CGC might be the most-asked about exhibitor at HeroesCon every year–people are interested! Well these many interested parties will be super excited to know that CGC will be back at HeroesCon this year! The Comics Guaranty Company is pretty much the standard for high-order grading and preserving of comics, in a sense “locking” the condition so that if you ever need to sell a book or get an insurance quote or whatnot, a respected grader has taken care of it for you. For a fee of course, but hey–this is America.

I need to check with Shelton to see if they’ll be doing “live” grading, but I bet they’ll be accepting books at their booth, which they will ship back to you after the grading process. From what I hear, it’s a HUGELY labor-intensive process, and thus an expensive one to take on the road to cons. I’ll stick an update in here when I find out for sure!

–UPDATE–Textmaster Shelton Drum just sent me this note:

“CGC won’t be doing on-site grading, but will be taking submissions, especially signature series stuff, certifying autographs by all of our attending pros on their comics (for a fee). For instance, the Steve Niles’ signature on the HeroesCon exclusive Mystery Society #1 variants! How about those sketch-cover BOOM! Studios HeroesCon 2010 variants? Deadpool Corps #1 with a special Liefeld mini-print? You betcha! Plus all your old stuff and mint new stuff too!”

Man, sounds like Shelton’s referring to a bunch of stuff we still need to announce, eh? I smell some more (sigh) blogging! Okay stay tuned, sports fans. Also coming pretty soon will be a complete list of the other exhibitors appearing at HeroesCon (huge list, huge list) and their locations. Plus the last of the Small Press locations! Stay tuned!

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which ones she is most excited about!

1) Zatanna #1

Paul Dini and Stephane Roux launch a new ongoing series all about Zatanna! I love the art in this book. I am super excited to get it signed by Roux who will be at HeroesCon.

2) Avengers #1

One word: Kang! Two more words: The Conqueror! Brian Michael Bendis teams up with John Romita, Jr. to give us the start of Marvel’s Heroic Age. Here’s hoping this book will be fun and light-hearted! I want a self-contained, entertaining team-up book.

3) DC Universe Legacies #1

Basically this book is the Marvels Project of the DCU. This 10 issue mini-series gives us the origin of the universe DC style. Looks very promising.

4) Captain Easy HC vol 1 Soldier of Fortune

I know nothing about this book except that it looks amazing!

5) Girl Comics #2

Lovely cover by the one and only Jill Thompson. Who will also be at HeroesCon. Which is only two weeks away. Do you have your tickets yet? If not you better get on it! Also, the interiors look awesome too!

The above image is a pinup Todd Nauck did (!!!) especially for our HeroesCon 2010 Art Auction! Pretty insane. The auction itself will get cranked up as usual after the show on Saturday, June 5. We’ll say more before then, but we just had to share this image with youse guys.

But we also wanted to let you know that (most) of the Small Press locations are now up. Note the following things:

1) All of these locations are subject to change without notice! Give us a couple of days to kick the tires, correct any errors, etc., before you start printing up stuff with your table number on it. Especially tables numbered along the back wall–I will likely fiddle with those table numbers as I get everything just so.

2) We’re expanding Artists Alley over last year’s diagram, so you’ll note that there are tables referred to (the 100 and 800 aisles, especially) that don’t exist on the current diagram. Don’t get yourself into an existential crisis! I’ll have a new diagram up, maybe tomorrow if the stars align (they never do).

3) Any locations that still list as “XX-XX” have not been assigned yet. We see them! We haven’t forgotten you–how could we ever forget you?

Okay it’s super late, it’s OH MY GOD IT’S AFTER 2.30 IN THE MORNING so more tomorrow but for now zzzzzzzzz

Newly added to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today! Forgive the speedy announcements, as I’ve got updates scheduled for pretty much every day this week in the middle of 40,000 other things–please read EXCITEMENT into everything I write this week! Numerous names to add, Small Press locations will be going up, Schedule stuff, and more! Oh but let’s do these guys first, what say?

NAT JONES is probably most closely associated with the recent resurgence of publication of some of the late great Frank Frazetta‘s characters, including Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer (image above). He’s also worked on Spawn, Rob Zombie’s The Nail, and a ton of others, and is a regular and an awesome one at that. Welcome back, Nat!

JOE LINSNER is the head of a wild, screaming legion of fans, not only for his popular creation Dawn, but for his more recent creation Dark Ivory. He’s also worked on numerous other titles including Killraven, Mystique, and Claws.

SCOTT BEADERSTADT is probably best-known for his work on Troll Lords, which he wrote, illustrated, and co-created. He’s relaunching the series with a 3-issue miniseries coming soon. He’ s also worked on Archie: Superteens and The Mummy.

