Free Comic Book Day is annually celebrated by a number of participating countries all over the world. And this year, their respective comic book stuff retailers ordered a ridiculously record-setting number of comic books for the event. 4.6 million comic books have been collectively ordered for this year's Free Comic Book Day. Do you have any idea how many comic books that is?
Okay, let's put the number 4.6 million into perspective for a minute, so we can grasp just how massive that is.
You can literally give one comic book to each man, woman, and child in Ireland. You can give two comic books to every living human being in Quezon City. But if you think about it, the more shocking statistic there is the population density of Quezon City compared to Ireland.
The average comic book measures 17x26cm. So, theoretically, if you lay the comics down end to end, 4.6 million comic books measures about 1,196 kilometers long. That's roughly the distance between Manila and Hong Kong.
If you rip out all the pages and laid them end to end, it gets even more insane. Math was never my best subject but let's give it a crack. If we accept that the average comic book is 32 pages long, that amounts to about 9 pieces of paper including the cover. That's a whopping 10,764 kilometers long! That's a few kilometers over of the distance from Manila to London, England! Not all FCBD comic books have a full 32 pages, though, so the actual distance may not be that mind blowing.
Speaking of pages, the total number of readable pages contained within 4.6 million comic books (at an assumed 32 pages per comic) is a staggering 147,200,000. That's a lot of reading.
An average comic book weighs around 1.5 ounces. 4.6 million comic books would weigh an astounding 431,250 lbs! That's about 29 large African elephants or 131 average sized sedan-type cars.
Even with FCBD, the old adage is true - Go large, or go home!
Here is the official press release:
More Than 4.6 Million Comic Books Ordered for Free Comic Book Day
Comic book specialty retailers worldwide expect record attendance at this year’s Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) and have also pushed their ordering to record levels—with more than 4.6 million free comic books to be available the day of the event, May 4, 2013.
Nearly 2,000 retail accounts have signed up this year as participating stores for Free Comic Book Day—also a record number of participating stores—and expectations are high.
“FCBD is the day after the opening of the Marvel’s Iron Man 3 film, and thousands of comic book shops across North America and around the world will look to share the magic of comic books with their communities,” said FCBD spokesperson Leslie Bowser. “It’s really a wonderful time for comic shops as they are clearly energized from a full year of strong sales and will look to continue that positive trend going forward in 2013.”
Comic book publishing heavyweights Dark Horse Comics, DC Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Image Comics and Marvel Comics are among the many sponsors delivering special titles for Free Comic Book Day 2013.
Free Comic Book Day is designed to appeal to a broad range of tastes, including action-packed superhero stories featuring DC's Superman and Marvel’s Infinity title; sci-fi adventure set in the Star Wars universe; humorous comics featuring SpongeBob SquarePants and The Simpsons; and comics especially for kids and younger fans featuring The Smurfs, Sesame Street, and Strawberry Shortcake.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY happens on May 4, 2013 Saturday at NATIONAL BOOKSTORE QUEZON AVENUE BRANCH – Quezon Avenue Cor. Scout Borromeo Quezon City. This massive event is brought to you by NATIONAL BOOKSTORE, CASTLE GEEK, and NEUTRAL GROUNDS. Opens at 9AM
Check out the Facebook Event Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/events/326436887455830/