Hey, comic fans! Today is Local Comic Shop Day. It’s an annual appreciation held on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.) because Wednesdays are always New Comics Day at your local comic shop. (Unless, of course, you’re a DC Comics fan who knows that their titles are released on Tuesdays.)

The event was “conceived and implemented by ComicsPRO comic book specialty retailers to call attention to locally owned independent comic book specialty stores, celebrating their unique and vital role in being the primary fire-starters of pop culture.” In other words, it’s a way of encouraging comic fans to visit their LCS and give them some business as the holiday season kicks into high gear. So get out there and support your LCS! 

For more information, including a list of participating stores and the special collectibles they’ll be offering for sale, visit the Local Comic Shop Day website.

But it’s not just the retail shops that have something of interest for comic fans—not when StarWarp Concepts has its own range of comics and graphic novels to offer!

Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League of America—they’re more like superpowered Ghostbusters—but they get the job done. The graphic novel is written by the husband-and-white team of Richard C. White (Harbinger of Darkness, For a Few Gold Pieces More) and Joni M. White, illustrated by Reggie Golden, Bill Lavin, and Randy Zimmerman, and features cover art by Richard Dominguez (El Gato Negro).

The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is a digital-exclusive pirate-fantasy comic created and written by Richard C. White. Drawn by Bill Bryan (Caliber Press’ Dark Oz, DC Comics’ House of Mystery), and featuring cover art and color by Eliseu Gouveia, it’s 48 pages of high-seas adventure perfect for fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, as well as classics like The Crimson Pirate, Against All Flags, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk—and it’s available for download for just 99¢!

Lorelei: Sects and the City is a Mature Readers graphic novel in which Lorelei battles a cult of Elder God worshipers attempting to unleash hell on Earth. Basically a love letter to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider, it’s written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (Stargate Universe, The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself), Steve Geiger (Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven’s Last Hunt, Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Going Gray), and Neil Vokes (Flesh and Blood, Tom Holland’s Fright Night). It also features a cover by Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night), and a one-page history of succubi drawn by Ernie Colon (Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld)—three comic-art legends from the days of Warren Publishing!

In Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, Lori makes her debut as the hostess of a horror anthology comic! Behind an eye-catching cover by bad-girl artist supreme Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Vampirella/Lady Death), you’ll find stories by Steven A. Roman and Dwight Jon Zimmerman (She-Hulk Epic Collection: The Cosmic Squish Principle). Art is provided by Uriel Caton& “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), Lou Manna (Young All-Stars, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), John Pierard (Graphic Classics: Horror Classics), and Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo (Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror).

Lorelei: Genesis is a digital comic collection by Steven A. Roman, of the early adventures of SWC’s first lady of horror, a soul-stealing succubus who targets evildoers. I wrote and drew these stories in the late 1980s and early 1990s, so they’re a little rough around the edges (my first self-published comics!), but they’re the foundation for the professionally produced comics that would come later. Featuring a new cover by me (with colors by Eliseu Gouveia), it’s 24 pages of supernatural seduction for just 99¢.

And The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 is a 56-page, full-color comic special that features cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella) and contains three original stories. In “Song of the Siren,” by writer Steven A. Roman and artist Eliseu Gouveia (Vengeance of the Mummy, Lady Death), the teenaged Goth adventuress matches wits with a man-stealing enchantress who’s set her sights on Pan’s boyfriend, Javier. It’s followed by “After Hours,” by writer Sholly Fisch (The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries), and comic-art legend Ernie Colon, in which a demon walks into a bar to unwind after a long day of scarifying. And rounding out the issue is “Shopping Maul,” a short story by Roman with title-page art by Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), in which Pan and Annie, along with Javier and Pan’s best friend, Sheena, run into a group of Gothic Lolita vampires out to do more than a little window shopping.

Even better, how about some free comic books you can download right now?

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 serves as an introduction to the adventures of Pandora Zwieback and her monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, with an 8-page story written by Steven A. Romanand illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia. Plus there’s a preview of Pan’s first novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets Annie that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.    

Lorelei #1: The 30th Anniversary Special Edition is a reprint of the comic that helped launch StarWarp Concepts in 1993. Written and created by Steven A. Roman, and drawn by David C. Matthews (Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), it introduced readers to celebrated professional photographer Laurel Ashley O’Hara, on the day that would change her life forever: a day when a major exhibition of her work was opening at a prestigious New York museum…and the day she unfortunately met the charming but dangerous Arioch—a lord of hell! It features cover art by Louis Small Jr., cover artist for SWC’s Lorelei Presents: House Macabre.

Heroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by Steven A. Roman, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find: “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out); “Dirty Laundry,” an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the mid-‘90s indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and “I Was a Super-powered Vampire Slayer!,”an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.

And last but not least, there’s Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa. Long before she met Pan, Annie was the star of this short-lived “bad girl” comic book miniseries published in the 1990s. Here you’ll find Annie doing a bit of research for an article about gentlemen’s clubs in Times Square—research that includes actually performing as an exotic dancer (I did say it was a ’90s comic, didn’t I?). It’s that part-time gig that brings her into contact with Corum de Sade, a heavy metal singer with a deadly secret: he’s a soul-devouring incubus! All three issues are written by Steven A. Roman, with art by Uriel Caton (JSA Annual), Holly Golightly (School Bites), and David C. Matthews.

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual, Lorelei: Sects and the City, Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and Troubleshooters Incorporated are available in print and digital formats. Pandora Zwieback #0, Heroines and Heroes, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon, Lorelei #1: The 30th Anniversary Special Edition, Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa, and Lorelei: Genesis are digital exclusives. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information, as well as sample pages. 

Happy reading!