Friday January 17: The NEAL ADAMS Event at Flying Colors!

Who:
Comics Legend NEAL ADAMS!
 
When:
Friday January 17 4PM-7PM

Where:
Flying Colors Comics
2980 Treat Blvd, Concord


Please watch this space and our
Flying Colors Comics Facebook page
for updates and event details! 

Now Available Exclusively at Flying Colors! FREE 11"x34" 2014 Poster / Calendar

Flying Colors Holiday Hours --- & New Comics on Two Tuesdays!

Special Event: Substitute Santa & FlyCo Christmas Party

Hey! Here's something we've never done before---  and you are gonna love it!
Saturday December 14 from 4pm-7pm join us for and event we're calling
SUBSTITUTE  SANTA!

Tired of going to the mall and waiting forever to see the same old boring Santa Claus? Then please be here as the Amazing Spider-Man & the Black Cat take Santa's place at Flying Colors.

Have your photo taken just the like the good ol' days---except this time with more superheroes!!

And then stick around for some holiday cheer with the Flying Colors Retailing Brigade as we roll out the cookies and hot cider for our FlyCo Christmas Party! All happening Saturday December 14 from 4pm-7pm.

Don't miss it!
Get all the Substitute Santa photo and FlyCo Christmas Party info HERE!

New Flying Colors 2014 Calendar Poster Arrives Saturday 12/7

Please join us Saturday December 7 for the unveiling of the 8th Annual Flying Colors Exclusive Calendar Poster!

Artist/Designer Jeff Bonivert will be here at 1PM to sign these 11"x34" posters. Be among the first to get your FREE poster/calendar this Saturday!

Gift Ideas!

FREE w/ purchase deals @ Flying Colors Comics!

Sat 11/30--- Young Artists' Seminar with DC Comics' artist/inker JACK PURCELL

Join us on Saturday November 30 for our Small Business Saturday event and meet professional artist/inker JACK PURCELL (Batman, Teen Titans, Detective Comics).

From 3:00-4:30pm, Jack will be signing his work and doing commissioned sketches for fans.

Then from 5:00pm-7:00pm, we've arranged something very special! Jack will be conducting an ART SEMINAR for aspiring comic book artists between the ages of 10-16. Jack will give a tutorial on drawing comics with a live demonstration. Young artists interested in getting better at drawing are encouraged to attend!

This will be a very LIMITED admission ticketed event, so get your tickets now at Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff. Admission is $15 per student. Ticket will include admission to the Jack Purcell event, plus pizza and soda from Round Table.

Please Note: Because of limited space, adults will not be able to attend. This event will be in the meeting room at Round Table Pizza just two doors down from Flying Colors on Treat Blvd. However, during the seminar may just be the best time to pick up gifts from Flying Colors for the comic lovers in your life! 

Nov 30th is Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday highlights the back-bone of our economy.

Did you know?
• More people in the working population are employed by small businesses than in all other businesses combined! 120 million individuals work in a small business.
• More than 50% of the new jobs created in the U.S. are with small businesses.
• More than 500,000 new small businesses start each month!
• 70% of all new small businesses last at least 2 years,  more than 30% last at least 10 years and 25% stay in business 15 years or more.

Read this article to learn more. 

At Flying Colors, we have some special stuff planned for Small Business Saturday that we'll be announcing shortly.

To keep up on our latest announcements, find fun links and stay in touch day to day, please "like" us on our Facebook page.

Digital Comics from Flying Colors

On those rare occasions when you can't make it to Flying Colors to pick up your latest stash of print comics, we do conveniently offer digital comics from Comixology.

There's always a link posted to right of this page on the front page of this blog, or you can click on the Comixology icon here.

While most comics fans still believe that nothing can replace print comics, it's good to have access to a wide array of titles when you're traveling or away from the massive selection offered at Flying Colors!



(Please, if you do choose to buy any comics digitally, use this link to get Flying Colors a bit of credit. Thanks!)

Halloween Comicfest is Almost Here!

Like the graphic says, we'll have FREE comics, treats and a costume contest on Saturday October 26 as we participate in Diamond Comic Distributors' Halloween Comicfest!

Stay tuned to the very latest by joining the Flying Colors Fan Page on Facebook.

