But after making a quick inventory of last year´s remaining free comics and thanks to the SECRET WARS II Omnibus, which on it´s own netted in eleven free comics I decided it´s time to resuscitate this tradition and bring some Christmas joy to some readers and other comic afficionados.
Now you might ask yourself : What is this guy talking about ? Christmas Contest ? We are in November. That´s a bit early. And you would be right.
But the thing is that it´s already the 17th of November and lately the weeks seem to pass faster and faster. And before you know it Christmas is here and I haven´t gotten around to do this. And I want all the comic books I´m giving away to be in the hands of comic readers if not before Christmas than at least AT Christmas. The last time I did this contest was in 2013 and I only got to announce it on the 13th of December which was really late. So this year I´m trying to get a head start so that I can maybe add a few copies to the giveaway pile. Because last year at this time I had finished all my Christmas shopping while this year I haven´t even started yet. I have my eye on a few items but so far I haven´t done any actual shopping which means depending on which store I have to go to for the Christmas presents there might be free comics I can add to that pile.
Because so far there are only the ones I thought people might want but that way I know which ones are actually in high demand. And speaking about being in high demand, longtime readers might notice there are not that many comics from GRATIS COMIC TAG on the list like in previous years. The reason for that is that the comics from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY are much more coveted here in Germany so I just get the ones that interest me and order FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comics whenever possible.
But I´m seeing that I´m already am going into too much detail without explaining what this is all about. Thankfully I already did this a few times so I can paraphrase from my old posts. Again - longtime readers can skip this part and go right down to the list below - while the new readers ( I live in denial ! ) are probably interested in the specifics of this contest.
And when I say " contest " I mean just a convenient excuse for me to give away free comics. Yes, I must be crazy to do so but, hey, I´m an old fart who mostly reads old Bronze Age comics and rambles about Gespenster Geschichten, Markie Post and Yaya Han so how do I know I´m not crazy ?
So right now you are probably thinking about all those fantastic comics and trades and hardcovers I´m handing out, which will be gazillions and the newest stuff and just beyond cool. But you can hold it right there buster. As longtime readers of this blog know, all the comics and trades and hardcovers I review on this very blog ( although there haven´t been that many reviews lately ) I have to buy from my own pockets. Except the comics I get sent by the fine folks at BLACK TOWER COMICS & BOOKS ( and when I say " the fine folks at BLACK TOWER COMICS & BOOKS " I mean " One man band Terry Hooper " who, in his infinite kindness, not only sends me these comics for free - and which I don´t review as often as I should - but also never tires of plugging this blog ) I don´t get any comp copies so there will be none among the comics I´m giving away.
When I said that I will give away free comics that´s exactly what I will do.
Meaning that instead of hoarding all the free comics I get from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and GRATIS COMIC TAG and the likes, I´m giving away all those comics I don´t want to keep. I always saw those events as chances to check out series I don´t know or to remind myself of the great comic series we often tend to forget with all the super hero drama and reboots and relaunches and new 52s. So unlike other comic readers - especially in Germany - I don´t have to get ALL the comics of GRATIS COMIC TAG or FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, just the ones I find interesting.
Not that there´s anything wrong with those guys who want to have them all. Hey, any comic reader who doesn´t understand the primal collecting instinct should give away his comic club membership card right away.
Because collecting comics is what we all do, right ? It´s just the kind of comics that we collect where we differ. But back to the free comics, every year I intend to do a post ( and when I say " a post " I really mean " a series of posts " because I can never fit it into a single post ) about all the free comics I DO get and more often than not it doesn´t work out. Now, unlike some of the other comics I review, the comics from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and GRATIS COMIC TAG have kind of an expiration date since you probably don´t want to read about last year´s free comics.
So once the year is over that ship has sailed the port so I don´t have to keep them any longer in the hopes that I will review them later. Even if I did, nobody would want to read it anyway. This year I have been lucky enough to get almost every comic from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and GRATIS COMIC TAG I wanted to check out - one of the few benefits of having two brothers is that you can read three times as many GRATIS COMIC TAG comics - and I have chosen the ones I´m going to keep.
Now you are probably asking yourself where the heck I get my free comics that I can pick and choose and even afford to give some of them away.
For GRATIS COMIC TAG I have my regular comicshop, the SAMMLERECKE in Esslingen where they always have all the issues and they are always kind enough to reserve the ones I want. Because of my bad knee I have not been there as often as usual this year but before Christmas arrives I probably have to do another visit where maybe I can get a few more free comics. I don´t want to exploit them but I´m sure if there´s one comic somebody absolutely needs I can find a copy there. I got a lot of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comics from them the first time I participated ( the final post of that years series on FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is still the most popular post of this blog ) but the second time was when they moved the entire shop and some of the issues I wanted got lost and it took a few months until I had a handful. So I´m not doing the whole list thing.
