It’s the day after Small Press Expo 2011 and we’re back to work early to let you know about some of the great books we picked up for our Heroes customers.

We’ll start with Paying For It.  Yes, the latest book from Chester Brown has already been in stock at Heroes for a few months, but we just had to get another one.  What makes this one different though, is that Mr. Brown was nice enough to sign and sketch in the book for us.  If you’d like this signed/sketched copy of Paying For It, it’s yours for cover price.  There’s only one of these, so we’ll have it for the first person who comes to the store, mentions that they read it on our blog, and asks to purchase it.  We should note, if you comment on the blog and ask us to hold it for you, or if you call us and ask us to hold it for you via phone, we won’t honor that as a request.  We want you to come to the store and ask in person.

Though not officially released yet, we managed to snag a copy of Blue Collar/White Collar by Sterling Hundley.  This new offering from Adhouse features a variety of works from Hundley, an artist you might not be familiar with, but should seek out.  He primarily illustrates for magazines, but also exhibits in galleries, and covers a wide range of topics and themes in his explorations of diverse art styles.  If you’re an art lover, do yourself a favor and check out this book.  Hundley could end up having a James Jean type career that crosses over the worlds of fine art and comics.

We also picked up Stargazing Dog, an acclaimed manga from Takashi Murakami that will soon be released by NBM.  This one was being well received by fans of manga and literary comics, and its story of a frustrated man and his loyal dog should appeal to a variety of readers.

Old-Timey Hockey Tales is a new book from respected indie creators Robert Ullman and Jeffrey Brown.  Though the subject matter is hockey, the real draw of this book is the chance to see two very talented, and very stylistically different creators explore the history of the sport in their own unique ways.  In addition to this one we also picked up two volumes of Ullman’s Traffic and Weather strips.

Since we’re on the subject of mini comics, I’ll go ahead and mention some of the others we picked up.  Dan Zettwoch and Kevin Huizenga had a nice selection of minis, and we picked up three of their collaborative books, The Factoids of Life, Fact Parader, and Factual Healing, all three feature the two creators alternating stories.  Both of these guys are really talented cartoonists, and it’s something to see their distinctive individual works take place in a collaborative setting.

Also new to our mini comics sections are new arrivals Monster Isle, from Mermin creator Joey Weiser, March by Bill Burg, and 3 volumes of Messed Up Fairy Tales, featuring art from attendee Joe Foo, whose art caught our eyes.

The Venice Chronicles is described as “a travelogue in pencil, watercolor and varying shades of silliness.”  Written and illustrated by Pixar director/head of story Enrico Casarosa, this one reminds me a little of Lewis Trondheim and Scott Morse, but stands on its own for the sheer quality of the author’s original voice.

We also ran into Alec Longstreth and his magnificent beard and Tugboat Press publisher Greg Means. We picked up Yes, Let’s, a comic written by Alec’s sister Galen Goodwin Longstreth and illustrated by Maris Wicks.  This book’s fun use of rhyming couples nicely with Wicks’ fine line work.  This is one of the best all ages offerings we picked up this year, so be sure to check it out.

Heaven All Day is a wordless comic from John Martz.  He has a style that evokes Canadian cartooning great Seth, among other cartoonists, and this simple, well-paced story of a the comings and goings of a scientist/machinesmith and a robot stood out to both myself and Rico in our SPX wanderings.

Finally we have A Graphic Cosmogony.  This is an anthology I picked up for myself at Fluke in Athens a while back, and was glad to pick up a copy for our store this weekend.  This is a fine example of Adhouse’s Adistro program, where publisher Chris Pitzer has started to distribute comics from around the world that he wants readers to become more familiar with.  This book comes from England’s Nobrow Press, and features 24 artists each taking 7 pages to tell a story of creation.  There’s a lot of variety and quality within these pages, and chances are if you pick this one up you’ll be introduced to the work of a few cartoonists you’ll want to continue to enjoy.

We had a blast at SPX and are happy we were able to pick up some really interesting books for all of you to enjoy.  Stop by the store and give them a look for yourselves!

