Speaking as someone who reads comics AND has worked for the same comic book store (with occasional interruptions) since the mid-90’s, it’s tough to get excited about the Next Big Events from the big superhero publishers. It’s not so much that I think they won’t be good, but if there’s a different big event going on each month, is it really an “Event” anymore? And regardless of the quality of the “event”, this sort of event-driven publishing creates an environment where books are marketed based on their relevance to the current event; rather than their relative qualities as books, as comics, as stories. Which reminds me, speaking again from the standpoint who started working here at the end of the Great Comics Bust of the 90’s, of another time notable for the prevalence of events.

Witness Secret Invasion #1: Brian Bendis is almost preternaturally suited to write comic books. His brain is an apparently bottomless well of story ideas and dialogue, and he seems uncommonly adept at managing these big universe-spanning stories, where he has to juggle not only what dozens and dozens of characters are doing now, but often what they’ve ever done. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a Bendis-written comic and just plain hated it–if nothing else, they’re almost always entertaining on some level. Which is what makes him so well-suited as a superhero comics writer: Brian Bendis is good at entertaining.

Which is what Secret Invasion #1 is: entertaining. There’s a big buildup, including at some point nearly every marquee character in the Marvel Universe, leading to numerous revelations of various Skrull doppelgangers doing nefarious things, culminating in a bunch of explosions, building crumplings, and one very retro deplaning. It was fun to read; I enjoyed reading it. Was it good? That’s harder to say.

The problem with Secret Invasion #1, and with a lot of these event-driven comics, is that you need to have a knowledge of the Marvel Universe almost as extensive as Bendis’ own to follow things. There’s no entry point for a new reader; there’s virtually no reference point for them to enter the story. I’ve been reading New Avengers off and on, so I at least know that there’s been some are-you-a-Skrull paranoia for a while now. As in, for the last 30 or so issues of New Avengers. But what if I hadn’t read all those? What if I didn’t know that in another big event (Civil War), half of the Marvel Universe ended up hating the other half, and that Tony Stark is a big fat jerk? Thus splitting up Avenger Luke Cage from Jessica Jones. Wait-what? Luke Cage is an Avenger? Jessica Jones is–wait, who’s Jessica Jones?

At least with Civil War, the main impetus for the conflict takes place within the story, so you can follow things with a more basic knowledge of what–for anyone who doesn’t read comics–is an incredibly labyrinthine system of characters and histories. I read the main Civil War series and NONE of the lead-ins or related books, and was able to make pretty fair sense of things. World War Hulk had a similarly self-contained core title, although it depended heavily on the events of the preceding Planet Hulk storyline. Secret Invasion, however, presumes the reader has been reading Marvel Comics, especially Avengers-related titles, for the last several years. Regardless of its several qualities as a story, it’s this snub of the new readers that is so troubling to me.

Even considering Brian Bendis’ greater-than-normal creative control over comics he writes, these events are obviously the product of writing-by-committee. Not that this has to be bad writing, but in many cases it’s a matter of putting the cart before the horse. Rather than saying, “I’ve got a great idea, a really primo story,” it’s “let’s plan some big summer crossovers.” Or even worse: “How am I going to fit my own story into this company-mandated framework?” Inevitably storytelling will suffer–not everyone is as talented as Brian Bendis. Most people aren’t particularly good at telling stories they came up with themselves, much less someone else’s.

On the other hand, they sure do sell–Civil War sold an absolutely silly number of copies for us. But so did the “Death of Superman” storyline, way back when. Ditto for Superman #123, the now forgotten “Superman Goes Electric” issue. At some point people just plain lose interest; there’s too much to keep up with, they can’t understand characters that they’ve been reading for years and years, and they just decide to put their disposable incomes elsewhere. And worse, there’s no entry point for new readers. If someone walks in the store and wants to try Marvel’s biggest book, they’re going to need about ten minutes of “previously in…” explanation first. My prediction: they’re back out the door at minute three.

This might just be snobbery on my part, as someone who only reads the superhero stuff intermittently. But it seems very much that the event-driven publishing model is dependent on having a captive readership who buy comics on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. But what about all those OTHER people outside of the comics shop? With two big Marvel movies coming out this summer, Marvel has mystifyingly changed the name of The Incredible Hulk (also the title of the Hulk movie) to Incredible Herc, and put the focus on a Greek godling. Regardless of the quality of The Incredible Herc (I hear it’s great), is this not confusing timing? Similarly, they’re commemorating the release next month of the Iron Man movie with a brand new title called “Invincible Iron Man“, and have changed the existing “Iron Man” title (also the name of the movie) to “Iron Man, Director of Shield.”

???

