SETH’S PICK :: THE LONESOME GO: It was tough to narrow my picks down to a single book this week. I could easily write about Jason Aaron’s new crime series Men of Wrath, the second issue of Ryan Browne’s hilarious God Hates Astronauts, or Blackhand Comics from Deadly Class artist Wes Craig. I’ll be picking all of those up this week, but I’m most looking forward to The Lonesome Go from Tim Lane and Fantagraphics. That’s a name most of you probably aren’t too familiar with, but he released a fantastic critically acclaimed book called Abandoned Cars a few years ago that I reread once a year.

This new book is a continuation of the types of themes and characters Lane first explored there: drifters, hobos, Americana, automobilia, early rock and roll and more. The narratives pay homage to the Beats, Charles Bukowski and Tom Waits, among others. Visually, Lane seems to channel parts of Dan Clowes, Charles Burns and various American Splendor contributors. Lane’s stories are admittedly dark, but also keenly aware that there is something inherently nostalgic about traveling America, alone or with complete strangers. The result is a book that is, like a road trip, as freeing as it can be unsettling. Fantagraphics has several preview pages available on their site HERE. Don’t miss this excellent book in a week full of good comics choices.

SETH’S PICK :: EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #2: When was the last time any of you saw somebody cosplay as a character who hasn’t even appeared in a published comic? I didn’t think that was even possible until now. Over the past few months I’ve seen more and more pictures of cosplayers bringing Gwen Stacy: Spider-Woman to life. That character debuts in this week’s Edge of Spider-verse #2. So why have so many fans taken to this character so quickly?

I’m sure writer Jason Latour’s twist of putting Gwen in the Spidey outfit has something to do with it. People still love Gwen, and the thought of seeing her as a hero and not a victim is a good thing for comics. While Latour does provide some clever narrative skill in this issue, I think the bigger reason so many fans are looking forward to this issue is the brilliant design work of Robbi Rodriguez. Something obviously clicked in Robbi’s design and fans immediately responded, with cosplayers appearing as the character at multiple conventions around the country. I’d be remiss to not mention that my Heroes cohort Rico Renzi provides the fine color art in this issue. Rico and Robbi are frequent collaborators, and if you’ve seen their work on Vertigo’s FBP, you know they complement each other quite well. I’ve been fortunate to see the finished product, and all three guys should take a bow for crafting a wonderful single issue of comics. Don’t be at all surprised if we don’t see a Gwen Stacy: Spider-woman series after the inevitable success of this issue. 

SETH’S PICK :: THE WRENCHIES GN: In this over 300 page original graphic novel, cartoonist Farel Dalrymple delivers not only his largest book to date, but one that is already being called the finest work of his career thus far. I’ve enjoyed Dalrymple’s past work in Pop Gun War, Delusional and Omega the Unknown, and have heard rumblings about this book for several years. The Wrenchies will certainly have the beautifully detailed artwork we’ve come to expect from the artist, but it’s also receiving attention for its narrative strengths. The story follows a gang of kids who must fight to survive on a planet filled with demons and zombies. It’s a dark and violent story, but one that illustrates the range of Dalrymple’s considerable talents.

In talking about this book on his website, Dalrymple says: “I created the Wrenchies for the misunderstood, the marginalized,  the frustrated and fitfully unsatisfied, for people who like trippy fantasy and challenging storytelling and for people who never even read comics. I also mainly made this book for me.” I think that quote encompasses a good many of us. There’s a great deal of soul and craft in this book, and I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy and appreciate it.

SETH’S PICK :: SOUTHERN BASTARDS #4: When each new issue of Southern Bastards is released, I find myself doing the same thing I did with Jason Aaron’s Scalped: re-reading each issue of that particular story line before enjoying the final chapter. While both books have strong elements of crime fiction within them, the greater similarity is that hold up to multiple readings and remain impressive. Aaron’s reliability as a storyteller is part of Southern Bastards‘ success, but just as key is the quality of the art.

