SETH’S PICK :: SOVEREIGN #2: Many readers have only recently realized that Image Comics is putting out some of the highest quality comics on the stands.  But for every runaway hit that sells out immediately (think Black Science), there are others with a slower burning fuse of public awareness.  Sovereign may fall into that latter category, but I’m here to let you know that it’s a new series well worth your time and money.  In the first issue, creators Chris Roberson and Paul Maybury establish a range of themes and possibilities.  There are obvious fantasy elements present, namely in the book’s inclusion of a healthy amount of magic and the undead, but those are all balanced with strong characters amid societies rife with civil unrest.  I’ve seen the book regaled as a story existing in the vein of Game of Thrones, and there may well be some truth to that.  This is, however, a story that was born for the comics medium, and Maybury’s always impressive cartooning eloquently reminds us of that.  Sovereign is a comic with endless potential, and may just be yet another long running and entertaining series for Image. 

JUSTIN’S PICK :: Some weeks, doing a staff pick can be pretty tough. I mean, I know there are homeless and starving people in the world, but do THEY have to sift a SINGLE comic book – out of hundreds – to highlight on a weekly basis? NO. Clearly, my plight is underrated. Taking a cue from our man Phil, I’m just going to babble about a few things that’ve struck my fancy of late. We’ll call this the Southern Variation, since that’s an appropriately nerdy in-joke one out of ten of you will understand.

First of all, Uncanny Avengers. This is my favorite Marvel comic going right now (but it better watch its back, She-Hulk’s creeping up fast). Rick Remender packs more into a single issue than most writers manage to squeeze into a trade paperback. The pacing can be pretty glacial, and he wanders off on a lot of tangents, but man, are they good tangents. Remender is one of those guys that really understands the synthesis of plot and characterization, and how crucial that alchemy is to comics. Too many of his contemporaries seem to sacrifice one for the other, and it makes for some pretty boring and/or predictable comics. Of course, having Daniel Acuña illustrate your scripts is never collateral damage, and this guy’s stuff just gets better and better. I liken his artistic development to whittling: the more he shaves off, the more beauty is revealed. Uncanny Avengers #16 is part two of a big denouement for the series – Avenge the Earth – and even though the involvement of Kang makes any incident inherently undoable, it’s about the trip, not the destination.

If you’d like to take a different trip, why not visit the fantastical land featured in Chris Roberson and Paul Maybury’s new Image sword and sorcery series, Sovereign? Issue two is out this week; #1 teased just enough to really whet the imagination.  Understandably, it concerned itself more with exposition and conceptualizing, but hinted at broad enough conflicts to fuel this title for some time. The focus is split between a few different classes: religious, royal, and warrior, and an underlying sense of dread informs the whole issue. This is an obvious choice for fans of Saga or Game of Thrones, and the art! Paul Maybury is consistently overlooked as a reliable and deft storyteller. The guy deserves more eyes on his stuff. Provide a pair, won’t you?

Lastly, my generation will not permit the publication of a Simpsons one-shot without at least a passing remark. After the likes of Mr. Burns, Professor Frink, and even Lisa Simpson have proven to be shining solo stars, who could warrant the treatment next? Moe Szyslak? Bumblebee Man? The Captial City Goofball? Close, but no cigar! It’s the one, the only…DUFFMAN! That’s right, Springfield’s resident swill shill is ready for Spring Break with an issue of his very own comics magazine! What shenanigans may ensue are anyone’s guess, but here’s hoping the Seven Duffs show up (“Surly only looks after one guy: Surly.”). I suppose for this particular issue, we’ll have to move back to the former genre rack residency…but then again, what 80s kid didn’t adore Spuds MacKenzie? Alas, those were different, heady times.

Welp, that’s the top of the heap for me this week. Good night, and good luck. See you in the funnypages. Etc.

Regular Hilton rooms at our convention rate are sold out for HeroesCon weekend! Hilton Charlotte Center City has special con rate of $159 (regularly $229) available now on City View rooms but we are predicting a quick sell out. So, book now! See you in June!

