Festival de la BD de Québec and Website updates
From the outside, it may look like not much is happening but in fact, quite a lot is. We are in the finishing stage of wrapping up everything related to Season One, including Episode 20, the Season Finale comic, the DVD, the 440 pages mammoth trade paperback of all the stories pertaining to Season One, prepping Season 2, and updating the site in a major fashion. So please be patient in the next week or so as we have a lot of broken links. Our goal is to make the site easier to navigate, more efficient yet still packing punch! Let us know how we are doing!
Also, on April 13 and 14, Yann and Michel Brouillette, co-authors of most of our comics and several of the show’s episodes, will be in Quebec City for the Festival de la BD de Québec. They will introduce a 60 pages, extremely limited edition Fleur-de-Lys comic which they will be on hand to sign on Sunday, April 14th from 12h00-13h00 (Dimanche 14 Avril de 12h00-13h00). Also present at the event will be Marie-Claude Bourbonnais (Hornet), who will be in charge of a cosplay event.
Michael Dooney strikes again!
Here is the latest Heroes of the North illustration by Michael Dooney! His interpretation of Fleur-de-Lys is simply out of this world! We are always amazed at the man’s work and look forward to his other contributions!
CODA Sneak Peek: Don’t let it fly
Trouble is brewing in Montreal as Fleur-de-Lys fights Miss Canada right in the terminal!
Here is yet another sneak peek at the upcoming artwork for the last Heroes of the North Omnibus, CODA, coming out in December. In this story by Yann Brouillette, gorgeously penciled and inked by Patrick Hénaff, Fleur-de-Lys meets her match while trying to prevent a potential terrorist attack… At least, it is the official plot line. Since the story is told backwards, you will not find out until the end what it is all about… Prepare to be shocked...
EPISODE 18: BRAVE NEW WORLD
It has been a long time coming but Episode 18 is now online! It features Edith Labelle as Fleur-de-Lys as well as a new breed of Nouveaux Felquistes… Enjoy!
Our (first) most important post of the year
The Heroes of the North 80 pages behemoth, Omnibus volume 2, will hit the comic book stores everywhere in North America this fall - September to be precise. Yet, you should nag your favourite friendly comic book store this month (July) about it. Or, alternatively, if you live abroad or do not have a comic book store nearby, you can also pre-order it from our online store.This is the wraparound cover for the second Omnibus, by Geof Isherwood.
Why now? What is the rush?, do you ask? Because the way it works is as follows: The book is currently being solicited now in comic book stores all across America in a magazine/catalog called Previews and published by Diamond Comics - which is pretty much the sole distributor of comics in North America for the retailers.
Retailers ie your favourite comic book store, must collect their orders during that month and submit them at the end of it to Diamond, who will in turn, inform the publishers of the minimum amount of copies the publisher needs to make to fulfill the demand, in order for everyone to minimize their risks, especially on lesser known titles like ours.
Now here is the rub: comics are a tough business these days and most retailers are pretty conservative. They usually stick to what they know and that is why they are still in business. They do not want to get stuck with stuff that does not sell and so on. And no one can blame them for that. But if their clients ask for it, they will order it. Maybe a few more, because there is a demand. And that is good for us and the show, for many reasons. Keep reading to find out why...
For the first Omnibus, the book was under ordered by a lot of retailers - most stores had ran out of the books three weeks after its release! - and they had to order more the next month. Thankfully we over printed a bit for conventions and so on - and we were (barely) able to meet up the demand. Whatever we had left for conventions has been selling like hot cakes with the end result that we have almost none left! If you want to get your hands on it, you can always visit our store or perhaps we will have some at the next convention, but that is the extent of it: a few dozens left.The cover of the first Heroes of the North Omnibus, released in February 2012.
Now you may be thinking that we are making lots of money going through Diamond , with its extended distribution market that is so much wider than anything we could humanely cover on our own, but the truth is we are not: once you factor in the printing fees, Diamond’s own, huge distributor’s cut (60%!), our publisher’s share and other expenses like the fees of the artists and other contributors themselves, not to mention the cost of shipping at almost every steps, there is really not that much left, quite frankly. Not enough for a profit.
