Not only did our friends from Project: Rooftop host an excellent panel while visiting HeroesCon this year, they were also asked by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to redesign Lady Liberty. Check out this video documenting the fun! Thanks to the folks at Project: Rooftop and the CBLDF for helping make HeroesCon 2011 such a great event!

This year Heroes Convention and the Drink and Draw Social Club hosted a charity event on Friday night after day one of the show. We got together at Fuel Pizza across the street from the Charlotte Convention Center and drew pictures on coasters that were then given to folks who donated to the charity. All the proceeds went to Team Cul de Sac to benefit Parkinson’s Disease research! Learn more here!

Thanks to HeroesCon guests and founders of the Drink and Draw Social Club, Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian, & Jeff Johnson for teaming up with us on this great event. Also, thanks very much to everyone who came out! We hope it becomes an annual tradition! More photos here!

Thanks again everyone for making HeroesCon 2011 so great! Here are some links to what others saw and did at the show. More memories and photos from HeroesCon 2011 to come! Next year is our 30th anniversary show, don’t miss it!

AdHouse Books Blog » Random HeroesCon 2011 Thoughts
Paige Hogan’s Photos from Heroes Con 2011 | CLT Blog
The Beat’s HeroesCon Coverage
Big Dog’s Studio: Heroes Con 2011 – Con Report
Comic News Insider’s Coverage
The Comics Reporter: Collective Memory: Heroes Con 2011
crayons and cupcakes: HEROESCON 2011
Doug Dabbs
Dollar Bin
Exile on Plain Street: HeroesCon 2011: Heather’s Wrap Up Report
Heroes Con 2011 – Day 1 » Ben Towle: Cartoonist, Educator, Hobo
Heroes Con 2011 – Day 2 » Ben Towle: Cartoonist, Educator, Hobo
Heroes Con 2011 – Day 3 » Ben Towle: Cartoonist, Educator, Hobo
Wook Jin Clark: Heroes Con 2011 Wrapup!
Joe Simon – My Life in Comics – Golden Age of Comic Books
Jackie Lewis: Heroes Con 2011
Jamie Cosley: Heroes Con = Best Con Ever!!!
McGeeks | HeroesCon 2011: The Thor Panel With Matt Fraction, Roger Langridge, and Jonathan Hickman
Andrew Robinson: Next Exit Comics: King Conan painting 5.0
Rich Barrett’s HeroesCon 2011 Report
HeroesCon Recap: Photo Essay/Day 3 | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources
HeroesCon Recap: Photo Essay | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources
SABRECAT – Heroes Con 2011
Team Cul de Sac: Heroescon update!
Eric Canete [ e ]: HEROESCON 2011_commissions
Kill Shakespeare
That F’ing Monkey: Heroes Con 2011: Interviews Part 1
That F’ing Monkey: Heroes Convention 2011: Nat Jones and ’68
The Adventurers Club: Heroes Con 2011 – Day 1 – Artists
The Panelists | Heroes Con 2011: Not All About Longboxes
Cartoonist draws peace from imagination | CharlotteObserver.com
Josh Latta: Who Let The Nerds Out? Heroes Con 2011 In Review

Twitter @heroesonline & #HeroesCon

MTV GEEK COVERAGE
HeroesCon » MTV Geek
HeroesCon 2011: Evan Dorkin, Roger Langridge and Richard Thompson Talk Humor in Comics
Artist Skottie Young Talks About Drawing Chickens and Digital Downloads
HeroesCon 2011: Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting On Remaking The FF
HeroesCon 2011: Project Rooftop Panel Highlights Redesigning The Superhero Costume
HeroesCon 2011: Artist Peter Krause Talks To Us About Leaving Irredeemable

VIDEO
YouTube – 2011 Heroes Convention Charlotte, NC
Brian Stelfreeze Alice
YouTube – Skottie Young sketches a flying monkey at Heroes Con 2011
YouTube – Brandon Peterson sketches Captain America at Heroes Con 2011
YouTube – ALFG Visits HEROES CON: 20111
YouTube – Heroes Con 2011 Slideshow
YouTube – Heroes Con Day #2
YouTube – HEROESCON 2011 DAY #3

