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Oh man, this is super exciting for me, I’m such a fan:

Sammy Harkham is one of the most influential cartoonists of his generation, maybe the most influential. That’s a crazy statement to make maybe, but heckfire, I have made it. Besides his very famous editing of the seminal Kramer’s Ergot anthology, the last iteration of which was a massive 16″ x 21″, and his more recent guest-editing of Bart Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror (itself a sort of Kramer’s reunion); my very favorite of Sammy’s work is his own Crickets. Crickets is a throwback of sorts to the great 80’s one-man anthologies like Yummy Fur, Love & Rockets (okay, 3-man in that case), etc. A recent casualty of the squeeze on indie publishers due to Diamond’s change in their minimum orders for small press books, a lot of people thought Crickets was dead. BUT #3 is due this summer, and I cannot tell  you how excited I am to tell you you can buy one from Sammy right smack in the middle of Indie Island. Sweet!

But listen, Sammy’s not the only person doing 1-man anthologies (1-manthologies?)–he’ll be joined at HeroesCon this summer by cohort and friend John Pham. John is the proprietor of Sublife, which I think will see a third issue this year as well. He’s also been in another great anthology, Mome. I think I first twigged to his work when Chris Staros hand-sold me a copy of Epoxy, which maybe he was distributing for John back in 2000 or so? Chris also sold me my first copy of Kramer’s Ergot (#3). Which I hated. Hey listen, people change, I never promised you a rose garden.

Oh! But there’s more good news! Returning to HeroesCon this year will be mighty Tom Scioli, co-creator of Godland and the creator of The Myth of Opus-8. Tom is a sweet dude and extraordinarily knowledgeable about comics. Most recently he did the art for the Freedom Force comic, as well as writing and drawing the “Space Smith” stories in Image’s The Next Issue Project.

Man, those are three quality dudes. But there’s more to come this week, so stay tuned!

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which books she is most excited about!

1) Super Hero Squad #3

This cover rocks! Literally.

2) Breaking Into Comics the Marvel Way #1

Breaking Into Comics the Marvel Way is a two issue series that showcases 12 new artists that C.B. Cebulski found during his many excursions as a talent scout. The stories are written by some of the top writers at Marvel. If you are interested in getting into the industry you should really follow Cebulski on Twitter. He is incredible informative and entertaining. And he is always tweeting about food. I want to hang out with him and eat cheeseburgers!

3) Batgirl #8

I have been hearing some really good things about Batgirl. This issue is the first part of a crossover with Red Robin (part two is in Red Robin #10 which is also out today). I enjoy team-up issues so I am going to give this crossover a read!

4) Wonderful Wizard of OZ #1 MGC

MGC = Marvel’s Greatest Comics. Marvel is reprinting some of their best issues and selling them for only $1. First up is Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1. Awesome issue! Thor #1 (JMS run) and Captain America #1 (Brubaker run) are due out soon.

5) WWE Heroes #1

The debut issue of WWE Heroes is full of wrasslin’ action with art by the illustrious Andy Smith!

Yen Press announced that their manga adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series will have a national sale date of Tuesday, March 16. So one week from today Twilight Manga GN vol 1 will be sparkling up our shelves! It is a hardcover, $19.99 and clocks in at 224 pages. This adaptation is being done by Young Kim under Meyer’s close supervision. The manga is reportedly more close to the book than the movies, especially in regards to the depiction of the main characters. In other words you won’t see Robert Pattinson’s likeness in the manga. It is Kim’s interpretation of Edward you will see. There is a lot of buzz on the internet about it both good and bad. Personally, I think people on the internet need to lighten up and stop complaining. I am happy that Yen Press is doing a manga adaptation of the Twilight series and I am happy we will have it for sale in our store!  And as we know by now all the cool kids like vampires.

Whoa! Have you guys ever heard of Tim Sale? I know Shelton has; Tim’s one of Shelton’s favorite creators (he has a lot, admittedly), so I know he’s excited to be able to welcome Tim back to HeroesCon this summer. Besides extraordinarily popular books like Batman: The Long Halloween, Spider-Man: Blue, and Captain America: White, Tim also did the paintings (with Dave Stewart) for the Isaac character on a little show you might have heard of called… Heroes? I could be wrong but I think the last time Tim was here was back in 2006 or 7, so it will be interesting to see how his already-massive lines are affected by his increased fame since then. Either way, I’m pretty sure he’s still a sweet dude. Pret-ty sure, guys.

Oh! And also returning to the HeroesCon Guest List is inker Mark Morales, who has turned into one of the foremost inkers in the comics industry, most recently working on enormous event books like Siege and Secret Invasion, and over smaller but acclaimed books like Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine and Young Avengers. Smoooooth style he’s got, especially over smooth guys like Olivier Coipel and Jim Cheung. I love it.

And! Stepping back into the ring again this summer is Stephanie Gladden. Stephanie’s worked on pretty much every major cartoon license, including The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Looney Tunes, Powerpuff Girls and more. She’s also a character artist for Cartoon Network, working on shows like Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends and Chowder (my favorite!). BUT she’s probably most excited about her new creator-owned project, Girls of Monster Paradise!

Still more to come next week, I’ve got updates stacked up, including someone who hasn’t been to HeroesCon in at least ten years, and today is one of the biggest names in the industry–no lie!

