Comic stores celebrate Justice League, themselves
‘J ustice League” comes to theaters this weekend, and local comic shops are celebrating the pop-culture tie in both with Justice League Day, an event promoted by DC Comics; and with Local Comic Shop Day, an event run by retailer organization ComicsPRO. Both days are set for Saturday.
As part of Justice League Day, more than one thousand comic retailers, bookstores, libraries, Six Flags Theme Parks and other partners will host “Justice League Day” events, including distributing free copies of “Justice League Day #1 Special Edition,” reprinting “Justice League” #1 from 2011, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee, with new cover art by Ivan Reis.
Directed by Zack Snyder, “Justice League” marks the first time the premiere superhero team of the DC Comics stable has united on the silver screen. Stars of the film are Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher.
Meanwhile, Local Comic Shop Day also features Justice League tie-in merchandise, as well as other limited edition comic books, graphic novels and merchandise. The 21 items available at local comic shops, and participating locations, can be found at localcomicshopday.com.
“Justice League vs. Suicide Squad” will receive a special variant cover for Local Comic Shop Day, available in participating stores. DC also will provide a limited hardcover edition of its “Batman: Hush” storyline, by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee.
“Local Comic Shop Day as an opportunity to do more than merely selling limited and exclusive items ... but it is that, too,” said Peter Dolan, president of ComicsPRO, in a news release.
“LCSD creates a platform for comic shop owners to show their local community the unique and attractive features of their local comic shop.”
This is the third annual Local Comic Shop Day, which is intended to spotlight locally owned independent comic book stores.
Marvel is providing two items for this year’s Local Comic Shop Day: a special, limited variant of the sold-out “Captain America” #695, by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee; and a limited hardcover edition of the “Planet Hulk” storyline, which was the partial inspiration for this year’s “Thor: Ragnarok” film. A hardcover edition of the “Secret Weapons” storyline — written by Norman native Eric Heisserer — is this year’s Local Comic Shop Day release from Valiant Entertainment. IDW will provide a special variant of the all-ages “Star Wars Adventures” for the day, as well.