In light of the Coronavirus that has gripped the world, many major comic companies and many more indies have decided not to wait until May for Free Comic Book Day. Instead, they are taking to the internet and posting links to their comics and making them free. The idea that there are many people either currently social distancing with very little to occupy all this extra time in our homes… what better way to pass the time than by reading comics!
What follows are the various sites, twitter threads, and any other things I’ve stumbled across. If you know of others, please let me know and I will add it to the list.
2000 AD
2000 AD will give you links to over 450 pages of their comics when you sign up for their mailing list. You can find the sign-up here.
Archie Comics
Archie has free comics available through their App. You can find the link here.
Image Comics
Image has 133 different Issue #1s available to download. You can find those here.
Jim Zub has shared the first volume of Wayward and the first volume of Skullkickers here.
Kenzer and Company
Kenzer has put one of their collections up for free, a 79 page Knights of the Dinner Table book “Crutch’s Shutdown Special”. You can find it here.
Top Cow
Top Cow has made 40 different comics free on their site ranging from single issues to full trades of a huge cross-section of their catalog. You can find those here.
Valiant Comics
Valiant is releasing a new comic every day, and so far they have made four titles available. You can find the thread here.
Vault Comics
Vault has 13 different Issue #1s available to download. You can find those here.
From the Indie Ranks
Jeremy Whitley started a thread on Twitter where comic creators were encouraged to share their comics for free. I believe the replies are up to 135 at the time I’m writing this. This could be your chance to discover a diamond in the rough. You can find the thread here. You can also use #CoronaCon.
I’ve also discovered threads from Comic Book Yeti that has 189 replies. You can find that thread here.
Jacob Edgar also has a thread going here.
Greg Pak (of Planet Hulk among others) has a handful of his independent work available here.
Steven Niles (of 30 Days of Night) has a trio of titles available here.
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Finally, a bit of self-promotion:
The Crossing Kickstarter is LIVE
Go here and check out the Kickstarter for the Crossing (Co-created by Robert Jeffrey II and Sean Hill and in conjunction with 133art).
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John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!
Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?
Click here to join John’s mailing list.
His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow Empire, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com
