Another Free Comic Book Day has come and gone. While we are compiling our FCBD Photo Report, we’d like to thank everyone that came out on Saturday.  You guys make this event a pleasure. Whether you came to pick up some free comics, dig through our incredible 25₵ and $1 comic boxes, get a great sketch from your favorite creator, or just shop in our store, it was a delight to serve you all. Thanks also to all the great creators who donated their time; we love having you guys here and we will see you again in less than a month at HeroesCon! Which brings us to the massive guest list update that the title of today’s blog post suggests!

We are very happy to announce that Neal Adams will be attending HeroesCon 2011! Neal is a living legend known for bringing a realism to superhero comics that didn’t exist before his arrival. Illustrating classic comics like Green Lantern #76 (pictured), Strange Adventures (creating the definitive look for Deadman), and many more, Neal went on to be DC’s primary cover artist during the 70′s. He later went on to found Continuity Comics and most recently he is writing and illustrating Batman: Odyssey at DC Comics.

Scott Hampton’s gorgeous work was recently seen in the pages of Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead. Try to catch Scott painting on our art stage for the Annual Art Auction.  He always creates something spectacular!

Painter Erik Jones has quickly made a name for himself in comics with his gorgeous covers for books like Hack/Slash, Witchblade, and Unkown and is currently doing covers for the new Elric series.

Heidi MacDonald is the brains behind the fantastic comics news site The Beat. Always insightful and informative, she has guided the site through it’s many incarnations while remaining a great resource to the comics industry and it’s fans.

David Mack is an Eisner-nominated and New York Times bestselling painter, writer, and cartoonist behind Kabuki, The Shy Creatures, numerous Daredevil arcs, and much more.

Writer Ben McCool has been doing tons of work lately, namely Memoir, Captain America: The Korvac Saga, and Choker.

Chris Moreno’s work has appeared in Zombie Bomb 4: Dark Daze, Disney’s Toy Story for BOOM! Studios, The Minions of Ka from Arcana, and Paul Jenkins’ Sidekick from Image Comics.  His creator-owned character, Sanz Pantz: Ninja Platypus appears in the Popgun anthologies from Image.  His other comics credits include Alien Inventor, World War Hulk: Frontline, Dracula vs. King Arthur, Monkey in a Wagon vs. Lemur on a Big Wheel, The Last Sin of Mark Grimm, the webcomic Super Frat, and Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales.

Jeff Parker is no stranger to regular HeroesCon attendees or anyone that’s read a Marvel comic in the last few years for that matter! Since the success of his creator-owned The Interman, Jeff has gone on to write Hulk, Thunderbolts, Agents of Atlas and many other titles. One of my personal favorites is Mysterius the Unfathomable, with artist Tom Fowler.

We’re excited to welcome Tim Sale back to HeroesCon this summer. Besides extraordinarily popular books like Batman: The Long Halloween and Spider-Man: Blue, Tim also did the paintings (with Dave Stewart) for the Isaac character on the television series Heroes.

Also added today:

Jason “Spyda” Adams- sculptor

Josh Adams- creator of In the Garden of Steven: the tale of Adam, Eve & Steve, artist on House of Mystery #13.

Scott Hanna - inker of titles such as Detective Comics, Amazing Spider-Man, Nova and many other Marvel and DC comics.

Norman Lee - inker of titles such as X-Men, Namor, New Mutants, DCU Online Legends and many more.

Mike Lilly – artist on books like Black Terror, Annihilation Conquest: Quasar, Vampirella, Punisher, and Batman.

David Malki! is the author of the celebrated comic strip Wondermark, which repurposes illustrations and engravings from 19th-Century books into sarcastic, silly, and surreal collage-style comic strips. In 2008, the Wondermark book Beards of our Forefathers was nominated for the Eisner Award — the highest honor in comics — for “Best Humorous Publication.” He’s also the co-editor of the sci-fi anthology Machine of Death, which became a surprise bestseller in 2010 thanks to an innovative grassroots marketing campaign.

J.D. Mettler- colorist on Ex Machina, The Talisman, JSA, War Heroes, Down, and many more.

Bill Neville- artist and co-creator of the Explorers

Joe Pruett – Desperado Publishing

Jim Starlin – writer/ artist on titles like Dreadstar, Breed, Batman, Silver Surfer, Death of Captain Marvel and many more.

