"Holy free stuff, Batman!"

As a kid, I had the coolest parents on the planet.

While other parents let their kids drink in the house, or cuss like drunken bikers on their way to Sturgis, mine did them one better. They bought me comic books. Granted, we were dirt poor, but if I ever wanted to read anything, they’d find the money—for used books and comics galore.

Now before you look down your literary nose at pictures with speech-balloons, keep in mind that a lot of major motion pictures these days have had their roots in comics. Road to Perdition, From Hell, Sin City, Ghost World, American Splendor, V for Vendetta, Constantine, 300, A History of Violence—all started out in print form (and I’m not even counting the movies of the X-men, Hulk, Spider-Man variety, of which are legion).

And if you’ve never read Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus—you’re missing something.

With that in mind, why not put off the Coronas for a few hours this Cinco de Mayo and take yourself (or better yet, your kids) to your local book or comic store this Saturday. It’s Free Comic Book Day, and you can load up.

Because in the words of John Belushi in Animal House, “don’t cost ‘nuthin.”

Comments

[CharlesP]

Dang, I never know about this far enough in advance. My wife's got the day all booked up with homeschooly things (which I think happened last free comic day)... maybe the local shop will be open later and I can bring the big kid then.

[Jamie]

Hi Charles, my kids love it. They come home with armloads.