The Archie Comic That's NOT for Kids

Now Available at 
Flying Colors! 
EXCLUSIVE Variant Edition of the most talked-about Archie Comic of the year!
AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE
Rated T+ (appropriate
for ages 13 and up)

Writer Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla have delivered one of the most entertaining, strange and terrific horror comics of this or any other year!

What happens when Riverdale is infected with the zombie virus? Will Jughead move from devouring burgers and fries at Pop's Choklit Shoppe to eating brains?

Take the Riverdale gang in a more mature, less cartoony setting, add in elements of the best zombie fiction, add Francavilla's totally engaging art... and there's the recipe for a great way to spend $2.99.

Be here for Flying Colors 25th Anniversary Party with Dan Brereton!

Saturday October 5
All day sale! Please hit this link for more info!  
• 25¢ comics!
• Other Cool 25th Anniversary Deals!

Dan Brereton signing and sketching from 4pm-7pm.

During Dan's visit we'll be serving refreshments and cake. We sure hope you can be a part of the festivities!

Thank you!

Peace!

FlyCoJoe

Don't Miss Flying Colors 25th Anniversary Party on Sat Oct 5

You're invited to Flying Colors 25th Anniversary Party on Saturday October 5!

• Some cool deals!
• Prizes!
• Special guest appearance by noted artist Daniel Brereton from 4pm-7pm.
We'll have Dan's work available for sale (& for autographs), including the new SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR, the Mt Diablo-based GIANTKILLER graphic novel and more! 
• Refreshments and cake during the 4pm-7pm signing event.

Let us know you'll be here by hitting the "going" button on the Flying Colors Facebook Page.

Jim Lee event on Sept 14: Your way to MOVE ON UP!

Check out our latest email for the news!

Two BIG Events this week:
Wednesday September 11 from 5pm-8pm:  

It's the comic market debut of 

Gene Luen Yang's BOXERS & SAINTS graphic novel diptych. 

This one is EPIC in scope and not to be missed!

Saturday September 14 from 11am-4pm:
DC Comics Co-Publisher and 

fan-favorite artist Jim Lee

returns to help celebrate 

Flying Colors 25th Anniversary!

 

Meet GENE YANG Wed Sep 11 5pm-8pm at Flying Colors

 

BOXERS & SAINTS is the new two-volume graphic novel set by award-winning artist/writer Gene Luen Yang. In these slip-cased books, we see two very different sides of the Chinese Boxer Rebellion.

China, on the cusp of the 20th century, faced challenges from many sides. Severe drought brought widespread starvation and poverty. The growing influences of western culture led to the uprising of the violent Righteous Harmony Society, aiming to repel and eradicate the influence of foreign imperialists and Christian missionaries.

In BOXERS, we get the tale of Little Bao, a peasant who witnesses life-changing and culture-changing forced on the Chinese by imperialists from the West. These foreigners bring not only their brute force but also their “devil” religion, leading Bao to join and then lead a new and violent uprising called the Righteous and Harmonious Fist. Inspired by Chinese gods and colorful characters from the opera he loves, Bao’s band of nationalists ultimately lead to the center of the battle and destiny awaiting in Peking.

In SAINTS, we meet Four-Girl (also known as “Death-Girl”) who is an outcast in her own home village, leading her to the Christian missionaries who take her in amidst the growing Rebellion. Taking the name Vibiana, hers is a quest for the soul as she decides whether to abandon her past and embrace her future by committing herself to the Christian religion of the foreigners.

Since his break-out hit graphic novel AMERICAN BORN CHINESE seven years ago, Gene Luen Yang has been consumed by researching, writing and drawing BOXERS & SAINTS. While each of the volumes can be read and enjoyed separately, the powerful combination of both cannot be over-stated.  BOXERS & SAINTS not only fleshes out the different sides of a troubling point in world history, but it’s apparent that Yang’s own family history is a subtle back-drop to the entire epic.

BOXERS & SAINTS may even be considered a prequel to AMERICAN BORN CHINESE... and given ABC’s deservedly respected place in the graphic novel world, it’s time to make room on the bookshelf for this new and thoroughly thought-provoking two-volume set.

Special Events @ Flying Colors!