And don’t forget your 3 day passes!

Welcome to another HUGE HeroesCon guest list update! We hope you can join us for 3 days of everything we love about comic books along with the people who make them at the Charlotte Convention Center June 20-22, 2014. Tickets for Heroes Convention 2014 are on sale now!

CREATORS! Artists Alley tables are still available but they are going fast! Reserve your space today!

Andy Belanger – Artist: Black Church, Kill Shakespeare, Bottle of Awesome

Joel Carroll – Artist: Li’l Sonja, Cuttle & Chirp, Skullkickers, Topaz, Flight

Tom Feister – Artist: GI JOE, Ex Machina, The Awesomes

Joe Harris – Writer: X-Files, Ghost Projekt, Wars in Toyland, Spontaneous

Clayton Henry – Artist: Uncanny X-men, Incredible Hercules, Archer and Armstrong

Sandy Jarrell – Artist: Batman ’66, Meteor Men, Unfair

Brad McGinty – Artist: GLORP Gum, Adventure Time, Regular show, Batlle Zoo

Babs Tarr – Artist:  Bosozoku Sailor Scouts,  Lady Knights//Women Warriors

Dean Trippe – Artist: Something Terrible, Power Lunch, Butterfly, Project: Rooftop

Brett Weldele – Artist: Surrogates, Pariah, Spontaneous, The Light, Southland Tales

ALSO ADDED TODAY!: Natalie Andrewson, Duane Ballenger, J Chris Campbell, Jamie Cosley, Jared Cullum, Scott Fogg, Jason Horn, Alex Saviuk, Matthew D Smith, James Tynion IV, Wayne Vansant, Tim Vigil

Heroes Convention takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-22 2014. Get your 3 day passes today! The full guest list (so far) is here.

ANDY’S PICK :: ART OF DISNEY GOLDEN BOOKS HC: Chances are good that the first book you ever held in your hand, ripped its pages, drew in, or drooled on was a Golden  Book and if your parents were anything  like mine and in as much of a hurry to buy a Golden Book to shut me up that they only noticed and bought the  one’s that featured familiar Disney characters, well sir (or madam) this is the book for you. These books have inspired generation after generation of budding animators and cartooists.  Now comes The Art of Disney Golden Books.  It is a beautiful hard cover book celebrating eighty years of the marvelous Disney character art that every kid spent time tracing, copying or spilling juice on.  Either way, Golden Books are an essential link in the chain that eventually can lead to …comic books!!  Enjoy! And good luck keeping it ‘mint’.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: BOHEMIANS GN: Being sequestered in the sticks as a teenager, and being something of an inherent weirdo, I took some solace in my creative side, and also developed a healthy fascination with the Beats (i.e. Kerouac, Ginsberg, and my personal favorite, William S. Burroughs). Bohemians promises to chronicle the predecessors of America’s original counter-pop-cultural movement. If this is an area that interests you, I’d also heartily recommend the late Harvey Pekar’s Beats Graphic History (mostly illustrated by Hip Hop Family Tree’s Ed Piskor, among others, but happy hunting…it’s out of print!). Hopefully, Bohemians will take a similar tack to Pekar’s examination, and dispose with the glamorizing of its subject matter. The lives lived under the radar, by their own rules, are easily romanticized with the benefit of hindsight. In all honesty, it’s a lot more squalid than that. Either way, I’m reading.

Welcome to another HUGE HeroesCon guest list update! We hope you can join us for 3 days of everything we love about comic books along with the people who make them at the Charlotte Convention Center June 20-22, 2014. Tickets for Heroes Convention 2014 are on sale now!

CREATORS! Artists Alley tables are still available but they are going fast! Reserve your space today!

