Goodness gracious it’s the wee hours but I SO MANY new HeroesCon 2010 Guest List names to announce this week. I hope these guys will forgive me for going super fast and not writing a ton about each of them, though they all deserve it. But I still need to get the Small Press updated before bedtimes! So without further ado:

PAUL AZACETA is an artist with work in books including Amazing Spider-Man (pictured above), Potter’s Field, B.P.R.D. 1946, and a bunch of others. He’s super tall too. #fact

JUNE BRIGMAN is the co-creator of Power Pack, and currently a professor at SCAD and the artist of Brenda Starr, which is coincidentally inked and lettered by her husband ROY RICHARDSON, who also joins the list today. He’s ALSO a professor at SCAD, and has worked in the past on books including Captain America, Iron Man, The Flash, Star Wars, and tons more.

TALENT CALDWELL is the penciller behind Fathom: Killian’s Tide and Fathom: Dawn of War, as well as more recently The Web and Batgirl. I do believe this is his very first time to HeroesCon, so be sure to stop by his table and welcome him.

ERIK JONES is another first-timer to the con, and we’re happy to have him. He works mainly as a cover artist, on books like NOLA, The Unknown, and Jennifer’s Body.

ALEX SAVIUK is no stranger to HeroesCon–no stranger at all! These days he’s the artist on the Spider-Man newspaper strip, but he’s also drawn for Web of Spider-Man, The Phantom, X-Files, Green Lantern, and the Eisner-nominated Feast of the Seven Fishes.

And new to the Indie Island list this week (also the main list, but you know)

DAVID MACK is new to HeroesCon, and is not the David Mack you’re thinking of, unless you’re thinking of THIS David Mack. A minicomic impresario of no small talent, the Athens resident has produced a TON of awesome minis, including Otto, Fifty Fearful Faces, Wolf City, and Some Things I’ve Dreamed.

JOEL WATSON is the creator and purveyor of the HijiNKS ENSUE webcomic, not to mention creator of t-shirts that get worn by such pop culture studs as J.J. Abrams, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Coulton, and Edward James Olmos. I just call him “E.J.”

Okay! On to Small Press!

A young Andy Mansell, after trading his shoes for comics.

At Heidi McDonald’s “The Beat”, her crack team of analyzers go over the monthly estimated order numbers from all the publishers selling through the “direct market” (known to you and me as Comic Book Stores).  I enjoy the articles  for what they are:  Educated guesses about trends of what comic shops have bought.  These numbers don’t catch the actual sell through at the stores, mail subscriptions or  newsstand sales[1] (such as 7-11s or Border’s or whatever).

The best selling titles for March of 2010 topped out at around 135,000 for DC and 113,000 at Marvel.  This got me thinking about comic sales, and why they seem to be so, so low.  Interest and awareness of comic characters is higher than I can ever recall, so why the low numbers?  Have trade paperback sales eaten into monthly circulation?  Is the overall impenetrability of the major titles discouraging to new readers?  Is $4 too much for a ten minute read?  Do people download them for free?  Is print media DOA?  Let’s look at historical comic sales trends before we use Heroesonline to save the comics industry!

With some internet digging, here are some comic sales factoids (courtesy of The Comics Chronicles), gleaned from the Postal Service Statement of Ownership and Circulation, which used to be run once a year in the back of most comics:

In 1960, the best selling comic was  Uncle Scrooge, moving on average 1,040,000 copies per month.  Superman topped out at around 810,000 copies.

Batman’s television debut in 1966 saw his eponymous title rocket to the number one spot with nearly 900,000 copies sold on average.  Marvel’s best selling title was Amazing Spider-Man at number 16, which turned about 340,000 issues, edged out by the Catholic Guild’s Treasure Chest by over 8000 units!

1969 saw Marvel finally break into the top 10, with Spidey’s circulation at around 372,000, Superman’s near 511,000, and Archie taking number one with 515,000 comics sold.

The 1970s saw a dramatic decline in comic sales, marked by numerous price hikes, from 15¢ in 1969 to 40¢  by 1979.  In order to make more money, both major companies started to up their output.  In order to bolster sales and beat out Marvel, who had finally surged ahead in the ’70s, DC increased their line dramatically in the famous “DC Explosion”.  This was followed by the infamous “DC Implosion” in 1978, leading to the sudden cancellation of 20 titles.  Over the next ten years, the newsstand market steadily declined to the point of effective nonexistence.

Concurrent to this, comic sales rebounded, primarily through the direct market of specialty comic book stores.  Things seemed good for the next 15 years, until the the speculators market of the 90s.  What followed was an industry-wide implosion that we’re still dealing with the effects of today.  We’ll get to that over the weekend, as well as how digital distribution just might be the new “newsstand”!

The Heroes Discussion Group will meet again in the back of the store on Thursday (note the day) May 13th at 7:00 pm.
In order to wet our whistles for next month’s HeroesCon, we return once-again to the super-hero genre to discuss Astro City: Confession by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson.

This is the second Astro City trade paperback and it reprints the first multi-issue story-line.
We hope to attract a number of the Astro City faithful as well as some rookies sticking their toes in Busiek and Anderson’s rich trough for the first time.

Suggested topics will include:

* The consistency of having the same creative team on every issue
* How do super-heroes stories create a connection to the audience
* Are the allusions and homage to main stream comic characters consistently successful or do they become a distraction?

