Whew! I’ll try to be brief, as I’ve written exhaustive descriptions for all the photos I just uploaded to our Flickr page. So we’ll do it chronologically. Ready? Okay? Let’s go!

So Heroes’ owner Shelton Drum, Operations Manager Todd Harlan, and me (I’m Dustin) piled in an overstuffed rental van last Friday and left two hours late for Baltimore, Maryland, and the 2007 Baltimore Comicon. Shelton’s good buddies with show’s organizer Marc Nathan; and while I’m usually suspicious, I have to say that he’s a pretty cool dude. It’s a good sign when no one’s saying anything bad about somebody, and pretty much everybody likes Marc. Uh-oh, this isn’t a good start, brevity-wise. Let me make it up to you: I’ll skip any description of the drive up there, except 1) being 6’2″ and riding in the back seat of a rental van sucks, and 2) we made great time.

Once in the city, we met our buddy Steve Saffel at the hotel and got some dinner. Steve’s worked for about everybody inside and outside the comics biz, and is a straight-up class act from day one. Frankly, Shelton doesn’t deserve friends that good. Steve has a new snazzy Spider-Man coffee table book out, and throughout the weekend missed no opportunity to whip it out to show people: you never saw such a proud papa. My friend Randy Howell, a Baltimore local, met us at dinner, and he and Todd and I ditched the older guys (“That drive really took it out of me”) and met up with some of our comics friends for some drinks and good times. Here, for brevity’s sake, and to resist the urge to constantly name drop, I will skip all description of that evening.

Boy, what a night! Waking up the next morning was a trial, but we did it, and somehow had our booth set up and ready for action by the time the show opened at 10. And did it ever open! I have to assume that Marc Nathan set an attendance record this year, as the floor filled up pretty quickly and we started selling comics hand over fist right away. Once things had leveled off a little bit, I started cruising the floor: my reason for being there was to line up more awesome guests for HeroesCon 07. It takes me a while to conquer my powerful aversion to meeting strangers, which is something of a handicap in this business–after some false starts, I finally started talking to pro’s, the list of which is far too long to mention here. Although I will say it was nice to see the guys from Gaijin and quasi-Gaijin–Cully, Brian, Karl, Phil Noto, Tony Shasteen, Doug Wagner. Plus old friends of the show like Ron Garney, Howard Chaykin, and Michael Golden. Ron Garney, by the way, is a cool dude if you ever get the chance to meet him.

One of the high/low points was standing in different lines in order to meet creators, in order to then invite them to be guests at our show. The worst was Howard Chaykin–we already know him, but I wouldn’t feel right about bustin in his line to say hello, so I respectfully (foolishly) stood in his line for 15 minutes, until I noticed he was regaling the same two guys with stories, and that the line hadn’t moved an inch in all that time. So I switched over to Mike Mignola‘s line, which was moving briskly. Within ten minutes I was right up front and stuttering out my invitation. The problem is that I’m a huge fan of Mike Mignola, and hate to meet him, only to immediately pitch him on something. I guess it’s better than if I were handing him a script or something, but I’d rather talk about how awesome he was. Of course, we sure would love to have him back in Charlotte (he was last here in ’94). When I told Todd I’d invited him he nearly wet his pants, he got so excited. What a nerd.

So let’s skip ahead: because Paul Pope is a super-nice guy, he invited me to come along as his guest to the Harvey Awards. Beforehand the two of us and Jimmy Aquino, co-host of the popular Comic News Insider podcast, had a crab dinner, which was both tasty and expensive. Mid-meal the phone rang, and I took my crabby fingers and shirt-front outside to confer with Nick Gurewitch of the PBF on our Harvey award acceptance scheme (see the Flickr page for the complete rundown, with even more name-dropping). Once our dinner and bottle of wine were finished, we tottered over to the Harvey’s, where we were seated at maybe the coolest table in the place: it was me, Chris Pitzer, Paul, Dean Haspiel and his girlfriend Laura, James Jean, and a guy named (I’m mispelling it) Henrik (I’m probably mispronouncing it, too), who was totally cool.

I’ve heard a lot of negative things from people about the Eisner’s ceremony: not that it’s bad, just that it’s soul-crushingly long. The Harvey’s were actually refreshingly short, with a lot of cool stuff–Sergio Aragones was the keynote speaker, Kyle Baker was the emcee, so there was a lot of joke-cracking. James Jean was one of the presenters, and when he got up to present he told a story about going to Adam Kubert‘s house as a teenager and drawing Wolverine and practicing ribcages and stuff. I can’t remember all of it–that was some good wine we had at dinner. Joe Kubert accepted an award from the Hero Initiative for his work on their behalf–the man who presented the award made a super-long speech about Joe and the Hero Initiative, and then Joe got up and said, “Well, thanks” and sat back down, which made everyone laugh. One of the funniest presenters was Erik Larsen, who made a joke about Superboy and blonde hair which cracked everyone up–except me (I think it was a comic book reference I missed; or wine). He was presenting the award for Best Single Issue or Story, which eyebrow-raisingly went to Civil War #1 which came out like ten years ago, and beat Fun Home, Pride of Baghdad, Mom’s Cancer, and Ganges #1, among others. Surprise! I think you can find a complete list of the Harvey winners here.

