The Heroes Discussion Group returns with a vengeance!!

We are sticking with the mainstream and this time we are going to tackle the immensely popular Umbrella Academy written by Gerard Way front man for the band My Chemical Romance (MCR).

Please join us on Monday May 18th at 7:00pm when we will be discussing the “The Apocalypse Suite,” the first storyline of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s The Umbrella Academy. The book is available from Heroes in both single back issues (1-6) or as a recently released softcover collection.

PLEASE NOTE: The single issues on the rack at Heroes are 1-5 of the second series. We will be discussing the first series!!!!!!

Potential topics will include (but are NOT limited to) the following:

• Does the cartoony art properly service a super-hero story? Were Ba’s references and influences a help or hinder to the storytelling?

• Could you relate to any of the characters on a gut level?

• Does any of MCR’s music overlap into Gerard Way’s comics writing?

• Did the creators successfully capture the European feel they were striving for?

• Does the story hold up well on a second reading?

• And lots and lots of plot points I don’t want to mention here so we can avoid spoilers for those who have not yet read?

• If we have time, I’d love to discuss the covers as well. James Jean is a true talent!

So please join us for this exciting discussion!! Remember the The Apocalypse Suite is offered at 10% discount as long as you remember to mention the Heroes Discussion discount when you purchase it!

Hope to see you on May 18th It’s gonna be terrific!

written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Adam Kubert and Scott Williams

I am going to make the assumption that virtually all of you have read these two issues. This is the kind of book everyone buys even if they do not regularly read Batman. Just in case: I need to post the words SPOILER ALERT, because this review has to examine the ending of the story.

My initial reaction to the story was one of complete disappointment. From what I’ve been reading in blogs and hearing from customers in the store, the general consensus seems to agree with my initial assessment.

It is impossible to read this story without comparing it to the final Mort Weisinger/Julius Schwartz era Superman tale, “Whatever Happened to Man of Tomorrow?” The Alan Moore story was an instant classic. It was the end of an antiquated era that sorely needed to be put to rest. Because of it, the story was able to evoke deep emotions in the reader as it it treated its subject matter as if it was the death of a very dear old friend.

Therefore this two-part Batman story–with its title, timing and the use of the literate British superstar writer –begs for comparison to the well established Superman classic. It would be impossible for any story to come close to Alan Moore’s triumph from 20-odd years ago. Thus my initial reaction to the story was a complete let down.

I felt the two issues led me too far in too many directions and culminated in an unsatisfactory finale. It left me feeling cold and almost angry. But I had this nagging feeling that I must be missing something. I am not a blind faith fan of Neil Gaiman; but I cannot deny that he is a very clever writer and he has a huge reputation to uphold. So even though I was disappointed upon my initial reading, I had to assume that there is more to the story than originally met my eye.

And sure enough; a second reading proved to be quite rich and satisfying. The plot is simple: Bruce Wayne/Batman is watching his own wake with a mystery woman whom we were all either hoping or dreading will be revealed as Death from Gaiman’s Sandman. We learn in the second issue, it is Bruce Wayne’s mother who has been assigned the role of his spiritual guide.
The story ends with Bruce Wayne coming to the understanding that he is Batman, he is destined to be Batman and the only way Batman’s story can ever end is with his death. But…. the story can never end.

Regardless of how many times you re-invent the character, one thing will always remain: Batman is at heart a boy’s revenge fantasy. He must always succeed because he is stronger and smarter than every other human. He can overcome any adversity and win the day for the greater good–just like a hero should.

Gaiman uses the wake to delightful and rather inspiring ends. Admit it, any of the one and two page stories of Batman’s demise would have made an incredibly fitting coda to Bruce Wayne’s four color life–Batgirl and the Bomb, Harvey Bullock and the kid, the final physical and mental victory over the Joker. There are several more within the story’s framework and each one comes close to affecting the reader in the same satisfying manner as the special moments within Moore’s final Superman tale.

The two stories that get the majority of page-time show that Batman could never settle down and receive that well deserved happy ending. Catwoman’s tale shows us the Batman’s life is tragic and cannot withstand a romantic relationship. This is a very moving, chilling and perverse tale of obsession. It is a terrific tale and climaxes in a surprising way.

