More on FCBD: Also at ICv2.com, retailers David Brawley and Robert Miller say the hard work they put into Free Comic Book Day paid off for their store. Still, things could have been better:

"The placement of FCBD in July this year was a mixed blessing. It is hard to compete with a national holiday and a 3-day weekend. While we had numerous people who don't live in this area come to the store, numerous people who do were away for the weekend long holiday. On one hand it is great to get new people in the store, but it's better to get new people who live around here and don't already have a local comic shop.

"The diversity of comics available was nice, from books for children to independent titles for adults. I would have liked to have some Vertigo and Ultimates titles available to show the breadth of DC's and Marvel's comic lines. It also would have been convenient to have some indication of which titles were being aimed at the older audience, and might be inappropriate for our younger customers. Another thing, where's Bongo? One of the most popular cultural icons of the last decade and a half, and for the third year in a row, it is MIA.

"The biggest disappointment of the event was the tardiness in the arrival of the books and of the shirts. While the books did trickle in over the past month, most arrived within two weeks of the event, and the shirts didn't even show up until that Wednesday. The tees need washing for a non-itch fit. Things like that make it difficult to build in-store enthusiasm for the day, but we persevered with smiles because it is what we do."