Free Comic Book Day
For Free Comic Book Day last year, I'd made a point of going to patronise my local comic book store. I used to go to it regularly back when I bought comics a lot but it changed hands several years ago and hasn't been the same since. Case in point, last year the owner was restricting everyone to one comic and I was treated like I was committing a horrendous faux pas for not knowing that. He was also more interested in being friendly with the regulars and ignoring all the new people. It all rather put me off going back.
So this year I decided I would try going to Liverpool instead. That has the choice of Forbidden Planet which is a chain or Worlds Apart which is independent. I find it amusing that FP is a fairly small store stuck up a street that's quite out of the way while Worlds Apart is much larger and closer to the centre! I fully expected it to be quite busy, particularly Forbidden Planet so I tried to get there as early as I could. And this was the result!
Eight comic books! Wasn't I a lucky chappy? I went to Forbidden Planet first and got there about half 10; there was a bit of a queue but it was moving relatively quickly and was nowhere near as busy as I thought it might be. They had all the available titles on display on the back wall and as I got closer, I noticed a sign that said we were allowed to pick any three! I decided to go for what I thought would be the more popular titles: Civil War II, Doctor Who (that had a special FP only cover) and then tried to decide on a third. I debated between Assassin's Creed and Lady Mechanika, and in the end opted for the latter. Those were the three I'd particularly wanted so I was quite a happy bunny.
I then made my way over to Worlds Apart, only making a slight detour into three or four other shops en route. Worlds Apart was quite a bit busier but still not as bad as I'd anticipated. They'd put all their available titles on the racks and had a sales bloke standing there holding a bunch of carrier bags. When he saw me, he handed me a bag and told me to pick any five! I was incredibly surprised by that! I expected I'd maybe get one or two, but not five! I was glad I'd got Lady Mechanika at FP as they didn't have that one, but neither did they have Assassin's Creed so I missed that one completely. I quickly picked up the other three I'd been interested in and found two more that I'd considered. So not a bad haul at all, I was still incredibly surprised how many I'd been able to get and that I'd got nearly all the ones I'd been after. And no Grumpy Cat!! Thank all the deities for that one! I do feel a little bad about not patronising my local comic book store but I did at least go to an independent one as well as a chain.
After that I wandered round Liverpool for a while and discovered to my delight that there's a Dunkin Donuts opening up there on the 17th May! *squee* I am so pleased about that, you have no idea. Well, some of you might. Once I was all shopped out, I went off to see hobbitblue for Kaffee und Kuchen. It was very nice to catch up, with coffee and little Victoria Sponge cakes with strawberry compote and fresh cream, all very civilised. And definitely a good way to end the day. According to the pedometer on my phone, I walked almost 7 miles! I think I earned that cake ;)
So this year I decided I would try going to Liverpool instead. That has the choice of Forbidden Planet which is a chain or Worlds Apart which is independent. I find it amusing that FP is a fairly small store stuck up a street that's quite out of the way while Worlds Apart is much larger and closer to the centre! I fully expected it to be quite busy, particularly Forbidden Planet so I tried to get there as early as I could. And this was the result!
Eight comic books! Wasn't I a lucky chappy? I went to Forbidden Planet first and got there about half 10; there was a bit of a queue but it was moving relatively quickly and was nowhere near as busy as I thought it might be. They had all the available titles on display on the back wall and as I got closer, I noticed a sign that said we were allowed to pick any three! I decided to go for what I thought would be the more popular titles: Civil War II, Doctor Who (that had a special FP only cover) and then tried to decide on a third. I debated between Assassin's Creed and Lady Mechanika, and in the end opted for the latter. Those were the three I'd particularly wanted so I was quite a happy bunny.
I then made my way over to Worlds Apart, only making a slight detour into three or four other shops en route. Worlds Apart was quite a bit busier but still not as bad as I'd anticipated. They'd put all their available titles on the racks and had a sales bloke standing there holding a bunch of carrier bags. When he saw me, he handed me a bag and told me to pick any five! I was incredibly surprised by that! I expected I'd maybe get one or two, but not five! I was glad I'd got Lady Mechanika at FP as they didn't have that one, but neither did they have Assassin's Creed so I missed that one completely. I quickly picked up the other three I'd been interested in and found two more that I'd considered. So not a bad haul at all, I was still incredibly surprised how many I'd been able to get and that I'd got nearly all the ones I'd been after. And no Grumpy Cat!! Thank all the deities for that one! I do feel a little bad about not patronising my local comic book store but I did at least go to an independent one as well as a chain.
After that I wandered round Liverpool for a while and discovered to my delight that there's a Dunkin Donuts opening up there on the 17th May! *squee* I am so pleased about that, you have no idea. Well, some of you might. Once I was all shopped out, I went off to see hobbitblue for Kaffee und Kuchen. It was very nice to catch up, with coffee and little Victoria Sponge cakes with strawberry compote and fresh cream, all very civilised. And definitely a good way to end the day. According to the pedometer on my phone, I walked almost 7 miles! I think I earned that cake ;)