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Friday, May 11, 2007

Free Comic Book Day My Ass!

I've been collecting comic books since I was a kid - quite literally - like 6-7, 8 years old. By word of mouth, I take full credit for having helped propel true artistic geniuses like Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Sim, and others to popularity through both word-of-mouth and continued financial support (in the form of buying their products and following their careers). I am a full-fledged and very proud Marvel Zombie. I write and draw my own comic books and have won contests for doing so. I paid a lot of money to attend a wonderful weekend workshop for the Joe Kubert College of Comic Art. I use advance ordering, which helps both retailers and publishers know how many issues they need to print and order. I have always paid on time and the only time I fell behind was simply a matter of a publisher's having changed their tune (they weren't going to release something, then went ahead and did) and I promptly settled that bill within the week.

I didn't get one free damn comic book at all. Not one.

I didn't get a free comic book from my advance ordering company, from my sponsor, from any of the publishing companies with whom I am in contact. I didn't get a free comic from any of the creators I've talked to over the years or any of the convention organizers I've helped. Joe Kubert didn't send me a free comic book - neither did Andy, Adam, or Dave Sim, for that matter. I didn't get a free comic book from anyone.

So, I'm making tomorrow the Official Free Money from ManoDogs Day.

And nobody should be surprised when they don't get shit.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Free Comic Book Day is an event for brick and mortar comic book retailers. If you'd gone into a store you'd have gotten a free comic, probably many of them.

It's not for publishers, not for mail order. For local comic book stores. If you didn't get a free comic you've only got yourself to blame.

Manodogs said...

Yes, this is technically true, but still... you'd think my advance ordering company or sponsors would have sent something! Besides, I just felt like bitching.

And I blame everyone.