Our favorite shop highlights from 2015

We're 22 days away from Free Comic Book Day Mini-Con 2016 and poised to give away 20,000 free comic books!

Here's a look at just one of the pallets of boxes that we received. There were two of these. Loading and unloading these into the trucks really gave us quite the workout this morning.

So, as we draw closer to the ultimate day of the year, we thought we'd take a moment to reflect on the moments that made 2015 an amazing year -- all 15 of them!

Which of these were your favorite Empire's moments?

We'd love to hear about it. Let us know in the comments, please.

Top 15 Moments of 2015

1. One of Ben and Jen's long time favorite comic book authors, Barbara Kesel (listen to the interview) joined us at Creative Women Mini-Con 2015. On top of that, Mairghread Scott (listen to the interview), the first woman to write a Transformers comic book and author of Toil and Trouble, also joined us!
2. At FCBD Mini-Con 2015, we had food at the event -- the Italian shaved ice booth and the Wandering Boba food truck.
3. We started having live models once a month for our artist group to sketch.
4. Our Graphic Novel Discussion Group really took off and has continued into 2016.
5. Captain Dylan Hunt came into our lives.
6. We put a 65" giant screen television in Empire's Comics Lounge.
7. We rearranged the store to give it a brighter and more spacious feel.
8. Empire's Movie Crew had a blast at the movies. We had a huge turnout for Avengers.
9. Empire's Open Podcast (now called Cracking the Vault) really came together with an amazing crew -- Jake, Amy, Tony, Patrick, and regular special guests -- and lots of entertaining, clean talk about comics related topics.
10. We started having a reserved section for Empire's Roller Derby Crew at all the Sac City Roller games.
11. Ben and Cody Stark spoke on a panel at the Intergalactic Expo (which took place on Earth in 2015).
12. Ben served as the costume contest judge at Crocker-Con.
13. We saw Mad Max at Studio Movie Grill.
14. On Back to the Future Day, we packed the shop and played the movies and counted down to when the future became the past.
15. Sac-Con outgrew the Scottish Rite Temple, expanding in a huge way.

That's our list.

Please let us know in the comments what made 2015 great for you. 

And now, onward! We have a post headed your away about what's new in 2016 and a whole lot of posts about this year's Free Comic Book Day Mini-Con!

(left: after-hours comedy night at Empire's)

Free Movie Tickets

April Fools! Hahaha.

Awwww... did you fall for our little trick?

Sorry, there are not really any free movie passes, just this here little bitty April Fools joke. Ok, ok, now we feel a little bit bad for what we've done, so here's a video from Ben that tells you how to get a special offer just for falling for this silly gag.

Comic Book Discount For Sacramento Students Through November 15

We're looking for some trustworthy bounty hunters to rescue our friend Jake (pictured above) from the hands of a renegade storm trooper.
Bring In Your OneCard or Student Access Card For A 20% Discount
Until we can get Jake back or November 15, 2012, arrives (sorry Jake), we're offering a 20% discount on any and every purchase made by students who show a current, valid student campus i.d. from California State University Sacramento (CSUS, aka, Sac State), or from the Los Rios Community College District, including American River College (ARC), Consumnes River College (CRC), Sacramento City College (SCC), or Folsome Lake College (FLC).
Long live Jake!

New Comic Book Savings Program Starts January 2013

Update 10/30/2012: Detailed program information and an FAQ are now available.

Every week folks come in to buy new comic books -- and they're not part of our comic book saver program. But so what, it's not like our program has been that spectacular. For the uninitiated, a comic book saver is a list of the titles you'd like held for you each week by your favorite comic shop. This ensures that you don't miss an issue due to low print rates or hot titles selling out. Of course, with those saved titles, you'll get free bags and boards to protect your books; but again, so what! After all we're already known as the store who gives free bags and boards to anyone buying titles from the shelf of current titles.

Announcing Our New and Improved Comic Book Savings Program

Special: Sign up for our new program in November or December 2012 and you'll qualify for Advanced Title Selection for Free Comic Book Day 2013 (FCBD). For more information on that, see #7 below.

Our new program gives you plenty of reasons to sign up. We've even included a link to download the new form at the bottom of this post. Ok. So. Here's 9 Reasons:

1. Signing bonus. You'll get a 10% discount when you sign up. Use it on that purchase or your next one.
2. There's no obligation. Signing up is free. You're never obligated to buy a title you don't want to read anymore. Also, if you try the program and it's not a perfect fit, you can go back to picking out your favorite titles on your own every week.
3. Free comic books.  How about one free comic of your choice? Then next a free comic we think you might want to give a shot. Another month, we'll give you a coupon for one free book for a friend.
   
