It’s time for Free Comic Book Day 2011! If you’ve been to Heroes for FCBD in the past you know it’s one of our biggest events of the year, and this year is no exception!  We’ll be open at our regular time of 10 a.m. and will have tons of Free Comics for you to pick up including a special HeroesCon Green Lantern Special Edition.  Take a look at all of this year’s free comic offerings!

2000 AD, Amazing Spider-Man, Atomic Robo & Friends, Avatar Last Airbender & Star Wars Clone Wars, Baltimore & Criminal Macabre, Bongo Comics Free For All, Captain America  & Thor, Civil War Adventure, Darkness 2 Prequel, Darkwing Duck & Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Deadliest Sharks & Prehistoric Predators, Elric: Balance Lost, Geronimo Stilton & Smurfs, Green Lantern Flashpoint, ICE & Loose Ends, Inspector Gadget, Intrepid Escapegoat & Stuff of Legend, Jake the Dreaming, James Patterson: Witch & Wizard, John Stanley Summer Fun, Kung Fu Panda & Richie Rich, Locke & Key, Misadventures of Adam West, Mouse Guard & Dark Crystal, MTG Path Planeswalker II Preview, Oni Rated Free For Everyone, Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics, Pep Comics Betty & Veronica, Silver Scorpion, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spontaneous, Super Dinosaur Origin Special, The Tick, Top Shelf Kids Club 2011, Walt Disney Mickey Mouse, Worlds of Aspen, Young Justice & Batman: Brave and the Bold Super Sampler.

This year we’re also happy to be one of the few stores to offer the first ever Sketch Charlotte: Free Comic Book Day Anthology!  This anthology features contributions from many of our talented local friends and customers. Sketch Charlotte’s own Eraklis Petmezas and Bridgit Scheide will be on hand to sign the anthology and some of their own quality books! They are just two of the talented creators that will be in attendance along with:

Chris Brunner – Co-creator of the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics. Artist on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, cover artist on Boondock Saints and Nola

Ian Flynn – Writer on Sonic the Hedgehog including the FCBD issue and the upcoming Mega Man from Archie Comics

Sanford Greene – Creator of 1000 and Rotten Apple. Artist on Wonder Girl, Method Man, and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man

Cully Hamner – Co-creator of Red. Artist on The Question, Blue Beetle, Batman: Tenses, The Ride, Daredevil, and Green Lantern: Mosaic

Jason Latour – Co-creator of the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics. Artist on Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Fist, and Daredevil

Laura Martin – Color artist on The Rocketeer, Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, Secret Invasion, Thor and The Stand

Eraklis Petmezas – Creator of Mr. Lune and Last Cigarette

Rico Renzi – Color artist on the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Wolverine, Frenemy of the State, and Captain America. (I’ll mostly be making sure the real guests stay hydrated!)

Budd Root – Creator of Cavewoman

Bridgit Scheide – Creator of The Kindle Kind and Brother Nash

Chris Schweizer – Creator of The Crogan Adventures

Andy Smith – Artist on X-Men: Legacy, WWE Heroes, and Superman Confidential

Brian Stelfreeze – Artist on Wednesday Comics, Jonah Hex, Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Matador and Domino

Matt Wilson – Color artist on the FCBD offering CAPTAIN AMERICA/THOR: THE MIGHTY FIGHTING AVENGERS, Y the Last Man, Phonogram, Thor the Mighty Avenger, and Wolverine

Please remember to be respectful of these folks! They are taking time out of their schedules and time away from their paying jobs to be here for all of us!

In addition to the talented artists who will be on hand to sketch and sign their work we’ll have lots of great bargains available for you on Saturday.  If you’ve been to our store in recent weeks you’ve noticed our fancy new redesign which moved the art books up front where the manga formerly was, and vice versa.  Instead of putting our overstock of this great manga collection in storage, we will be selling them outside at ridiculously low prices!  We also have over 100 long boxes of books that we’ll be selling for $1 and 25¢!  That’s over 25,000 comics to pick through and find books you might be missing from your collections!  Join us this Saturday for great comics, artists, and bargains!

