I wanted to disturb you fine folks for a few minutes today, and plead for your assistance. I would like you to vote for my friend Bruce Hazel & Some Volunteers! Take a minute on the “my space” and give his stuff a listen!

Bruce Hazel and the band are one of 13 semi-finalist in an international search for the “Best Unsigned Band” by Genya Ravan, Little Steven Van Zandt from the E Street Band and Wicked Cool Records. The last round of voting continues through Friday, December 12th, via Genya Ravan’s Sirius Satellite program “Goldie’s Garage“. Find out more by checking out Bruce’s website at Wheeler St. Music

Just click on this link to register, and then follow the directions to VOTE. You do have to register at the site to vote online. And just to prove their bona fides, I totally asked them to tell you, the Heroesonline fan, about their favorite comics. I did not just make these pull quotes while I was at work.

Brent Bagwell:
Justice Society of America

Brent is a horn player extraordinaire. He plays all styles, whether it is free form jazz in the NYC-based “eASTERN sEABOARD”, or the improv stylings of the expansive “Project Bluebird”, or the straight up honky-funk in the Volunteers. And he just can’t get enough of the new JSA. He’s a fan of all of Geoff John’s recent yarns, up to and including Green Lantern, but Hawkman and the other ’40s characters grab a firm hold of his imagination. He will totally corner you and go on and on about it (and I love it!)

Karla Marsh:
To Terra, by Keiko Takemiya

The complete three volumes tell the story of one of those “manga futures”, wherein a race of telepathics called “Mu” are on the run from the humans who want to destroy them. Staying hidden and attempting to rescue as many Mu children as possible before they are eliminated, the Mu have only one desire: to return home. Heartbreaking and delicious.

Bruce Hazel:
Omega The Unknown

Bruce Hazel loves him some Jonathan Lethem, author of such notable novels as my favorite, Motherless Brooklyn, to Bruce’s preferred Fortress of Solitude. Lethem’s obvious love of comics is on display in his and Farel Dalrymple’s collection of the ten issue series. Based on the ’70s character created by Steve Gerber, Lethem explores areas of the search for identity, struggles for power and developing an understanding of who we are and what we are capable of.

Shawn Lynch:
E.C. Segars’s Popeye, from Fantagraphics

Shawn, beloved guitarist for the Volunteers, plus member in good standing of Lou Ford, plus 1/9th of the band Buschovski (who happen to have a show at The Neighborhood Theatre on December 20th, along with the release of their “Compact Disk”) likes the Fantagraphics “Popeye” collections. Originally a strip called “Thimble Theatre”, Popeye went from being a one-note incidental player to international superstar. Read these and see why.

Chad Wilson:
Dark Horse Star Wars comics

Chad goes on and on and on about Star Wars, and the Sith and the what not. In his defense, he only likes “real” Star Wars, and not the recent knock-offs. however, he quite enjoys The Knights of the Old Republic series from Dark Horse. He has good taste, so I’ll defer to him. He also liked Alan Moore’s From Hell.

Plus, you can come see some of the Volunteers this very weekend as Shawn Lynch and Mark Lynch play, along with the rest of Lou Ford, Friday night at Snug Harbor! If you like that, come back to Snug Harbor on Saturday to see Mark again, when he plays with The Trouble Walkers. Caution: The show will have B-A-D words.

With all the talk about this weekend’s sale, I wanted to point out another great deal this holiday season: until December 31, advance tickets to HeroesCon 2009 are $25 apiece. After something like 20 years of not raising our prices, we finally had to after the 2008 show (one of our biggest ever). Advance 3-day passes (the only kind of advance ticket available) for HeroesCon 09 are priced at $30 apiece. But convention owner Shelton Drum is a great big softie, and he decided to offer an inbetween rate of $25 until the end of the year. Tons of people have already purchased their tickets, but we suspect that with all the other news going on in the world, this bit of news might have slipped your mind.

So! Ways for you to purchase your tickets include:

1) Call us at 704.375.7462 during business hours (10-9 Mon-Sat, 1-6 Sun, EST) with a credit card, and we’ll take care of you right over the phone.