Even better is the story of Alfred and the role(s) he plays in Batman’s life. This is a very clever tale that shows above all that Batman’s story will continue to be twisted and manipulated away from the original boy’s revenge fantasy concept into something else, either silly and antiquated—like the Caped Crusader from the 40’s to the 60s—or something violent and “realistic”, like the Dark Knight of the 70s to the present. Batman will be nothing but a pawn of the actors and writers who pull his strings and the audience who determines the extent of his popularity.

The story’s wrap-up is a bit of a challenge. The shape of the Bat signal morphing into the hands of a new born is absolutely inspired and the final image of a new mother’s joy upon looking at her infant son successfully masks –for the briefest moment –the true “reality” of the Batman character. But Gaiman makes it clear that this is not going have a happy ending. Batman will not retire to suburbia like Superman. Martha Wayne’s joy cannot equal Superman’s wink; hence the original feeling of anger and disappointment.

But Gaiman is reaching for something more, something richer, something darker and something that is NOT happy. Batman is the absolute dark reflection of the Christ figure. Instead of dying for our sins—which the previous 40 odd pages publically offered the readers—Bruce Wayne is destined to remain alive in tragedy and torment to entertain us over and over and over.
No matter who is drawing him, no matter who is writing him, no matter who fights temporally for the right to wear the cowl, Bruce Wayne will always be the little boy kneeling in a filthy alley surrounded by blood and bodies and a broken strain of pearls. Forever.

Bruce Wayne is in hell and God help us, as readers of his exploits, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

This is truly an excellent comic book and deserves multiple readings. I wish we could have scheduled this book as a future discussion group, but with the convention coming up quickly, I have to use the Review as our forum in its stead.

Do you disagree with this assessment? Please respond and let us hear about it. Thanks for reading!

The Heroes Discussion Group is back!! We are returning to the main-stream and this time we are Invincible!

Please join us on Monday March 9th at 7:00pm when we will be discussing the Invincible Iron Man #1-7 available from Heroes in both single back issues or as a recently released hardcover collection.

We will examine what makes the story work so well; potential topics will include (but are NOT limited to):

• How the creative team tackles the trick of showing emotion on our fully masked protagonist

• Could an Iron Man exist in the real world?

• How much has this most recent take on Iron Man been influenced by the movie or by the Ultimate version?

• Does the cross-over in Issue 7 detract or improve the stories finale?

• Should super-hero stories be published in independent story arcs instead of an on-going series?

Then we have a HUGE surprise for you!!

MATT FRACTION, writer extraordinaire will join us via Conference Call and he will field our questions. Matt is an old friend (he worked at Heroes as a counter jockey years ago!) We will do our best to keep the call to Iron Man, but if a question or two about Iron Fist (or any other book on Matt’s impressive resume) sneaks in, I’m sure not going to complain and I bet you won’t either!

Topics I’d love to ask Matt:

• His working relationship with everyone from editor to letterer on the book

• and countless others

So please join us for this exciting event!! Remember the Invincible Iron Man Collection is offered at 10% discount as long as you remember to mention the Heroes Discussion Discount when you purchase it!

Hope to see you on March 9th at 7:00pm!! It will be fantastic!

This wonderful graphic novel came out earlier this year and has made most of the Year’s Best lists published so far (including #2 on our own Dustin Harbin’s list).

The plot: The Loony family get together at their vacation house and an earth-shattering announcement is made. It is a work of serious fiction that is screaming to be discussed and dissected. It is a book that can be looked at differently by different members of different generations.In other words, I found myself relating more to the parents; but I anticipate most of the readers will respond more to the Loony children.

Issues to discuss will include:

–The title: what does it mean?
–Does this fictional family chronicle have the same tone as contemporary biographical comics?
–Does the cartoony presentation of our protagonist add to or detract from the reading experience?
–How do the shifts in panel and page layout affect the storytelling?
–And believe me–lots more!!!!

Don’t be put off by its length; it is a deceptively fast read.
And don’t be put off by the price– $29.99 (27.00 if you mention the Heroes Discussion Group 10% discount!!) It is a book you will re-read and grow old with!!

