JUSTIN’S PICK :: MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS ACTIVITY BOOK FACSIMILE COLLECTION: (phew) Like most fans of my generation, I am a victim of nostalgia. No industry exploits that propensity quite like comic books. Alongside a cache of Silver Age treasures and unreliable TV reruns, Marvel/Mattel’s Secret Wars toy line was one of my earliest touchstones for the characters I grew to love. In anticipation of its Big Summer Event incarnation, Marvel is releasing this activity book facsimile collection. I don’t think I even had this as a kid, which makes owning it now even more imperative. ‘The specifics weren’t important,’ reads a particularly illuminating appendix in the trade paperback collection of the original Secret Wars series, ‘as long as it featured unique designs that could be made into toys, and as long as it was called “Secret Wars” – two words Mattel had found tested well with adolescent boys.’ Creepy as grown men dispassionately analyzing children may be, the marketing works: thirty years on, and I’m still buying this stuff. Score one for target demographics.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: DC SUPER POWERS 8 INCH RETRO ACTION FIGURES: Comics are the peanut butter to merchandising’s jelly. There is something archly appealing about seeing our favorite characters rendered in three dimensions, and that impulse has spawned a cavalcade of…stuff, spanning generations. Now, two generation-defining toy lines – Mego and the Super Powers Collection – get melded in this new series of figures by the Figures Toy Company. Heroes has always been a comics-first establishment, and that principle will always guide us, but these figures….THESE FIGURES…were too cool to resist. And with gift season soon upon us, there’s a character in this selection to please the frothing fanboy in YOUR life (that’s if the staff doesn’t snap them all up first!).

The Heroes Pop Swap is taking over the Heroes perimeter! Visit the store next Saturday and not only will you find the usual great selection of comics inside our store but lots of great stuff surrounding the store too! On Saturday, October 27th, 2012 from 10am until 4pm folks will be set up selling their creations and collectibles to you! Here are just a few of the items people have let us know will be for sale at their tables:

• Comic books
• Trade Paperbacks
• Comic Strip Collections
• Minicomics
• Original Art
• Action Figures
• Movie Memorabilia
• Posters
• Vinyl Records
• CDs
• DVDs
• Toys
• Manga
• Crafts
• Video Games
• a Jetpack!

It’s also a great time to put on your Halloween costume  for a test run! Get ready for some good times and some great shopping!

Let us know you’ll be attending on our Facebook page! (If you’re a vendor at the show please post photos of some of the goodies you’ll have for sale!)

Check out our Flickr page for a few photos from last year’s event!