FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find has become famous across the country for throwing one of the most rip-roaringest, rootin-tootinest, BIGGEST Free Comic Book Day bashes anywhere! And this year we’re really going nuts!

FIRST: From 10-9 on Saturday, May 1st, we’ll  be giving away copies of select comic books! I don’t mean a few either–it’s around 2 dozen different titles! There’s no catch either–just show up to get your copies, while supplies last! We won’t be mad if you spend some money though, and we’ll have plenty to spend it on, with special stocks of dollar books on hand, sale items throughout the store, deals on books and toys and statues and whatever else Shelton has been collecting on his travels!

SECOND: From 1-5 pm we’ll be hosting all these guys, who’ll be participating in a MEGA signing, not to mention doing FREE sketches:

MARK BROOKS (Amazing Spider-Man)
CHRIS BRUNNER (Legends of the Dark Knight, Loose Ends)
NATHAN EDMONDSON (The Light, Olympus)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic the Hedgehog)
CULLY HAMNER (Detective Comics, Red)
ADAM HUGHES (Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider)
JASON LATOUR (Loose Ends, The Expatriate)
BUDD ROOT (Cavewoman)
ANDY SMITH (Nevermore, Superman Confidential)
ALLISON SOHN (Lord of the Rings: Evolution)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (Batman, The Ride)

And, if that wasn’t enough, THIRD we have these two late-breaking additions:

TOM LYLE (Amazing Spider-Man)
SANFORD GREENE (Wonder Girl, Method Man)

Good gravy! NOTE that free sketches are at the discretion of the artists, and are in no way guaranteed. Many thanks to everyone for donating their time so kindly, but there will be A LOT of people there and they can’t do sketches for everyone. Some may choose to accept donations for different charities, so please respect that as well–I know Sanford collects for a charity on Free Comic Book Day, so don’t be shy about ponying up a little scratch for him.

AND if that’s not enough, that night is the gallery opening for a new exhibit at Twenty-Two: “SUPER! The Fine Art of Comics.” We’ve teamed with Twenty-Two to put together an exhibit of some of the best comic book art being done today, featuring many past and present guests at HeroesCon! Reception will begin some time in the evening–we’ll post more as we have exact details. But for now, get excited!

You know HeroesCon is around the corner when we start making Guest List announcements over the weekend! But I’m trying to dig out from the big stack of forms I’m working through, and Shelton keeps texting me from C2E2 with more people to add. Calm down Shelton, calm down!

Today’s update welcomes first-time HeroesCon guest Eric Basaldua, known to many of his fans as “Ebas.” While Eric is probably known best for his work at Top Cow, including Witchblade, Tomb Raider, and Magdalena, he more recently has been doing a lot of work for Zenescope, including this cover to Escape From Wonderland and others. Eric is joined by sometimes-collaborator Raven Gregory, who first popped onto the scene as the writer and co-creator of The Gift. These days he’s Executive Editor at Zenescope Entertainment and writes the Wonderland series of comics, a gothic reimagining of the class children’s book. Coming up he’s writing a new Grimm Fairy Tales spinoff, as well as a comic adaptation of the Charmed TV show!

Another Zenescope alum returning to HeroesCon this summer is Sean Shaw, who’s worked on Grimm Fairy Tales, Warren Ellis’ Anna Mercury recently. Before that he was known for his work at Wildstorm on books like Gen 13 Bootleg and Vampirella/Wetworks.

Louis Small Jr. is a pinup artist and painter who’s been HeroesCon regular for years. He’s worked for numerous card sets in the illustration and comics industries, as well as on comic like Vampirella. He’s got an upcoming story in Heavy Metal.

Last up (alphabetically) is Tim Vigil, co-creator of the seminal goth comic Faust. Besides drawing titles like Webwitch and Faust: Book of M, he’s also worked for Frazetta Comics and others. Welcome all these guys to HeroesCon this summer!

Calooh, Callay! Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List is our fellow Carolinian and Fantastic Four and S.H.I.E.L.D writer Jonathan Hickman! Jonathan has gotten bigger every year he’s been a guest at HeroesCon, since his first show in… 2006? 2007? A few years now, for sure. Super proud of this guy–people just will not stop talking about how awesome Fantastic Four is these days; jeez we get it already. While Jonathan is uber-famous these days as one of Marvel’s cadre of top writers, he initially was known for his creator-owned work, including Pax Romana, The Nightly News, and Transhuman!

Showing up for his very first HeroesCon this year is illustrator Khary Randolph, who you might know from comics like Spawn, Adventures of Spawn, and Spider-Man; OR some cartoons you might have heard of like Wolverine & the X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Either way, Khary is an artists’ artist who is as likely to be mobbed by other pros as by fans!

