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This story first
appeared in:

Daily Press and
Argus

Thursday, July 1,
2004

Page
1

Back

Holy freebies,
Batman: Shop gives out comics

DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

Free Comic Book Day is just what it sounds like: A day when
comic book stores around the world hand out free comic books.

The day will be celebrated Saturday at Hero Quest in Genoa
Township. Store owner Nathan Mezel said that he has 20-30
titles - ranging from Mickey Mouse to Spider-Man - available
free to anyone who comes through the door.

Mezel said that Free Comic Book Day, which was founded by
DC Comics and Marvel Comics three years ago, was scheduled to
coincide with the June 30 opening of the film "Spider-Man 2."

"It's surprising that a lot of kids don't realize that
Spider-Man was a comic book, and The Hulk," he said. "They've
been around since the '60s."

"The basic idea is to draw in new readers," said Eric
Wilmoth of Howell. Wilmoth is a member of the Michigan Comic
Network and will be giving out free samples of his work at
Hero Quest on Free Comic Book Day. The day also will cap off
Comic Awareness Week, which runs from June 27 to July 3.

"There's a comic book out there for everybody," Wilmoth
said. "It's spreading the message to comic fans to drag a
friend into a comic store on Free Comic Book Day."

Wilmoth is getting a degree in "sequential art," which he
said is another term for comics, at Lansing Community College.
He is trying to make a living as a comic book author and does
some painting and artwork on the side.

"It engages the reader in a way like no other medium,"
Wilmoth said. "It is an art form as far as we're concerned."

However, Wilmoth said that movies and video games have made
things tough for comic books in the last 25-30 years.

"It's an art form that a lot of people have lost touch
with," he said. "The whole industry is in a state of flux and
probably will be for the next 10, 15 years."

Wilmoth thinks that comic books could be effective teaching
tools for kids who don't like to read books.

"There's potential in comics that hasn't been tapped," he
said. "A reader can get an impression of where the story is
going from a glance. They can go at their own pace."

Wilmoth said that comic books are a good balance between
books, which require lots of imagination, and movies, which he
said require little imagination.

"Every medium is unique," he said. "It bridges a gap
between the written word and imagery."

Wilmoth also believes that comics are "closely related to
the most primal communication," cave drawings and
hieroglyphics.

Wilmoth has been working on his own comics for five years
and has started his own Web site, www.archetypalimages.com.

"I've always read and loved comics," he said. "I started
having ideas and stories forming in my head. You can sit down
and draw a comic on your own, and it doesn't really take any
startup capital. It's a great art form."

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