2) Download the ticket form, fill it out, and fax it to us 704.375.7464. Remember to include all that charge info.

3) Download the ticket form, fill it out, and mail it to
HEROESCON 2009
PO BOX 9181
CHARLOTTE, NC 28299

There you go! For more info, just go to the Tickets page on our website!

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week. Except this week the new comics hit on Thursday thanks to Thanksgiving. Since I’ve still got Triptofphan in my system I’m going to have to keep it short this week.

5. MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #1
Written by Kurt Busiek; art by Jay Anacleto
Marvel
$3.99

For a book that’s been this long in the making you’d think there would be a little more fanfare for it’s release this week. It is, after all, a sequel to Marvels, the highly popular Kurt Busiek/Alex Ross “realistic” look at Marvel’s Silver Age. You wouldn’t know that from the title. Or the absence of Ross from the book. But it’s got Busiek, man-on-the-street POV character Phil Sheldon, and photo-realistic artwork by newcomer Jay Anacleto.

The original Marvels book was not really my cup of tea but you can’t deny it’s popularity so it will be interesting to see if it’s sequel takes off without Mr. Ross involved.

4. HAUNTED TANK #1
Written by Frank Marraffino; Art by Henry Flint;
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 32 pgs

Back when we were kids war was a blast. Sgt. Rock, The Unknown Soldier, G.I. Joe. Those guys were just having fun. No one was getting hurt. But these days, war is not something we take too lightly so DC has been reinventing some of their goofy war properties as grittier reflections on today’s wars. We had the Unknown Soldier relaunch a few weeks ago and now a new Haunted Tank mini-series. It’s actually not too far from the original concept. We still have the ghost of Civil War general J.E.B. Stuart hanging out with one of his descendants in a tank but this time it’s in Iraq. And this time his descendant is an African American soldier.

3. FIGHT OR RUN #1
By Kevin Huizenga
Buenaventura Press
$3.95 | 32 pgs

Indie cartooonist Kevin Huizenga, known for his thoughtful, existential mini-comics about life in suburbia, is not someone you’d expect to be a closet video game fanatic. But in the second issue of his Ignatz book Ganges, he revealed his penchant for first-person shooter games. Now, he takes that interest to a new, experimental art book full of minimalist abstractions of the aesthetic of such games as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

2. SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE EIGHTH GRADE #1
Written by Landry Walker; Art and Cover by Eric Jones
DC
$2.50 | 32 pgs

For years, DC has been giving us a Supergirl that is drawn like a cast member of The Hills, rather than anything that might be appropriately deemed a “girl”. Finally, through their kid-friendly Johnny DC imprint, they’re trying out a Supergirl book that you’d feel comfortable giving your daughter to read. This Supergirl is in eighth grade and is drawn in a Nickelodeon-friendly style like the recent Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam book. It’s a new monthly series that will have little Supergirl facing extra-terrestrial-related threats as well as middle-school related threats.

1. X-MEN NOIR #1
Written by Fred Van Lente; art by Dennis Calero
Marvel
$3.99

Here’s something new that will either be really neat or kind of goofy. Or both. Marvel is trying out a new series of noir versions of their characters. Murder, sexy babes, hard-boiled dialogue. How is this different than a non-noir version of their books, you say? I don’t know but the premise of this book sounds promising. A couple of homicide detectives investigate a body that has been slashed up, seemingly by claws, and has a tattoo of an X on the shoulder blade. All signs point to an upstate reform school that they proceed to check out.

Final Crisis and Secret Invasion are dominating the summer, just like World War Hulk and Sinestro Corp did before that and Civil War and Infinite Crisis before that and… you get my point. So if your event-ed out like me and pretty much the entire staff of Heroes, here’s some neat-o books that I like that stand on their own.

Immortal Iron Fist
This book has been one of the most consistently entertaining books from Marvel since its inception. The first 16 issues plus specials by Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker have been collected and are absolutely a blast to read. A new creative team came on with issue 17 and defied expectations by maintaining the quality of the book which is really a happy surprise.

