New Mount Airy Store Celebrates Free Comic Book Day

By Randy Hall

The new Comics to Astonish shop in Mount Airy is one of the thousands of specialty stores around the world that will celebrate Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday in May. In addition, the shop will have a few special guests to make the event even more exciting.

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

Keegan Conrad, owner of the shop at 1312 South Main Street #5, said that more than 3,500 free comics will be given away to customers who visit the store on May 2 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

“It’s a great way to introduce new readers young and old to the wonderful world of comic books,” added Conrad, who opened the new store in last August.

Perhaps the most significant giveaways are titles from the two biggest comicsproducers that will give readers a look at the companies’ special events, includingDivergence from DC Comics, which ties in to a two-month crossover calledConvergence 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 includeSpongebob Squarepants from United Plankton, Sonic the Hedgehog from ArchieComics 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.

Another special feature of this year’s Free Comic Book Day is the fact that this it will also be celebrated at the Comics to Astonish store located at 9200 Snowden River Parkway #112 in eastern Columbia.

For more information on the stores, their big sales and their online offers being held in conjunction with Free Comic Book Day, call 301-829-1017 in Mount Airy or 410-381-2732 in Columbia, or visit http://www.comicstoastonish.com. If you want further details on the annual event itself, go to http://www.freecomicbookday.com.