New Comic featuring The Inexplicable Thunk.

I've posted my comic from the My Name is Jonah film FCBD tie-in over at Shannon Smith Comics.  Featuring The Inexplicable Thunk!  It's done in the old Hostess ad style.  Check it out!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Happy Free Comic Book Day from Jonah and The Thunk

The My Name is Jonah Free Comic Book Day download is ready for your eyeballs at the My Name is Jonah film site.  The direct link to the pdf is here.  It looks really great an is a lot of fun.  Oh, and it features a comic called "Jonah and The Inexplicable Thunk in Sticky Bun it to the Man" wroted up and drawded by me.  Check it out.  Spread the word.  Let me know what you think.  

I be taking my chidlens over to Cavalier Comics in Wise VA someday later to see if we can get that Batman The Brave and the Bold comic.  See ya in the funny pages. Keep on rockin' in the free comic book day world.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Free FCBD download featuring a story by me next Saturday, May 7.

On FCBD I will have a little story in a free download that is a tie-in with the My Name is Jonah movie.  If you don't know who Jonah is then do yourself a favor and click the link and watch the trailer. The comic should be up and available for download on Saturday May 7 so make sure to check it out.  Also make sure to visit your friendly neighborhood comic book shop and get some free comic books.  If you are a parent and you are not taking your kid to FCBD then you are doing it wrong.  

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  The art in the above advertisement is by Daniel Th1nte3n and Jake Bills.

Jeremy Massie is awesome.

Jeremy Massie drew these two awesome pinups for my daughter at last week's FCBD. Ain't they swell? My daughter loved them. Thanks Jeremy!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

FCBD 2009...

...or Dear Comic Book Industry I Am Trying to Give You Money part 3

...or A Tale of Two Comic Book Shops part 2

...or Buying Comics Is Hard Even When They Are Free part infinity.

This past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. One of my favorite holidays. Last year we went to Cavalier Comics in Wise, VA on FCBD and were treated very well. Brian had most of the books I would have wanted and we were fee to take at least one of each. It was good times.

This year we headed in the opposite direction up Route 58 and went to two comic shops. I won't mention the name of the first shop because it's not my intention to throw a comics retailer under the bus. We'll just call them comic shop #1. I love comics shops. However, this should be a lesson in now not to run your FCBD event. Or, pretty much now not to run you small business in general. See, the point of FCBD for a retailer should be to attract new customers and build goodwill with your existing customers. I've managed small businesses and the main obstacle was getting customers in the door. Well, FCBD does that for you. Now, if you want those customers to spend money you have to do one of two things. Offer them a product they want or a service they want. But wait! How do you figure out what they want? Well, here is a free retail industry secret for ya. You ask them. "How ya doin'? What can I help you find today?" For thousands of years, good and services have been successfully traded for money thanks to this wonderful technique. At comic shop #1? Not so much.

Comic shop #1 is about a forty five minute drive from my house. I go in with my two daughters, ages seven and two, full of excitement. I was hoping for a couple of free comics I want and to even buy some comics for my daughter. We walk in. We are not greeted. There is a FCBD poster on the door but no table or display. I had visited the FCBD site before our trip so I kind of had an idea on what to look for. I noticed some familiar looking books on their check-out counter. They had just a few books and only one copy of each on the counter. They had the "Gold" level comics which is the bare minimum for participation. Most of what I would want would be in the "Silver" variety, but I'm not one to snub my nose at free comics. We walk up to the counter and the guy does not even look at us. I ask if those are the FCBD comics and the entirety of his communication to us during our visit is , "One per customer." He did not even glance at my daughters. He did not even glance at the future of his customer base that I have been tirelessly training to love comics for his benefit. I grabbed the Savage Dragon book for myself, the Cars book for the two year old and my seven year old picked out the Star Wars book. We quickly left having spent zero dollars.

Kind of a bummer but not to fear. I knew my pal Jeremy Massie was going to be at Mountain Empire Comics over in Bristol, TN. It is about an hour drive from my house but it is the shop where I had my first pull list when I was a kid. It is a great shop and I knew I could at least count on them to have some good stuff for my kids. We get to Mountain Empire and the staff there immediately greets us, asks questions, talks kid talk with my kids. In short, they do what any small business should do with any customer that walks in the door. There was a good vibe in the store and you could feel the comics love and excitement. Jeremy was staying pretty busy talking up his upcoming book and was even interviewed by local news outlet. Jeremy's book is apparently non-fiction because the main character, The Deadbeat was there in the flesh.