Gary Reed- is the author of many titles with the most notable being Saint Germaine, Renfield, Raven Chronicles, and Baker Street.

Sara Richard- artist on Zombie Bomb and sketch cards for Marvel’s Dangerous Divas and Betty Page.

Art Thibert- inker on titles such as Ulitmate Spider-Man, X-Factor, X-Men and many more.

Wayne Vansant- artist on The ‘Nam

Alexis Ziritt- creator of Rudo and Mekano Turbo. Founder of Fistful Apparel.

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow and the weather man has promised an absolutely gorgeous day! Heroes has a few last minute giveaways and incentives for all of you true believers out there. In local news, VisArt Video is offering a free movie rental to our first 30 customers that spend $15 dollars or more tomorrow. And the neighborhood fun doesn’t stop there! Jackalope Jack’s has informed us that anyone presenting their Heroes FCBD receipt will receive 20% off on their meal TOMORROW ONLY! Help support our local businesses while you enjoy a beautiful spring day filled with comics, art and fun! You can also pick up a pre-screening ticket for the new movie Priest, a TokyoPop production next Thursday or Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig this Tuesday. These tickets are extremely limited so be sure to ask for them when you get to the register! Just say “I saw it on HeroesOnline!”

It’s time for Free Comic Book Day 2011! If you’ve been to Heroes for FCBD in the past you know it’s one of our biggest events of the year, and this year is no exception!  We’ll be open at our regular time of 10 a.m. and will have tons of Free Comics for you to pick up including a special HeroesCon Green Lantern Special Edition.  Take a look at all of this year’s free comic offerings!

2000 AD, Amazing Spider-Man, Atomic Robo & Friends, Avatar Last Airbender & Star Wars Clone Wars, Baltimore & Criminal Macabre, Bongo Comics Free For All, Captain America  & Thor, Civil War Adventure, Darkness 2 Prequel, Darkwing Duck & Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Deadliest Sharks & Prehistoric Predators, Elric: Balance Lost, Geronimo Stilton & Smurfs, Green Lantern Flashpoint, ICE & Loose Ends, Inspector Gadget, Intrepid Escapegoat & Stuff of Legend, Jake the Dreaming, James Patterson: Witch & Wizard, John Stanley Summer Fun, Kung Fu Panda & Richie Rich, Locke & Key, Misadventures of Adam West, Mouse Guard & Dark Crystal, MTG Path Planeswalker II Preview, Oni Rated Free For Everyone, Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics, Pep Comics Betty & Veronica, Silver Scorpion, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spontaneous, Super Dinosaur Origin Special, The Tick, Top Shelf Kids Club 2011, Walt Disney Mickey Mouse, Worlds of Aspen, Young Justice & Batman: Brave and the Bold Super Sampler.

This year we’re also happy to be one of the few stores to offer the first ever Sketch Charlotte: Free Comic Book Day Anthology!  This anthology features contributions from many of our talented local friends and customers. Sketch Charlotte’s own Eraklis Petmezas and Bridgit Scheide will be on hand to sign the anthology and some of their own quality books! They are just two of the talented creators that will be in attendance along with:

Chris Brunner – Co-creator of the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics. Artist on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, cover artist on Boondock Saints and Nola

Ian Flynn – Writer on Sonic the Hedgehog including the FCBD issue and the upcoming Mega Man from Archie Comics

Sanford Greene – Creator of 1000 and Rotten Apple. Artist on Wonder Girl, Method Man, and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man

Cully Hamner – Co-creator of Red. Artist on The Question, Blue Beetle, Batman: Tenses, The Ride, Daredevil, and Green Lantern: Mosaic

Jason Latour – Co-creator of the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics. Artist on Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Fist, and Daredevil

Laura Martin – Color artist on The Rocketeer, Astonishing X-Men, Planetary, Secret Invasion, Thor and The Stand

Eraklis Petmezas – Creator of Mr. Lune and Last Cigarette

Rico Renzi – Color artist on the FCBD offering LOOSE ENDS from 12 Gauge Comics, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Wolverine, Frenemy of the State, and Captain America. (I’ll mostly be making sure the real guests stay hydrated!)

