By Mariam Guirgis
Local comic book shops across Long Island welcomed hundreds of fans on Saturday, May 3, for Free Comic Book Day, one of the comic book industry’s biggest annual events. Stores like 4th World Comics in Smithtown and Red Shirt Comics in Port Jefferson gave away hundreds of free comics while celebrating community, storytelling, and literacy.
“It’s always the biggest day of the year as far as sales go and people coming in the store,” Terence Fischette, owner of 4th World Comics, said. “We do it just for advertising and just to give away free comics and a lot of kids come in which is good. Hopefully they read and get into it… that’s the goal.”
Fischette usually expects around 500 people to visit and emphasized that the day is more about outreach than revenue.
Terence Fischette, owner of 4th World Comics. Photo by Mariam Guirgis.
“Everyone seems to love it, the regulars are used to it and every year there’s new people [and] new families [that] would come in and they all say, ‘thanks for having this, this is great we’ll be back next year,’ ” he said.
Alyssa and Rick Jimenez, a married couple from Hauppauge, are among some of the regular customers at 4th World Comics.
“I’ll pick up something for free that I possibly would not have spent money on, hopefully it will entice me to spend money on it later on,” Rick said.
Alyssa recently got into comics through Rick and now reads several series herself.
“I just got into comics because he’s into them, so I started reading a bunch of the different image comic series [and] I came to find those and wanted to get into more books so it’s fun picking up the free ones,” she said.
This year, they picked up titles like Black Mirror, Star Wars, and a preview of the new Fantastic Four. “I always argue with myself to not get back into the Fantastic Four, so I probably opened up something there,” Rick, who’s been visiting the store since he was a kid, joked.
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Over in Port Jefferson, Red Shirt Comics owner Josh Darbee marked the day with similar enthusiasm. “It’s the best day of the year. It’s a day when everybody gets to peek inside somebody else’s world.”
Josh Darbee, owner of Red Shirt Comics. Photo by Mariam Guirgis.
Darbee opened Red Shirt Comics on Free Comic Book Day in 2017 and continues to give out 10 free comics per visitor.
“I [give away] 10 [free comics] because I found [that] as a fan I’d go and I’d pick up my two favorite Marvel ones, I’d pick up my one DC one and then suddenly I’m at my limit,” he said. “I really felt it was important, especially because it was part of my grand open[ing], I wanted to make it as big as possible but also I thought it was important to get people to share the wealth a little bit, to check out things that they wouldn’t normally check out.”
Darbee also distributed free comics at six other locations this year, including PJ Cinemas, AMC in Stony Brook, and Five Below.
“I’m promoting my business but I’m also promoting the industry. I’m just trying to make it a friendly and inviting place where people feel welcome to come or they feel like they can get something of value here.”
Mariam Guirgis is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
Cover photo: Alyssa & Rick at 4th World Comics by Mariam Guirgis.
