Just in case you’re out and about in the neighborhood, don’t forget that we’re OPEN today.  We will be closing at dark (~6 pm) but until then come on by and say “Hi!” to Seth and me. We hope everybody is having a great snow day. Stay warm!

Once again the juggernaut which is Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find is giving our lovely reserve customers a chance to see this seasons blockbuster DAYS early! If you are a reserve customer with us, you have the opportunity to see a preview screening of the Green Hornet on Wednesday the 12th at 7pm!

Just bring yourself on down to the store anytime from now until showtime and we’ll have a ticket for two in your hands just as soon as you let us know that “the Green Hornet flies at dusk!” And while you’re in the store, don’t forget to check out one of the many Green Hornet titles, including Green Hornet: Year One with covers by rising star and Charlotte Minicon alumni Francesco Francavilla! The Charlotte Minicon returns on January 22nd with an all-star cast of talent that you can find here. Happy viewing!

Before we officially announce Walking Dead HC vol 1 (which is Walking Dead issues #1-12, or Walking Dead TP vol 1 and 2) as the new Heroes Discussion Group topic, we wanted to ask our discussioners when we should meet. We are of two minds about this discussion group. Either we have it Saturday, October 30 so it can be a Halloween event or we have it Saturday, November 6 so we can also discuss the first episode of the new Walking Dead television series on AMC. So what do you think? Do you want to focus on Walking Dead itself or do you want to also discuss the tv show?

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Tim Miner, a lovely customer of Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find, emailed me about a blog he started called 5 Minute Marvels. Each night before bed Tim and his two daughters take 5 minutes out of their day to draw a superhero. And he is encouraging others to do the same. It is a really simple way to spend some quality time with your kids drawing and teaching them all about superheroes. They have posted some really fun drawings! I encourage you to check out their site and maybe even sit down with your child tonight and make a 5 Minute Marvel!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find has become famous across the country for throwing one of the most rip-roaringest, rootin-tootinest, BIGGEST Free Comic Book Day bashes anywhere! And this year we’re really going nuts!

FIRST: From 10-9 on Saturday, May 1st, we’ll  be giving away copies of select comic books! I don’t mean a few either–it’s around 2 dozen different titles! There’s no catch either–just show up to get your copies, while supplies last! We won’t be mad if you spend some money though, and we’ll have plenty to spend it on, with special stocks of dollar books on hand, sale items throughout the store, deals on books and toys and statues and whatever else Shelton has been collecting on his travels!

SECOND: From 1-5 pm we’ll be hosting all these guys, who’ll be participating in a MEGA signing, not to mention doing FREE sketches:

MARK BROOKS (Amazing Spider-Man)
CHRIS BRUNNER (Legends of the Dark Knight, Loose Ends)
NATHAN EDMONDSON (The Light, Olympus)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic the Hedgehog)
CULLY HAMNER (Detective Comics, Red)
ADAM HUGHES (Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider)
JASON LATOUR (Loose Ends, The Expatriate)
BUDD ROOT (Cavewoman)
ANDY SMITH (Nevermore, Superman Confidential)
ALLISON SOHN (Lord of the Rings: Evolution)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (Batman, The Ride)

And, if that wasn’t enough, THIRD we have these two late-breaking additions:

TOM LYLE (Amazing Spider-Man)
SANFORD GREENE (Wonder Girl, Method Man)

Good gravy! NOTE that free sketches are at the discretion of the artists, and are in no way guaranteed. Many thanks to everyone for donating their time so kindly, but there will be A LOT of people there and they can’t do sketches for everyone. Some may choose to accept donations for different charities, so please respect that as well–I know Sanford collects for a charity on Free Comic Book Day, so don’t be shy about ponying up a little scratch for him.

AND if that’s not enough, that night is the gallery opening for a new exhibit at Twenty-Two: “SUPER! The Fine Art of Comics.” We’ve teamed with Twenty-Two to put together an exhibit of some of the best comic book art being done today, featuring many past and present guests at HeroesCon! Reception will begin some time in the evening–we’ll post more as we have exact details. But for now, get excited!

I came across this post by Stacie Harris, our friend and the lovely wife of some comics artist, both through Facebook and the keen eye of our buddy Casey Jones. If you don’t know Stacie, you’ve probably seen her sitting between the curmudgeonly face of her husband and the buccaneer moustache of JD Mettler at HeroesCon. Speaking of which, she says some super sweet things about HeroesCon in this blog post right here. Stacie, you make it easier to love Tony by extension!