Jim Lee @ Flying Colors on Sat Sep 14!

Watch this very short video! 


More coming soon!

August 28th is Jack Kirby's 96th birthday

Video documenting Stan Lee's visit to Flying Colors

Take a STAND! on Sat Aug 17 @ Flying Colors

Saturday August 17 from 11am-4pm
Flying Colors 2nd Annual
"True Super-Heroes STAND Against Domestic Violence" Comics Sketch-Fest!

Yeah, that's a long title for such a cool event--- and we want you to be here!
Professional comic artists  (you may be surprised by who shows up) and fans alike will come together to draw comic book related sketches which will then be auctioned live in Flying Colors, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit  

STAND! For Families Free of Violence.

STAND!'s wonderful work covers a "complete spectrum of prevention, intervention, and treatment programs," also enlisting the efforts of local residents, partners, and institutions, all of whom are striving with STAND! to stop domestic violence and child abuse.

Stan Lee Event Photos Are Available!

Thank you all for making our Stan Lee Event a lot of fun!  Stan was in fine form and the great comics you all brought for him to sign were so amazingly cool!

 

ALL the photos from the STAN LEE Event are NOW available at Flickr.com.

If you were among the first 150 or to go through the line to see Stan, your photo should be in this set. Please click here!

The rest of the event package photos are available HERE! 

A big "THANK YOU" to Concord City Council members Ron Leone and Edi Birsan for their proclamation of Wednesday August 7, 2013 as "Stan Lee Day" in Concord CA.

Wednesday is Stan Lee Day in Concord CA!

Things are going to be crazy here on Wednesday August 7th as Stan Lee comes to Flying Colors for a special event.

The event is completely sold out!

However, since each Wednesday is our weekly New Releases Day, we are extending our hours for the day to 10AM - 8PM.

Please be aware that at approximately 11:30AM, we will close the store to make last minute preparations for the signing and photo event with Stan Lee.

Right around noon, we are expecting to have a short presentation from the Concord City Council proclaiming Wednesday August 7 as Stan Lee Day in the City of Concord.

We'll then re-open Flying Colors for the start of the signing and photo event.

We appreciate your patience and your enthusiasm as we try to make this a great event for all concerned!

Peace!

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field

New at Flying Colors!

The STAN LEE Event is Now SOLD OUT!!

Stan Lee Event packages

are now SOLD OUT!

For those of you who have not been able to make the trip to Flying Colors to purchase your event package, please call us at Flying Colors at 925-825-5410 from 11am-7pm  to purchase your photo/autograph package for the Wednesday August 7th STAN LEE Event. 

With Stan's very limited time here at Flying Colors, we'll only have the time and space to accommodate autographs/photos for those who purchase the event package. So please don't delay--- call today!

(Please note: A limited number of event packages are still available in-store at Flying Colors!)

STAN LEE at Flying Colors on Wednesday August 7. Be here!

(Please note: This event is Now SOLD OUT!!)

STAN LEE at Flying Colors Comics!

We're thrilled to bring STAN LEE to Flying Colors as part of our ongoing 25th Anniversary celebration. We are working hard to make this a very memorable and positive event for all who attend.

STAN "the MAN" LEE event at Flying Colors!

Who: The one, the only STAN LEE the Living Legend of Comics & Hollywood!

Where: Right here at Flying Colors Comics!

When: Wednesday August 7, 2013
12:30pm-3pm

The Stan Lee event package includes:

* One autograph on a flat item (please be sure what you bring to be signed is an authorized item Stan was personally involved with),

and...

* One photo
...to be available for download on Aug. 8. We will have a photographer on hand who will be taking ALL event photos. No personal camera shots are allowed.

Autographs and photos will be strictly limited.

Buy your autograph and photograph package now, available only in-store at Flying Colors for $125 per package.

For those who have already purchased autograph/photo packages, we ask that you arrive by 11:30 prior to the 12:30 start of the event.

Please note: These limited event packages will sell out well before August 7 and buying an event package is the only way to assure that you will get a photo with and autograph from Stan Lee when he visits Flying Colors. 

Stay tuned for more! And please visit our FACEBOOK page for updates and news!

Peace! 

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field

When it Happens in Comics, it happens in Flying Colors!

