“Free Comic Book Day 2019” by Richard F. Yates

So yesterday (4 May 2019---a Saturday) was Free Comic Book Day, which I suspect is a made-up holiday intended to sell comic books to people…as opposed to those “NATURAL” holidays that spring, fully formed, into being without having to be made up---to sell products to people… (I’m actually PRO people buying comics---although MY favorite comics are rarely represented in comic shops these days. I got lucky, this time, and DID find a few things that interested me…but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

Fairly early yesterday morning, Frankie (older daughter) showed up at our house, and Mariah and Frank and I prepared for a day on the town(s). Coffee in hand, we slipped into Frankie’s vehicle and headed for---THE LONGVIEW PUBLIC LIBRARY! (Because yesterday was also the “whatever you can stuff into a grocery bag for two bucks” day at the LPL, as well as Free Comic Book Day!)

Mariah and Frank and I ransacked the book selling area, scooping up two full bags of paper treasures. (Mariah jammed her bag to the point of over-capacity, and it split open as she packed it back to the car!!!)

Here was my take:

I was pretty excited to find the Carlos Castaneda (it was in the sci-fi section!!!), the Stanislaw Lem, and the Lawrence Ferlinghetti, but I was happy with everything we found...otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have grabbed it! From the “pick two” Free Comic Books table, Mariah grabbed a Buffy book and a Stranger Things comic. I took two titles that I’d never heard of, but one was about a ghost (I think) and the other was about monsters… (What else would I grab???)

After we filled up at the Longview Public, the three of us hopped back in the auto and headed for the freeway. Our next destination: I LIKE COMICS in downtown Vancouver, WA. (It’s about a 45 to 50 minute drive from our town…)

Frankie, naturally, wigged out when we arrived, grabbing this and that. She bought a Bone graphic novel to read to her not-quite-born-yet daughter (I had read Bone to her when she was a wee lass, and she liked the idea of passing the story on to her youngling), and Mariah grabbed some “Little Golden Books” of the Star Wars variety, also for the new kid---who is due in early July. The pair of them (Frankie and Mariah) also surprised me by buying a super-fancy, deluxe addition of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN series, volume one, (supposedly for my birthday---in JULY), which was ridiculously expensive---but half price because it was Free Comic Book Day! (It’s an amazingly cool book!) Mariah also found some more Buffy comics, and she grabbed issues 1 through 4. I found a Mister X collection, a Love and Rockets collection (by the Hernandez Bros.), and a WALLY WOOD book---in the $4 bin!!! (Wally Wood, for those who might not know, is one of the greatest artists to ever pick up a pen. He drew for E.C., titles like Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Vault of Horror, as well as illustrating about a million other things, from kids’ books to advertisements… A true MASTER…) Anyway, despite the place being crowded and the line to pay being about seven miles long, we had a good time clinking around the comic shop.

Once we’d finished at the nerd store, we set the controls for the heart of the sun…I mean for Trader Joe’s. We found a little mini-mall near I-205 that had a T.J.’s, a party supply store (Mariah and Frank are still gathering materials for the baby shower), and a pizza joint, and the pair of them went all shop happy while I sat in the automobile and read a book. After they finished shopping ‘til they dropped, we had a crack at MOD Pizza (it wasn’t bad), then headed for home!

[Proof that I actually, at least, SAT by a salad once!]

After we got home, I took a nap on the couch. (Driving does me in, sometimes…) When I woke up, I realized I’d received a note from a big, brand-name, not-local print shop who had finished the art prints I had on order, so while Mariah and the younger daughter, Elise, went for a bike ride around Lake Sacajawea, I went to pick up my new art bits. I TRIED to take a video of me drawing a little sign and opening the box of artwork, but I am incompetent at most technological stuff, and I couldn’t get things to work right. Then, I accidently erased the bit of video that I was almost happy with---so I gave up. Maybe someday I’ll figure that stuff out.

Anyway, it was a day JAM PACKED with adventure! We spent some quality time with the older daughter, grabbed some cool books and comics, and I got another batch of art to hock at the inevitable upcoming front yard art parties! Who knows what thrills NEXT weekend may hold for us!?!? See you folks later…

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)

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