The Holidays have come and gone and we had our fun discussing Tintin, the pure love of comics and how our cartooning tastes have evolved from childhood to the present. It is now time to go back to some hard-core discussion and for that we turn our attention to Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware.

I suggest that after Maus and perhaps Watchmen, Jimmy Corrigan is the most important Graphic Novel published in the last twenty years. It was the success of Chris Ware‘s magnum opus that kicked opened the main stream book stores doors; the same doors that had been previously been cracked ajar by Art Spiegelman and Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons. From the critical and sales success of Jimmy Corrigan on, Graphic Novels came of age and were accepted by critics and book buyers alike.

But the question for our Discussion Group is: Why?
What makes this enormous book so special, so challenging, so exciting?
Is it just a matter of the reader being beaten into submission by Ware’s work ethic and design sense?
Or does Jimmy Corrigan achieve more?
Do we care about the characters?
Is it believable?
Are we able to escape into the book without being over-conscious of Ware’s line work, his page lay-out, his brilliant technique?

Please join us on Saturday, January 29th from 1 to 3 pm where we will tackle these questions along with an endless number of other topics. We will meet in the store but if everyone is willing, we will repair to the near-by bakery (YES!!) to enjoy some sweet treats and we delve deeply into this multi-faceted work.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is available from Heroes for $19.95.  When you purchase the book, we offer the 10% Discussion Group discount– just remember to mention it when you check out.

We will see you there;  this is going to be terrific!

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!

Well there’s even more news on the Green Hornet movie front. For everyone on the blogosphere that wants one, reserve customer or super fan, we have FREE commemorative Green Hornet t-shirts, posters, silly bands and keychain flashlights in the store! So when you’re in next, be sure to pick your poison and gear up for the action movie of the spring. Don’t forget that we also have advance screening passes for our reserve customers on Wednesday, January 12th at 7 pm!

The Charlotte Minicon is only a few weeks away! We want to take the coming weeks and introduce you to our guests (or perhaps re-introduce you to our guests). We asked each of them three simple questions and got some awesome responses. Not only are they funny and charming guys but they are also super talented artists! Just look at those examples of their work (please check out their websites to see more examples)! We hope you still have some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket cause you are going to want to get some convention sketches from these talented comic creators!

First up we have Budd Root who is well known for his work on Cavewoman. He is one of the premiere “good girl” artists working in the industry today.

Heroes: Creatively, what are you most proud of from 2010?
Budd Root: I’m most proud of taking a HUGE chunk out of the commissions I owe. And they’re not half bad, either!

H: What can we look for from you in 2011?
BR: You can look forward to the best HeroesCon book I’ve ever done (full of finished commissions), wrapping up a Cavewoman storyline and a creepy WEREWOLF story I’m doing with Buddy Prince!

H: Do you have any interesting or fond memories from a past Charlotte Minicon?
BR: Fond Memories are simply hanging out with great friends and getting a crapload of Chris Bachalo books from a “dollar-box”! The most interesting thing was a guy wanted to move into my driveway & be my apprentice. I gave him Andy’s address!!!

Next on the list is Jason Latour. He is definitely a name you will need to know for 2011. If you aren’t familiar with his work on Daredevil: Black and White #1 or Scalped #43, you may recognize his Daredevil from our HeroesCon postcards.

Heroes: Creatively, what are you most proud of from 2010?
Jason Latour: The stories I drew in DAREDEVIL: BLACK & WHITE #1 and SCALPED #43.

I went into those projects with immense hopes and seemingly well laid plans, but in the end when the sun was rising over the horizon line, it was the last scene in Jaws. It all boiled down to  throwing something in the monster’s mouth and hoping it explodes. A much messier business than I’d hoped for… but hey, I killed a couple of sharks. That’s somethin’.  I measure manhood in sharks killed.

H: What can we look for from you in 2011?
JL: Coming in the immediate future is the back up I drew for WOLVERINE #5, which is the conclusion to the Wolverine Goes to Hell storyline. It also re-teams Jason Aaron, Rico Renzi and I. Whatever you do, don’t read that comic backwards.

In February NOCHE ROJA the 180-page Vertigo Crime OGN I did with Simon Oliver, is released. It’s basically the bulk of my printed work to date.  I’m eager to see that reach the world.

