Last week, Polite Dissent posted a great little analysis of the Free Comic Book Day offerings.
I don’t want to steal Scott’s thunder so you can read it at his blog. The comment I want to make is that if Dr. Scott can figure out how to research the comic books in his office, why can’t DC Comics? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find a control group to test a bunch of comic books before spending a huge amount of money to give them to as many people who will take them.Â
This leads me to also remember the point of Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day is a promotional for the comic book industry. This is actually, I would argue, the biggest promotion that they do. So why are they putting out “cheap” freebies to the masses. Too many times, I have seen terrible comics given out–is this the impression that the industry wants to give to the world. Free Comic Book Day is more that just a give away day–it is an opportunity to showcase what is good about comic books, to attract readers and to foster a positive image.
The publishers new to give much more thought to their free offerings. It is interesting to note that most, if not all, Free Comic Book Day giveaways are not collectible–maybe that’s because they are not worth anything. Maybe it is time to test market the comic books before they hit the shelves.