Whoa-ho! Joining us for his first ever HeroesCon in 2010 is star penciller Mike McKone, veteran of a ton of high-profile titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, Exiles, and tons more. It’s almost easier to list what this guy hasn’t worked on, his list of credits is pretty ridiculous. This dude is a WORKHORSE, and a much-requested guest, so we’re glad to have next summer.

ALSO new to the Guest List today is a guy with the coolest first name in comics, and the second-coolest person to wear that name: Dustin Nguyen is the artist on Batman: Streets of Gotham, and has also worked on Detective Comics and Superman Batman, as well as outside of Gotham City on books like WildC.A.T.S. It may just be that sweet first name, but I lovvvvve Dustin’s art, especially his amazing watercolor covers. Plus he’s a crackup in person, as we learned last summer when he attended HeroesCon for the first time. He told me he was taken aback by the quality of the art people were doing for our art auction, and promised to really dial it up this year. What??? If you were here for our 2009 Art Auction, Dustin donated 3 pieces, one of which he did onstage and was just incredible. Maybe he’s going to sculpt something next year? I can’t imagine how he’ll top himself.. but that’s one of those good problems I think. Check out this piece he did onstage:

Okay guys! Have a great weekend, and those of you, well pretty much anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard, enjoy the snow! Next week will see the first iteration of our Indie Island guest list, and I’ve got some really amazing names to announce, so get excited!

I posted a holiday schedule earlier but I wanted to make sure that everyone out there in internet-land knew about the store and shipping schedule for the next couple weeks!

Christmas and New Year’s:

Store Schedule: The store will be closed Christmas Day and we will be open “Sunday hours” on New Year’s Day. We will close early Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. We will definitely be open until 6 pm but how long we stay open after that depends on traffic. If you want to get some last minute Christmas shopping done after 6 pm it would be a good idea to give us a call before stopping by just to make sure we are open!

Shipping Schedule: Books will ship normally the week of Christmas, however the next week will be a “skip week”. Blackest Night #6 will go on sale Wednesday, December 30 and we are participating in Marvel’s New Year’s Eve Eve promotion which includes some freebies and a variant for Fall of the Hulks Alpha. But wait, there’s more! We have some exciting plans in the works which we will be revealing soon! It will definitely be worth your while to stop by the store on December 30. Shipping returns to normal the week of January 4 with new books arriving in stores on Wednesday, January 6.

Thanks to “Snappy” Matt Knapik for acting as photojournalist last Saturday at our big Holiday Sale and Store Signing. Though it was cold COLD, a bunch of people came out hunting some sweet deals and to meet our visiting stars, which included Nathan Edmondson, Chrissie Zullo, Andy Smith and Budd Root. Shelton provided cookies and coffee to take the tinge off the cold and replace it with some holiday cheer, and as usual our patented mix of friendly pros, friendly customers, and friendly staff made for some friendly times. Actually the patent is still pending, but things look good.

You can see the whole set of photos over on our Flickr page! Thanks again to Matt and to everyone who came out to make our Holiday Sale a success!

I read a lot of comics every week — so many that I just don’t have time to fully review all of them in any given setting. So, every once in a while, I do a “jam” review with quick looks at several books I’m digging. Check it out:

Incorruptible No. 1: Are you a fan of superhero comics but would like to take a break from the spandex-clad bunch at the Big Two? Well, I’d recommend picking up Mark Waid’s Incorruptible. Starting with Irredeemable, Waid has been building an interesting world of heroes over at Boom! Studios, and this comic — which tells the story a villain “gone good” — is the latest addition to that steadily growing universe.

Ghost Riders: Heaven’s on Fire No. 5: The perfect combination of humor, horror and extreme violence, it makes me sad to think that this is writer Jason Aaron’s swan song on Ghost Rider. Get your hands on all the issues before this limited series ends next month.

