Heroes is back on the road this weekend! We’ll be selling books from our great stock in other parts of North Carolina on Saturday AND Sunday! We hope to see you at one of these fun events!

This Saturday, September 28th we’ll at Stormcrow Comics in Archdale, North Carolina for the Stormcrow Art Extravaganza/Comic Book Sidewalk Sale. We’ll have some great Gold and Silver Age books with us! click the link or image for more info!

Next, we’ll be travelling to Winston Salem for Burke Street Comics’ Winston-Salem Comic-Con on Sunday, September 29! We’ll have our full road stock with us,  hope to see you there!

We’ll also be at these upcoming shows:

• New York Comic Con – October 10-13
• ACME’s Comic Book City Con – October 26-27

Welcome friends, to week four of DC’s massive Villains Month event! We’re in the home stretch, and last week we attempted to clarify some aspects of this situation. A friendly reminder:

Demand is far outstripping supply, especially now that everyone and their mother wants some sweet, sweet lenticular goodness. This event has been in the making for a while, and savvy customers were already logging their requests as early as late June.  We must repeat: as always, orders will be filled in the order in which they were received, while supplies last.

We cannot guarantee we will be able to fill every request we’ve received. This might sound unfair, but it is the nature of big bandwagon events where demand outnumbers supply.  However, this is a perfect opportunity to remind everyone about Previews, the catalogue that Diamond Comic Distributors publishes on a monthly basis. This catalogue advertises product three months in advance, is available to the public, and is the exact same resource Heroes uses to stock its shelves. Previews is available to you every single month, and we are happy to order anything (within reason) you’d like to purchase, even products we might not opt to stock in the store itself.  This is the best way to ensure you get any items you want or need.

Again, we understand the frustration, and even empathize. It hasn’t been easy for us, either! But also, isn’t this part of the fun of collecting? Do we want everything in a nice, neat package, simply for convenience sake? The hunt is part of the fun! For those of you who might scoff at that last statement, DC is also offering a complete box set of second printings of the villains books, complete with 3D covers, that will be available in February 2014. And we will have the standard, 2D editions of all the villains issues on hand in the coming weeks, as well.

Thanks again for your business and your patience, and we will see you soon!

RICO’S PICK :: POWERPUFF GIRLS #1: The Powerpuff Girls are back in comic book form! Buttercup! Bubbles! Blossom! They’re back together and ready to take on Mojo Jo Jo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, Him and more! Looks like they’re going to have some dreamy Stephanie Buscema covers too. That’s a match made in heaven!

SETH’S PICK :: SIN TITULO HC:  It’s been quite a month if you’re a fan of big company books.  As for me, while I’ve enjoyed Jonathan Hickman’s Infinity series, and appreciate the marketing success of DC’s 3D cover bonanza, I’m much more interested in the underdog books lately.  That’s why I’m picking Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart this week.  The book did win an Eisner back in 2010 for Digital comics, so some of you out there might object to me calling this an underdog.  Still, in a week where every speculator in the country is going to be trying to make quick cash on the Joker’s Daughter 3D cover, it’s nice to have a solid, gimmick-less book to talk about, and on a week like this one, Sin Titulo is likely to get lost in the 3D wave.  I will admit that I only started reading Sin Titulo in its digital format recently, and mainly because I wanted to write about it.  I am, however, familiar with Stewart’s work, particularly at DC and Vertigo.  If you read reviews of Sin Titulo, you’ll see words like ‘noirish’ and ‘Lynchian,’ and it’s safe to say that Stewart was likely influenced by that genre and famed director David Lynch.  It is a unique read though, and, dinosaur that I am, I’m happy to have it arriving in a book format.  So if you want something with a little more depth and aesthetic value beyond the brightest and shiniest of the week’s big company offerings, I’d encourage you to give Sin Titulo a look.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: BENNY BREAKIRON HC VOL 02 MADAME ADOLPHINE: While I’ve never been a huge fan of the Smurfs, I find the work of their creator – Belgian cartoonist Peyo – to be very rich and admirable. Benny Breakiron is one of Peyo’s more obscure characters, a polite little French boy who possesses superhuman strength (unless, of course, he catches a cold). The first book in this new, translated series from Papercutz, titled The Red Taxis, was an absolute delight, with wonderful characterization and a surprisingly complex plot. The art was the bait, the story the hook, and I can only guess at what hijinks little Benny will find himself in in this second volume. I’d heartily endorse this book to any parent, or any comic strip enthusiast, animation buff, etc.

