What a day!  What a group! What a great idea!  So, the Heroes Discussion Group met for our holiday session over at the Sunflower Bakery (yum!) and had a solid two hours of fun and revelry.

Here is a breakdown of the books that each Discussioneer brought to the Table:

Andy Mansell selected Peanuts 2000 and passed the book around so everyone could read the final Charlie Brown/Lucy/Football kick Sunday strip.

Then we moved –clockwise of course– around the table to Matt Plummer—aka Manga Man—and he selected the 70 volume One Piece and thrilled us all with the reasons it is one of the best-selling and beloved weekly comics in Japan.

Dana Lynch brought a few books by the great Norwegian cartoonist Jason, but selected as his discussion choice the 8 issue mini-series Enigma from writer Peter Milligan and artist Duncan Fregredo. This is a book that has dipped below the radar in recent years and Dana explained why it was such an important book for him as a comic reader.  The discussion morphed into a roundtable of our favorite Milligan books—X-Force and Shade the Changing Man were mentioned.

Next up was Discussion Group regular Charles Skender and he pulled out his two runners-up Fables March of the Wooden soldiers and Miracleman: Olympus.  But he settled on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s tour de force Preacher. He described Preacher as his gate way book into more challenging comic fare.  We also mentioned that it is high time we did Fables for a future discussion and insisted to everyone that they need to give Miracleman a read in the next few months.

Then newbie Chuck Harris offered up Manhattan Projects as his #2 and presented us with his current fave, the All ages book Cowboy—A Boy and his Horse.  Passing the book around the pastry-laden table, we were all smitten with the art.  The group recommended Bone, Snarked and Herobear and the Kid as kindred spirits of Cowboy and ideal follow up books.

Mark Sullivan aka Mr. Vertigo—whom you can read at mrvertigocomics.wordpress.com was up next. His runner-up was Daytripper by those boys from Brazil Ba and Moon.  We had spotlighted this series a few years ago and agreed it is a multilayered gem.  Mark’s choice for favorite was Hold Me–the classic issue of Hellblazer from Gaiman and McKean.  What a moving choice.  I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but I had to re-read that beautiful story later that same day.

Joe Rauch—one of HeroesCon’s budding Panel Moderators selected a favorite story arc from his early teen years—Waid and Larroque’s The Flash: Return of Barry Allen.  This got the ball rolling as we talked at length about the appeal of super hero comics and how certain books become embedded in one’s subconscious.

A perfect segue for the choice of Laurel Phillips who showed us some of her favorites: Hellboy-Wake the Devil and Soulfire but selected as her go-to book Waid and Ross’ Kingdom Come along with Robinson and Smith’s The Golden Age.

Alex Ramirez was up next and presented our band of sweet tooth readers with Shazam: Monster Society of Evil (which was quickly recommended to Chuck), Sandman World’s End and The Golden Age.  But his favorite was the Morrison/Quitely gem of gems All Star Superman.  This was the topic of our second Discussion Group back when the world was young.  It was an ideal place to finish up since this 12 issue min-series encompasses a love for comics.

As I said, what a great time we had, I was barely able to mention my choice for best book—The Cartoon history of the Universe by Larry Gonick.  But one thing is for sure, we have to do this kind of discussion again.  It was a blast and most importantly, I wanted to get home as quickly as possible and read some comics.  And isn’t that the point?  Merry Christmas to all!!

ANDY’S PICK :: RICHARD STARK’S PARKER SLAYGROUND: Fans of Darwyn Cooke rejoice!  A new Parker book has arrived just in time to be added to our Christmas Wish List (hint) This is a no-brainer for anyone who picked up the first three books in this hard-boiled, beautifully rendered Crime fiction adaptations.  This is a true marriage of an author’s prose novel and a talented cartoonist determined to adapt these stories to a new medium, but keep the tone and the spirit of the work intact.  The plot: Parker– a career criminal (and not the nicest guy in the comics)- breaks into an abandoned Amusement Park in order to escape capture after a heist goes wrong.  But someone observes Parker trespassing and that’s when things get really scary for all involved (just look at that amazing cover!).  Darwyn Cooke is an artist who deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon him.  This Parker series belongs in everyone’s hands.  It is as good as you’ve heard.

