Free Comic Book Day 2025: When, where, and what DC, Marvel, and other comics to expect from next year's event

Popverse's top stories of the day

• Every new movie and TV series coming to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu in July 2024
• DC's Kingdom Come is getting the documentary movie treatment, with a big announcement coming in July 2024
• Marvel Studios unveils new Fantastic 4 artwork for San Diego Comic-Con

Sure, we’re as excited as you can imagine for Free Comic Book Day 2024, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not also excited about Free Comic Book Day 2025. It pays to plan ahead about these things, after all. Wondering what we already know about next year’s big day? Keep reading and find out.

What is Free Comic Book Day?

Free Comic Book Day is an annual event happening on the first Saturday of May every year, organized by Diamond Comic Distributors designed to promote comic books and comic book retailers to the general public, with over 2,000 stores taking part.

When is Free Comic Book Day 2025?

While we await the official announcement of the date of FCBD 2025, it’s worth noting that the annual event traditionally takes place on the first Saturday of May, which would mean that 2025’s event will be happening Saturday, May 3.

As luck would have it, that’s one day after the release date for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts. Will the excitement surrounding the return of the MCU to the big screen drive readers to the comic book stores? Maybe — doubly so, if DC uses its upcoming Superman reboot to push readers to stores at the same time.

What are the free comics of Free Comic Book Day 2025?

Friends, with the event a year away, it is way too early to predict what’s going to be hitting the stands on that first Saturday in May twelve months from now… but we can look to the past and say with some sense of security that both Marvel and DC will field options tying in with a big storyline or event for their superhero lines as a whole, while offerings from IDW, Boom!, Image, Dynamite, and Dark Horse will showcase what their particular focus for the next few months will be.

As always, it’ll be worth paying attention to what indie publishers are up to — that’s where some of the weirdest, most interesting stuff can be found, and almost definitely the source of the next big thing, if you’re willing to search for it.

Why is Free Comic Book Day a thing?

Simply put, Free Comic Book Day was created to remind people who aren’t regular visitors to their local comic store that there’s no reason they can’t become regular visitors to their local comic store. It was the brainchild of retailer Joe Field in 2001, inspired by Baskin-Robbins’ “Free Scoop Night” promotional efforts at his local ice cream parlor.

The first FCBD took place the next year, giving away more than two million comic books from just four publishers — each a reprint, unlike today’s event which commonly features all-new material, and was such a success that it quickly became an annual event.

What are the rules of Free Comic Book Day?

There are no official rules to FCBD, although obviously, there’s the common sense rule that retailers should make each of the FCBD releases available for free. Each comic store gets to make their own rules concerning how many issues visitors can pick up, and the like — but we’ll say this much: it’s not a rule, but simply common courtesy: if you’re headed to a store for Free Comic Book Day, why not buy something as well? It’s only polite.

Will the Free Comic Book Day comics be available online?

The answer to this question depends on the publishers involved. Usually, the majority of FCBD releases end up either available through ComiXology or subscription services such as DC Universe Infinite or Marvel Unlimited, after some kind of delay from the actual event — again, though, how long that delay is is also up to the publishers in question.

Get into the vibrant world of comics with our guide to buying digital comics, how to make the most out of comic shops, our comprehensive guide to the upcoming comics, manga, and graphic novels you should be looking for, and everything you need to know about Free Comic Book Day and Local Comic Shop Day.