Mountain Empire had a much better selection of books and we were free to grab one of each for each of us. They also have a great selection of comics a fellow like me might actually want to pay for and gasp... they had some kids comics for sale! Wow! I spent about fifteen bucks. Jeremy also drew amazing sketches of Kitty Pryde and Dazzler for my seven year old. She loved them. I will post them here as soon as I get a chance to scan them.

All in all it was an awesome visit. Well done Mountian Empire Comics. Well done. To comic shop #1... I still love ya. And I'll drop in whenever I'm on your side of town. See, ya had me at comic books. But if ya want my money...

I've not read through all the stuff I got but I was really happy with the Savage Dragon book. The Love and Capes book was pretty impressive. A great looking book from cover to cover. I was pretty stoked to get a free reprint copy of TMNT #1. I sold off all my Turtle comics years ago so it was pretty cool to re-visit that stuff. The seven year old seemed to really like the DC Kids book. (But not as much as the copy of Supergirl Cosmic Adventures I bought her.)

And now for the shameless pandering part of the post. Unfortunately, we got to Mountain Empire pretty late so I missed out on the main books I wanted. So if anyone has a copy of the Love and Rockets, Nancy or Owly books that they could turn loose of then let me know. I'll trade ya something cool. Thanks!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

How to buy a comic book for a little girl...

...or, Shannon Smith and the Quest for Supergirl Part 4...

...or, Dear Comic Book Industry I Am Trying to Give You Money Part 2...

...or, Kids Like Comics Part 4...

As readers of Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction know, I loves me some comics and so does my daughter. (Now seven years old. The two year old likes them too but she can't really read. She just likes to steal them from her sister and run through the house like a crazy person. Or, like a two year old.) Part of the ongoing struggle that is my life as comic book reader in a world of smart phones and dumb people has been my quest to find a new floppy pamphlet comic (ya know, a comic book) that I can buy for my daughter. She has lots of old comics because, back in the day, they used to make comics for kids. She also has several Archie digest books and a bunch of Free Comic Book Day books from the past few years. But, still I have dreamed of and searched for a new traditional comic book that was for little girls.

If you too dream of being able to buy a comic book that a little girl would enjoy then just follow these 20 easy steps to little girl comic book buying success:

Step 1. Be born, learn to read and become a lifelong comic book reader.

Step 2. Grow up, fall in love with a pretty girl, get married, get her pregnant and have a little girl. (The "have kids with a pretty girl" part might be a challenge if you are a woman but you can look into adoption. If your child is a boy, you can pretend that they are a girl. Tom Cruise told me that it will not cause any psychological damage.)

Step 3. Introduce your little girl to comics. Take your little girl to comic book shops and conventions. Take her to Free Comic Book Day and get her some free comics. Give her some comics from your youth.

Step 4. Get excited about how much your little girl likes comics. Be amazed when she draws comic book characters like Kitty Pryde and Dazzler.

Step 5. Realize that your little girl is most interested in the comics that have strong girl characters.

Step 6. Realize that current comic publishers that make floppy pamphlet comics do not make many with girls as the lead characters or that are actually for girls in any way.

Step 7. Realize that comics is the only entertainment media that does not have product targeted at young girls.

Step 8. Get very angry.

Step 9. Buy your little girl Supergirl back packs and clothes but be sad that you can't buy her a new Supergirl comic book because the ones DC makes are weird violent obscene fanboy fetish things that no child should ever see.

Step 10. Start talking a lot on blogs, message boards and at conventions about how there needs to be a Supergirl comic book for little girls.

Step 11. Be amazed when you learn that DC is finally making a Supergirl comic for kids.

Step 12. Go to your nearest comic book shop on the day the first issue of the new Supergirl comic comes out. Leave disappointed because you got there before the UPS truck and you missed out on the comic because you had to go back to work.

Step 13. Visit another comic shop and ask for the comic. There you will be told that they do not carry kid's comics anymore.

Step 14. Visit another comic shop and ask for the comic. There you will be told that they no longer carry new comics.

Step 15. Cry and/or moan about this on the internet.

Step 16. Spend months going from comic shop to comic shop looking in vain for the Supergirl comic. (I checked seven stores in three states.)

Step 18. Drive to Athens, GA for the Fluke minicomics fest.

Step 19. After Fluke, go to Bizarro Wuxtry, one of the greatest comic shops on Earth (or other planets). There you will find issue #2 of Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the Eight Grade.

Step 20. Buy it.

This my friends is the only way to buy comic books for little girls. This method is foolproof. I've worked on this method for seven years. It cannot fail.