Thor
Re-launched by J. Michael Stracyznski last year, Thor is probably in fact Marvel’s best title. JMS has decided to forgo the hammer-smashing super heroics and has instead crafted a slow-burn story first about the return of the Asgardian pantheon after their deaths in Ragnarok and now an almost Shakespearean courtyard drama. But what really completes the package is the absolutely stunning art work of Oliver Coipel (he’s French so that’s pronounced O-liv-ee-ay Coy-pell). The first arc is out in trade and the book is only up to issue 11 so you can play catsup to it pretty easy.

Ghost Rider
I will state that I’m not a big Ghost Rider fan but recently have started to see the character as something that can be a lot of fun if played in the B-Horror grindhouse vein that he very much comes from. This is exactly the way that writer Jason Aaron has played him since taking over the book with issue 20. This book exudes with macho preening and tough guy beat downs mixed with an extreme quirkiness. It’s just one defining moment away from being the next Immortal Iron Fist.

Justice Society of America
The current run of the book, which relaunched back in 2006, reminds me a lot of the heyday of Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Plots, subplots, and lots of characters weave in and without break. JSA is one of the few comics that break the story arc mold and one of the few DCU titles that really stands on its own.

Jonah Hex
This book stands alone by the fact that it takes place two centuries ago. Jonah Hex is the best mainstream book that no one is reading. Almost every issue is done-in-one story usually about the uncaring brutality and general inhumanness of the Old West and its title character that is for the most part kind of unlikeable. It also works as an artist showcase. Some of the best artists in comics such as Darwyn Cooke and JH Williams have contributed to the book as well as some European talent who don’t get much exposure stateside.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam
Teen Titans
These books are cute and smart the way old feature film cartoons used to be. Give them to children, give them to grumpy old men and watch them smile, and then give one to you. They’re great.

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!

It’s here! Our yearly post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas storewide sale will happen in just two weeks, on Saturday/Sunday, December 6-7! Here’s just a partial list of items that will be discounted:

10% OFF all new comics, trade paperbacks, manga, magazines, and more (15% off for qualifying reserve customers)!

50-75% OFF of select mangas (separate from our regular stock)!

10-70% OFF all statues and toys!

50% OFF regular back issues!

20% OFF “Hot” back issues!

PLUS Seth and Shelton will be unveiling a brand new ENORMOUS stock of dollar comics–nearly 20,000 individual comics, IN ORDER! And all just ONE DOLLAR apiece! This is going to be a great chance to get a lot of holiday shopping out of the way early, both for you AND your loved ones, who are surely wondering what to buy you! More on that later, plus more on the sale as we get closer!

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week.

5. FREAKANGELS HC
Written by Warren Ellis; art by Paul Duffield
Avatar Press
$27.99 | 144 pgs

I swear Warren Ellis has at least one book out a week and it’s kind of hard to not mention them in these lists. This week we have a hardcover of the first 24 episodes of his ongoing web comic Freakangels. Set in a near-future, “post-flood” London, this steampunk sci-fi drama is about a group of disaffected youth called Freakangels who meet a girl called Alice from Manchester who tells them she’s met “the last Freakangel” and that they’re going about everything wrong.

Ellis works with artist Paul Duffield to build a compelling dystopia of retro technology. Duffield’s work combines intricate architectural renderings and punk-influenced fashion styling with really beautiful washes of light-drenched color. Will it look as good on the printed page as it does here on screen? Probably.

4. PETEY & PUSSY
By John Kerschbaum
Fantagraphics
$19.99 | 128 pgs

Petey & Pussy is a graphic novel collection of comics strips about a dog and a cat that, as the title probably hints, is definitely not for kids. Both Petey the dog and Pussy the cat are anthropomorphic characters – part cute animal; part balding, middle-aged men – that are prone to graphic violence, slapstick comedy and gross, misanthropic behavior. Not much different than any other cartoon characters, right? And John Kerschbaum draws the strip in a way that makes it feel like a classic kiddie strip. But it’s like reading a Tom & Jerry cartoon starring Larry David and Jeff Garlin.

