As we did last week in announcing the beginnings of the 2009 HeroesCon Guest List, I wanted to shed a brief ray of light on the Indie Indie side of the list, here in its formative, gestative form. Gross!

This year will be the FIFTH Indie Island, which is I suppose somewhat auspicious. For those of you who have never had the distinct and oft-referred-to pleasure of attending Indie Island or its great big sugar-daddy HeroesCon, basically the Island is around 5,000 square feet located at the middle of the hall for maximum exposure. As HeroesCon very famously is a “comics-first” show, with historically an enormous number of “mainstream” comics readers making up the attendees, show owner Shelton Drum had the idea of placing an indie section in the middle of things, rather ghetto-ized off in some corner or in a room or underground or whatever. Kind of a forward-thinking idea, especially for a mainstream con organizer, and I for one think he deserves a lot of credit for it.

Slowly, as Indie Island grows up, the idea is paying off: last year saw the biggest Indie Island guest list (by far!) ever, with artists and publishers traveling from all over the country to exhibit. Next year’s show should be even bigger, and we’ll be pushing it all year long to try and bring as many people as possible into the convention center next June.

So, some of the “early adopters” for next year’s Indie Island include (there are already a few people waiting to be announced, but I’ll leave them for next week so I can give them some special attention):

ADHOUSE BOOKS: Who doesn’t love Chris Pitzer? Chris has been an integral, if not central, part of each Indie Island thus far, since the first one in 2005, when he appeared with fellow guest James Jean to promote his new art book PROCESS: RECESS.

DANIELLE CORSETTO: So scrappy, with her giant moustachioed cactus thing–Danielle is the head of a growing online empire centered around her webstrip Girls With Slingshots.

CHRIS SCHWEIZER: Besides Chris’ extensive credits producing his own minicomics, he’s about to have his very first graphic novel (Crogan’s Vengeance) published by Oni Press. Literally, any day now.

JEFF SMITH: It’s hard to call anyone with 2,000,000 copies of his Bone in print “indie”, but just because Jeff’s super successful doesn’t mean he has to give up his indie cred. Plus his new Rasl series is occasionally racy, if that helps. Two MILLION copies–that’s like early 90’s numbers (think Spawn #1 twice) except BOOKS! And so good, too…

BEN TEMPLESMITH: The only first-timer on this list, Ben Templesmith is so prolific that only the INTERNET provides me with enough space to list his credits. Which I will not do, but here are just a few of the many: 30 Days of Night, Fell, and his own Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and Welcome to Hoxford.

BEN TOWLE: This occasional educator, constant cartoonist, and former Charlottean is currently cornering the market on historical graphic novels, with his past Midnight Sun and future works focusing on Amelia Earhart. I myself would like to see Ben do a fight-comic featuring Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas beating the tar out of each other, but he’s probably too busy.

OKAY! More next week, including some returning New Yorkers and more! But for now, Indie Island ho!

SHIA LEBEOUF IS LOOKING TOUGH! I’m hoping that I’m pronouncing his name correctly, so that that rhyme actually works. If not, please consider it blank verse: I’m like the e.e. cummings of comic shop blog posts!

But to business: we have a limited number of sneak preview passes to “Eagle Eye,” starring good ole Shia and Michelle Monaghan. The showing is this Tuesday, September 23 at 7.30 pm, although if you’ve ever been to one of these things, you know to show up early, as they give out WAY more passes than there are seats. Good news: each pass is good for two people, so at least there’ll be someone to talk to while you watch the lame movie trivia and eat too many Peanut M&M’s. Mm, now I’m craving Peanut M&M’s.

To claim your TOUGH pass (limit one per customer), just swing on by the store. We only have a few, so don’t delay.

HEROES CONVENTION 2009: June 19-21, 2009!

Very exciting news: now up on our website is the very first version of the HeroesCon 09 Guest List! It looks a little spindly right now in its infancy, compared to the vastness it will grow to by the time of the show; but just look at those names! If this is any indication, this year’s HeroesCon will be the largest convention we’ve ever held.

While BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS has been to HeroesCon before, the last time it was to promote his series Jinx, to give you an idea of how long it’s been. This time it will be to promote the five million comics he writes now, from New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Powers to the current Marvel event Secret Invasion. Phew!

ED BRUBAKER is almost a returning guest–he was forced to cancel his appearance at our 2008 show at the very last minute. But Ed will take a little time off from writing Captain America, Uncanny X-Men, and Criminal to return to his very first HeroesCon next summer!

Speaking of Uncanny X-Men, Brubaker’s frequent collaborator MATT FRACTION will also be returning next summer, for I think his fourth consecutive HeroesCon. Matt’s turning into one of the biggest and most prolific writers in comics, currently also writing Invincible Iron Man, Punisher War Journal, and a bajillion others, including his own Casanova.