ANDY’S PICK :: CAPTAIN EASY VOLUME 4: This is the fourth and final volume of the over-sized collection of Captain Easy full page Sundays beautifully written, drawn and colored by the great Roy Crane.  This is one of the most influential strips of all time.  Crane successfully blended fast paced globe trotting adventures with a big foot comedic art style  like no other strip had ever done–before or since. Crane left the successful Wash Tubbs/Captain Easy strip in 1943 to start his own feature Buz Sawyer.  By that time, the world had changed; WWII forced the newspaper strips to face the realities of war and real violence. The days of the lickety-wop deliriously fun escapades in a world filled with damsels in distress, tiny European kingdoms, a perpetually Wild West and maps that led to buried treasure were over. However, all those delightful staples of the depression era  world of the dangerous– but always reliable–Captain Easy are on display for all to enjoy. This four volume collection is the ideal series where any modern reader can get an understanding and appreciation of the scope and history of the Adventure strip.  How important is Crane and the Sunday Captain Easy? If Roy Crane did not directly  influence your favorite cartoonist , believe me, the artists who influenced your current favorites were influenced by Crane and his marvelous work. Besides all that–Captain Easy is a blast to read  PICK UP ANY VOLUME; Need a recap? Easy gets into trouble, then he punches his way out and then, he gets into trouble…Plus there are beautiful girls and Tigers– lots and lots of Tigers.

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.

ANDY’S PICK :: SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #1: As a young’un way-back-when before our creaky old country passed its 200th Birthday, we’d all huddle around the old TV set and watch the NEW Scooby Doo Movies! Not only were these episodes an  hour long and even more old coots would have gotten away with it without those meddling kids, each week we were treated to an animated guest star as well. And here is the roster of  A-Listers Hanna Barbera invited along: Cass Eliot! Sandy Duncan! Jerry Reed! Phyllis Diller, The 3 Stooges (yay!) featuring Joe DeRita (boooo!) The Harlem Globetrotters! and best of all Batman and Robin.  Well now the good folks at DC/WB/TW are reseeding this once fertile ground with Scooby Doo Team Ups #1 featuring our slobbering Great Dane with the dynamic duo. And the first villain is Man-Bat!   Who is it behind the mask? (And I just mean which Robin will they use?)  And more importantly–what other characters will team up with Scoob?  The Powerpuff Girls?  Billy and Mandy? The Corinthian?  The mind reels as the wallet opens!

ANDY’S PICK :: THOR WARRIORS THREE TP COMPLETE COLLECTION: Superman has his robots, Batman had his Batman of All Nations, Green Lantern has an entire alien police force. All are descendants of Captain Marvel and his three Lieutenant Marvels.  Speaking of Marvel, the FF has the er…. the FF, a newly-thawed Captain America had Rick Jones and the Jones boy had his Teen Brigade who in turn practically invented the internet by way of ham radios. Iron Man has Tony Stark’s Entourage (even the Stark PR director had his own spotlight issue!).  My favorite of all the fill-in/substitute-teacher type hero groups is without a doubt Thor’s reliably violent chorus-The warriors 3!! Fandral the well groomed, Hogun the Grouchy and Volstagg the Menu that Walks like a Man.  These three Asgardian stalwarts always make for  solidly sustained sub-plots which in turn makes for really fun comics.  This new TP collects all the Warriors 3 most important adventures and is sure to be a hoot for everyone except for Hogun, who is–alas– rather Grim.

Collecting : THOR ANNUAL #2, INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) #102, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT (1971) #30, MARVEL FANFARE (1982) #34-35, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) #-1, WARRIORS THREE #1-4 – and material from TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #101; MARVEL FANFARE (1982) #13 and #36-37; THOR (1966) #400, #410 and #415-416; MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (1988) #66; THOR ANNUAL #17; and MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1990) #15.

ANDY’S PICK :: VIP: THE MAD WORLD OF VIRGIL PARTCH HC: Throughout the 40s, 50s and early 60s, Virgil Partch was one of the most popular magazine panel cartoonists in the country.  His madcap–often bawdy and even a little naughty– style was immediately recognizable and oft times laugh out loud funny.  In the last phase of his career, he produced a daily newspaper panel (and Sunday comic) called Big George.  Although it was a funny consistent strip, it focused on standard suburban family homeowner jokes.  the Beast had been tamed for a wider milder audience.  This month Fantagraphics offers VIP: THE MAD WORLD OF VIRGIL PARTCH, a career long retrospective of a comic genius that is long overdue.  Check it out.

ANDY’S PICK :: THE GREAT WAR: THE FIRST DAY OF THE SOMME: Imagine a battle that was so devastating, so bloody that on the first day of this months offensive, 20,000 British soldiers well killed and another 40,000 were seriously wounded.By it’s end there were over 1,000,000 casualties and there was virtually nothing to show for this insane loss of life.  This event–the infamous Battle of the Somme– needs to be forever remembered so the debacle of trench warfare is remembered in the hope it will never be repeated.  The great cartoon journalist Joe Sacco (Palestine, Safe Haven Gorazdhe and Footnotes from Gaza– all highly recommended) presents the events of this entire first bloody day, July 1, 1916.  MR. Sacco shows the the events of the day with the use of a 24 foot long panorama that is printed on accordion-fold paper.  It comes in a handsome slip case and includes a 16 page booklet filled with background material.  this is a major project by one of this generations best cartoonists.  Do not miss it.