"We thought we would share our 2004 FCBD experience with you!

"It was a dark and stormy night . . . No! It was actually a bright and sunny morning in Brandon, Florida, on July 3, 2004 when dozens of people began lining up outside The Comics Club for Free Comic Book Day!

"Our community's annual Independence Day Parade was held on July 3rd and it launches from the plaza in which our store is located. Therefore, by 8 a.m. the parking lot was packed to overflowing with the cars belonging to people who were taking part in the parade. It was an amazing sight, with all the people and floats sitting in the parking lot. But we were a little worried. These people would be leaving the plaza to take part in the parade, not hanging around until we opened the store.

"We thought ‘Oh no! Our customers won't have any place to park for our Free Comic Book Day event.’ There we were with free grab bags for the first 50 customers, door prizes to give away all day long, a great sale and lots of super heroes set to arrive live and in person at the store for the adoring fans and now there would be no place to for them to park!

"But then our ‘spidey senses’ kicked in. Our store would be opening at 11 a.m. We knew the parade would end sometime between noon and 1 p.m. There was time to work this to our advantage. We hurried down to Kinko’s and had a few hundred extra of our Free Comic Book Day flyers printed up and put them on every last car in the parking lot.

"The customers who planned on being at our store for FCBD were resourceful, too. They found places to park after all. By time the store opened there were more than 60 people in line outside. Within the half hour we had well over 100 people in the store. By noon many of the parade goers were starting to find their way into the store, many of them with our flyers in hand, happily having their pictures taken with the super-heroes, and lining up at the register to buy some great comics, games and toys at discount prices. The line was long and many people stood in line for up to an hour. To keep them entertained we went up and down the line taking their pictures with the super-heroes. (We had friends and customers volunteer to wear their custom made super-hero costumes and appear at the store. Appearing at The Comics Club for Free Comic Book Day were two Spider-Mans -- the Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man in the Alex Ross costume -- as well as Capt. America, The Huntress, Wolverine, The Punisher, Cat Girl, and The Crow.)

"’Hello, this was on my car. Is this the place with the free comic books?’ said one lady, waving our bright pink flyer in the air. ‘That's us!’ I replied. ‘Come on in and have your picture taken with Captain America!’

"By the end of the day, we had counted well over 400 people coming through the doors. We've already begun discussing how to make FCBD 2005 an even bigger success!"