Shelton sent me a note about our customer Hick’ry Hawkins, who besides being one of the few customers or ours who regularly sports a great big cowboy hat with a black leather biker jacket, is also a local musician. Turns out that Hick’ry wrote a song called “Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find” which sounds suspiciously like the name of a certain friendly neighborhood local comics shop. I was going to upload the song here for you, but it turns out the file is a million times too big to upload to our little ole blog.

But listen! You can can check ole Double-H out yourself tomorrow at Puckett’s Farm, opening for the Straight 8’s. Who knows, maybe you’ll see old Sheltonious out there too! If you can’t make it, don’t despair–there’s plenty of music at Hick’ry’s MySpace page.

Do you like Seth Peagler, our Warehouse Manager and taciturn Hero? Sure we do!! Do you like to rock out for totally free? You know that’s right!! Are you a fan of musical genres including “Americana,” “Jazz,” “Rock,” “Blues,” and “More?” What are you kidding those are my top 5 musical genres in exactly that order!!Well, you are going to be pleased as punch when you enjoy Seth’s band American Motel, which is playing tonight at the Borders Morrocroft location, next to the “Taj Ma-Teeter” palatial Harris Teeter over by Southpark Mall. What? You don’t live in Charlotte and aren’t familiar with all these landmarks? You should already be in your car making the road trip, not reading blogs!!

Most of us will be there, if you like hanging out with us. And if you don’t, I believe there is enough seating for you to comfortably avoid us! Especially Shawn, who is on this new broccoli diet. Gross, Shawn! Okay see you there!

Whew! Man we are running around like crazy, but I wanted to update you on a couple of things before I get away from easy internet access. I’m super rushed though, and as I type in my air conditioned office, Seth and Shawn and our staff are sweating through load-in, so my guilt commands that I hurry up so I can join them. ??? Uh, guilt, that basically sounds like a terrible idea, but okay…

ITEM! All locations are up on our site, and are just as up-to-date as I could make them. You can find Guest, Small Press, and Exhibitor locations up there, including an updated list of the few cancellations we’ve had, in the sidebar at the right of the Guest List page.

ITEM! Just a reminder to all advance ticket holders: we will be allowing you on the floor 30 minutes in advance of the show opening times, as a thank you for your early patronage. This is ALSO a reminder to exhibitors, small press, and guests, who should definitely be sure to be ready for the crush 30 minutes early this year! We will be adjusting the time these people can get in as well.

ITEM! Ben Towle and Craig Fischer host an awesome in-depth look at the career of Steve Ditko. Check it:

You can read all about it on our Event Schedule page, which is ALSO updated!

ITEM! Ben and Craig are not the only ones who are BRINGING IT to HeroesCon. Our man Brian Pulido is bringing a special HeroesCon edition of Lady Death #1 and a new Lady Death print! Brian will be selling these at his booth in Artists Alley, which I do believe is booth #832.

Be sure you go by and say hi to Brian, AND/OR catch him moderating the Hero Initiative panel at 3.30 on Friday, which will feature fellow Hero Initiative board member George Perez!

ITEM! But what about BOOM!, who is also bringing it? They’ll have like 40 billion exclusive HeroesCon covers this weekend, including an Irredeemable #3, a Muppets foil cover by HeroesCon guest Roger Langridge, and a Farscape cover as well! And I feel kinda sure that I forgot one or two, too, so you’ll have to visit them at Booth 514/613 to get the full rundown!

Okay, hopefully I’ll be able to make another update before things get even crazier… but we’ll see. Any latebreaking news will be in the Heroes Hotline, which will go out first thing in the morning, bright and early!

SURROGATES trailer in HD

Oh yes! HeroesCon guest Rob Venditti is blowing up! The Surrogates film, adapted from Rob and Brett Weldele’s graphic novel, comes out this fall! While we’re not really into the whole Hollywood-at-comics-conventions kind of thing, we’re happy to do it this way, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy than Rob!