SPX photos by Heather McKinney

Green Lantern is practically everywhere these days! The movie, starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, is scheduled to hit theaters later this year. The Blackest Night crossover was a smashing financial success. The upcoming crossover, War of the Green Lanterns, looks to be another bestseller. It seems like the popularity of the comics are fueling the hype for the movie, and vice versa.

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was one place you could go to for all your Green Lantern news? Well look no farther than Welcome to Coast City! Our wonderful customer Matt “Rapier” Rape is doing the world a huge service by compiling everything Green Lantern onto one convenient website. It has news about the movie, reviews on the comics and information about merchandise (action figures, costumes, etc.). Stop by to get your daily green fix!

Once again the juggernaut which is Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find is giving our lovely reserve customers a chance to see this seasons blockbuster DAYS early! If you are a reserve customer with us, you have the opportunity to see a preview screening of the Green Hornet on Wednesday the 12th at 7pm!

Just bring yourself on down to the store anytime from now until showtime and we’ll have a ticket for two in your hands just as soon as you let us know that “the Green Hornet flies at dusk!” And while you’re in the store, don’t forget to check out one of the many Green Hornet titles, including Green Hornet: Year One with covers by rising star and Charlotte Minicon alumni Francesco Francavilla! The Charlotte Minicon returns on January 22nd with an all-star cast of talent that you can find here. Happy viewing!

The only thing we love more than hearing about the cool things our customers are doing is letting everyone know about the cool things our customers are doing! The debonair Adam Crohn has started a comics blog entitled Absolute Omnibus. It is jam packed with comic related news, reviews and much more! Crohn has been creating custom action figures and so far has a Red Skull, Aquaman and Moon Knight. He also has Message Boards set up so you can chat with fellow comic book readers. Coming soon to the site is a complete listing of every Absolute and Omnibus in existence. Head on over to Absolute Omnibus for your comic-related website fix!

Wednesday, November 3 the Neighborhood Theatre is  screening The Adventures of Prince Achmed for a fundraiser benefiting VisArt Video! As an added bonus Great Architect will be doing a live orchestral score! There will be two showings, one at 6 pm for families and one at 8 pm for adults. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids.

VisArt Video’s manager Gina Cerniglia is trying to raise $100,000 by next spring in order to buy the store before the lease runs up.  The current owners aren’t able to maintain the store anymore and the store will be forced to close its doors if Cerniglia can’t come up with the money. Help Cerniglia keep Charlotte’s only Independent video store open! VisArt is located right beside Heroes on 7th Street and if you have never been there you should most definitely check it out. They have a huge selection of movies including obscure and independent films and VHS tapes. Charlotte would not be the same without them!

Four local artists tell stories about their experiences living in Charlotte  for Creative Loafing. Click this link to see the comic strips Dustin Harbin, John Hairston, Jr., Bridgit Scheide and Marcus Kiser created. I know you will be entertained and impressed!

Note: Some stories may not be suitable for all ages.

Red, the movie based on Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner‘s three-part comic book mini-series, opens in theaters today! The movie stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren as retired CIA agents who come out of retirement and team up to figure out why the CIA is trying to kill them. From the trailers it is obvious that the movie took the basic premise of the comic and multiplied it. There is more story and more plot. Not to mention that there are way more characters. The comic was an action-packed thrill ride and the movie looks like it will live up to its namesake. The movie is rated PG-13 for violence and language so it is not for everyone, but for the rest of you, go read the book and go see the movie! Who wouldn’t want to see Helen Mirren as an assassin?

I sat down yesterday to read the Life section of USA Today and was pleasantly surprised to see an article about Mike Mignola‘s return as both writer and artist of Hellboy and the first page of a new eight-page story called Hellboy: The Whittier Legacy. You can read the story exclusively on USA Today‘s website by clicking here! It is part of Dark Horse’s DH:HD program that features exclusive content through USA Today and is presented by Toshiba. Comic Book Resources did an informative article about the program when it was announced at NYCC this past weekend.

If you like what you read check out our huge selection of Hellboy comics and stay tuned next year for Hellboy: The Fury a three-issue miniseries that wraps up Mignola and Duncan Fegredo‘s epic Hellboy story arc. If that isn’t enough for you then you can make plans to come to HeroesCon 2011 where you can meet Mignola for yourself!