Our sale was a huge success and we have all of you to thank! We greatly appreciate your patronage and support. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking advantage of the terrific deals. We had a ton of fun and we hope you did too. All of us at Heroes wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season! I took a few pictures and have posted them on our Flickr page. Check them out here! If you missed the sale, fear not! The store is open throughout the month of December for all you present needs (though you will have to pay full price). We are happy to help you find that perfect gift for that special someone.

Join us THIS WEEKEND on December 4th from 10 am to 9 pm and December 5th from 1 to 6 pm as we begin the holiday celebration with our widely popular annual holiday sale where we discount nearly everything in the store! Shelton has pulled out all the stops! We will have crazy discounts on back-issues, trades, manga and statues. In addition to that Seth has been building a massive, brand-new $1 stock loaded up with awesome comics. If you have had the pleasure of digging through our previous dollar stocks you know that we go to great effort to pack them full of quality books. Plus, all new comics and trades will be at least 10% off! Shelley and the rest of the crew have been tirelessly cleaning and decorating in preparation for our big event and we will be ready to answer questions, help you locate items and give you recommendations. Be sure to stop by the store THIS WEEKEND to stock up on presents for friends, family and yourself. You are not going to want to miss this sale!

Still not sure what to get that certain someone for Christmas? The holiday sale is a perfect time to pick up your 3-day pass for HeroesCon 2011! It makes a great gift for that hard-to-shop-for comics fan. We can’t wait to see you Saturday and Sunday!

We’ve been hinting at it for weeks but now we are finally ready to divulge the full details of our huge annual two-day holiday sale! Join us December 4th from 10 am to 9 pm and December 5th from 1 to 6 pm as we begin the holiday celebration with our widely popular annual sale where we discount nearly everything in the store! Shelton has pulled out all the stops! We will have crazy discounts on back-issues, trades, manga and statues. In addition to that Seth has been building a massive, brand-new $1 stock loaded up with awesome comics. If you have had the pleasure of digging through our previous dollar stocks you know that we go to great effort to pack them full of quality books. Plus, all new comics and trades will be at least 10% off! Shelley and the rest of the crew have been tirelessly cleaning and decorating in preparation for our big event and we will be ready to answer questions, help you locate items and give you recommendations. Be sure to stop by the store next weekend to stock up on presents for friends, family and yourself. You are not going to want to miss this sale!

Still not sure what to get that certain someone for Christmas? The holiday sale is a perfect time to pick up your 3-day pass for HeroesCon 2011! It makes a great gift for that hard-to-shop-for comics fan. We can’t wait to see you next Saturday and Sunday!

This is a reminder to all of you true believers out there that books will be shipping on schedule this Wednesday. So make sure to drop by for your pre-Thanksgiving fix! And check out the New Releases page for a look at all the terrific stuff that’s coming out this week. However, keep in mind that next week there will be a holiday delay and books will be in the store on Thursday, December 2nd.

But don’t forget! We’ll be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday the 25th. Don’t worry though! The store will open at it’s normal time on Friday at 10 am, and observe its regular hours for the duration of the holiday weekend (which would be a perfect time for all of you regulars to baptise your cool little cousins, nieces and nephews in all the Heroes-y radness).

And keep an eye out for details concerning our great BIG holiday sale in December! Seth has been working hard on a brand new dollar stock to debut at the sale. As if that isn’t enough, we’ll be posting full details here on the blog for you to explore soon enough.

Until then, have a safe and super-rad Turkey Day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We know everybody’s either groaning out of bed, or just relaxing and sleeping late, or even at their computers blogging (sigh), but to all of you Happy New Year! And this should make you feel good about 2010: Shelton has decreed that any reserve customer that comes in and buys everything in their bag until Tuesday January 5, 2010, will get 25% off ANY new comic or book in the store! All you have to do is clean out your bag, no matter how big or small, and you’ll get 25% off all the books in your bag and any other new book you want to add on that! Had your eye on one of those fancy Absolute Sandman hardcovers? Marvel Masterworks? 25% off!

