Comic Haul 5/5 - Free Comic Book Day 2018

It was the first Saturday of May again, which in the comic business is like Black Friday for other retailers. I am of course referring to Free Comic Book Day, and this year, just as many other years in the past, I journeyed to Evansville, IN with friends to partake in the event.


The group going this year was vast enough that we had to take two cars. Joining me for the day was my girlfriend, my good friend Dan [Twitter | Blog], and my newest friends I met at my local comic shop Campus Comics Tyler and his brother Trenton. Once we made it to Evansville we were joined by even more friends and met up with Jim, Chuck, and Nic. Quite a group!

We began our day by visiting Comic Quest. Comic Quest is located at 2260 E. Morgan Ave. in Evansville, IN. It is far and away the biggest comic shop I have ever been to. We had to wait in a long line to even get into the building.

After making our way through the line, we finally made it to the table with the free comics. I believe they were limiting folks to six books, but I only grabbed five. The one I wanted to make sure I grabbed was the Power Rangers book. I've been watching a lot of Super Sentai Zyuranger (the Japanese original show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is based on) recently so it was definitely one I wanted to grab. Additionally, my girlfriend managed to grab the last issue they had of Ultra Street Fighter II and she gave it to me. That's another one I definitely wanted to get. I guess I didn't get anything too out of the ordinary.

I have been wanting this for a while. I saw this Kotobukiya Zatanna statue there last year but it was too busy in the store and I couldn't find anyone to help me with it. This year as I was looking at it a nice man came around the corner and asked if I needed help with anything. The statue didn't have a price on it, so I asked him. He said it was probably between $40 and $60, but he'd go find out. Now, this statue is on my Amazon wishlist for $160, so if it was between the prices he quoted me, I was definitely going to get it. He came back and told me it's about $55 with 20% off. Sold.

Rounding the corner we came to a wall of action figures and collectibles. I spotted this Marvel Select Spider-Gwen figure on the wall for $25. I only collect Spider-Gwen merchandise where she's not wearing her mask, but this one includes a maskless head, so it counts. I had seen one of these before at another comic shop, but the card was bent up very badly so I passed on it. I'm glad I waited!

As we were entering the store I spotted a man holding one of these graphic short boxes. I knew right then I had to have one. It's the iconic Jim Lee art from the first issue of X-Men. One of the first things I did when I got back into comics was assemble a collection of every issue of X-Men where Jim Lee did the art. Not many of those issues cost me very much, but Jim Lee was white hot back in the 90s and I'm very nostalgic for that time period.

My girlfriend is really into Deadpool, so I got her a Deadpool short box for her collection. I mean, you can keep anything in them! It doesn't have to be comics.

So while I was checking out the clerk sat two pins down on the counter and asked me if I wanted one. One was the Batman logo, the other was this Spider-Gwen pin. You can guess which one I grabbed. Yeah, she's not maskless, but it's a free pin. And it's metal!

Once we left Comic Quest we went to another comic shop called Secret Headquarters. I did buy something from them, but I'll get to that later. Instead, I want to tell you that Secret Headquarters is a nice little comic shop with a good selection of back issue comics. They also have a wide array of action figures both opened and in their original packaging. They're located at 4225 N. 1st Ave. in Evansville, IN. If you're ever in that area, I really suggest checking them out.

After we left there we went to the IMAX and watched Avengers: Infinity War. I'm not going to say anything about it other than it was incredible.

Finally, after the movie we went to another place called The Book Broker. They're located at 2717 Covert Ave. in Evansville, IN. They've got a little bit of everything in there. Books, DVDs, games, cards, toys... it's all there. The first thing I grabbed when I got there was this Free Comic Book Day edition Harley Quinn Bombshell figurine. I have two Harleys from this line already, but this one was special. Normally these figurines are blind-buy so you don't know who you're getting. In this case it was a guaranteed Harley.

