So, Halloween Comicfest is coming up.
What’s that? Haven’t heard of it? Well neither had I.
Until this year that is.
Much like Free Comic Book Day every May, Halloween Comicfest is a co-operative effort among major publishers that sees the publication and free distribution of special comics for the Halloween season. This year the event takes place October 27th, with the free goodies available at your local comic book store or hobby shop.
While there will be 22 regular size comics produced for the event, publishers will also be releasing 12 mini-sized books perfect for handing out to trick-or-treaters. The mini-books will be suitable for all ages to make sure even the youngest reader can enjoy them without mom or dad having to worry about what’s inside their pages.
Many of the regular sized books meanwhile, will be very Halloween themed, ranging from traditional super heroes to spooktastic hallmarks of the Witching Hour like zombies, vampires and werewolves.
Video Halloween ComicFest
All told, 23 different publishers will be taking place (including industry giants Marvel, DC, IDW and Dark Horse) with additional support and sponsorship from Diamond Distributing and www.comicshoplocator.com.
Like Free Comic Book Day, some publishers will be using the event to promote current books like Marvel’s Thor, Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel (all of which have books being released for the event) and DC’s John Constantine. But others will be used to support upcoming theatrical releases.
Dark Horse will have a special Hellboy edition, just in time to promote January’s re-imagined Hellboy movie starring David Harbour. Kodansha comics will be publishing Battle Angel: Alita Homecoming to help push next spring’s Battle Angel movie and IDW will release a Goosebumps title just a few weeks after the second Goosebumps movie hits theatres.
Then there will be ones produced just for Halloween fun. I’m personally looking forward to Windmaker Birth of a King by Youneek Studios.
And keeping with the spirit of the season, there will the The Greatest Halloween Costume Contest Ever. Entrants simply have to upload a pic of themselves in their costume to the Halloween Comicfest website holding one of the Comicfest titles to have a shot at winning a shopping spree worth anywhere from five hundred to a thousand dollars. That’s a lot of comics.
This is the seventh year for the event and you can bet organizers are hoping it will one day rival the annual Free Comic Book Day in popularity. If that happens, it will benefit everyone, from the publishers right down to the smallest retailers.
Click here for more information on the event.
Image www.halloweencomicfest.com