And most crazy of all, we will be GIVING AWAY a free copy of the new Blackest Night #6 to anyone who spends at least $20 (before tax)! What? And before you ask, yes–this includes discounted books, sale items, whatever. Just buy $20 worth of stuff and you can have the new Blackest Night issue for free! Plus we’ll have the Marvel Origin of Siege handbooks available for free, and a free Marvel 2010 calendar, both part of the Marvel “New Year’s Eve Eve” promotion we’re taking part in. Here’s a list of all the stuff we’re getting tomorrow:

ANGEL #28 10 COPY VIRGIN FRISON INCV
ANGEL #28 20 COPY DENHAM INCV
BLACKEST NIGHT #6
BLACKEST NIGHT #6 VAR ED
BLACKEST NIGHT #6 VAR SKETCH ED
FALL OF HULKS ALPHA NYEE MCGUINESS VAR
MARVEL ORIGIN OF SIEGE GIVEAWAY
NEW YEARS EVE EVE PROMO CALENDAR

As if that weren’t enough, just as further enticement and thank you to our regular customers, Shelton has turned this into a full-fledged store-wide sale, like a sequel to our recent Holiday Sale! Deals will include:

● New Dollar Stock including nearly 10,000 back issues, sorted in alphanumeric order, just a buck apiece! Ask at the store for special “load a box” deals on both short and long boxes of dollar books!

● Selected statues on sale–look closely throughout the store for some insane deals on some great statues, with discounts up to 90% off!

● Lots of new BOGO (buy one get one) deals and 50% off trades and hardcovers!

● Plus a whole rack of 75% off trades and hardcovers!

● Select toys marked down to giveaway prices!

● Spend $100 and Shelton will give you a free T-shirt of your choice from our in-store inventory!

All this is just our way of saying “thanks” to our regular customers, while still making it easy for new customers to get their toe wet in comics! Happy New Year to everybody–don’t miss this chance to start 2010 with some great deals and free books at Heroes!

I hope everyone has made their New Year’s resolutions since 2010 will be upon us tomorrow! New Year’s Eve the store will be open until at least 6 pm. We might be open later depending on traffic so if you plan on showing up after 6 pm give us a call to check and see if we are open. New Year’s Day we will be open “Sunday hours” from 1 to 6 pm.

Don’t forget to take full advantage of our SALE! It will be going on now until Tuesday, January 5!

I won’t be updating the New Releases page until Monday, January 4 so that everyone gets an opportunity to learn about the sale. But I can tease you with a few of the exciting books that will be arriving in stores on Wednesday, January 6. In no particular order: Siege #1 with variants, Siege Embedded #1, Walking Dead TP vol 11, Suicide Squad #67, Weird Western Tales #71, Unwritten vol 1 TP, Muppet Show Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson TP, Invincible Iron Man vol 3 HC, One Piece vol 24 – 28 TPs, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD HC! As of next week shipping will return to normal! And as always if there are any changes we will let you know!

This Wednesday we have a special treat for our reserve customers! Shelton has decreed that any reserve customer that comes in and buys everything in their bag on Wednesday, December 30 2009, will get 25% off ANY new comic or book in the store! All you have to do is clean out your bag, no matter how big or small, and you’ll get 25% off all the books in your bag and any other new book you want to add on that! Had your eye on one of those fancy Absolute Sandman hardcovers? Marvel Masterworks? 25% off!

What’s EVEN CRAZIER is that Shelton has decided that this promotion will go on all week–that means from tomorrow, December 30th, all the way to Tuesday, January 5th! And if you come back during the promotion and have already cleaned out your bag, you still get the discount! Insane!

