HEATHER’S PICK :: GUARDIANS TEAM-UP #4: I am picking up these team-up books based on the pairings in each issue, much like I did with A+X (man, that Iron Fist/Doop pairing was amazing.  I need to go read that again).  This week’s team-up features two kick @$$ green ladies, She-Hulk and Gamora.  It seems that some intergalactic bounty hunters have been sent to New York to eliminate a green woman, but didn’t ask for further information to make sure they had the right one.  I guess some intergalactic species think all green people are the same…jerks.  That mistake is sure to blow up in their faces when confronting either of these ladies.  Written by Chew’s John Layman, whose quirky sense of humor I cannot wait to see take on one of my favorite characters and drawn by Otto Schmidt whose preview pages look amazing. This is sure to be a fun one-off story.

SETH’S PICK :: SPACE RIDERS #1: Space Riders is the comic Jack Kirby might have created had he been born several decades later and nursed on a diet of metal music. That’s not to say that it’s merely an homage to the timeless Kirby space epics. You can see all kinds of influences in the pages of this comic, but artist Alexis Ziritt and writer Fabian Rangel Jr. create their own unique world populated with eye patch wearing Captains, simian sidekicks and spacecraft shaped like human skulls. For all the nostalgia that Space Riders may conjure up, at its heart this comic is a perfect instance where two talented creators tell the kinds of stories they’ve always wanted to tell. Comics should be as joyous and enthusiastic as this one.  If you haven’t picked up on those feelings from a comic in a while, do yourself a favor and buy Space Riders #1 this week. It’ll remind you just how much fun comics can still be.  

We just added 17 guests to ever-growing and amazing guest list of comic creators! Click the image above to see the update and get your 3-day passes to HeroesCon today!

Check out this live interview with the creators of Spider-Gwen! Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and Rico Renzi talk about the creation of the character and more. If you missed the Spider-Gwen Release Party, don’t miss our next event!

If you couldn’t make it, 3 copies of our limited edition The Mary Janes (Married With Sea Monsters) Face It Tiger 7″ vinyl records are being listed on ebay today. Happy bidding! Click here to visit our store.

Good afternoon comic fans! Because we love you and to help with your Monday doldrums, here’s another GREAT HeroesCon 2015 guest list update! Please welcome Blacksad artist Juanjo Guarnido to his first ever HeroesCon! Click the image to see the rest of the amazing creators joining us June 18-21 and order your 3 day passes today!

We also have our first hotel discounts available at the beautiful and convenient Westin Charlotte! This block won’t last long so get them while you can!

MATT’S PICK :: BATGIRL: ENDGAME #1: I can say without reservation this comic book will be very nice to look at! Wicked-awesome good-girl-art French gentleman Bengal not only drew this book, but he also colored it! Please do your eyeballs a favor and pick up this comic! I believe the story should be pretty decent, as well – The Joker (or his minions) are featured within. It should prove to be a win/win for your weekly comic fixation. From what I gather, this is a stand alone book – it should be acceptable for the curious reader. I enjoy the ongoing series (which is also being released this week). There will be no shortage of Batgirl goodness available at Heroes on Wednesday! Lucky us!

Save the date because Free Comic Book Day 2015 at Heroes is going to be our best yet! Come out on May 2nd to meet great comic artists, get free comics and have a great time with your pals at Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find! Full guest list and list of available comics coming soon!

JUSTIN’S PICK :: HOWARD THE DUCK #1: I’m a big fan of Howard. The guy’s on my business card, and indelibly inked onto me corporeally. Also, he’s in my heart and soul. A childhood love for that foul (see what I did there?) movie lead to a rekindled personal interest in the funnypapers. A lot of that had to do with the late, great Steve Gerber, the Duck’s creator and chronicler, and how his work provided a hitherto nonexistent intersection of comics and “comix”. Howard was the consummate outsider, but also a staunch everyman and rugged individualist. Personalities like that usually end up the most incisive of social critics. And that was Steve Gerber’s tack: Howard was his mouthpiece, his means of satirizing not only the insular culture of comics, but the pop culture abroad as well (even post Y2K, Gerbs was savaging his psychic surroundings…see Howard’s brilliant and underrated six issue MAX series if you don’t believe me). Howard WAS Gerber, and in other writers’ hands, well, he’s never been quite right.

Therefore, I do not envy Chip Zdarsky. Granted, people like me – fanatical Duck fans – aren’t a flock large enough to generate a blip on the radar (these duck puns are making me very ashamed of myself), but like Ty Templeton before him, Zdarsky is using high concept as his entry point, i.e. Howard the Duck PI. That’s fine, I’ll give him a fair shake; he’s demonstrated a singular enough sense of humor. He could do worse for collaborators: Joe Quinones may be drawing Howard with four fingers, but otherwise, he is a stellar artist, whose work is both elegant and entertaining, technically proficient without sacrificing storytelling. And our man Rico Renzi will certainly punch things up with his usual panache. Me? I approach the book with a strange mix of enthusiasm and trepidation. A lot of people saw that movie, and a lot of them sat through those credits. Will they all understand that there is soul behind the smartassery? That satire is the essence of what Howard is, or should be? Or do they just want a cuddly ducky with a cranky attitude to placate them for a few months, ‘til the next fad pops up?

Our first Indie Island guest update has been posted! Of course you can expect many updates to this amazing list of guests as the show draws closer! Click here for our full guest list so far! Get your 3 day passes today!

ANDY’S PICK :: SUPER VILLAINS UNITE TP COMPLETE SUPER VILLAIN TEAM UP: Collecting GIANT-SIZE SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1-2, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1-14 and #16-17, AVENGERS (1963) #154-156, and CHAMPIONS #16.

No, they haven’t formed a Union, but it makes you wonder if the Beagle Boys and other henchmen received benefits.
Is there anything more supery or villainy than Doctor Doom? What if ol’ Vic was united with an angry, angry, angry Prince Namor who had just been unceremoniously booted from the Mighty Marvel monthly rotation? Add to this volatile duo a Dash of Red Skull, some fighting-mad Magneto along with some Avengers who have been enslaved by Attuma and you have a crew tough enough to defeat the Fantastic Four, the Legion of Doom and even the one-time ’70’s super- group of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Sacco and Venzetti. Only the Champions can possibly save the day. Or can they? This volume is post Lee and Kirby Marvel at its silliest and fun and it makes for big time rainy day reading.