that its number plates were: B4TMAN. =I
It was then I realised, the events of today were all centred around Batman... 1) Lack of Sleep, as Batman does not Sleep. 2) Dead Bat at the train station. 3) Batman Comic at Store 1. 4) Epic Batman at store 2. 5) Batman's Lamborghini after obtaining Batman book. =I . I don't know what's going on, but I do find this pretty interesting. Either way, I'm thankful for this wonderful day, and hope you all have had an awesome Free Comic Book Day!
Notes for future reference:
Sydney Free Comic Book Day Locations;
1. Kings Comic
2. Kinokuniya
Thanks:
"Chewy" - The Staff member that gave me the Big Prize.
My Teacher - For giving me extra time on my exam.
My dad - For going to the local library and picking up 3 more free comics for me