Get Ready For Free Comic Book Day 2025 with Ben Kingsbury of Gotham City Limit! - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 456

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intro music plays

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And a one and a two and a three. Yo, Short Box Nation. Hello again, welcome back and happy new comic book day. It's another Wednesday, another new podcast. Thanks for present play today. You know what makes today so special  is that it is the Wednesday before the best  holiday in all of comics. It's the Wednesday before free comic book day.  And that's what this episode is gonna be all about.

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If you're new, welcome to the show. name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with the people who put their blood, sweat and tears in the making them. And in today's case, also the person who puts his blood, sweat and tears into selling said comic books and creating an awesome comic culture here in Jacksonville, Florida. This is episode 456 and I'm recording this episode at my favorite comic shop in the whole entire world. I'm at Gotham City Limit. I got the one and only Ben Kingsbury here with me.

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to talk about Free Comic Book Day, which is happening this Saturday, May 3rd. So we're gonna hear from Ben about Gotham City Limit, how they're celebrating the event. We'll talk about the comics that are going to be available.  And we'll also hear from him about what the future of the event might look like. Considering all the business of Diamond, know, the state of the business of Diamond and it's very uncertain future so far, them declaring bankruptcy. We'll get into all of that later. Now, obviously Free Comic Book Day looks different for every comic shop. So if you're not lucky enough to be in Jack's or Gotham City Limit,

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then I highly recommend that you reach out to your comic shop directly. See what they got going on for Free Comic Book Day or go to freecomicbookday.com for all the details. Now, with that being said, let's officially welcome your favorite comic shop owner's favorite comic shop owner, the one and only Ben Kingsbury. Ben, you won't be able to hear the applause that'll be put in post, but I got a roaring applause for you, brother. How you doing? Roaring applause, Byron. Thanks so much for being here, man. Yeah, Free Comic Book Day is the best day of the year, especially for comic shop owners.

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and uh... the fact that you know you only get to come here uh... and grace us with the presence a couple times a year to actually film some uses some of my favorite times obviously we love sponsoring by your podcast many get the best interviews you have the best subjects you really do  cover everything that happens in the comic world so it works out very nicely for us to be partnered up with you but  i had a local community event of the year is what we call free college day so here we go baby it's free cover day week i hope i'm ready

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Ben well, you know, it was funny before we were recording you were talking to me about just how busy You know You're already like thinking about how busy you're gonna be and it's like a week out recording the Sunday before free comic book day  And I guess I like walk me through it like what's gonna happen these next couple days This episode comes out after the Wednesday before free comic book day, but walk me through like this entire week How much prep, know, what are you guys doing to get ready? Sure. So I mean, I think it started when I first opened this place 2018

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I January so obviously Free Comic Book Day was going be coming up in March of 2018. And since we were kind of a new business, I got lucky in a sense that I decided I was going to make Free Comic Book Day kind of our grand opening that year in 2018. I had been to a couple of Free Comic Book Days but we've all been to a couple of Free Comic Book Days where they're like, pick out a couple of comics from your favorite ones, two or three of them, and that is kind of it. It was kind of like...

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It didn't really feel so I wanted to make sure we threw a party. And because of 2018 when we started kind of our grand opening, now it really has become the community event of the year. So for us actually this week, although we are super busy, I've gotten most of this stuff, you you start planning for this event so far ahead of time. Every year we do a special patch specialty for the shop that we give away. So a free conflict day patch this year.

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a pacer patch is the best thing ever. The amazing shop dog 2025. So we got the patches and the stickers ready to go. I don't know if you remember last year, but we had everybody sign the wall. So I had stickers made of the signed wall. You never cease to amaze me how meta you can get then. Right. Well, mean, you got to just try that. So and then this year on top of it, if you ever been to Free Comforter here, it is crazy, but this place is tiny. So now I rent the Batcave next door.

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which is our kind of behind the scenes storage,  but for free comic book day, it's gonna change everything.  So this week, instead of waiting until Thursday or Friday night to set up the free comics here,  I can literally go in there on a Tuesday morning as soon as we're done with some of the other stuff that's brand new,  start getting it ready. We're gonna have all our free comics next door.  So we'll cycle everybody through next door, get your free comics.  The first Coast Con will be here, the guys that represent that, they'll be next door  helping.

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promote that because obviously we're a huge sponsor  of that event. So we'll have the free comics next door. Everyone will cycle through there. We'll have huge sales on this place on the inside. The number one complaint I got for free comic book day, even though overwhelming majority of people absolutely love it,  was that there was no room to shop. You were just in line the whole time because to get in line and get it, you couldn't really get around. So  I think this year it's going to take free comic book day to the next level for us obviously.

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Getting all the free comics, they're just in boxes next door. So getting them all out, separating, sorting, counting them all in, making sure.  But we've gotten everything in from all the distributors already.  It's not just Diamond anymore, like you alluded to at the beginning of this thing.  literally, when I wake up tomorrow morning, Free Comic Book Day starts. We have to  plan our waffle,  which is, if you don't know,  it's basically a giant raffle that we give away stuff here. And so for our 15, we call it the ultimate waffle.

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And so this year for free comic book day, we're going to have over $2,600 worth of prizes that we give away that day. On top of it, you get a free entry just for showing up. So it's not even like you have to actually purchase anything. So just showing up for free comic book day gets you in those waffles. it's one of my favorite days, so I'll have lots of other small little get together and events planned.