Dark Avengers No. 12: I’m shocked that this Avengers title turned out to be my favorite of the franchise. This team of villains is way more interesting than their heroic counterparts. I wonder what Marvel plans to do with them after Siege; let’s hope it’s something interesting.

Batman: Streets of Gotham No. 7: As much as I hate holiday-oriented stories, leave it to a writer like Paul Dini to craft a great one; it’s filled with terror and, unlike some one-off Christmas stories, ties into the continuity of the title.

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of Ben Templesmith‘s addition to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List, today we’ve got a massive addition of returning guests!

Returning to HeroesCon in 2010 will be industry legend Michael Golden (The Nam, Micronauts) and Mark Texeira (Wolverine, Ghost Rider). These guys have become favorites at the show over the years–Mark’s 11th hour donations at the Art Auction, usually held aloft by volunteers blowing on still wet paint, always make a splash, and Michael is as big a draw among other artists as he is among fans!

Also returning in 2010 are the fine lads of North Carolina’s Tsunami Studios, including star penciller Randy Green (Teen Titans) and inker Rick Ketcham (Runaways, Uncanny X-Men), plus Steve Bird (Robin), Brian Shearer (Doctor Who), and John “Waki” Wycough (GI Joe)! I’m sure we’ll be adding more Tsunami names in the near future as well–there are a ton of these guys, I think they’re breeding or cloning or something.

Okay, one more Guest List update for the week tomorrow, then next week we’ll roll out our initial Indie Island guest list, including a bunch of first-time big name indie types! Super exciting!

Oh yes! We’re super excited to announce that Head Aussie-In-Chief Ben Templesmith has signed on to be a guest at HeroesCon 2010! You know him as the artist behind Fell, 30 Days of Night, the writer and artist of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and Welcome to Hoxford. His newest book is the upcoming Choker, with writer Ben McCool.

Ben was one of our early confirmations for our 2009 show, but the vagaries of international residency forced him to cancel at the last minute, so we’re glad to have him back! Ben assures me that he will be in the country all next year, and will be swinging two bats at HeroesCon. We were emailing back and forth about odds and ends, seating and so forth, and I mentioned that I’d probably seat him off kind of semi-by-himself somewhere, to keep his line from blocking a whole section of Artists Alley.

He said, “If I have a huge line I will be severely humbled sir,” which might have just been humility; while I’ve never met Ben face to face, he seems like a pretty sweet guy. But I suspect he is not prepared for the kind of full-on COMICS show HeroesCon is, not to mention all the original art junkies that come each year–he’s gonna be swamped!

ANYWAY. I have a laundry list of people to add still, so you’ll likely see another (and much larger) update tomorrow, but I wanted to get the news out today! Get excited!

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

1) Rocketeer Complete Collection HC vol 01

IDW collects the entire Rocketeer series for the first time in this fancy hardcover. Dave Stevens beautifully wrote and illustrated the Rocketeer, and for this edition it is recolored by the incomparable Laura Martin. Rocketeer is a throwback to the pulps of the 30s and 40s with plenty of action, adventure and jet packs!

2) Incorruptible #1

Mark Waid brings to you a story about a villain who decides to turn over a new leaf. It is about reform and redemption set in the same world as Irredeemable. After the Plutonian goes berserk Max Daring (formally Max Damage) steps in to make things right again.

3) Chimichanga #1

Eric Powell + Circus Performers = Awesome!

4) Uncle Scrooge #386

I think Uncle Scrooge is my favorite of the Boom! Studios Disney re-launches. I love the clean and crisp art and the stories are so much fun. Reading this book is like being a little kid again and watching cartoon right when I got off from school. I love it!

5) Olympus TP vol 01

If you came by for the sale you had the opportunity to meet the writer Nathan Edmundson! Olympus stars two brothers (Castor and Pollux) who are in service to Zeus to protect mankind. Christian Ward‘s art is pretty trippy. It is bright and colorful and helps create this ephemeral world based in mythology. Do yourself a favor and check it out, if you haven’t done so already!

