Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day. The first order of Free Comic Book Day was deciding which dorky superhero t-shirt to wear. My current favorite is my distressed Superman tee, but I already wore it Friday. For a moment I contemplated wearing my other distressed Superman tee, and for a more than a single moment I considered wearing my Justice League of America tee, but ultimately I decided to go with Aquaman.

But which Aquaman? The cool black Aquaman t-shirt cut to an athletic fit which, when wrapped around my body, signals very clearly that I am not athletically fit? The orange one, that makes me think of hunters and highway workers? Have I really been going on about this for two paragraphs now?

I like Free Comic Book Day. Not really for the free comic books (I mean, I like free comic books just fine), but for the enthusiasm for storytelling and joyful geekiness. I like seeing fanboys and girls and whole families and especially the little kids who seem to love comics as much as I did when I was seven and picked up my very first comics and was bombarded by cosmically charged comicoid particles.

Not only did I pick up several free comic books, but I bought a bunch too. I’m only about halfway through them. My clear favorite of the lot so far is Captain America/Thor: Mighty Fighting Avengers, a charming, all-ages, team-up story in which Cap and Thor travel back in time and meet not only each other for the first time, but also King Arthur and Sir Gawain.

By the way, I’m just putting this out there: I want to write comics. Someone please hire me to do so. I’ll be saying this in various social media until someone hires me. So, if you want me to shut up about this, you know what to do.

Here’s the scene at the first of our two FCBD stops, Southern California Comics (the second stop being Comickaze).

From Free Comic Book Day 2011

And here’s the haul:

From Free Comic Book Day 2011