I really wanted to say something about this a few weeks ago, but things got away from me. But no time like the present! August 12 was the two-year anniversary of our friend Mike Wieringo‘s death.  Mike was one of the sweetest, friendliest, most generous people ever to cross the threshold of a HeroesCon, and believe me that’s saying something. 

I don’t want to get into a long thing here, because frankly I liked Mike a lot and it will totally screw up my day if I get all sad. Besides, many other people (including Mike’s brother Matt) have already done a much better job than I could.

BUT I do want to point out something we can all do to commemorate the life of Mike–contribute to the Mike Wieringo Scholarship, the first of which was awarded this June at the HeroesCon Art Auction. It took a little longer than normal, mainly because Matt Wieringo got a loonnnnng standing ovation when he took the stage to present the award:

This is just as people starting to stand up–at that point I had to stop taking pictures because I wanted to clap too.  Anyway, the scholarship is awarded to a student at the Savannah College of Art & Design‘s Sequential Arts program.  The scholarship was set up through contributions and the sale of some of Mike’s original art, and is run by Matt, so 100% of the proceeds go to the scholarship.  If you’d like to donate you can drop your donation off at the store and we’ll get it to Matt, or send you donation by mail here: 

Savannah College of Art and Design
Attn: Office of Institutional Advancement
Mike Weiringo Memorial Scholarship Fund
P.O. Box 3146
Savannah, GA 31402

Make the check out to “The Savannah College of Art & Design” and put “The Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund” in the memo line.  Be sure to include your name and address somewhere, so SCAD can send you a thank you note. I’m a little unclear on whether the donation is tax-deductible or not.

We don’t make a lot of these kinds of endorsements, but this is something that’s important to us, and we think it’s a great cause, something Mike would have been enormously proud of. And something which we’re enormously proud to be a part of as well!

Yessirree! As reported over the weekend by me on Twitter, both in my at-work and at-home identities, as well as by numerous employees on their various social media throughout the weekend, our boss Shelton Drum pulled a fast one this weekend and got HITCHED to his lady-love Linda D’Olivat!

While some of the staff were invited to a “light dinner” at Shelton’s house Friday night, only a few of us showed up on time–it was, after all, Friday night. I, as a matter of fact, called to tell Shelton I wouldn’t be there til after 9.30, but as I listened to the phone ring I didn’t realize it was being used as a wedding iPod. So when I showed up the party was in mid-toast, everyone was pretty, er, mellow after a couple of hours of celebration, and I found myself late for my boss’s wedding!

Whoa! Fortunately almost everybody else had been surprised by Shelton’s backyard wedding/eloping trick, but once you got over the shock you realized in you were in the middle of a great big party. Super awesome, and Shelton and Linda were beaming all night–we’re all pretty excited about adding a Canadian to the store family, which makes us 75% funnier AND 125% better cartoonists by association. Also now Seth can play hockey.

Shelton’s pretty excited too–I asked him for a little quote for this announcement, and he sent me this:

It was like we eloped, but at home, and with our friends and family! It couldn’t have worked out better. The weather was fabulous and everyone was surprised and happy for us. Linda and I are looking forward to sharing many happy years together!

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating Shelton Drum and newly minted Linda D’Olivat Drum on their happy nuptials! Many happy returns!

The internet is a-buzz with rumors and speculation about Captain America #600! But there are a few things that we know for a FACT:

FIRST: it is coming out next week and will be available for sale on Monday, June 15. Yes that is right, MONDAY! They will be on the rack just as soon as UPS delivers it! Note: only Cap will be for sale on Monday, all other books ship Wednesday.

SECOND: not every store has opted to get it in early.

THIRD: be the first kid on your block to read it by purchasing your copy at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find, America’s Comic Source.

FOURTH: this issue is going to be H-U-G-E! There is expected to be plenty of media coverage surrounding this monumental issue.