David Lafuente– Like some sort of dynamite mix of Norm Breyfogle fluidity, manga-esque figure work, and exceptionally stylish dress design this newcomer is quickly growing into one of my favorites. Every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man lately had just become a feast for my eyes. Look at this

I have never seen Spider-Man move like that, most artists opt to show the malleability of his body but not the speed in his movements. Plus I love the dry brush effect on the motion lines that make it look like charcoal.  More stuff like this please.  Check out last five issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and the Patsy Walker: Hellcat trade.

Daredevil #270-276, 278-282– I picked these up when we had dollar boxes out during Halloween.  This was the year of material by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr.  that was mostly about Mephisto and Blackheart.  But within that framework the title dealt with issues of the conditions for animals in meat farming, human cloning, the strength and definition of the soul, the boundaries of feminism, Karnak and Gorgon of the Inhumans were there for some reason but it still made sense.  The entirety of the story is spent in rural areas and on backroads.  Hell’s Kitchen, Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, really any familiar element of the Daredevil mythology is NOT at play here.  It’s these things that make this run so compelling, it’s not an ode to Frank Miller or Born Again, as soooo many Daredevil stories have been.  Easy to find and worth reading.

Paul Tobin– He has pretty much become the man behind Marvel’s kid-friendly comics.  The wonderful thing is that there incredibly entertaining, smart comics that are truly ALL-ages.  Of particular note is Marvel Adventures Spider-Man which is effectively practicing the done-in-one with continuing sub-plot structure of classic Marvel.

Frankencastle-From Punisher #11.  I love comics.

Deathlok the Demolisher– The current mini series out now and I did a 180 on my opinion of it.  I dismissed it outright after the first issue but upon re-examination it’s actually a bit of B-Movie on Cable stupid/awesome piece of fun.  This is the hard strong stuff the sort of thing that you cleanse the palette with after reading like a Chris Ware book or something.  Man between this and the last thing I guess I’ve got a thing for cobbled together dead guys.  I probably need some help for that.

Mort Weisinger-era Superman– I’ve been inhaling Showcase Superman books lately(and you should too, there cheap and its like freebasing the superego AND the id at the same time.)  These stories are so mad, man.  The plots are nonsensical and often the scene transitions and mechanics of the story are choppy,but like, in a good way. Character speak and think in declarative existential woe.  What’s most impressive are the tableaus of psychological torture that Superman will put his friends through, like this

Fantastic.  He’s also good at doing a silent disapproving glance from behind the newspaper.

Hey guys, a quick note here at the end of the weekend–besides thanking everyone for turning out for our sale and signing, I just wanted to say a quick word about the tone here on the blog. We want everyone to feel welcome to join in the conversation here; we love hearing from all of you. But we want to keep the tone friendly, so that EVERYone can feel welcome.

This not only goes for all of the staff and our customers, but also our guests at the convention each year. Thanks for helping us keep the level of discourse on our blog civil and friendly; though we can’t always agree on everything in the comic book store, there’s plenty enough to agree on. Thanks!

TODAY, TODAY!! We’ve been talking about it for weeks, but it’s just minutes away from starting! Seth and Shelton have got THIRTY boxes of $1 books that have never been touched by non-Heroes hands, there are deals throughout the store on pretty much EVERYTHING! From a base discount of 10% on pretty much everything, on up through 50% off back issues, to 75-90% off select items we need to blow out to make room for next year’s stuff!

It’s grey outside, and brisk to be sure, but we are assured by all the weather powers-that-be that any rain is scheduled for much later today, probably after dark! So bring it on out to Heroes today and help support your favorite comic store in this once a year tradition! AND, from 2-5, meet comics stars Nathan Edmondson (Olympus), Budd Root (Cavewoman), Andy Smith (Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein), and Chrissie Zullo (Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love)!

More details in the post directly below this one, but bring it on, we are about to open this piece UP!