Jason Latour is finally receiving the attention he’s been due as a unique cartoonist in an ever-expanding field of comic book pin up artists. I’ve particularly been impressed with Latour’s ability to convey the mindsets of characters through their facial and body language.  This sounds simple, I know, but how many times have you looked at a comic in recent years and every character’s face looks exactly the same? You don’t have that monochromatic wave of expressions in Southern Bastards. In fact, I would argue that you could infer the story’s meaning by simply reading the pictures without the script. Again, that seems like a fairly obvious role of comic book art, but how often do comics actually succeed on that front?

Southern Bastards exemplifies strong literary and visual storytelling, and if you haven’t yet realized what so many of us already have, make sure to pick up the first three issues or the upcoming trade paperback. Oh, and in this issue Earl Tubb fights Coach Boss. It’s set in the South, you see.

Just a reminder that we’ll be hosting our big Labor Day Sale this Sunday and Monday! Remember that we’ll be opening three hours early on Sunday (at 10 am) to accommodate early bird shoppers, and will be open until our regular Sunday time of 6 pm. We’ll open again at our normal Monday hour of 10 am, with the sale lasting until 6 pm that night.

In addition to the 7500+ comics in our brand new dollar stock, Shelton has also deemed every single one of our statues to be on sale for this event. The more you buy, the bigger the discount. That means you can buy:

1 statue for 20% off

2 statues for 25% off

3 statues for 30% off

5+ statues for 35% off

Select statues will be marked down to rock bottom close-out prices, and will not be eligible for the discount tier above. If you’ve had your eye on any statues in recent months, this is the weekend to buy them. It’s rare for us to have a statue sale of this scale, and there won’t be another one like this any time soon, so take advantage of the sales while you can!

We’ll also be offering big discounts on toys, and the statue discount tier also applies to our entire selection of manga. However, if you buy 10 or more manga selections, you’ll get 50% off those books! Dang!

It’s going to be a fun Labor Day at Heroes! We look forward to seeing you this weekend:

Sunday (8/31): 10 am – 6 pm

Monday (9/1): 10 am – 6 pm

In honor of Labor Day, we’ll be hosting a two day sale next weekend! It kicks off on Sunday, August 31 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., then picks back up on Monday, September 1 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Note that we’ll be opening three hours early next Sunday to start the festivities and give you all a few extra hours to shop.

What will be included in this sale? To start, we’ll have 30 long boxes of a brand new dollar comics on hand. This stock has never been displayed at a Heroes event, nor has it been on the road at any of our numerous convention appearances. We’ve been saving these especially for this event, so know that you’ll have plenty of good dollar comics to find.

If that’s not enough, Shelton has declared that every statue in the store will be on sale, all priced to move! It’s rare that our entire stock of statues will be on sale, so if you’ve had your eye on any of them, next weekend will be the perfect time to pick them up.

It’s going to be a busy Fall at Heroes, and we’ll have some exciting announcements in the coming weeks about store signings and our annual Heroes Pop Swap. Stay tuned to this very blog for all the news, and we’ll look forward to seeing you next weekend.

Heroes Labor Day Sale

Sunday, August 31: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Monday, September 1: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

SETH’S PICK :: LITTLE NEMO: RETURN TO SLUMBERLAND #1: Though an obvious statement, it’s worth noting that Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo stories revolutionized the way cartoonists approached panels and pages. It’s hard to believe that a newspaper strip now over 100 years old was able to employ such imagination and craft. There have been more recent forays into Slumberland, but most of those have existed within non-comics forms like video games and animated films. IDW’s ambitious new Little Nemo series marks the first time in decades that we’ve seen new all ages Slumberland stories in comics. To tackle such a daunting project, IDW tapped Eric Shanower and Gabriel Rodriguez to bring Nemo to the modern era. With decades of work adapting the Oz stories for comics, Shanower is a natural choice for this effort. While I’m not as familiar with the work of Rodriguez, it’s hard to deny the popularity of his work on Locke and Key. Little Nemo has been around for over a century, but there’s still a multitude of comics fan who have likely never read any of those original strips. Hopefully this series will be a success and new readers will discover the genius of Winsor McCay. Just in case you need an example of McCay’s original Nemo genius – we all could use that reminder: 