But going through Diamond allows us to get the book far and wide and spread the news of the shows to people we could never afford to reach otherwise. And that is why we do it and it is also why we ask you to order it from your retailers instead of through us, even though we technically lose money when you do it at this point.
As the books get more popular, get great reviews and so on, the show also gets more known and it helps on many fronts - people end up buying merchandise that is not available anywhere but in our store, they talk about the show to their friends and neighbours, they buy the next comic and so on… Allowing us to continue our growth.
And who knows, one day we might reach the critical mass in comics sales to an extent sufficient to make us a decent profit once all the people in the chain have taken their fees and all expenses are paid. We are not there yet but we are not that far off either. And with your help, we can definitely get there.
We want to do more comics and we want to keep going with the show. It is difficult but also a lot of fun and very rewarding on so many levels.
So, what can you expect in this new book, besides comics that are already on the site? As it turns out, a lot! In the first book, we only had one extra stories that appeared nowhere else. We have several more for this book. Here is a run down:
The book will feature five of the 12 pages book currently (or soon to be!) available on the site. They are:
- Nordik and 8 Ball Team-up: Chilling me softly, written by Yann Brouillette, with art by David J. Cutler, colours and lettering by Keiren Smith.
- 8 Ball and Black Terror team-up: The Bang Bang Theory, written by Yann Brouillette, with art by Gibson Quarter (with some inks by Guillermo Ortego), colours and lettering by Keiren Smith.
- The Archie style hilarious romp called Zombots being schooled, written by Yann Brouillette, with art and colours by Dan Parent and lettering by Zen.
- The tragedy packed Acadia: Pretty Clear, written by Yann and Michel Brouillette, with stunning art by Geof Isherwood, and colours and lettering by Keiren Smith.
And, last but not least, a superb story of the Canadian written by Canadian comic legend Ty Templeton, definitely the man for the job, illustrated by Daniel Wong. Those five 12 pages stories make up some two-third of the book’s sixty pages. There is twenty more to go. Here is the line up for those:
- A 12 pages, psychedelic and bat shit insane crazy Black Terror story called The Dark Alley, written by Yann Brouillette, illustrated by Zach Fisher, coloured by Aljoša Tomić and lettered by Zen. What happens in this one is so insane, we would not know where to start if we tried to explain it. So we won’t. An image should suffice:
- There is a fun little mystery three pages story called Blood Bath, featuring 8 Ball and Alpha Q, written by Yann Brouillette, illustrated by Geof Isherwood, coloured by Aljoša Tomić and lettered by Zen.
- A short but gorgeous Pacifica story called ASAP written by Yann Brouillette, with art by David Cutler, coloured by Aljoša Tomić and lettered by Zen.
- and we round up the book with a New Felquistes Halloween tale called October Crisis, written by Jean-Dominic Leduc and illustrated by Geof Isherwood.
With this line-up, we managed to feature every single characters featured on the gorgeous cover above, illustrated by Geof Isherwood. Every single one of our Heroes, and indirectly, our current main villains, made it in this 80 pages collection!
And you get all that Canadian superhero madness for six bucks! Canadian! We are not kidding, folks! As a reviewer said (about the first book): “Heroes of the North is the best bang for your buck right now in the comic book world!”. We may be biased, but we strongly agree with that! And we are bold enough to think we even topped it for the encore!
So spread the word! Like this post, tweet it, google plus it, whatever you need to do to let it be known that the time to get the book is NOW! And order it now yourselves, regardless of the way you choose to do so!
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support. And we look forward to entertain you with the book this fall!
The Heroes of the North Team
SOLD OUT: Crimson and Fleur-de-Lys Figurines
Our figurines for the characters of Crimson (played by Bianca Beauchamp) and Fleur-de-Lys (played by Edith Labelle) are now officially sold out! We would like to thank everybody who got one. We have currently a few Canadian and Hornet figurines left and are imminently awaiting a fresh shipment of Nordik and 8 Ball, with several of the other characters figurines on their way, including Black Terror, Madame Doom and the Canadian Shield.
New items in the store!
Olivier Raymond is selling his unsold Heroes of the North conventions sketches in our store! Get your favourite Heroes or Villains!
We will also be introducing a new section for original art. The first items will be pieces from the Fleur-de-Lys comics by Olivier Raymond and a Crimson original by Armando Huerta.
