Star Wars, My Little Pony Characters Coming to Columbia

By Randy Hall

Comics to Astonish is one of the thousands of specialty stores around the world that celebrate Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday in May and this year the shop will have a few special guests to make the event more exciting.

Along with 50 comics produced especially for the annual event, the store in eastern Columbia will be joined by a Storm Trooper from Star Wars from 10 a.m. to noon and Rainbow Dash from the My Little Pony animated series from 3 to 5 p.m. on May 2.

Keegan Conrad, owner of Comics to Astonish in Columbia, said that more than 3,500 free comics will be given away to customers who visit the store between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

“Comics to Astonish has been helping promote Free Comic Book Day since its first year in 2002, and to date, we’ve given out more than 60,000 free comics to readers of all ages in Howard County,” he noted. “It’s a great way to introduce new readers young and old to the wonderful world of comic books.”

Perhaps the most significant giveaways are titles from the two biggest comics producers that will give readers a look at the companies’ special events, including Divergence from DC Comics, which ties in to a two-month crossover called Convergence that features two-issue mini-series spotlighting characters old and new and began with a “zero” issue in early April.

Meanwhile, “everything old is new again” at Marvel, which is updating an earlier series called Secret Wars by pitting heroes and villains against each other on Battleworld, the only planet to survive a cosmic cataclysm. What will the Marvel universe be like at the end of this continuity-shattering event?

A new comic featured this year is the Doctor Who Special, a Titan Comics issue that features brief adventures of the Time Lord from Gallifrey in his three most recent regenerations, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
In addition, Valiant Comics will mark the company’s 25th anniversary with a look back at the titles the company has produced. Also, Boom! Comics is commemorating the company’s 10th anniversary by putting out an issue that features such popular titles as Mouse Guard and Jim Hensen’s Labyrinth, along with comics from the KaBoom! children’s line, including Garfield and Peanuts.

Of course, there will be plenty of other comics for younger readers. Those will include Spongebob Squarepants from United Plankton, Sonic the Hedgehog from Archie Comics and a preview of a new Pokemon series from Viz Media.
Other companies joining the fun are 2000AD, which will have a special edition of its flagship magazine featuring a new story of supercop Judge Dredd; and new tales of such classic characters as The Phantom by Hermes Press and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from IDW Publishing.

Since the store has quickly run out of copies of free titles in the past, Conrad said the shop will limit the number of copies to four per person until 5:00 p.m., when anyone can take as many of the issues as he or she wants.
As usual, an important aspect of this year’s commemoration will be the donation of 1,500 copies of comics to the libraries in Howard County at no cost to them, an increase of 500 from the number distributed in previous years, Conrad stated.

The new Comics to Astonish store at 1312 South Main Street, Suite 5, in Mount Airy, will also hold a Free Comic Book Day event.

For more information on the stores, their big sales and their online offers being held in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day, call 410-381-2732 in Columbia or 301-829-1017 in Mount Airy.

Comics to Astonish is located at 9400 Snowden River Parkway in Columbia.