SETH’S PICK :: CAPTAIN VICTORY AND THE GALACTIC RANGERS #1: One of Jack Kirby’s last great series gets a shot of new energy this week. It’s written by Joe Casey, who wrote one of my favorite series in recent history, Dark Horse’s Catalyst Comix. Similarly to that book, Captain Victory teams Casey with a variety of talented artists to tell an offbeat sci-fi superhero story. This time around Casey teams up with Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg, Ulises Farinas, Ben Marra, Farel Dalrymple, Michel Fiffe and more, all creators who happen to make some of today’s most consistently inventive comics.  The preview pages suggest that these artists brought plenty of joy and enthusiasm to Kirby’s world, and I can’t wait to see their work on this underrated property.

SETH’S PICK:: LOW #1: What I won’t do with this recommendation is to go on and on about why I love Rick Remender’s comics. That’s been done already. What I can do is talk about the concept behind this promising new Image comic. The story is set at the bottom of the ocean, where humanity was forced to go after the sun’s enlargement turned the Earth’s surface into an uninhabitable wasteland. While that alone could offer plenty of interesting stories, the twist is that the remnants of humanity receive notice that one of the probes they sent ages ago to discover more suitable planets finally returned. Unfortunately, it returned to that irradiated nightmare that is the Earth’s surface. With a strong writer and a strong concept, there’s plenty to be excited about in this new series. This time around, however, I’m most interested in seeing the work of artist Greg Tocchini. The multitude of sci-fi and fantasy elements here seem ready-made for his work to flourish in, and the preview pages released strongly reflect that. If you need even more Remender comics this week, don’t forget that his other excellent sci-fi series Black Science also returns this week with issue seven and a new story arc. 

SETH’S PICKS: The week of San Diego Comic Con is always one where publishers unload lots of big titles. This week is no exception. In fact, there are so many notable titles that I couldn’t limit my Staff Pick to a mere single book. Let the lightning round begin!

1) Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #1: As with most ’80s children, I loved both of these toy-cartoon-comics. The adult in me, however, hasn’t paid much attention to either franchise. Leave it to writer/artist Tom Scioli to be the creator to pull me back in. Aside from Scioli’s always impressive Kirby-inspired art, I must say that it was his obvious enthusiasm for this project that he displayed in conversation at HeroesCon that makes this the book I’m most looking forward to this week. 

2) Street Angel HC: Jim Rugg is a creator whose work always demands attention. Though this is a new repackaging of Street Angel, it’s printed in a larger format than the original collection. If comics can do with more of anything, it’s larger Jim Rugg art. Plus, since this new collection is brought to you by Adhouse Books, you know it’ll be a handsome publication. 

3) Avengers 100th Anniversary Special: James Stokoe writes and draws this one shot. It features future versions of Doctor Strange, Beta Ray Bill and Rogue. That’s about all you need to know about this one. If for some reason you aren’t familiar with Stokoe’s Orc Stain and Wonton Soup, here’s your opportunity to discover a comics giant-in-the-making.

4) Ragnarok #1: This is Walt Simonson’s new creator owned project for IDW. It happens to be a Norse-themed book, which we all know Simonson to excel at. I could go on, but do you really need another reason to look at this besides Simonson?

5) Supreme: Blue Rose #1: Warren Ellis writes this new chapter of the Supreme saga. While that alone will be enough to entice some readers, the art is provided by Tula Lotay. Some of you may not be familiar with her beautiful work, but you will be soon enough. Don’t forget that Lotay will be signing at Heroes next Tuesday, July 29, so make sure to pick up your copy this week. 

6) Hellboy Artist’s Edition: IDW continues their barrage of epic artist editions with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. Giant format Mignola art painstakingly reproduced from the original pages? If that doesn’t warrant a spot on your bookshelf, I don’t know what will.

7) Guardians of the Galaxy: The Complete Abnett and Lanning Collection vol. 1: We’re only a week away from the Guardians of the Galaxy film. This series was a primary influence on the new film, and since speculators have driven the cost of the single issues and original collections sky high, here’s an affordable chance to see where it all started. In my opinion, this was a fun, inventive series that never got its due when first published. Even if you don’t care about seeing the movie, I think this is the Guardians series most worth your time.