Along with the opening week of the Football season and the beginning of the new school term, each year September also brings us Banned Book Week. It is an annual reminder of our freedom to read.

Banned Book Week is officially scheduled Sept. 21 – 27 but there are a variety of events that will occur throughout the month. BBW is sponsored by local libraries, independent retailers along with a supportive legion of readers all over the world From the Banned Books Website: “BBW was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association. There were 307 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2013, and many more go unreported.”

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) publishes a Top Ten list of Frequently Challenged Books. This year’s list (published in April) includes the # 1 Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series for offensive language, unsuited for age group, violence. The list is rounded off with Jeff Smith’s Bone series at #10 for political viewpoint, racism, and violence

“This year we spotlight graphic novels because, despite their serious literary merit and popularity as a genre, they are often subject to censorship,” said Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week National Committee.

At this past summer’s HeroesCon, Prof. Craig Fischer created a panel that focused on the history of the Comic Book Defense League Fund as well as a roundtable about the local issues an NC school had with Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. This will be posted at the Dollar Bin site later this month. www.thedollarbin.net

Locally, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Libraries are offering dozens of Banned Book Week events—everything from Art contests to Reading groups. To see all of the events in your area go to: www.cmlibrary.org/programs/

This year, Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find is doing their part to support this noble and important movement.  Warehouse Manager Seth Peagler and Heroes Discussion Group leader Andy Mansell will be appearing at a number of branches this month to discuss Banned Books:

Seth will join UNCC Professors Robert Campbell (Graphic Design) and Dr. Erik Waterkotte (Print Media) to discuss the importance of comics and graphic novels and how they are susceptible to censorship. Audience: Adults, Teens (12-18) 9/18/2014 at 6:00 PM: Morrison Regional near South Park.

Andy will lead discussions at the following branches on why comics are particularly vulnerable to challenges and focus on some of the more frequently challenged titles.

9/18/2014 at 6:00 PM: Scaleybark  Audience: Teens (12-18), Adults, Seniors

9/24/2014 at 2:30 PM: Independence Regional   Audience: Teens (12-18)

9/25/2014 at 5:00 PM: Mountain Island Audience: Teens (12-18), Adults, Seniors

We hope to see you there and remember, reading is one of our greatest gifts. Never take it for granted!

In honor of Labor Day, we’ll be hosting a two day sale next weekend! It kicks off on Sunday, August 31 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., then picks back up on Monday, September 1 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Note that we’ll be opening three hours early next Sunday to start the festivities and give you all a few extra hours to shop.

What will be included in this sale? To start, we’ll have 30 long boxes of a brand new dollar comics on hand. This stock has never been displayed at a Heroes event, nor has it been on the road at any of our numerous convention appearances. We’ve been saving these especially for this event, so know that you’ll have plenty of good dollar comics to find.

If that’s not enough, Shelton has declared that every statue in the store will be on sale, all priced to move! It’s rare that our entire stock of statues will be on sale, so if you’ve had your eye on any of them, next weekend will be the perfect time to pick them up.

It’s going to be a busy Fall at Heroes, and we’ll have some exciting announcements in the coming weeks about store signings and our annual Heroes Pop Swap. Stay tuned to this very blog for all the news, and we’ll look forward to seeing you next weekend.

Heroes Labor Day Sale

Sunday, August 31: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Monday, September 1: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

This year HeroesCon is proud to display the first published comic strip art from Bill Watterson in nearly twenty years! Watterson completed his inimitable Calvin and Hobbes strip in 1995, and has since remained largely private in his life and art. If you happened to read Stephan Pastis‘ popular Pearls Before Swine strip this week, you may have noticed that Pastis employed a guest artist, billed as a second grade girl named Libby, to help him with three strips. Astute readers speculated about the true identity of the guest artist, and today the Washington Post revealed it to be none other than the legendary Bill Watterson!

In conjunction with Chris Sparks and Team Cul de Sac, we are happy to be bringing all three Watterson and Pastis strips to Charlotte to display at HeroesCon, June 20 through 22 at the Charlotte Convention Center. The art will be displayed on the convention floor all weekend, at our Drink and Draw event on Friday night, and at Saturday night’s Art Auction.   We’ll also be hosting a panel on Friday, June 20 where fans will get to hear the story of how this remarkable art was produced, how it came to be featured in Charlotte, and the part that Cul de Sac cartoonist Richard Thompson plays in all of it.

The three strips produced by Watterson and Pastis will be auctioned off in the coming months, with all proceeds from the sale going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. This charity works closely with our good friends at Team Cul de Sac, for whom we host our annual HeroesCon Drink and Draw charity event. More specifics regarding the auction of these pieces will be available at HeroesCon, here on our site and at Team Cul de Sac‘s page in the coming weeks.

HeroesCon is the only place anyone will be able to see the rare Watterson and Pastis original art in person before they are auctioned off. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for comic and art fans across the country, and we are humbled and honored to be bringing it to Charlotte.

HeroesCon takes place June 20 – 22 at the Charlotte Convention Center. The Bill Watterson and Cul de Sac panel takes place Friday, June 20 at 5:30 at the convention center.

The HeroesCon Drink and Draw event takes place on Friday, June 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hilton Center City atrium. HeroesCon’s first Drink and Draw event was in 2011, modeled after the Drink and Draw Social Club founded by comic artists Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian and Jeff Johnson. That event and every one since has raised money for Team Cul de Sac, the organization founded in honor of Cul de Sac cartoonist Richard Thompson that raises money and awareness for Parkinson’s Research.

The HeroesCon Art Auction will take place on Saturday, June 21 at 8 p.m. in the Providence Ballroom at the Westin.