The Geek Speak Show @ Flying Colors

Have a look at this video, shot on Free Comic Book Day 2013 at Flying Colors. It's our pals from the Geek Speak Show!

And join is this Saturday July 13 when Henry San Miguel & his crew from Geek Speak return to Flying Colors for our 2nd Annual Hulk Smash! Brownie Day!

Really, this event is an excuse to share FlyCo Libby's sensational Hulk Smash! Brownies with our FlyCo Faithful. In addition, we'll be performing a few of our very own COMIC SLAM!--- comic book dialogue performed in dramatic reading by FlyCo staff and fans.

We hope you can can make it!

Peace!

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field

Happy Independence Day, America!

Flying Colors OPEN on July 4th from 11am-5pm!

Flying Colors will be OPEN 

Thursday July 4th from 11am-5pm. 

Darwyn Cooke covers FATALE #15

The GHOST has returned to Flying Colors!

This time, get the super exclusive Ghost Variant cover of FATALE, the great Image series from writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips.

This issue begins a new story arc and we have FATALE Volumes 1 & 2 in stock to bring new readers fully up to speed.

Man of Steel: Superman Movie Review

Isn't Fathers' Day weekend the perfect time for a new Superman movie?

When you get right down to it, Man of Steel is about two fathers and the son they share. It's about the legacy one father wants to leave behind and the lessons and responsibilities the other hopes his son will take to heart.

Man of Steel is a very entertaining and gargantuan movie. In some spots, its heart is as big as its superhero power, with endearing performances from Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Superman's earthly foster parents and Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer as his biological Kryptonian folks. Henry Cavill is terrific as the flawed story allows him to be, both as Clark Kent and as the Man of Steel.

Superman, at his essence, is the hero who does the right thing even when it's personally painful to do so. As a kid, he saves a school bus full of his classmates though that reveals his power to those who shouldn't have seen it. As a wanderer trying to find his place in the world, Clark takes the buffets and spitting because he knows he's too powerful to retaliate. He is at heart a good human being, even though he's from far-off Krypton. 

This movie is best when it is telling the back-story of the baby Kal-El who becomes Clark Kent on Earth before ascending to the role of Superman. From the touching scenes in Smallville to the cosmic wonder of Krypton, when this movie plays it small and from the heart, it is a wonder to behold. Judeo-Christian implications abound, to the point that Superman nearly winds up in the confessional of a Catholic church.

Sadly, though, we live in the Age of Imax and 3D, and big action movies are so bloated we might as well be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The action scenes and the onscreen destruction are this movie's biggest flaws. 

Don't get me wrong--- the effects are spectacular. It's just that the excessive action, mandated by Imax and 3D dollars, make this movie possibly a half-hour too long and way too violent. For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction, as the law of physics goes. There's not much in the way of blood, but in a post-911 world, how can anyone watch this movie and NOT think about the untold lost lives of the people in those destroyed buildings in Metropolis and Smallville? For every time Superman and Zod throw each other through another building, what's forgotten is the lives of the innocent bystanders in those buildings. Collateral damage is still damage, after all.  What good is it if Superman saves Lois Lane, but thousands of others die in the process? That's a hollow victory, nothing more. The Superman I was brought up with knows how to minimize the risk to innocents by taking the battle to uninhabited places---  like space, maybe? 

Personally, I look forward to the day when movie studios, writers and directors can tell small stories about superhero characters. Sure, give us some exciting action, but leave out the kind of gratuitous fawning to 3D and Imax tech rendering The Man of Steel less effective and less entertaining than it could have been.

I know my Dad was both super and human, so it can be done.

June 12 is MAN of STEEL Day @ Flying Colors

Join us at Flying Colors Comics on Wednesday June 12 as we celebrate MAN of STEEL Day! 

Superman is the hero that launched all other comic heroes. With the coming release of the the MAN of STEEL movie, DC Entertainment is working with comic book retailers to bring extra excitement and fun to comic shops. 

And that means you'll want to be at Flying Colors on Wednesday June 12!

• Get a free copy of ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 SPECIAL EDITION comic book by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly (while supply lasts).
• Be here for the debut of the new comic series SUPERMAN UNCHAINED by writer Scott Snyder & artist JIM LEE!
• Enter to win a giant sized limited edition MAN of STEEL two-sided vinyl movie poster! 
 

