Update:
Following a mixed response from fans and retailers, Diamond have opted to postpone Free Comic Book Day to sometime later this summer instead. Original article is as follows:
From Comicbook.com, Steve Geppi, the chairman of Geppi Family Enterprises and founder of Diamond Comic Distributors, laid out plans to comic book retailers to make Free Comic Book Day offerings available for the entire month of May. The move from a single day to an entire month comes in response to social distancing measures to disrupt the spread of COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus), and will allow stores to distribute Free Comic Book Day titles throughout May rather than concentrating on a single day. This would, in theory, reduce the number of people congregating on a single day and allow retailers to adhere to social distancing efforts.
Geppi writes, “With restaurants and other businesses closing and many areas implementing event restrictions, we know that Free Comic Book Day will be impacted to varying degrees throughout the world. With the books already printed and en route, we have worked with our publisher partners to give retailers as much flexibility as possible in their handling of this event. To minimize the impact on our primary distribution operations, prioritizing the distribution of weekly new comics and restocks, a number of FCBD titles will be included with each regular weekly shipment for the next several weeks. These titles will be invoiced at no charge, as we extend the billing out approximately 90 days, to the first week in August. The books may not be in separate boxes from the rest of the shipment, except when full cases are shipping.
“With a longer period to utilize the books before being invoiced, retailers will be free to use the books in whatever manner suits their individual marketing needs, beginning May 2, 2020. We anticipate stores needing to be creative in how they hold events, perhaps having to distribute the books in new ways or to smaller groups of customers than the single big day you typically experience. To that end, we will be referring to the event as ‘Free Comic Book MAY’ and retailers can use their online Comic Shop Locator Service / FCBD profiles to update customers on their plans.”
To see the full offering of Free Comic Book May titles, check here at FreeComicBookDay.com.
