James Criscione of Jesse James Comics is an ardent supporter of Free Comic Book Day. With creator signings, sales, and in-store activities, he’s brought a fresh style to supporting the industry. Jesse stopped by CBI to talk about FCBD and why his store supports the event…
Jesse James Comics Store Owner Jesse Criscione
JMH: What events did you have associated with Free Comic Book Day 2011 at Jesse James Comics?
JC: WE really just focused on take care of the customer. When your giving every customer 20 comics its becomes a mad house. So if we felt we had to concentrate on other events it would take away from the customer. We did have some local artist out but nothing through are normal massive advertising.
JMH: Has Jesse James Comics participated in FCBD in the past?
JC: Yes we did last year we are excited that we got to continue this year.
JMH: Compare this year’s FCBD to last year’s.
JC: We had a major success giving out over 5600 comics and we sold over 3000 comics so it was a win! Win!
JMH: How many free comics did you distribute?
JC: 5600 COPIES.
JMH: Talk about the creators that were at your store on FCBD…
JC: We did potluck whoever showed up was our creators. We had Andy Bohn,Jean Arrow,Eric Mengal,Jeff Pina,Kelly Ferguson,Glen Curren,Denny Ricelli…and more most just came too hang out with the customers
JMH: Why is FCBD important to the industry?
JC: It allows everybody to be on the same collecting level. The Golden age guy can hang out with Manga guy without a sense of move out of my way type attitudes. It’s about having fun and being rewarding for supporting your local store. It’s about hanging out with everybody and just talking about whatever you want. Though it’s a tough and long day for us at the end we feel its just plain good stuff!
JMH: Do you have any future events at your store coming up?
JC: We have June and July coming up with member appreciation day with both very cool headliners
JMH: Anything else you’d like to mention that we haven’t covered yet?
JC: We have opened up our ice cream parlor, gaming parlor, lounge and we are starting a Comic book club as well in June.
JMH: Thanks for your time, Jesse. All the best!
JC: Thanks you, John.
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About the interviewer –
John Michael Helmer is the Publisher and CEO of Red Leaf Media, LLC. Red Leaf Media operates www.ComicBookInterviews.com, www.RedLeafComics.com, and www.ArmorGuardians.com.
John’s creator-owned properties include: The Leaf, Canada’s Greatest Hero, Sky Watcher, The Armor Guardians, NorthForce, MacSorly – R.C.M.P, and many others.
John can be reached at: jhelmer@comicbookinterviews.com and redleafcomics@gmail.com