You can preview the book here or read some strips at Kreschbaum’s site.

3. THE LAGOON
By Lilli Carré
Fantagraphics
$14.99 | 80pgs

Lilli Carré made a big splash a couple of years back with her droll and folksy Tales of the Woodsmen Pete. Her new one is a flight into gothic fantasy mixed with family drama, called The Lagoon. A family, consisting of a husband and wife, a grandfather and a daughter named Zooey are all attracted to the siren song coming from a creature hiding in a nearby black lagoon. The song offers different things to each of them and they react to it in their own way.

The Lagoon is very much an exploration of sound in a soundless medium. Carré’s inking style is looser and sketchier than the precious drawings of Woodsmen Pete, but she uses the rhythm of her line to help convey the rhythm of the creature’s song. Check out some pages.

2. SWALLOW ME WHOLE
By Nate Powell
Top Shelf
$19.95 | 216pgs

Nate Powell is a talented artist who won the Ignatz’s Outstanding Debut Award at this year’s SPX for this book, Swallow Me Whole, his first major longform work after many years of mini-comics and short pieces. Powell’s expressive inking and experimental layouts make his stories a pleasure to look at even if his subject matter tends to be down in the doldrums. Case in point: this book is about two siblings who are wrestling with OCD and schizophrenia.

It’s a foreboding, slowly-paced family drama just in time for Thanksgiving! Seriously, though, take a look at this preview. That wasn’t the last award Powell will be winning for this book.

1. CROGAN’S VENGEANCE
By Chris Schweizer
Oni Press
$14.95 | 192 pgs

I’m a big fan of ambitious projects (think: Sufjan Stevens planning to make albums dedicated to each of the 50 states – 2 down, 48 to go) and this new book fits that bill. Crogan’s Vengeance is the first of a planned 16 graphic novels (The Crogan Adventures) by cartoonist Chris Schweizer that will each tell the story of a different member of the Crogan Family Tree. It will span centuries, continents and genres and it begins here with a pirate tale set in the early 18th century where we meet “Catfoot” Crogan, an honest sailor who never wanted to be a pirate.

Schweizer, an MFA graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design, has a great animation-influenced style and sense of character design. He pitched his series idea to Oni Press by showing them this family tree image he created, promising to create a story for each person pictured. And the rest is family history.

Read a lengthy preview here.

NOT INTERESTED IN THOSE? HOW ABOUT THESE?

PUNISHER BY GARTH ENNIS OMNIBUS
Collecting not the gritty and realistic MAX series but the earlier, “lighter” fare like “Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe” from the Marvel Knights run.

JACK KIRBY’S THE DEMON OMNIBUS
It’s omnibus reprint week! More mining of the Jack Kirby DC depths.

SPIRIT SPECIAL #1
In anticipation of the movie, more affordable Spirit reprints. This one has the stories “Sign of the Octopus”, “Black Alley”, “Sand Saref”, and “Bring in Sand Saref”.

FABLES VOL. 11 WAR AND PIECES
Cinderella on a cloak and dagger mission. Seriously you need to be reading this book.

UNCANNY X-MEN #504
Terry Dodson draws the X-ladies as a new 4 part story arc begins, written by Matt Fraction.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #578
Writer Mark Waid joins Marcos Martin, who I think is one of the most underrated artists working in superhero comics these days.

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG FIRST IMPRESSIONS HC
Reprinting a somewhat obscure but highly acclaimed Valiant comic by Jim Shooter and Barry Windsor Smith. It’s a superhero buddy comedy.

You know, we say it every year, but it’s mainly because each year the HeroesCon Guest List is bigger than the one before. Not the worst problem in the world to have (unless you have to figure out where to put everybody AND all the people that show up to meet them). With a guest list that already–and still more than 7 months out–boasts names like Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jeff Smith, and more–we just can’t help adding more names. And though it’s still early, the names have been piling up on my desk, as I keep alluding to each week.