There are a lot of comics that I read that are not on my pull list - for various reasons - and for all those plus the comics my comicshop misses I go to an online comicshop ( ANDIS COMICEXPRESS ) where you get one free comic from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY or GRATIS COMIC TAG for every 10 EUROS of your comic order. Now I don´t order crazy amounts of comics there so I get dozens of copies of free comics. But I order there anyway and if I get two or three free comics with each shipment that makes a nice bundle of them. Mind you, for years I did order my comics there without knowing that you can get free comics without doing anything special. It´s not like I have to pay extra to get those comics so I don´t have any problem with giving them away once I´m done with them.
Which means that I read all the comics and - except a few exceptions where I ordered two copies - they are not in mint condition anymore.
It´s not like I used them to build a dam or kill a wild beast either it´s just that some of them might not be in the best condition and I´m only mentioning it because I know that some people are peculiar that way.
Okay, you´re probably already bored by all my ramblings and your next question would be what you must do to enter this Big Christmas Contest .
The answer is : nothing. Or not much.This is the fourth time I´m doing this contest and the first time I gave my readers a small assignment which didn´t go over to well. So the second time there were no strings attached, readers just had to sent an e - mail or contact me on the forums where I´m going to post similar announcements. Now my brother thinks I should give my readers herculean tasks that they must perform in order to qualify for this contest. And it should be really hard too and if it doesn´t help the entire comic industry or at least helps promote this blog I shouldn´t do it. Which - at least in my opinion - goes against the very idea of giving away free comics without any ulterior motive. Because it´s Christmas, remember ? Or at least it will be when the comics arrive.
So you don´t have to do more than write me an e - mail to the address you can find by clicking the " about me " link. Or, if you are one of my german readers you can contact me via the forums. And if you can´t figure out how to do that just use the comments section but don´t put any links in your answer because the it will be flagged as spam automatically. Of course you may not want to put your address in a section that everyone can read so you might not want to use it.
Forget I said that. Bad idea. Don´t use the comments section. Not good.
So, without any further ado because I want to finish this post which is longer than expected as it is even though I re - used an earlier post ( you must be so tired of reading this ) here is the list of the available comics :
From FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2015 : CLEOPATRA IN SPACE, BODIE TROLL / DRONE, DOCTOR WHO, TERRIBLE LIZARD, COMICS FESTIVAL, DEFEND COMICS, JURASSIC STRIKE FORCE 5, WORLDS OF ASPEN, SPONGEBOB FREESTYLE FUNNIES, BONGO COMICS FREE FOR ALL, BOOM COMICS TEN YEAR CELEBRATION, AVATAR / PLANTS VS ZOMBIES / BANDETTE, THE TICK and VALIANT 25TH ANNIVERSARY. I had to order a second copy of the VALIANT comic since the art was so fantastic I had to keep one myself.
Now if you haven´t checked out this year´s free comics I put up a link in my last post where you can see most of them but for those who don´t want to go back to my old post ( oh, the humiliation ) here is the link .
So onwards with the free comics. From FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2014 : COURTNEY CRUMRIN, THE ADVENTURES OF JELLABY, THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER !, THE TICK, BONGO COMICS FREE FOR ALL, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, WORLDS OF ASPEN, HIP HOP FAMILY TREE 2 IN ONE, KABOOM ! SUMMER BLAST, TOP SHELF KIDS CLUB, ARCHIE DIGEST and FUBAR.
We also have a few comics left from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013 : MOLLY DANGER, Hal Foster´s PRINCE VALIANT, THE STRANGERS, THE TICK, STEAM WARS, KABOOM ! SUMMER BLAST and WORLD OF ARCHIE DIGEST.
Like I said, I don´t have as many comics from GRATIS COMIC TAG but one of my brothers gave me most of the ones he had already read ( the other one hoards them ) so I have from the GRATIS COMIC TAG 2015 :
OUTCAST, ANGRY BIRDS COMICS, PERCY PICKWICK, RALPH AZHAM, SIMPSONS COMICS FÜR UMME, DRIVE. And finally from GRATIS COMIC TAG 2014 STRANGERS ON PARADISE 20TH ANNIVERSARY and RABBIDS.
I´m also throwing in issue 2 of SPIDER - MAN DER AVENGER which contains issues 3 and 4 of that series. I bought this for one of my brothers who was always bugging me about the series but when I finally ordered it because he sounded desperate he had already bought it somewhere else. Like they say : no good deed and so on. Anyway, I don´t like the series but I guess there is somebody out there who wants it.