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

For anyone who has not had the chance to read many super-hero comics, Astro City may prove to be a great place to dive in and see what all the fuss is about. Astro City: Confession is a graphic novel created by a writer and artist who really love superheroes. You can feel the affection on every page; in every panel.

Remember: Heroes is offering a special 10% discount on Astro City: Confession; be sure to mention the discount when you are checking out!
This will be big time fun.
See you there!

Today’s update to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List comes packed with delicious, vitamin-fortified goodness — returning to the mighty halls of the Charlotte Convention Center will be Rantz Hoseley and Jason Levesque, the editor and cover artist, respectively, of the Eisner and Harvey Award winning Comic Book Tattoo anthology! When he’s not racking up comic awards, Rantz is also the CEO of Longbox Digital, a new comic book e-reading and digital download service that’s currently in beta-testing.

Jason, who prior to doing the Comic Book Tattoo cover was just an illustrator, is these days turning into a go-to comics cover artist, with work on The Many Loves of Spider-Man, X-Force, and more; not to mention a couple of artbooks (Girls Are Pretty and Pretty Gross). Awesome to have these two Tori Amos-loving dudes back in the hizzy.

Also back today is our old buddy Jim Amash, who if you get rushed for time getting sketches you should visit–Jim can draw in pretty much any style and is a hoot to chat with while he draws for you. Recently he’s been working on a number of all-ages books including Sonic Universe, Jughead, Scooby-Doo and more–plus his work as a writer/editor for Alter Ego and on books like Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast And Furious Artist.

Tsunami Studios’ Robert Atkins returns this year–every year his resume gets a little more awesome; these days it includes GI Joe, Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and more. He’s also currently working on a creator owned project coming out from Ape Entertainment early next year. Robert’s joined by fellow Tsunamist Kelly Yates, who’s most recently been working on a myriad of different Doctor Who comics, including The Forgotten and Autopia. He’s also the creator of the Amber Atoms series from Image!

Doug Dabbs is another whose star is on the rise since his graduation from SCAD– besides work on Resurrection, Doug is currently illustrating his first graphic novel, Holiday, to be published by Oni Press. And last up this week is newcomer Corinna Bechko–a zookeeper by day and writer by night, Corinna’s recent comics work includes Heathentown and the Zuda comic The Crooked Man. Please welcome her to her first HeroesCon as a guest!

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

1) Thor and the Warriors Four #2

That cover says it all!

2) I, Zombie #1

I am super excited about this! And the fact that Vertigo is putting out a lot of #1 at $1. Mike Allred‘s art looks fantastic! And Chris Roberson is writing and I really enjoyed his work on Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love.

3) Astonish Spider-Man Wolverine #1

This looks like a really fun team-up book! I am digging Adam Kubert‘s art and Jason Aaron always writes a good Wolverine. Plus, there is a weird and creepy looking villian.

4) Superman: War of the Supermen #1

If you picked up the Free Comic Book Day Superman: War of the Supermen #0 then you might want to check this out! There are Supermens a fightin’!

5) Hellboy In Mexico One Shot

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo is a Hellboy one shot, ironically enough, set in Mexico. It is written by Mike Mignola with Richard Corben on the art. I read this during lunch and it was great! Did I mention Mignola will be at Heroes Con June 4 thru 6?

What are you kidding me? Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today is Pixar artist painter, cartoonist, and all around art stud Scott Morse, he of Magic Pickle, Noble Boy, Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!, Red Window, and a ton more. Like literally, a ton. And somewhere in the middle of all that he finds time to work on Pixar movies including Wall-E and Ratatouille. Gracious! This is Scott’s first time to HeroesCon, and he’s sure to be mobbed as much by other artists as by fans!

Also first-timing it this year is Nathan Fox, who just announced the collection of his Heavy Metal story Fluorescent Black! Nathan is another guy with a legion of drooling admirers–his lush wild style is insane, I could look at his stuff all day. Besides the new book, recently he worked on Dark Reign: Zodiac, Pigeons From Hell, and a bunch of others.

Another firstie this year is Ming Doyle, who has been making comics for a while but is really making a splash these days, from Girl Comics to Jennifer’s Body, Zombie Tales, and more. You guys you guys–her stuff is insane, do yourself a favor and get on her sketch list early, you will walk away crying tears of joy, this I swear..

Two non-new dudes just added to the list are Rick Spears and Ben Towle–Rick is the writer behind Teenagers From Mars, Black Metal, Pirates of Coney Island, and a bajillion others. Super nice to have him back–unlike Ben Towle, who is frankly a little hard to handle, what with his rages and his tantrums and his binge gambling. If you can catch him when he’s nice and calm though, he’s pretty awesome. This year will see the release of his new book Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean, which is about just what you think it is. Another feather in “Dangerous” Ben Towle’s cap, following the critical successes of Midnight Sun and Farewell, Georgia!

Whew! Man, this is going to be our biggest Indie Island ever–hope I can figure out where to stick all these people..

Tim Miner, a lovely customer of Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find, emailed me about a blog he started called 5 Minute Marvels. Each night before bed Tim and his two daughters take 5 minutes out of their day to draw a superhero. And he is encouraging others to do the same. It is a really simple way to spend some quality time with your kids drawing and teaching them all about superheroes. They have posted some really fun drawings! I encourage you to check out their site and maybe even sit down with your child tonight and make a 5 Minute Marvel!