Thanks to all the great comic book fans who came out and said hello at the Florence Comic Con last weekend! Our next stop is Asheville, North Carolina. Come say hello to Shelton and Seth and check out our great comic book road stock at A.C.E. in Asheville this Saturday, September 21st! It should be a great time and we hope to see you there!

Heroes will be on the road almost every weekend in the coming months. Check to see if we’re coming to a town near you!

• Winston Salem – September 29
• New York Comic Con – October 10-13
• ACME’s Comic Book City Con – October 26-27

Seth Peagler (SP): It’s been a few months since we featured our “Looking Ahead” column.  Between HeroesCon, warehouse sales, and traveling to other cons, we’ve all had our hands full.  It’s back now, though, and this time a Heroes married couple will be perusing Previews for your benefit.  Orders are due very soon, so make sure to get yours in this week!  With that, Heather, where do you think we should start?

Heather Peagler (HP): Instead of just calling this “Looking Ahead” this month, I think we should call it “Looking Ahead to Heather’s Birthday.”  Clearly Marvel and DC knew that I had a birthday in November since they are choosing that month to give me an awesome Nightcrawler return and a Harley Quinn that feels like old times.  There’s so much fun stuff to choose from!  Just consider all my picks to be a nice birthday list and everyone get to shopping!

SP: We all know that comic characters never stay dead.  It’s probably no surprise that Marvel is bringing Nightcrawler back now.  This resurrection in particular looks promising.

HP: BAMF! BAMF! BAMF! the appearance of a familiar blue visage at the end of Wolverine and the X-Men could only lead to the awesomeness of a pirate Nightcrawler.  Jason Aaron should get a huge cookie basket from Marvel for making X-Men so very amazing.  Speaking of being amazing, make sure Amazing X-Men #1 by Aaron and artist Ed McGuinness is on your pull list for November!

SP: Aaron and McGuinness are a perfect fit to herald Nightcrawler back from the beyond.  I’m excited for this as well, but am equally excited that Marvel is collecting the earliest of Captain America’s Golden Age adventures into an omnibus. It’s Joe Simon and Jack Kirby pitting Cap and Bucky against Hitler and the Nazis!  You all know how nearly impossible it is to dig up single issues or reprints of these books, so this is an opportune way to finally get these stories if you’re interested in a nice slice of comics history. Along with Golden Age Cap, Marvel is finally bringing their Silver Age Ant-Man stories back into print, via a brand new trade paperback in the Masterworks series.  This collection has long been out of print, so here’s your chance to brush up on Ant-Man knowledge before the upcoming Marvel film adaptation.

HP: Speaking of issues that are hard to find, Marvel must have gotten my subliminal messages about Chris Giarusso’s Mini Marvels as they have assembled a complete collection for my reading pleasure! It even includes a complete run of Mini Marvel comic strips! This is a great collection for kids and adults alike.  Marvel also has a collection that’s the opposite of kid-friendly coming soon with volume 1 hardcover is the latest Deadpool series.  The first twelve issues of this hilarious series by writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn are collected within.

SP: Another new Marvel collection I’m looking forward to is the Avengers: The Enemy Within TP by Kelly Sue DeConnick.  I’ve enjoyed her take on Captain Marvel, and this collection should please all members of the Carol Corps, official and honorary.

HP: Perhaps it is Halloween coming that has me in the spirit for reading the new ongoing series of Ghost by the writing team Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chris Sebela and interiors by Ryan Sook! I really enjoyed the last mini-series and am looking forward to reading more.

SP:  Along with Ghost, we can’t ignore Dark Horse’s newest horrorific Black Beetle series.  Black Beetle: Necrologue #2 continues the pulpy goodness wrought by Francesco Francavilla, the busiest artist in comics, and features more horror elements than the last mini series.  And though it isn’t overtly a horror title, there’s plenty of gruesome genius on display in Geof Darrow‘s Shaolin Cowboy #2.  I’m thrilled that Darrow found time to bring Shaolin Cowboy back to the masses, and this series’ inclusion of zombies makes it a perfect accompaniment to Dark Horse’s other ghoulish November titles.