MICHAEL GOLDEN is also turning into a perennial guest of the show. An inspiration to an entire generation of artists with work on The Nam, Avengers, and tons of others, Michael is a favorite not only of fans, but of many of our guests as well.

Another first-timer at HeroesCon next year will be STEVE MCNIVEN, the super-popular artist behind Civil War, Wolverine, Amazing Spider-Man and many others. Steve is known for his incredible covers as well, and is sure to be a must on many peoples’ sketch lists.

Returning to HeroesCon for the first time since 2006, GEORGE PEREZ is one of our oldest friends, not to mention a guest at the very first HeroesCon, way back in 1982! I’m not sure if George is old enough to be a “living legend”, but good gravy–it’s hard to imagine an artist with a more recognizable style, who’s closely identified with such acclaimed titles like Crisis On Infinite Earths, New Teen Titans, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Avengers Vs JLA, etc., etc.

Another high profile returnee this summer is JEFF SMITH, the cartoonist behind the MAMMOTH hit Bone, which has over 2 million copies in print worldwide. Jeff is also currently at work on Rasl, and earlier this year had his DC series Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil collected in a fancy hardcover. We’re all huge fans of Jeff’s, so we’re CRAZY excited to have him back this year.

Last but not least is another first-timer: BEN TEMPLESMITH is the enormously prolific and popular artist behind 30 Days of Night, Fell, and Hatter M, not to mention the artist and writer of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and the new Welcome to Hoxford. The Australian artist will be making his first ever HeroesCon appearance next year, so be sure and make him feel welcome!

Whew! More announcements to come, including a closer focus on the Indie Island Guest List (already up), as well as some additions and more! Stay tuned!

Just a quick note to let you know that–barring the possibility that some REAL news might happen in the next few hours–Heroes’ owner Shelton Drum will be on the WBTV news tonight. It should be in the 5:00 news, and I think they said it would be around 5:15 or so. I believe the topic is collectibility; SPEAKING of collectibility, Shelton recently unearthed this photo of a certain young collector from the mid 60’s, no doubt wondering how much he’d have to pay for a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15… three dollars? Five dollars? TEN DOLLARS?

In case you were wondering, New Releases for this Wednesday’s books are now up here. Bon Appetit!

As initially announced way back in June in the HeroesCon 08 Program Book, we will be hosting a double-signing event on October 17 in our store! American Splendor creator Harvey Pekar and Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel will be signing autographs in our store in advance of their appearance this fall’s Novello Festival of Reading uptown!

We’re super-thrilled to welcome these two giants (or, as officially described by Novello, “Titans Of The Graphic Novel”) to our little old store. They’ll be signing autographs for around 2 hours that afternoon, prior to their appearance at the ImaginOn youth library uptown, where they’ll be giving a lecture. While our event is free, we’re selling tickets for the uptown event to help out our buddies at the library. They’re $15 apiece, so pick up a pair on your next trip into the store. Novello has brought a lot of big comics names into town, including Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, and Michael Chabon, so we’re excited to be working with them!

We’ll be posting more info as we get closer to the event, but we just wanted to get you all excited! So get excited!

Ten-hut! Though it seems like nearly five days ago now, it was actually just last Saturday that we had our biggest-ever Heroes Discussion Group, helmed as ever by the supple Andy Mansell! While I’m sure part of the credit for the roughly 25-person turnout was the topic itself, an unknown little book by the name of “Watchmen”, I like to think most of the credit goes to Andy himself. He really knocked this one out of the park! I’ve probably read Watchmen at LEAST six or seven times all the way through, and Andy brought up some things that I’d never even dreamed were there–really a fascinating conversation.

But don’t take my word for it: I’ve posted a few scratchy cellphone-camera photos of the discussion, which this time took place across the street from our store at the Philosopher’s Stone restaurant. Our buddy Vy had her fancy-dan camera out, so hopefully she’ll be posting her photos to her own Flickr account, or post a link to same in the comments below. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a huge success! I believe the next discussion will be around the end of the month, and feature Notes For A War Story, by Gipi. I’ll try to get a date hammered out tomorrow before I send out the Heroes Hotline!

OKAY, so one of my favorite cartoonists right now is Sammy Harkham, who you may or may not have met at this year’s HeroesCon. I met him, and might as well have been meeting Farrah Fawcett, considering how nervous I was the whole time. I LOVE HIM! But besides being a studly cartoonist, Sammy also edits the preeminent anthology KRAMER’S ERGOT, six volumes of which have come out over the last 8-10 years or so.

