Free Comic Book Day, an annual tradition in which comics publishers from major to minor release special free issues that readers can snatch up at comics stores, sounds like a great deal. It’s free, right? The catch is that the whole point is to get you into new comics, which, 364 days a year, are decidedly not free. It might be the most sneakily expensive giveaway in history. It’s also an excuse for stores to throw parties, and nobody does it like Ultimate Comics, which has all-day festivities at its Raleigh, Cary, and Durham-Chapel Hill stores. Before the race for limited supplies of freebies begins at ten a.m., there’s an actual racea superhero-themed 5K run for charityat the flagship D-CH location at nine. Each shop will have cookouts, face painting, cosplay, and dozens of creators. Durham gets the likes of Warren Wucinich, artist of a comic based on Nickelodeon show Invader Zim; Cary gets Chris Sims, writer of X-Men ’92. Show up early or content yourself with the dregs.