For more information on all things HeroesCon, stayed tuned to www.heroesonline.com. If you have any questions regarding the Watterson and Pastis exhibit in Charlotte, contact Seth Peagler at [email protected] or through the Heroes store at 704.375.7462. Additionally, you can contact Team Cul de Sac’s Chris Sparks at [email protected] for further information.

Well, we made it!  50 discussion Groups with hardly any injuries and downright few fatalities.  With the December holiday season looming over our heads like the Savage Sword of Damocles, we thought it would be nice to give our Discussioneers a break. (That’s what we call you behind your backs). Originally we were going to select an expensive comic strip collection, but darn it all to heck, this is the holidays and we’ve all designated a portion of our hard earned comic money to spend on those pesky loved ones.  So we thought we’d all save our money for a few months (hint!) and do something a little special for ourselves.

Our store manager, all around great guy, and capable cartoonist (if we say so ourselves) Justin Crouse recommended we do the following:  invite everyone to bring their favorite comic (single issue or trade paperback) and provide participants with a 10 minute platform to explain to the group why this is a particularly important story to them.   Then we’d spend a few minutes discussing their choice before moving on to the next person.  This way, we can enjoy all the camaraderie and comic discussion without rupturing our wallets in this leather-stretching time of the year.  Think of this as your opportunity to have 10 uninterrupted minutes to talk about one of your all-time favorite, desert island comics – the one you turn to every year or so for rereading.

An example:  I think of my five favorite books—the ones I will without fail re-read every few years–the ones by which I measure any new books I read.  For the sake of example, I might select the Post War Spirit Comics from 1947 to 1952.  I’d bring along one (or two) of the volumes in the Will Eisner Archive Series and try to explain succinctly why I find the work indispensable.  I would cite Eisner’s growth as a story teller, the development of the modern splash page, the way Eisner used his superhero hook to tell a variety of stories crossing into a variety of genres.  Any questions?  And now it’s your turn.

SAVE THIS DATE: Saturday December 14^th at 1:00pm.  We will meet at the store and then head over to the bakery (they serve good food and cocktails too– God bless ‘em!).  All we ask is that you bring along a copy of  the book you want to discuss.  We suggest you have an alternative on the ready in case  someone else already mentions your choice.  And if you want to join us for this discussion but are uncomfortable talking aloud — there is no pressure to participate. Just come for the food and the fun.

The idea is to offer an hour or two of vacation–an escape from all the stressful Holiday social obligations.  This is ‘ME’ time; this is comic book time!!!  So join us and let’s have some fun! See you on Saturday December 14^th at 1:00pm.

“Why don’t you guys ever have a warehouse sale?”  It’s something we’ve heard from countless customers over the years, and it’s finally happening over Labor Day weekend!  The sale will take place over four days from Friday, August 30 – Monday, September 2.

“What exactly makes this a warehouse sale?”  As you know, we buy comic collections all the time, and we’ve bought so many in recent years that we just don’t have the space to keep them anymore.  With multiple warehouses overflowing, it’s time to let our customers pick through what we’ve accumulated.

“What can I expect to find at the sale?”  For starters, we’ll have nearly 100,000 comics under tents in front of the store ready for you to dig through.  Do the math – that’s nearly 300 long boxes of comics!  As the sale goes on prices will get lower, but the selection will be smaller. We’ll have big deals right from the start, but as usual, the more you buy, the cheaper the cost.  We’ll also have a plethora of trade paperbacks on sale, reduced prices on HeroesCon prints through the years, and more!

“What are the hours for the sale?”  It will officially kick off Friday evening around 6 p.m. and go until MIDNIGHT!  Saturday it will begin at our normal opening hour of 10 a.m. and go until MIDNIGHT!  Sunday we’ll open three hours early at 10 a.m. and go until MIDNIGHT! And Monday, we’ll open at 10 a.m. and go until dark, or until everything’s gone, whichever comes first.

We’ve had lots of sales over the years, but trust me – you’ve never seen one this big.  Start getting your back issue list together and get ready for this gargantuan event!

Just for the sake of reminding you, here are the times for the sale:

Friday, August 30: 6 p.m. – MIDNIGHT

Saturday, August 31: 10 a.m. – MIDNIGHT

Sunday, September 1: 10 a.m. – MIDNIGHT

Monday, September 2: 10 a.m. – DARK (or until everything’s gone!)

Come celebrate the holiday with us, and pick up some great deals in the process!  See you Labor Day weekend!

Heroes is proud to welcome Justin Crouse to the position of Store Manager!  Justin has been a valuable staff member for the past three years.  Like many employees over the years, Justin was a customer for some fifteen years before he worked his way up from HeroesCon volunteer to full fledged staff member.  In addition to being an endless source of humor for staff and customers alike, Justin has a wide range of comic tastes – his favorites include  Howard the Duck, Savage Dragon, Bulletproof Coffin, Captain America, Asterios Polyp and Black Hole.  Justin’s also a talented artist, with his work appearing in several anthologies and self-published comics in recent years.  He values the aesthetics of the form, and, like the rest of us, unabashedly loves comics.

As store manager, Justin will handle all comic ordering, which means if you have any requests for specific items or variants, or would like to change your Previews orders, you’ll need to contact him at [email protected].  He will also be helping to coordinate volunteers for HeroesCon 2014.

We are very excited to have Justin as our new store manager, and hope you’ll also welcome him.  After the success of this year’s HeroesCon, we’re all reinvigorated and ready to bring you an even better comic shop and convention in the coming year.  Great things are happening at Heroes, and we hope you’ll continue to join us along the way.