In light of current events, Free Comic Book Day has been postponed at best. However, there are some of us not willing to forget what the day normally is like. This is also a good time to remember our local comic shops, their owners and how they are faring.

Free Comic Book Day is celebrated the first Saturday of May. Comic shop owners have a choice whether to participate or not. If so, they may purchase, at a steeply discounted rate, any or all of the 47 titles chosen by a committee of shop owners.

Titles are representative of what the market has to offer each year. Included this year are:

Blue Ribbon titles: Archie: Riverdale, the Ties that Bind; Power Rangers: Slayer; Critical Role & Norse Mythology; DC: a top secret offering; My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; Fire Power issue one; Investi Gators Take the Plunge; X-Men issue one; Only a Matter of Space Time!; Jack Kirby: Epic Life King of Comics; Valiant 2020: Year of Heroes; and Zelda: Twilight Princess Splatoon Squid Kids.

Silver Ribbon Comics: Dark Ark Instinct; Hillbilly Lizard of Rusty Creek Cave; The Resistance; Lady Mechanika; Lumberjanes Farewell to Summer; Captain Canuck & Captain Battle issue one; Stranger Things & Minecraft; DC secret project; Little Lulu: No Boys Allowed; Manhwa Contemporary Korean Comics; The Boys issue one; Disney Masters: Donald Duck Special; The Richard Fairgray Monster Showcase; Enter the Incal issue one; Usagi Yojimbo; Invincible issue one; Mean Girls: Senior Year; Sue & Tai-Chan Preview; Spider-Man Venom issue one; The Tick; Super Mercado Mix Tape; Asterix FCBD Special; Loud House FCBD Special; Patrol Squad Kingdom Caper; Best of 2000 AD issue zero; Stepping Stones & Max Magnificent; Donut the Destroyer; Owly the Way Home; Blade Runner 2019; Horizon Zero Dawn; Bibi Miyu & Little Tanuki; Street Fighter issue 100 Ryu vs. Chun Li; Brandon Sanderson: Dark One issue one; Naruto Samurai 8 Viz Manga; Weirn Books; CBLDF & Boom Defend Comics and 2020 Overstreet Guide to Collecting.

So, ask not what your comic shop for you, but what you can do for your comic shop. Visit, browse, but don’t take more than you need. Plus, see what else the shops have available beyond the free tables

No, May 4 is not a recognized holiday. I don’t even think there are any greeting cards available – yet.

It’s just a matter of time. With Big Bang Theory memorializing it May 1, 2014, in The Proton Transmogrification episode, it must be an important day.

And, May 4 is important. Not only is it officially Star Wars Day and Free Comic Book Day this year, it is also my birthday. A day I celebrate in a variety of forms from just hanging at the house to venturing out for Free Comic Book Day.

So, focusing on the Star Wars Day aspect let’s talk old school Star Wars comic books. The Marvel years. From 1977 to 1986. The ones that filled in holes when fans had to wait three years to see the next installment. When nothing else was available but the Holiday Special and spin-off novelizations.

These are the issues that gave us Jaxxon, a near-mythical rabbit in a space jumpsuit and green complexion. The comic books where Jabba was introduced as a bipedal humanoid with a walrus look. The ones where Luke returned to Tatooine and hijacked a Sandcrawler.

Those are the two issues I’d like to focus on this year.

Issues 31 and 32; Return to Tatooine! and The Jawa Express. Maybe my favorite story arc from the original series.

Star Wars 31

Star Wars 32

I don’t know why. Both hit spin racks in the latter part of 1979. Maybe I was just ready for the release of Empire. It had been so long since Star Wars first appeared in theaters. Even re-releases weren’t enough. We had to see where the franchise was going. What was going to happen to Luke, Han, Leia and others.

These two issues just seemed to sum up the era. Having been separated for several issues, Luke, Han, Leia and gang did regroup. On Tatooine of all places.

Together they run afoul of Orman Tagge who is attempting to build another weapon as devastating as the Death Star. As stated a couple of paragraphs above, the heroes go so far as to hijack a Sandcrawler. It’s ludacris and indicative of the times, but so satisfying for old-school fans. It’s a dip in the legendary Lazarus pit to renew the soul.

If you haven’t read these stories or it’s been a while, dig ‘em out. Show ‘em the love they deserve.