Anyone looking to get back into comic book collecting, or wanting to pick up a comic for the first time can do so for free this weekend at three area locations.
Halloween ComicFest, which mimics Free Comic Book Day in giving away completely free comic books to anyone that enters a participating store is Saturday and Sunday. Comics will also be available in the stores on Halloween. This is the second year for the celebration.
“This year we have 16 publishers creating Halloween themed comics and mini-comics for the event,” said Dan Manser, Director of Marketing for Diamond Distributors, the company that provides most of the comic books to area stores. “There are 11 new full-sized comics and 11 new mini-comics being released with titles such as “Batman,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Thor,” “Archie” and many more all written with a Halloween twist.”
One of the places to pick up the free comics over the weekend is in Allen Park, the other two are both in Dearborn.
“We’re excited to get to participate in ComicFest,” said Gary Banac, manager of Big Ben’s Comix Oasis in Allen Park. “Anytime we can bring in new potential readers to comics in general is
a good event.”
Comix Oasis isn’t the only local store involved in ComicFest, Green Brain Comics in Dearborn and WonderWorld Comics in Taylor will be giving out books as well. WonderWorld won’t be open over the weekend, as the store is hosting the Detroit Fanfare Comic Convention at the Dearborn Adoba Hotel, but will instead hand out the free comics at the convention and again on Halloween in the store.
“Fanfare is our participation in ComicFest,” WonderWorld owner Dennis Barger said.
There are more than a dozen books that will have special edition prints for ComicFest, including, Simon Spurrier’s new web-comic “Disenchanted,” which will
have a printed preview version to advertise the webseries. The series is all about what happens to leprechauns, goblins pixies and other fey people when no one believes in them any longer. Spurrier surmises that they all end up in Vermintown, a disgusting city filled with inch tall malcontents.
Avatar Press will both put out the preview comics and compile the webseries twice a year into a print book.
Spurrier recently spoke with BleedingCool.com about his new series.
“Look, my aim was pretty simply to approach urban fantasy without fear, hesitation
or sentiment,” he said. “No punches pulled. No cutesy. No twee. No surrender. Disenchanted I hope, in all its ugly, funny, beautiful, frightening, maddening splendour, is magical realism done right.”
Other full length books that will be available for the weekend include the following.
• “Skyward: Into the Grim” — Terror lurks at every turn in this sneak peek at the darker, creepier corners of our heroes' world. “Enter: The Grim!” From Harvey award winner Jeremy Dale.
• “Sonic the Hedgehog” — Hitch a ride alongside the truest, bluest hedgehog around as this timeless video game icon takes on the biggest baddies of them all with his faithful pal Tails at his side.
• “Soulfire: Genesis” — Showcasing the original Soulfire zero issue by the acclaimed Jeph Loeb and Soulfire creator Michael Turner, along with a first look preview at the upcoming all-new Soulfire series, debuting in November, by newcomer V. Ken Marion and longtime Soulfire writer J.T. Krul.
• “Batman: Li’l Gotham” — Robin needs Batman’s help to learn the true meaning of Halloween. Plus, on Thanksgiving, Batman and Robin join the families of Gotham City around the table for a holiday feast—and birds of a feather flock together to stage a march against the city led by the Penguin.
• “Batman: The Long Halloween” — First chapter of the critically acclaimed graphic novel that pits a young Batman against a killer who only murders on holidays.
• “Cartoon Network Super Sampler” — The Powerpuff Girls take on "The Big Green Monster," then Samurai Jack finds himself in a game of "Double Dutch Death Valley," and finally Ben 10 gets into a bull fight in "Olé."
• “Thor: God of Thunder” — Throughout the ages, the gods of the Marvel Universe have been vanishing, their mortal worshippers left in chaos. Now, the mighty Thor follows a trail of blood that threatens to consume his past, present and future selves. The only hope for these ravaged worlds lies with the God of Thunder unraveling the gruesome mystery of the God Butcher.
• “Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures” — By day, he’s Peter Parker, mild-mannered high school student. But by night, he’s the ultimate in super heroics — Spider-Man
— and he’s just the beginning of a super-hero.
• “Uzumaki” — Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the world. It manifests itself in everything from seashells and whirlpools in water to the spiral marks on people's bodies, the insane obsessions of Shuichi’s father and the voice from the cochlea in our inner ear. As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of Kurôzu-cho are pulled ever deeper into a whirlpool from which there is no return.
• “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” — A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob on a journey to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its
abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow impossible though it seems they may still be alive.
The 11-shorts include: “Vamplets: The Legend of the Ghost Pony,” “Zombie Kid Diaries 3: The Walking Dad,” “Sesame Street,” “ Pantalones, TX: Zombinata,”
“Archie’s Pals ‘N’ Gals,” “Adventure Time,” “Itty Bitty Hellboy,” “My Little Pony: Halloween Edition,” “Super Dinosaur,” “Sketch Monsters: Attack of the 100-Foot Booger,” and “Ben 10 Omniverse Halloween Special.”
