RICO’S PICK :: JUICE SQUEEZERS #1: “Scrawny kids versus giant bugs!” Juice Squeezers is a new 4 issue series by David Lapham and Lee Loughridge. This comic is great for comic readers of all ages interested in deep dark town secrets, great art, appealing characterization and  bug-squashing action!

JUSTIN’S PICK :: SAVIORS #1: It’s a light week this Christmas at the comic book store, with the usual suspects of the Justice League and the Avengers ready to stuff your stockings. But for those of you who like to wander off the beaten path, Saviors is a book that certainly deserves your attention. An unlikely team of fan favorite creators – writer James Robinson and cartoonist J. Bone – craft an interesting tale of small town boredom, fatal acceptance, casual drug use and a weird, alien menace.  Your guide to Passburg is Tomas Ramirez, a prototypical slacker. When his idyllic life suddenly erupts into a bizarre chase, both he and the reader are caught in a literal cliffhanger. James Robinson requires no paltry accolades from a scrub such as I; J. Bone’s art is, as always, a thing of crystalline beauty. A perfect team on a great book, don’t let this gem get lost in the shuffle.

RICO’S PICK :: AVENGERS 24.NOW: New comics will be on our shelves a day early this week since we’ll be closed on Christmas Day. So get in here tomorrow and do some last minute Christmas shopping for friends and family or even for yourself! We promise we won’t be as overcrowded as the mall!

I don’t know what kind of number “Now” is but this Avengers issues is 24.NOW. This issue’s release is accompanied by some great variants. One set featuring X-Men paying homage to classic Avengers covers and the other set showing Avengers paying homage to classic X-Men covers. I just wanted to call attention to these because they’re great looking covers and they would be easy to miss on a holiday week! My favorite is probably the Arthur Adams Avengers #92 homage!

What a day!  What a group! What a great idea!  So, the Heroes Discussion Group met for our holiday session over at the Sunflower Bakery (yum!) and had a solid two hours of fun and revelry.

Here is a breakdown of the books that each Discussioneer brought to the Table:

Andy Mansell selected Peanuts 2000 and passed the book around so everyone could read the final Charlie Brown/Lucy/Football kick Sunday strip.

Then we moved –clockwise of course– around the table to Matt Plummer—aka Manga Man—and he selected the 70 volume One Piece and thrilled us all with the reasons it is one of the best-selling and beloved weekly comics in Japan.

Dana Lynch brought a few books by the great Norwegian cartoonist Jason, but selected as his discussion choice the 8 issue mini-series Enigma from writer Peter Milligan and artist Duncan Fregredo. This is a book that has dipped below the radar in recent years and Dana explained why it was such an important book for him as a comic reader.  The discussion morphed into a roundtable of our favorite Milligan books—X-Force and Shade the Changing Man were mentioned.

Next up was Discussion Group regular Charles Skender and he pulled out his two runners-up Fables March of the Wooden soldiers and Miracleman: Olympus.  But he settled on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s tour de force Preacher. He described Preacher as his gate way book into more challenging comic fare.  We also mentioned that it is high time we did Fables for a future discussion and insisted to everyone that they need to give Miracleman a read in the next few months.

Then newbie Chuck Harris offered up Manhattan Projects as his #2 and presented us with his current fave, the All ages book Cowboy—A Boy and his Horse.  Passing the book around the pastry-laden table, we were all smitten with the art.  The group recommended Bone, Snarked and Herobear and the Kid as kindred spirits of Cowboy and ideal follow up books.

Mark Sullivan aka Mr. Vertigo—whom you can read at mrvertigocomics.wordpress.com was up next. His runner-up was Daytripper by those boys from Brazil Ba and Moon.  We had spotlighted this series a few years ago and agreed it is a multilayered gem.  Mark’s choice for favorite was Hold Me–the classic issue of Hellblazer from Gaiman and McKean.  What a moving choice.  I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but I had to re-read that beautiful story later that same day.

Joe Rauch—one of HeroesCon’s budding Panel Moderators selected a favorite story arc from his early teen years—Waid and Larroque’s The Flash: Return of Barry Allen.  This got the ball rolling as we talked at length about the appeal of super hero comics and how certain books become embedded in one’s subconscious.

A perfect segue for the choice of Laurel Phillips who showed us some of her favorites: Hellboy-Wake the Devil and Soulfire but selected as her go-to book Waid and Ross’ Kingdom Come along with Robinson and Smith’s The Golden Age.

Alex Ramirez was up next and presented our band of sweet tooth readers with Shazam: Monster Society of Evil (which was quickly recommended to Chuck), Sandman World’s End and The Golden Age.  But his favorite was the Morrison/Quitely gem of gems All Star Superman.  This was the topic of our second Discussion Group back when the world was young.  It was an ideal place to finish up since this 12 issue min-series encompasses a love for comics.

As I said, what a great time we had, I was barely able to mention my choice for best book—The Cartoon history of the Universe by Larry Gonick.  But one thing is for sure, we have to do this kind of discussion again.  It was a blast and most importantly, I wanted to get home as quickly as possible and read some comics.  And isn’t that the point?  Merry Christmas to all!!

