Celebrated on the first Saturday of May， Free Comic Book Day is a day thathas a three purposes. It’s designed to thank current1 comic book readers for theirsupport throughout the year， to introduce new readers to the joys of comic bookreading， and to call back those who may have loved comic books in the past buthave been away from them for a while. It’s a yearly promotional2 event by theNorth American comic book industry and helps to bring new readers into comicbook stores. The concept3 of this holiday was first set up in an August of 2001column and it was officially celebrated the following year in 2002. Although thisholiday firstly started in North America， it has since spread to other countriesaround the world including countries in Africa， Oceania， Asia and Europe.

每年5 月的第一個星期六是免費漫畫日，它的存在有三重目的。它旨在感謝現(xiàn)漫畫讀者一年來的支持，向新讀者介紹閱讀漫畫的樂趣，并勾起那些過去可能喜歡漫畫書，但已經(jīng)遠離漫畫一段時間的人的回憶。這是北美漫畫行業(yè)一年一度的促銷活動，有助于幫助漫畫書店吸引新的讀者。這個節(jié)日的概念最初是在2001 年8 月的一個專欄中提出的，在接下來的2002 年人們正式慶祝這個節(jié)日。雖然這個節(jié)日最初起源于北美，但它已經(jīng)傳播到世界其他國家，包括非洲、大洋洲、亞洲和歐洲的國家。

In 2001， Joe Field suggested in one of his columns that Free Comic Book Dayshould be started. He said that many of the feature films of the day that weresuccessful were based on comic book franchises4. This has resulted in the comicbook industry having its profile5 raised and somewhat improved upon. What wasonce seen as books for children could now be accepted by people of all ages andfrom all walks of life.

2001年，喬·菲爾德在他的一篇專欄文章中建議設(shè)置免費漫畫日。他指出，當時很多成功的電影都是根據(jù)漫畫改編的。這使得漫畫行業(yè)的形象得以提升，并在一定程度上有所改善。曾經(jīng)被視為兒童讀物的東西，現(xiàn)在可以被各個年齡層和各行各業(yè)的人所接受。

In his column in a magazine， he recommended6 a Free Comic Book Day.After all， the ice-cream shop next to his store offered free ice-cream on Free Ice-Cream Day to drive sales， so why shouldn’t the comic book industry do the same？The column received a lot of positive reactions7. Jim Valentino， the co-founder ofImage Comics， suggested that the first Free Comic Book Day should start with theopening of the 2002 movie to use the chance to promote the movie.On May 4th， 2002， the Free Comic Book Day was set up the day after themovie being released in theaters. Comic books that are given out are usuallycheaper comic books that are made especially for this day. However， that isn’talways the case. Some comic book stores give out many different comic books and memorabilia8 on this day.

在他的雜志專欄中，他推薦了免費漫畫日。畢竟，他店子旁邊的冰淇淋店在免費冰淇淋日提供免費冰淇淋來促銷，那么為什么漫畫行業(yè)不做同樣的事情呢？這個專欄收到了很多積極的反饋。影像漫畫公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人吉姆·瓦倫蒂諾建議，第一個免費漫畫日應該從2002 年《蜘蛛俠》電影的上映開始，以利用該機會宣傳這部電影。2002 年5 月4 日，在《蜘蛛俠》電影在影院上映的第二天，就設(shè)立了免費漫畫日。贈送出去的漫畫書通常是便宜的漫畫書，是專門為這一天制作的。然而，情況并非總是如此。在這一天，一些漫畫書店也會贈送許多不同的漫畫書和紀念品。