Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week (and by every Wednesday I mean every Wednesday that I feel like doing it, hence my recent absence).

5. AZARAEL: DEATH’S DARK KNIGHT #1 (of 3)
Written by Fabian Nicieza; Art by Frazer Irving; Cover by Guillem March
DC Comics
$2.99 | 32 pgs

With Bruce Wayne missing and presumed dead and the Battle For The Cowl mini-series raging on with the heirs to the throne fighting it out to become the new Batman, DC does what it does best and milks the story for another mini-series. This one focuses on obscure one-time Batman Azarael who himself was last seen dead a few years ago but is now back for at least three issues.

The reason to check this out is for the art by Frazier Irving. Fans of Grant Morrison will remember his painterly style from the excellent Klarion the Witch Boy mini-series. Irving is one of the more interesting artists working in superhero comics and will surely bring some noteworthy style to an otherwise un-noteworthy mini-series. Writer Fabian Nicieza is no slouch either though and Azarael has a loyal fan base that will be happy to see his return.

4. AIR VOL. 1 LETTERS FROM HOME
Written by G. Willow Wilson; art by M.K. Perker
DC Vertigo
$9.99 | 144pgs

My personal comics credo is that it’s always worth picking up the first trade of a new Vertigo series. For the reduced price of $9.99 you get the first 5 or so issues of what is almost always an interesting drama aimed for the more sophisticated genre fiction fans. The early reviews of G. Willow Wilson’s ongoing series Air were decidedly mixed but you can’t really judge these books until they finish their first story arc so that you have more of a sense of where the creators are going with it and this one has been gradually picking up a growing base of impressed readers.

It’s about a flight attendant with an inconvenient fear of flying named Blythe who runs into a vigilante group trying to take back the skies from the terrorists. But there’s more to their game then that as Blythe soon learns. Terrorism, romance, exotic locales and some crazy sci-fi madness all come together in this first collected volume of issues 1-5. And if you like what you read here you can also pick up issue #6 for only a dollar this week.

3. THE ADVENTURES OF BLANCHE
By Rick Geary
Dark Horse
$15.95 | 104 pgs

Rick Geary is a veteran cartoonist who has made a name for himself chronicling true stories of murder in the 19th century in his A Treasury of Victorian Murder series. He draws in a clean, black and white style inspired by Edward Gorey that is perfect for telling nostalgic yet somewhat dark stories.

The Adventures of Blanche is an older work by Geary that was long out of print but now gets a hardcover treatment from Dark Horse. It’s about a young woman in the early 20th century who while traveling with her piano teacher ends up learning shocking secrets about the New York subway system, gets caught up in a labor struggle in the motion picture industry in Hollywood and discovers a murder in Paris.

2. TRANSMETROPOLITAN #1
Written by Warren Ellis; Art by Darick Robertson, Jerome K. Moore, Keith Aiken, Ray Kryssing, Dick Giordano, Kim DeMulder and Rodney Ramos
DC Vertigo
$1 | 32pgs

DC Comics has been very smart with how they’re trying to capitalize on the desire of some Watchmen moviegoers to find out what else is out there that they might enjoy in the comics world. With their After Watchmen website they present a nice selection of graphic novels (all from their catalog of course) that might appeal to people who liked the gritty sophistication of Watchmen. In addition they’ve been putting out some $1 comics of the first issues of some of these choices.

This week they give us the first issue of the highly regarded (and highly messed up) sci-fi series, Transmetropolitan. This is the book that first made Warren Ellis (Planetary, Fell) famous and helped define his cranky, shock-heavy style and his cynical vision of the future. It’s about a 23rd century outlaw gonzo journalist named Spider Jerusalem (modeled very much after Hunter S. Thompson) who investigates weird stories such as this one about people who have cosmetic surgery to turn themselves into aliens.