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It just like I said, we've been working on this thing for a couple months already getting ready to go and so now it's actually implementing and making it happen But  I'll probably bring a sleeping bag What's your first memory of a free comic book date like your first conscious exposure of attending and partaking in a free comic book day? What's the earliest memory you have? Gosh man, what was the very first one I ever went to?  You know, it would have been with  with one of my friends up in in

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outside of Boston, Massachusetts. So we went down to Newbury Street, Newbury Comics down there,  and they had a huge event. But they had like DJs and like,  you know, Newbury Street is this giant  street of  small shops right in the middle of the heart of Boston, but they're all eclectic. kind of, some go down,  like down a step, so they're like kind of on top of each other. These old, yeah, such cool buildings.  But that was really the first experience of Free Comic Book Day. Then I went to a,

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couple here in Jacksonville and to be honest with you, kind of underwhelming. mean, you we went, we checked it out, we grabbed a couple comics, but people had rules and it wasn't really, didn't look like they were trying to stimulate like sales. You know, for us, I think it's the best day of the year. It's like almost like a Black Friday again for us. So you're going to have all these awesome people in your shop. How are you not going to try to take advantage of that by also offering great deals on some other stuff? Because shops like mine,

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don't exist because of the product we sell that is not why you could order this stuff online you can even buy free com for day comics on online and have shipped your house  shops like ours exist because we're community shop  and the idea is you wanna be a part of the community and be a part of this place and  i mean when people drive up your bar at five o'clock in the afternoon the weekdays you know that traffic is out there it's the worst in jackson from gtb down here

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And so every single person that sits through this traffic at like 5.30 in the afternoon when they get in here, I'm like, man, I feel like I should give you like a hand massage or like a coupon to free bowling or holy shit, dude. It's so impressive that people actually drive through that stuff to get over here and be a part of the shop. And so for me, that's really what it's all about. then for free comic book day, I don't care about cost at all. I spend money left and right because I know throwing an amazing event.

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pays off for itself in the long run. We always get a number of people whose first time coming to the limit is free comic book day  and then end up doing it on the regular. I've always  admired that you fully understand like that. What is that saying? You have to spend money to make money,  but then you also always value  giving an experience to the customers, to the folks that show up to the shop, and it generally show appreciation. And I think that's why it's always resulted in it. I just realized that.

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for the  however many times we've done this  live,  this recording here at the shop, it always usually times with a new plaque or reward that you get. And I think you recently just got  the Shop Won Another Award, and I believe it was for what,  it was a Best of Jacks Yeah, Rate Best Comic Shop, yeah. So I was curious what that,  the organization was or what the award was, and I guess it's based on.

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how many reviews you have on Google reviews. They've got to be within a certain time. It was kind of elaborate. was like, hey, it's got to be within 90 days. This many reviews and this many stars. And I was like, well, I don't think I've ever really looked at how many reviews Gotham City Limit has when you pull it up on Google Maps. You have over 600 reviews, all of them highly positive. So congrats on the award. It makes sense. And I want to read off two that kind of  struck me in particular.

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Alright, don't read the one star review where I took the guy to his limit, botter. True story, it's on there, you can find that later. wanna hear that in a second. Let's start with love first. This one was written four weeks ago. Definitely a gem, super helpful staff, excellent variety and cleanliness. Can't say enough good things. Side note, you never know what someone is going through. And I had a moment in the parking lot after getting my Blade Runner comics where I just cried of gratitude.

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I've had some of the toughest days of my life this week.  I'm walking into a store, being greeted with friendly assistance, and finally finding some joy in something I've hunted for a while. The whole experience was important to me. Shop here, you won't regret it." How does that strike you here in that? Man, dude,  I remember that review we just got a couple  weeks ago.  And I responded to that guy in a very heartfelt message.  But that's like,  man, when you get burned out from working a lot,

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like, because no matter what you do when you work a lot and you're just constantly on and you never turn it off and you're always answering emails and you always responded to something,  that stuff right there, holy shit, is the most powerful  drug there is.  It is an amazing feeling to be able to do something like that for somebody, but I've also been there myself.  We've all had a moment where something has happened in our lives that we weren't, whether it's

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not just buying a comic, but something that happened in our lives where we got out to our car afterwards and we kind of just  let out an evisceral scream or a cry or whatever it was.  that actually, you know, that review and then you bringing up the plaque is literally just reminds me two things.  One, I have the best staff in the world.  I were very tiny. Jonathan, Chloe and Santana are amazing though.

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And it is very hard for a shop owner to be gone  and to think that this place will operate and treat people exactly the same way. And these people go above and beyond.  So I have the best staff ever.  And then every single one of those awards we won is literally because people enjoy their experience. They come in, enjoy, and then they leave and they say something positive about us. So it's really a community award.  So, but that  review.

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where  a guy's looking for his comic, you just literally never know. You brought it up earlier where sometimes at Free Comic Book Day it's really  fun because it might be someone's first Free Comic Book Day,  but nothing's better than selling a kid his first comic.  And it seems to happen like once or twice a week in here.  You forget when you do something for seven years how many people still don't even know you exist, especially in a giant population like Jacksonville.

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So you get a lot of people who still frequent a couple other comic shops in town because they literally just don't really know that there are other places they can go that they might enjoy a little more, whatever.  But when we still get them in here and when you get a kid his first comic or you start getting them involved and they start repeating it, his parents are excited,  it  literally is a large win. mean,  we'll parents come in and be like, yo, my kid's reading is now on another level, just from  picking up a couple of comics starting here, now he reads everything.

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So reviews like that, getting plaques, all of it is just the internal motivation you need to continue to make sure that money isn't the driving factor in your business, creating an amazing community, local spot. The money follows itself afterwards. Agreed. All right, well said. All right, Ben, I want to pivot back to free comic book day. This year, I believe I tallied up. There is a total of 44 of 46.

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free comic books that are associated with the event this Saturday.  They've got,  and they've broken it down like they always do, they've got 13 titles for the gold tier. Which by the way, did you know that there is a free Comic Book Day committee that's consisted of multiple  or several comic shop retailers and they all kind of vote on, here's who we consider the gold tier titles. So these are like the best representation of like the events,  comic books that are family friendly, that are, you know, kind of major.

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So I thought that was kind of interesting and I'm going to list off the 13 or the titles for the gold tier. And I want to just get your thoughts of any that's voting on that stuff. I didn't know that. No, I had never heard that story before. The Free Comic Book Day Committee has selected the 13 gold sponsor comic book titles for the comic book industry's most anticipated annual event. you know, Ben, I would say that you could probably lead said.

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Well, maybe one day. You probably have to have at least 10 years of free comic book day experience. All right, that's what I'm going to say. And I'm only on seven, so we got a couple more here, can't close. All right, so here's what we got for gold  sponsored titles. I have a link to this in the show notes if anyone wants to take a look, but it's on freecomicbookday.com.  So starting off, got Archie's Comic Spectacular, the Power Rangers slash VR Troopers from Boom Studios, Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures slash Avatar the Last Airbender from Dark Horse Comics.