JUSTIN’S PICK :: WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED #45: I am fascinated by curios. I blame my grandmother, and her dragging me through area Goodwills and the antique shops of Waxhaw on a regular basis. So when a title like “World War 3 Illustrated” crops up in the week’s new offerings, my eyes perk up. The cover only reinforces that curiosity. Upon further investigation, WW3I is a sporadically published political anthology, founded by comic book artists Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman, and painter Christof Kohlhofer. [1] #45’s theme is the afterlife, and the contributor line-up is a cornucopia of names I don’t recognize (with the exception of Mumia Abu-Jamal), but Peter Kuper’s work is always worth a look, and I won’t mind that cover haunting my coffee table for a couple months.

HONORABLE MENTION :: BUZZKILL #4: I’m aware the year isn’t over yet (at least not in practice; mentally, that’s another story), but I’m calling Buzzkill superhero book of the year. And it rounds out 2013 nicely with its fourth and final issue this month. The creative team fires with a perfect synergy, and the “high concept” doesn’t interfere with the characterization, or dictate the plot. It’s smart, it’s clever, it’s the kind of thing superhero comics need to do more of: short form, dazzling entertainment. Yes, dazzling. There. I said it.

[1] Wikipedia, yo.

Celebrate the holidays with us THIS WEEKEND on December 21st from 10 am to 9 pm and December 22nd from 1 to 6 pm at our Annual Holiday Sale! It’s a little late this year but we have been busy! Shelton has pulled out all the stops for this one. We will have crazy discounts on pretty much everything in the store. Shelton will be in the store wheeling and dealing so if there’s something you’ve had your eye on, make him an offer! Our friendly and knowledgeable staff will be ready to answer questions, help you locate items and give you recommendations too. Be sure to stop by the store this weekend to stock up on presents for friends, family and yourself. You are not going to want to miss this sale!

Still not sure what to get that certain someone for Christmas? The holiday sale is a perfect time to pick up your 3-day pass for HeroesCon 2014, it makes a great gift for that hard-to-shop-for comics fan.  You can always follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest Heroes news!

SETH’S PICK :: PRETTY DEADLY #3: It’s the end of the year, so I can finally say it: Image produced my favorite monthly comics in 2013.  What I appreciate the most is that their creators can, by and large, keep to themselves and tell the stories they want without having to allot time to company wide shenanigans (crossovers and events, I’m looking at you).  The results are books like Hickman and Dragotta’s East of West, Dingess and Roberts’ Manifest Destiny, Brubaker and Epting’s Velvet, and Remender and Scalera’s Black Science (issue two is also out this week!) – all exciting comics that warrant your monthly attention.

Then there’s Pretty Deadly, the incredible new supernatural western series from Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, and Jordie Bellaire.  This series shouldn’t be celebrated just because all of the book’s talented creators happen to be female.  We should celebrate this book because it represents the creators’ best work of their careers.  It’s also, more importantly, a riveting and layered comic book experience.  DeConnick’s writing, which I’ve long been a fan of, is lyrical without being overwrought, poetic without being overly expository, and soulful in its delivery.  Rios’ art is full of fragility and fright.  She captures the vulnerability of  small animals with the same confidence as she does the horrific rage of the daughter of Death himself.  Bellaire, who may well be 2013’s most prolific colorist, doesn’t merely match the tone of the writing and art, but stretches her palette more here than you may have seen in her other works.  It’s early enough in this series to be able to pick up the first two issues at cover price, and I’d encourage you to seek them out.  This is a fine comic book, and one I hope you’ll pick up before the end of the year. 

We’re not going far but we’ll be out in force at the Charlotte Comicon this Sunday, December 15th and we’re bringing the A-Team! Shelton, Seth, Phil, Karla, Winslow and Zach will all be there to help you with all your comic book shopping. We’ll be bringing all our good stuff from the Golden Age all the way up to what’s new and hot this week!

If you’re at the show, you can pick up copies of Harley Quinn #0 with a couple of weeks to create your cover masterpiece by the December 31st due date and be entered in our Art Exhibition at Charlotte MiniCon . If you’ve already completed yours, we’ll be collecting finished covers at the show too! More information HERE!

Also, we’ve been putting it off because we’ve been so busy this short holiday season but our Big Holiday Sale will be next weekend, December 21-22! Look for more details soon right here on our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest Heroes news!

See you Sunday at Charlotte Comicon!

We’re not going far but we’ll be out in force this weekend at the Charlotte Comicon this Sunday, December 15th and we’re bringing the A-Team! Shelton, Seth, Phil, Karla, Winslow and Zach will all be there to help you with all your comic book shopping. We’ll be bringing all our good stuff from the Golden Age all the way up to what’s new and hot this week!

Also, we’ve been putting it off because we’ve been so busy this short holiday season but our Big Holiday Sale will be next weekend, December 21-22! Look for more details soon right here on our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest Heroes news!

See you Sunday at Charlotte Comicon!