This past weekend was yet another Free Comic Book Day for the United States, but as it turns out, it was also the first ever Free Comic Book Day for Netherlands and its neighboring country of Belgium (don’t know about Luxembourg). FCBD has been a tradition for my friends and I back in the US for many years now, but sadly I was unable to join in on the fun in 2011 on account of living overseas, so I was glad to see the concept reach all the way over here.

Unlike the complicated Manhattan crawl I’m accustomed to where we’d hit every comic store around, the city I’m living in only has two comic shops so it was a far simpler affair. What I found particularly interesting, though, was the selection of free comics. I typically think of the FCBD giveaways as being a mix of superheroes, some humorous Archie-esque comics, a couple of more experimental works, and then a smattering of manga offerings, and this year appeared to be no exception. In contrast, the comparatively small selection of comics for the Dutch/Belgian FCBD primarily involved European comics, with The Walking Dead being the only American comic as far as I can tell. Of particular note is the Dutch Storm, and the variety of lively artwork in Het beste van Oogachtend FCBD (a compilation of various artists’ work) probably makes it my favorite overall.

Sadly I can’t really read Dutch so I can’t actually tell you how these comics are, but they’re quite pleasant as souvenirs regardless. For those of you familiar with Dutch comics, I currently have as my distant, distant goal for Dutch literacy volumes of Agent 327 and Suske & Wiske, as well as a Dutch-translated issue of Yoko Tsuno. Some day…