Comic relief

Sean Funston, who owns the comic shop Vigilante Press (1931 W Chicago Ave, 312-423-6774) with his wife, Lily, never took advantage of Free Comic Book Day when he was growing up. “Since I was already a comic collector, I didn’t want to seem like some freeloader—‘Oh hey, yeah I buy comics every week, but let me get some free ones,’” he says. The comic-loving couple, who opened the parking-friendly West Town shop last October, will be on the other side of the counter when they take part in their first Free Comic Book Day on Saturday 5.

Vigilante Press will join stores around the city like Chicago Comics (see Books listings)for the nationwide day designed to celebrate the art and get comic books into the hands of a new audience. “It’s for the kind of person who’s like, ‘Oh, I’ve never read a comic. Oh, here’s one I can read,’” Sean says. The dynamic duo will have 30 different comics available, including Spider-Man, Simpsons (“kind of the new Archie, everyone buys them”), as well as a how-to-draw-comics book and the debut issue of Umbrella Academy (from Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance). It’s also the opening weekend of Spider-Man 3, “so it’ll be a weekend of nerd-dom,” Lily says. For more info, visit myspace.com/vigilantepress, or freecomicbookday.com.—Leah Pietrusiak