Comics, Yearning To Be Free... Today, May 5th, was the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day . A goodwill, open house sort of affair that's meant to bring in potential new readers, try to lure back lapsed ones, and give a little boost to those who are already in the hobby. The stores have to pay the publishers different amounts for each of the comics, etc., so the freebies are advertising, the cost of which is partially borne by the comics shops. That's an important thing to keep in mind. After some other morning business (that'll be a separate post) I made a circuit of four comics shops -- one local to me now, and three others from back in my stomping grounds of years gone. Aside from free items (which I'll get to in a moment) it also gave me a chance to check in on some stores I hadn't visited, well... probably in a year. Aside from the comics, one the free item I was out for was a Batman Heroclix. This one is the same 1940s sculpt seen in the recent Origin set, but ...