Flying Colors Events Calendar

Please visit the Flying Colors Facebook page for regular updates!

My LITTLE PONY event with Artist AMy MEBBERSON

  -->

When: Saturday May 11 @ Noon

Where: Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff

Who: Artist AMY MEBBERSON

Amy Mebberson is currently the artist of the phenomenally popular IDW comic book, 

My Little Pony. Amy is a cartoonist & illustrator specializing in all-ages licensed properties. She began her career as an animation artist at Walt Disney Animation Australia and has worked with Disney licensees ever since on comics, book illustration and fine art.

Best known online as the creator of Disney fan-comic Pocket Princesses.  Other comic titles include Strawberry Shortcake & Sesame Street (APE Entertainment) and Dr Who (IDW).

We hope you’ll join us this Saturday. Meet Amy, get Amy’s signature on her comics--- maybe even get a My Little Pony sketch. This is definitely an All-Ages event!  

Hope to see you Saturday! 

Peace 'n' Ponies! 

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field 

(Find info about this event and other Flying Colors events on our Facebook page HERE!)

Wow!

The entire Retailing Brigade at Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff is so excited and pleased to announce the following Special Event:

GEEK SPEAK SHOW  will be at Flying Colors on FCBD!

 

Be ready for your close-up on Free Comic Book Day with the Geek Speak Show!

Geek Speak hosts Henry San Miguel and Joel Japitana will be here Saturday shooting another episode of their show, interviewing fans, guests and the Flying Colors Retailing Brigade while adding to the party atmosphere here! 

Thousands of FREE comics, six professional guest signings, cool deals and more--- Saturday is party time at Flying Colors Comics!

Free Comic Book Day Special Guest Schedule

EAST of WEST Artist Nick Dragotta @ Flying Colors 4/24

The Retailing Brigade at Flying Colors Comics is pleased to announce we'll be hosting artist NICK DRAGOTTA on Wednesday April 24 from 5pm-8pm.

Nick is the artist on the new hit series from Image Comics, EAST of WEST, a sci-fi western, written by Jonathan Hickman. That creative team is familiar to those who follow Marvel's FF series.

Nick has a great body of work on such books as Marvel's X-Statix Presents: Deadgirl, X-Men First Class, The Age of the Sentry, Captain America, Fantastic Four and many others.

Nick will be at Flying Colors on the first day of release for the second issue of EAST of WEST. In addition, Flying Colors will have a limited number copies of EAST of WEST #1 (and the Ghost Variant for #1, shown here).

Wednesday is also New Releases Day at Flying Colors, so we invite you to the Nick Dragotta signing and check out all the great new stuff coming in that day, too. Some refreshments will also be served.

Surprise Event--- Saturday April 13

There's been so much talk recently about the content of DC Comics' BATMAN & RED ROBIN #19! It looks like there may be a new Robin in town...

So we got the (last minute) idea to invite back to Flying Colors our friend and artist MICK GRAY who is a key component of the BATMAN & ROBIN creative team.

Join us here at Flying Colors this Saturday April 13 at 1pm to get your copies of BATMAN & RED ROBIN #19 signed by inker/artist Mick Gray! We'll be talking about what's going on in the world of BATMAN, what's in store for this series and just having a good time talking comics. Hey, that's what we do here!

This event will also be a great time to visit Flying Colors to see our selection of specially priced hardcover and softcover graphic novels! We recently scored a terrific deal from Marvel Comics on a number of hardcover books that we're able to sell to you at as much as 75% off their cover prices!

Plus, we have temporarily expanded our section of Bargain Books and will have a very enticing deal for you this Saturday!

See you soon!

Peace!

FlyCoJoe

Free Comic Book Day: Welcoming the PEANUTS' crew!

The Retailing Brigade at Flying Colors Comics is happy to announce three more great guests for
Free Comic Book Day on May 4 --- members of creative team behind the current PEANUTS comic book from KaBoom! and the Charles Schulz Studio. 

FCBD Guest: Flying Colors Welcomes Gene Luen Yang!

(Stay tuned for signing hours for all of our Free Comic Book Day guests!)