Another Free Comic Book Day has come and gone. The one day where most major publishers offer samplings of their various series, whether that be free first issues, small one-shots like this year’s Young Jedi Adventures issue from Dark Horse, or previews of your mainline Star Wars series. This year, Marvel packed three stories into one, promoting next week’s relaunch of the Star Wars flagship and the ongoing Legacy of Vader and Jedi Knights series.
Like all holidays, the real joy of Free Comic Book Day isn’t getting free stuff. It’s the sense of community that comes with heading out to your local comic book shop and the memories you get to take home with you as you inevitably leave with a renewed love of the genre. To celebrate, I decided to revisit my experience from 2024 and make “Tales From Free Comic Book Day” an annual tradition. Lucasfilm is planting a flag with new “Tales” series every May the 4th, so why can’t I?
This year, I doubled my efforts and ventured out into the unknown, first going to a store I had never been to before. What attracted me to it was the fact it doubled as a comic and coffee shop, which I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing in the flesh. When I first entered Hot Off the Press Comics and Coffee, my first task was tracking down my comics. Their spread was set up in a roundabout structure with a worker stationed in the middle.
But this wasn’t any ordinary worker. This was a child sporting a snazzy leather jacket. I immediately knew he wasn’t an ordinary cat. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him Star Wars. He pointed me to their selection. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that their Star Wars issues were last year’s Free Comic Book Day issues. At this point, I was getting discouraged. I thought my adventure into the wild was a bust. There was a worry bubbling in my belly that when I got home and visited my normal shop, their Star Wars titles would be gone and I couldn’t give the people what they want.
The kid kept talking to me. Selling me on their entire lineup. As if I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m not a rookie. Oh how little I knew. I picked up a few titles as I couldn’t leave empty-handed. I grabbed issues for Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, Energon Universe, Will Eisner: A Comics Biography, and a few others before I realized something. This store had multiple years of free comic books to give away as if this was a year-end clearance sale, and this kid wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
He prompted me towards their adult section and he started sharing his love of horror comics. That immediately caught me off guard, but what really took me aback is when he mentioned Fishflies, a long-running series from the great Jeff Lemire. Shock and awe overtook me. Back in 2023, Image put out a Free Comic Book Day preview and here it is again in 2025. Heck, I probably picked it up two years ago and left it buried somewhere in my piles of unorganized comics. I haven’t read Fishflies, but if it’s anything like Lemire’s Gideon Falls, this kid is a savant. Among this next generation’s greats when it comes to taste.
By the way, if horror isn’t your thing, Lemire has a Star Wars-esque space fantasy series called Descender (with a sequel series Ascender) that is well worth your time.
Fishflies Free Comic Book Day 2023 Cover
Descender by Jeff Lemire
I grabbed a cup of coffee next. Their menu items were aptly named something from the comic book realm. Being a basic white boy, I got an iced Venom AKA an iced mocha. And boy was it bland, but I also don’t know anything about coffee. If there’s anyone out there who can teach me the ways, I would greatly appreciate it. On my way out, the kid gave me a head nod and a wave. He is going places. Maybe I should have had him make my coffee.
Upon returning to my home base shop at NerdinOut and thankfully finding this year’s Star Wars issues, it was about time to dive in. However, I couldn’t leave without buying something as per my moral code. So I searched. And searched. And observed a father and a son playing Connect Four while I searched. And searched. And witnessed that same son break down when he couldn’t take the driveable Star Wars landspeeder home. And searched. And had my own mental debate over whether I wanted to take it home. And searched. Finally, I couldn’t avoid it any longer. The same Funko Pop wall of horrors that plagued me last year.
I could feel its call, but wasn’t sure from where. Then I saw it. The cold, dark eyes of a certain frog sitting on top of a cat. It was a jumbo Funko of Big the Cat from Sonic lore. There was no escaping his, as the kids say, aura. So I now have a big Big the Cat in my Funko collection. I’m not proud of it. This is a message to SEGA and Paramount. Big the Cat and Froggy’s lifeless, black eyes are now going to be staring at me every day and night until they are satiated. I know you’re thinking about it. Please put them in Sonic 4 before something happens to me.
If you are still here 800 plus words of nonsense later and want to know about this year’s Star Wars issues, let’s talk about them. Dark Horse’s Young Jedi Adventures saw Kai, Lys, and Nubs go on a scavenger hunt for Yoda. This wasn’t anything more than your standard episode of the show, but that’s alright. Marvel’s Star Wars issue had a lot more meat on the bone.
When Star Wars #1 drops next week, there will surely be hints about the next big threat to the New Republic. Here, we see Luke and Rynn Zenat tracking down stolen New Republic goods. The Pyke Syndicate gets involved, but we are no closer to figuring out who Luke and Rynn are after. Writer Alex Segura has said we’ll know by the end of the first arc, but this was a nice prologue ahead of the big day.
Charles Soule’s Legacy of Vader entry focuses on Vaneé. When we meet him in the series, Vaneé is nothing more than a head in a jar. This segment tells us why. He never accepted Vader’s death so he took drastic measures to preserve his life, only to later give up. Now he has a new muse in Kylo Ren. This was a nice bit of world-building for a character I always enjoy seeing. Marc Guggenheim was up next with a continuation of Jedi Knights. Who is Corlis Rath and why does he want Qui-Gon Jinn dead? That is the big mystery. The penultimate panel of the issue implies it might have to do with Qui-Gon’s former master, Count Dooku, and a poor choice Qui-Gon made as a Padawan.
Three interesting quick hitters, a fun Young Jedi Adventures tale, and that’s all she wrote from Star Wars in this year’s edition of Free Comic Book Day. As always, there’s way more fun to be had just living in the comic world for a day. I’ll never call that kid a friend, but if I ever find myself going that way again, I’ll be sure to stop by. Hopefully with a better knowledge of how to order a good cup of joe.
Free Comic Book Day 2025 Haul
Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he’s not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading or pretending he isn’t washed at video games.