Free Comic Book Day

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Free Comic Book Day, aka FCBD, is a wondrous event in which good little boys and girls all over the world get free comics! FREE! It is held on the first Saturday of May every year.

In celebrating FCBD, publishers typically opt for one of two options:

Create entirely new mini-comics that feature brand new stories that have not been, and will likely never be, available by other means. It can be quite an expensive and time-consuming project to undertake, so this usually limits the publisher to making only a handful of such releases without affecting their regular business.
Reprint parts of stories from a few current comic lines in a bid to draw ~~money~~ attention to the series from which they originated. Since these stories are already written and drawn, this option is considerably cheaper than the first, allowing publishers to produce several books of this kind while adhering to the same budget and schedule.

It's swings and roundabouts.

Free Comic Book Day issues

2003

Published by: Dreamwave Productions
Date: May 3rd, 2003.
Cover: Reprint of a panel from Armada #3, by James Raiz, Erik Sander, and Rob Armstrong.
- Featured series: Armada
  - Story: Free Comic Book Day Edition

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Armada

2006

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 6th, 2006.
Cover A: Reprint of page 1 from The Gathering #2, by Don Figueroa.
Cover B: Reprint of cover D from Infiltration #1, by Guido Guidi.
- Featured series #1: The Gathering
  - Story: The Gathering #1 (preview)
- Featured series #2: 2005 IDW continuity
  - Story #1: Stormbringer #1 (preview)
  - Story #2: Infiltration #3 (preview)
- Featured series #3: Hearts of Steel
  - Story: Hearts of Steel #1 (preview)

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Beast Wars: The Gathering
Stormbringer #1
Generations
Infiltration
Evolutions: Hearts of Steel #1

2007

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 5th, 2007.
Cover: Reprint of the back half of the Movie Prequel #1 wraparound cover, by Don Figueroa.
- Featured series: Movie Prequel
  - Story: Movie Prequel #1 (preview)

2008

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 3rd, 2008.
Cover: Reprint of the stock-art cover from Animated Volume 1, recropped to show more of the image.
- Featured series: Animated
  - Story: Animated Volume 1 (preview)

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Transformers: The Reign of Starscream
Animated Volumes 1–4

2009

Stop steaming up my optics!

Yo us!

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 2nd, 2009.
Cover A: Reprint of cover A from The Arrival #5, by Marcelo Matere.
Cover B: Reprint of cover B from G.I. Joe #1, by Robert Atkins.
- Featured series #1: The Arrival
  - Story: "Survival Skills"
- Featured series #2: G.I. Joe
  - Story: "One Word"
- Featured series #3: Origins
  - Story: "In or Out?"

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The Arrival TPB
Animated Volumes 1–4
Revenge of the Fallen
Destiny, Alliance, and Defiance
Speed Racer: The Next Generation Volumes 1–3

Notes

The online preview for this issue featured an image composed of equal parts of the Animated and G.I. Joe covers, divided diagonally.

2012

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 5th, 2012.
Cover: A scarred Optimus Prime amongst important Marvel G1 events, by Andrew Wildman.
- Featured series: Regeneration One
  - Story: "Counterpoint"

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The Transformers Classics
The Transformers Classics UK
The Transformers: The IDW Collection
IDW Transformers comics
The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
The Transformers: Robots in Disguise
The Transformers: Autocracy (including three-page preview)
G.I. Joe: Retaliation prequel
IDW G.I. Joe comics

2014

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 3rd, 2014.
- Featured series: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
  - Story: "The Golden Boys"

2015

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 2nd, 2015.
- Featured series #1: Robots in Disguise
  - Story: "Fire, When Ready!"
- Featured series #2: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
  - Story: "FCBD Funnies"

2018

Published by: IDW Publishing
Date: May 3rd, 2018.
- Featured series: Unicron
  - Story: "Our Darkest"

2024

Published by: Skybound Entertainment
Date: May 4th, 2024.
- Featured series: Energon Universe 2024 Special
  - Story #1: Transformers
  - Story #2: Void Rivals
  - Story #3: G.I. Joe

2025

Published by: Skybound Entertainment
Date: May 3rd, 2025.
- Featured series #1: Energon Universe 2025 Special
  - Story #1: G.I. Joe
  - Story #2: Transformers
  - Story #3: Void Rivals
- Featured series #2: Transformers: Worst Bot Ever
  - Story: Meet Ballpoint! (Chapter 1)

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Family Force V (including nine-page preview)

2026

Published by: Skybound Entertainment
Date: May 2nd, 2026.
- Featured series: Energon Universe 2026 Special
  - Story #1: M.A.S.K.
  - Story #2: Transformers
  - Story #3: Void Rivals
  - Story #4: G.I. Joe

Other free Transformers comics

"Halloween Special Edition"

Published by: Marvel Comics
Date: October 31st, 1993.
Cover: Original art, by Geoff Senior.
- Featured series: Generation 2
  - Story: "Ghosts"

Notes

While IDW Publishing didn't release a Transformers comic for Free Comic Book Day 2016, they did release a dual ROM / Action Man issue containing preludes to ROM and Action Man.

External links

FreeComicBookDay.com
Free Comic Book Day at Wikipedia

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