AND LAST: but certainly not least, Captain America #600 writer Ed Brubaker AND Captain America #600 cover artist Steve Epting will be at our convention which is being held June 19-21 at the Charlotte Convention Center! Less then a week after you read the book you can let the creators know what you think. And perhaps get your issue signed!

I am so excited I can barely contain myself! This convention is going to be so awesome I can’t help but use a billion, billion (1,000,000,000,000 x 1,000,000,000,000) exclamation points when talking about it! So hopefully I will see all you guys on Monday when you pick up your very own copy of Captain America #600, Wednesday when you pick up the rest of your books and then Friday through Sunday at the convention. It is going to be the best week ever!

Hey if you haven’t already seen it, I did an interview with Tim O’Shea of the Robot 6 team over at Comic Book Resources. Although Tim didn’t ask me any questions at all about a) whether I was single; b) my top 5 desert island CD’s; or c) if I could spell Bill Sienkiewicz’s name without having to look it up, it was a fun interview and Tim is a nice guy. Check it out right here and drop a comment about how excited about HeroesCon you are!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Memorial Day is Monday, May 25 and as a result books will ship THURSDAY instead of WEDNESDAY. You have officially been warned! If you come by Wednesday you won’t have new comics but you will have us and our sparkling personalities and razor sharp wit. And Matt will be there trying to get you to buy Umbrella Academy!

Check out our pal Tommy Lee Edwards, who beyond being an amazing AMAZING artist on comics like Marvel: 1985 and more, is also a bigtime illustrator who’s worked for Lucasfilm among a ton of other high-profile clients. Tommy Lee is once more participating in the Ride For Kids program this year, which benefits the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. We love Tommy Lee and hope you can help, or pass this along to help get the word out. From TL’s e-mail:

“Giving my time as a motorcyclist is my way of showing support for those families battling every day with childhood brain tumors.

Last year, hundreds of North Carolina bikers and I traveled the Triangle area and contributed to a national fundraising total of $4.5 million. With generous donations from friends and family, I was able to personally deliver $9,350. This total earned me the title of “Champion Fundraiser”. Along with that honor, I will be leading this year’s ride as we strive to beat the 2008 total and get even closer to a cure.

The 2009 Ride for Kids is next weekend, May 3rd, and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation needs your help.

DONATE NOW to sponsor my ride
http://www.firstgiving.com/edwardsillustration

Our primary source of donations in 2008 came from teaming up with Lucasfilm. We shipped a limited-edition Star Wars print, illustrated and signed by me, to anyone donating a minimum of $30. I’ve been unable to gather the resources in time to offer the same incentive for donors this year, but have planted seeds for 2010.

For this year, I’ve decided to go for a wild blitz-week of fundraising. We have one week to raise as much as possible. The cut-off is May 1st. So if you can, please donate today.

You can visit my firstgiving website to make a donation. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to our fundraising efforts. Large or small, anything helps. And please don’t feel any pressure to donate at all. Many of you may not be in a position to do so, or chose to put your funds toward a separate charity.”

Last week our friend Jim Royal died. Jim was not only a gifted penciller, inker, and all around artist, but the kind of guy who could crack you up just by turning his head a certain way at the right time. He’s known Shelton for years and years, and I myself have known him since I started working here, 13 years ago last week.

I remember sitting across the street at a table with (then fellow clerk) Matt Fraction, and the both of us just crying laughing at Jim, who could make a stone gargoyle laugh. We called him “Gentleman” Jim, although in truth he was anything but, but in the best possible way. Jim was generous to a fault, and the kind of guy it was always fun to see, whether in your hometown or out somewhere on the con circuit.

Besides his personal qualities, Jim was an illustrator and inker with a deep portfolio, including work on Arkham Asylum, The Spectre, Birds of Prey, and Spider-Man, and many more. He was a primo dude, and he’ll be sorely missed, not just by us, but by his many many friends throughout the comics industry.

Our thoughts go out to his many friends and family. Goodnight, Gentleman Jim.

