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The 23rd annual Free Comic Book Day will be perfectly time on Saturday, May 4 (aka Star Wars Day — May the Fourth be with you) and we’ve got a list of the many shops handing out free comic books — so assemble your Avengers and, suit up.
Whether you’re a comic book newbie or an avid collector, Free Comic Book Day is the perfect way to get into comics and grow your collection. We’ll let you know how to maximize your freebies on Free Comic Book Day, which titles are coming in 2023, and how it all works.
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Free Comic Book Day is May 4, 2024.
The most important thing to note is that Free Comic Book Day is on the first Saturday of May, and in 2024 it’s on May 4, 2023. Star Wars Day! Free Comic Book Day was started in 2002 by Joe Field and coordinated by Diamond Comic Distributors. The date was chosen to coincide with the 2002 release of the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie.
Check the Free Comic Book Day store locator to find a participating store near you.
Before you head to your local comic book store, check the Free Comic Book Day store locator to see if they’re participating in the event. This event is held at independently owned comic book stores, so you won’t find this deal at retailers like Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million.
All you have to do to receive your free comic book is just let them know that you’re there for your freebie.
NOTE: Some libraries are participating in Free Comic Book Day. Their information can be found using the store locator, too.
Every participating Free Comic Book Day store offers well known titles such as Batman, Spider-Man, Umbrella Academy, and more.
Every participating store during Free Comic Book Day offers 12 “Gold Sponsor” titles which include a wide range of stories, from Spider-Man to Dog Man. Here’s what they offered in 2023:
- Archie Horror Present The Cursed Library
- Avengers X-Men #1
- Choujin X & Rooster Fighter
- Conan Barbarian SP
- Dog Man and the League of Misfits
- Fishflies #1
- Ranger Academy Preview
- Red Sonja: She Devil With a Sword #0
- Seismic Stories
- Spider-Man Venom #1
- Star Trek Day of Blood
- Umbrella Academy & Witcher
NOTE: Will your Free Comic Book Day titles be worth anything in the resell market? It all depends on the title, condition of the comic, and how rare the issue is. But you’ll likely have to hang on to the comic for years.
Expect there to be special emphasis on Star Wars in 2024.
For the first time in five years, the geeky planets will align and Free Comic Book Day will be on May 4, also known as Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you”).
In 2019, Free Comic Book Day featured two different Star Wars comics as part of their offerings — Star Wars Adventures: Droid Hunters, and Star Wars: Vader: Dark Visions.
There were a bunch of other space-related comics, too, including Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson’s Dune: House Atreides, and Firefly: The Sting.
Select locations will give away even more comic books.
The “Gold Sponsor” comics are provided to all participating comic book stores for free as part of the Free Comic Book Day program, but there’s a whole separate group of titles — the Silver Sponsor comics. Not every shop has these additional titles because while they’re also free to readers, stores have to order them at their own expense.
Plus, the number of free Silver Sponsor comics that a store orders can vary based on their budget and anticipated demand. So it’s best to check with your local comic book store to see what titles they’ll have available on Free Comic Book Day.
Here’s what the Silver Sponsor giveaway titles were in 2023:
- AD Presents the Best Comic Ever
- Animal Castle
- Animal Crossing & Kirby Manga Mania
- Baby-Sitters Little Sister Karen’s Haircut
- Crimebusters #1
- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
- Frazettaverse #0
- I Am Stan Sampler
- Investigators All Tide Up Sneak Peek
- Kodansha Shaman King Flowers Demon School Sampler
- Kotto Kotorra #1
- Last Comics on Earth Sampler
- Madballs vs Garbage Pail Kids
- Marvel Voices #1
- Mech Cadets Special
- Mexikid Sampler
- Nightmare Before Christmas Battle for Pumpkin King #1
- Overstreet Guide to Collecting
- Princeless
- Punch Up! Preview
- Runescape Untold Tales God Wars
- Sacrificers #1
- Shadowman Dark Legacy
- Smurfs #1
- Spidey & Friends #1
- Star Wars High Republic Adventures & Avatar the Last Airbender
- Street Fighter 6 #0
- Sweet Valley Twins Teachers Pet Sampler
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Netflix show companion)
- Tom Holland’s Fright Night #1
- West of Sundown #1
RELATED: Want to expand your online library with free books? We know where to find free books online.
Visit multiple comic book stores to get the most free comic books.
Each store decides how many comics people can receive; some let you only take one per person, while others let you have one copy of each of the titles they have. It’s best to check with your local store to see what they’re planning.
But if you’re dead set on getting all of the titles, you might map out visiting multiple participating comic book stores.
You can always read comic books at your local library.
Yep, many libraries have comic books! Comics, graphic novels, and manga have become super popular lately, and libraries have noticed. They have really great collections of these materials nowadays.
Some libraries have special sections just for comics, while others mix them in with other books. A lot of libraries also have digital comics and graphic novels that you can access through their website or app.
Here are some of the best library apps that you can use to find free comics:
NOTE: Not every library participates with these apps, so make sure to check your local library to see which app they are using.
Read free comic books all year long online.
Most comic book companies provide a portion of their library for free through their apps or website. There are even subscription services just for comics. Here’s how you can read comics for free all year long:
Comic Book Plus
Looking for more vintage and old-school comics? The Comic Book Plus library has over 42,000 comics for you to read from the Golden and Silver Age. You’ll be able to filter from genre to year it was released.
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics has a digital library that you can enjoy that has plenty of free comics — including some previous years Free Comic Book Day selections. This includes Avatar the Last Airbender and Overwatch comics.
DC Comics
From Batman to Shazam, you can read a selection of comics from the DC Kids website. The library is small, but if you want to gain access to their entire library, you can join the DC Universe Infinite subscription service. You’ll be able to get a 7-day free trial that’ll get you 27,000 comics to read.
Digital Comic Museum
The Digital Comic Museum houses plenty of Golden Age comics, and it’s constantly being updated with free reads. You can categorize the comics by publisher, and every download is free.
Marvel
Marvel comics have become increasingly popular with the MCU, and you can read select comics for free via the Marvel Comics app (iOS / Android). They even have a subscription service, Marvel Unlimited. You can get a 7-day free trial and gain access to 30,000 comics.
Webtoons
The Webtoons app houses plenty of free comics that you can read by new and established creators from around the world. Popular comics from this app eventually get adapted to Netflix. Just look at Korean dramas like Extraordinary Attorney Woo and All Of Us Are Dead.