1. MY MOMMY IS IN AMERICA AND SHE MET BUFFALO BILL
Written by Jean Regnaud; art by Émile Bravo
Fanfare/Ponent Mon
$25.00 | 120 pgs

Five year old Jean is starting first grade in a new school and feels alone not only because he doesn’t know anyone but because he’s not really sure why his mother isn’t with him and his dad and brother anymore. The truth about his mother slowly dawns on him as he goes about his days fighting with his brother, adjusting to school and making friends. Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo are adept at getting in the head of a child protagonist and portraying the world as a first grader might see it.

The oddly titled My Mommy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill is a recollection by the author, Regnaud, of his childhood told in charming little snippets illustrated by the popular French children’s comics artist Emile Bravo. The publisher, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, has been translating some high quality manga of late but this is their first translation of a European comic.

OH, ALSO THERE’S…

GROOM LAKE #1
A tale of aliens from Zombies Vs. Robots Vs. Amazons writer Chris Ryall and Fell artist Ben Templesmith. (Corrected)

RAWBONE #1
A tale of pirates from famed British comics writer Jamie Delano (Hellblazer) with art by Max Fiumara.

SQUADRON SUPREME: THE PRE-YEARS
Potentially worth checking out if you liked the moral ambiguity of the superheroes in Watchmen. Though this collects the less highly regarded and eventually aborted Marvel Knights version of the series. Not the original Max series which was rife with violence, nudity and government conspiracy.

TOR: A PREHISTORIC ODYSSEY
Collecting the famous Joe Kubert’s recent return to his caveman creation.

This past Monday we held another installment of our ever-growing Heroes Discussion Group, led as always by our main man Andy Mansell (perhaps making him our Main Mansell?). This was one of our biggest Discussion Groups ever, second only to the Watchmen discussion we held a few months ago. While we of course like to think it was of us, more likely it was due to the fact that we were joined via telephone by Iron Man writer Matt Fraction.

As we miss no opportunity to mention, Matt worked here years and years ago, before he achieved fame and fortune first as an animator and filmmaker, and more recently as a big-time comics writer. So it was extra-awesome to have Matt join our discussion of The Invincible Iron Man Volume One: The Five Nightmares. Andy (and us, here and there) quizzed Matt about his process, how he became a writer, and some of the ideas that went into the relaunch of Iron Man. Unsurprising to everyone there, it was awesome!

Facilitating said awesomeness, and recording it for future broadcast, were our friends from The Dollar Bin podcast, Adam Daughhetee and Brian Eison. Adam brought a tower of sound equipment, and patched our phone line right into it–Matt’s voice was pumping out of the speakers, and we were all miked so Matt could hear us. I’ll post a link here when the DB guys have the podcast available on their site, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you went and poked around on their site right now–it has a ton of reviews, interviews, and of course their regular show. Not to mention a TON of recorded panels from last year’s HeroesCon!

Okay–I took a bunch of photos, which you can check out either on our Flickr photostream, or roughly the last third of this Heroes Discussion Group photo set. Check it out!

The addition to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List are coming fast and furious, and it looks like we’re going to have a well and truly packed house this year once more! New to the Guest List today is legendary “Duck” artist Don Rosa, whose The Life And Times of Uncle Scrooge has sold through a bajillion printings and reinvigorated a whole generation’s interest in Scrooge, Donald, and the whole Disney duck-universe. We’re super excited to welcome Don back to HeroesCon this year; if you’ve never met him, he’s like a character out of one of his own books!

ALSO new this week is another old buddy, the talented Jamal Igle. Jamal has worked on a bajillion books over the years including Teen Titans, Nightwing, Green Lantern Corps and more–but most recently you cna catch him on DC’s Supergirl! But wait that’s STILL not all! Also new this week are three more returning guests:

GENE GONZALES has been to practically every HeroesCon over the past 15 years or so–he was pretty upset about having to miss last year’s massive show, so we hope you’ll join us in giving him a warm welcome back. Most recently you can read his work in Diary of Night and Tales of the Cherokee.

JOE PEKAR has been doing a ton of comics covers lately, for titles including Grimm Fairy Tales and Hexed. He’s also released his own art book, Strawberry, through BrandStudio Press.

