Free Comic Book Day returns to Korea

A sample of the free comic books available this Sunday at The Dice Latte in northeastern Seoul / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

By Jon Dunbar

The four sweetest words in the English language might be "Free Comic Book Day" (FCBD), at least to comic book aficionados. This is especially true in Korea, where finding Western-style, English-language comic books can be a challenge.

This unique holiday, celebrated since 2002 by the North American comic book industry, is coming to Korea this weekend, at The Dice Latte, a haven for comic book lovers and tabletop gamers near Hoegi Station on Seoul Metro Line 1, the Gyeongchun Line and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line in northeastern Seoul.

"The main purpose of FCBD is to encourage folks to get out and visit a local comic shop. Most comic shops are small and locally owned bookstores, so it's their biggest event of the year. Typically, only brick-and-mortar stores can participate," said Joey Croner, owner of The Dice Latte. "For the past couple years, it's been harder, since people had a good reason to stay home. But this year we are hoping that more people are feeling good about getting out and visiting the shop."

The Dice Latte opened in 2015 as a tabletop gaming cafe catering to gamers of all kinds, from board games to role-playing games (RPGs). But over the past two years during the pandemic, it has leaned harder into retail to make ends meet while seeing a reduced number of in-store gaming activities. Now that customers are returning, Croner notes the need for more space.

"We became somewhat of a hybrid shop over the course of the pandemic," Croner said. "When your business depends on gathering people, you have to do something else to survive when people can't gather."

Joey Croner shows off some of the titles available for Free Comic Book Day this Sunday at The Dice Latte in northeastern Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

He said he started selling a small rack of comic books three years ago and then imported around 15,000 comic books hoping to sell them at Comic-Con 2020. But when that event was canceled, he ended up putting the comics up for sale in the store.

This Sunday, the shop will be giving away almost 50 different comic book titles from dozens of publishers, including DC, Marvel, Archie, Dark Horse, Image and IDW.

"There seems to be broad reasoning for why publishers choose their contributions," Croner said. "Mostly, they are using the event to showcase the types of books they produce and/or the things they have planned for the coming year. For example, some smaller publishers may like to show off some of their popular titles, some books for younger readers or books that focus on some underrepresented groups. Bigger ones may use it to kick off events or even introduce new characters among other things."

Of course, there will be blockbuster superhero titles, including "Spider-Man/Venom" and "Avengers/X-Men" from Marvel, and DC's "League of Super-Pets" and the upcoming "Dark Crisis" event series.

Croner will also be giving away a reprint of the JLA/Avengers Hero Initiative edition, a four-issue co-publishing venture combining the highest-profile characters from DC and Marvel. There are only 7,000 copies of the reprint, which were made as a tribute to legendary artist George Perez who announced last December that he had stage three pancreatic cancer.

He said his shop is currently selling mostly DC titles, which attract readers with great writers. But he also said Marvel is attracting more speculators, as Marvel movies and TV shows are affecting the value of the comics to collectors.

The FCBD titles also include other widely known intellectual properties, including Archie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Doctor Who and even the Three Stooges, as well as video game characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter and Pokemon.

There are also smaller titles, such as "Enemies" by Svetlana Chmakova, "It Won't Always Be Like This: A Memoir" by Malaka Gharib and "The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics."

According to Croner, the best-quality comics overall this year have been from independent publishers. "A lot of really good writers are moving into doing creator-owned (work)," he said.

"Getting people to try new stuff can go either way. The cool thing is that these days a lot of comics readers follow writers instead of characters. So sometimes a new title by a popular creator will sell pretty well. However, there are some IPs that get pretty big in the U.S. and here just fall flat."

Also appearing at The Dice Latte's FCBD event will be local comic book artists Shawn Morrissey and illustrator Park Ji-yun. They are currently working on issue 2 of "The Dark Side of Seoul" comic book. Morrissey, who released issue 1 in 2020, will be signing copies of the first issue. With every copy of issue 1 purchased, Park, who is illustrating the second issue, will give away a signed postcard of her art teasing the upcoming issue, anticipated for release later this year, probably by Halloween.

Joey Croner sorts through comic books at The Dice Latte in northeastern Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

The event will be happening this Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. "Normally FCBD is the first Saturday in May," Croner said. "We'll be doing it on Sunday; then we can do it at the same time as everyone in the U.S."

Visit instagram.com/thedicelatte or freecomicbookday.com for more information. Go to dicelatte.com to see what titles are for sale at the store, or email dicelatte@gmail.com.