Holy freebies, kids!
Talk about your comic-book giveaway!
Free. Really.
Archie and Mickey Mouse. Star Wars and Spider-Man. Teen Titans and Sleeping Beauty.
Stores across the Boston area will be giving comic books away as part of National Free Comic Book Day Saturday. The comic book industry is sponsoring the third annual event in conjunction with the Friday release of the movie ''Spider-Man 2" to try to beef up diminishing sales.
For Saturday's event, comic book publishers sell the store nine books -- also including CSI, Duel Masters, and an Image Comics label summer sampler -- at a heavily discounted price. Stores then give them away in hopes of gaining new fans.
''It's totally awesome," said Erin Scott, of New England Comics' Allston store. ''There's not any commitment to buy anything. You just come in and say 'I would like to have a free comic book' and we let you choose two or three."
The event is aimed at attracting families and passersby as well as fans.
''We get a lot of people who come in and say 'I haven't read a comic book since I was a little kid,' " Scott said. ''We hope they'll get back into it."
Although comic books have a following in the Hub, a trend buyer for Newbury Comics says more customers are always welcome.
''We haven't done it in the past, but enough people asked about it that we thought we would give it a shot this year," said Jaben Wyneken.
According to Wyneken, Boston's comic market is strong, with two competing chains (New England Comics and Newbury Comics) and several independent stores.
''Boston is as good as the scene could be," he said. ''But we can use all the business we can get."
Participating stores include the Newbury Comics Newbury Street location, all seven New England Comics locations, Comicopia at 464 Commonwealth Ave., and Million Year Picnic in Harvard Square. For more information, go to www.freecomicbookday.com.DORIAN BLOCK
