The other day I was the guest reader at our son’s elementary school. As usual, I brought in a couple of comic books for those kids that wanted to read on their own. Before I left the room I told the kids that this Saturday was Free Comic Book Day and that it was a chance to pick up free comic books at their local store. I blew their minds. The kids lit up like the fourth of July and I was backed up by the fact that the teacher knew where our closest comic book store was located.

Free Comic Book Day is when publishers put out free comics for you to take home. Get titles that you love, perhaps a character that you’ve always been curious about or something you think you might not like-just to see if that’s correct. There are 50 titles in the free comic book mix this year and many of them are great for the all age audience.
To some degree, all of the all age comics are awesome-because they’re free! However, we’re going to start things off with the nine comics that we like best and put the rest of them (which are still awesome-because they’re free!) in no particular order. Your local comic book store will most likely limit you to 5 comic books, so plan accordingly. To find your closest comic book store just put your zip code in Comic Shop Locator.
Bongo
The Bongo Comics Free-For-All is in our must-pull pile every year because it’s essentially a full sized issue of Simpsons Comics for free. Simpsons Comics is published monthly and each issue we pick up is hilarious. It’s great for all ages, even though they won’t get some of the jokes, with bright art that can take parents to a happy place.

Underdog
Underdog from American Mythology is a new series and this is a full sized comic that wets your appetite for the first one. It has a new Underdog story, as well as some classic reprints from the 70’s. The classic story sticks out a little bit and won’t entice young readers as much, but the new story is great, fast paced fun for ages 5 and up.
Fresh Off the Boat
This was the second best surprise in the FCBD haul. With a story by Gene Luen Yang, this has the characters from the ABC show doing what they can’t do on television. That sounds weird, but it’s all about the budget. In this issue the Huang family becomes superheroes, with each member having their own power, as they form The Legion of Dope-Itude. This is funny stuff that makes me want to watch the television show, even though the plot points have nothing in common.

Kid Savage
Kid Savage is one of the best original graphic novels of the year. This full size FCBD offering gives readers the first chapter of this all ages book for free. It’s the story of a Neanderthal on a planet who has a small family of space explorer’s crash land. This has action, laughs and characters that any reader 6 and up will identify with.
Time Shifters
Time Shifter is the best graphic novel I never heard of. It’s from Graphix and they did this last year with Dream Jumper. They release a wildly imaginative and fun chapter from an upcoming graphic novel. Vampire Napoleon, a robot Abraham Lincoln, dinosaurs, time travel and an unknown relic that Luke,