NOTE: The author recommends that you read this three part book in three separate sessions taking a break between each chapter; we at Heroes concur! There’s a lot of under-the-surface material that will percolate nicely in your brain during these breaks.

So come one, come all, lets start the New Year with a bang!!
You won’t be disappointed!

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!!

So we’ve spent the last two months of the Heroes Discussion Group “on the continent” with Brits Moore and Gibbons on “Watchmen” followed by Italian master Gipi’s Notes For a War Story. It was an entertaining and enlightening sojourn but now it is time to come home….

Please join us on October 13 at 7:00pm in the back of Heroes for a lively discussion that will center on Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. This is the graphic novel that Time Magazine named number one of its “10 Best Books of the Year” for 2006. Not number one graphic novel or comic, but number one BOOK OF THE YEAR!

Topic will include, but certainly will not be limited to the following:

—The role of the narrator in autobiography?
—Where does autobiography end and biographical fiction begin?
—How does Ms Bechdel’s cartoony style affect the story and the reader?
—How do any pre-conceived notions of the book or the genre affect your reading experience?
–Lastly, but certainly not least: With all the awards this book has garnered, do you feel the urge to overly criticize books like Fun Home, Persepolis and Maus since they seem to be so universally lauded?

I am really excited–more so than usual. And don’t forget, after we analyze the book on Monday evening , we will have not one but two opportunities to get the author’s take on our discussions: the following Friday (Oct 17), Heroes will be hosting Alison Bechdel and Harvey Pekar in a store signing, from 4 to 5.30 pm. AND at 7pm that night, the two incredibly acclaimed graphic novelists will appear at the ImaginOn uptown as part of the Novello Festival. Tickets for that lecture are on sale at Heroes for $15 apiece, although the comic store appearance is free. You can also purchase tickets through the Novello website!

Please join us on Monday evening September 29th at 7:00 pm as the Heroes Discussion Group meets to tackle Gipi‘s Notes For a War Story.

After the chaotic storytelling of Ice Haven and the multi-layered symbolism of Watchmen, we agreed we wanted to focus on a book that is gripping, deep and extremely readable.

Gipi–the Italian master–is on a major roll. In the past year, 4 books have been published in English: Garage Band, The Innocents, They Found the Car, and Notes For a War Story. In War Story, the tension starts in panel two and does not let up until the end. We feel confident that once you have read War Story, you will want to read the other 3.

Topics will include but not be limited to the following:
–How does the book’s two-tone coloring scheme work ?
–Does the symbolism in the book add or detract from the story?
–Does the impressionistic art heighten or detract from the reality of war?
–How do you interpret the title?
–Does a translated comic read differently than a book created specifically for an American audience?
–How has Gipi’s (and other Europeans’) art been influenced by American film noir?

If you read it and find the reading experience to be outside your usual comfort zone, come by on September 29th and tell us why… All comments are welcome. We will be meeting in the back of the store, so bring your own coffee or soda.

For those that wish to keep thing closer to the vest (or cape and cowl as it were) we will be having another dinnertime Saturday night discussion about Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns. Watch this space as details cement.

Remember, Heroes is offering a 10% discount on both Notes For a War Story and The Dark Knight Returns. Just be sure to mention the Heroes discussion discount when you check out!

Hot on the heels of the Trailer that has set the world on fire!!! It’s Hyperbole Man here to announce to you dedicated supporters of all things heroic something REALLY BIG! Presenting A Special WEEKEND HEROES DISCUSSION GROUP spotlighting WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons!

This book is so big, so vast, so talked about and so darned entertaining, we need to have dinner and drinks to complement the great conversation: unlike other discussion groups including the up-coming ICE HAVEN on August 11th, we’ll meet at Heroes and then step across the street to one of the restaurants over there and have dinner while we talk!

All we ask is that you read (or re-read) the book, come with an open mind and plenty of opinions and if you plan to eat and drink (though you certainly aren’t required to do either) please bring CASH. We will be splitting the bill and it will be a lot easier if everyone has cash!

