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Oh yes! HeroesCon guest Rob Venditti is blowing up! The Surrogates film, adapted from Rob and Brett Weldele’s graphic novel, comes out this fall! While we’re not really into the whole Hollywood-at-comics-conventions kind of thing, we’re happy to do it this way, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy than Rob!
Whoa Nellie! Did you see that headline? DC Comics is returning this summer to HeroesCon! For the first time in some years, DC will be setting up in force at HeroesCon, with editors, panels, and probably lots of swag and glimpses at the upcoming shape of the DC Universe! We’re super-DUPER excited about this, and have been trying to make it happen for awhile now–the stars have aligned! Be sure you let DC know that you want them to stay at HeroesCon in coming years!
And on the DC tip, fan-favorite artist Ethan Van Sciver will be appearing at HeroesCon as well this summer–Ethan has become a popular guest at the show over the last few years, and will know doubt have long lines once more this year with his work on Flash Rebirth and the big DC event, Blackest Night!
Oh, and there’s still another big publisher announcement to make, but I think I’ll save that one for next week when I have a few more details locked down. Let’s just say that it’s going to be a banner year this year!
So, who’s reading the new Robert Kirkman comic Destroyer?
I get the feeling this is a book that — because it doesn’t star an A-list character and because it’s a coming from the sometimes overlooked Max mature readers line — folks can and will easily pass up. But, really, you should pick it up. It’s an entertaining read, and if you like Kirkman you’ll really dig it.
Two issues into the five-issue limited series, Destroyer tells what appears to be an out-of-continuity tale about the old Timely Comics hero called Destroyer who, now a senior citizen, is dying from some kind of heart problem. But on his way to the grave, he plans to take some bad guys with him. Simple story, eh? Well, that simple story works perfectly with Kirkman’s easy-going writing style. The scribe is no Alan Moore but, with minimal captions or thought balloons for exposition, his approach to writing is ultra-economical; he basically gets out of his story’s way and lets it tell itself. Other writers could learn a lot from Kirkman’s skill.
The script’s simplicity is outdone only by the art’s simplicity. Artist Cory Walker is from that “clean” school of drawing, only leaving the most necessary marks on the page to illustrate a panel. And the lines Walker does decide to put down are some of the most confident strokes in the business.
Take my word for it. Buy this book.
New to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List today are six more awesome names–as we move into the last month before the show, the announcements are going to turn from new guests to new pieces of schedule, hotel announcements, and more, so keep your digital eyeballs glued to this site and the Heroes Hotline for all the updates.
But for now, check out these sweet peeps:
CULLEN BUNN returns to HeroesCon this year along with fellow guest Brian Hurtt. The two have collaborated on two The Damned series so far, with a third “Daughter’s Danse” on the way. Look for Cullen in Immortal Weapons, coming up from Marvel!
MICHAEL KRONENBERG is a writer and designer who has written for a ton of books including The Batcave Companion, Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu, and designed books like the recent EC Archives and more. He’s a regular contributor to TwoMorrows magazines including Rough Stuff and Back Issue.
BRIAN REBER is a colorist who’s worked for most of the big companies, most regularly for Marvel and DC on books like Captain Britain and MI-13, X-Men Legacy, Outsiders, and Runaways.
DURWIN TALON is an artist, editor, and professor. His comics work includes Beautiful Scars and Bonds, and he also edited the excellent Panel Discussion book focusing on a number of iconic comics creators and their approaches to their art.
GREG “DARK ONE” WILLIAMS is best known for his creation Animal Mystic. These days he’s behind Paleo Pirate, published by the new company Void Comics.
MATTHEW WILSON‘s color work has appeared in The End League, Gigantic, and Phonogram. Please help us welcome him to his very first HeroesCon!
Okay, more on the way! Stay tuned!
A quick post while working on a longer post for later this morning: we’re getting a lot of e-mails about the HeroesCon host hotel announcement. We are right on the cusp of making an official announcement, just crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s.
We will make that announcement first through a special edition of the Heroes Hotline, our weekly newsletter. If you’re not already receiving it, you can sign up here. If you’re already getting it, then you’re good to go.
Once we’ve announced it through the newsletter, about a day later we’ll announce it here on our blog. Note that I’m subtly hinting that you should totally be getting our newsletter. It’s the nazz. Okay back to the impending Guest List update! And the schedule is coming together–I’ll be posting the first parts of it tomorrow, including the much asked-about SCAD workshops!
Huzzah, huzzah! A new addition to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List to celebrate the week’s end–we’re what? about 5 weeks away now, so things are starting to get crazy around here. But we think we’ve got something extra special cooked up for you… in the meantime, feast your Internet eyes on these new guests:
PAUL AZACETA has had art in a bajillion different things lately, including BPRD 1946, Foolkiller, Potter’s Field, and Daredevil. This will be his very first appearance at HeroesCon!