A sampling from the most recent Previews catalog of what looks like a winner in the month of November! All books are available for pre-order at your local shop (that’s us)!

Hellboy Double Feature of Evil One-Shot – Richard Corben on Hellboy is always the best and Hellboy one-shots are always a good way to hook the casual or curious reader (you know who you are). Pg 28

Batman – The Batman line gets a new revamp, launching two new Batman books.  Batman, Inc. continues Grant Morrison’s work on the character and seems to be about Batman as a superhero brand name within the DCU.  David Finch writes and draws his own title, Batman:  The Dark Knight.  Batwoman by JH Williams gets a preview issue #0.  Already established books get new creators attached to them in some way or another.  Lots of chances to get into a new comic here. An interesting note, Batman comics seem to be the only place in mainstream superhero books where you can find writer/artists.  Tony Daniels, JH Williams, and David Finch are writing and drawing their respective books.  A neat coincidence if anything.  Pgs 62-73

Assassin’s Creed: The Fall #1 – I’m not much of a video gamer person myself.  I know nothing about Assassin’s Creed at all except for vague memories of a pretty good commercial.  HOWEVER this caught my attention because it’s being written and drawn in collaboration by Karl Kerschl (who did that incredible Flash section in Wednesday Comics) and Cameron Stewart (Batman & Robin, Seaguy).  Two of the best artists in the industry blending there styles into a singular vision is more than enough reason to give this a gander. Pg 112

Darkwing Duck TP Vol. 1 – If you’ve missed the mega popular Darkwing Duck comic up to this point, this paperback collects the first five issues and along with issue #6 also coming out that month it is a good opportunity to get caught up all in one fell swoop. Pg 246

Acme Novelty Library Volume 20 HC – Even for something that’s been around for as long as Acme Novelty, there is such a thing as a new reader, to its credit Acme Novelty volumes work as independent stories as well as parts of larger stories.  Though as far as I can tell from the solicit this is NOT part of the longer Rusty Brown narrative of the past few volumes. Pg 274

Amazing Spider-Man #648/649 – Spidey changes up its formula again.  Twice monthly/one writer/three artists/double-sized, it looks like a heck of a value.  If you’ve been looking to jump in, jump here. Marvel Previews Pg 21/22

Captain America by Jack Kirby Omnibus – Jack Kirby came back to Marvel in 1976 and returned to (arguably) his most famous creation as both writer and artist.  The 25 issues collected all in one here are Kirby at his maybe most madcap and insanely creative, flipping the down to earth tone of before and going waaaay out.  Electric comics in a fancy hardcover. Marvel Previews Pg 96

Hellboy by Terence Hoskins.

We have already learned about Sketch Charlotte and the interests of the members: Rich Barrett (RB), John Da Costa (JDC), Tom Davidson (TD), Derek Davis (DD), Henry Eudy (HE), Dan Morris (DM), Brandon Padgett (BP), Eraklis “Herc” Petmezas (EP) and Bridgit Scheide (BS). In the third and final part of the interview each artist explains their process, talks about their projects and discusses the Charlotte art scene.

Can you tell me about your process? Do you have a set drawing schedule? Do you use specific tools?

RB: I draw all my pages on paper and have recently started inking with a Pentel brush pen. Then do a lot of clean up and production work in Photoshop. I try to fit in a little bit everyday in order to try to maintain a page-a-week schedule but I’ve got a job, a freelance web design business and two kids so I really can’t keep to a set schedule.

HE: I do try to draw every day, at least in my sketchbook or just doodling around while on the phone or something. In reality, I should have a set schedule but generally I just draw in whatever downtime I have at work or when there’s nothing good on television. I pencil with an old fashioned wooden pencil with a hard lead, normally an H, and ink most often with either a Pentel brush pen or a Winsor & Newton #2 round sable brush. Occasionally I’ll use a Niko 357 Japanese nib to ink or a .5 Copic pen. I tried for a while to break in a Hunt 22-B nib but kinda gave up.

JDC: No set drawing schedule for me, but I use 2 tools exclusively: my Wacom drawing tablet and Adobe Illustrator. I like illustrator because I can do the majority of my comics work in the one application. So I do my roughs, then inks, flats and rendering all in Illustrator. I also use Photoshop for final image sizing.

