Holy Free Comic Book Day, Batgirl!

What happens when none other than Gail Simone, comic book writer par excellence, is a guest at a comic book store in Manchester, New Hampshire? The crowds wrap around the strip mall, more people line up than attend many smaller conventions, and the cosplayers show up in droves.

At least that is what happened when Simone was a featured guest at Double Midnight Comics in the Granite State’s biggest little city. While the exact count is tough to ascertain, DMC’s event coordinator Pat Covey estimates the crowd at more than 5,000 people, in part based on the fact that he gave out the special prize for the 1,000th person in line at 11:45 — and the store opened at 10 and closed at 7.

The first person in line wanted to ensure that he had that honor, and Neil Fleury, who recently moved from Manchester from Vermont, plopped down in his folding camp chair near the door at 1:30 Saturday morning. Fleury said that he had wanted to attend a Free Comic Book Day event for years, but this was the first year he had known about one in time to plan for it.

Simone wasn’t the only big-name writer at the event. Marjorie M. Liu, perhaps best know for her run on Astonishing X-Men that featured the first gay wedding in comics, was also in attendance, drawing quite a crowd. Check out the photo of Liu with Kristin Boelzner as Wonder Woman — while Liu was leaving for the day, she saw Boelzner and had to stop and ask to get a photo with her (a shot I was happy to glom on to).

Below check out our gallery of photos from Double Midnight Comics’ Free Comic Book Day, including shots of Gail Simone with the amazing BelleChere, sitting on the Bat Cycle courtesy of The Batsy Twins and surrounded by cosplayers, and at her table talking with Eisner Award-nominated comic creator Sara Richard.

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