I’m sure the new Iron Man series will be predictably great, as Matt Fraction is writing it. But for all the talk of getting things to where they’re enjoyable for everybody (like “Brand New Day“, natch), they seem to be at odds with the world that exists outside of the comic shop. Because for all the great sales of things like Civil War, and–most likely–Secret Invasion, they’re not increasing numbers. We’re not seeing people trooping into the store to buy these books–it’s always existing customers. Don’t get me wrong, we love existing customers. Love ’em! Depend on them. But when new customers come into the store, like as not they’re not going to dive into the latest maze-of-continuity event. They’ll probably buy either a) anything by Joss Whedon, b) Bone, or c) some graphic novel. If it’s a new customer that used to read comics years ago, they’ll probably buy something related to the X-Men some way. Which, statistically, will probably be Astonishing X-Men, which goes back to “a”.

If mainstream publishers want to keep the gossamer-thin hold they have on the imaginations of comics fans, in a world packed to the gills with video games, movies, and the Internet, they have to begin shifting their paradigm toward more long-term thinking. For instance: how will this story sell in collected form? By “ret-con”ing things all the time, are we destroying future sales for a segment of our backlist? Are we alienating a segment of our readership? And most important of all, most most most important: how are we working to bring in new readers? And not just new 20- to 40-somethings, but kids who will grow up reading comics and continue into THEIR adulthoods. Shelton Drum (Heroes’ owner, if you didn’t know) started buying comics in the mid-60’s, and eventually turned his greedy eyes toward selling them himself. Are there any young Shelton Drum’s browsing the racks today? And if by chance they are, what will they think of the kind of story Secret Invasion represents?

Oh, yeah–I forgot to review the actual comic. It’s good, I liked it. Leinil Yu can really draw cool looking people, especially when he has an inker. A what? I know, they’re rare now. The whole parade of 70’s versions of everyone is a little hokey, but it appealed to the kid in me. Well, maybe not the tiara-wearing Luke Cage, but it’s a fun idea.

Which is what Bendis is good at: fun ideas. But fun for whom? I think Marvel–and DC, too (52? Countdown? Hello?)–have forgotten that satisfying comics fans is only half of a healthy market. Getting new readers is the only way to grow an industry which faces threats from all sides, and not just from video games and the Internet. A big threat to the superhero mythos’ place in comics?

Graphic novels.

This from Tom Spurgeon, the well-respected creator of the Comics Reporter blog, which you should read each morning, every morning: people who have purchased air tickets through ATA Airlines may be out of luck.

If you hadn’t heard already, this is a smallish airline that just declared bankruptcy on Wednesday, and it sounds like there is little recourse for ticket-holders. I only mention it in case you did buy ATA tickets already and haven’t heard the news yet. I’d heard on NPR that there’s little chance of getting refunds, unless your credit card company is good about that, etc. ATA has clearly shut the door on that idea. Crazy, no?

Also, while I’m on the subject of travel, tickets, et cetera: We’re receiving a lot of increasingly strident questions about when our Westin host hotel rate will go “live”. I’m informed by Shelton that it looks like it is just over the horizon, possibly as early as next week. When it goes live for reservations by HeroesCon attendees, I’ll announce it through a special edition of the Heroes Hotline newsletter, so make sure you’re on that list!

Great Horny Toads! This is one of our biggest updates yet, and there are still 3 or 4 names waiting in the wings I can’t announce yet. Crazy! There are so many of them that I’m just going to jump in, so hold on tight: the following six (!) names have just been added to the HeroesCon 08 Guest List:

MICHAEL LARK! We’ve been trying to get this guy forever, and at long last the stars have correctly aligned themselves! While you probably know him best from his work on Daredevil and Captain America, he’s also the guy who drew the incredibly well-liked but tragically underselling Gotham Central, not to mention the old Terminal City series (x2) way back in the last century! I’ve never met Michael, but I’ve heard a LOT from other artists and fans about what a sweet guy he is, so he should be a perfect match for HeroesCon!

ERIK LARSEN! The publisher and co-founder of Image Comics, and creator of Savage Dragon, returns for (I think) his third straight HeroesCon! Erik has turned into one of our most popular guests, not only because of his long history in comics, from his heady days at Marvel to his current helming of Image; but maybe moreso just because people like talking to him. Giggles galore from the Image booth when Erik’s in the house. Or hizzy, if you prefer.

RYAN OTTLEY! What? Not satisfied with getting Robert Kirkman to his first HeroesCon, we decided to drive Invincible fans berserk and score the artist Ryan Ottley to boot! Ryan is a super artist–check out his blog to see what looks like a dizzying creative output; not just his work on comics, either, but apparently he’s a relentless sketcher, with tons of pretty funny stuff up there.

RAFAEL KAYANAN! From his work as an illustrator on the Spider-Man Broadway show to comics work including Conan and Star Wars, plus upcoming work for Devil’s Due on a comics adaptation of R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt character, Rafael is a busy man. But not too busy to meet you!