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Thundercats and Powerbuff Girls have a crossover from Dynamite.

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What goes into being able to kind of eyeball and order? Something like ThunderCats Powerpuff Girls. I'm assuming it's, in my head, it's based off of, how many people do I have that are already pulling ThunderCats and Powerpuff Girls? But what's the X factor? What's Some are very hard. But X factor is two things. Yes, you look at pull lists, and then you look at artists. So Space Ghost Johnny Quest crossover called Space Quest is coming out.

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and you know this and i think you are talked about this already but jokers yet exactly  so obit space quest is coming out and now you would look at your johnny quest pollins say hey look we got about we usually get about thirty copies of johnny queston sellout  space goes usually get about six and we're talking a cover only you had the incentives and all the variance in it's a little bit more space goes to get about sixty sixty five copies  but now  it's a mark spears cover  on top of it

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and it's Space Ghost Johnny Quest. So,  most times, like with Thundercats Powerpuff Girls, I'm gonna look at my Powerpuff Girl numbers, and I'm gonna add probably a little bit to that, but most people that get Thundercats  aren't going to want the Thundercats Powerpuff because it's a little bit more of a younger style story, Mannix art, kind of like.  So some Thundercats people will still get it, definitely. We'll still have 10 or 15 hardcore Thundercats.

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but mostly it'll be Powerpuff Girls with a few additionals.  Nothing about the covers really strikes anybody as super collectible, so there's no reason to just get extras of that. But like I said, for Space Quest, Mark Spears cover, Space Ghost, and Johnny Quest. And everybody who's on Space Ghost will want the Space Quest Johnny Quest story.  So I will order for Space Ghost plus Johnny Quest, mix it in.  So that one I gamble on, it's got a Mark Spears cover, so you take a big gamble and you get a bunch of those.

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And now what I have learned over seven years is that ones and twos I order a decent amount of because you can't get people on series unless you have ones and twos  and When three comes out your three months pass when one came out you can't go back and get any  So it's just kind of like and and we read and sell but I don't know how anybody runs a comic Yes, I do. I know how comic shops run comic shops without reading stuff. They look at poll numbers They got nine people on powerpuff girls and they're getting 11

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but that's not what we are. mean, obviously having pull customers is huge and very nice and a huge, we get big discounts and  bags and boards for super cheap to people that  we try to reward them for signing up for pulls.  But man on Wednesday do we get a lot of walk-ins because the key,  I think the new comics is  have it for people.  Like they don't know what they want two months ahead of time.

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But you love comics, you don't want to commit to a comic to what if you hear a week before you don't want it anymore? What if something happens where you're like, I read the first one and I'm done with this. We have a thing on the board that says, if you don't want a comic anymore, just send it back to us. Don't hide it in here. All right. it's because. I'm guilty, all right? That's all right for me. I think it says, Bothered in I'm sorry. It was one time. But the reality is, we don't, if you ask for something on your poll and you came in, you're like, hey, I know this is on my poll.

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but I don't like it anymore, I don't wanna get it. The last thing we're gonna do is make you buy a comic you don't want. Plus you'll end up probably adding something else. But on Wednesdays, man, we are walk-in central. We don't care if you have never heard  of a title that has come out. We don't care if it's brand new. If you send us an email on Tuesday night, the night before Wednesday, the comic comes out, we're gonna pull it for you and hold it for you, and very few shops are gonna do that because...

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That's we are walk-in. We love having walk-in customers and that's important to us. I think every comic shop owner or you know employee has to have I think they all have like a superpower and that is like the ability to have gut feeling because it sounds like it's a combination of having a gut feeling knowing your readers, know the folks that come in what they might be willing to try also like you know having an analytical side where you're looking at numbers

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Trial and error, I I made some big mistakes on some titles.  mean, that just occasionally it happens and there's really not a lot you can do. You just try to recoup it. And then some are amazing and they just keep on giving,  you know? And so  in general though,  I can't imagine ordering this stuff  and  not reading it. I mean, I've already got Next Week's DC and Image Comics.  They came in already. And so I've got those in...

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my file folder back here. taking them home with me. I'm gonna read next week's comics tonight. like to live in the future. But I love this stuff and I love it. I Predator Spider-Man was so amazing, just came out this week. I don't understand why you would want to comic shop and not want to know what's going on in that stuff. Well said. That was a hell of a tanger for the Thunder Cat Powerpuff Girl. know, Red Bull. Continue on the rest of the Gold Tiers. And like I said, feel free to stop me anytime something comes What's up, Pacer? Pacer, Shop Dogs. Yeah, buddy.

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Yeah, if you're watching the video, then you get an awesome video cameo by the best comic shop dog in the world, Pacer.  OK, moving on.  So we got I Hate Fairyland from Image Comics. I'm kind of surprised this is the only Image Comic free comic book day title this year. I think they probably had something to do with the diamond split off. Image kind of just abruptly  left went to lunar, pretty much cut off diamond.

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And so I have a feeling that it has something to do with it. Because Image has been putting out amazing titles, so it would be silly for them not to have some more previews. So it's probably got something to do with it. OK, moving on. From Mad Cave Studios, we get Speed Racer number zero. From Marvel, we're getting two free comic books. I could think of a little more, but in this gold tier, we're getting two Marvel comics in the gold tier. Fantastic Four slash X-Men number one, so we get two stories in one comic there. And we also get Spider-Man slash Ultimate Universe number one.

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And then moving on to last two, no, I'm sorry, there's still more in the gold tier. Disney's Phineas and Ferb from Paper Cuts, Dr. Seuss Free Comic Book Day exclusive from Random House Children's Books.  This one that I'm very excited for, the Energon Universe Free Comic Book Day 2025 special from Skybound, which I guess kind of counts as an image release as well.  Ben, I think the last two times that we've recorded  a podcast and talked,

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You've gone on unsaying how huge the Energon universe has been. It's now about what, two years, maybe even three years going into the Energon universe. Is it still holding strong? Yeah, it's still amazing.  mean,  not only that, but they're actually the last issue at GI Joe that just came out, number six, a little bit of spoiler alert.  It is  finally tying Transformers and GI Joe and some of these void rival.

