Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 4th. NBC5’s Taylor Owen sat down with Rogue City Comics Co-Owner Jami Ronda.
NBC5’s Taylor Owen: We’ve got a special guest in studio today. Jami Rhonda from Rogue City Comics, located just down the street from NBC5 here in downtown Medford. Jami, thank you so much for making the trip.
Rogue City Comics Co-Owner Jami Ronda: Oh, thank you so much.
Taylor: We’re so glad to have you here. Jami’s here to talk today about a super fun upcoming Free Comic Book Day. It’s coming up quick this Saturday, May 4, also known as Star Wars Day. So Jami, can you tell me a little bit about what Free Comic Book Day is?
Jami: So it’s been going for 22 years at comic shops all across America and actually in Canada. And it’s a day where the publishers actually give us a comics at cost so that shops can give away free comics and just invite people into the store to pick out some awesome reading material. A lot of people already have it on the calendar every year. It’s always the first Saturday in May.
Taylor: I love that it falls on Star Wars Day this year. What are some freebies that you’re looking forward to this year?
Jami: Star Wars is always a very popular one. And there’s My Little Pony, Unicorn, and also Stranger Things. Yeah, there’s a nice selection.
Taylor: Awesome. Do you have any in store celebrations planned for the event?
Jami: Yes, we do. We have Mike Royer, who is a legend actually in the comic book world. He’s been nominated for the San Diego Comic Con Hall of Fame. He was an inker for Jack Kirby. And he’s also an amazing artist. So he has done a ton of work and also then worked for Disney for over 20 years with merchandising. so he’s going to be selling art signing comic books. He’s got a ton of beautiful comic book art and Disney art that will be for sale noon to three on Saturday.
Taylor: Noon to three that sounds like literally perfect, ideal guest for the day. So what if someone isn’t really familiar with comic Jami: books? They want to test the waters get their feet wet? What would you recommend for them?
Jami: Well, it’s it seems cliche to just bring up Spiderman or Iron Man. But I would say if they like any superhero that they’ve seen portrayed well, in any of the the movies that you could just stick your toe in anywhere. And there are some great collected comics that have like whole story arcs in them. And some people think you have to start at the very beginning origin, but that just gets too complicated. You just have to dive in.
Taylor: So Rogue City Comics obviously sells comics, but do you guys buy comics?
Jami: We do we absolutely. Do we love when people bring us there, DC and Marvel from especially from the 70s and prior. Those are books that we’re always looking for and favorites among collectors, especially Amazing Spiderman, so he’s just kind of the guy. I mean, everybody loves him.
Taylor: I love him too. Yeah. All right. So have you seen an increase in comic book collecting over the years, especially here in the Rogue Valley.
Jami: For sure. We really saw that spike in 2020. Thankfully, we were able to stay open because we had comic book readers and subscribers who come in every single week like it is necessary. And for some people, they plan their whole week around “I’m picking up my books,” every Wednesday is new comic book Wednesday. And, but especially during the shutdowns, we saw a lot of a lot of people around the world actually started collecting and diversifying their portfolios with comics.
Taylor: So obviously you love comics. Yes. You tell me a little bit about why.
Jami: Steven, my husband, and I both grew up reading comics. He was able to pick his out and I read what my neighbors had, because we couldn’t afford comics. So I didn’t get to read any superhero stuff as a kid, but it was all like Richie Rich and just such a wide variety, even some of the army ones. And I’m like, I don’t know why I love this, but these comics are amazing. And I feel like it really laid a foundation for me for reading. And they’ve done so much science now that shows that kids who read comics really develop a lifelong love of learning. And so like Steven and I, we we love novels. You know, we don’t just read comics, so a lot of comic book fans also are very voracious readers of the classics and just fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, all of that. So it really is an enhancement to literacy, I think.
Taylor: I love that. .I got my degree in English so You know, big reader. I love comics too.
Jami: If you can read you can do anything.
Taylor: Totally. And you know the artwork, guys come on. So let’s nail down the details. Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, when does your store open? What’s the day looking like?
Jami: So we’re open 10 to 4. But there’s a Comic Con happening Saturday on May the 4th. So that’s going to be right around the corner from our shop. And that’s from 10 to 7. Were supposed to close at 4, but we’ll probably stay open for later on in the day.
Taylor: But if there’s anything that you want to get, you want to get there pretty early, right?
Jami: Yeah, for sure. And there are other great shops in the valley too, that you’ll want to check out. They all have great stuff going on Saturday.
Taylor: Awesome, Free Comic Book Day Saturday, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jami.
Jami: Thanks for having me.
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