Budd Root - Creator of Cavewoman

Bridgit Scheide – Creator of The Kindle Kind and Brother Nash

Chris Schweizer - Creator of The Crogan Adventures

Andy Smith – Artist on X-Men: Legacy, WWE Heroes, and Superman Confidential

Brian Stelfreeze – Artist on Wednesday Comics, Jonah Hex, Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Matador and Domino

Matt Wilson – Color artist on the FCBD offering CAPTAIN AMERICA/THOR: THE MIGHTY FIGHTING AVENGERS, Y the Last Man, Phonogram, Thor the Mighty Avenger, and Wolverine

Please remember to be respectful of these folks! They are taking time out of their schedules and time away from their paying jobs to be here for all of us!

In addition to the talented artists who will be on hand to sketch and sign their work we’ll have lots of great bargains available for you on Saturday.  If you’ve been to our store in recent weeks you’ve noticed our fancy new redesign which moved the art books up front where the manga formerly was, and vice versa.  Instead of putting our overstock of this great manga collection in storage, we will be selling them outside at ridiculously low prices!  We also have over 100 long boxes of books that we’ll be selling for $1 and 25¢!  That’s over 25,000 comics to pick through and find books you might be missing from your collections!  Join us this Saturday for great comics, artists, and bargains!

Don’t forget that Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday! Make sure to stop by and pick up some of the industry’s great free offerings and get a few sketches from the talented comics pros we’ll have attendance. Two books we’re proud to be offering this year is DC’s Green Lantern Special Edition, which not only includes a Flashpoint preview, but also a snazzy HeroesCon banner on it! The other book you’ll definitely want to check out is Loose Ends, a fine southern crime book from 12 Gauge comics that was created by Charlotte artists Jason Latour, Chris Brunner, and Heroes’ own Rico Renzi! We’ll also be selling tickets for next month’s HeroesCon all day, so if you haven’t picked yours up yet make it a point to get them this Saturday! If you purchase your tickets Saturday, you’ll be able to choose a limited edition signed and numbered print from HeroesCons past. On to this week’s new releases!

1) Moon Knight #1

This week Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev start their take on Marvel’s vigilante with multiple personalities.  Apparently he’s relocated to the west coast and will begin assuming the personalities and traits of some of his Avengers cohorts. It should be interesting to see this creative pair take on one of Marvel’s odder heroes.

2) X-men: Prelude to Schism #1

The upcoming X-men: Schism miniseries from Jason Aaron and fan favorite artists like Frank Cho and Alan Davis is said to focus on the X-men dividing into separate camps over who should ultimately lead the mutants. A big throwdown between Wolverine and Cyclops will be a big part of the event, so see how the stage is set with this issue. This week’s prelude comes to you courtesy of Paul Jenkins and Robert De La Torre.

3) Stuff of Legend TP vol. 2: The Jungle

The acclaimed story of a band of loyal toys venturing forth to save their master continues in this second volume trade paperback. Featuring an interesting story from co-writers Mike Raicht and Brian Smith, and beautiful art from Charles Paul Wilson III, this book offers a unique twist on typical war stories, and has appeal for various kinds of readers.

4) Fear Itself #2

Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen return with the second issue of their Asgardian themed Marvel event. Tune in to this issue to see who might end up being a part of the Worthy and wield their own Serpent’s Hammer! See how the Marvel heroes deal with the God of Fear without the aid of Thor and the Asgardians!

> Bonus Picks of the Week: Captain America: First Vengeance #1, Fear Itself: Spider-man #1, Delirium’s Party: A Little Endless Storybook, and Brightest Day vol. 2 HC.

Joining our guest list today is Jeremy Bastian, creator of Cursed Pirate Girl, which has been called “our generation’s Alice in Wonderland.” It’s beautiful stuff, so do yourself a favor and visit his table!

We’re also happy to welcome Jeremy Haun back for another year. Not only is he good people, but he has drawn some great comics like Arkham Reborn, Detective Comics, and Gotham City Sirens.

We even have some great guests who aren’t named Jeremy! Also joining us this year are Jim Amash (Alter Ego magazine, Jughead, Sonic Universe, Archie and Friends), June Brigman (Power Pack, Barbie, Brenda Starr), Pat Broderick (Micronauts, Batman, Firestorm), Doug Dabbs (Holliday, Resurrection, White Wolf ), Roy Richardson (Brenda Starr, Tomorrow Knights), and Alex Saviuk (Spider-Man newspaper strip, Web of Spider-Man, Stan Lee’s Mighty Seven)