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void rivals are all getting tied together for the first time so it's actually pretty awesome they have really slow played this mean even in the GI Joe series  they have only released a few different characters they have so many more kind of lined up so that obviously will be a huge huge thing you know last year

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Enter John universe there was the one complaint I had about it was they fucking put out the comic Afterwards and made people pay like 499 for it and the whole thing was in the free comic book day thing I swear I don't even know what's going on. I I promise anybody who makes a free comic book day comic He shouldn't put the whole thing in there. I'm speaking to you mega man No, but classified stuff is awesome, you know

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I don't know Disney's Phineas and Ferb. I mean, know the characters, but I don't think I've ever seen any of it. That's a cartoon that I like to call after I moved out cartoon. I was already moved out, and my brothers are still watching cartoons, and that was their was one of them. So it's kind of like a Ren and Stimpy. I mean, I don't know anything about it, man. guess, yeah. For a gold one, I was a little curious.

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Yeah, I am curious how they go about picking the gold. Like I said, I think it's to be a representation of like, you know, we got your superhero comics, we've got, you know, your indie comics, your kids' comics. But the last two titles on the gold tier  are Conan the Barbarian from Titan comics. It looks like Scourge of the Serpent, a new like little one shot that's supposed to set up the next big story arc. And last but not least, I have a feeling this might be extremely popular  with the kids that come in on Saturday. But Minecraft, the manga slash Beyblade X. Ben, let me tell you something.

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When Beyblade first came out, I was definitely young enough to play Beyblades. In my neighborhood, it took it by storm. We would personally host Beyblade tournaments in our garage, and my mom would have to break it up sometimes, because it got kind of heated, all right? And we were pretty competitive little kids  about these Beyblades. I didn't even realize that it was a crossover with the Minecraft comic, but. I'm noticing that's a trend here, where they're  stacking like multiple, a lot of these comics, especially from Marvel, are stacking multiple.

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uh... you know stories and you know two for one yeah you know the marvel stuff always be popular uh... i mean i'm excited for a little speed racer i don't think there's a lot of people that know some speed racer and so i think that that has a a nice little group of underground people all part of it uh... the marvel stuff obviously be super popular the energon universe is it surprising that dc is not being in is not involved  you know i don't

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You know, for whatever reason, they do do like a little free comic book day thing, but not like a gold one like they should.  Ever since 2020 and COVID,  DC was the first one that left diamond distribution and they started lunar distribution.  And that's where they distribute all their stuff. Ever since then, they don't do posters.  They don't do comic boxes anymore.

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It's like this little, they just started distributing  statues again, so I honestly think that maybe they just didn't want to bite off more than they can chew as a distribution center. Because even now, Lunar  does, you know, now that Diamond is basically  bankrupt and everybody has left, or almost everybody has left,  now Lunar does DC Image, Mad Cave, Oni Press, Massive. I mean, you're just,  and now,

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They're not as good as they used to be. It is hard. It is a lot of work. It's a lot of extra titles. They used to be 100 % accurate and now we're missing 10 of this. You're over 10 of that. Because it's just so many titles and so many new things that I think even their distribution center, they're starting to realize, dang, it is a lot. Every single week, a relentless amount of comics. I kind of find that a little ironic. Well, maybe not ironic, depends on who you ask, but in my opinion, that's a little ironic because DC...

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is in top form when it comes to the actual comics. The stories they're telling, the creative teams, I think they're knocking it out the park in a way that it feels like some of the other publishers are trying to play catch up, especially like Marvel, I think, in comparison. DC's been killing it. So it's a little interesting to hear you say that they've been pulling out in other ways that are involved with comics, whether it be the merchandise, the shipping, et cetera. Hopefully we'll start getting them. The boxes are amazing. Comic boxes are just, a,

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they before twenty twenty they made a lot of time batman superman harley quinn poison ivy i mean you should be making a flash box batman box just like we have a lot of an end and red hulk and people need to hold their comics in there anyway uh... so but yet i agree with you on a percent in terms of like dcs product the comics are amazing i mean i literally and so i have that this like optimism in my soul the james gunn is about to make dc comics valuable over the next ten years

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uh... slowly introducing all of these characters back to the mainstream via the d c e u that he's leading up i'd ship peacemaker now man  i mean it doesn't sound like a lot but that twenty six people on a peacemaker comic book poll list is crazy if you were thought about it ten years ago you know no one even told you peacemaker was  one alone had over twenty people pulling that comic in the new peacemaker comic is like reading the t v show it's amazing doesn't feel like

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James Gunn is actively, you know, I wouldn't say like throwing comics at bone, but he's doing more than that. He's absolutely putting in the forefront.  media is amazing. He's always out there  sharing Superman Day and big things and  talking about what it means  to be a Superman fan and then just continuing on with everything. He's on a cover of a comic coming out.

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uh... variant cover james gunn and superman to do in a david corn sweat  hi james gunn like tribute to do in superman tribute comics in june for the movie in july  cj james gunn is drawn on the cover  but he obviously loves it you can copy you can tell his wife  who is now uh... who is on the piece of your show yet  she can tell she loves it that she loves to be a part of it his brother who's always in the guardians of the galaxy movies you know they love it and and so i think that's why where

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I legitimately  get excited about James Gunn, because some people love him, some people, it's not their favorite thing in the world,  but he cares and he has a passion.  It's like watching Dave Filoni talk about Star Wars, you're like, holy shit, that person really does. He knows everything about what it's supposed to be. He's one of us. It's like you're excited because one of us is getting the opportunity to like...

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you know share these stories on the big screen give it like that reverence and respect the desserts yeah i know i i i have a feeling that he's gonna do a really good job representing  all i've heard from him is that he wants to do it comic book accurate  and i might biggest complaint about modern movies is there literally taking these awesome comic stories and instead of using the fucking awesome story that sold all the comics they change it  and they make it a little different like you already have

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story written but every writer and artist wants to do their own thing so i get it  but but in reality his passion and his  uh...  vocal this about making sure that it is comic accurate is going to be great you know superman i'm pointing to my little superman rocker here but that superman day just last week  and uh... they put out the great morrison now a lot of good when that's why he's kind of focusing a superman on and i think

29:59
because of how Superman's been portrayed over the last 10 years, I think a lot of people think Superman's like an angry alien like Batman,  and he's really not. He's the opposite of that. He's about hope and  saving and being there for people. He is not an angry, vindictive alien, and so I think we're about to see like a whole different side to Superman that we used to get in those like kind of original Superman movies. Ben, can I admit to you, I...

