That's right folks! It's the first Saturday in May, which means FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
I haven't been to a free comic book day in a few years, so this morning, I woke up early, and drove down to the local comic depository.
It was a great atmosphere. A dozen or so nerds bee-lining to the free comic table to choose which books they wanted before they disappeared. Then, the genius hidden ploy of free comics day, they all felt like they had to spend at least a little money at the store. Their attention turned to the dollar bins, where they tore through a decade of un-bought discount comics.
Every time a new person came through the door, the owner of the store would wish them a happy free comic day, and the other customers would mutter a cheer in their direction.
I wandered in and immediately picked up the last copy of the free Spiderman comic (probably the most popular of comics today) and a Captain America\Thor comic.
I started perusing the racks for other little gems like all the other fan boys. It was hard to get into the areas I wanted. The Punisher section had a line (probably because it was close to the Star Wars and Star Trek comics) and the Captain America and Nick Fury comics had already been picked over.
That's when I saw him. The sort of guy I wanted to see. He was about 5'10", 230 lbs, of glorious, cape wearing, nerd-dom. That's right, homeboy had a cape on.
He ran to the table and looked over the selection, frustrated. Then, I saw his eyes immediately start going to everyone's hands. I knew already what he wanted. He was looking for the Spiderman comic. His eyes hit the copy dangling from my hands and then followed my arm up to my face. He approached me.
Now I learned long ago, that if a man in a cape approaches you, you try to make him as happy as possible.
"Hey, how you doing?" He says to me, sweat forming on his forehead.
"Pretty good, how you doing?" I reply, knowing what his intentions are, not wanting to easily give this guy anything without him asking.
"Hey man, can I ask you a favor? I've been to four comic book shops already looking for that Spiderman comic. Every place has been out. Is there anyway you could give that copy up? Please?"
I guess it was partly the desperation in his eye and partly just going with the spirit of the day, I handed him the comic, and made him possibly the happiest caped person of the day. I went to the table and grabbed what would've been my third choice, a Star Wars comic.
On my way through the checkout, I was also handed one of the last Green Lantern figures, and I came home like a 13 year old. Giddy and excited, I soon caught a nice high off of the smell of newsprint that carried me through the rest of the day.
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