Good luck.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Free Comic Book Day 2008

FCBD was this past Saturday which is like three years in internet time but I'll get bloggy with it anyway. I think that my daughter and I have only missed one FCBD since it started. (One year I had to work that day so we went and got comics the next day.) This year we also took the baby with us for her first FCBD. When we lived in Snellvillistan I always drove to Oxford Comics in Buckhead. They usually had the books I was looking for. Now we live in VA so I had to drive about thirty minutes to Cavalier Comics in Wise, VA. It is a very nice little store and Brian is a super cool guy. How do I know he is cool? Brian, like all the cool kids, is going to HeroesCon. I'll be at Heroes too but I'll talk more about that later. They also let me drop off a stack of my FCBD entry, Four Feats of Wonder From the Old Testament.

The main book I wanted was the Gegika book from D&Q but Cavalier is a small shop and did not have that one. I was also sad to miss out on the Ignatz book and Top Shelf's Owly book. That is no slight to Cavalier. Even when I lived in Atlanta I had to drive forty-five minutes to Oxford or an hour to Bizzaro to get the indie freebies and on at least two occasions I had to go to the publishers themselves for the indie books.

We did get a lot of good books at my favorite price though. The six year old was excited about the Tiny Titans and Jughead books. She also wanted the All-Star Superman book because, well, it had Superman on it. The Neotopia manga was a nice thick book to hand the baby so that she did not need to grab toys or back issues to chew on. I was excited about the Gyro Gearloose book and the EC Sampler from Gemstone.

Some of the books raised some questions though. Don't worry. I'm not going to turn all Negative Nancy on a free comic promotion. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. In fact, if you give me a gift horse, I'll probably hug it and kiss it on the mouth and call it Silver. I'll love that gift horse all day long but, I might ask it questions. I don't want to criticize the free funnies. I believe in the promotion and after having seen the pics posted at the Heroes blog, I really believe in it's potential.

The questions that come to mind are geared toward the publishers themselves. I'm not sure everyone is on the same page. I don't think there is a consensus idea of what FCBD should be. Is it (1) to get new customers to visit the direct market stores? Personally, I think that is what the promotion's goal should be. If so, then as the father of a six year old, I can tell you that the Tiny Titans, Gyro Gearloose, Marvel Adventures and Shonen Jump books are good efforts toward that goal. That is, if the direct market stores sold those types of comics. Some do, some don't. But the good thing is, it gets kids reading comics. If they like the comics a lot then there is bigger chance of them finding the direct market than if they had never been exposed to comics.

Or, is the goal (2) to reward your existing fan base with some freebies? Not a bad goal but it's not going to save the direct market or anything. Marvel's X-Men book covers this goal. Marvel already gave you a kids book with the Adventures book but they offer an X-Men book for the regular customers complete with those giant Emma Frost boobs the fan base knows and loves.

Or, is the goal (3) to just promote new crap to the already existing direct market customer base? Not a bad goal in and of itself but a far cry from the potential this thing could have.

Looking at a lot of these books, I'm afraid it is the third goal that most of the publishers are after and I think this is pretty unfortunate. The books from Top Cow, Dynamite and Virgin for example; there is no way you could hand that stuff to a kid and there is no way a person who does not already have a pull list is going to have any interest in them.
Tiny Titans is DC's shot at the first goal but the Superman book is DC settling for the third goal. All-Star Superman #1 is a great comic, maybe one of the best ever Superman comics but you couldn't hand it to a kid. Lex is just too crazy and the thing is about trying to kill Superman. You also could not hand it to a kid (and I may not let mine have it) because of all the morbid adds for DC's upcoming crossover nonsense. Adds about the end of the universe and Batman dying don't make for great bedtime material. This book is not a fan reward because everyone already bought this comic. All this book is for is to deliver house adds for DC's upcoming crossover's. I don't like to knock another man's hustle and advertising is part of the game but c'mon DC, you are better than that. You could have given you fan base something new and packed it full of adds at the same time. That fifty cent DC Universe 0 book could have been your FCBD advertisement vehicle. I really question DC's thinking on this thing. I have another question about DC. Is DC comics aware that there is a Batman movie coming out this summer? Do they have the internet over at the DC offices? Hello? Where is your let's cash in on/promote Batman comic?
Oh well, whaddoiknow?

I'm not saying the comics should all be for kids. Not at all. I wanted that Gegika comic. I want free grown up comics. They serve a purpose . They reward the current customer and entice them to buy graphic novels by the featured artists. I get that. My all time favorite FCBD books are the anthology format books that Top Shelf, Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly put out in previous years. I sought out and became a fan of several creators based on the samples I saw in those books. I'm also not saying the publishers shouldn't take advantage of the promotion to advertise upcoming books. By all means, promote your books. I guess my point is that if the publishers see the thing as nothing more than an advertisement delivery method then at least pack the adds in something that is either kid friendly and might accidentally build your customer base or something that is new and rewards the existing fan base. If Marvel can pull off both of those things then how hard can it be?

