It is time! Free Comic Book Day returns for another year of comics, creators signings, deals and more! Mark your calendars and save the date, FCBD and Comic Book Giveaway Day are coming soon to a friendly local comic book shop near you (that's us!)
Free Comic Book Day 2026
Save the Date: May 2nd, 2026 marks the return of Free Comic Book Day and the start of Comics Giveaway Day here at Phoenix! This year's got so much going on that instead of trying to cram it into one blog post, we're going to break it up into three (hopefully) more manageable chunks! Today we focus on the books themselves and the mechanics of how FCBD / CBGD work here at Phoenix.
FCBD - The History
If you’re wondering what Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is, or how it works, wonder no more! Every year publishers from across the comics industry put together short and fun comics that they make available to us, your friendly local comic shops, at a pretty low price. We buy bunches of these books and turn around and give them away for free on FCBD.
Our goal?
Spread the word and joy that comics are for EVERYONE! Want a horror comic? We’ll have a couple! Romance more your angle? We’ve got you covered. There’s comics for adults, kids, teens, and readers of all genders, orientations, and persuasions.
This year there's been a bit of a split - FCBD has finally gotten so big it cannot be contained by a single distributor anymore! As a result we've got Comics Giveaway Day, courtesy of Penguin Randomhouse. Both events are scheduled for the same day, so for us there's no real distinction. And bonus - this means more comics for everyone!
What kind of comics will be out on FCBD / CBGD? Well here’s a wide assortment of them (46 different titles to be exact)!
These lists isn’t comprehensive, but it does show the majority of the books coming out. We’ll also have a small amount of years' past FCBD and some of last year's Halloween comics giveaway book out on the tables, just in case you missed them.
Restrictions and Accomodations During FCBD 2025
Not to take away from anyone’s good time, but there are a couple of things we want to make folks aware of during FCBD. We’re setting aside part of our day to make the store more accommodating for the immunocompromised, and we’ll also have some restrictions on how many comics folks can partake of for part of the day.
Accommodations for the Immunocompromised
In order to make FCBD truly open for everyone, we are going to require masking in-store for the first hour of the day (10 AM - 11 AM). After 11 AM, masks will be optional for folks browsing and shopping at the store.
Free Comic Limits
Because we want to make sure these books last the whole of the day, we often put restrictions on how many free comics folks can take at the very start of the day. We anticipate these restrictions lasting until the end of our creator signing window this year (about 4 PM), at which point you’ll be able to have your fill of whatever’s left. All we ask is that you only take what you want to read, and that you enjoy yourself!
And just the books! Tune in next Wednesday to find out all about the creators who're gonna be joining us this year. And remember, if you want to make the rounds and support all your friendly local comic shops, there’s a super nice comic locator service up on FCBD’s website that can help! And please, don’t forget to support your FLCS. We all appreciate it!
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