TOMMY CASTILLO has had popular runs on Detective Comics and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, as well as more recently on Grimm Fairy Tales and Se7en: Gluttony from Zenescope.

DERRICK FISH is a member of Headhunta Studios and the creator of The Wallkeeper and Dandy & Company, and is a regular pinup contributor to books like Atomic Robo and PvP.

KOI TURNBULL first attended HeroesCon as a fan at the age of 13, so it’s always a pleasure to welcome him back as a guest. Since that 13-year-old visit he’s worked on Superman Confidential, Wolverine: Killing Made Simple, Fathom, New Warriors, and many more!

Okay! More to come tomorrow you guys. Busy busy!

Two updates to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List in one day means we’re getting super close to HeroesCon. Don’t remind me, there’s still so much for us to do!

First up, courtesy of our friends at the Hero Initiative, comes first-time HeroesCon guest Jim Cheung! With one of the slickest, most polished styles in comics, Jim is sure to be mobbed in Artists Alley. His newest book is Avengers: Children’s Crusade, plus recent work including Secret Warriors covers, the 2009 Avengers Free Comic Book Day book, and more–not to mention his older stuff like Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Illuminati and Young Avengers, the book that really put him “on the map,” so to speak!

Also new to the list today is Otis Frampton, appearing for the first time as a guest of the show, though he’s attended several times before. He’s the creator of Oddly Normal for Viper Comics!

Jeremy Haun returns to HeroesCon once more, which no one is happier about that us–dude is stone-cold sweetsville. His credits include Detective Comics, Arhkam Reborn, Berserker, and Battle Hymn!

Georges Jeanty is also no stranger to HeroesCon–the longtime penciller of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic series has also drawn The American Way, Green Lantern, Superboy, Superman, and tons more!

Last up alphabetically in this update is first-timer Mike Leib, who’s been writing comics for the last five years including Tag: Cursed, Jeremiah Harm, Zombie Tales, Marvel’s Romance Redux series and many more! Please help us welcome him to his first HeroesCon!

Oh my goodness, TWO updates today to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List, back to back, suckazzz! First we’ll do the “edgy” update, featuring the return of some sweet peeps to HeroesCon’s already star-studded Indie Island. Behold more stars for the studding:

JIM MAHFOOD (his shirt from HeroesCon 2008 pictured at right), returns in triumph again this year. Jim’s been in comics a ridiculously long time for someone so young, with work including Felt, Grrl Scouts, Clerks, and more recently Carl, The Cat That Makes Peanut Butter Sandwiches.

ANDY RUNTON, the eternally smiling creator of the Owly series of all ages graphic novels, and a perennial favorite at HeroesCon, will be located within the Top Shelf Tower of Power™ somewhere within Indie Island itself. If you’re a fan of Lost, think of it like the Temple.

ROB ULLMAN is the creator of Atom-Bomb Bikini, Grand Gestures, Lunch-Hour Comix, and the upcoming Sellout–he’s also a prime stop on the vaunted Heroes sketch circuit, so you guys that collect original art and con sketches, don’t miss out of Rob’s brushy goodness!

ROB VENDITTI has returned (for now) from his sojourn in the land of “Hollywood”, where they made a big movie out of his graphic novel The Surrogates. He’s still just “Rob From The Block” though, and you can catch him along with Andy in the aforementioned “T.o.P™”.

JASON YUNGBLUTH, creator of the Weapon Brown webcomic (among others) will be making his HeroesCon debut this year in Indie Island, adding to the already ridiculous lineup of webcomics creators we’ve got this year.

Oh! That reminds me, speaking of webcomics, I have a few cancellations to announce in Indie Island. Unsuperfortunately for us, KC Green and New Reliable Press publisher Ed Brisson have had to pull out of this year’s show, more than likely because they don’t like me. Sniff! Hopefully we can have them back in future years, once we get rid of .. me! Also cancelling his appearance is “Dashing” Ryan North, although he has a way better excuse: he’s getting married this summer, and has had to cut back on his convention appearances as a result. As Miracle Max said, true love is like “a nice MLT, mutton-lettuce-and-tomato, where the mutton is nice and lean. So perky, I love it!” So congrats to Ryan and his presumably blushing bride!

Okay! I’d say more but I need to get the next update out still! Whew!

So, Marvel’s latest blockbuster event — Siege — wrapped up this week, and it actually turned out to be one of their best in a few years.

Of course these mammoth events have become standard operating procedure for the “Big Two”; the last one at the House of Ideas, Secret Invasion, really stunk. Siege, however, was a great read because of three key factors.