After the Harvey’s it was off to the hotel bar, where there was a lot of chitchat, some really expensive drinks, and some good ole networking. I had a good conversation with James Jean about Charles Mingus, but we were interrupted by something, and then James escaped my clutches and there was no one to talk jazz with. The hotel was packed with pro’s–I got to talk to Jim Starlin for a little bit, as well as Nick Barrucci of Dynamic Forces, Tony Shasteen and Tom Feister. I’d planned to go the Mike Wieringo tribute that was held at Edgar’s, but almost immediately after the Harvey’s someone told me they’d gone and that no one was there–the implication being that it had moved, or maybe had always been planned in another bar. Not true! As Shelton told me later, it was at Edgar’s after all, but there was some confusion about what part of the bar. So I missed it, but luckily Todd and Shelton and Steve made it over there, and they said they had a great time. People had gathered to celebrate Mike’s life and enjoy each other’s company, which as someone said, was “exactly what Mike would have wanted.” Anyone who ever met Ringo could tell you that the last thing he’d want was for anyone to be inconvenienced on his behalf–so a good ole party was a great way to remember him.

Speaking of Ringo, I have to mention the many, many pro’s that donated sketches or autographs in his name. I’m not sure what the total might have been, but it seemed like every five minutes they were announcing a different creator signing or sketching to benefit the ASPCA (one of Mike’s favorite charities) or Hero Initiative. The only problem was that the announcements were kind of loud, and the guy doing them had this stentorian deep voice, so it was like God was talking all the time. Oh, that God! Anyway, Sunday was the last day of the show, and I spent much of it meeting everyone else in the convention center, and regretting the second of two hotdogs I had for lunch. I heard a LOT of praise for HeroesCon, both from people who’ve been (“You can consider me confirmed for LIFE” I heard a lot) and who haven’t (“I’ve been hearing about how great your show was for years”), which of course felt great. Between myself and Shelton, we made a ton of confirmations, which I’ll be announcing over the next couple of weeks a few at a time, as we get back into the swing of things.

That night, after loading out our booth and packing the van up, Shelton, Todd, Steve and I (I’m Dustin) went to the Geppi Entertainment Museum for a reception. I was thinking it would just be kinda so-so–Oh, Look! A Lot Of Comics Stuff!–but I was blown away by how cool it was. If you’re in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for any reason, and like comics even a little, you have got to stop in this place. Todd and I were totally geeking out over all the strip art: while I was looking at a Milton Caniff Terry & the Pirates, Todd would point out a Winsor McCay original, then an E.C. Segar. We were bouncing from wall to wall like the kids in Willy Wonka. Everything was really classy, too. Top of the line all the way: lots of dark wood grain, exposed brick, and everything super shiny and clean.

Almost finished! After turning in for an actual complete night of sleep, we got up Monday morning ready to go to the Diamond Retailer Summit. Unfortunately, we got mesmerized watching Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie” and almost missed breakfast. But not even surly caterers could keep up from free food, and we wolfed down our breakfast and then attended a couple of workshops. After lunch Todd and I repaired to the harbor to see that big ole boat, the USS Constellation, but only had about a half-hour before the last presentation we wanted to see. Once that was done, we were out, baby! Literally moments after it ended, we were on the freeway–remember how easy it is to get to the highway from the convention center?–and on the way home. Many thanks to the Baltimore Comicon, in many ways our “sister” show. Marc Nathan, his fiance Shelly, and their staff really put on a great, friendly show, and we were pleased as punch to be part of it. Thanks to everyone who was nice to us in Baltimore. And to the haters: well, you know what they get.

Attention:

As Operations Manager it is my duty to inform you that, due the Labor Day Holiday on Monday the 3rd, new comics will not arrive in our store until Thursday, September 6th. Which is also Dustin’s birthday.

That is all.

Whew, am I tired! Although there are worse ways to get there than a trip to Toronto. Which is exactly where Shelton sent me last weekend, to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival up in gorgeous Ontario, Canada. Seriously, Toronto is a pretty city–and I live in Charlotte, which is no dump, either. Those of you who live in Charlotte and have visited New York City, imagine a bizarre hybrid of the two–all the amenities of a giant city, except not so giant, and shockingly, surprisingly, impressively clean. Plus, the part of town that the convention was held in was filled with gorgeous old ivy-colored buildings, often right next to giant modern structures or steel and glass apartment buildings. And, coming from a week of 100+ degree temperatures in Charlotte, the 60-75 degree range up in Toronto last weekend was a slice of heaven. Heaven, I tell you!