The line in front of returning guest Tom Feister‘s table is likely to be made up of… police. Yeah, he’s a ruffian. Besides his Eisner nominated work on Ex Machina, Tom is these days over the place–he’s done covers for GI Joe: Origins, The Darkness, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and tons of others. Plus left a trail of carnage and twisted wreckage throughout Georgia!

Also new this week are Casey Edwards, who’s part of Georgia’s Studio Revolver (like Tom, incidentally) and has worked for White Wolf, the Mwahahaha card game, and covers on Lazarus: Immortal Coils, among others; and Tommy Smith, a part of Georgia’s (all these Georgians!) Jolly Roger Studio. Tommy has done art for Starship Troopers, The Hunger, and numerous Marvel Masterpieces sketch cards, plus the upcoming Undeath Row!

DC’s Superman Family of comics have been in a bit of a mess as of late. I haven’t exactly been loving Action Comics (sans Clark Kent) or any of the New Krypton books (sans awe-inspiring moments ). And, Superman: Secret Origin (an updated retelling of Supes’ earliest days) hasn’t been entertaining either … well, that is, until issue No. 5.

Up until this latest edition, Secret Origin sort of came off like a poor man’s version of Man of Steel (John Byrne’s 1980s-era comic); the first four issues didn’t seem to add anything incredibly cool or necessary to the Superman mythos — and they were downright boring.

This month, however, writer Geoff Johns really hit his stride. He told an entertaining tale — full of action this time around — that actually redefined some classic characters in ways that were fitting and logical. Plus, Johns, joined by superstar artist Gary Frank, threw in a bunch of cool moments, and even ended things with a cliffhanger.

With one issue to go in this limited series, I’m anxious to see how everything ends. If you haven’t jumped in yet, now may be a great time to get on board.

Hey guys–if you’re on the fence about buying a table at HeroesCon, you’d better get off that fence! We’ll be closing down sales of Small Press tables Friday at 9pm EST. There may still be a small number of booths available, but no tables after that point! All the info on purchasing  a table is right here. If you’ve already sent payment in, especially in the last few weeks, relax before you freak out if your name isn’t on the list yet–I’m still digging through this MOUNTAIN of forms. Okay!

Oh man, how the heck are we actually going to get the convention itself together if we have to keep ANNOUNCING THESE DARNED GUESTS?!? Well it’s hard not to get excited about an update like this one though, not that our massive HeroesCon 2010 Guest List isn’t already choked to the gills with amazing–

Today’s new slice of amazing comes in the person of 4 men, first of whom (alphabetically) is Steve Epting, the longtime friend of the con who has worked for pretty much every company in comics for over twenty years, shining at each of them. Most recently he’s known for working with Ed Brubaker on blockbusters like The Marvels Project and Captain America, but before that he was known for the swashbuckling El Cazador for the now-defunct CrossGen Comics, Aquaman at DC, and of course a little book called The Avengers back in the 90’s.

Next up in the F-slot in our alphabetical list is another old chum of ours, inker John Floyd. John has been known for years for his work on Batman titles like Batman Confidential and Batman: Gotham Knights. He was also the studio inker for Barry Windsor-Smith, working on books like Conan, Silver Surfer, and Archer & Armstrong.

E, F… now G! Mike Ransom Getty has been exhibiting for years at HeroesCon, but this year he  moves to official “guest” status for the first time! Mike’s been working his tailfeather off lately on a bunch of stuff for Marvel, most notably What If: Astonishing X-Men, Skrull Kill Crew, Spider-Man Family and more–moving on up, Mike, nice work!

Also G-in’ it up on our G-uest List today is stud writer Bryan J.L. Glass, the Harvey Award-winning co-creator of the Mice Templar series with Michael Avon Oeming. Bryan is also the writer of the Marvel adaptations of Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar series, and the co-writer of the Ship of Fools comic series and novel Quixote, also with Mike Oeming!

AND that’s not all–another update tomorrow! *grumbles, wipes brow*

In which Shawn (formerly Reynolds, presently Daughhetee) looks at the New Releases and lets you know which books she is most excited about!

1) Iron Man Legacy #1

Marvel is putting out a new ongoing  Iron Man series just in time for the movie. Iron Man Legacy is going into Iron Man’s past and telling his untold stories. This issue also reprints his origin story. Black Widow #1 is also out this week!

2) Flash #1

Flash’s new ongoing series starts today! It is part of the Brightest Day crossover (Brightest Day #0 also came out today!) and you get a free Flash ring with purchase while supplies last. We also got in more of the Flash Secret Files and Origins 2010 which sold out fast last week.

3) Dan DeCarlo’s Jetta HC

This is the first inIDW’s Good Girl Art Library. It not only reprints Jetta issues but it also includes pin-ups from some super talented artists like Colleen Coover, Molly Crabapple, Andrew Pepoy and Robert Ullman.

