ANDY’S PICK :: ZENITH PHASE ONE: Before there was Animal Man, Doom Patrol, New X-Men, The Invisibles, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Batman & Son, Final Crisis, and Multiverse, there was Zenith. Grant Morrison along with designer Brendan McCarthy and artist Steve Yeowell created the first selfish Gen-X Superhero as rock star. Originally published in England in 2000 AD, between 1987 to 1992, ZENITH has not been reprinted for decades and that huge gaping absence in the era of classic reprints ends today. Back in the day, I was one of the few, lucky few in the colonies to read it and if memory serves, it is a marvelous read. Don’t miss it.

RICO’S PICK :: DRIFTER #1: Drifter is a new science fiction series from Image Comics written by Ivan Brandon (Men of War) with art by Nic Klein (Captain America). Abram Pollux has crash landed on a very dangerous planet. What will he need to do to survive? I don’t know but I’m going to find out this Wednesday just like you.

Celebrate the release of “Behold the Dinosaurs” with us and author Dustin Harbin.

Saturday, November 29th from 2PM – 4PM

We will have copies of the book on hand. This event is free and suitable for all ages! Bring your entire Dino-loving family!

More info on the book from publisher Nobrow here.
http://www.nobrow.net/16393
“Introducing a brand new large format Leporello from American artist Dustin Harbin.

Can you name over 100 Dinosaurs off the top of your head? Do you know which of them came first? Which were the tallest and longest and which were the smallest and shortest? Which of them travelled by land and sea, or sky? Well if you don’t know, Behold! the Dinosaurs! will get you well on your way there, with over 100 of the most awe-inspiring dinos and a handful of other prehistoric creatures that leap, crawl, run, fly, swim and slither from one side of this 4 metre concertina to the other, right up to the point where… well, you know.

Dustin Harbin is well known in the alternative comics scene for his Diary Comics series published by Koyama Press. Dustin’s work has also appeared in Casanova, Seconds and the Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal of Humor. He lives in North Carolina in the United States, just east of the region formed when the Ur-continents of Baltica and Laurentia collided, throwing up the Appalachian Mountains near the beginning of the Devonian Period. His favourite dinosaur is – of course – the Stegosaurus.”

This is one of the hardest posts I’ve ever had to write. It is with shock, disbelief and great sadness that I share the news that Jeremy Dale has passed away. Jeremy came to HeroesCon about 10 years ago and promptly won the quick-draw contest. The next year he was a working professional and a regular in artist alley. He and his wife Kelly became part of the extended Heroes family. He was talented, funny, supportive, hard-working and way too young. Linda and I, along with the entire Heroes crew, send love and hugs to Kelly and all of our comic family friends that knew and loved Jeremy. He will be missed. Rest in Peace Jeremy. – Shelton Drum

JUSTIN’S PICK ::  THE HUMANS #1: When this book was solicited, it appeared to be more of the genre mash-uppery we’ve come to crave from Image Comics. “Planet of the Apes meets Sons of Anarchy” was my small mind’s trifling conclusion. Imagine my surprise when The Humans #1 turned out to encompass a far more broad range of reference points. Steeped in the exploitative iconography of 70s cinema and lacquered (liquored?) with an appropriately underground sensibility, this book’s as entertaining as it is unclassifiable. The back cover by bountiful Benjamin Marra sums things up nicely, and it’s also hand-lettered, which always sends my heart aflutter. Take a bow, Keller/Neely/Collantes…you’ve crafted a thing of gritty beauty.

ANDY’S PICKS :: At this past weekend’s Discussion Group–and we had a blast, join us for the next one!!-two books were strongly recommended by our Discussioneers (c): WAKE the ten issue horror mini series from Batwriter Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy. It is set at the Arctic Circle and it sounds horrifying. And KINSKI the six issue miniseries from Gabriel Hardiman about a man and his dog, but that is not what it is really about. Both books are collected in book form and are well worth your time, money and effort.

SUPERMAN GOLDEN AGE SUNDAYS 1946-1949 HC| $49.95
WALLACE & GROMIT NEWSPAPER STRIPS HC VOL 02| $14.99
WALT KELLY POGO COMP DELL COMICS HC VOL 02| $60.00
BOB POWELL COMPLETE CAVE GIRL HC| $49.99
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE TP BREAKING STEPHAN| $14.99
MUTTS TREASURY LIVING THE DREAM SC| $19.99
GET FUZZY TP YOU CANT FIGHT CRAZY| $14.99

You can’t go wrong with any of these collections. Mutts, Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine are three of the most consistent and entertaining contemporary strips. So is Wallace & Gromit and these collections are the only place in the colonies to find this gem. Powell was a good girl art master to rival even Matt Baker. You can’t go wrong with Walt Kelly’s swamp folk in any medium. But it is those full page, full color Wayne Boring Sunday strips that really melt my butter. Yours too if you are so inclined to give them a try!