And most crazy of all, we will be GIVING AWAY a free copy of the new Blackest Night #6 to anyone who spends at least $20 (before tax)! What? And before you ask, yes–this includes discounted books, sale items, whatever. Just buy $20 worth of stuff and you can have the new Blackest Night issue for free! Plus we’ll have the Marvel Origin of Siege handbooks available for free, and a free Marvel 2010 calendar, both part of the Marvel “New Year’s Eve Eve” promotion we’re taking part in. Here’s a list of all the stuff we’re getting tomorrow:

ANGEL #28 10 COPY VIRGIN FRISON INCV
ANGEL #28 20 COPY DENHAM INCV
BLACKEST NIGHT #6
BLACKEST NIGHT #6 VAR ED
BLACKEST NIGHT #6 VAR SKETCH ED
FALL OF HULKS ALPHA NYEE MCGUINESS VAR
MARVEL ORIGIN OF SIEGE GIVEAWAY
NEW YEARS EVE EVE PROMO CALENDAR

As if that weren’t enough, just as further enticement and thank you to our regular customers, Shelton has turned this into a full-fledged store-wide sale, like a sequel to our recent Holiday Sale! Deals will include:

● New Dollar Stock including nearly 10,000 back issues, sorted in alphanumeric order, just a buck apiece! Ask at the store for special “load a box” deals on both short and long boxes of dollar books!

● Selected statues on sale–look closely throughout the store for some insane deals on some great statues, with discounts up to 90% off!

● Lots of new BOGO (buy one get one) deals and 50% off trades and hardcovers!

● Plus a whole rack of 75% off trades and hardcovers!

● Select toys marked down to giveaway prices!

● Spend $100 and Shelton will give you a free T-shirt of your choice from our in-store inventory!

All this is just our way of saying “thanks” to our regular customers, while still making it easy for new customers to get their toe wet in comics! Happy New Year to everybody–don’t miss this chance to end one year and start another with some great deals and free books at Heroes!

This Wednesday we have a special treat for our reserve customers! Shelton has decreed that any reserve customer that comes in and buys everything in their bag on Wednesday, December 30 2009, will get 25% off ANY new comic or book in the store! All you have to do is clean out your bag, no matter how big or small, and you’ll get 25% off all the books in your bag and any other new book you want to add on that! Had your eye on one of those fancy Absolute Sandman hardcovers? Marvel Masterworks? 25% off!

Plus I’m told there will be other deals throughout the store, as we try to make space after Christmas for new stock in 2010! So even non-reserve customers can join in the savings jamboree! We almost NEVER discount new books this deeply, but Wednesday is a very rare “skip” week for comics, and we just wouldn’t feel right without a ton of customers in our store on Wednesday! Plus, our regular “reserve” customers (if you don’t know, it’s kind of like an in-store subscription service) are our life’s blood, so it’s doubly great to be able to thank you guys like this!

NOTE that the discount only applies to new books, not back issues, “hot” comics (variants, signed stuff, like that), etc. The discount applies only if you empty your bag completely, and that doesn’t mean just putting a bunch of comics back on the rack somewhere either. Besides, at 25% off, it’s a lot easier to afford those books! Plus it helps us clear some space in our reserve boxes. So come on in this Wednesday and clean out those boxes!

Thanks to “Snappy” Matt Knapik for acting as photojournalist last Saturday at our big Holiday Sale and Store Signing. Though it was cold COLD, a bunch of people came out hunting some sweet deals and to meet our visiting stars, which included Nathan Edmondson, Chrissie Zullo, Andy Smith and Budd Root. Shelton provided cookies and coffee to take the tinge off the cold and replace it with some holiday cheer, and as usual our patented mix of friendly pros, friendly customers, and friendly staff made for some friendly times. Actually the patent is still pending, but things look good.

You can see the whole set of photos over on our Flickr page! Thanks again to Matt and to everyone who came out to make our Holiday Sale a success!