Check out our pal Tommy Lee Edwards, who beyond being an amazing AMAZING artist on comics like Marvel: 1985 and more, is also a bigtime illustrator who’s worked for Lucasfilm among a ton of other high-profile clients. Tommy Lee is once more participating in the Ride For Kids program this year, which benefits the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. We love Tommy Lee and hope you can help, or pass this along to help get the word out. From TL’s e-mail:

“Giving my time as a motorcyclist is my way of showing support for those families battling every day with childhood brain tumors.

Last year, hundreds of North Carolina bikers and I traveled the Triangle area and contributed to a national fundraising total of $4.5 million. With generous donations from friends and family, I was able to personally deliver $9,350. This total earned me the title of “Champion Fundraiser”. Along with that honor, I will be leading this year’s ride as we strive to beat the 2008 total and get even closer to a cure.

The 2009 Ride for Kids is next weekend, May 3rd, and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation needs your help.

DONATE NOW to sponsor my ride
http://www.firstgiving.com/edwardsillustration

Our primary source of donations in 2008 came from teaming up with Lucasfilm. We shipped a limited-edition Star Wars print, illustrated and signed by me, to anyone donating a minimum of $30. I’ve been unable to gather the resources in time to offer the same incentive for donors this year, but have planted seeds for 2010.

For this year, I’ve decided to go for a wild blitz-week of fundraising. We have one week to raise as much as possible. The cut-off is May 1st. So if you can, please donate today.

You can visit my firstgiving website to make a donation. Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to our fundraising efforts. Large or small, anything helps. And please don’t feel any pressure to donate at all. Many of you may not be in a position to do so, or chose to put your funds toward a separate charity.”

From our chums at the Movies At Crown Point theatre, we bring you a little quickie contest themed around this weekend’s Watchmen film premiere:

Movies At Crown Point will be holding 2 midnight showings of the movie this Thursday night at, well, midnight. To help spread the word, they’ve given us 5 passes to do with what we will, and we thought we’d have a little Watchmen-themed contest. Answer one of the trivia questions below to win a pair of passes, OR the bonus question for the fifth pass. DISCLAIMER: many of you will know the answer, so I will pick a winner randomly from the entries I get. PLEASE DON’T answer the question in the comments below, for obvious reasons.

E-mail your correct answers to me at dharbin{at}heroesonline{dot}com. Okay, let’s do it!

QUESTION 1 (good for 2 free passes):
What is the name of the artist (NOT Dave Gibbons) credited within the story for the art on the “Tales Of The Black Freighter” story?

QUESTION 2 (good for 2 free passes):
What was the occupation of Dr. Manhattan’s father?

BONUS QUESTION (good for 1 free pass):
What was the name of the paper that Rorschach sent his final journal to?

Okay! I’ll take correct answers until noon tomorrow (March 5), and winners can pick up their passes here in our store after that time! I’ll announce them here!

Yo Yo Yo! Now in the store are some fresh FREE sneak preview passes to the upcoming film “Push.” Each pass is good for two people, but you’d better show up early, because seating is limited. The showing is for Wednesday February 4 at 7.30 pm.

And for those of you who love to LAUGH, we have a very few passes for “The Pink Panther 2,” showing tomorrow night at 7.30pm.

In our continuing efforts to keep our readers aware of how many famous people we know, I wanted to point out that our chum Benji Hughes is going to be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight, cold kickin it! If you haven’t heard of Benji before, he’s a Charlotte fixture, and recently his debut double album has gotten reviewed all over the place, including a four-star review in Rolling Stone. More important than that? MY opinion: this album is super great and will be your favorite album to listen to in your car for at least a couple of months, guaranteed.

Check your local listings, yo!

I wanted to disturb you fine folks for a few minutes today, and plead for your assistance. I would like you to vote for my friend Bruce Hazel & Some Volunteers! Take a minute on the “my space” and give his stuff a listen!

