Something I forgot to mention in the Heroes Hotline on Christmas Eve: this Sunday is the end-of-year edition of the Charlotte Comicon, run by our friends Dave Hinson and Rick Fortenberry.  There are numerous reasons you should go, which I will now enumerate:

1) Because you love to support local businesses, not to mention a bunch of local comic book artists, both established ones like Andy Smith and Budd Root, plus up-and-comers like our buddies and customers Eraklis Petmezas and Rich Barrett. The image above is from Rich’s online comic Nathan Sorry, which he’ll be selling the first ever print versions of at the show Sunday!

2) Because Shelton is going to be there hawking his ridiculous Silver Age stock, not to mention his also-ridiculous “travel” stock, which has become a huge hit at the crazy number of shows Shelton has done this year. Seth re-ups the stock after every show too, so the stock stays so fresh and so clean clean!

3) Because by printing out this blog post and bringing it in, you can get a dollar off the already cheap $3 admission! I made a fancy printable coupon a few months ago, but today I’m dogsitting and working from a strange computer, and I can’t find that thing. So just view this post by itself so you can print just it instead of the last 10 or so, and bring that in!

4) Because you have relatives in town visiting, and you’d love to take them somewhere off the beaten path–hey, it wouldn’t kill you guys to get out of the house, right?

5) Because you have relatives in town visiting, and you’ll do anything to get away from them for a few hours–hey, it wouldn’t kill them to hang around your house alone for a few hours, right?

Okay, hope to see you there tomorrow for the Charlotte Comicon!

Well, it may be Black Friday over the rest of the country today, and we’re seeing tons of you guys coming into the store today… but we’re scheduling our huge annual sale this year to coincide with a sweet store signing! Coming up on December 12-13 will be our Annual Holiday Sale, with deals on pretty much everything in the store! From discounts on new comics and books, DEEP discounts on Shelton’s stock of marked-down trade paperbacks and hardcovers, toys, statues, and more.. it’s hard to think of something that WON’T be on sale.

Plus as usual we’ll have not only 50% off all regular back issues, but an enlarged, expanded, and untouched stock of $1 books courtesy of Seth Peagler. This has become one of the most popular parts of our events recently, and Seth works super hard on putting these stocks together and making sure there are tons of “gems” in there.

And we’ll be hosting a number of special guests, including Olympus writer Nathan Edmondson–Nathan will have advance copies of the Olympus trade on hand for you! Plus our buddy Andy Smith will be on hand, and we’ve got even more names to roll out over the next few weeks! So be sure and mark your calendars now–this will be a great opportunity to pick up some gifts for your comics-reading friends and loved-ones, and hey–we won’t argue if you want to pick up some things for yourself, too. Your secret is safe with us!

Come to Richmond, Virginia this weekend, November 21-22, and support the Virginia Comicon! Our good friends Brett Carreras and Guy Rose are pulling out all the stops promoting Richmond’s first two-day comic convention in over 25 years! The guest line-up is fantastic, several cool exclusives will be available, and tons of great comics, old and new, will be available for sale to add to your collections. Including our rather impressive stock I might add.

I’ve been on the road a lot this past year, especially this Fall, and everywhere I’ve been, Brett has been there too, promoting the heck out of this show. The VA Comicon boasts a heavy-hitting line up of comic creators including Larry Hama, Chris Claremont, Chuck Dixon, Billy Tucci, Randy Green, Mike McKone, Budd Root, Andy Smith, Alex Saviuk and many more. There will be a full schedule of programming including a panel with Marc Nathan, the owner of the Baltimore Comic-Con, Brett and ME, talking about our comic conventions and how we do what we do.

Up to the minute info and announcements will be made.

Randy Green has produced an exclusive holiday themed cover for the VA Comicon edition of Witchblade #132. The first 1000 paid admissions get a copy of this “Sweet Christmas!” variant for FREE! There will also be a extremely limited sketch variant cover produced as a thank-you to the attending exhibitors and guests. I’ll be giving my copy away to some lucky customer before the show is over. Just print out the attached 20% off coupon and use it at my table this weekend to be entered into the drawing for this hot collectible.

I can’t wait for this weekend! I’m going to have a blast and I know you will too!

I’ll see you all in Richmond!

Get it? Do you get that post title? “C-on The Road”? Cos it’s like On The Road? Except like with comic cons? Ok nevermind that part.

INSTEAD focus on the two comics conventions Heroes is setting up at this weekend. Right here in sunny Charlotte North Carolina, our buddies Rick Fortenberry and Dave Hinson are putting on another of their Charlotte Comicons this Saturday, November 7 from 10am to 4pm, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in uptown Charlotte. Our own Seth Peagler will be slinging comics left and right so go by and say hey!

Admission is just $3, BUT you can knock an extra dollar off if you print the coupon above and bring it in! Click on the image or right here to open a printable pdf coupon. You can find a complete guest list, exhibitors and more at the Charlotte Comicon site.

Not to be outdone, Shelton is traveling south to Florida this week for the Tampa Comic Book & Toy Convention, also going on tomorrow from 10-4. Synchronicity! Be sure you drop by and say hey to good ole Shelton and slap him some high-fives, not to mention get the latest dirt on HeroesCon before I announce it next week!

Don’t forget that going on all day tomorrow is our Halloween Costume Contest! Come by in costume, especially all our younger customers, and we’ll take your picture to put up on our site! We’ll judge all the entries and announce the winner on Monday!

AND THAT’S NOT ALL! Shelton and Seth have put together one of their super dollar box stocks, so be sure and come early to look for some sweet deals on back issues. Plus we’ll have a selection of horror-themed books and graphic novels discounted 20% for those of you looking for some macabre reading material! PLUS tons of free comics for trick-or-treaters, candy, and more! It’s a celebration!