Topics certainly will include

• How well has WATCHMEN aged? How influential is the book today?
• Has it had a positive or negative impact on super-heroes?
• What is the deal with PIRATES?
• Do the over-riding themes– Art vs. Commerce–dwarf the plot?
• ALSO: A comparison between the FINAL product and the original premise submitted by Alan Moore (If you don’t know it– don’t Google it, come and be surprised.. it will be fun!!)

Will we talk about the movie? You betcha!! Especially regarding the setting. New York is a heckovalot nicer now than it was in the early 80s; and does it have to be Nixon vs. the Commies or could the story work in our post 9/11 world?

If this special outing works well, we will look into expanding the scope of the Discussion groups.
• Are they better with food and drink?
• Should we branch out into movies– comparing comic to film? Who knows?
One thing is for sure– if you haven’t read Watchmen, you are in for a treat!

Remember both Watchmen (Saturday, August 30 at 6pm) and Ice Haven (Monday August 11th at 7pm) are available from Heroes at a special 10% off discount ONLY if you ask for the Heroes Discussion Group discount!

Please join us on Monday, August 11th at 7:00pm as we will spotlight ICE HAVEN— a comic strip novel by Daniel Clowes.

Originally published as a single issue (Eightball #22), this was expanded and reformatted by Clowes into Ice Haven and published by Pantheon Books. It is the story of the town of Ice Haven. There are multiple characters, multiple plot lines and multiple graphic style changes by Clowes.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot(s) but suffice to say, it is a very dense book presented in a very well paced manner without being overtly challenging–at first glance. You will be entertained and you will want to read it more than once.

— As usual we will focus on the role of the narrator(s)
— We will discuss the use of cartoony art in a realistic story
— The success (or failure) of the author to maintain image, perception and vision throughout the story.
— And lots of other topics.

Please note: Yes, this IS the book that the high school teacher recently gave to one of his under-age students. The incident caused quite a media backlash resulting in the teacher being fired.
So remember two things–this book is designed for adults over the age of 18; and if you think we are going to make it through the night without discussing this incident, you must not have attended our past discussion groups.

Does the story work? Is it the classic that it has been declared over the past few years?
All of your opinions matter, we just want to know WHY you feel the way you do!
(For the Sandman discussion, we had a rather polarized group which made for some lively discussions!)

We hope to see you there to discuss this provocative book. ICE HAVEN is available through Heroes and from today through August 11th, we are offering the book at our special discussion group 10% discount.

This will be the groups first foray outside the super-hero genre…
For those of you who miss our unique take on all things masked and spandexed… watch this spot for an EXCITING announcement concerning a SPECIAL SUPERHERO DISCUSSION GROUP that will be coming up very soon! Here is a hint: Though still timely, the story reeks of Nostalgia…..HA!!!

Now that HeroesCon is behind us (at least for a few months, anyway), we wanted to increase the amount of good ole COMICS coverage here at the blog. With that in mind, presenting the first in a new series of “Minute Reviews”–little snapshots of books you should (or in some cases, maybe shouldn’t) be reading! We’ll all take our cracks at it, but I’ll go first:

BATMAN #678
If you bailed out on Grant Morrison during the first story line, come back–quickly– this is one fun book–a real page turner. It doesn’t feel like a cross-over gimmick. It feels like a very exciting story that should have been told YEARS ago.

Astonishing X-Men #25
Typical Warren Ellis excitement, but it is going to take me some time to get used to Simon Bianchi‘s busy dark artwork after the open vistas of Mr. Cassaday.

Fables #74
–what? Your not reading it?? Stop what you are doing and go buy a trade or two–skip the first one. It is as addictive as caffeine and sweet as a Frappichino.

House of Mystery #3
— very cool premise–half continuing story/half anthology–where is it leading? Beats me, but I am certainly planning on sticking around for the ride.

Legion of Superheroes #43
–Yuck! I’ve always loved the Legion because–like Star Trek TNG— it had a vision of the future that provided optimism for a happily ever after for humanity. Now, the book is a parody of corporate America with Lightning Lad as the besieged CEO–or is it Lightning Lad as the Editor-In-Chief of Marvel? Jim Shooter, you bitter, bitter man. It was fun for a few issues, but now the joke is old. The Legion as a corporation without a support staff?? I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept Matter-Eater Lad, but not a superhero group without an accountant.