John Berry, manager of Metropolis Comics in Bellflower, has previously come in at 8 a.m. on Free Comic Book day, to start setting up the 3,500+ comics that they intend to give away.

The earliest he’s seen customers line up for Free Comic Book day are at 6:30 a.m. He is excited for the upcoming Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 3.

“I’m just like ‘wow, they’re really dedicated. So it’s kind of cool to see that dedication and that excitement regarding comics,” he said.

“I’ve always been the ring leader of Free Comic Book Day before I became manager, I was already event coordinator, the one that threw all the parties, I still do,” Berry said.

Free Comic Book day is the first Saturday of May each year. Not only does this event take place in America, but it’s also a global event. The first Free Comic Book Day took place in June of 2002 as a broad promotional event.

Metropolis Comics has been participating in Free Comic Book Day for 12 years. They will be having everything for any comic book fan, young and old.

DC’s brand new Event Book will launch Future’s End. This story arc launches on Free Comic Book day so fans will be able to obtain the free issue No.0 as well as be able to come the following week to buy issue No.1.

Darkhorse will have an Avatar comic based on the animated series, along with a Hellboy comic.

Marvel is going to release a Guardians of the Galaxy and a spin-off that features Rocket Raccoon as the main protagonist.

Judge Dredd will also have a Free Comic Book Day comic.

For the more kid friendly comics, there will be the Smurfs, Teen Titans, Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge with Donald Duck and Hello Kitty.

Boom Studio’s kid-friendly Ka-Boom will have everything from Snoopy to Adventure Time.

For a taste of nostalgia Buck Rogers comic strips will also be making an appearance on Free Comic Book Day at Metropolis Comics.

Not only will there be free comics but there will also be raffles and artists selling their prints or doing sketches for customers. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund will also be at Metropolis Comics. They’re a group dedicated to bringing awareness against comic book censorship.

David Trejo, medical assisting major, is also excited for Free Comic Book Day. He plans on getting there two hours earlier because he’s heard that it gets really full really early. He first heard about Free Comic Book Day from a friend while attending WonderCon.

“There’s a comic called Zombie Girls, I think,” Trejo said about picking up a few comics.

“I definitely want to win a few raffles and I want to see the cosplay. I don’t know it’ll be my first time doing this, I just want to experience it,” he added.

“I look forward to it every year. But I mean I couldn’t do it without the help of my employees or volunteers that we have here. With everybody pitching in because it takes a lot of people to make this happen,” Berry said.

“It would be nice to have people come to Metropolis Comics but [people] can go to www.comicshoplocator.com and punch in their zip code and it will automatically tell them what comic stores are participating that day.”

Metropolis Comics is located at 16509 Bellflower Blvd. in Bellflower.

For more information on participating comic shops or if fans just want a little history about the event, go to www.freecomicbookday.com

Metropolis Comics is located at 16509 Bellflower Blvd. in Bellflower.