I’ve got a bunch of additions lined up, but I promised myself that TODAY, by gum, I would get at least two of them done. And so it is with great glee and a small sense of accomplishment that I announce the addition of two real sweet guys: Ivan Brandon and Joe Staton.

Young, scrappy, and multilingual, Ivan Brandon is the writer behind Secret Invasion: Home Invasion, Machine Man, and The Cross Bronx, among others. AND he most recently was the translator of the much-talked about Mesmo Delivery Service from AdHouse Books.

No stranger to HeroesCon, our old chum Joe Staton has worked all over the comics industry on a multitude of different books (and in a multitude of styles), including E-Man, Green Lantern, and Scooby Doo. Joe is one of the nicest guys you could meet–that’s not saying a lot at HeroesCon, but Joe is a prince among nice guys, trust us. If you’ve never met Joe or Ivan, we will charge you a nominal fee to meet them–and a few hundred others–this June at HeroesCon! More updates on the way!

by Andy Mansell

Comic Strip Corner—a great place for Christmas shopping! Located in the back of the store, between the action figures and the Fiction/Lit section. This is a place everyone should drop by and visit. Have you ever been interested in the comic strip collections, but don’t know where to start? Well here is a primer for you to get going!

FIRST you need to get comfortable with the format of the strips. Most if not all of you are more comfortable with storytelling on the comics page. The eye travels from left to right and top to bottom. The capable writer and editor make sure all of the important information—”rocketed to earth as an infant, young Kal-El…”, etc—is found somewhere within the context of the first few pages. On the last page you get a plot twist or reveal.

The comic strip is a bit different—not necessarily better or worse, but different; and like manga, you need to be aware and ready for the subtle differences so you can thoroughly enjoy the reading experience.

There are two basic kinds of comic strips, the gag-a-day humor strips and adventure strips. Most of the strips found today in our local Charlotte Observer are humor strips. They very often follow a mini-plot that lasts the course of the week, but each day (should) end in a punch line.

SOME HUMOR STRIPS I’D RECOMMEND:

PEANUTS
–no introduction is necessary. Jump in with any collection, although I suggest you start with any after #3. Currently the reprints are up to 1970 and the strip is about ¾ of the way through it’s twenty year run on unequaled originality, creativity and laugh out loud humor.

DENNIS THE MENACE
–a must for every fan of humor as well as required reading for any budding cartoonist. Hank Ketcham had to sell his joke every-day in 1 panel and a caption. Every line had to count and boy did it!! Pick up any volume and read it for laughs, but then slow down and look to see how the man got sooo much out of so little space. A pen and ink masterpiece!!

The other basic comic strip type and the main focus of most of the current reprint projects are the adventure and continuity strips from the heyday of the newspaper comic strip—1934- 1960. To summarize (very) quickly: These kinds of strips were born out of an era when the daily newspaper–along with the radio and the Saturday movie matinee–were the most popular forms of cheap entertainment. Cartoonists needed to create characters that were fully developed and story lines that provided non-stop cliff hangers; the successful strip made sure the reader absolutely HAD to buy the paper the next day to find out what happened next!!

A new reader to the strips needs to get into the rhythm of the adventure strip—panel 1 quickly re-caps yesterday’s action, panel 2 moves the story forward, panel three gives a slight hint of what is coming tomorrow… Once you are used to this style of storytelling, you are in for the ride of your reading life!

SOME ADVENTURE STRIPS I’D RECOMMEND:

Assuming the majority of the readers of the Heroesonline blog are hard- (or at least medium-) core super hero and/or science fiction fans, I am going to recommend the following strip collections to get your feet wet and in turn shows you just how entertaining comic strips can be.

MODESTY BLAISE
–if Lara Croft and James Bond had a baby girl she may very well have become Modesty Blaise. This is a truly adult daily strip about a two former world-class villains turned secret agents—Modesty and companion for life (but never lover) Willie Garvin. The plots are always intricate, the danger is always real. The intrigue is thick, the body count is high and very often our heroes endure severe and realistic trauma both physical and psychological. This is a strip that explodes off the page and in 30-odd years, the writer never, never took the easy way out. A new reader can start anywhere. The 4 or 5 collections in the store are all highly recommended. You will not be disappointed.