4) Mercury SC/HC

Mercury is the latest young adult novel from Hope Larson. It takes place in Nova Scotia in two different time

periods. I picked up one from Larson at MoCCA this past weekend. It is always delightful getting to talk to her. I also picked up Dash Shaw‘s Body World which also came out today. So many good books and first issues came out today!

5) The Light #1

The writer from Olympus, Nathan Edmundson, and the artist from Surrogates, Brett Weldele, weave a horror story about a virus and a mysterious light.

In our continuing effort to host every single comics-creating citizen of Portland, Oregon–or at least everyone who has ever collaborated with Jeff Parker–today we are pleased to announce the addition to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List of Whiteout artist Steve Lieber! You might know Whiteout from its adaptation into a 2009 film starring Kate Beckinsale, OR EVEN from the Eisner Award Whiteout Volume 2 got for Best Limited Series. But that’s all the past: more recently Steve and fellow guest Jeff Parker have dished up the Underground series, and Steve also worked on Civil War: Frontline, among a bunch of other stuffs. I do believe this will be his first visit to Charlotte, so make sure you stop by the ever-expanding “Jeff-Parker-World” section in Artists Alley and give him a hug!

Also new this week are returning buddies Andy Kuhn and Derec Donovan–Andy has been the artist on Firebreather, Marvel Team-Up, Easy Way, and Rex Mantooth, which was the first published comic by then-newcomer Matt Fraction! Andy is also a sweet guy and an ace artist if you’re looking for some sketch lists to get on at the show. Derec has worked all over the place, including on Image’s Youngblood, Marvel’s Jubilee, and DC’s Robin and Connor Hawke series!

And! Another pair of good buddies returning this summer are Chris Moreno and Stuart Sayger–Chris is the current artist on the hit Toy Story series from Boom!, and has had work in the Popgun anthology series, World War Hulk: Frontline, and Paul Jenkins’ Sidekick. Stuart is the artist on IDW’s Deathship series, as well as past artist on Lego’s Bionicle series!

It may seem like we’ve been sitting on our hands all week, since this is the first update to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List this week, but nay! Our hands have been busy data-entering–did you notice we uploaded the initial (massive) list of all those who’ve purchased Small Press tables at the show, late last night? Well we did!

But that was then, this is now! Brand new to the list today are the super-team of writer Fred Van Lente and artist Ryan Dunlavey, who collaborate on the Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics as Evil Twin Comics. When they’re not activating their twin powers together, separately Fred is the writer of a ton of stuff like, oh, Marvel Zombies and X-Men Noir, plus lots of co-writing gigs including Incredible Hercules and the new Web of Spider-Man series. Dude is in demand!

Ryan is no slouch though–besides Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics (the first history of comics as comics), Ryan is also the writer/artist of M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay. From all accounts, these dudes are as fun as a barrel of soapy monkeys, so I’m excited to meet them.

Also new to the list today are returning chums including Dave McDonald, the creator of Hamster Sam and the upcoming Vincent Van Doodle: Boy Cartoonist; Durwin Talon, creator of Bonds for Image, co-creator of Beautiful Scars for Archaia, and the editor of the awesome Panel Discussions book; and last but not least Matthew Wilson, ace colorist on Siege: Embedded, Phonogram: Singles Club, The End League, and a ton more!

Yes! I just took this fancy screen capture of (a part of) the freshly updated listing of Small Press creators at HeroesCon 2010! While this is a fairly complete list, it doesn’t include forms we received over the last week or so, so don’t freak out or anything if you’re name’s not on there yet. Unless you got us your forms a long time ago maybe–in that case, or if you have a problem with your existing listing, you can drop me an email and I’ll fix it or look into it or apologize profusely. One of those, almost definitely.

Couple of notes:

1) You’ll notice all the locations are “XX-XX”–that’s because I haven’t located everyone yet. I’ll update that as I get those locations fixed, but it won’t be this week and probably not next week, so please don’t ask me for your location for a little bit longer.

2) I expect to get a lot of emails with name misspellings to correct, links to change, etc. It happens all the time, sometimes it’s my fault, sometimes you guys have terrible handwriting and I can’t tell what your name is. Regardless, please do me a favor and try to group all your questions/corrections/concerns into a single email, so I can attack it and get it done and move on. Super busy this time of year, and it’s hard to stay on top of a chain of correspondences.

3) ARTISTS ALLEY IS ABOUT TO SELL OUT, probably within a week. You should be fine if you get your forms to us before the end of this weekend, but after that it is going to be close. If you are on the fence about buying a table, now is double-definitely the time to get off the fence! You can find the forms and prices and specs (as well as the aforementioned list of creators) at the Small Press page on our site!

Okay! More tomorrow!