Free Comic Book Day At Comics To Astonish To Highlight Avengers

Free Comic Book Day at Comics to Astonish, a specialty store in east Columbia, will feature more than 5,000 titles prepared especially for Saturday, May 5, including an issue with the characters from the wildly successful Avengers: Infinity War movie and special guests Wonder Woman, Minnie Mouse, and local artist James Bell.

As part of the event, which is held each year on the first Saturday of May, customers can get “sneak peeks” from titles based on such new and classic movies and television series as Star Wars, Riverdale, and James Bond 007.

Keegan Conrad, owner of the shop at 9400 Snowden River Parkway #112, said that free comics will be given away to customers who visit the store between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

"Comics to Astonish has been helping promote Free Comic Book Day since its first year in 2002, and to date, we’ve given out more than 60,000 free comics to readers of all ages in Howard County,” Conrad noted. “It’s a great way to introduce new readers young and old to the wonderful world of comic books.”

“At the Columbia store,” he added, “we will have DC Comics’ Wonder Woman from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and perennial Disney favorite Minnie Mouse from 2 p.m. to 4 o’clock.”

Another guest will be James Bell, a local artist who created his own comic series entitled Dragis, the Invincible Man and will be at the specialty shop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Other movie-related comics will feature Transformers, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Ghost in the Shell, Conrad stated.

One of the current TV programs that’s popular with fans is Doctor Who, and Titan Comics is promoting this fall’s arrival of the first female actor to play the two-hearted hero from Gallifrey with a reader-friendly tour of the Doctor's many incarnations and the first appearance of the Thirteenth Doctor as written and drawn by her new creative team.

Younger readers will find several comics to their liking, such as DC Super Hero Girls, a special issue of SpongeBob SquarePants from United Plankton Pictures, and a version of the Disney Princess comic that will put the spotlight on Ariel from The Little Mermaid for the first time.

Other “all-ages” titles will include updated looks at such fan favorites as Invader ZIM and Pokemon, as well as new stories from such animated programs as Adventure Time and the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

In addition, Fantagraphic Books, publisher of the World's Greatest Cartoonists last year, is following up on 2017’s successful title with new pieces by their most popular authors leading into a short comic tying into the company’s newest book.

As always, some of the comics producers are using the event to promote their own titles. Marvel is featuring a special look at the upcoming revamp of Amazing Spider-Man that will begin with a new first issue from a new writer and a new artist on this favorite character.

Another free comic will feature Shadowman, an all-new introduction to the Valiant Comics hero, as well as a preview of Harbinger Wars 2, a crossover that will plunge other characters in that universe into an epic power struggle with the potential to tear America apart.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Free Comic Book Day without a compilation of features on The Tick from New England Comics and 2000 AD stories of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, and D. R. & Quinch.

Since the store has quickly run out of copies of free titles in the past, Conrad said the shop will limit the number of copies to four per person until 5:00 p.m., when anyone can take as many of the issues as he or she wants.

As usual, an important aspect of this year’s commemoration will be the donation of 1,500 copies of comics to the libraries in Howard County at no cost to them, an increase of 500 from the number distributed in previous years, Conrad stated.

Another special feature of this year’s Free Comic Book Day is the fact that this it will also be celebrated at the other Comics to Astonish store, which is located at 1312 South Main Street, Suite 5, in Mount Airy, as well as parts of Frederick and Carroll counties.

For more information on the stores, their big sales and their online offers being held in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day, call (410) 381-2732 in Columbia or (301) 829-1017 in Mount Airy, or visit http://www.comicstoastonish.com. If you want further details on the annual event itself, go to http://www.freecomicbookday.com.