1) New comics will ship on THURSDAY, not Wednesday, next week (December 4). As always, we will be here and smiling if you’d like to come on both days. You can see a list of all the sweet books shipping next week on our New Releases page.

2) As mentioned in prior posts and pretty much EVERYWHERE ALL OVER THE WORLD, today is the “official” start of the holiday shopping season. Our giant holiday sale is going on next weekend (December 6-7), with a ridiculous number of items deeply discounted. Not only will pretty much everything in the store be discounted at some level, this is an excellent chance for you, our loyal customer, to (as Shelton says)…

3) “Be An Ambassador.” Comics shops like ours run on the goodwill of our regular customers, AND a fairly steady stream of new customers. We try hard to bring new, especially younger, readers into our store, but this holiday season we’re asking for YOUR help! If you have friends or family members who would appreciate a comics-related gift this holiday season, let us know–we’d love to help! Or even better, bring your friends and family into the store! We have a nationwide reputation as one of the best and best-stocked stores in the country, not to mention being such nice people and all. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about the nation’s best comic book store!

[Pictured: The Honorable Nancy Powell, U.S. Ambassador to Nepal]

4) Finally, to EVEN FURTHER aid your shopping season, we’ve put our good ole Holiday Gift Registry online. This means you can download and print out the form, fill it out at your leisure, and bring it in to us. We’ll hold onto it for you, and then you send your loved ones in: just let them know to ask for your Holiday Gift Registry, and we’ll help them find everything you’re looking for! What could be finer?

Although that’s unfair–Andy Mansell does actually have an education, I believe.

But over on Tom Spurgeon’s Comics Reporter site, he’s posted an excellent group of items for all kinds of different shoppers. While Tom refers often to weird things like “Amazon” and other non-Heroes sites for purchasing, we know that you will replace all these instances in your mind with the sentence “HEROES AREN’T HARD TO FIND IS HAVING A GIANT SALE DECEMBER 6-7“.

In any case, Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving, a day which still feels too festive to call “Black Friday”, regardless of the actual origins of that phrase. We are open for business and ready to accept your money–whether in our store or another, we hope you have a safe and stress-free day!

I’m reposting my original exhortation regarding the forthcoming Kramer’s Ergot #7, which is contained below the “—” underneath this top portion. There was a pretty shocking number of you who said you’d like me to order this book for you at the original post, but I wanted to give everyone a second chance to confirm. These are pricey books, and by offering them to you at a discount, we’re increasing our risk on them, so we want to make sure everyone actually wants one.

So, to paraphrase what’s below: Kramer’s Ergot #7 is a 96-page anthology that’s a mammoth 16″ x 21″ inches, which is massive. The roster is a who’s who of the best cartoonists working today, including Chris Ware, Jaime Hernandez, Dan Clowes, Matt Groening, Sammy Harkham, and a bunch of others. I saw the pages at SPX, and holy mackerel does it look better than I even dreamed. The retail price is $125, but we’ll sell them to you for $100 IF YOU PRE-ORDER THEM through us. We’ll have one or two on hand for you to eyeball, but the $100 price is only good for those that contact me by this Thursday, November 6. I’ll be ordering these direct from Buenaventura Press the next day.

Remember, you MUST e-mail me in order to get on this list. Please don’t be shy about not pre-ordering one if you aren’t sure you want it. Also I would point out that the book will show up some time in November or early December, which will make it an excellent Christmas gift. So feel free to have your loved ones e-mail me. As long as we know you, we’ll put you on the list. For those of you who don’t normally shop in the store, this book is too massive to mail order, so I would point you respectfully at Buenaventura itself.

Chris Ware’s double-page spread. Homina!

Tim Hensley and Dan Clowes.

Tom Gauld.

———-

OKAY, so one of my favorite cartoonists right now is Sammy Harkham, who you may or may not have met at this year’s HeroesCon. I met him, and might as well have been meeting Farrah Fawcett, considering how nervous I was the whole time. I LOVE HIM! But besides being a studly cartoonist, Sammy also edits the preeminent anthology KRAMER’S ERGOT, six volumes of which have come out over the last 8-10 years or so.

