Halloween ComicFest 2012 Photos & Fun!

Sep 24, 2014

Based on reactions from retailers, customers and industry professionals, the first annual Halloween ComicFest was a solid success in 2012! Check out what photos and what many retailers around the world had to say about the inaugural year of Halloween ComicFest!

"We feel that the purpose of Free Comic Book Day in May is a way to attract new readers to the world of comic books -- something we felt that we should do that more than once a year," explains Chris Pobjecky of Yancy Street Comics in Port Richey, FL. "So, we combined our Annual Halloween Sale with our FCBD Event, and called it FCBD Reloaded! We invited some of our industry friends to come out and sign/sketch, ran a sale, costume contest, etc etc. The turnout was awesome! Over 1,000 people. Great costumes! Sales were 10 x's our normal sales for the day. Everyone had fun, and we were exhausted by the end of a fantastic day!"

"We spent about a month planning our event for Halloween ComicFest, a week decorating the store and a full day of Make-up to prepare for it," says James Jagic of Brisbane, Australia's Comics Etc. "The store was decked out with decorations -- dry ice fog, a fortune teller, free candy, comics and showbags!"

"Halloween isn't really celebrated here in Australia so we were unsure how well the event would go over but it was a HUGE success. We closed the store at 5:30 in the afternoon and reopened for the event from 7:30-10. The line was going down the street with almost everyone dressed up! A very weird sight here in Australia."

"We even did a scavenger hunt with prizes for all that completed it. All up a couple of hundred people came and had a great time."

Fantasium Comics and Games in Federal Way, WA said: "First off, some full disclosure: I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. So, even if Diamond hadn't promoted this, we would still have had a Halloween party. I ended up buying 2 cases of the mini comics plus a smattering of the regular books as well. I stickered those 2 cases (most of them anyway) and promoted on Facebook & our weekly newsletter that anyone giving out candy on Halloween is welcome to stop in and grab however many they feel they need with our sticker on them to give out as well. I didn't think it would be as big of a hit as it was. I ended up giving away both cases and some of the regular ones because I ran out. One of our customers posted this on our Facebook wall:

The Halloween Comics were a hit!!!! I had kids leaving the house screaming "Mommy, Daddy, look I got comics!!!!"

I gave away regular ones at our Halloween party. We had food, board games, and a zombie make-up demo. Everyone that showed up had a great time and I'm hoping that giving these comics to my customers to hand out at their homes will bring in some fresh faces."

Sidekick Comics - Columbus, IN

"We had lots of customers! Our event brought in four times as much in sales compared to a regular Saturday. We also advertised heavily with posters and 2500 two-sided postcards around town, at schools, and the local college. We had our FCBD Zombie commercial play during The Walking Dead," said The Core owner Mike Blanchard from Cedar Falls, IA. "Our store held a costume contest where we rented a stage and set up in our parking lot, hired a DJ for music and to be our MC. Plenty of volunteers in costumes brought tons of smiles!"

Flying Colors Comics - Concord, CA

Carol and John's Comic Book Shop - Cleveland, OH

Thanks for making the first annual Halloween ComicFest a success!