In a new feature on our blog, we’re polling our blog members on what their top ten lists for various comics-related items might be. For instance, Top 10 Graphic Novels, Top 10 Female Superheroes, etc. We circulate the poll, tally up the votes, and will then present our findings over the space of a week, 2 spots per day. We’re kicking off the series this week with what we find to be the Top Ten Best Single Issues Ever–there was so much griping and whining from our pollee’s (especially Todd), that we expanded it slightly to allow 2-issue stories, like Uncanny X-Men #’s 141-142 (“Days of Future Past”). Other than that, it’s the 10 Best. First up at #10–

Slowly but surely, I tell the story of HeroesCon 2007. But just think of it when its done–like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with all the mystery crates piled up in the giant warehouse, EXCEPT! they’re all photos of Nick Cardy and Rosario Dawson! What a world… Check it!

Whew, am I tired! Although there are worse ways to get there than a trip to Toronto. Which is exactly where Shelton sent me last weekend, to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival up in gorgeous Ontario, Canada. Seriously, Toronto is a pretty city–and I live in Charlotte, which is no dump, either. Those of you who live in Charlotte and have visited New York City, imagine a bizarre hybrid of the two–all the amenities of a giant city, except not so giant, and shockingly, surprisingly, impressively clean. Plus, the part of town that the convention was held in was filled with gorgeous old ivy-colored buildings, often right next to giant modern structures or steel and glass apartment buildings. And, coming from a week of 100+ degree temperatures in Charlotte, the 60-75 degree range up in Toronto last weekend was a slice of heaven. Heaven, I tell you!

Oh, but let me tell you about the convention–remember the convention? This was the (I believe) third iteration of TCAF, held previously in 2003 and 2005, and a success by any measure, I’d say. Held on the grounds of the Old Victoria College, it gave a very academic air to everything. Seriously–you had to walk down at least two or three gorgeously landscaped sidewalks to get anywhere, and any anywhere you might be headed to was inside a big stone college building, covered in ivy. The convention-goers mixed in pretty well with regular-ole college students, so I often felt like I was in a college with a ridiculous love of comics. Tables were set up in a connected network of high-ceilinged rooms, with fans milling from table to table, up and down stairs. While I usually don’t like this style of show setup, as you inevitably don’t get to all the rooms, and have a terrible time remembering where anyone was if you do, the quality of the setting made it a little more like an academic bazaar. It certainly helped that everyone I talked to was very friendly and helpful, always a plus for us Southerners, who often have our Southern accents mercilessly mocked when we go anywhere north of say, Richmond.

It certainly didn’t hurt that they had so many cool guests in attendance, many of whom are even now pondering the invitation I gave them to attend next year’s HeroesCon. I’d forgotten that Nextwave and Ultimate Spider-Man artist Stuart Immonen was on the guest list, and had a good time talking to him at his table. Ditto for Paul Rivoche, who was super-duper nice, and so humble I almost asked him to carry my bag for me. It’s always the most talented guys that are the sweetest, I guess, which is fine by me. I got to talk to a number of people who are either already coming next year, including Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, and Jeffrey Brown; plus a number who are near confirming, who of course I can’t name out of deep respect for their privacy, and also fear. But I met a ton of people over the weekend, and passed out a lot of flyers with our spiffy new Indie Island logo, and generally had a great time.

But while walking around a convention for hours and hours is no picnic on the legs, it’s the after-hours that can really drain a guy like me. Trying to keep up with Paul Pope is definitely draining–these New Yorkers have partying muscles that we North Carolinians just lack. On the other hand, Pope’s a former Torontonian, so it was nice to have a person who knew the in’s and out’s of the city at your back. We hooked up with some locals, including the super-cool Steve Manale and Gary Taxali, plus got to see good ole James Jean again, which is always a plus. Toronto is like Charlotte in that all the sweet people seem to know each other, so the nights were a who’s who of sweetness.

Big ups go to convention organizers Peter Birkemoe and Christopher Butcher; who, besides running a very cool show, also run one of the coolest comics stores (let’s say second-coolest, shall we?) around, The Beguiling. Although due to a medley of schedule-destroying events on Sunday, I never got to go by and pay my respects, not to mention shop. I did get to meet both of them at the show, and spend some time talking about the enormous energy it takes to put on a show of any quality at all. Very cool guys–thanks a lot for making a poor dumb Southerner feel at home up in Canada!

So the long and short is that you can expect some really awesome HeroesCon guest list announcements in the next couple of weeks, as I gradually wheedle all my invitations into confirmations. Next stop: Marc Nathan’s Baltimore Comicon, coming up just two days after my birthday: September 8-9! I believe Shelton and Todd and I will be making a weekend of it. Party!