    
4. Exclusive member events. Party. Eat. Drink. Be Merry (or Pippin). Meet other pop culture enthusiasts. Get first rights on invitations to events with special comic book guests.
5. Previews magazine at 50% off -- Always. It's the thick comic book catalog that comes out each month. It'll help you keep up on what's coming up from your favorite artists, writers, and publishers in the months ahead.
6. Special members only savings. We have some amazing sales for special occasions. Unfortunately there aren't special occasions every month. In those months, you'll could receive a discount coupon that let's you pick your own day for your own special occasion and comic book savings.
7. FCBD Advanced Title Selection. If there's a comics fan holiday, this is it. There's usually upwards of 50 free titles -- yes, totally free -- on the 1st Saturday in May each year. Best of all, Empire's Comics Vault celebrates this day by letting fans take 1 of each of those titles if they want. That means really, really long lines and a long wait. But not for you! What if you could get in an hour early? What if your line were shorter? What if you could select some titles a month before the event, have us pull them for you, and then pick them up at your convenience on or after FCBD? We're working out a way to beat the line!
8. Annual Saver Sale. At least once a year, we'll throw a sale just on the items in your saver -- and were not talking about a measley 10% off. It'll be worth your while.
9. Something new every month. If eight isn't enough, how about twelve? Each and every month, there will be something new and delightful headed your way. 

So what's the hold up? Print out this form and bring it in. Or complete one in the store.

Saver_Form_2012-2013.pdf Download this file

What Is 24 Hour Comics Day?

A bunch of comic book writers, artists, and enthusiasts get together for 24 hours straight. The goal? Create your own 24 page comic book, from script to art, within 24 hours.
Comic shop ownerd and small press comic book publisher Ben C. Schwartz explains 24 Hour Comics Day.

Good Times with Empire's Comics Vault Movie Crew

Join The Movie Crew, Get Freebies

The first Movie Crew we put together went to see Captain America. We gave out a whole bunch of Captain America comic books that night! We also had a Cap sale that week.

The Amazing Spider-Man Tees

We've seen The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and now we're off to see The Dark Knight Rises. And yes, there were either freebies (like Spider-Man t-shirts and posters) or movie-related store sales, sometimes a party, but always something!

We Speak Geek

Best of all, we take the time to talk about these movies, to explore what was right, what went wrong, what thrilled us, and what disappointed. Lots of time these topics are fodder for Empire's Open Podcast! We hope you'll join the Movie Crew for our next movie. Watch our blog (right here!), Facebook page, and Twitter for details.

You're going to go see these movies anyway, why not get free comic booky stuff to boot!

Movie Crew's Next Movie Is The Dark Knight Rises

We're so excited to see the new Batman movie that we're going to a midnight showing -- and better yet, we're giving a free Batman related New 52 title to everyone who goes with us! Just hit us up at the theatre and pick a comic book from the titles we have with us.

Midnight Movie Crew Details

Date: Thursday, July 19

Time: 12:01 AM

Location: UA Arden Fair 6 at 1739 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA

We highly recommend that you buy your tickets in advance at the box office or online, so that you don't get the disappointing news that it sold out.

View Arden Fair 6 in a larger map

Empire's Comics Vault Presents The Free Comic Book Day Mini-Con

We're doing two amazing things for Free Comic Book Day 2012, a.k.a., FCBD 2012, and you're all invited.

1st Amazing Thing We're Doing

We're giving away more than 10,000 free comic books to Sacramento's comic book reading fans and to people who've never read a comic book in a long time - or ever! On Saturday, May 5 come out to Empire's Comics Vault for your free comics.

2nd Amazing Thing We're Doing

To make this year's Free Comic Book Day, a.k.a., FCBD, the best ever, we're having our own mini comic book convention, a.k.a., Mini-Con, and inviting some of our best friends to join us. On May 5, you'll meet some of Sacramento's amazing comic book creators, writers, artists, geek groups, and more.

Amazing Bonus Thing We're Doing

We're letting two people Skip The Line at FCBD 2012! "Meet" some of the folks who'll join us on the first Saturday in May and find out how you could be one of the two people skipping the line in this nifty vid. Be sure to read the complete Skip The Line rules.

Number 1 Right Now on KCRA A*List

The Race So Far

Right now, thanks to you, our store fans, we're holding steady at #1 in the Bookstore category in KCRA's A*List competition. Last week we moved from 16th to 9th in about 30 minutes. Then in the next few minutes we moved into the #2 spot. By March 14, at 1 a.m., we took the #1 spot.

So now the hard work begins - staying at #1. Yesterday we fell into the second place spot, but quickly regained #1. That means, however, that someone is hot on our trail.

Vote

To participate, please visit our page on the KCRA A*List website. We hope you'll consider voting for us, however we know that there are many fine shops that promote comic books in Sacramento. It would be amazing to be #1 at the end of the contest in 45 days - it would be even more amazing for the top 5 spots to all be comic book shops!

Here's a look at the current standings in the Book Store Category:

Announcing EmpiresCV.tv - Sacramento's newest comics show

We finally talked Ben into sharing his favorite titles from each week's new comic book day releases. A whopping two of us have previewed this show and really enjoy it. We think you will too. In fact, please let us know what you think in the comments.

EmpiresCV.tv will appear weekly on our Facebook page and also on our YouTube channel, or visit www.EmpiresCV.tv each week for immediate viewing.  Special thanks to one of our regular fans, Joey Janssen, for reminding us to snag the URL for the show. And now, EmpiresCV.tv...