Storm troopers and roller derby performers mingled with queues of Canberrans in Garema Place to get their hands on some of the free comics.

Printed for free in the US and distributed at a cut price, the initiative was to entice new readers to the fascinating world of comic books, according to Impact Comics manager Mal Briggs.

"We're really lucky, Canberra is almost perfect demographically for comic book readers," he said.

"The level of education, the level of book ownership, the disposable income levels – it sits dead centre on every demographic that says these people read comics.

"We're actually still experiencing year-on-year growth as new people discover comics and discover us for the first time."

Mr Briggs likened the idea of giving away comic books to handing out free scoops of ice cream, in that he was convinced people can't stop with just the free ones.

"They're going to come back later, that is the whole principle of it," he said.

Everybody is still doing it 10 years on, and look at the crowd that shows up."

With 50 titles on offer on Saturday, the comics were suited to a wide variety of people.

From young five-year-olds in homemade superhero capes, to older men in knitted sweaters, there was no typical reader.

"It is reflected in the range of stories – from really simple little kids' monster comics to The Simpsons comics to the official sequel to the Fight Club movie – now coming out in comic book form, and we have a preview of that today," Mr Briggs said.

Canberran Andrew Wilson attended Free Comic Book Day with his two children, Hamish, 6, and Clara, 4.There

Following a family tradition, Mr Wilson said his children love reading the old classic comics, like Tintin and Asterix.

"I enjoy comics. It's something that I grew up with and my dad grew up with the Phantom and that sort of stuff, so I thought I'd expose the kids to it too," he said.