Lower Decks

One of my absolute favorite traditions that’s developed in recent years is Free Comic Book Day, an event that pops up every May. Just about every comics publisher you can think of prints up either special editions or entirely new issues meant to entice new readers (then again, this year DC kicked off ‘Blackest Night’ with its entry, thereby courting lapsed fans or maybe just juicing the initiate with ambition). Assuming your local shop isn’t stingy, you can walk away, as an old or new reader, with quite the selection, a usually adequate sampling of the work being done at the moment, of reading material, all for free. I like to think, however, that as great as FCBD is, there’s an even better way to lure readers, and that’s promotional comics, not the kind that you’d find in a comic book store as a preview, but those found packaged with action figures and special edition DVDs.

My first experiences with comic books came from action figures. He-Man (a property that is periodically revisited and is sometimes referred to as Masters of the Universe), which is hardly known these days for comics, originally came packaged with them. I read my first Green Lantern, Robin, Aquaman adventures, because miniature editions were included with their plastic likenesses. These days, you have to shell out for two-packs to get these comics. Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Marvel have done it. I read my only issue of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s “Hush” arc in ‘Batman’ thanks to the rare instance when DC has still done it outside of special packaging done for comic shops and bookstores. I almost preferred buying my ‘Batman Begins,’ ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ ‘Sin City,’ and Superman DVDs because they came with promotional comics. I guess I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to make this more common. Movie theaters sometimes have them as handouts, free with a ticket, like the mini posters they sometimes have.

When I was growing up, it was common to find at a Toys ‘r’ Us or Sam’s Club packaged collections of comic books, which was handy for a kid who didn’t often have a trip to an actual comic book store possible. This was in the days of Doomsday and Bane, big events that even as someone who hadn’t had a real chances to read Superman and Batman comics, I needed to read, and there they were, collected (before the days where a trade collection was an everyday thing) in plastic wrap and just waiting to be bought. The comic book boom died off, and these things disappeared, but the promotional comics continued to trickle in, less an opportunity to stay current than a chance to see what was possible. Except, the more I thought about it, the less I understood why it was, ultimately, so rare.

Being a fan of what is ultimately a niche market means that you are often concerned with the ways new fans will be exposed, and while things like FCBD seem like the best idea in the world, and all the comic books aimed at young readers, the cartoons and t-shirts and, yes, action figures, what really hooks a new reader is an actual comic book, a tangible, real example they don’t need to track down so much as stumble across. As an experienced reader, finding these opportunities is almost easy, but as a young kid, it’s probably easier to convince your parents to buy a single action figure or the least expensive version of a DVD release than it is to spring for the ones with comic books included, the ones you can pour yourself into. Action figures are a great way to unleash your imagination, and there’s certainly great fun to be had watching a movie for a couple hours, but the act of opening the cover to a comic book and spending a couple minutes is something else entirely. It takes such a short time, you do it again, if you don’t have many to choose from. That’s why comic books are made so often, because they’re created in a form that’s easy to want more of. They’re exactly like the movie serials or radio dramas, or bedtime stories of years past, a TV show that keeps you coming back, a music act whose song catalogue is continually rewarding.

It shouldn’t be so hard for an action figure to come with one, whatever the size, whatever the content, reprint or original material, or a DVD from a comic book property to come with a comic book. Maybe it’s just me (I’m the guy who’s bummed every time he opens a CD or a DVD that doesn’t have some sort of liner notes to read through, who thinks digital downloading might be wrong simply because it eliminates this experience entirely, strips and experience only to its bare essentials, like the online pirate who feels it’s perfectly okay to watch a cruddy or even unfinished version of a film just because it’s free). Maybe, or maybe it’s worth something after all.