I also found this black costume Spider-Man bust bank there. I hadn't seen one of these for a long time, so I made sure I grabbed it to put with my regular red and blue Spidey. These banks are usually fairly cheap, and this one was no exception. I don't think it was more than $16.99. I almost bought a different version of the red and blue Spider-Man from the one I already have, but I ended up putting him back.

Leading up to Free Comic Book Day I acquired some things which I will go over now. Not all of these things came from last week, but they were definitely purchased between the 4/11 comic haul and this one. I only talked about things I bought at Cape Con in that comic haul article, so some of these were from around that time as well.

First up are these two Frank Cho Harley Quinn variant covers. I just realized I have the left half of that first one and I never mentioned it. Well, I'm too lazy to take another picture so you'll just have to imagine the other side.

I also recently got this Harley Quinn Cover Girls statue designed by Joëlle Jones. This is an incredible piece and much better than the last DC Cover Girls Harley statue they released. That one was okay, but this one totally blows it away. I'm looking forward to seeing other designs from this series.

Then there is this red, white & black Harley statue designed by Babs Tarr. The red, white, & black line can be hit or miss. One of the statues from this line is one of my least favorite statues I own, so you can get burned with these. This one is pretty nice, though. This is the second one I have from this line where she's leaping in the air. It's not my favorite from the line, but it's definitely a very dynamic piece.

I also got these two busts from Campus Comics. The Batgirl was sold to me at a discount because she's missing her cowl. She's supposed to have it dangling off of her fingers, but it has gone missing at some point. The Catwoman one looks really nice, especially for the $25 asking price for these. There's a Harley one too, but she looks... weird. I think it's because Harley's skin is white and her eyes are white so it just looks off. She also has colored tips in her hair and they look sloppily brushed on. I passed on it, but was impressed with the Catwoman.

Two more Frank Miller Daredevil issues. I have nothing really to add about these that I haven't already said before. Still trying to get them all. 12 to go.

So here's actually something interesting. I bought the first issue of the Marvel Transformers comic. This comic was originally intended to be a four issue limited series, but they ended up continuing the book past number four. I could definitely be wrong about this, but I believe this comic is the first time Transformers appeared in America. I thought that made it a significant piece to add to my collection, even though I am not actually a fan of Transformers. I had some as a kid, but I was never super into them. I was always a G.I. Joe kid.

This one requires a bit of a backstory. I was making a My Comic Shop purchase to buy the Transformers comic and the Frank Miller Daredevils, but I needed something to pad out my order a bit so I wasn't just getting three comics in the mail. I decided I'd assemble the entire X-Cutioner's Song story which spanned across four X-books at the time. When I received my order, five of the 12 issues were in such rough condition I had to replace them.

One of the issues had a three inch tear in the middle of the cover. One of the issues looked like someone had smacked the top left corner into a table and smashed it in. One of the issues had red splotches and staining all over the cover. One of the issues looked like someone had crinkled the top of the book with their hand (imagine like revving a motorcycle). And one of the issues had thick grime and dirt all over the cover. This is the first time I have ever had issue with a book from My Comic Shop. It's not going to keep me from using them, but I did expect more from them.

I have managed to replace all the issues except one between shopping at Campus Comics, Comic Quest, and Secret Headquarters. I'll have to roll the dice again and try ordering it once more from My Comic Shop.

Finally, a day or two before Free Comic Book Day, I visited my local shop and bought these issues of The Mighty Captain Marvel. I do enjoy Captain Marvel, which you probably knew if you had read my past comic haul articles. I also got an issue of True Believers, which is a reprint series that lets people read older comics which might be otherwise out of reach. This comic in particular is out of reach, and I really want the original. It's the first appearance of Carol Danvers, who is Ms. Mavel/Captain Marvel. Even beat up copies with the spine of the book split go for hundreds of dollars.

And that's all I've got to share! I hope you had a nice Free Comic Book Day if you took part in it. As you can see, I had a great haul and I had a wonderful time with my friends. There should be another Free Comic Book Day haul article next year, but until then, keep watching for my regular hauls!