Ever since 2002, the first Saturday of May is the day where comic book lovers of all ages can get their hands on a selection of their favorite prints. Each year a special new issue is released to the fans and according to the Free Comic Book Day Facebook page, the spotlight issue for this year is Marvel’s Civil War.

Even Ellensburg is participating in this national event. Gus Foster, owner of Central City Comics, and his sidekick, a pug called Modok, have been the city’s heroes when it comes to comic books.

Foster began participating in Free Comic Book Day 12 years ago and since then he has transformed his store into a mini convention.

“We have artists and writers from Seattle that have published comic books come over here and set up in the back of the store like an artists’ alley,” Foster said. “We have got some guys that have done cover art for Grimm’s Fairy Tales and self-published artists and writers, so it will be a lot of fun.”

The celebrity guest list includes: Grimm’s Fairy Tale artist Jason Metcalf and Randy Kintz, another artist whose origin story began in Portland, Oregon. The two of them will be doing free sketches for the kids that come into the shop, as well as selling some of their works to Central City’s older patrons.

Along with the free comics, there will be other deals throughout the store.

“A lot of back issues will be on sale for a dollar a piece, which is a considerable discount because a lot of stuff is four bucks,” Foster said. “If you buy comics on a regular basis you know they are not cheap.”

Foster will also be selling some of his large variety of vinyl POP figurines that will be discounted down to around $ 10. There will also be several raffles going on throughout the day, with prizes being select toys and comics.

According to Foster, visitors to the store can bring in a canned or fresh food donation to get their names entered into the raffle for each item they bring in.

All proceeds of the raffle will be going to the FISH Food Bank. In previous years, the store collected around 600 pounds of food from just one day’s raffle.

“What’s great is the Farmers Market is going to be going on so I am assuming, I am hoping, that what we will do is get a lot of fresh produce,” Foster said. “People will bring in a bundle of spinach and they will get a raffle ticket, you bring in a sack of potatoes and you get a couple of raffle tickets.”

Central City Comics is not the only store in Ellensburg that will be hosting Free Comic Book Day. Downtown’s newest gaming store, Nerdcore, will be handing out free comics as well. According to Denise Shaw, associate professor of educational foundations and curriculum and co-owner of Nerdcore, the store will have cosplayers from Yakima’s Central City Comicon and a shaved ice food truck out front.

There will be about 50 comics on the list for this year according to Foster. The full list is available at freecomicbookday.com.