Today is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed 2,993 human beings from over 90 nations. We hope you will join us in commemorating the lives of these people, as well as the great loss shared by their families, their many friends and loved ones, and the rest of the nation on this day.

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Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week.

5. CEREBUS ARCHIVE #1
By Dave Sim
Aaardvark-Vanaheim
$3.00

This isn’t what you might expect from the title. It’s not some sort of omnibus repackaging of Dave Sim’s 300-issue classic story of a barbarian aardvark turned papal aardvark. You’ll have to stick to the phonebook sized volumes that already exist for that. This is a new bi-monthly, floppy format series where Dave Sim looks back over the work he put into this series and shares some sketches, unpublished stories and even rejection letters from publishers. So obviously this is for the already initiated – fans of not only Cerebus itself but those willing to read Sim’s verbose and eccentric offerings like Glamourpuss.

4. FIN FANG FOUR RETURN #1
Written by Roger Langridge and Scott Gray; art by Roger Langridge
Marvel
$3.99 | 48 pgs

Roger Langridge and Scott Gray return to playing around with Marvel’s forgotten, pre-Silver Age monsters in this one-shot featuring the gargantuan creatues Fin Fang Foom, Elektro, Googam and Gorgilla. These four fearsome monsters have been reduced to human size and now have to assimilate into society. Langridge, as we’ve all seen recently in his new Muppet Show series, is a master of the slapstick comic book and this one does not shy away from craziness of any sort. It’s great for kids too, as well as fans that might actually remember a time when these characters were actually considered scary.

3. THE ETERNAL SMILE
By Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
First Second
$16.95 | 176 pgs

Gene Luen Yang became the unofficial star of First Second books when his American Born Chinese became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award. Meanwhile, Derek Kirk Kim is the highly acclaimed creator of the award winning Same Difference and Other Stories as well as the artist for the DC Minx graphic novel Good As Lilly. So, needless to say, a new book containing three short stories by these two men is kind of a big deal.

The three stories collected here range from a fantasy adventure with princes and frogs to a Scrooge McDuck/Pogo style comedy to an office drama involving Nigerian internet scams.

2. POWER GIRL #1
Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; art by Amanda Connor
DC Comics
$3.99 | 32 pgs

I’ve always thought of Power Girl as the girl you’d like to cheat on Supergirl with. But the thing is, Power Girl deserves a shot at happiness too. Even though she’s a DC Comics mainstay, I think this is the first ongoing series she’s ever had. They’ve definitely found the perfect people to give her that chance. Husband and wife team Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Connor – joined by writer Justin Gray – previously brought some empathy and cuteness to the character that she’s never really had before in a 3 issue JSA Classified story a few years ago. Now they try it on a regular basis starting with a storyline that has Power Girl creating a new secret identity for herself while saving Manhattan from alien invaders.

But don’t worry, we all know what you’re really looking for so don’t miss the boob-alicious Adam Hughes variant cover, shown here.

1. LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL. III: CENTURY #1 (of 3)
By Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neil
Top Shelf
$7.95 | 80 pgs

After the text-heavy (and 3-D-heavy) taster, The Black Dossier, Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neil return with a proper 3-volume adventure. This time Mina Murray and Allan Quartermaine have entered the 20th century where must face a shadowy occult order and a serial killer called Jack The Ripper. Lots of new characters join the cast this time around like Mac The Knife, Pirate Jenny and Orlando (who we saw join the League in the Black Dossier). It’s going to be a wild ride into the 1900s full of references to The Threepenny Opera, Aleister Crowley, Somerset Maugham and more.

WOW THERE’S A LOT OF STUFF THIS WEEK…

WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 01
If you enjoy zombies and/or dark survivalist dramas like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road then don’t ask any questions and just pick up this hefty volume that contains the first 48 issues of this excellent series.

TANK GIRL REMASTERED EDITION VOL. 1 and 2
A new collection of the classic Martin/Hewlett Tank Girl stories with some recolored stories.

SUPERMAN ESCAPE FROM BIZARRO WORLD TP
Eric Powell drawing Bizarro? Nuff said.

PHERONE HC
A graphic novel from Viktor Kalvachev about a female spy that may be having a mental breakdown. Reprinted from an issue of Heavy Metal magazine.