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did not watch the latest trailer until a couple of days ago. was cutting them. was making a reel for the Al Letson interview. I got to say, man, there was something about watching Superman being dragged to the fortress of solitude thanks to crypto and then  his helper bots helping him out in the exchange they had. I found myself laughing, but also in awe that it felt like  fantastical  or there's another word I'm thinking of, but there was a fantasy element to it.

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and made me really excited to see in a Superman  one.

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It was like, I was like, oh my God, this movie is going to be unbelievable. Then dragging him to it. And then the Force Saltrew coming up out of the ice so comic book accurate and then  moving to focus on the sun.  And then I'm hoping, you know, that door, I'm hoping that's just a dog door that crypto walked in. I hope they still have like a giant key for the main part of  whether they do or not. But how cool in my head that was just a dog door that crypto drag Superman in.

31:41
And just  the human nature of that and then watching the rest of the scenes and some of the other characters that he's like Metamorpho. And I have a feeling we're really going to enjoy  seeing  some other DC characters that you've never heard of. I think they're going to become more popular again.  just like Metamorpho or Hawkgirl or Green Lantern, Guy Gardner,  my one complaint with  all of DC animated movies that they put out over last five years

32:10
is that they would substitute modern characters in the place of stories because they thought that people wanted to see Wonder Woman  and Green Lantern and Flash.  But like Death of Superman, for example, that was a really great story, but it had nothing to do with Wonder Woman or Cyborg or Flash. This was Guy Gardner  and  Booster Gold and Blue Beetle and like a lot of these side characters, the JSA were helping fight along Superman.

32:38
So I thought DC missed an opportunity in their animated film to show people some of these awesome other characters that they have that people don't even know exist. So I think James Gunn's gonna crush that part of it with the Superman movie. He's got a knack for making you fall in love with, you know, the third string character or the B-list character. So I'm excited to see  some of these other characters like Mr. Terrific, Guy Garner, all of them get to share the spotlight.  But man, I want to get back to the free comic day titles. I listed off the gold tier titles, which was about 13 of them.

33:07
And then there's the next tier, which is Silver tier, which make up the remaining 33 comics or more. We're definitely not going to go through that entire list, but are there any other free comic book day titles that peak your interest, that you're excited for, that you think people should make sure that they grab when free comic book day comes? Yeah, absolutely. Well, sometimes is it like, is it a free comic book day that I'm excited to read because I'm obviously a comic book... both. I will. I'll give you both. But it's a little bit of both.

33:34
So  one that I'm very excited about is Mega Man.  I've always loved Mega Man, playing the original Mega Man games when we were younger, and stealing the powers, and just old Nintendo, and  you know, it's like that old South Park member berries, remember how happy you were when you played Mega Man, Ben? I'm like, yeah, so the Mega Man title I am like super excited about, especially because they're gonna do a little bit of a timeline thing past this one, and release five new Mega Man comics this year.  Last year they released I Like Popeye.

34:02
And then that one on free comic book day and that one became very popular.  It's taken so long, they finally just put the fourth issue of that out.  But  for Mega Man, the timeline  comic, I'm super excited about.  Now, if you follow me on social media at all, or if you follow me on whatnot or follow any video,  I am  actively telling everybody and their mom, bye Berserker.

34:30
okay kiano reese berserker right now i think is the  one thing that you can get it almost cover price still  which is insane to me  uh... that is going to explode like invincible walking dead etc etc they have an anime coming and a live action movie  kiano reese's uber popular so if he has anything to do with the live action movie you know how popular and famous that'll make it and then everybody

35:26
Super excited about that. And then another one that kind of takes back to my younger video game days, Street Fighter. There's a Street Fighter versus School rivals that I'm super pumped. Both of those comics, the Mega Man and the Street Fighter versus Rival Schools, are both being published by Udon, who I believe have the rights to those to produce the comics. And I've been a lifelong Udon fan. And I always look forward to them doing a free comic book day.  And they're publisher that I don't think gets enough credit.

35:54
Because they don't put out a ton of comic books. very kind of focused on... Yeah, you know what's weird about Udon? They put out like,  most comics,  you have an initial order, and then  five weeks approximately before the comic comes out, you have a final order cutoff where basically this is the last day you can place this order.  Udon, for the seven years going through Diamond Distribution,  you placed an order one time, that's what you got. There never was a final order cutoff.

36:22
So it was very, very hard to order that stuff because usually I like to wait till the last minute to figure out what I need. But Udon was like, nope, you're going to tell us a month and a half ahead of time. You're going to get this many, and then that's what you're getting. You're not going to get any more. They have since moved distribution centers that are on an FOC ordering. So that'll help me order. It'll help people get involved. And I think you're going to start seeing a huge increase. I think Udon is prime. Darkstalker is very popular.

36:51
Street Fighter, very popular. I don't know the school Rivals that there, maybe it's a Street Fighter tie-in something. Rivals School was like a Street Fighter-esque. It was a Capcom game, so you know, it Yeah, I don't know if I ever played that one, but it would be a cool crossover.  I'm with you. Udon makes  great books, great stories, and really cool comics. All right, Ben, there is one on this. I'm scrolling through the list on freecomicday.com. There is one on here that I'm very excited for.

37:17
that isn't listed because it was announced really late, but there's a Gundam Wing 25th anniversary free comic book day that's coming out. Yeah, well Gundam, know, obviously just the kits and  I've never seen a comic I wish they would put out like Gundam, know, Gundam, Pacific Rim.  could really, Godzilla's very popular. Some of these characters around these kinds of genres are very popular.  There's a new Star Wars coming out too, number one.

37:42
And the cool part about that is, you some people are down on Star Wars. This is brand new canon. So everything they do and every single issue of Star Wars is brand new.  There are no movies connected to it. They haven't told the stories yet. So it is a really cool jumping on point. And then here's one. If you're a video game player and you've never bought a comic in your life, free comic book day this year, Diablo.

