As swarms of excited movie-goers lined up this weekend for the opening of “Spider-Man,” comic book stores worldwide prepared for the first ever Free Comic Book Day.

Saturday was a historic first for the comic community. Comic book publishers, creators and independent retailers pooled their resources, creating both a holiday to celebrate the joy of reading comics and a fresh image of comics for a new audience.

“It’s set up to get people back into comic books,” said Rob Jeremias , manager of The Comix Revolution at 606 Davis Street.

With the release of “Spider-Man,” the blockbuster based on the Stan Lee comic, audiences are watching comics come alive on the big screen. Comic books are “in a lot of people’s minds that aren’t normally comic readers,” Jeremias said as he rang up a copy of “Ultimate Spider-Man” for a customer.

Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image and many other publishers sent boxes of comics to thousands of stores to support the event. “Star Wars Tales,” “Tomb Raider,” “Justice League Adventures” and “Ultimate Spider-Man” were the four staple comics sent to all participating retailers, but many stores had a variety of extra titles to pick from, such as “Palestine” and “Hopeless Savages,” two less-mainstream comics that were free for customers at Comix Revolution.

“We’ve had things stockpiled for a few months,” Jeremias said.

Owned by NU alumnus Jim Mortensen, the Evanston comic book shop had an estimated 500 people turn out for the event.

“There were a lot of new people coming in,” Jeremias said. “But the question is whether or not they come back.”

According to Jeremias, comic readership experienced a drop-off in the early 1990s, and lately, publishers have been doing new things to attract a new audience. Comics’ popularity comes and goes in five to 10 year periods, he said.

“In the past year or so it started picking up a lot,” Jeremias said.

“Free Comic Day is a good idea to get people into the store,” said Val Eisenbart, a Weinberg freshman and comic collector. “But I’m not sure how many of those will convert to actual readers.”

Scott Steinman of Evanston was in the store Saturday, enjoying the event with his family.

“We’re here because (my son) is an avid comic book reader,” he said. A past reader himself, Steinman’s favorite comic book character was The Flash.

“His clothes would pop out of his ring,” Steinman said. “They’re not thinking of this stuff anymore.”