CAT STAGGS is a titan (titaness? what do you call a lady-titan?) on the trading card scene, with work in sets including Star Wars Galaxy 4, X-Men Archives, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, and more. I like “Lady-Titan,” I think.

Okay, still more to come! I TOLD you I had a stack of announcements to make–except it’s GROWING, not shrinking!

That headline is correct, sports fans. Small Press tables at HeroesCon 09 will be considered sold out as of next Sunday, March 21. That means you have just over a week to purchase your table at HeroesCon 09! We will take a limited number of waiting list slots afterwards, but if last year was any indicator, there aren’t exactly a ton of people cancelling their tables, you know?

SO: to purchase your table now, just click that thumb on the right or right here, download the form and send it in with your check OR fax it in with your charge info OR just give us a call and we’ll set you up right over the phone.

Ladies and gentlemen: prepare for the most massive HeroesCon ever!

by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr.

Fans of the Avengers should be pleased these days — and that’s due to the fact that there are at least four ongoing Avengers-centric titles currently on sale at comic book shops.

Now, I say should be happy because, although there are multiple Avengers-related comics in the marketplace, not all of them are good.

I’m sort of bored with The New Avengers. It seems like these guys have been fighting the same villains and dealing with the same conflicts for 50 issues straight. I used to love The Mighty Avengers because it was most like what I used to love about the comic back in the day: big-time heroes and big-time villains; with Dan Slott at the helm, however, I’m not so excited. Hank Pym as the new Wasp? I’m not feeling it.

But while I’m not head over heels about the New or Mighty titles, I am enjoying Dark Avengers — and that’s a surprise.

When Dark Avengers was announced, I groaned. To me, it just seemed like a re-hash of the Thunderbolts. (Of course, I really liked Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts.) But after reading the first two issues, I found myself hooked. Why? I think the team’s line-up is what makes interesting.

Look at it like this: the other Avengers have to live by their “heroic” code of conduct, and that sometimes results in some “blah” characterizations. The Dark Avengers on the other hand, are villains and psychopaths, so their personalities are over just naturally the top — and that’s fun. You never really know what the team’s members are going to do and you can always count on some great dialogue coming out of their mouths. Series writer Brian Bendis is clearly having a ball with this group of bad-guys-gone-good, and it shows on the page.

In addition, Dark Avengers is drawn by Mike Deodato, so it’s pretty to look at, too.

Buy the book. It’s good. Trust me.

Carlton Hargro is the Editor-in-Chief of Creative Loafing. Read more by Carlton at the Creative Loafing website.

This Monday we’ll be holding the next installment of our Heroes Discussion Group, hosted by the inimitable and indefatigable Andy Mansell. Yes yes, I know that Andy already posted all about it here, BUT I thought I’d draw a little extra attention to this one, as it’s a little special. Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly present:

FOUR REASONS NOT TO MISS THE NEXT HEROES DISCUSSION GROUP:

1) We’ll be discussing one of the most popular and fan-favorite books of the last several years, The Invincible Iron Man Volume One: The Five Nightmares, by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca.

2) None other than super-writer Matt Fraction will be joining us via the modern miracle of the speakerphone, and will cheerfully submit himself to grilling by both Andy and you.

3) Adam Daughetee (I don’t think I spelled that right; what is that, Italian?) of The Dollar Bin will be in the hizzy as well, recording the whole thing for posterity. THIS MAY BE YOUR BEST SHOT AT IMMORTALITY (personal religious views notwithstanding)!!

4) I will be there as well, running the register for when you want to thank us for putting such an excellent evening together. You’re welcome!

But seriously, folks! This is sure to be one of our better attended Discussion Groups, and I know that Andy is working hard on his own arcane preparations, which he undertakes before each Discussion Group. And also before the Renaissance Festival. Anyway. Be sure to show up early to get a good seat!

You know that it will. That Michael Golden art is totally sweet.

I’ve updated the Promo page at our website, and will be adding banners in different shapes and sizes over the next few weeks, including some with wild moving pieces and flashing portions of the Guest List and so forth. If you have a particular size in mind you’d like (other than the accepted standard sizes like 468×60, etc.) feel free to let me know privately, and I’ll see if I can whip something up for you.