JUNE BRIGMAN – Artist: Power Pack, Supergirl, Star Wars, Brenda Starr
ROY RICHARDSON – Artist: Iron Man, Flash, Tomorrow Knights

RICH CASE – Artist: Doom Patrol, Spider-Man, Hunter: The Age of Magic, Annie Ammo

JOE EISMA – Artist: Morning Glories

GILBERT HERNANDEZ – Cartoonist: Love and Rockets, Marble Season, Bumperhead

JAIME HERNANDEZ – Cartoonist: Love and Rockets

EVAN SHANER – Artist: Flash Gordon, Adventures of Superman, Deadpool Annual 2013, Ghostbusters

BILL SIENKIEWICZ – Artist: Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters, New Mutants

MARK TEXEIRA – Artist: Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Moon Knight

LEE WEEKS – Artist: Daredevil, Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man

ALSO ADDED TODAY! 
PAT BRODERICK, MIKE LILLY, COMFORT LOVE, JOHN LOWE, BUDDY PRINCE, STEVE SCOTT, MATT SLAY, MICHAEL WATKINS, JEREMY WHITLEY, & ADAM WITHERS

Heroes Convention takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-22 2014. Get your 3 day passes today! The full guest list (so far) is here.

ANDY’S PICK :: DOOP #1: Back in 2001, Peter Milligan and Mike Allred turned the mutant world on its backside by re-imagining X-Force a super-team that eventually morphed into X-Statix. Replacing the old X-Men reliables like Cable, Deadpool, Warpath et.al. , Milligan and Allred turned a team of misfit super-heroes into well… a bunch of reality star super-powered misfits.  Now the key players on the team were Dead Girl, Phat, U-Go Girl, Anarchist and my personal favorite Doop who looked like the love child of Proty II and Slimer from Ghostbusters. Milligan returns with artist David LaFuente (and covers by Allred!) for a five issue mini-series that is sure to be one of the gems of this summer.  And if you have never read the Milligan/Allred Mutant series, pick up a book or three from Heroes– it is a great read.

Along with today’s enormous Guest List update we’ve also updated our Artists Alley page with tons of great comic book-making folks! Check it out! We hope you can join us for 3 days of everything we love about comic books along with the people who make them at the Charlotte Convention Center June 20-22, 2014. Tickets for Heroes Convention 2014 are on sale now!

CREATORS! Artists Alley tables are still available but they are going fast! Reserve your space today!

ERIC CANETE – Artist:  Senior Artist at Riot Games, TRON: Uprising, Beware The Batman

SHANE DAVIS – Artist: Superman Earth One, Superman/Batman, Shadowwalk

DEREC DONOVAN – Artist: Bionic Bombshell, Youngblood, Adventures of Superman, Connor Hawke

TONY HARRIS – Artist: Ex Machina, Starman, Roundeye, War Heroes, Spider-Man

STEVE MANNION – Cartoonist: Fearless Dawn, The Bomb

JOE STATON – Artist: Dick Tracy, Batman, Green Lantern, Power Girl, E Man

SKOTTIE YOUNG – Artist: Rocket Racoon, Fortunately the Milk, Oz, All those cute Young Marvel Variant Covers

ALSO ADDED TODAY! 
Will Allred, Shane Berryhill, Duffy Boudreau, Clay & Susan Griffith, Dusty Higgins, Chris Kemple, Eric Layton, Jose Marzan Jr, Matt Miner, & Matt Webb

Heroes Convention takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-22 2014. Get your 3 day passes today! The full guest list (so far) is here.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: FLASH GORDON #1: Fortunately for you, it’s tough to translate singing to type, so you’re spared a lousy, off-key reprise of the Flash Gordon theme song. But rest assured, it will resound throughout the store on Wednesday. Batman 66 scribe Jeff Parker joins forces with Evan Shaner (who drew one of the best one shots ever, last year’s Buddy Cops) to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of one of sci-fi’s most enduring icons. It’s not Flash fandom that draws me to this book; rather, I like Parker’s unobtrusive scripting, and Shaner’s clean, crisp art is highly enjoyable in its own right. I expect these gentlemen to turn in a fine adventure of the Man from Earth. Now, off to practice that falsetto…