March 2005 - Saturday, May 7th is Free Comic Book Day.

Participating comic book stores will have a variety of free comic books available, and many stores will be holding sales or other special promotions.

For more details, visit the official site at: FreeComicBookDay.com. They have a listing of which comic books will be available for free and will soon have a store locator search function so that you can see which stores are participating.

If you don't find a local store listed in the store locator, try the Comic Shop Locator Service (CSLS) on the Diamond Comics web site - last year one of the stores in our area participated in Free Comic Book Day but did not come up in the Free Comic Book Day store locator. So if you don't see a local store listed, check the CSLS and then give them a call and ask if they are participating.

For the 2005 Free Comic Book Day, many comic book stores are giving away more than just free comic books, but also a free toy (the Minimate action figure, shown above, from Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles) and a free DC HeroClix game piece (the Rookie Batman, shown below, from WizKids Games).