TERRY AND THE PIRATES by Milton Caniff
–is this the greatest adventure strip of all time? Arguably… but unquestionably, it IS the most influential. A young writer and his ward go off to China in 1934 in search of adventure and boy do they ever find it! Pirates, revolutions, smugglers and finally World War II. And the women!! Burma and the Dragon Lady may be the two greatest creations in comic history. Caniff presents situations with realistic violence and adds a woman who is a lightly veiled hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold and a powerful and dangerous pirate/revolutionary in the Dragon Lady. Terry the young ward grows up throughout the course of the strip and the action tales are peppered with situations where his budding maturity runs head long into the clutches of these two great femme fatales! Just writing about it makes me want to go back and re-read them. The only draw back is that Volume 1 begins with Caniff nowhere near his mature artistic powers… it takes a while for the artwork and story to fully develop, but when it does (the beginning of volume 2) there is no turning back.

FLASH GORDON by Harry Harrison and Mac Raboy
–4 volumes from Dark Horse. These collections are Sunday pages written by sci-fi legend Harry Harrison and drawn by virtuoso Mac Raboy (Captain Marvel Jr). The pages are gorgeous to look at. Granted our blond hero is a bit blasé, but the sci-fi concepts are surprisingly well thought out and the Raboy’s artwork is nothing short of gorgeous. The only drawback is that the Sunday pages are printed in black and white. The plus side—you get over 4 years (!) of Sunday pages for $20.00!!

FLASH GORDON by Alex Raymond
–the original. Although the stories are far superior in the Raboy editions, these full color collections from Checker present one of the high water marks of all comic illustration. Alex Raymond’s art is a joy to behold. Movement, swashbuckling sword play, evil villains and gorgeous women.

BATMAN and SUPERMAN
–For any fans of the Dynamic Duo and the Man of Steel’s golden age stories… these are very inexpensive collections that show the charm and excitement these characters displayed in their formative decade- the 1940s.

STAR HAWKS
–written by Ron Goulart and Archie Goodwin and drawn by Gil Kane. The complete run of the strip in one book. This was the last great adventure strip. The action and intrigue explode off the page. Reminiscent of many of the outer space super-hero books published by Marvel and DC in the late 70s, but with strong consistent focus and the same artist all the way through. This is an over-looked gem.

If you like what you’ve read, or if you are more a fan of alternative or Indy comic books, it will be time for:

THE ADVANCED CLASS: Life In The Great Depression

WALT & SKEEZIX
–by Frank King, one of the all time greats. A daily chronicle of a lower middle class family in the Midwest. Unlike most other strips, the strip is told in real time. They experience the fads of the 20s, the depression of the 30s and the war of the forties. Utter charming, utterly humane, heart-breaking, hilarious and sometimes embarrassing. Very much like life itself.

POPEYE
–by E. C. Segar. As regular readers of this blog can attest, I can’t say enough about this strip, its influence on all strips that followed, the iconic nature of the characters and the political and social farces in which E.C. Segar, their creator, involved them in, but above all Popeye is rip-roaring action strip with plenty of laughs.

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
–by Harold Gray. Charles Dickens meets Fox News. Never has one strip been more political, more melodramatic and more suspenseful. A moody, forbidding and yet optimistic masterpiece that needs to be read in it’s entirety to be truly appreciated. Forget the musical—this is the real deal. This strip affected the political beliefs of its readers for 30 years. Harold Gray was grooming all of us to be Republicans who could succeed without FDR to help us out of the Depression.

To me these three are in may ways the pinnacles of all comic art; the fear is that if you dive into any of these three cold, you may be startled and possibly put off by the challenging, and often dated, material.

Try Modesty Blaise, or Flash Gordon, Star Hawks first and then let us know what you think here on the blog! Thanks for reading!!