Celebrate Comic Book Store Day this Saturday

A long lapsed hobby of mine properly kicked back in around 3 years ago. In the past, and mostly in my youth, I collected an enormous variety of comic books. Being half-English I benefitted from all those English childhood influences - Beano, Dandy, Whizzer, Commando and Starblazer and latterly 2000 AD and Viz even. Iceland being the confluence of Europe and the Americas - we got all the Marvel and DC comics, mixed in with all the Belgian and French stuff too - Asterix, Alix, Lucky Luke, Spirou etc.

At different stages in life the hobby has arisen to the fore again and piqued my interest, as it is still doing in this current phase. I have previously noted that this is the Second Golden Age of Comics - especially with the volume and popularity of DC and Marvel Movies and TV Series, and the incredible depth and breadth of subject matter you can now get - pretty much all tastes and peculiarities are catered for.

In my usual way I tend to go full-in, and I am currently tracking well in excess of 100 different series - mostly by way of Image, but also across DC / Vertigo, Marvel, Avatar, Boom!, Dark Horse, Dynamite and IDW to name the best-known major-leaguers.

For this Free Comic Book Day I encourage you to delve into the lesser known imprints, go outside the mainstream - you might be pleasantly surprised what you find there!:

10+ Lesser Known Imprints

• Archaia Entertainment - Genetiks, Lantern City, Mezolith, Rust
• Aspen Comics - Fathom, Soulfire, Executive Assitant Iris
• Automatic Publishing - Hatter M
• Benitez Productions - Lady Mechanika, Wraithborn
• Big Dog Ink - Legend of Oz, Penny for Your Soul, Shahrazad, Ursa Minor
• Cinebook - XIII, Largo Winch, Thorgal, Aldebaran / Antares, Valerian and Laureline
• Humanoids - The Incal, Metabarons, Technopriests, Izuna, The Swords of Glass
• Improper Books - Porcelain, Briar, Butterfly Gate
• Oni Press - The Auteur, The Life After, Princess Ugg
• Valiant Entertainment - Ivar Timewalker, Imperium, Divinity, Ninjak
• Zenescope Entertainment - Grimm Fairy Tales, Wonderland, Jungle Book, Neverland, Robyn Hood, Van Helsing

10+ Favourite Comic Book Artists

• Chip Zdarsky - Sex Criminals
• Christian J Ward - Ody-C, Infinte Vacation
• Greg Tocchini - Low, Last Days of American Crime
• Jamie McKelvie - Wicked + Divine, Phonogram
• James Stokoe - Orc Stain, Wonton Soup, Sullivan’s Sluggers, Godzilla, Murderbullets
• Jean Giraud / Mœbius - The Incal, Blueberry, Arzach, The Airtight Garage
• Jean-Michel Ponzio - Genetiks, The Chimpanzee Complex, The Pelican Protocol
• Sana Takeda - Monstress, X-23
• Saverio Tenuta - Legend of the Scarlet Blades, Izuna, Throne of Ice
• Steve Cummings - Wayward
• Stjepan Sejic - Aphrodite IX, Death Vigil, Ravine, Sunstone

Where to get Comic Books in London

I’m very fortunate to live in central London, as there are 3 excellent stores right in the centre. I tend to start at Holborn tube, and walk down High Holborn towards Shaftesbury Avenue, first taking in Forbidden Planet, then traversing down to Orbital Comics on Great Newport Street and finally crossing over to Gosh! on Berwick Street.

• Forbidden Planet - 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, Covent Garden, WC2H 8JR
• Orbital Comics - 8 Great Newport Street, Coven Garden, WC2H 7JA
• Gosh! London - 1 Berwick Street, Soho, W1F 0DR

I occasionally venture up to Mega City in Camden:

• Mega City Comics - 18 Inverness Street, Camden, NW1 7HJ

And if in Croydon would make sure I checked out their A Place in Space and Forbidden Planet:

• A Place in Space - 96 Church Street, Croydon, CR0 1RD
• Forbidden Planet - 43 Church Street, Croydon, CR0 1RH

Finally, if hunting down older unusual issues, you may occasionally strike gold at Book & Comic Exchange at Notting Hill:

• Book & Comic Exchange - 14 Pembridge Road, Notting Hill, W11 3HL

If you don’t live in and around London, you can use this: Lookup

Full details on Comic Book Day can be found on the: Free Comic Book Day website