THIS FALL WILL SEE the release of Kramer’s Ergot #7, which will be published as a 16″ x 21″ massive tome for $125, filled with a laundry list of great creators, including Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine, Seth, Kevin Huizenga, Matt Groening, Jaime Hernandez, and a bajillion others. It’s crazy. While the book will only be 96 pages–I know, I know, let me FINISH–it’s all material created SPECIFICALLY to see print at this size, comparable to the size of old Sundays like Gasoline Alley, etc. This has NEVER BEEN DONE in comics before, and from all accounts some of the work is breathtaking. Imagine what someone with the graphic sense and careful pacing of Dan Clowes could do with a page over 4 times larger than a standard comic page. I’m getting sweaty just thinking about it, and I’m not even that big a Clowes fan. But I AM a big fan of comics, and the thought of pushing into this kind of territory is really exciting to me.

BUT NOT to everybody. A lot of people–maybe even YOU–are put off by the high price point and relatively low page count. Which is totally fine. There are a lot of books that are too expensive to buy at ANY price for some people. But the strange thing is that a lot of people have decided that they need to COMMENT on how expensive the book is, regardless of whether they care of not about what’s in the book, whether they’d have EVER bought it, etc. Boring, I know; but on the Internet people have to talk-talk-talk, especially bloggers, even when they pretend to be objective and journalisty. Imagine needing to say something EVERY DAY to an audience you can’t see. You can almost forgive these guys for their digital demagoguery.

ALMOST.

I have been more vocal in this dumb debate than I normally would be, half because I find it childish for people to complain about art–ignoring art is the best defense against art you don’t like. And half because I REALLY AM excited about this book, and want to stick up for it like you would for anything you like. And my excitement was only quadrupled a few days ago when Tom Spurgeon posted this excellent interview with Sammy Harkham about the book, the creators involved, et cetera, rather than flinging opinions out all willy-nilly with little more information than the size and cost of the book. But I’m a fan of Tom Spurgeon too, so maybe I’m just playing favorites.

SO, I say all this NOT to bring this cacophonous kerfuffle into our blog. I am uninterested in hearing what everyone thinks about expensive artsy books–I like the folksy neighborly vibe we have on this blog, and would prefer not to enter into some rejoinder war with anyone. So, if you’d like to be heard, please feel free to post on any of the threads I’ve linked to above.

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THIS BOOK for me is all about the retail risk. Kramer’s Ergot #7 will be available for much less than $125 on Amazon, possibly as low as $80–how in the world can we compete with that? While I intend to support the book by purchasing it here, I get a fat employee discount, so it’s a wash. And while I’d love to order a bajillion, just to shut up the people who say that comic shops will never order such a pricey book, I’d have to defend to Shelton why I spent so much of his money (which is never in surplus anyway) on even a few of such a pricey book.

SO LET’S SAY (pending confirmation from the publisher of what our cost will be) that we offer the book to anyone who special orders it for an even $100. That’s 20% off the retail price; a little more than it costs on Amazon, but we throw in the satisfaction of supporting your locally owned and operated comic shop for no additional charge. This will ONLY apply to people who special order the book by posting here or e-mailing me directly–other copies purchased in the store will be at regular price, although stuff like your reserve discount, etc., would still apply. If I don’t know you, I may ask for some sort of confirmation, just so we don’t end up with a stack of these things unsold if you change your mind later. If you’re from out of town and would be mail-ordering the book, it’s probably better if you order it directly from the publisher (Buenaventura Press), as it’s an oversized package and would add too many weird costs for us.

ANY TAKERS? I really do think this is going to be one of the most talked-about and influential books of the DECADE, a historical event in comic book publishing. I CANNOT STOP USING CAPITAL LETTERS when talking about it.

I’M SORRY.