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| Pic ℅ Filbar's |
The genius of Free
Comic Book Day
By Rick Olivares
Remember how Serbian basketball star Vlade Divac
learned to understand and speak English while watching cartoons on television?
It sounds crazy but it does make perfect sense. You use something mundane or
uncommon to hook a person into trying out something new.
And that is the genius of comic books and Free Comic
Book Day (celebrated on the first Saturday of May). FCBD is a promotional
effort by retailers throughout the world to bring in new comic book readers.
“As a kid, comics were
one of the means for me to try out other reading materials,” shared writer
Jason Inocencio. “Here you had all kinds of colorful action with some
exceptional plots and stories that would sometimes last for months before they
were resolved. I know a lot of people used to deride comics as a shallow form
of entertainment, but I always thought that any medium that can get you to read
cannot be half bad.”
According to Sandy Sansolis of Comic Odyssey, this
year’s FCBD was the biggest one since he began participating in the promotion.
The lines of people looking to avail of the free copies of four-colored delight
lasted until the late afternoon. “We ran out of the free comic books designed
for this event,” he related. “I had to drive back home to pick up several
thousand comics to give away because you do not want to disappoint the people
who took the time to line up.”
The Philippines’ oldest comic book
specialty store, Filbar’s, designed a unique method of dealing with the long
queues. Comics fan/blogger and Filbar’s publicist Jerald Uy noted that the
“Flash Pass” – a pass that gives regular customers a 10-minute window to pick
up their freebies without lining up as well as a raffle stub that for the
entire 2015 FCBD grab bag - made life easier for fans.
“It’s a far improvement to do away with
the long lines during FCBD,” noted Uy. “The idea is to make the experience better
for the customers, while maximizing customers' stay in the store. The store
also has overcome space limitations from scheduling artists' appearances,
quickly moving on to artists interested in working with Filbar's, creating
solutions for guests who almost were unable to attend due to work, and
providing premium giveaways to the participating artists.”
“Ideally, you want to convert those walk-ins to
regular readers and not just simply avail of freebies,” offered Sansolis. “And
in our branch at the Fort, we had a large number of newbies who aside from
availing of the free stuff went up to our store to buy a comic or two. For the
first time, we had more newcomers buy comics that day than the regular
customers.”
Sansolis believes that the reason for the sudden
surge in popularity of comics isn’t solely the film adaptation that routinely
break box office records but because of the diversity of the printed medium.
“Years ago, the comics were written mostly for a male audience. Now you have
titles geared for girls as well as for kids. There are comics featuring
characters of different races so people feel represented. Nowadays, it isn’t
only superhero titles that are popular as well, but also other genres from
horror to teen to fantasy stuff. And we aren’t talking about the usual Archie
fare.”
The local celebration of FCBD also finds the growing
participation of creators from the burgeoning scene where they not only sell
their own indie-released titles but who also take the opportunity to sketch for
fans.
The Filipino indie scene also reflects that diversity
with styles inspired by American comics and with a distinct local flavor.
Bukidonon-native Harvey Tolibao who has made a name
for himself drawing popular western comics such as X-Men, Danger Girl, Green
Arrow, and Ghost to name a few says that the local scene finds some fans who
purchase only the homegrown “komiks.”
“Yung mga lokal kasi mga one-shot or limited series.
Hindi siya on-going na mahaba and mas mura siya for others na naka-budget,”
noted Harvey. “Nabibigyan ng chance yung mga lokal na creator mag-shine o
ma-discover.”
Inocencio concurred, "Free Comic
Book Day is one of the few times in the year that comics and comics creators
are total rock stars. To see it grow annually warms my heart because it means
more and more people are learning to appreciate a medium that I've loved since
I was a kid. And to see so many Pinoy artists showing off their talent on this
day blows my mind. The free comics aren't throwaways from the American publishers
because they see FCBD as a way to entice new readers to give their respective
books a try.”
Shared Filbar’s Creative Director Ivan Guerrero: “After all the
lines, the sales and the hype, Free Comic Book Day is really about passing on
our love for reading and comic books to the next generation. We go to sleep
tonight, tickled by the thought that today we started many young'uns on the
path to becoming lifelong readers. "