HP:  Over at DC there’s Harley Quinn! I absolutely adore Harley Quinn, or the early version of her anyway.  I yearn for the days of Mad Love Harley and do so miss her looniness.  I have great hope for Harley Quinn #0 to return to old school Harley and give readers back that cute and quirky homicidal maniac missing from the current pages of DC.  The creative team lends itself to the fun of Harley with artists like Darwyn Cooke, Walter Simonson and Art Baltazar all contributing.  If you share my love of Harley be sure to check out all the new t-shirt offerings on page 421 of Previews! I want at least three of them!

SP: Trust me, folks, she’s not kidding about wanting that many Harley shirts.  I think fans of all ages DC stories should enjoy the new Scooby Doo Team Up series.  Issue #1 features Batman and Robin, so if you have a young reader in the house, or are yourself a young-at-heart reader, don’t forget this one.

HP: That Scooby Doo Team Up series reminds me of the old cartoon when everyone from the Harlem Globetrotters to Sonny and Cher to Jonathan Winters would show up and take part in the hi-jinx! If it wasn’t for those meddling kids!! Speaking of kids, is it ever too early for love to be in the air? Especially when that love is expressed as A Very Vader Valentine’s Day? With art by Katie Cook, the adorable book with 36 valentine card is sure to be loved by both the kids and Star Wars fans in your life.

SP: November definitely looks to be an especially kid-friendly publishing month.  Along with the new Scooby Doo title, there are debut issues of Ben 10 and Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and a new stand alone graphic novel in Adventure Time vol. 2: Pixel Princesses.

But if I was forced to pick a book of the month, I’d have to go with Image’s Black Science #1.  Not only does it mark Rick Remender‘s return to Image, but re-teams him with talented collaborator Matteo Scalera.  You can ascertain that the series focuses on dark science fiction, but I have a feeling this is going to be not only a big seller, but a critically acclaimed book.  That means that like Saga, the first several issues of this series might move quickly.  Get in on the ground floor with the first issue in November.  Remember to let Justin ([email protected]) or any of the store staff know what you’d like from Previews, and we’ll make sure you get your books!

Well, dear readers and loyal customers, it’s official: we have our first DC Villains Month book where the demand has exceeded the supply. Batman #23.3, the Penguin issue, will not be available on the rack Wednesday morning. From allocations before the books even hit the streets, to the enthusiastic response to the motion covers, DC’s event has been an odd mix of stress and success.

At Heroes, we didn’t want to make our reserve customers feel obligated to buy (in some cases) four times the normal amount of comics they would for a given title in the month of September, so we went the special order route. It seems to have worked out pretty well, all things considered, but as they say, nothing’s perfect. With so many requests still continually coming in to the store, we want to remind you that we WILL fill all requests while supplies last. These requests will be honored in the order in which they are/were received, so if you miss an issue that you requested, it simply means we didn’t have enough for everyone to have one.

There is an alternative, however. As the lenticular editions sell out, Heroes will be restocking with the regular, 2D versions of every issue. So, if you just want to read the story, and aren’t necessarily concerned with having the “hot” 3D cover, then we’ve got you covered! If you’ve requested a 3D cover of an issue and we don’t have enough quantity to fill your request, we will automatically fill it with a 2D cover when they arrive in the store. There is no need to specify; if we pull you a 2D cover and you decide against purchasing it, as always, that is totally fine.

Thank you all for sticking with us through this heady and unprecedented event, and we will see you soon!

HEATHER’S PICK :: FORTUNATELY, THE MILK: Two really great things about comics are combined in this hardcover children’s novel: Neil Gaiman and Skottie Young.  A tale of a father on a seemingly simple task to get milk for his children’s cereal evolves into a great adventure after he’s kidnapped by aliens and faces all manner of villains including another great thing-pirates! Young’s illustration style really suits the imaginative storytelling of Gaiman. This looks to be a fun tale for children and adults alike!