JOHANNA DRAPER-CARLSON! Johanna’s long been a friend of ours, and runs the excellent–and monstrously profific–Comics Worth Reading blog. If you haven’t read it before, it’s a pretty refreshingly ecumenical blog, covering mainstream and indie stuff, and a TON of manga. She’ll be accompanied by her husband and former Legion of Super-Heroes editor KC CARLSON, but he comes mainly just to hang out and have a good time, so you’ll have to bring Columbo with you to find him. “Ah, pardon me, Mr Carlson…” That was my Columbo impersonation. Good, no?

As promised, this year’s HeroesCon Event Schedule is going to be filled to overflowing by the time of the convention, with each day crammed with can’t-miss panels. Why, you ask? When you factor in the INCREDIBLE number of guests we’ve got already, not to mention exhibitors, dealers, and publishers from all over the country whose booths you’ll be browsing, plus an overstuffed schedule, how can you help but buy a 3-day pass? There’s no way you can get all the HeroesCon you need in just one day. Clever, no?

On to this week’s schedule additions: Tom Spurgeon of the excellent Comics Reporter site is attending his first HeroesCon this year, and he’s informed me that he’ll run as many panels as I’ll let him, despite my warnings that this number will be a high one. He’s got some primo ideas, too, so I will definitely be working him to the bone. New to the schedule this week:

• THE CREATIVE HOUSEHOLD panel featuring Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick, Stuart and Kathryn Immonen, and Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer.

• COVERING COMICS: Criticism, Reportage, and Gossip, featuring Tom Spurgeon, Matt Brady, Dan Nadel, Johanna Draper-Carlson, and Heidi MacDonald.

• CONVERSATIONS: Jaime Hernandez & Evan Dorkin, interviewed by Tom Spurgeon.

• RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY IN COMICS, featuring Sammy Harkham, Kevin Huizenga, and Tom Spurgeon.

You can find full descriptions of each of these panels, plus the rest of the 2008 Event Schedule, right here! This is just the tip of the iceberg, too–as I type, I’m looking at a huge list of prospective panels I’m working my way through.

More updates! Including a very cool one that we’ve been working on for a while: Oni Press! Increasing the shocking number of publishers and creators attending Indie Island from the Pacific Northwest this year, Oni Press joins the ranks for their very first HeroesCon! They’ll be in good company, too, as half of their biggest creators will be here, including Bryan Lee O’Malley, Hope Larson, and Greg Rucka! Super news for us–Indie Island was always conceived as a collection of really awesome elements wrapped around nodes of indie publishers, and it’s nice to see that contingent growing as our profile expands on the “scene.”

But that’s not all: also brand new on the list today is Marc Arsenault, an old hand on the indie scene, having worked as an art director for Tundra and Fantagraphics, with books including Robert Williams’ Malicious Resplendence on his resume. His more recent venture is Wow Cool, a publisher and distributor, producing books, DVD’s, and records.

ALSO new today are Shane Heron and Joel Buxton, the creative team behind the Awesome Marcus Ninja webcomic. Which, I should say, is pretty funny. I’ve been meaning to add these guys for over a month, and keep forgetting. They contacted us a few months ago, and Todd and I went and checked out the strip, and ending up reading nearly all of them. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about it that’s really funny, almost every time. Very strange and cool. But hey–don’t listen to me–go check it out yourself!

Holy moley! I’ve just uploaded a bunch of photos of our first ever Heroes Discussion Group, which was pretty great. I’ll leave most of the description to our Flickr photo report, but here are a few highlights, for those of you on a time budget:

1) Andy Mansell is the perfect guy to run this kind of thing. He’s even more knowledgeable than he is friendly, and that’s saying a lot. The depth with which he explored League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (our discussion topic) was all anyone could talk about afterward. Super educational.

2) It is hard to talk about one Alan Moore book and not continually bring up all the other ones. Which is okay, but we kept sliding into discussion of From Hell, which not everyone had read.

3) POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: Could the Captain Nemo we see in the book actually be Sherlock Holmes in disguise? This idea, posed by Andy at the very end of things, prompted a lot of passing back and forth of copies of the book, accompanied by “Look, he’s right!” or “I don’t see it.”

The meeting ended with everyone nominating two books they’d like to discuss next. The top vote-getters were From Hell, Sandman Vol 4., and All-Star Superman. All-Star Superman barely won, so our next discussion group will focus on the first collection of the series, reprinting issues 1-6! And what’s more, we’ve decided to offer 10% off whatever book is our next topic of discussion all month long! That means that until next month’s meeting, tentatively scheduled for Monday, April 28th, just mention the Heroes Discussion Group to get 10% off of All-Star Superman, Vol 1! This discount will not apply to single issues–just the hardcover.