To download a banner, just go to the Promo page and right-click (or Option-click, or Apple-click, or whatever you zany Mac users do) the image and download it to wherever you need it to go to get on your site. All’s I ask is that you point the image’s link towards us at: http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon.html

More to come!

LORD LORD LORD! The march toward HeroesCon continues this week, with 4 new additions to the HeroesCon 09 Guest List:

BOOLA BOOLA BOOLA! I’ve made no secret over the years that Cliff Chiang is one of my favorite people in comics–they just don’t come any sweeter than this dude, who is a straight-up prince. I wish I read more DC comics, because it’s rare for me to actually have the pleasure of reading comics he’s worked on… The above image is from one of the many fine sketches he did at last year’s HeroesCon–just look at that! No one walks away with a Cliff Chiang sketch thinking they got gypped, for sure.

But Cliff isn’t the only stud joining the list this week. He’s joined by the following tough guys:

BUZZ has worked all over comics on titles including X-Factor, JSA, and Vampirella. Look for his upcoming book Luna Moonhunter.

MARC DEERING is no stranger to HeroesCon, and a super tough inker to boot. Recent credits include Miranda Mercury and GI Joe.

BRIAN DENHAM is making his first ever trip to HeroesCon this year. If you haven’t see his current work on the X-Files comic, you may have seen him on Nova, Thunderbolts, or the recent Iron Man: Hypervelocity miniseries.

Okay! More to come STILL–people are falling all over themselves to get on the list!

From our chums at the Movies At Crown Point theatre, we bring you a little quickie contest themed around this weekend’s Watchmen film premiere:

Movies At Crown Point will be holding 2 midnight showings of the movie this Thursday night at, well, midnight. To help spread the word, they’ve given us 5 passes to do with what we will, and we thought we’d have a little Watchmen-themed contest. Answer one of the trivia questions below to win a pair of passes, OR the bonus question for the fifth pass. DISCLAIMER: many of you will know the answer, so I will pick a winner randomly from the entries I get. PLEASE DON’T answer the question in the comments below, for obvious reasons.

E-mail your correct answers to me at dharbin{at}heroesonline{dot}com. Okay, let’s do it!

QUESTION 1 (good for 2 free passes):
What is the name of the artist (NOT Dave Gibbons) credited within the story for the art on the “Tales Of The Black Freighter” story?

QUESTION 2 (good for 2 free passes):
What was the occupation of Dr. Manhattan’s father?

BONUS QUESTION (good for 1 free pass):
What was the name of the paper that Rorschach sent his final journal to?

Okay! I’ll take correct answers until noon tomorrow (March 5), and winners can pick up their passes here in our store after that time! I’ll announce them here!

by Carlton Hargro

Reading the Justice Society of America these days makes me sad.

I’m not sad because the comic (which stars the world’s first superhero team) is awful or anything, but because — as the issues tick away — Geoff Johns’ time as writer on the book is quickly coming to a close.

Johns is known as a comic genius right abuot now, especially when it comes to DC comics. He successfully revitalized Green Lantern, made Action Comics worth reading and soon we’ll see him work his magic (again) on The Flash. But the series that made him a superstar was the JSA.

Before Johns, no writer seemed able to make the JSA a viable property. I guess creators looked at these elder super dudes with cheesy costumes, corny names and sometimes lame powers and saw no redeemable value in this team of heroes. Johns, however, shoveled past the wack elements of the characters and discovered what makes them unique and interesting in the first place. I mean, anyone who can make a guy in a furry cat suit cool has got to be a genius.

Keep in mind, when Johns relaunched the JSA there were two other writers working on the book — David Goyer and James Robinson. But it didn’t take long for Johns to prove that he understood how to mix the right amounts of nostalgia, drama and up-to-date whiz bangs on his own.

Soon two new writers will take over JSA and I will give them a chance because I love these heroes. But I’ll miss ya’ Johns. You did the old boys good.