GET YER COMICS!
GET YER COMICS!
Almost exactly six years ago, I was in line for an opening screening of Spider-Man with a group of friends. One of them showed up in a Spidey costume, tights and all. He had been paid by a local comics store to hand out flyers for the first national “Free Comic Book Day.” If only for a few hours, he was a bona fide star, eliciting everything from marriage proposals from adoring teen girls, to jealousy ... thanks to the evening chill's effect on his very, er, human anatomy.
That weekend, America rekindled its love for action hero comics. The movie made $115 million, a record. The struggling comic book industry rebounded, for a number of reasons, with five straight years of growth. One of them was the unforeseen success of Free Comic Book Day, back this Saturday for the sixth time.
“We're to the point where we've given away more than 10 million comic books, in more than 2,000 comic book stores,” beams Joe Field, originator of Free Comic Book Day and owner of Flying Colors Comics, a store in Concord, just east of San Francisco. He estimates a half-million fans showed up last year. “I sort of unintentionally created this holiday. What it's become is just this huge party.”
Inspired by giveaways at ice cream retailers such as Baskin-Robbins, Field proposed the event in his regular column for Comics & Games Retailer, a monthly trade magazine. He then convinced Diamond Comic Distributors to coordinate the event. This year, several stores in the L.A. area will participate by giving away pre-selected titles. Locations include Meltdown, Golden Apple, and Sheltams.
Field likens it all to a superhero story. “One of the things that's kind of gratifying is that at the end of Free Comic Book Day, I wind up getting e-mails or cards from different retailers all over the world,” he says, giggling. “The last two or three years in a row I've gotten an e-mail from a retailer in South Africa. I've heard from retailers in Sweden and Germany and the Philippines. It's a little bit mind-blowing to think that this little germ of an idea I [proposed] six years ago has become a real worldwide event.”
–Alfred Lee
Free Comic Book Day. Sat. Free. For a full list of stores and titles, visit: Freecomicbookday.com.
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THIS WEEK IN THE CITY
Thursday 3
FEAST OF THE EAST
East is where it's at when it comes to film festivals this weekend. Tonight kicks off two of them. At Hollywood's Barnsdall Gallery Theater, enjoy the opening night events of the always anticipated “Silver Lake Film Festival,” spread among various venues on L.A.'s eastside through May 12. There will also be parties galore, including this evening's honoring of indie director Hal Hartley, followed by a concert by L.A. punkers the Circle Jerks at the EchoPlex (7:30 p.m.; $25; info: 800-838-3006 or Silverlakefilmfestival.org). A little farther west, go even farther east, as through Sunday, the Goethe Institut hosts a “Southeast European Film Festival,” featuring award-winning films from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, and more ($10; info: Seefilmla.org; 5750 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.).
Friday 4
MODERN LOVE
Tonight, the “Los Angeles Modernism Show and Sale” gets underway by first thinking about the kids. Johnny Depp serves as honorary host of a fundraising evening set to include fancy cocktails, nibbles, and goodie bags, plus first dibs on the dreamy furniture and decorative items the show always delivers. Proceeds go to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (Fri. 6 p.m.-9 p.m., $100; Sat.-Sun. $15; info: Lamodernism.com; Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Pico Blvd. at Main St., Santa Monica). Can't attend the Deppity do? Get in the Modernism mood by catching a screening of Mon Oncle, the 1958 Jacques Tati comedy classic about a suburban man befuddled by the mechanized modern age (7:30 p.m.; $7-$10; info: Aerotheatre.com; Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, 323-466-3456).
Saturday 5
A HIGH FIVE
It's Cinco de Mayo and everybody's celebrating, even in ways that have nothing to do with the 1862 Battle of Puebla. For example, consider the grande times at painfully cool Equator Books, the Venice-based art and bookseller that tonight launches “Equator Vinyl,” its foray into the vintage vinyl record biz. With DJs and open bar (7 p.m.-11 p.m.; $10 after 9 p.m.; info: Equatorbooks.com; 1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd., 310-399-5544). Traditional-themed activities await during the day, however, and Sunday too, at the Autry National Center where Mexican and Mexican American artists, craftspeople, cooks, and musicians participate in a family-style fiesta (Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; free; info: Autrynationalcenter.org; 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, L.A., 323-677-2000).
Sunday 6
WAY OUT WONDERS
This Sunday, step outside the box. Late morning, witness the feats of freakiness and falsehood as the Independent Investigations Group holds a “$50,000 Paranormal Challenge,” designed to put self-proclaimed psychics to the scientific test (11 a.m.; $6; info: Cfiwest.org; Center for Inquiry West, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323-666-9797). In the afternoon, your head will spin again at Dangerous Curve gallery and performance space. Today it launches a new concert series called “Is It Music?” featuring new music performers and their unconventional methods and instruments. First up at 4 p.m., the Choir Boys, Vinny Golia, and Cosmologic. At 8 p.m., welcome Z'ev ($7-$10; info: Dangerouscurve.org; 1020 E. Fourth Pl./500 Molino St. #102, L.A.).
Monday 7
PLAY IT AS SHE SAYS
Smart gals are in the house tonight. At the Harmony Gold Theatre, a showcase screening of thesis films from students in the most recent AFI Directing Workshop for Women. See nine films by nine new female filmmakers, followed by a celebratory reception (7:30 p.m.; free, but reservations required; info: Afi.com/dwwshowcase; 7655 Sunset Blvd., L.A.). At Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, hear the inimitable Joan Didion, who last year added a National Book Award to her collection of sky-high literary arts honors. She'll be appearing as part of the Music Center's distinguished Speaker Series (8 p.m. $50-$120; info: Musiccenter.org; 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 213-972-0700).
Tuesday 8
OPEN WIDE
In Didion's shadow but bright lights all their own are the authors appearing tonight at the fourth installment of “The Loudest Voice,” a reading series developed by the USC doctoral program in Literature and Creative Writing that pairs established authors with “emerging” L.A. scribes. Tonight's menu of talent includes Aimee Bender, Jennifer Kwon-Dobbs, Nicky Schildkraut, Jeff Solomon, and Andrew Allport. (8 p.m. 10p.m.;free; info: Theloudestblog.blogspot.com; Mountain Bar, 473 Gin Ling Way, Chinatown, downtown L.A.). On a related note, today is “National Teacher Day,” so give a shout out to your own mentors, too.
Wednesday 9
PUZZLE ME PLEASED
Maybe it's words, but also puzzles that please you. In which case, make a date tonight with Will Shortz, editor of The New York Times crossword and “Puzzlemaster” on NPR's “Weekend Edition Sunday.” He'll be teasing plenty of toppers with an all-ages interactive program at UCLA's Royce Hall this evening (8 p.m.; $20-$35; info: Uclalive.org). If visual tricks are more your thing, take a gander at Puzzles and Pieces, a new exhibition of photos at Michael Dawson Gallery by renowned Cali clicker Rondal Partridge. In addition to detailed studies of everyday tools and coins, he's presenting three “photographic sculptures” resembling a Rubik's Cube, but with his own images on each comprising cube side. Closes June 30 (reception Fri., 7 p.m.-9 p.m.; free; 535 N. Larchmont Blvd., L.A., 323-469-2186).
Published: 05/03/2007
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