ALIAS ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL. 1
Collecting the first half of Brian Michael Bendis’ early and groundbreaking Marvel series about a former superheroine turned down and out private eye.

MONOLOGUES FOR CALCULATING THE DENSITY OF BLACK HOLES
A new collection of experimental, stream-of-conscious art comics from Anders Nilsen.

POINT BLANK TP
A new edition of Ed Brubaker’s precursor to his now famous and influential supervillain spy drama, Sleeper.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is nearly upon us so rather than doing my usual countdown of new comics and rather than highlighting the free offerings you’ll find at the comic shop this Saturday I thought I’d point out some other worthwhile books to hunt down while you’re at the shop picking up the free stuff. The following is some different types of books that will satisfy some of your particular comic needs.

SO, YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A GOOD WOLVERINE COMIC?

Every year we get a new comic book movie as the driving force behind FCBD and this year it’s X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. So, what are the good Wolverine comics to pick up and enjoy after seeing the movie? Since there are a bajillion books out there featuring the famous X-men it can be a little overwhelming to pick out one that might actually be a good read on its own (without being up on everything that comes before it). There’s always the book WOLVERINE: ORIGIN which the movie draws a few elements from. But be aware that this is a book about Wolverine as a kid in the 19th century so it may not be what you’re expecting. For a modern, action-packed book showing Wolverine kicking ass and taking names try WOLVERINE: GET MYSTIQUE by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney. All you need to know going into it is that it’s about Wolverine on a mission to kill the shape-shifting villain Mystique.

WANT A DIFFERENT KIND OF SUPERHERO BOOK?

If you’re tired of the same old superhero books from Marvel and DC you really need to try Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. Yes, Gerard Way is the lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance. But after you read this book you’ll only think of him as Gerard Way, The Comic Book writer. This is really that good. It’s a fun story full of crazy superhero action, explosions, time travel and all that stuff but done in a way that surprises you at each step. At it’s heart it’s a story about family. I like to think of it as What If Royal Tenenbaums Director Wes Anderson Made The Incredibles?

Way’s writing style reminds me a little of Grant Morrison who is no stranger to post-modern superhero deconstruction. Probably my favorite superhero work by Morrison is his SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY series. An ambitious story consisting of seven four-issue minis that weave in and out of each other to tell a larger epic that spans from the beginning of time to the end of the world, Seven Soldiers is a dense and complicated read. Best enjoyed by reading multiple times with a set of annotations nearby.

INTERESTED IN FINALLY TRYING SOME MANGA?

If you think there are a lot of Wolverine comics out there to sort through, wait until you start trying to figure out what kind of manga to read. There’s a lot and, unlike Wolverine comics, they’re all pretty different. So, if you’re new to it, where to begin? Start with two names: Tezuka and Urasawa.

Osamu Tezuka is the grandfather of modern Japanese manga and you might know his most famous creation from the famous anime is spawned: Astro Boy. He has a variety of work out there though and a lot of it has geared more towards adult tastes but with artwork that can look like it’s made for kids. One of his most revered works is the epic multi-volume BUDDHA which tells the life story of the founding prophet of the Buddhist religion but mixes in fictional characters and some almost Disney-like cartoon elements to make it a fun, family-friendly epic (though with its fair share of nudity and things like a little kid getting eaten by a snake which I guess could freak some little ones out).

Naoki Urasawa is the modern day master of manga. His artwork is less cartoony than Tezuka’s but his stories draw a lot of influence from his predecessor. In fact, the most recent U.S. release of Tezuka’s is Pluto, a dark and intriguing sci-fi book that is based on some secondary characters from Tezuka’s kid-friendly Astro Boy. Tezuka’s award-winning masterpiece is MONSTER, a 15 volume epic about a Japanese doctor in Germany that 10 years ago saved the life of a young boy who has now grown up to become a dangerous serial killer.

WANT A GOOD CRIME COMIC?

This is an easy one. If you like crime stories and aren’t already reading Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips’ CRIMINAL then you’re missing out on arguably the greatest crime comic ever made. There’s a few volumes available now and each one is mostly self-contained so check out my favorite, Vol. 3: THE DEAD AND THE DYING. It’s a three parter that basically tells the same story three times from three different points of view.