LOOSE ENDS, the  four issue crime series I wrote, with art by Chris Brunner and color by Rico Renzi, is shaping up well. Fans of good bbq, beautiful girls and pop art should like that one equally. I’m sure those guys will expound upon that but I couldn’t be more proud of it.

Beyond that I’ll do my best to remain mysterious for now. You may see me pop up in an expanded role at some places I’m familiar with.  I can say that 2010 ended up being a big year for me publishing wise and I’m going to work hard to better that in 2011.

H: Do you have any interesting or fond memories from a past Charlotte Minicon?
JL: There was a time when the Dollar Bin guys asked us if Luke Cage could be cut by a Light Saber. My brain still hasn’t reconstituted from that one.

My fondest convention memories in general always revolve around stuff like that, riffing about absurd things.  The intimacy of the show really provides that opportunity. It’s a place I feel comfortable and at ease. It’s definitely a  Shelton Drum run show in that respect. Fans and creators first. I’m looking forward to it.

The last guest left to spotlight (for today at least) is Rich Barrett. He is currently working on his creator-owned graphic novel Nathan Sorry which he is serializing on his website. You can read it a page at a time as he finishes and posts it.

Heroes: Creatively, what are you most proud of from 2010?
Rich Barrett: This was my second year of publishing my graphic novel Nathan Sorry online as a weekly webcomic. I’ve received a lot of encouraging reviews for it and have grown my readership a lot in 2010. I appeared at HeroesCon this summer which was my first major comics convention and I’ve made the transition into digital publishing by releasing installments of Nathan Sorry on the Graphic.ly iPhone and iPad apps.

H: What can we look for from you in 2011?
RB: I’m only about a third of the way through my graphic novel so I’ll continue to focus on it in 2011 and put up at least a page a week online. Plus I’ll be releasing more installments in print, digital and potentially even eBook.

H: Do you have any interesting or fond memories from a past Charlotte Minicon?
RB: Last year’s Minicon was my first convention and I learned a lot from it while also just having a lot of fun. I think my favorite memory was when my wife brought my 2 year old daughter who thought the stage was for her rather than for Francesco Francavilla and proceeded to do a series of dances in front of his table.

This, the fourth and final category, was definitely the hardest for me to compile. There are so many awesome ongoing series being published right now that it was nigh impossible for me to choose just ten. For the most part the series that I picked are brand, spanking new. I guess those stood out to me the most because they are fresher than longer running ongoing series. Some of the runners-up include House of Mystery, Fables, Zatanna, Buffy, Muppet Show and Fantastic Four. There was no question about what #1 would be, but the rest of them were difficult to rank. I would love to hear what your favorites of 2010 were, so let me know in the comments section!

1 ) Thor The Mighty Avenger

2 ) American Vampire

3 ) Sixth Gun

4 ) iZombie

5 ) Stuff of Legend

6 ) S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel)

7 ) Darkwing Duck

8 ) Black Panther The Man Without Fear

9 ) Detective Comics

10 ) Action Comics

Hello again and welcome to the third installment of Shawn’s Favorites of 2010! This category is for my favorite mini-series that either began or ended in 2010. There were a ton of minis that just barely made the cut, I’m looking at you Baltimore Plague Ships. There were just too many awesome mini-series that came out last year and it was difficult to choose just 10 that were my favorites. Here are the ones that made the list, ranked in order with #1 being my absolute favorite.

1 ) Daytripper

2 ) Joe The Barbarian

3 ) Marvelous Land of Oz

4 ) Mystery Society

5 ) Avengers Children’s Crusade

6 ) Strange Tales II

7 ) Meta 4

8 ) Strange Science Fantasy

9 ) Heralds

10 ) Cars Adventures of Tow Mater

Want to let all your internet friends know that you are coming to the Charlotte Minicon? Want to help spread the word about the Minicon? Well you are in luck cause we have a nifty banner for you to use on your website or blog! Click on the above image for a slightly larger version of the banner! Thank you to everyone for your help and support. See you there at the Palmer building on Saturday, January 22! Did we mention that there will be pony rides?

Welcome back to my list of favorites from 2010! This is the category for best comic collection of new material. It could be a trade paperback, a hardcover or a digest-sized book. The only thing is, it has to be all-new material. This was a tough category for me. There were so many awesome books that came out in 2010. If I look back on this in a week or so I might think differently but right now these are my top 10 favorites. Again, I ranked them in order of most-favorite to least-most-favorite. My list is highly debatable so if you disagree with me let me know what your favorites are. Here we go!

