In the post 9/11 world, what is more important freedom or safety?  Imagine how your attitude could change as you get older and have children? V for Vendetta tackles all of these tough concepts and does it in an extremely entertaining and exciting way. How does the Reagan/Thatcher era play out to today’s reading audiences? But let’s put politics aside (good luck with that) and just focus on the comic itself.  Writer Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd are both at the top of their game and it is up to us to examine this masterpiece of comic art.

• OK, for September (watch this space for scheduled dates and times) — we will sit down to discuss Dan Clowes’ fabulous coming-of-age graphic novel Ghost World. After we’ve dissected the book, we will re-group in the store and watch the movie adaptation.  We did this once before a few years ago for Persepolis and it resulted in one of our best discussions.

We look forward to seeing you.  If you’ve never been to one of the discussions, please consider joining us.  If you come, there is no pressure to participate.  All we ask is that you read the assigned book (and once in a while, see the assigned movie) before the meeting and as always bring an open mind.

What’s the best way to spend a rainy Saturday?? With plenty of cookies and comic books!

The Heroes Discussion Group met this past Saturday to discuss Daytripper– the ten issue mini-series by Brazilian twin superstars Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba.

God bless the ladies at the Sunflour Bakery…homemade fig newtons and snicker-doodles the size of your hand? Thank you sir, may I have another?

So, what exciting book should we tackle as a follow up to our last discussion of a 400 page adventure of a guy who works in a mail room and takes a plane trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving dinner? Well, how about a ten issue mini-series about a guy who writes obituaries for a South American newspaper?

No, really…

and get this… (it’s not even a SPOILER alert) the main character dies at the end of each issue! It’s Daytripper, the ten issue mini-series written and drawn by the team of Brazilian brothers Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Imagine the narrative arc of a film like Citizen Kane but told in serialized comic form. Here is the best thing about Daytripper;  it is clever, concise, easy to read, easy to digest and really fun to analyze! (more…)

Heroes has been kind enough to let me moderate 28 Discussion Groups over the past 3 years. I have enjoyed myself immensely and I hope that those who have attended have found them worthwhile.

The most recent round table that focused on Chris Ware’s epic Jimmy Corrigan may very well have been my favorite discussion group to date.

A total of fifteen of us met on Saturday afternoon and the Charlotte weather was so agreeable we conducted our discussion outside across the street at the Philosopher’s Stone. In attendance were several of our Stalwart Discussion Group members (whom I want to take a moment and thank for their ardent support!): Shawn Daughhetee, Heather McKinney, Seth Peagler, Matt Knapik, Matt Plummer, Charles Skender, Mark Sullivan, Zack Kirchberg, Bobby Gemmell and Discussion Group Emeritus: Dustin Harbin.
(more…)

The Holidays have come and gone and we had our fun discussing Tintin, the pure love of comics and how our cartooning tastes have evolved from childhood to the present. It is now time to go back to some hard-core discussion and for that we turn our attention to Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware.

I suggest that after Maus and perhaps Watchmen, Jimmy Corrigan is the most important Graphic Novel published in the last twenty years. It was the success of Chris Ware‘s magnum opus that kicked opened the main stream book stores doors; the same doors that had been previously been cracked ajar by Art Spiegelman and Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons. From the critical and sales success of Jimmy Corrigan on, Graphic Novels came of age and were accepted by critics and book buyers alike.

But the question for our Discussion Group is: Why?
What makes this enormous book so special, so challenging, so exciting?
Is it just a matter of the reader being beaten into submission by Ware’s work ethic and design sense?
Or does Jimmy Corrigan achieve more?
Do we care about the characters?
Is it believable?
Are we able to escape into the book without being over-conscious of Ware’s line work, his page lay-out, his brilliant technique?

Please join us on Saturday, January 29th from 1 to 3 pm where we will tackle these questions along with an endless number of other topics. We will meet in the store but if everyone is willing, we will repair to the near-by bakery (YES!!) to enjoy some sweet treats and we delve deeply into this multi-faceted work.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is available from Heroes for $19.95.  When you purchase the book, we offer the 10% Discussion Group discount– just remember to mention it when you check out.

We will see you there;  this is going to be terrific!

Time flies! The last Heroes Discussion Group was over two weeks ago, but it sure seems like yesterday. We posted a few pictures from the meeting on our Flickr site. Everyone had a great time! Heroes would like to thank everyone who came out to a Heroes Discussion Group this year. Thanks to you, it was an exceptional year of debate and conversation and we hope that you will continue to support the group in 2011. If you haven’t made it to one yet then let your New Year’s Resolution be to attend at least one of these lively meetings. We have a great time talking about some amazing comics. Thank you everyone for your help and support! We will be announcing January’s discussion group topic shortly. Until then enjoy these pictures from the Tintin discussion group!

It has been a rather exciting and busy year for us at the Heroes Discussion Group. At our Annual Stock-Holders meeting at Heroes HQ in the Cayman Islands, we agreed that wanted to end this banner year by giving ourselves a well-deserved Christmas present. And what could be a better treat than to sit down and discuss the single most popular and beloved comic book series in the history of the four-color art form? None other than the world famous Belgian boy reporter–Tintin by the famed cartoonist extraordinaire Herge.

With the three mega-movies on the horizon, the Tintin juggernaut will finally conquer the American audience. We want to make sure we sit down and examine and appreciate this seminal series before the civilians (you know who they are– some of us even live with some of them!) get their mitts on it. But which of the 7 volumes to tackle?? Believe me, any would have filled the bill nicely. Our fearful leader Shawn decided to run a poll to let Heroesdom Discussioneers vote for which volume to spotlight. With over half of the vote, the clear cut winner is Adventures of Tintin Volume 1 – which contains Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus.