Well, after a crazy busy month that included the Mid Ohio Con, Baltimore Comic Con, and the Big Apple Comic Con, Shelton is taking it easy this weekend… at another convention. Although this one is in our backdoor, run by old buddy Rob Young: the Greenville Comic Con is going on tomorrow, October 24, from 10 am-4 pm at the Comfort Inn, located at 2756 Laurens Road in good ol’ Greenville, South Carolina!

Shelton will be setting up at the show with our very own Store Manager, Shawn Reynolds, so be sure to go by and say hey to Shelton and Shawn. A bunch of our SC bros will be down there too, including J. Chris Campbell and the Wide Awake Press crew, the Dollar Bin guys, and tons more! For more info check out the show’s MySpace page!

Road Warrior Shelton Drum is hitting the highways again this weekend, this time headed up to New York City for the Big Apple Comic Con! He’s not going alone either; he’ll be accompanied by Winslow and Shelley Drum, and they’ll join forced with our buddies Steve Saffel and Dana Heyward in NYC to form a five-pointed ninja throwing star of comics retailing power. Best metaphor ever, believe it baby!

The show is going on tomorrow through Sunday, and for those of you within the sound of my digital voice who’ll be there, please accept this coupon! Bring it by the Heroes booth (Booth 1607) to get 20% off regular back issues and statues! Shelton will have his big stock that he and Seth have been working for months, and which is a big hit at every show he does. Plus the tons and tons of Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age books and other goodies!

And while you’re up there saying hey to Shelton and the gang and checking out the convention itself, buy Shelton a cup of coffee, would ya? He’s been hitting the road hard, and I’m sure he’s looking forward to a good long sleep after this!

Oh yeah! If you’re going to the Baltimore Comicon this weekend (it’s going on tomorrow and Sunday, October 10-11), here’s a special offer just for you! Click here or on the image above to open a printable pdf of this coupon! Take it by the Heroes booth (Booths 805-807) at the Baltimore Comicon to get 20% off Shelton’s sweet stock of back issues AND statues! Note that fancy books like Golden and Silver Age, “board” stock, etc, are not part of this offer, and there’s a little disclaimer just in case there’s something we forgot. But otherwise, go to town on that thing!

And even if you’re not hunting any back issues, be sure to stop by the Baltimore Comicon and say hey to Shelton and Winslow!

Guys guys guys! If you have kids looking for something safe and fun and FREE to do on Halloween, we’ve got you covered!

On Saturday, October 31st (Halloween, coincidentally) we’ll be having a big ole Halloween shindig here in our store!  We’ve got tons of free comics, including special Halloween comics published by the major publishers, plus tons of swag, specially-priced sale items for that day only, and more! Pluusssss, since it’s Halloween, we’ll have some trick-or-treatables!

But coolest of all, this year we’ll be having a Halloween Costume Contest in our store! Come by in costume, Halloweeners of all ages, and we’ll snap your photo and enter you into our contest! At least one winner (more depending on turnout) will win sweet freebies, with the top prize including a $25 gift certificate to the store! NOTE to parents–we will post these photos on our store’s website and/or Flickr account, so let us know if you’d prefer not to have your child’s picture included!

Don’t miss this sweet event! I’m sure Shelton and Seth will whip up some last-minute surprises for those of you who are value-minded, so there will be plenty to do for young and old! More details as the event gets closer!

Like I was saying in last week’s Heroes Hotline, the fall convention season is practically as busy as the summer! A bunch of us were wending our way hither and thither last weekend, and some of us will be thithering for weeks to come! Let’s start with last weekend though:

Our man Seth Peagler traveled with our other man Matt Knapik to scenic and mountainous Asheville, for the aptly named Asheville Minicon. Highlights include one of them–details are unclear, it was all very exciting–meeting Jack Davis and getting an autograph on an old copy of Yak-Yak for Shelton, who was away seeing Lucinda Williams in Charlottesville.

Speaking of Shelton, he was away seeing Lucinda Williams in Charlottesville, with his wife Linda. This was like the 7,000th time they’d seen Lucinda or something; Shelton keeps trying to convince Linda to add a little “uc” in the middle of her name. Creepy!  In between enthusiastic hoots and hollers, SD managed to squeeze off a couple of blurry iPhone pics; here’s one:

If you’ve ever seen Shelton talk about Lucinda in person, you know his eyes were probably as big as saucers while he was taking this. Dude sure does love him some Lucinda!

Meanwhile, I was up at SPX in Bethesda, although only tangentially for work, chatting up pros about HeroesCon and spreading good cheer. The rest of the time I was set up as a cartoonist, a secret aspiration I have been fanning into flame lately, and it was awesome. Here is what it looked like:

Gorgeous! I just can’t get enough of this guy. There’s a slowly building con report up at my own site, although I’ve been catching up like crazy this week so the rest is coming soon. So far most of it is about hotel room parties. SPOILER ALERT: so is the rest of it.

But check it: THIS weekend there’s even more travel afoot! Seth and Young Winslow will be driving down to Myrtle Beach for XCon World this weekend, while Shelton will be heading up to Mid Ohio Con, where he’ll be joined by daughter Enola and grand-daughter Faith, who’ll be helping her “Pop-Pop” for the very first time at a comics convention! And next weekend Shelton and Son Winslow will head up to the Baltimore Comicon! And next next weekend Shelton, Winslow and Daughter Shelley will drive up to NYC for the Big Apple Con, where they’ll be meeting our friends Steve and Dana! 5-person NYC onslaught! Be sure to stop by one of our many spots and say hello and buy some comics!