1 ) Afrodisiac HC

2 ) Set To Sea HC

3 ) Duncan The Wonder Dog TP

4 ) Loverboy TP/HC

5 ) Crogan’s March HC

6 ) Return of the Dapper Men HC

7 ) Bodyworld HC

8 ) Richard Stark’s Parker The Outfit HC

9 ) Scott Pilgrim vol 6 Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour

10 ) Neil Young’s Greendale HC

As we say hello to 2011 I am looking back on 2010. This is the first of four posts listing my top 10 favorite comics of 2010. Allow me to clarify things a bit. My top 10 lists are highly subjective and so instead of calling them the best I decided to call them my favorites. Plus, I feel like I haven’t read a lot of the books that would be considered the best of 2010 (like Wilson, X’ed Out and Market Day). I kept my list to books that I bought and I kept the list true to my taste. This category is for my favorite trades or hardcovers that collected previously released material. I included Adam Hughes‘s art book in this category because it does include previously published work and because the Original Content TP/HC category was overflowing with contestants. Each category is ranked in order from most-favorite to least-most-favorite. I really want to hear what your favorites are so please let me know in the comments section!

1 ) Wednesday Comics HC

2 ) Beasts of Burden HC

3 ) Batwoman Elegy HC

4 ) Muppet Show On the Road TP

5 ) Mouse Guard Legends of the Guard HC

6 ) Simon and Kirby Superheroes HC

7 ) Cover Run The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes HC

8 ) Cinderella From Fabletown with Love TP

9 ) John Stanley Library Melvin Monster HC vol 2

10 ) Toy Story TP vol 1 Return of Buzz Lightyear

1) Ultimate Comics: Captain America #1

I’m not regularly a reader of any of Marvel’s Ultimate books, but there are two main reasons I’m picking up this book: Jason Aaron and Ron Garney.  These two creators found a way to get me to read a Wolverine comic again with their enjoyable run on Wolverine: Weapon X, and Cap seems like a logical character for them to work on.  Garney, of course, had a couple of memorable runs on Cap in the late ’90’s/early ’00’s, but Aaron’s not really done much with the character before.  Some of his earlier work on books like The Other Side suggests he’ll bring a healthy dose of realism to the Vietnam elements of this mini series.

2) Who is Jake Ellis? #1

Writer Nathan Edmondson had a memorable 2010 with his acclaimed work on books like Olympus and The Light.  In this new mini series he teams with artist Tonci Zonjic to tackle the psychological thriller/spy genres.  With Olympus and The Light focusing on mythological and horror elements respectively, the espionage of Who is Jake Ellis? suggests that Edmondson is intent to reinforce the creative range he aims to bring to his comic output.  Early reviews seem positive, and Zonjic’s art seems especially fitting for the subject matter.  Edmondson should have another solid hit on his hands with this his first book of 2011.

3) Batman Beyond #1

Not too many should have been surprised by the success of the recent Batman: Beyond mini series.  Even fewer should be surprised that said success spawned this new ongoing series.  DC was smart to continue with the creative team of Adam Beechen and Ryan Benjamin from the mini series, and fans of the animated series should be happy to know that the Beyond-era Justice League will be appearing in the first few issues.

4) Avengers Prime #5

The enjoyable mini series from Brian Michael Bendis and Alan Davis concludes with this week’s issue.  It’s hard to not like a mini series starring Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor when it’s drawn by the great Alan Davis.  Bendis continues to be a bit more economical with his words than he was a few years ago, and he’s garnering more acclaim on his Avengers books than he has in a while.

5) Mascots HC

My sleeper pick of the week is this new offering from Ray Fenwick.  Who is Ray Fenwick and why should you care to read his work?  His earlier work on Hall of Best Knowledge stands out as one of the most interesting examples of modern lettering in comics and illustrates how underappreciated that art remains in our industry.  Fenwick describes Mascots as being ‘driven by lettering and language,’ which should appeal to indie fans and comic theorists alike.  It’s certainly interesting to see a visual artist who brings his work to life through the rich history of comics typography.

> Bonus picks of the week: Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers #2, Avengers: Children’s Crusade #4, John Byrne’s Next Men #2, Lady Death #1, and Mighty Thor Omnibus vol. 1 HC