THIS FALL WILL SEE the release of Kramer’s Ergot #7, which will be published as a 16″ x 21″ massive tome for $125, filled with a laundry list of great creators, including Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine, Seth, Kevin Huizenga, Matt Groening, Jaime Hernandez, and a bajillion others. It’s crazy. While the book will only be 96 pages–I know, I know, let me FINISH–it’s all material created SPECIFICALLY to see print at this size, comparable to the size of old Sundays like Gasoline Alley, etc. This has NEVER BEEN DONE in comics before, and from all accounts some of the work is breathtaking. Imagine what someone with the graphic sense and careful pacing of Dan Clowes could do with a page over 4 times larger than a standard comic page. I’m getting sweaty just thinking about it, and I’m not even that big a Clowes fan. But I AM a big fan of comics, and the thought of pushing into this kind of territory is really exciting to me.

BUT NOT to everybody. A lot of people–maybe even YOU–are put off by the high price point and relatively low page count. Which is totally fine. There are a lot of books that are too expensive to buy at ANY price for some people. But the strange thing is that a lot of people have decided that they need to COMMENT on how expensive the book is, regardless of whether they care of not about what’s in the book, whether they’d have EVER bought it, etc. Boring, I know; but on the Internet people have to talk-talk-talk, especially bloggers, even when they pretend to be objective and journalisty. Imagine needing to say something EVERY DAY to an audience you can’t see. You can almost forgive these guys for their digital demagoguery.

ALMOST.

I have been more vocal in this dumb debate than I normally would be, half because I find it childish for people to complain about art–ignoring art is the best defense against art you don’t like. And half because I REALLY AM excited about this book, and want to stick up for it like you would for anything you like. And my excitement was only quadrupled a few days ago when Tom Spurgeon posted this excellent interview with Sammy Harkham about the book, the creators involved, et cetera, rather than flinging opinions out all willy-nilly with little more information than the size and cost of the book. But I’m a fan of Tom Spurgeon too, so maybe I’m just playing favorites.

SO, I say all this NOT to bring this cacophonous kerfuffle into our blog. I am uninterested in hearing what everyone thinks about expensive artsy books–I like the folksy neighborly vibe we have on this blog, and would prefer not to enter into some rejoinder war with anyone. So, if you’d like to be heard, please feel free to post on any of the threads I’ve linked to above.

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THIS BOOK for me is all about the retail risk. Kramer’s Ergot #7 will be available for much less than $125 on Amazon, possibly as low as $80–how in the world can we compete with that? While I intend to support the book by purchasing it here, I get a fat employee discount, so it’s a wash. And while I’d love to order a bajillion, just to shut up the people who say that comic shops will never order such a pricey book, I’d have to defend to Shelton why I spent so much of his money (which is never in surplus anyway) on even a few of such a pricey book.

SO LET’S SAY (pending confirmation from the publisher of what our cost will be) that we offer the book to anyone who special orders it for an even $100. That’s 20% off the retail price; a little more than it costs on Amazon, but we throw in the satisfaction of supporting your locally owned and operated comic shop for no additional charge. This will ONLY apply to people who special order the book by posting here or e-mailing me directly–other copies purchased in the store will be at regular price, although stuff like your reserve discount, etc., would still apply. If I don’t know you, I may ask for some sort of confirmation, just so we don’t end up with a stack of these things unsold if you change your mind later. If you’re from out of town and would be mail-ordering the book, it’s probably better if you order it directly from the publisher (Buenaventura Press), as it’s an oversized package and would add too many weird costs for us.

ANY TAKERS? I really do think this is going to be one of the most talked-about and influential books of the DECADE, a historical event in comic book publishing. I CANNOT STOP USING CAPITAL LETTERS when talking about it.

I’M SORRY.

Now up on Newsarama is an article I wrote for Matt Brady on selling Watchmen to customers–very apropros considering this Saturday’s Watchmen Discussion Group. Matt asked me to write something after a conversation he and Shari Brady and I had at the recent Mark Millar/Tony Harris signing. Sweet! This will increase the value of any copies of Superior Showcase #3 I’ve signed for anyone, so all FOUR of you go ahead and start thinking of how to spend all that money!

Oh, the hate! I’ve been informed by The Light Factory that the George Romero film retrospective, along with the Heroes signing scheduled for September 19, will be cancelled. Apparently a late-breaking movie greenlight means that Romero is beginning production on a new movie at around the same time. How do you like all that Hollywood-speak? Snazzy, I know.

It looks like there’s a chance that the retrospective will move to early 09, and if so, we will likely still be hosting a signing here, and will of course drive it into your heads with constant reminders for months in advance. But for the nonce… no Romero.

But dry those eyes! Still coming up on October 17 is the big Harvey Pekar/Alison Bechdel signing! This is going to be super-huge, and we expect as many or more people as we had last week for the Mark Millar/Tony Harris signing, so don’t miss it! Don’t worry, we’ll continue to remind you constantly!