JONATHAN HICKMAN returns to HeroesCon this year, having added a number of Marvel titles (Secret Warriors, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four) to his already fan-favorite list of credits (Pax Romana, Nightly News).
JAMES “DOODLE” LYLE is an old buddy of ours, and no stranger to HeroesCon. His donations to the annual Art Auction are often among the top bids of the night! Doodle has had work in Negative Burn, Doorman, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and many more.
Another chum is smilin’ RICO RENZI, one half of the Kickstand Kids (along with fellow guest Chris Brunner), and a totally studly color artist. You’ve almost certainly seen Rico on Perhapanauts or Killing Girl, and you should certainly check him out in the upcoming Loose Ends and Talisman.
ROBBI RODRIGUEZ also returns this summer. His sweet brush stylings are all over Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen, Maintenance, Hazed, and less recently on Hero Camp from Image.
And bringing up the alphabetical rear this week is legendary letterer JOHN WORKMAN, whose career in comics goes back over 40 years, and whose credits include Wolverine, Howling Commandoes, Heavy Liquid, Thor–pretty much everything. He’s often associated with his buddies in the Boulevard Studio. Welcome back!
Okay, more to come early next week, and soon we’ll be seeing the schedule come into focus! Have a great weekend!
I used to loooooovvve the original New Mutants series waaaaayyy back in the day (I’m old enough to have actually read the book as it came out).
I fondly remember issues featuring stuff like the Demon Bear, the Mr.T-esque villain Axe and even a guest appearance by Team America, among other cool items from the first series. Sure, it was a little cheesy (cheese, by the way, is tasty), but the stories were solid (this was Chris Claremont on his “A” game) and the art, by Bob McCleod, was tight.
That said, simple nostalgia over the old series would not get me to like New Mutants No. 1 if it sucked. Luckily, it doesn’t suck.
The first issue of the team’s newest incarnation is right on the money in terms of tone, direction and respect for current X-Men continuity. I especially love how well writer Zeb Wells handles the relationships between the team members; it’s obvious that they respect and actually like each other — which makes their re-teaming even more logical.
One other thing I dig about this comic is that it shows some of the more administrative aspects of being on a X-Men team. In one scene, Cannonball fills out a “roster request form.” And in another scene, we see Beast handling design and creation of the group’s uniforms. Maybe I’m the only one who gives a crap about Cyclops’ paperwork, but mundane stuff like that just makes the comic experience more “realistic” for me.
On the art-side of things, Diogenes Neves does an outstanding job of rendering great human figures, emotion-filled facial expressions and detailed backgrounds. I’ve never heard of this artist, but I’m impressed by the work here.
All in all, speaking as an old fan, I can honestly ay I’m excited about the promise and potential of this new series.
Oh, and Team America rocks!
The Heroes Discussion Group returns with a vengeance!!
We are sticking with the mainstream and this time we are going to tackle the immensely popular Umbrella Academy written by Gerard Way front man for the band My Chemical Romance (MCR).
Please join us on Monday May 18th at 7:00pm when we will be discussing the “The Apocalypse Suite,” the first storyline of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s The Umbrella Academy. The book is available from Heroes in both single back issues (1-6) or as a recently released softcover collection.
PLEASE NOTE: The single issues on the rack at Heroes are 1-5 of the second series. We will be discussing the first series!!!!!!
Potential topics will include (but are NOT limited to) the following:
• Does the cartoony art properly service a super-hero story? Were Ba’s references and influences a help or hinder to the storytelling?
• Could you relate to any of the characters on a gut level?
• Does any of MCR’s music overlap into Gerard Way’s comics writing?
• Did the creators successfully capture the European feel they were striving for?
• Does the story hold up well on a second reading?
• And lots and lots of plot points I don’t want to mention here so we can avoid spoilers for those who have not yet read?
• If we have time, I’d love to discuss the covers as well. James Jean is a true talent!
So please join us for this exciting discussion!! Remember the The Apocalypse Suite is offered at 10% discount as long as you remember to mention the Heroes Discussion discount when you purchase it!
Hope to see you on May 18th It’s gonna be terrific!
Oh yes! New to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List today are Rantz Hoseley, the editor of the recent hit Comic Book Tattoo book from Image, AND Jason Levesque, the cover artist! While I believe Jason was at the show last year (although in stealth mode due to a last-minute appearance), this is he and Rantz’s FIRST “official” appearance at HeroesCon, and I hope you’ll welcome them with all the pomp and foofah that HeroesCon is known for.
Also new today is our man Andy Kuhn, who has worked all over the place during his career, most recently on the hit book Firebreather. He’s also been penciller on Marvel Team-Up and IDW’s The Easy Way. Welcome back, Andy!
Oh, and last thing–check out the image Roger Langridge did for our Art Auction! Fans of Doctor Who and The Muppets will go into paroxysms when they see this badboy–I’ve already had one request from a fan in the U.K. to be able to lodge a proxy bid at the auction!
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.