HEATHER’S PICK :: ELEKTRA TP VOL 01 BLOODLINES: Until this recent series, my knowledge of Elektra was limited to the Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.  I can’t even claim to have seen the solo movie.  Neither of those movies are a good ad for just how awesome and bad ass Elektra is in the comics.  This new series is a great  ad and the release of the first trade paperback is an excellent time to give it a read.  Written by Haden Blackman and drawn by Mike del Mundo, the art is gorgeous and the story is interesting with no prior knowledge needed.

 Bonus Pick: Rocket Raccoon #5: Are you reading Rocket’s stand alone series? If you said no, then why the heck not? This book is super fun and super funny and you are missing out if not picking it up monthly! BTW: This issue is drawn by the founder of last month’s InkTober, Jake Parker.

Don’t forget, Tomorrow at 1PM, BATMAN HEROES DISCUSSION GROUP!

It’s about time that the Heroes Discussion Group turns its critical eyes upon Bill Willingham’s Fables. The series will conclude in about six months when they complete their 150th regular season issue.

The challenge in front of Discussioneers United is… which volume should we select?
Keep in mind, in order to make things flexible for folks new to Fables, we’d like to pick a story arc that does not give away the big plot reveals especially the identity of The Adversary.

I spent the last few weeks re-reading the series and here are my recommendations:
The March of the Wooden Soldiers (includes The Last Castle one-shot)
1001 Nights of Snowfall (Yes, we did that at the con a few years ago with Mr. Willingham, but we spoke more about the over-all series instead of this wonderful GN)
The Great Fables Cross-Over
Fairest in All the Land GN
Babes in Toyland

All of these books are just bursting at the staples with story-points, terrific concepts memorable characters and enough sub-text to make for a truly satisfying afternoon. So please take a moment and cast a vote as to what book you’d like to see spotlighted (spot-lit?) Even if you aren’t sure you can make it, but feel strongly about the series, please vote. We’d love as much input as possible.

We will schedule at the end of November or beginning of December as soon as you’ve selected the book. If you’ve never read Fables, this is an ideal time to give it a try. If you have watched Once Upon a Time or Grimm, why not check out the far superior source material for these two network TV shows?

[poll id=”7″]

ANDY’S PICKS: Agggghhh!! It’s too much! Too many great classic reprints.

COMPLETE PEANUTS HC VOL 22 1993-1994| $29.99
COMPLETE PEANUTS TP BOX SET 1950-1954| $39.99
COMPLETE PEANUTS TP VOL 02 1953-1954| $22.99
DILBERT HC GO ADD VALUE SOMEPLACE ELSE| $19.99
PEANUTS EVERY SUNDAY HC VOL 02 1956-1960| $49.99
POGO COMP SYNDICATED STRIPS HC VOL 03 EVIDENCE CONTRARY| $45.00

You can’t go wrong with any of these titles, but if I was forced to buy only one (not gonna happen, Cap’n!!) my first recommendation would be the Peanuts Sundays followed this/close by Pogo. But any Peanuts or Pogo will do and even though Dilbert doesn’t belong in the league with those other classics, it is consistently one of the funniest strips being published today.

100 BULLETS TP BOOK 01| $24.99
BASIL WOLVERTON WEIRD WORLDS ARTISTS ED HC| $150.00
PREACHER TP BOOK 06| $19.99
HOWARD THE DUCK OMNIBUS| $99.99
DISNEY ROSA DUCK LIBRARY HC VOL 02 RETURN TO PLAIN AWFUL| $29.99
IRON MAN EPIC COLLECTION TP GOLDEN AVENGER| $34.99

Wow, what can I except Christmas is right around the corner. I will let our esteemed manager talk about HtD. My recs are 100 Bullets and Preacher–two great series that remain in print and deservedly so. But you gotta love the antique Iron Man tales and Don Rosa once again does Duckburg proud. Wolverton is a genius and just a passing glance at this Artists edition proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: DMC GN #1: DMC is like Marvel’s What If? mashed up with Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree. Set in 80s New York, as hip-hop took root in the streets and branched out into the suburbs, DMC #1 examines what would have happened if Darryl McDaniels opted to become a vigilante superhero instead of an emcee. Upon further consideration, there isn’t a huge gap between superheroing and conscious rap: both strive to change the world around them for the better, usually employing some sort of colorful costume/shtick/moniker. That parallel is at the heart of this particular funnybook.