BP: I’m rather traditional in my methods. I start out in pencil (4H) and pretty much render everything as I want it. I then ink over what I’ve drawn using Copic or Prismacolor art pens and markers. I do use Photoshop for cleaning up the drawing after I’ve finished. I’ve also used it to fix major problems without redrawing the whole piece. I’ll erase what’s bad and print out what I like and then redraw it. I tend to use smooth Bristol more than anything else.

EP: I tend to draw after my wage slaving job is over. So I draw mostly at night and on the weekends. I use anything to draw with. I usually do my roughs in pen and then blow them up. I then place them on my light box and ink right on the board with a brush pen. It varies though for each story.

TD: I always start with story first, which is what I think great comics should be. It’s all about the story and the art is there to serve it. I usually start drawing on a piece of paper. Just odd things. And then I create an outline based on what it is I was drawing. Once I have my outline, broken down page-by-page, then I start drawing. I wish I had a drawing schedule (it’s on my to-do list, which is broken up on a ton of mental Post-It notes scattered about here and there), and honestly it’s something I need to create and stick to. Tools include a Kuretake #40 sable brush pen. Hunt pen nibs, usually a #108 and a #102. Sometimes Scratchboard. Sometimes Pebbleboard. Every now and then a toothbrush. Anything I can get my hands on, really.

Sketch by Tom Davdson.

BS: I have two desks, one is a drawing table where I do my illustration and traditional tool stuff, and the other is a desk for my laptop and tablet. I usually do pencil work and then ink over it, then scan it in and use Photoshop Elements to color it. For my comic Kindle, it’s all pencil, which I scan in. I’ll create a background layer and play with grayscale gradients to give it a fuller look and slightly minimize the graininess. I always get excited about my desks. It’s just really nice to have that much space to do stuff, to research and idea building in one area and the technical stuff like drawing in another. Plus it keeps the internet out of reach when I know I need to be productive!

DD: I look at other comic strips or read comic books. I listen to music to get inspiration and use experiences from real life. I try to make time on the weekends and draw and at least 2-3 times during the week. I use Canson comic strip paper, Faber-Castell pens, Sharpies, whatever I need to get the look I’m going for. Sometimes I want bold lines and other times I want delicate lines. Anything to make my art style look unique.

DM: When I draw comics I generally tend to go from a very basic idea. I’m a much stronger writer than I am an artist so if I have a strong idea, I’ll then start making sketches for characters. After I’m comfortable with that, I’ll write down the idea and then go straight to thumbnails. I’ve tried going from an actual written script in the past but I tend to get bored really easily and I like the idea of being surprised where a story can take me. Also I think this just makes for better visual storytelling not being tied to a specific script. When I do thumbnails, I try to do at least three different versions of those thumbnails. I had several teachers hammer it in to me that the first idea you have isn’t necessarily your best so I try to do as many thumbnails as I can before I feel I’ve hit on a really good page layout that communicates what I want to get across in my story. After that I pencil out the story on Bristol. Other things, I do that while won’t get put onto paper the general public sees are warm up exercises. This is really important because it’s really obvious, at least to me, when I’m working on something without having warmed up and none of my stuff looks as loose as it should be. My drawing schedule is generally, since I now have a day job, mostly in the afternoons and evenings anyway which suits me. I don’t know what it is but I have a hard time working in the morning. As for my supplies, it’s a pretty simple list.  I use lead holders with F lead after years of using mechanical pencils and regular pencils. I draw on 500 grade Strathmore Bristol that’s already pre-cut. I use the 500 grade over other grades because it takes ink better which is great for me because I like to lay on huge black spots. As for my inking tools, I’m still trying to figure that out. I’ve been using Faber-Castell Pitt Pens lately but I’m not really satisfied with how that’s making my pages look. I need to make time to go back to practicing with a brush or a nib. However, one of my professors at SCAD told me I should experiment with my making my inks look dirtier in contrast to how clean my line work is so I might stick with a combination of tech pens and brush pens and just mess things up.

Hellboy sketches by Chrissie Zullo.

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