Bruce Hazel and the band are one of 13 semi-finalist in an international search for the “Best Unsigned Band” by Genya Ravan, Little Steven Van Zandt from the E Street Band and Wicked Cool Records. The last round of voting continues through Friday, December 12th, via Genya Ravan’s Sirius Satellite program “Goldie’s Garage“. Find out more by checking out Bruce’s website at Wheeler St. Music

Just click on this link to register, and then follow the directions to VOTE. You do have to register at the site to vote online. And just to prove their bona fides, I totally asked them to tell you, the Heroesonline fan, about their favorite comics. I did not just make these pull quotes while I was at work.

Brent Bagwell:
Justice Society of America

Brent is a horn player extraordinaire. He plays all styles, whether it is free form jazz in the NYC-based “eASTERN sEABOARD”, or the improv stylings of the expansive “Project Bluebird”, or the straight up honky-funk in the Volunteers. And he just can’t get enough of the new JSA. He’s a fan of all of Geoff John’s recent yarns, up to and including Green Lantern, but Hawkman and the other ’40s characters grab a firm hold of his imagination. He will totally corner you and go on and on about it (and I love it!)

Karla Marsh:
To Terra, by Keiko Takemiya

The complete three volumes tell the story of one of those “manga futures”, wherein a race of telepathics called “Mu” are on the run from the humans who want to destroy them. Staying hidden and attempting to rescue as many Mu children as possible before they are eliminated, the Mu have only one desire: to return home. Heartbreaking and delicious.

Bruce Hazel:
Omega The Unknown

Bruce Hazel loves him some Jonathan Lethem, author of such notable novels as my favorite, Motherless Brooklyn, to Bruce’s preferred Fortress of Solitude. Lethem’s obvious love of comics is on display in his and Farel Dalrymple’s collection of the ten issue series. Based on the ’70s character created by Steve Gerber, Lethem explores areas of the search for identity, struggles for power and developing an understanding of who we are and what we are capable of.

Shawn Lynch:
E.C. Segars’s Popeye, from Fantagraphics

Shawn, beloved guitarist for the Volunteers, plus member in good standing of Lou Ford, plus 1/9th of the band Buschovski (who happen to have a show at The Neighborhood Theatre on December 20th, along with the release of their “Compact Disk”) likes the Fantagraphics “Popeye” collections. Originally a strip called “Thimble Theatre”, Popeye went from being a one-note incidental player to international superstar. Read these and see why.

Chad Wilson:
Dark Horse Star Wars comics

Chad goes on and on and on about Star Wars, and the Sith and the what not. In his defense, he only likes “real” Star Wars, and not the recent knock-offs. however, he quite enjoys The Knights of the Old Republic series from Dark Horse. He has good taste, so I’ll defer to him. He also liked Alan Moore’s From Hell.

Plus, you can come see some of the Volunteers this very weekend as Shawn Lynch and Mark Lynch play, along with the rest of Lou Ford, Friday night at Snug Harbor! If you like that, come back to Snug Harbor on Saturday to see Mark again, when he plays with The Trouble Walkers. Caution: The show will have B-A-D words.

I’ve been disappointed by most of the comic book movies. For the most part they have been enjoyable, but never live up to my expectations for story content, characterization, and honor to the source material. If a producer wants to do a superhero story, why not make it as close to the comic as possible? I was blessed this week with an opportunity to see Iron Man and I can emphatically say… Finally, someone has nailed it!

Iron Man is as close to perfect as a superhero movie has been. The origin is right. It is properly paced to give it time to develop. The motivations are correct. The casting is incredible. The sets are cool as they can be. The Iron Man tech is so believable! Subplots, characterizations and motivations are all right on target. There is real drama, lots of suspense and tons of humor, just like all good Marvel comics I fell in love with. I don’t want to give anything away, but just know that the trailer doesn’t do it justice. There is cool stuff going on all the way through. Anybody off the street (I call them “civilians”) will enjoy this movie, but there are plenty of comic book references and homage to satisfy all of us “vets.”

I can’t say enough good things about this movie. Everyone, please go see it Friday, May 2nd and we can all discuss how cool is at Free Comic Book Day (shameless plug for our annual party extraordinaire) on Saturday May 3rd. I’m so excited!