38:03
might be the comic for you. know, because Diablo is a very hardcore, shoot-em-up game. you know, you might have a lot of people who play that who never thought in their entire life that there would even be a comic or a story connected to it. So that might be a sweet one for somebody listening that's never actually been to a free comic book day before or doesn't think there's anything for them. All right, Ben, there is, I want to ask you specifically about this Mark Spears monster comic, because to be honest, you and John put me on to Mark Spears and how popular he is.

38:33
three-hour line for Mark Spears in AlabamaCon this weekend. that, And I know in the shop, his covers kind of fly off the shelf.  How big do you think this Mark Spears Monsters comic is going to be? Very big. I think it's continuing to be big. I think it's, I ordered large on  it.  It's two things. Everybody loves the kind of monsters, kind of the idea of universal monsters, all of the different characters.  They make those comics.

39:00
outside of what Mark Spears does, know, Mummy and Frankenstein and Dracula, and those are all  very, very popular comics.  You forget. I mean, those things  three or four times more than like Captain America or Iron Man or Black Panther or Superman. mean, really big pulls for that stuff.  But Mark Spears doesn't matter what he does.  We got people who like, don't care what cover it is, I need it, I want it. So that thing is gonna be awesome. It's going to expose a lot of people to...

39:28
The Monsters comic as well. I  think it's definitely going to be one of the more popular titles.  I got a lot of it. And I know  other places that's going to be the one they run out of first. OK.  I want to also  spotlight  one other free comic book title on here. And that's the Godzilla, The New Heroes.  That's coming out through IDW. My understanding is that they are launching a brand new kind of Godzilla universe, comic book universe. And it's going to be.

39:58
via three titles. This New Heroes, I think, is one of them. I can't recall the other two. But I've been in  contact with  Greg Katzman, who is like the IDW's PR guy. Really awesome dude. But he's been very excited about this new Godzilla universe.  I think I was able to see an advanced preview of this, and the art is phenomenal. So if you're a Godzilla fan, a Kaiju fan, and you've been looking for more Godzilla comic book content, I think this free Comic Book Day  issue is going to be a good jumping on point for all of that.

40:27
Yeah, if you're Godzilla fan, it's like Godzilla Nirvana right now. mean, honestly, I've only been doing the comics here as  an owner for eight years, but there's never been so much Godzilla. There's Godzilla  Heist, okay? So he's got this one, right? Yeah, they've been doing those.  Then Marvel has been pumping them out. Godzilla versus Hulk,  Godzilla versus Fantastic Four. They have Godzilla Spidey and Godzilla X-Men still to come.

40:57
DC obviously already did DC versus Godzilla versus Kong,  one volume, and they have a second volume planned.  Alan Qua is doing connecting covers  for all seven issues. It's pretty awesome. I checked that out. So you got a whole other thing of that.  And then on top of it, they're doing Godzilla versus all the cities. So there's been Godzilla versus Chicago, Godzilla versus LA.  Then there's a Mothra comic out there with the twin sisters that are kind of control.

41:25
The kind of controlled by Mothra  and so that comic has been super popular I mean I'm literally it seems like every week a new Godzilla comic comes out  the Godzilla I I think that movie changed Godzilla's trajectory in America minus one I think it shocked everybody I don't think anybody really everybody thought Godzilla was just  the standard movie you went to that a monster destroyed things  And I think that movie made it

41:53
made you realize what great stories could be told with it as well. So yeah, but Godzilla's Crushed, that'll be as popular a title as there is. Ben, I want you to close your eyes with me and just imagine this right here. Godzilla versus Jacksonville. And on the cover, you've got Mark Spears doing the artwork and it's Godzilla versus Duval Dino, that big orange dinosaur on Beach Boulevard.  How  awesome would that be? An exclusive Gotham City Limit. That would be pretty badass.

42:22
I'll tell you what's happening. All right, you know, there's a new Godzilla coming out  That Tim Seely is a part of  And for that comic  listen,  I haven't told anybody this  I don't even know if I should be telling people this but I'm going to for IDW for that comic that comes out that Godzilla new comic that comes out. There is a cover where Godzilla is  shooting his Ray out it is destroying the city in front of him

42:52
and a giant billboard is like flying through the air and they're gonna put Gotham City Limit logo on the billboard. What? Yes, so we're gonna have an exclusive Godzilla comic with a Gotham City Limit logo  on a billboard flying off like being destroyed by Godzilla. So that's coming this summer too. So that's your first  thing, but yeah,  it's awesome. A short box exclusive. Right, right. Well that's the point. being destroyed You know, that's the point. I have a feeling that most people think we do that stuff

43:21
because we like money and it's not man. I mean it was like doing the Walking Dead Deluxe when we got to do Gotham City Limit Raise the Walking Dead. I didn't give a shit how much money it cost. I don't even know if I was gonna sell one of them but I wanted to put Gotham City Limit on the cover of a Walking You're more concerned about making history. That's what I like about you. I wanna be a part of it. And do cool shit. cause that's what you remember. You don't remember this fucking extra $2500 I made in August. It was so great.

43:46
You know what mean? It was like, no. mean, you know, we have the Limit Mobile coming. Let me tell you, Potter, okay? We have chosen a design and we're trying to implement it right now, but I think it might be the coolest thing that I've ever done in my entire life.  And every step along the way, everybody who's helping me is like, you know how much money that's gonna be? Do you know how much money that's gonna be? I'm like, well, I better go sell some more Predator Spider-Man comics then, because I don't give a shit. I'm having the Limit Mobile, dude.

44:13
Comic shop man, some of these people take themselves way too seriously dude like come on man if you can't have fun and just put everything you got into having a comic shop  then just go start a power washing company or something on the side dude because this this isn't meant to be serious this is meant to make sure that you bring some love and relaxation to other people's lives so  I like that stuff  it gets me all fired up man honestly I fucking hate money dude I hate that shit I wish there was a better way to do everything but without it this wouldn't exist

44:43
And so, oh, my new line for everybody who comes in and complains about spending, like, oh, Ben, you got $92 out of me this week, right? That'll come in and be like, spent $92 here. I'm like, my dad spent $400 on one round of golf for his hobby, okay? That's nothing. And he doesn't get to keep anything or sell it later on. So you just gotta remember, in terms of hobbies, it's really not that expensive. And you're like, and my dad's not even good It fucking sucks. He $450 to lose 50 balls.