A few months ago I offered my copy of DAREDEVIL - HÖLLENFAHRT and this is still valid so if there is anybody who wants to read it drop me a line. And this are the free comics I´m giving away, all 45 of them. I hope you find something you were looking for. I will be doing reader´s requests if possible ( it all depends on what is still available ) which means that I will do another order before the end of the year and I will go to my comic shop where I might be able to find a copy of a book that´s not on the list.
I will start sending the comics out as soon as I have some participants and we´ll see how far we come with the comics I got. You can ask for as many comics as you like and if nobody else is interested in the comics you want you´re home free but keep in mind that other people might want some comics too so don´t be too greedy. Yes, I want to get rid of them all eventually but we can all share now, can´t we ? Also I don´t have to send all of them away just to one guy even if he´s well meaning. I´ll just put the remaining books in the bag for next year. So I will be posting the list on a few german comic forum which is where I give most of them away and I hope to hear from you soon, guys. Have much fun unpacking !
Today´s celebrity birthday - which I completely forgot - is french actress Sophie Marceau which I casted in my very first post of CASTING THE JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE as JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE´s Catherine Cobert.
The french sexbomb, best known in the US for appearing in the Bond flick THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, and outside for taking her clothes of in such classics like MES NUITS SONT PLUS BELLES QUE VOS JOURS ( my nights are more beautiful than your days ) or DESCENT AUX ENFERS ( Descent into hell ) - where she appeared in nude scenes with Claude Brasseur who played her father in the extremely successful teenie romantic comedies LA BOUM and LA BOUM 2 which caused all kind of wild outrage at this perceived incest - celebrates her 49th anniversary Today.
Her first nude scene was in HAPPY EASTER with Jean Paul Belmondo which I have to confess to have lying somewhere and still haven´t watched. She was 18 at that time she made the movie and payed the movie studio Gaumont money to get out of her contract to be able to do nude scenes. What a trooper. In the movie she´s Jean Paul´s lover but when his wife returns a bit early from her vacations she says she´s his daughter from his ex. Sophie also starred in the horror movie NE TE RETOURNE PAS ( don´t turn around ) opposite Monica Bellucci which is a dream sandwich.
Not only does Sophie drop her clothes very often in her movies she also shows great cleavage like in the film THE MUSKETEERS REVENGE ( or The daughter of D´Artagnan like it´s called in Germany ) that has one of my favorite scenes with her. Sophie also had a wardrobe malfunction in Cannes 2005 where her dress slipped off. Some say this accident was faked but what the hey, I don´t care. If she did it on purpose that only makes her cooler in my book. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Sophie Marceau, I wish you have many happy returns and thank you for the mammaries !
It is a bit early to really get into the Christmas spirit but because I always have more videos than I can post I want to include one of the various Christmas related videos I have bookmarked. When I think of Christmas I always think about the Christmas cartoon specials and the best known is of course the Peanuts Christmas Special. It´s the gold standard when it comes to these kind of specials. Sadly I couldn´t find it but here is another one called I WANT A DOG FOR CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN.
Doctor Who and Christmas have a long tradition, one I was totally unaware of until the New Who. So here´s a rather obscure documentary called DOCTOR WHO`S WHO`S WHO from 1986 featuring the Doctors three to six, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davidson and Colin Baker.
We´re staying with the Christmas theme : the X - Men and X - Mas are a natural connection ( I did an X - Men X - Mas post myself last year ) and here´s Amy Dallen with one of her favorite X - Men Christmas stories.
I wanted to include another Yaya Han video and this one is even related to the post. Well, kind of. Maybe you haven´t done your Christmas shopping like me and here Yaya is pimping a company called Comic Bento. I could not find any information if they do shipping to foreign countries but at least for my readers in Canada and the US this should be interesting.
To close things out here´s the fanfilm DRAGONBALL Z : THE FALL OF MEN that I found on Terry Hooper´s great COMIC BITS ONLINE website ( which is on the blogroll and you should visit at least once a day ). The only thing I find sad is that the makers of this movie spend all this time and work on a project they made no money off. When with a few alterations they could have made their own thing and sold it to movie studios to rake in the big bucks. Doing fanfilms for recognition is really nice but what prevents these guys from going their own way. It´s nice to make a BATMAN movie but when you don´t get money from it why not make a version that is not tied to DC ? With all the countless ELSEWORLDS that exist ( and I´m counting the NEW 52 as one big ELSEWORLDS story ) it shouldn´t be too difficult to do a variation on a theme movie. Or at least they could have contacted Akira Toriyama - or whoever holds the rights for Dragonball Z - after finishing the trailer and produce the movie for them so it can be shown in movie theaters. Anyway, if you like the movie go to Terry´s blog and post a comment. You don´t want him to close that one too, do you ?
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