First: It was short. In an effort to fill out trade paperbacks, story arcs usually run about six issues these days — and most don’t need to run that long. Siege, on the other hand, clocked in at four issues and, as a result, the story was a lot tighter and fast-paced.

Second: There weren’t a lot of tie-in books. OK, Marvel seemed to throw in a bunch of one-shot tie-ins near the end of the series, but the entire saga was essentially told in two major books (That’s not counting the Avengers books). And you truly only had to read the main Siege series to follow the story.

Third: It was action-packed. Writer Brian Michael Bendis, who penned the series, built a career out of “talking head” books, so it was refreshing to see him pull back on his own (sometimes-cliché) traits and serve up a straight-up superhero mega-battle.

Oh and one bonus point: The end of Siege ended years of dangling plot points and set up a new regime in the Marvel Universe that should please fans of all stripes. If you haven’t read Siege yet, scoop up the back issues and dig in.

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which books she is most excited about!

1) Cavemen in Space SC

I am very excited to see Joey Weiser‘s new book in stores! A while back he did a fundraiser in order to publish it and distribute it through AdHouse. It is awesome that he was able to get this book into stores all over the country. Cavemen in Space is about a time-travelling professor who brings seven cavemen to the future to study them. The story sounds like a lot of fun and the art looks great. I love his clean, cartoony style. If you like the book be sure and stop by his table at HeroesCon to tell him so. And pick up a copy of Mermin #1 while you are at it!

2) Batman The Return of Bruce Wayne #1

Speaking of Cavemen, this book is full of ’em. Grant Morrison tells the tale of Bruce Wayne’s adventures through time and his eventual return to present-day Gotham. There will be a rotating cast of artists. Issue #1 features the art of Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

3) Siege #4

This week was Siege-tastic! Marvel wraps up the Siege storyline as they move forward with the Heroic Age. In additition to Siege #4, New Avengers Finale #1, Siege Embedded #4, Siege: Fallen (Spoiler alert! Don’t look at the cover of that or read the full title if you want the end of Siege #4 spoiled) and Dark Avengers #16 came out as well.

4) Wolverine #900

This special collects 5 stories all about Wolverine by some awesome people! Todd Dezago, David Finch, C.B. Cebulski and more! I

5) Sweet Tooth TP vol 1

This trade collects the first 5 issues of Jeff Lemire‘s quirky new Vertigo title about a hybrid named Gus who teams up with a hunter to find “The Preserve” which is a sanctuary for hybrids. This book has been getting a lot of praise. So I am looking forward to seeing what the buzz is all about!

Hey Small Pressers! If you were one of the last few people to squeak in with a Small Press table purchase, or had something you needed me to change about your listing, those have been updated! I’m sure I probably missed a couple here and there, so if there’s something wrong or if I missed you, drop me a line and we’ll work it out. And thanks for your patience everybody!

Yessirree, this year 12 Gauge Comics is coming loaded for BEAR! Making his first ever trip to HeroesCon this year is former WWE, WCW, and TNA wrestling champeen Mick Foley, aka “Mankind,” aka “Cactus Jack,” aka “Dude Love” (my personal favorite). He’s also the author of a few New York Times bestselling memoirs. But you might be thinking–“hey–HeroesCon doesn’t usually have media-type guests, what’s the dealio?” Well rest easy friends: Mick will be announcing a brand new comic he’s writing for 12 Gauge at the show! The details are shrouded in mystery, but Mick will be writing it, and it looks suspiciously like Brian Stelfreeze will be doing covers. Looks like 12 Gauge is going for a repeat of the uber-swamped Rosario Dawson appearances of 2007 and 2008! Mick will only be appearing on Saturday, as he has wrestling engagements on Friday and Sunday (what a life!)…

But there all three days will be Rebekah Isaacs, who is the artist on the new DV8 relaunch from Wildstorm, penned by Brian Wood! Rebekah has also worked previously on Ms Marvel, Hack/Slash, and Drafted, but odds are she’ll be at the 12 Gauge booth talking about her upcoming creator-owned book Magus, written by Jon Price and David Norton, who will both be appearing with her. Whoa nellie!

And rounding up (alphabetically) this update is Rico Renzi, who actually confirmed months ago but who I just now remembered to add. Poor guy, but a patient guy too (fortunately). Rico is a colorist par excellence, recently coloring on Stumptown, Prelude to Deadpool Corps (over Dave Johnson art), the upcoming from 12 Gauge Loose Ends, and Perhapanauts. He’s also as giggly as a closet full of Tele-Tubbies. Love that dude.

Okay, still more to come! Plus two big chunks of news hopefully later this evening!