DC, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, and more have signed up to take part in 2021's Local Comic Shop Day.
The annual event, which is scheduled to take place this year on November 24, will have several exclusive variant covers of popular series, as well as the debut of Brian Michael Bendis' new creator-owned book Joy Operation.
What is Local Comic Shop Day?
Local Comic Shop Day is an annual event organized by ComicsPRO - a trade association of North American comic book store owners.
"Local Comic Shop Day honors the lifeblood of the comic book industry, local comic book stores," A DC representative stated recently in the announcement of its 2021 Local Comic Shop Day exclusives.
The 2021 Local Comic Shop Day will take place on Wednesday, November 24 - the second year in a row it's taken place on a Wednesday. The event was previously being held on Saturday ala the Free Comic Book Day event founded in 2002 by ComicsPro member Joe Field.
"We moved Local Comic Shop Day from Saturday to Wednesday last year and more stores participated," says ComicsPRO executive director Marco Davanzo in the date announcement. "Because Wednesday is the day that new comics traditionally come out, it made a lot of sense to make that move."
He uses the term "traditionally," as the majority of the comic book industry releases new titles on Wednesday, as has been the case for years - however in 2020, DC switched to releasing its new titles on Tuesdays, making an exception to the general rule.
What exclusives will be in this year's Local Comic Shop Day?
Currently there are four planned special items for Local Comic Shop Day 2021, although more are expected leading up to the date.
The 2021 Local Comic Shop Day exclusive items are:
- A Venom #2 (Marvel Comics) event exclusive variant cover by Jonboy Meyers
- Joy Operations #1 (Dark Horse Comics) by Brian Michael Bendis and Stephen Byrne
- Chuck D Presents Apocalypse 91: Revolution Never Sleeps (Z2 Comics), a limited edition OGN celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Public Enemy album 'Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Back'
- Metallica Special Edition (10 Ton Press) A re-issue of a Metallic biography comic
- A House of Slaughter #1 (BOOM! Studios) second printing event exclusive variant cover by Jae Lee and June Chung
- A Magic: Master of Metal #1 (BOOM! Studios) event exclusive variant cover by Adam Gorham
- A Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body #1 (BOOM! Studios) event exclusive variant cover by Ryan Sook
- A DC vs. Vampires #2 (DC) event exclusive foil variant cover by Francesco Mattina
- A Detective Comics #1045 (DC) event exclusive foil variant cover by Lee Bermejo
- A Task Force Z #2 (DC) event exclusive variant cover by Eddy Barrows
- A Girl Scouts: Stone Ghost #1 (Image Comics) exclusive event variant cover by Jim Mahfood
- A Friday #1 (Image Comics) exclusive event variant cover by Marcos Martin
- A The Walking Dead Deluxe #27 (Image Comics/Skybound Entertainment) exclusive event variant cover by Charlie Adlard and Dave McCaig
- A Radio Apocalypse #1 (Vault Comics) exclusive event foil variant by Anand RK
And here's a gallery of the covers:
Get ready, because the 2021 Local Comic Shop Day is coming on November 24 - the day prior to US Thanksgiving - and two days prior to Black Friday.
Here's your guide to finding and appreciating your local comic shop.