Oh-ho! We just got some free passes to a sneak preview of the new Kevin Bacon movie, Death Sentence. Apparently it’s adapted from a novel by the guy that wrote Deathwish, which you will remember starred Charles Bronson, who’s also in the greatest Western of all time, Once Upon A Time In The West, which also starred Henry Fonda, who–oh, never mind. Anyway, the sneak preview is scheduled for 9.30pm (must be a scary movie), on August 30, 2007 (it’s a Thursday). Each pass is good for two people, so we’ll only give you ONE pass, for you and your sweetie. If you don’t have a sweetie, you’ve got a little less than two weeks to sweetify yourself. Get to it!

Hey, just a reminder–if you’re going to be in the neighborhood of oh, say, Toronto, Ontario, Canada this weekend, you’d be a fool to miss this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday (August 18-19, 2007) the show boasts a pretty impressive guest list, including Darwyn Cooke, Paul Pope, Chester Brown, Seth, James Jean, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and on and on. Why not check out their site for the whole thing? All this typing is making my fingers hurt–besides, I’ve got to get this week’s Heroes Hotline done so I can catch a plane up to Toronto, where you can meet me if you’re bored with all these talented types. Although I charge for signatures…

written by Brian Michael Bendis
art by a ton of different guys

I’ve never been a fan of the Avengers. When I was a kid, it always seemed like the dumbest excuse for a bunch of guys in capes to get together and fight, usually against each other. I mean really–what the heck do Thor and the Hulk have in common with Captain America and Iron Man? Plus the constant lineup changes were too hard to keep up with, especially since most of my comics came from yard sales, which meant that two consecutive issues of anything was pretty rare.

So anyway, I don’t like the Avengers.

However, having been away for a while, and wanting to kind of get back into the mix of things, I recently read Civil War. While it was kinda good in places, it mainly seemed like a lot of speeches and not a lot of resolution. But it was good enough to make me go back and read The Avengers, just to see how all this is affecting the giant jumble that is the Marvel Universe. I went all the way back to issue 1 (of the current volume, mind you), and read the series up to the current issue (#33).

I have to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Brian Bendis has somehow made the Avengers interesting to me; even Captain America, who–let’s face it–is most of the time little more than a walking USA poster. By breaking them down and rebuilding them, Bendis lets you skip that annoying 45 years of back-story, and get right to the action. And with his dialogue-heavy style, Bendis makes the team breathe, even in the middle of the most-action heavy parts. Spider-Man, in particular, is probably the most surprisingly awesome addition to the regular Avengers lineup: the constant wise-cracking is great, breaking up often pretty dire dramatic scenes. I especially have enjoyed counting the number of times Spider-Man enters a scene from the top of a panel, usually upside-down, to say hello or otherwise introduce himself. I’m not as sure about Wolverine–he’s useful in the “do you smell that?” parts, but otherwise the whole story for me is the interaction between Spidey, Luke Cage, and Cap. Oh! Except for the weird Spiderwoman/spy side-story, which sounded pretty bogus at the beginning, but now is turning into one of my favorite parts of the story. Although with all these jobs, working for all these shadowy agencies, she should be able to finance things herself without any old Iron Man’s help, right?

Now, there are a couple of downsides: firstly, this book is ridiculously continuity heavy. You have to expect that with these A-list characters, but since I’m not reading Spider-Man or Captain America, I miss a lot of stuff. Par for the course with a lot of mainstream comics, but still annoying sometimes. Also: I don’t know about this whole Skrull storyline that just started. On the off chance that you’re the only other person reading this who’s never read these books before, I won’t say too much, but it sounds pretty weird so far. Not to mention the whole “…and then we woke up and everything had been a dream” ramification of this, meaning that anyone that might have been dead might come back now (Why, the dead guy was a Skrull along. Whew!), or annoying characters or plotlines can just go away (Oh, when Iron Man was being such a jerk, that was the Skrull Iron Man. Good thing, too.). On the other hand, Brian Michael Bendis is a super-popular writer for a reason, so the optimist in me wants to believe he can land this plane.

Last thing: the art! Man, it’s good. Leinil Yu, Jim Cheung, Oliver Coipel, David Finch–the art never disappoints. Leinil Yu drawing Dr Strange is just too cool for school, and everything that Oliver Coipel draws looks good. All in all, even for an indie guy like me, I’m digging Avengers; at the end of the day, well-written action is still fun as heck to read, especially when it’s as good-looking as this book has been. I’m out!