Turning the page on ten years

THE start of May is traditionally Free Comic Book Day, but comics and pop culture provider Heroes HQ will be celebrating a more personal occasion.

The store is set to ring in its 10-year anniversary, and in place of the global event, they will be holding their ‘Not Free Comic Book Day’ to coincide with the milestone.

Festivities will take place on Saturday, 7 May, with plans to include a barbecue, a CFA fundraiser, and stacks of free leftovers from previous years alongside a weeklong anniversary sale.

Heroes HQ will turn 10 on Tuesday, 26 April, and owner and operator Jeannine le Vaillant said the celebrations will be just as much for their customer base as for their “family business.”

“We wouldn’t be here without our comics community. They’ve supported us fully throughout the lockdowns of the last two years,” she said.

“Without them, everybody in Ballarat and our postal community, our online community, we just wouldn’t be a store anymore.

“We’re getting to know them again now without their masks, so not even COVID could stop us from celebrating.”

A long-time fan of comics, Ms le Vaillant has run the store since 2015, after purchasing it from founder Garry Fay, and said her daughter Ruby would regularly spend all her pocket money there.

Together with Ruby, the pair have extended Heroes HQ’s services to an online platform over the past five years, which delivers comics globally, separate from their in-store stock.

The online front is managed by Ruby, and now stocks over 25,000 comics, but Ms le Vaillant said their in-person store preserves the “rural taste” of their local roots.

“What’s in store here is for our locals and people that pop into the store. We’re very proud of this place as our local comics area,” she said.

“We’re the only comic shop from metro Melbourne to nearly Adelaide. We’re local and contactable, of course just like the other urban stores, only we’re in their backyard.”

Other plans for the anniversary celebrations are still being considered, such as a raffle and cake, and Ms le Vaillant said she looks forward to looking back on her personal achievements with the shop.

“I’m very proud of this little store. It was a dream of Garry’s, and something he got off the ground, but it was still baby steps,” she said.

“I’ve made the store into a teenager, and when I’m ready to move on, hopefully the people that take over can move the shop into a young adult with aspiring plans for new things.

“It’s become a real store. Garry did the hard yards, and we’ve kept it going.”