Holy moley! Returning to the HeroesCon Guest List this week are three of the best! You almost certainly know Sean “Cheeks” Galloway from his epic turn in Wednesday Comics, not to mention his Teen Titans Go! work, his bajillion sketch cards for Upper Deck and other trading card publishers, and more. He’s also a lead character designer for the Spectacular Spider-Man and Hellboy cartoons–check out that Hellboy up there, it’s GORGEOUS. I swiped it from Cheeks’ blog, which is just an embarassment of drawing riches.

Joining Cheeks is his buddy and fellow mack-daddy talent Jonboy Meyers. While Jonboy’s work has been in a bunch of comics like She-Hulk, GeNext, and JLA, he’s enormously prolific as a sketch and commission artist. His commissions are like full-on covers, they’re kind of amazing. I don’t know how much he charges but I bet his sketch list fills up lickety-split at the con, so better wear your running shoes and show up early.

Also returning this year is our buddy Mike Choi, whose pencils on Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, and Witchblade (among others) have made him a darling of the original art scene. He’s got a smooth style that’s mm-mm good like Campbell’s Soup, and that’s no lie!

That’s not all–we’ve got another big announcement set for tomorrow, and then a couple of HUGE announcements next week–we’re getting close to the show now; it’s only going to get more exciting from here on in.

Oh yes, as Phil Collins said, “Tonight, tonight tonight! Oh-ohhh!” Yes Phil, tonight will indeed be alright, as Heroes Discussion Master Andy Mansell leads another book club discussion. This time we focus on Craig Thompson’s extraordinarily successful memoir Blankets. This is a book that’s not only a critical and market success, but a big entry-point for female readers into comics, which is always great.

Andy will be kicking some knowledge tonight, March 4, at 7.00 at our store. All you need to bring is yourself, a copy of the book if you have one handy, and a good attitude. Bonus points if you bring some questions, which will save some of Andy’s breath–after all, he’s got quite a slate of discussions to do throughout the spring!

So The Flash: Rebirth is finally over. And as it ends, we’re left with one question: Was it any good?

Well, it sucked a bit but, ultimately, it was an satisfying — and necessary — comic.

First the bad. The story – written by DC demi-god Geoff Johns — was a tad bit convoluted. Each issue delivered page after page of gobbledy-smack about the Speed Force, the Negative Speed Force and other crap. Throw in a heaping helping of time travel, and you’ve got one confusing limited series.

In addition to a rather perplexing plot, the other bad thing about Rebirth was the lateness. I mean, I appreciate the fact that one creative team executed the entire project — which makes for better trade paperback — but the long delay between issues only added to the confusion I felt when reading the book.

OK, that was the bad — now on to the good. Although John’s story was confusing, the writer did succeed in fleshing out Barry Allen and (as I’ve said before) giving him the personality he never had.

Rebirth also succeeded in dusting off, restoring and refocusing the Flash family of characters. All of the characters who’ve been screwed over so much over the years — like Bart Allen, Max Mercury, Wally West and even the Rogues — all got a new lease on life as a result of this comic. And, honestly, wasn’t that the point of Rebirth?

Carlton Hargro is the Editor-In-Chief of Charlotte’s  Creative Loafing newspaper. You can read more of his reviews at the paper’s Comic Proportions blog.

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which ones she is most excited about!

1) Girl Comics #1

I still don’t know how I feel about the name, but there are some awesomely talented people working on this book. Including: Amanda Conner, Laura Martin, Colleen Coover, Robin Furth, Trina Robbins, Stephanie Buscema and MORE!

2) Buffy #33

In this issue the identity of Twilight will finally be revealed! I thought it was Oz until the last story arc. I have it on good authority that it will blow my mind though. This will probably be the first book I read when I get home tonight!

3) Superman TP Braniac

I love it when Geoff Johns and Gary Frank work together, especially on Superman. This was a good, solid Superman story. The art is fantastic and the story is really entertaining.

4) Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #1

The name may be silly but Frank Cho’s art sure is pretty to look at.

5) First Wave #1

Brian Azzarello and Rags Morales bring you a new world where there are no superheroes, just pulp heroes. The Batman/Doc Savage one-shot that they put out several months ago was surprisingly awesome so I am looking forward to checking out First Wave #1. And I am very excited that they are bringing back the Spirit.

Well! a family-friendly update to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List this week, or at least friendly to the Van Sciver family. Star artist Ethan Van Sciver, he of  Green Lantern, Flash Rebirth, and Blackest Night fame, is returning to HeroesCon this year.

But this year, Ethan will be joined for the first time by his younger brother Noah Van Sciver. Noah is the creator of the Blammo series that he self-publishes, and has recently been featured in MOME and in The Comics Journal as the cartoonist interviewer. Those are my faves, those little cartoon interviews, I love them.

Noah recently did a “redo” cover of his brother’s cover to Flash: Rebirth #3 over on Robert Goodin’s Covered blog, which I thought was extra appropriate to feature here, as Robert will also be at HeroesCon. So yeah, sensible.

But wait, there’s more! Also also returning to the show this year is “Comics Reporter” Tom Spurgeon. Tom has informed me several times that he has something mysterious planned for his time at HeroesCon, as opposed to in 2008 when he moderated 1,000 panels. I’m not sure what it is, but today he referred to it as “very specific” which for some reason has made me a little worried. Expect to need to sign hold-harmless disclaimer agreements at the door to any panel Tom is involved in this year.