Free Comic Book Day 2011 At Comic Odyssey Tomorrow!

The  10TH annual Free Comic Book Day  is just hours away!  This yearly event is celebrated worldwide every first Saturday of May with the aim of  encouraging new readers to get into comics,  and to promote comic books and most importantly, comic book reading in general. And tomorrow, May 7 (actually today here in the Philippines - its 12:11 am now) one of the biggest supporters of this event this side of the world -  Comic Odyssey - will be giving away... 30,000 comic books coming from publishers such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, etc at their Robinson's Galleria branch in Ortigas/EDSA.

Just in case you didn't catch that, I'm gonna repeat it again. 30,000 FREE COMIC BOOKS WILL BE GIVEN AWAY TOMORROW.

Wow, that's a lot. Very impressive. So if you are not going to do anything important tomorrow, try to drop by at Comic Odyssey before 10:30 am to get some good freebies and also the chance to meet some of the local industry's top comic book artists and creators. For more information click here. 

Speaking of comic book reading, I remember when I was 7-9 years old, my parents brought me a copy of The Amazing Spiderman. Sadly, I don't remember what the issue number was because my copy got lost a long time ago. Anyway, having that comic book helped me learn how to read, enhance my reading comprehension and develop my literacy at a very young age while introducing me to the wonders of reading. Though I didn't understand the story well back then, I did learn new words and phrases while reading aloud the dialog inside those thought-balloons and enjoying the Spidey swinging all over the place. As a result of that, I was able to learn the language pretty well, and since then, I had this new-found love for reading all kinds of literature. 

I notice now that most kids don't read anymore and would rather watch Justin Bieber on MTV, or play computer games. Not saying that those are bad things to do, but I believe that there things that needs more attention than TV and video games - and reading is definitely one of them. Point is, I honestly think that a  comic book is a great tool to persuade kids into reading at an early age, because of the combination of a written script and narrative visuals. Kids will not only get to learn how to read, but they will be entertained while while doing it, thanks to the colorful pictures that goes with the flow of the story.

That's the reason why the FCBD is important. Its an awesome vehicle for promoting literacy here in the country. And hopefully one day, the media picks up these kinds of conventions and put them in the mainstream to attract more people to join. 

Here's the sad part of writing this: I won't be able to participate in the event tomorrow because of work. I was hoping to get some comic books for my siblings and my girlfriend so they could enjoy comic book reading as well as much as I do, but that won't be possible for now.  *sigh*

I'm sure that it will be jampacked fun event tomorrow at Comic Odyssey so bring your whole family - especially kids - and make sure you get those comic books,  get to know all the great artists and comic creators, let them sign your books, shirts or whatever... and most importantly: HAVE A GOOD TIME!