I'll step down off Stan's soapbox. For me personally, FCBD was a success. The girls and I got free comics, the six year old expanded her hero statue collection (those Heroclix things, we don't have any idea what do do with them as far as the game goes but she likes the little things) and we went for post-free-comic victory fries and slushies. It was a good day.

Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

p.s. The best FCBD book I've read so far is available here for free download and you don't even have to burn any gas to go get it.

p.p.s. If anyone wants an express ticket to comic book heaven, hook me up with the Gegika, Ignatz or Owly books.

Small Bible sampler for Free Comic Book Day.

I will be dropping off a stack of Small Bible samplers called Four Feats of Wonder From the Old Testament at Cavalier Comics in Wise, VA for those fine folks to give away on Free Comic Book Day next Saturday. I will also include a copy of the sampler with orders at my store while supplies last. Even if you don't live anywhere near Wise, VA, don't forget to go to FCBD at the comic shop nearest you. Hooray free comics!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Free Comic Book Day 2006

(This is a few days after the fact but THE COMPUTRO and Blogger were not co-operating.) For the past three years it has been tradition for my daughter and I to go out and get some comics on Free Comic Book Day. Unfortunately I had to work this year so I was only able to run by the local comic shop, Comic Universe, on my lunch break. They only had the kids books but I understand. We are in a county where there is currently a law suit to remove Harry Potter from the schools so I won't fault a small business owner for not ordering adult comics. Luckily the critically acclaimed Rob Venditti was there from Top Shelf and he had the cool new Owly freebie.
Still, I loves me some grown up comics, so on Sunday, my daughter and I made the trek inside the perimeter to Oxford comics. I've often said Oxford comics is the best shop in Atlanta and I just knew they would not let me down. I just knew they would have the FCBD books from Fantagraphics, AdHouse, Drawn & Quarterly and other surprises. They could never let me down.
They let me down.
They only had the kids books as well. They didn't' even have the Owly book I picked up in Snellville.
This made water come out my eyes.
So, if anyone knows where I can get the FCBD books for grown ups, let me know.
The kids books were not all bad. Kassidy likes looking at the Jusitce Leauge and Archie books and we both enjoy the Donald Duck book. The Bongo comic is very funny and I'm a Star Wars nerd so a free Star Wars comic ain't bad.
I'm still a bit sad though. 2006 has seen at least two of the the Atlanta area's better shops close and then on FCBD I ask Oxford comics if they have the book from Drawn & Quarterly and they act like they have never heard of such a company? I don't get it. Why can't small business owners who don't make a whole lot of money stock there stores based entirely on what I want and then give it to me for free? Is that too much to ask?
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith

Free Comics, cheap hot dogs, good times.

Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day. My daughter and I got up early, (well, she gets up early everyday) ate some eggs and hit the road for free funnies. We were two of the first peeps at the shop and bagged a good stack of free funnies. I got almost everything I wanted from this year's offerings.
I've not read them all but so far the best are Funny Book, Alternative Comics Presents, Owly: Splashin' Around, Comics Festival, The Adventures of Paul, Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards and for guilty self-indulgence... Star Wars.
All and all, my Padawan nerdling learner and I, nerd master supreme, scored about 25 comics for the grand price of... FREE!!! The youngling also got a Scooby-Doo sketch from D.C. Comics' Cartoon Network line of funnies artist Robert Pope. (At least I think that was his name. Sorry if not.)
So far, Funny Book, Alternative Comics Presents and Owly are my faves because they have some of my favorite comic book maker type folks. Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Sophie Crumb, Dan Clowes, James Kochalka, Robert Ullman, Dean Haspiel, fellow Georgistanian Andy Runton and believe it or not... more. Don't believe me, just click the above links. Then only way my loot could have been more glorious would have been if I had made it over to Criminal Records to visit the Cute Girl Demographics gang and see what new stuff they had but sidekick and I were hungry. Oh well, I'll be seeing those peeps in Charlotte at HeroesCon where I will unleash my new funny book Brush and Pen. (Samples coming soon!)
After comics, the youngling and I went home where I fixed up a mess of my favorite foods. Hot dogs and tater tots. Tons of chili. Tons of onions. Ketchup, mayo, mustard etc. Good times.
Your best pal ever, (Really, you are like a brother/sister/cousin to me.)
Shannon Smith