May 7 is Free Comic Book Day

May 7 is Free Comic Book Day and it's expected to be busy at local shops as a result. 

Jacob Brenner is store manager at Lookin' For Heroes in downtown Kitchener and said it's always a popular event. 

“It's usually one of our busiest days of the year. We've got people that we see just for Free Comic Book Day and then we have all our subscription regulars that come through too. It's a whole lot of fun in here … it's great to give kids books and get them into comics, and then you get guys that have been reading for 20-30 years that are just looking for new titles or something that they've been into forever — so it's just great to see everyone get into it.”

Brenner said it's even more meaningful after the last two years dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was the first time in my life I was ever not working for two months and I really didn't know what to do with myself. It was definitely challenging at the beginning when there was the closures and the curbside pick-ups.”

He noted one saving grace was the continued popularity of superheroes in pop culture. 

“Luckily, through the pandemic — a lot of the things that we sell were very popular. With movie theatres shut down, comics were the next viable option for those storylines,” explained Brenner. “The movies definitely pique people's interest [if they] may not have been aware of characters before. We've seen that with Deadpool and Black Panther when those movies came out.” 

Brenner added there's also been a rise in interest in collectibles.

“Sports cards were booming, Pokemon has been absolutely huge. There's been some positives with it, just because the collectible market [has grown] … people are kind of looking at those as investments.”

While Free Comic Book Day is May 7, Lookin' For Heroes will be holding a special two-day event over the weekend. It starts Saturday at 9 a.m. and again on Sunday at noon. 

Lookin' For Heroes also provided some books to the Kitchener Public Library, so residents will be able to pick-up some free comics at the KPL's Central Library on Queen Street as well. 

Carry-On Comics in Uptown Waterloo will also be celebrating Free Comic Book Day on May 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

No purchase is required to get the free books but there will be COVID-19 restrictions in place. 

A social media post from Carry-On said, “For everyone's safety, we will have a limit on how many people can be in the store at one time. Plus, for the day we will require all persons coming into the store to wear a mask.”

In late March, Carry-On Comics announced updated store hours and pandemic policies. It included offering curbside pick-up once a week on Tuesdays and mandatory masking every Thursday. 

Masking will be required at Carry-On Comics in Uptown Waterloo on Free Comic Book Day.

“For everyone's safety, we will have a limit on how many people can be in the store at one time. Plus, for the day we will require all persons coming into the store to wear a mask.” pic.twitter.com/QzT7trLowk

— Erin Anderson (@erinbailey_a) May 4, 2022