Please plan to join us in the back of the store on Saturday Afternoon, December 18 from noon to 2 pm for the Tintin Discussion Group!

Issues we hope to discuss will include:

Why the first 3 books?

Is this the desire/compulsion of most (if not all) comic readers for completion and continuity?

The art and storytelling in Tintin — what makes Herge‘s oeuvre the Primer for much of the past century’s Comics Literature.

How do we handle the near century old anachronisms and era (in)appropriate racial stereotyping?

What is the continuing appeal of the Tintin comic?

Why has the series escaped such mega-stardom in America while it is the single best selling comic of all time throughout the rest of the world?

How does Tintin remain as popular with young female comic readers without any sort of lead female character?

Most importantly:

Are the Thompson Twins actually related to one another

and

Can Snowy really speak?

The mind reels!!!!

So give yourself a well-deserved break from shopping, cleaning, cooking, eating and the general feeling of Holiday Stress and join us for an entertaining two hour oasis. We will meet in the back of the store on Saturday afternoon December 18th at noon. We will most likely head across the street to one of the local watering holes– Hey, this is a celebration for Rao’s sake.

The Tintin 3-in-1 volumes are available from Heroes for a low, low $18.99. Don’t forget the Heroes Discussion Group 10% Discount which is available on Volume 1 provided you remember to mention it at check-out. For those of you who have not read any of the Tintin adventures– you will be clamoring to read the following adventures as well. And all of these volumes make superb Holiday presents. This is not me shilling for Heroes, I am just stating a fact of Comic book life.

See you there!

It has been a rather exciting and busy year for us at the Heroes Discussion Group. At our Annual Stock-Holders meeting at Heroes HQ in the Cayman Islands, we agreed that wanted to end this banner year by giving ourselves a well-deserved Christmas present. And what could be a better treat than to sit down and discuss the single most popular and beloved comic book series in the history of the four-color art form? None other than the world famous Belgian boy reporter–Tintin by the famed cartoonist extraordinaire Herge.

With the three mega-movies on the horizon, the Tintin juggernaut will finally conquer the American audience.  We want to make sure we sit down and examine and appreciate this seminal series before the civilians (you know who they are– some of us even live with some of them!) get their mitts on it. But which of the 7 volumes to tackle?? Believe me, any would have filled the bill nicely. Our fearful leader Shawn decided to run a poll to let Heroesdom Discussioneers vote for which volume to spotlight. With over half of the vote, the clear cut winner is Adventures of Tintin Volume 1 – which contains Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus.

Please plan to join us in the back of the store on Saturday Afternoon, December 18 from noon to 2 pm for the Tintin Discussion Group!

Issues we hope to discuss will include:

Why the first 3 books?

Is this the desire/compulsion of most (if not all) comic readers for completion and continuity?

The art and storytelling in Tintin — what makes Herge‘s oeuvre the Primer for much of the past century’s Comics Literature.

How do we handle the near century old anachronisms and era (in)appropriate racial stereotyping?

What is the continuing appeal of the Tintin comic?

Why has the series escaped such mega-stardom in America while it is the single best selling comic of all time throughout the rest of the world?

How does Tintin remain as popular with young female comic readers without any sort of lead female character?

Most importantly:

Are the Thompson Twins actually related to one another

and

Can Snowy really speak?

The mind reels!!!!

So give yourself a well-deserved break from shopping, cleaning, cooking, eating and the general feeling of Holiday Stress and join us for an entertaining two hour oasis. We will meet in the back of the store on Saturday afternoon December 18th at noon. We will most likely head across the street to one of the local watering holes– Hey, this is a celebration for Rao’s sake.

The Tintin 3-in-1 volumes are available from Heroes for a low, low $18.99.  Don’t forget the Heroes Discussion Group 10% Discount which is available on Volume 1 provided you remember to mention it at check-out. For those of you who have not read any of the Tintin adventures– you will be clamoring to read the following adventures as well.  And all of these volumes make superb Holiday presents.  This is not me shilling for Heroes, I am just stating a fact of Comic book life.

See you there!

Monday, November 22 at 7 pm the Heroes Discussion Group met to talk about Paul Hornschemeier‘s The Three Paradoxes. It was an exciting time full of philosophy and art with a surprising turnout and stimulating discussion. Thank you for everyone who joined us and help to make it so much fun! Check out our Flickr report here!

Join us Monday, November 22 at 7 pm in the back of the store as we discuss The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier. It is part autobiography and part philosophical exercise. The book centers on The Three Paradoxes of Zeno of Elea and how they apply to the life and adventures of Hornschemeier. This book is sure to engage and challenge you and the discussion will prove to a stimulating one.

Zeno of Elea was Greek philosopher in the 5th century BC and is most well-known for his Three Paradoxes, one of which is that if you continue to travel half the distance to a goal, you will never reach it. Don’t be put off by all this mention of Greek philosophy. The Three Paradoxes is a witty multi-faceted and rather engaging graphic novel that just may be the perfect “gateway” book into the Indie Comics world. Hornschemeier loves making comics and it is shows on every page and in every panel.

Hornschemeier is the award-winning cartoonist of the terrific graphic novel Mother, Come Home and the serialized Life with Mr. Dangerous that can be found in the pages of MOME.

So plan to join us at the store on Monday, November 22 at 7 pm for The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier. the book is available from Heroes for the low, low sticker price of $14.95 and don’t forget to add (or subtract, actually) the 10% Discussion Discount; but–as always– you must mention the discount to the clerk at check out or suffer the Consequences.