Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day. For those who may never have heard of it, Free Comic Book Day is an event that many of the comic publishing companies and comic shops around the world participate in. It’s intended to introduce new people to the world of comics, as well as bring new material to current comic book readers. Many artists put out special FCBD editions of their work, in smaller, “sampler” formats. I think it’s a great idea, and I had been wanting to attend a FCBD for many years now, but had never had the chance because my Saturdays were usually busy.
Yesterday morning, Kathryn and I headed out to find our local comic shop, down Roswell Road. Roswell is one of the roads that seems to pass through 90% of Atlanta, and it runs from up in Roswell all the way down to somewhere in the southern parts of the city. The shop that we ventured out to find is called Teahouse Comics. We found the shop after a little bit of difficulty in trying to figure out how to reach the shopping center that it’s located in, and arrived just a few minutes after they opened at 10am.
A note on Teahouse Comics: it’s pretty awesome. The employees were all super friendly and welcoming and excited to be part of FCBD, and the store was clean and well-lit and well stocked. Definitely impressive. I wanted to go mainly for the FCBD Mouse Guard edition, which I snagged shortly after coming in. The shop was still pretty empty, which was nice, and they also had a sale going on for 20% off graphic novels, 30% off back issues, and so on. Kathryn and I got our free comics, and she picked up Sandman volume 4. I also grabbed issue #1 of the Mouse Guard: Black Axe series, which I had been looking forward to for ages.
Then, after checkout, we learned that comic shops are dangerous places for Kathryn. She had spotted an Absolute Sandman: Death volume on the top shelf in the shop. I haven’t had a chance to read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman yet, but I hear nothing but praise for it. The Absolute volumes are normally $99, but the 20% discount applied, so after tax it came out to $85 – too good a deal to pass up. Both Kathryn and I are highly in favor of supporting local shops whenever possible, so we both felt that it was a pretty good bargain. That’s one of the reasons I always try to support the local game store, even if I’m just buying a coffee or a few vitamin waters on Warmachine night.
We headed home, both satisfied after our comic shop adventure. I know that if I get the chance I’ll be frequenting Teahouse Comics again, and even though the chance of someone from there reading this entry is probably pretty slim, I want to say thanks for a great experience. Customer service and friendly employees are important, and I couldn’t have been more pleased.
The Haul
