Free Comic Book Day: A Photo Essay

(Click to enlarge)


Bergen Street Comics
470 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217



When Josh and Conor first arrived, people were packed in like sardines all the way to the door, and a small crowd milled around outside. If comics were a person they’d get a fist bump.



The front window display featured comics, which is, you know, smart business strategy.



Want to take load off and flip through a few comics? You don’t have to go too far beyond the front door.



Bergen Street Comics owner Tom Adams.



Free comic books and free booze will pack ’em in every time.



At the back of the store one will find a mini original art gallery… and, on occasion, an open bar.



Beer and champagne courtesy of Bergen Street Comics. Coffee you had to bring yourself.



“These books have words… and pictures?”



Judging by the crowd, Brooklyn loves comics.



If loving a naked, thinly veiled Lois Lane spanking a naked, thinly veiled Superman is wrong, Josh doesn’t want to be right.



The genre signs on the various shelves are both helpful and fuel for lively debate.



When Dean Haspiel talks, ladies listen.



The golden table in the center of the store was the central point of congregation.



The alcohol was fruitful and multiplied.



Spy! Infiltrator! Seize him!



Dean Haspiel signs a few autographs.



The only Free Comic Book Day book that Josh and Conor wanted to pick up was Blackest Night #0. Sadly, their wants would go unfulfilled.



Josh ended up spending like a sailor on shore leave. He even impulse purchased a hardcover (!) as his stack of single issues was being rung up.



Tom’s lovely wife Amy thanked everyone for coming and then announced that the party was moving just down the street to O’Connor’s.

“Why are you taking pictures? To the bar! (After pizza)”

FIN.

Comments

  1. Damn, that’s a really nice comic shop.  Hell, that’s a really nice shop, period, regardless of what it sells. 

    BTW, Blackest Night 0 was good, but nothing to be sad about not getting.  The Lantern profiles at the end were a nice primer for noobs, though still nothing on the Indigo Lanterns (beyond the name of their leader and some images).  How was the Marvel book?- I don’t even know what they put out this year

  2. You mean there’s a place that sells comic books and beer? I would never have to leave!

  3. Suggesion for a future video show:  A comic book crawl through the many great shops in NYC.

  4. @NJBaritone – I like that idea.

  5. That looked like a lot of fun

  6. The Avengers Book was good, I hated that it was so small, but It gave me a quick look at what I’ve been missing, and I’m thinking of picking up some of the Dark Reign Books.

  7. I know how that is. The only Free Comic I really wanted to pick up was Owly and Friends. It was the first thing to go. I’m not joking by the way.

  8. Yes, Conor and I dressed, more or less, exactly the same that night.

  9. Was Ron able to get Extra BN#0’s for you guys? Or will you have to buy it when it’s re-released in June?

  10. I missed out on BN #0, as well. In fact I didn’t get any free books as both of my local shops were completely cleaned out of free stuff by early afternoon. 🙁

  11. surprisingly my store still had LOTS of BN #0. sorry guys.

  12. Balloons,booze,comfy chairs,gallery opening atmosphere,beautiful comic shop. My God, you Yanks are spoiled and I hope you realise it? Here in Cambridge UK, we have only have one Forbidden Planet, which I suppose is better than nothing. No discount comic book services over the pond either, however I didn’t have to shoulder anyone out of the way to grab a copy of Blackest Night 0 from a big pile on the table. Love the photos by the way!

  13. @NJBaritone, great idea, I think this would make for a fun and interesting Video episode.

  14. That’s a great picture/caption for josh holding that Parade book

  15. Does Bergen offer any discounts for regular customers?

  16. I actually managed to snag an extra copy of BN to pass around – let me know if you’d like it.

    @Rustyautoparts – I second that sentiment. Odd, considering most of the LCS owners I’ve run into often smell like booze. 

  17. Wow! Is this comic book store in an alternate reality? Too good to be true.

  18. @rustyautoparts: They don’t sell drinks there, it was a party.

  19. Sweet idea Baritone.

  20. @featheredgothic – what about Amazon UK?

  21. i didn’t have time to show up to the store on staurday but i did notice several kids with free comic book day bags with their parents at a resturent that i went to that evening. Pretty cool.

     i think free comic book day really should be about the new, younger reader

  22. @Conor: Ohhhh… Well, let’s just say that I came up with the idea of the FLC&BS. Really, I think it would be genius. What better way to spend a Wednesday evening than picking up that weeks books and throwing back a few.

    @edward: As much as I love getting free books, it was great to see kids participating. There’s got to be some way to get the youth involved in comics more than one day out of the year.

  23. I hate to rub it in, but my shop always has beer for it’s Wednesday regulars. The owner knows the longer we hang out there, the more recommendations we’ll give or get from others as well as end up seeing something else we wanted. I’ve found quite a few good books and made some damn good friends in the process. It’s almost like a social club.

     I will say this though, your shop as great taste in beer! Yuengling is awesome!

  24. @Rustyautoparts – a dancing floor and a couch in every clothes or shoes store that’s located in a mall. They always have music playing in the background, so why not allow the people that get dragged to those smelly hell-holes the ability to vent in interpretive dance?

    The couch is for the people that want to read comics and lament about not being asked to dance. 

  25. @ Josh :  At least you guys did not both were the same or similar hats.  Now that would be creepy and damn near impossible to tell you two apart!  Looked very fun

  26. awesome!!

  27. that really is a fantastic beard

  28. Never was a tale of greater woe, than…

  29. Can’t wait till I visit Bergen Street Comics next time I am in NY. Tom and Amy rule,