Free Comic Book Day Wrap-Up

This past weekend I had the privilege and true delight to be a guest at Joe Murray’s Captain Blue Hen’s Free Comic B
ook Day event. Joe’s a great guy, and a big fan of Love and Capes. When he offered to have me out for the day, there was no way I could (or would) say “no.”

It was a top-notch operation, including making sure that I got to see The Avengers before the big day. That was particularly nice, since FCBD is a minefield of spoilers the day after a Marvel movie.

I set up at one of the booths at Joe’s place and did free sketches for kids all day.Later in the day, when the line for the free books got to be about an hour and a half, he asked if I could go out and do quick sketches for the troopers in line. Armed with a drawing board, a Sharpie, and my assistant Maddy,I went out and drew. And drew. And drew.

If I’m counting my stack of backing boards, which I was using to draw on, I did about 80 quick sketches in a little over an hour. I’m a little impressed with that.

Also, here’s a heads-up from your friend Thom. If someone is drawing you stuff with just a bullet-tip Sharpie and he’s trying to go fast, don’t ask for Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith wears nothing but black, and that’s hard to do with a fine point.

Related, don’t ask for Black Panther either! Yeah, that happened.

Joe got in on the action, too. He has a rack of baseballs with sketches on them, and I broke out the Copics to draw the two Love and Capes couples.

Best of all, I got to to spend time with Joe, his crew, and some fellow pros like Dan Parent, Rich Faber and Jamar Nicholas. A bunch of us went out to a victory dinner, kindly hosted by Joe, as well.

It sounded like Joe had a banner day. I had a phenomenal time myself. I’ve announced elsewhere that I’d like to do a different state every year for FCBD (yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, Alaska) but I am sorely tempted to return to the nation’s first state next year. We’ll see what happens.

Hope you had a great Free Comic Book Day!