Oh, but let me tell you about the convention–remember the convention? This was the (I believe) third iteration of TCAF, held previously in 2003 and 2005, and a success by any measure, I’d say. Held on the grounds of the Old Victoria College, it gave a very academic air to everything. Seriously–you had to walk down at least two or three gorgeously landscaped sidewalks to get anywhere, and any anywhere you might be headed to was inside a big stone college building, covered in ivy. The convention-goers mixed in pretty well with regular-ole college students, so I often felt like I was in a college with a ridiculous love of comics. Tables were set up in a connected network of high-ceilinged rooms, with fans milling from table to table, up and down stairs. While I usually don’t like this style of show setup, as you inevitably don’t get to all the rooms, and have a terrible time remembering where anyone was if you do, the quality of the setting made it a little more like an academic bazaar. It certainly helped that everyone I talked to was very friendly and helpful, always a plus for us Southerners, who often have our Southern accents mercilessly mocked when we go anywhere north of say, Richmond.

It certainly didn’t hurt that they had so many cool guests in attendance, many of whom are even now pondering the invitation I gave them to attend next year’s HeroesCon. I’d forgotten that Nextwave and Ultimate Spider-Man artist Stuart Immonen was on the guest list, and had a good time talking to him at his table. Ditto for Paul Rivoche, who was super-duper nice, and so humble I almost asked him to carry my bag for me. It’s always the most talented guys that are the sweetest, I guess, which is fine by me. I got to talk to a number of people who are either already coming next year, including Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, and Jeffrey Brown; plus a number who are near confirming, who of course I can’t name out of deep respect for their privacy, and also fear. But I met a ton of people over the weekend, and passed out a lot of flyers with our spiffy new Indie Island logo, and generally had a great time.

But while walking around a convention for hours and hours is no picnic on the legs, it’s the after-hours that can really drain a guy like me. Trying to keep up with Paul Pope is definitely draining–these New Yorkers have partying muscles that we North Carolinians just lack. On the other hand, Pope’s a former Torontonian, so it was nice to have a person who knew the in’s and out’s of the city at your back. We hooked up with some locals, including the super-cool Steve Manale and Gary Taxali, plus got to see good ole James Jean again, which is always a plus. Toronto is like Charlotte in that all the sweet people seem to know each other, so the nights were a who’s who of sweetness.

Big ups go to convention organizers Peter Birkemoe and Christopher Butcher; who, besides running a very cool show, also run one of the coolest comics stores (let’s say second-coolest, shall we?) around, The Beguiling. Although due to a medley of schedule-destroying events on Sunday, I never got to go by and pay my respects, not to mention shop. I did get to meet both of them at the show, and spend some time talking about the enormous energy it takes to put on a show of any quality at all. Very cool guys–thanks a lot for making a poor dumb Southerner feel at home up in Canada!

So the long and short is that you can expect some really awesome HeroesCon guest list announcements in the next couple of weeks, as I gradually wheedle all my invitations into confirmations. Next stop: Marc Nathan’s Baltimore Comicon, coming up just two days after my birthday: September 8-9! I believe Shelton and Todd and I will be making a weekend of it. Party!

Hey, just a reminder–if you’re going to be in the neighborhood of oh, say, Toronto, Ontario, Canada this weekend, you’d be a fool to miss this year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday (August 18-19, 2007) the show boasts a pretty impressive guest list, including Darwyn Cooke, Paul Pope, Chester Brown, Seth, James Jean, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and on and on. Why not check out their site for the whole thing? All this typing is making my fingers hurt–besides, I’ve got to get this week’s Heroes Hotline done so I can catch a plane up to Toronto, where you can meet me if you’re bored with all these talented types. Although I charge for signatures…

The following comes from Mike’s site:

“First, there will be a public viewing this Friday (August 17th) from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Hall-Wynne Funeral Service at 1113 West Main Street in Durham, NC, followed by a chapel service at 2:00. This will be open to any of Mike’s friends and colleagues who’d like to attend. Please come prepared to share a Mike story. I plan on putting you on the spot. It would really help our Mom and Dad through this.

Second, at a time to be determined, there will be a private service for Mike’s family in Lynchburg, where we grew up.

As mentioned before, in lieu of flowers, if you’d like please send donations to the A.S.P.C.A. (aspca.org) or to the Hero Initiative (heroinitiative.org). I had previously mentioned the CBLDF but, having time to think about it, I realized that the Hero Initiative was more Mike’s style.”

You can read the entire post at http://www.mikewieringo.com/.

Thanks to the ever-vigilant eyes of Dirk Deppey at the Journalista! blog, I can pass on to those of you who don’t already know that last week was Comics Week at the Onion AV Club, and besides Mr Bendis, there are also interviews with Bill Willingham, Joss Whedon, and more. However, if you’re of a sensitive nature, watch out–some of these guys are big on the swears. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Mom!

Thanks to Keven Gardner from 12 Gauge Comics for sending us this link to an interview at the San Diego Comicon (going on through Sunday) with our sweetheart Rosario Dawson, who briefly discusses her love of comics, Occult Crimes Taskforce, and even finds time to mention good old HeroesCon!

Holy star-studding, Batman! Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly writes here about the October 7th episode of The Simpsons, which will take place at a giant comic book convention and feature the voices of Jack Black, Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, and Dan Clowes. I read about it on the excellent Fantagraphics blog, aptly named FLOG!