45:12
I mean, really what's left is the actual kind of serious stuff. I guess I'll just ask you bluntly and directly, as much as I love Free Comic Book Day, I do know that it's not free for retailers. I know there's a lot of behind the scenes business that goes on to even get publishers to print this stuff out. I guess I'm curious, do you think this could possibly be the last Free Comic Book Day considering the kind of shaky situation that Diamond is in? And for anyone that doesn't know, in January,

45:38
Diamond Comics distributors, one of the largest and longest running comic distributors, filed for bankruptcy, which has kind of sent shockwaves throughout the industry. There's a lot of uncertainty  from shops, from publishers. Talking about Free Comic Book Day, Fantagraphics pulled out of Free Comic Book Day. They had a free comic that they were going to publish and put out, but they pulled out of that, citing  the uncertainty of Diamond and  kind of seeing what comes out of that bankruptcy and them being bought out. Mad Cave, think, originally had six titles.

46:07
you know, can four of them, you know, they're still putting out two. But I guess and from your perspective, could this be the last free comic book day? It has the diamond situation impacted you at all, way the shop is run and maybe just like your confidence level in the industry at all? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously having a company that's like going through bankruptcy and you're trying to get stuff from them. They they weren't.

46:29
run well to begin with and then they went bankrupt and so now they're not run well at all. It's just pretty much willy-nilly. The good news is most people saw the writing on the wall and when I say most people, most comic book distributors  saw the writing on the wall and a lot of them even if they had originally solicited it with Diamond, they re-solicited their free comics with others. So the reality is this is not the last free comic book day no matter what. Even if Diamond doesn't exist,

46:57
Because even though Diamond technically kind of created Free Comic Book Day and they were originally the only ones who distributed because they were the only comic book distributor,  it has taken on a life of its own.  So I mean, I can tell you, Xenoscope doesn't have a free comic, but I reach out to them and they sent me like 250 comics just to hand out for free.  and  the reason I bring that up is that that's what I mean when it's taken on a life of its own. Next year, if Diamond doesn't exist,

47:26
Well DC are in Lunar and Image and  Penguin Random House. have  Boom Studios now. You know, they switched  over there to Penguin Random House. But they already started distributing some of the free comics, so they've already taken a lot. There's only one company that really I can't get an answer from, and that's Dynamite Comics, about what their future is in terms of whether it's with Diamond or not.  But I can tell you right now, if next year they were like, hey, free comic book day doesn't exist anymore,

47:55
We would have some kind of free comic book day. We would figure out a way to continue it on. We would figure out comics that would be free that year.  And we would continue to throw a party the first Saturday in May. And I think a lot of people are probably have that same mentality. So I don't see it going anywhere. I do seeing it not being a part of Diamond anymore, Diamond Distribution. I do see it separating, but it's a life of its own now. It's almost like too, I won't say it's like too big to fail, but it is so ingrained, I think in

48:25
in the comic book culture, in the comic book industry.  I do agree. think that other companies... might have  15 titles next year instead of 44. It probably won't be the same as we know it was.  Sometimes even some years, like 50 plus free titles. I think it might look vastly different maybe in terms of size and what titles are actually put out there. But something that you said earlier about how really like... mean, I think for a lot of different industries, a lot of different people, COVID,

48:54
pre-COVID and post-COVID has radically changed, like  you said.  All of these different  companies, publishers that have gone to different companies, all these new distribution companies that have kind of popped up.  I guess when I heard the news of,  I guess I wasn't surprised by the news of Diamond declaring bankruptcy. I was more surprised that it didn't. I guess I was almost like, man, imagine if this was pre-COVID and this was the news we got. This would be devastating. I would be so scared for you and Jonathan and Santana.

49:24
But in a way, was like, wow, this is, it feels almost like it's important, but it doesn't have the same weight it would have. Yeah, you know, and I will say that Lunar, like I said, I was slightly criticizing them earlier just because they're starting to kind of drop the ball in specific areas because of their business, but they still do the best job shipping of any comic book distribution company that we've dealt with. And Penguin Random House sucked at the beginning.

49:52
actually the grass is always greener the first week.  The first week that Marvel switched over to Penguin Random House, they destroyed all the books  because they didn't know what they were doing. They didn't understand. They've gotten much, much better now.  But yeah,  the reality is is that  pre-COVID you ordered from one business and they sucked. They never got you.  Never one time before COVID did Diamond give me everything that was on my invoice that I paid for that.

50:19
And while that doesn't seem like a crazy,  every single week for four years, they never got it right.  Right. that's in the, so soon as COVID happened, then everybody used the God clause to get out of their contract with them, started new distribution centers.  And  I am hopeful,  but,

50:40
I know that no matter what happens next year, there will be a free comic book day. It has taken on a life of its own. Whether or not it's officially freecomicbookday.com or if they sell that part to somebody else, I don't even know if it's really technically a part of Diamond anymore.  Really, because last year or two years ago after COVID,  DC started distributing their own free comics and  Penguin Random House did. So we'd already kind of had a little... This isn't the first year that we've gotten comics from someone else for it.

51:09
Cautiously optimistic. I like it. Last question I got for you, and I love asking you this question, but what are, off the top of your head, what are some of the best comics that you've read recently? What are some of the best comic books out on stands right now  that not enough people are talking about? Those Not Afraid  was a four-part series that was absolutely fantastic. Stand Still,  an eight-part series that came out.

51:32
was an amazing image comic highly highly recommend dealing with time travel.  We're on the third issue now but Bug Wars, Jason, Aaron and  Muhammad Azar are so good.  Unbelievable.  The Predator Spider-Man story is the most disgusting Spider-Man comic I've ever read in my life in fact.

51:50
This comic botter should have a red band on it and be polybagged because it's more brutal and disgusting than any red band comic Marvel put out this year. You know, that was a critique I did hear about it. It was that it is so gory and brutal. almost is like, what's the point of red band? Yeah, yeah. And we're putting this No, man,  obviously the point of red band was to sell polybagged comics because that's literally what they do, you know?  So  those stories are awesome. Bug Wars is so good.  Let's see.

