Saturday is Free Comic Day

Since Free Comic Book Day is Saturday and May Day is today, we thought we'd post three comic books with "Green Arrow" (known as Yeshil Okcu in Turkish) from DC Comics who is supposedly the most progressive of mainstream American comic book characters.

Hmmm.....yeah, I suppose if Rush Limbaugh is reading this, he will call for a boycott of Green Arrow, well we really don't care.

In Gotham (New York City), Midtown Comics is celebrating Free Comic Day with guests like Jim Lee, of "Uncanny X-Men" fame, Scott Snyder from "Batman," Nate Cosby from "Green Hornet" and our good friend (well, we have actually conversed online) Chris Eliopolous, who has a great underground comic strip called "Desperate Times." Gosh, we sure hope we spelled your name right, Chris (especially since you are of Greek heritage, and I am half-Turkish)!

At Midtown Comics, Jamal Peepers and Alex Simmons from Archie comics, which produces many children's comic books besides the usual Archie and Jughead standards, including "Sonic the Hedgehog."

Other comic book stores celebrating the occasion are Casablanca Comics in Portland, Maine, (the other 'Portlandia'), B & D Comics in Roanoke, Va., and Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, which will also host comic strip artist Tom Batiuk of "Funky Winkerbean" on June 8th.

SIDEBAR: Since our hits go through the roof whenever we quote Che Guevara, we will post one of his quotes here. It should be pointed that while we politically support most center-left positions, we are not in favor of radical revolutions, especially if firearms are involved!

Here is one of Che's more famous quotes; we are not sure if he said this the day he was executed in Bolivia in 1968:

"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall."

http://www.midtowncomics.com

http://www.casablancacomics.com

http://www.chapelhillcomics.com

http://www.bandcomics.com

http://www.freecomicbookday.com

http://www.chriselipolous.com

Vintage Harvey Comics Covers- Hot Stuff #100

While we are recovering from the NCAA basketball tournament losses for Georgetown, UNC, Harvard, Colorado and well so many teams we were rooting for, we thought we'd post this vintage Harvey Comics cover for "Hot Stuff," issue #100. I believe I have a copy of this comic book, but alas it is not in good condition. We believe this particular issue came out in 1980.
Free Comic Book Day which will celebrated at places like Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, will be on Saturday, May 4th.

chapelhillcomics.com

Perhaps If You're in the Area and Have Time

I must profess that I envy not only people in the Washignton, DC, metro area, which is relatively close to my zip code, but folks in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, NC) area. There seems to be an unholy amount of things to do there and each of those three zip codes in themsevles has more happening than most places in North Carolina, with some major exceptions.

On Wednesday night at the Regulator Bookstore in Durham, author Gary Shyteyngart, who is still not quite 40 (I am two years older than him, and I just turned 41 recently), will speak at 7:00 p.m. Amazingly enough, I forgot to put the author of the awesome novel "Absurdistan" on the long, difficult names list we posted last week. But, hopefully, I will remember Gary, who was born in Russia but now lives somewhere in America (I think it's San Francisco), when I hope to post a similar list later this month.

That same night in Chapel Hill, the Nashville, Tenn-band Same As It Ever Was, which is a group that covers Talking Heads songs (the original band from the late '70s and '80s is pictured here), will perform at 9:00 p.m. at Local 506. I wonder if they will sing "Television Man," an obscure, but awesome song from "Little Creatures," one of my favorite Talking Heads records.

And, lastly, on Saturday, May 7, which is Free Comic Book Day, Chapel Hill Comics, which is in (you guessed it!) Chapel Hill, will offer free sketch drawings from Thomas Boatwright, a comic book artist based in North Carolina, who is known for his comic book series "Cemetery Blues." Boatwright will be at Chapel Hill Comics from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

There are actually even more things going on in that area than we can list here. If you live or are a new resident of that area, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of the alternative newspaper "Independent Weekly" so you will be hip to what's going on in the Triangle area.