As you have no doubt noticed, the entire website is undergoing changes so this new pieces will be added over the next few days!
As for the major changes underway on the website, a blog post will go through them in details, beyond the apparent cosmetic changes. Thank you for your patience!
Al Rio passed away
Finally!!! The Fleur-de-Lys comic book!
It took its sweet time but it is finally here! The Fleur-de-Lys comic book written by Yann Brouillette with art duties by Olivier Raymond is now available in the Comics section! And what a neat story it is! Let us know what you think about it on the comics page or in the comments below!
Fleur-de-Lys Comic Coming VERY Soon!
Episode Fifteen is finally online!
Well, it took a while but part three of the Heroes of the North Season One saga is now complete with the release today of Episode Fifteen: Wardrobe Malfunction.
It was one of the hardest episodes to complete for some reason, as several complications prevented us from releasing it when we wanted. But the important thing is, it’s HERE now.
This episodes sets various things in motion that will be resolved throughout Part IV: Medusa Rising next month. It is important to watch the episode all the way to the end, including after the usual logos, as it sets up events for episode sixteen and beyond.
This is one of the biggest episodes so far, over seven minutes in length, and featuring most of the main cast: Madame Doom, Crimson, Masquerade, Seymour and the Seymourettes, the New Felquists and an aggressive Zombot rounds up the villains side while 8 Ball, The Canadian and Fleur-de-Lys complete the Heroes side this time around.
Do not be shy to share on Facebook, rate or comment the episode! We love to hear what you think! As a matter of fact, you may even comment below! 
FREE Fleur-de-Lys Wallpaper
The second of our brand new series of FREE WALLPAPERS is out! It features Fleur-de-Lys, as it was decided by a poll of fans who participated in an impromptu poll we held on our Facebook page. Fleur-de-Lys was a clear winner there and so here it is. Other wallpapers will follow, in order of polling numbers - so expect Nordik and the Canadian Shield next!
Fleur-de-Lys: coming soon!
As usual, there is a sneak peak, of inked pages. We cannot wait for you folks to read this story, one of the best we have written so far!
UPDATED:
Here’s the first page of the coloured version of the comic.
WALLPAPERS
As a bonus, there is also a brand new music section where you will be able to download some of the music used in the show. Currently there is only the Main theme but more will be coming soon. Enjoy!
Fleur-de-Lys Blooming sneak peek!
Since the colours are not 100% complete, we will not show them yet, despite the fact that they are already stunning. But we will give you a little sneak peek nevertheless at the first page, inked and lettered, complete with a small grammatical error that will be fixed for the final version.
Fleur-de-Lys Comic Layouts!
Bonne St-Jean à Tous!
Heroes of the North, Archie Style!
Dan Parent, writer and illustrator of several Archie Comics books, and more specifically creator of Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Riverdale, has agreed to do a cover for an upcoming comic book currently entitled Zombots getting schooled by Yann Brouillette. We met the groundbreaking writer and artist at the MegaCON in Orlando this March and we must say that it has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with the man, not to mention his Canadian (and more specifically Quebec) Connection.
The fun-filled cover is ready and features The Canadian, Fleur-de-Lys and Nordik. It is our pleasure to show it to you in all its glory:
The comic will not be online for a little while however as we have to release a Fleur-de-Lys and a Hornet story before that but you can also view the piece in higher resolution from our newly revamped Galleries or procure it from our store as a reproduction.
JUNE SALE!
Back from MegaCon - Things to Come!
We are officially back from MegaCon. We had a total blast meeting all our current fans and making some new ones. The weather was great throughout and we met tons of super nice folks. The only shadow was that Fedex managed to screw the delivery of some of our items. Other than that, everything went without a hitch.
We also got to make some contact with new cover artists for our upcoming comics. Archie Comics writer and illustrator Dan Parent will be one of them, as well as Toronto artist Kevin Yan who does Manga style epic like nobody’s business. Cannot wait to see what they come up with!
And amongst all that, despite being a stone throw away, we managed to miss the Rob Granito scandal.
We are also amongst numerous very talented nominees in the fiction and drama, Web TV, for the Numix Awards. Wish us luck!
And we are almost done with the French implementation of the site, so we will be returning to our regular schedule pretty soon!
MegaCon Sampler DVD
The Heroes of the North Team