52:19
I'm sure there's a couple other ones. Mark Spears Monsters, you haven't read any of those. That whole run is fantastic. The Universal Monsters, The Mummy, I love that. TMNT, the best issue of TMNT that came out so far. And then here's one, Dennis Camp. You already read A Sorted Crisis. So that's been good. We've only done two issues, but we knew that it was going to be awesome. But Absolute Martian Manhunter. Holy smokes.

52:47
There's very few times where someone writes a comic and draws a comic that's different than every other comic that exists. It doesn't happen often. An absolute Martian Manhunter is its own entity from the artwork, from the way the artwork conveys how he's reading minds. It's literally a masterpiece, man. Absolute Martian Manhunter, unbelievably great. When issue two came out this week, I was standing in line.

53:11
There was a guy in front of me. had never seen him in the shop. Not that I know everyone that shops here, but I just had a feeling that I don't think he comes in here a lot, but he had just that issue. Issue two of Absolute Martian Manhunter.  He picked it up left. And I asked John, I was like, how many people come in here for that book that, you know, are like new? And it's not surprising. Jonathan was like, hey, a lot. And I think that's what's cool about that book. It's a book that is bringing  new people into the shop. It's a word of mouth thing.  It really is. It's just like the movies, you know?

53:41
wish  we could just have a  candid conversation with movie executives and let them know that  if you make a good movie, you don't even need to spend $150 million on advertising. promise word of mouth. We're all looking for something to go watch and something to do that is entertaining.  Infinity War, that movie, the reason it was what it became was because as soon as people left that shit, they told everybody about it.

54:07
You know, and it's the same thing when The Matrix came out. remember in 2000, early 2000s, when The Matrix came out, I was in Tallahassee at school and kids go in the movie theater coming back to our dorm and being like, holy shit, you need to go see that movie. So it's the same thing, I think, with some comics where, you know, you don't know ahead of time. But then, again, that's why I love it that I was like, you know what, I love this writer.

54:31
think this is pretty cool. They sent me a PDF of it so it looked different. And now we're the only place in town where you can come find the first two issues, you know?  But you gotta take a risk. You wanna  find out stuff and they reward you. Because Marvel will do the opposite and they'll make Mary Jane fucking Venom and you'll wanna burn every single comic they've ever made.  So stupid. It's the dumbest motherfucking thing ever.  Listen, they had a giant Venom with a gold symbol and they...

54:59
could have made it Luke Cage, that was one of their things, it would have been badass Luke Cage's Venom. It was like set up for the perfect storyline and then they're like, oh, psych, it's Mary Jane. I'm like, that doesn't look like Mary Jane at all. I agree. They tried to like throw you off, but it just feels so clunky. Yeah, I remember that announcement thinking, you had it right there. Yeah, but see, this is the disconnect. Marvel puts Mary Jane as Venom.

55:22
But then every single retailer exclusive that you see online for new Marvel comics or for new Spider-Man comics has Mary Jane in a Spider-Man shirt or Mary Jane on the fucking cover with Spider-Man. So everybody clearly wants Peter Parker and Mary Jane to still be in a relationship together. And Marvel's like, I will let you make all your incentives. You can sell those to all the fanboys. I bet she's venom. Suck it. They're like, you hate me. They sell dreams. That's what they do. Yeah, they sell dreams. All right, man, this has been great. It never fails.

55:53
to impress me how quick you can list off. I mean, you didn't even let me finish the question. You already had all the answers for the best comic books. I love it. Ben, do you got any closing remarks about Free Comic Book Day? Do you want to remind people what you got going on here at Sure. Yeah, I mean, if you're local to Jacksonville, then Free Comic Book Day, Gotham City Limit is the place. Huge discount. So we're talking 45 to 50 % off omnibus, trade paperbacks, and hardcover books. You'll get minimum 30 % off all the comics in this place.

56:23
Graded discounts and then to boot like I told you before we're gonna have an ultimate raffle a we call it a waffle here that will have $2,600 worth of prizes in it mean you're talking Scottie Young signed graded comic books all the way down to a Michael Keaton $400 Batman statue and everything in between just for showing up that day

56:45
you'll get one free entry into that. You'll get one of every free comic. We'll have coffee and donuts in the morning. My man Abe is coming out here at 11. We're doing free food the whole day for everybody that comes here. We're gonna have big giveaways for First Coast Con. We've got 10 free tickets for First Coast Con. We're gonna be giving away that day. And then everything in between. So literally, it's the best day of the year and...

57:11
If for some reason you can't make it Saturday, May 3rd, Saturday, May 4th, you can take it to the limit. We'll have free comic book day weekend here. We're not like some of those other places only do it once.  So yeah, but no, free comic book day is the best.  And  you don't have to wait till Saturday. If you're local, you can come here on Wednesday and start getting those deals because  I've learned as a comic shop owner, if you're going to have big sales, people will just wait for the big sale. So you might as well start having the sale on Wednesday and let people take advantage of the sale the whole weekend.

57:40
You don't want to talk somebody out of buying something.

58:05
And  yeah, thank you guys so much for hanging out and have a happy and awesome free comic book day. You guys have been great.  I'll holla at you later, alright? Peace!

58:14
There you have it, ShortBikes Nation. That's the end of the show.  Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here.  And a special shout out if you made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at theshortbikesjaxx at gmail.com. And if you really liked this episode, help us spread the word. Share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

58:42
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59:09
Speaking of our Patreon community, want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chittani,  RcGamut, BJKicks, Blake Simone,  Blythe Milligan,  Bo Evers,  Brian Brumley, Chad Lannenberger, Chris Hackett,  David Morales,  Greg Lichtaik,  Hershel, Mack Jacobson, issue number three, Brad,  Jay Sinner, Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda,  Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson,  Matt Godwin, Amanda Maron,

59:38
Melissa Burton, Nick Wagner,  Ryan Isaacson, Steven Gamet,  T-Mix, The Wait For It Podcast, Tony A. Uppie, Trey Namo,  Walter Gant, and last but not least, Warren Evans. Big shout outs to the patrons.  And with that being said, that's it. That's what I got for you this time. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another episode.  And most importantly, take care of yourselves, read a good comic,  and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.