Well, here it is Free Comic Day. And I’m sure that those of you who run by your local comic shops are finding plenty of free issues to read. But as for those of you not lucky enough to have a comic shop in your area, well, there are still plenty of free digital comics to be had.
Image is giving away 196 first issues of its various comic series, including such popular titles as “The Walking Dead” and “Saga.” ComiXology has a curated list of free comics from various comic companies, including free comics from its self-publishing program ComiXology Submit. Some interesting comics available on ComiXology, including Sensation Comics #1, one of Wonder Woman’s earliest appearances.
Meanwhile, Dark Horse Comics is combining Free Comic Book Day with Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you) and giving away three bundles of four Star Wars comic issues each, free (in addition to over 80 free comics of other stuff in general). And tomorrow, Dark Horse is going to offer a “May the 4th Megabundle” including 150 digital Star Wars comics for $100. (Dark Horse is going to lose the Star Wars franchise at the end of the year, so it’s not surprising they’re making the most of out of it while they can.)
Anyway, whatever free comics you read, be they digital or print, I hope you enjoy the day!
Another way to celebrate Comic Day is to roll your own comics using a terrific app that I’ve been playing with called Comic Life. It’s available for MacOS X, Windows and iOS.
You don’t need to be able to draw, just use digital photos and optionally filter them to look like comic artwork. Add text speech and thought balloons, etc. and it looks like a pro production. When you’re done, just export to ePub (fixed layout) and share your work. For purists, you can also export to *.cbz and other formats.