If you were at the discussion group last night, we’d love to hear your thoughts or ideas on how it went. Feel free to comment below–and if you couldn’t make it last night, but still want to talk League of Gents, we can keep the discussion going! Thanks again to Andy Mansell!

Just to let you peeps know right quick–I’ve just added those two Indie Island promo shirts, which I just can’t quit talking about, to our Promotional page, along with handy Paypal links that allow you to avoid talking to us completely!

This is not only to make it easier for you to buy the shirts–although that helps; we really want as much of your money as we can get, honestly–but as a beta test for future potential use. We’ve got a lot of old promo stuff lying around–Shelton hasn’t thrown away anything with a HeroesCon logo on it since–well, ever. So if any of you guys out in Blogtasia use those Paypal links, please let me know how it works, if there are any problems, etc.: dharbin[at]heroesonline[dot]com. For serious! And in the meantime, enjoy the shirts!

OOH! OOH! Don’t forget our first ever meeting of the HEROES DISCUSSION GROUP this Monday at 7pm! We’ll be discussing Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume One–if you haven’t read it yet (Shawn Reynolds) now’s the time! And if you have read it before, I would suggest a reread this weekend. I’ll be cracking the seal on my still unopened Absolute LOEG slipcase at last!

Below is the text of discussion leader Andy Mansell’s original post. See you this Monday!

How often have you finished a really terrific comic or graphic novel and wished you had an opportunity to discuss the book in detail? For me it is a daily occurrence. By the time I get to Heroes on Wednesday for my weekly new releases, I am frothing at the mouth to discuss as many comics as possible in the shortest amount of time with a staff trying to counter all of my ideas and still assist all the other customers.

Well, now it is time we MAKE time! Presenting the Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find Discussion Group. The first meeting will be Monday, March 24th at 7:00pm in the store. We hope to meet on the third Monday of every month and discuss a different piece of graphic literature. Our first book will be Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill‘s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume One, published by ABC Comics/DC and available at Heroes for 19.95.

The book has some mature content, so everyone mature enough to buy the book is invited to join in the discussion. All we ask is that you read the book before the meeting and come prepared with an opinion and an open mind. If you loved it, tell us why; if you were disappointed, explain why… Does it hold up to second reading and various other topics: and the last 15 minutes of the meeting will be a battle royale to decide what book will be discussed at the next meeting.

So come one, come all… We can hardly wait…

Huzzah, huzzah! Big updates today across the board in HeroesCon news. So big it’s taken me most of the day to get into position to deliver these updates into the world. So, without further ado:

New to the HeroesCon 08 Guest List today are Secret Invasion and Thor inker Mark Morales. Mark is a familiar sight for HeroesCon attendees, but we’re happy to see him getting these super high-profile projects. With luck he’ll share some of his paycheck with us when he hits it REALLY big.

Also brand new today is another HeroesCon mainstay, our buddy Ford Gilmore of Illuminati Entertainment. Ford is not only a writer, with credits including Thundercats and his own The Hollow horror novel series, but a movie producer as well! Well hello, Hollywood!

And today we’re also adding two new exhibitors: returning to HeroesCon this summer will be Image Comics, coming all the way from California to set up at the show! This will no doubt be a huge year for them, with big Image studs like Invincible writer Robert Kirkman on the list, and we’re happy to have them back.

And also returning this year is CGC, the industry-standard grading company that has turned the idea of comics grading on its ear! While they WON’T be doing “on-site” grading at the show–apparently it’s monstrously time-consuming, and people spend the whole convention waiting in line–they will be accepting books for grading back at CGC HQ. So you can save yourself some shipping by bringing books you want to get graded to HeroesCon!

And the other big update today is a brand new homepage for Heroes Convention! Including recent updates, quick reference info, and a snapshot of prominent guests and exhibitors coming to the show, this is the homebase for all things convention-related! Check it out right here!

Whew! A couple of our appearing exhibitors wanted HeroesCon banners for their sites to show the love, but we didn’t have any in their sizes, so I had to whip them up. The one above, in good old 468 x 60 pixel size, was made so that our buddies at The Dollar Bin podcast out of South Carolina could help spread the word.

The tall one, weighing in at a hefty 160 x 600 pixels, is for Mirage Studios, who publish the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, and who are extra super nice guys, which is just how we like them.

If you’d like to use these to spread the word yourself, please feel free to grab them–all we ask is that you make the image link to this URL: http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon.html, and that you not use them in conjunction with anything really objectionable–we’re a family convention, after all. Just click on the image to see the full-sized version, which you can right-click to “save as” or option-click if you’ve got a Mac, or what-have-you. You can find more banners on the Promotional page of our website!