If you want to dig a little deeper into the comic world’s crime offerings, seek out some STRAY BULLETS by David Lapham. Over the course of several volumes, Lapham introduces numerous characters and gets them all in over their head in some really nasty situations. For the most part you can pick up any volume that you find and jump in as there is a good mix of self-contained stories with some continuation of larger over-arching plots. Just be aware, if you get too caught up in it, Lapham was self-publishing this book and sort of ran out dough and has left the book hanging for a while now to do some paid work for DC. No word on if and when he will get back to it.

HOW ABOUT A COMIC FOR KIDS?

These seem so rare these days but a new comic just released by Boom Studios is sure to please both you and your kids: THE MUPPET SHOW. Written and illustrated by cartooning genius Roger Langridge, this five issue mini-series perfectly captures the vaudeville feel of both the old show and Langridge’s own work like Fred The Clown. The second issue of this series just came out this week.

Boom has recently published a couple of Pixar related books too like a CARS prequel and an INCREDIBLES comic written by the great superhero writer Mark Waid.

LOOKING FOR A LAUGH?

TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE does exactly what the title implies. It’s the brainchild of Michael Kupperman and its absurdist sense of humor is sure to appeal to Adult Swim fans (in fact a reoccurring bit in this book, “Snake ‘n Bacon” is soon to be a series on that network. The most recent issue is #5 which is intended by the author to only be read by old people for some reason. Stories include Mark Twain and Albert Einstein teaming up to solve mysteries and aliens abduct a man and give him sexy woman legs.

For something a bit on the risque side, there’s the self-aware cheesecake comic EMPOWERED which is secretly a fantastic commentary on superhero comic stereotypes and the demeaning nature of “good girl” art. It’s about a plucky, superheroine named Empowered whose power derives from her skintight, alien costume. Unfortunately it is ridiculously fragile and prone to being shredded in very revealing ways which leave her powerless and susceptible to being tied up by super-villains. All of which makes her a laughing-stock among other heroes and gives her a complex about her own worth as a hero.

HOW ABOUT SCI-FI?

I mentioned it above but it’s worth re-mentioning Naoki Urasawa’s PLUTO. It’s a robot story that mixes 50’s style Astro Boy robots with Blade Runner replicant-style “human” robots.

If you’re sci-fi tastes lean more to the retro-side of things though you should be reading Rick Remender and Tony Moore’s FEAR AGENT. You can start at the beginning but I really enjoyed VOL 3: THE LAST GOODBYE which tells how an alien invasion turned our hero from a Texas family man into a hard-drinking, spacesuit-wearing ray-gun slinger. It’s a horrific invasion story despite its use of goofy looking aliens which will make you think of some of the chilling sci-fi stories told by the EC Comics greats like Jack Davis.

HORROR?

Zombies are everyone’s creature of choice these days but don’t go for that Marvel Zombies stuff. Robert Kirkman’s THE WALKING DEAD holds true to the zombie tenet that the undead are always the least of the survivor’s problems. Start at the beginning with volume 1 and follow the dwindling number of survivors as they try to make a go of it in this post-apocalyptic world.

For sheer terror though, try Kazuo Umezu’s classic manga THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM. It’s about a school in Japan that disappears in an earthquake and reappears in a desert wasteland leaving teachers and children confused, terrified and alone. Everything begins to break apart, much as it did to the poor kids in Lord of the Flies, but Umezu holds nothing back and no one in this story is safe. Children especially.

FINALLY, HOW ABOUT SOMETHING MORE EMOTIONAL AND RESONATING?

Comics aren’t just about zombies and superheroes remember. There’s a wealth of stuff out there that will tug at your heart strings and maybe even make you cry.

Jeff Lemire’s Essex County Trilogy is a highly acclaimed graphic novel series that begins with TALES FROM THE FARM a story about an orphaned ten year old who befriends the town’s gas station owner as both share a common desire to escape their real world problems into the world of superhero fantasy.

Alex Robinson’s TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN is, on the surface, a similar story to that new Zac Effron flick where a middle-aged dad finds himself magically transferred into the body of a high school student. Robinson uses the concept to explore ideas about memory and parenthood in a very touching way.

And, Dash Shaw’s BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON is just about the most realistic portrayal of a disfunctional family I’ve ever seen in comics, despite the fact that the youngest son is drawn with a frog head.