• That Shelley Drum, and her Staff of Registration Booth Awesomeness featuring Jenny Bement, provided the perfect first impression to all of our Artists and Patrons
• That The Heroes Booth once again was the best at the Con. Seth Peagler and Phil Southern outdid themselves yet again!
• That Ben Towle and Craig Fischer are amazing!  Moebius and Blueberry Cake–genius!
• That  C.J. and Justin deserve special kudos for holding down the fort whilst the rest of us drank up all the weekend’s profits.
• That Steve Saffel, Dana Hayward and Dr.Scott Valeri are ROCKS who kept me (sorta) sane
• That we all owe the Lord Above a major solid for shifting the winds around for us on Sunday night
• That along with the aforementioned deity, I owe a major solid to Jimmy Aquino, Chad Bowers, Adam Daughhetee (OK, a few more than one solid!), Doug Merkle, Brandon Padgett, Shawn Daughhetee, Matthew Knapik, Chris Schweizer, Winslow Drum, DC’s Eddie Berganza, Vy Tran and Dustin Harbin! And Rico for all his fabulous ideas.Thanks guys’n’ gal.
• That Richard Thompson and Roger Langridge helped to make this one of the best weekends of my life!
• That The Comic Strip was an Awesome idea; I could have spent every moment of the Con roaming around there!  Let’s do it again next year!
• That after all those Subs, Calzones and Chick-Fil-A, I really need to eat a green vegetable–STAT
• That our stalwart Information Booth anchored by the always fabulous Charles Foesch and his partner, HeroesCon In-house Counsel, Heather McKinney is the place to be for fun and focus all weekend long.
• That each one of us contemplated–at least for a few moments– abandoning our current lives and joining Rusty Baily in Hawaii. ALOHA!
• That it should be said again and again, that the Art Auction Duo of Michaele Autry and Trey Alexander are the reigning MVPs of HeroesCon
• That Izzy Renzi is our new BFF and a whiz with the hole-punch.
• That every year, the Quick Draw remains the most delightful and (sometimes) heart-wrenching event at HeroesCon.  Don’t believe it?  Come by next year and see.
• That in addition to being the next up-and-coming Panel Moderator Extraordinaire, Doug “Rain Man” Merkle remains an excellent driver
• That Heidi MacDonald from The Beat rocks!  Thank you so much for all your effort and advice!  God bless ya!
• That I was proven correct by the Saturday morning panel discussion– Wednesday Comics was the most exciting publication of last year
• That Chris (Cinderella) Roberson speaks as cleverly and as wittily as he writes–and that is saying something!
• That collectively all of Charlotte will shed a tear or two when Chrissie Zullo departs for NYC

photo by Vy Tran

• That Darwyn Cooke is one of the most engaging conversationalists in the industry and
• That everyone who has not read The Hunter or The Outfit are doing themselves a major disservice
• That I will always have an extra special place in my pure fan-boy heart for Jim Scancarelli, Marcus Hamilton, Joe Staton, Mike Rhode, John Read, Irwin Hasen, Nick Cardy and Alex Saviuk.
• That I owe all the success of this years panels to my Dream Team- the multi-hued, multi-talented Karla Marsh, the always vivacious Pants (yaaaay!), the always colorful Val Staples and our tireless and brilliant friends–the crew from the DollarBin– Adam Daughhetee and his not so evil minions Devin and that Ted Tarver person
• That HeroesCon remains THE best and most family friendly Comic convention in the US today
• That everyone I’ve forgotten will please forgive me, I am still a tad shredded by all the weekend’s activity!
• That Rico Renzi is a beacon of calm leadership and innovative thinking in the midst of mounting (albeit controlled) chaos. Well Done sir!  Outstanding!!!

and finally

• That in the pantheon of the all-time Great Conventioneers, Store Owners and Comic Collectors, Shelton Drum’s place must be listed simply as “none higher “

See you in 385

HeroesCon 2011 was AMAZING! We would like to thank all the great (and polite) fans, talented (and good-looking) creators, accommodating (and well-stocked) exhibitors, and of course our amazing (and tireless) volunteers for another great Heroes Convention! Attendance was up from last year and we hope that everyone that came had a great time. HeroesCon always feels like a family reunion with a comic convention wrapped inside of it and we hope you get the same feeling. We hope all of our new “family members” will return for many years to come. We’ll be posting pictures and memories (send us your links!) from the show here on the blog so check back for that soon. Thanks again to everyone that made 2011 an unforgettable year for our show, don’t be strangers, and we’ll see you next year for our 30th Anniversary Heroes Convention, it’ll be a doozy!

Last chance for Advance 3-Day passes to HeroesCon 2011 that is! HeroesCon 2011 starts in 5 days! The deadline for purchasing these will be Tuesday, May 31 at 9:00 PM EST. Advance 3-Day passes entitle you to early entry every day of the convention (at our discretion). Every year we also give an signed and numbered print to advance pass holders and this year is no different! The 2011 incentive print features art by master of the macabre, Bernie Wrightson! Feast your peepers on a teaser of the art for this year’s print above. NOTE:  Prints are not guaranteed to be ready for pickup until possibly Friday evening or Saturday as Bernie has to sign over a 1000 of these bad boys when he gets into town. So, if you see Bernie, just say thank you and go easy on the handshakes!

In other convention news, we are working round the clock to get all of our small press listings up on the site and ready for our program books. Thank you for your patience! We are a small staff running a BIG convention and we are going to make sure everyone that attends the show this year has the time of their lives!

Table assignments for professionals, Indie Island and exhibitors are now up on the site, check them out! We can’t wait to see you all in just a few days!

Plan your weekend at HeroesCon, our complete event schedule has been posted!

Here it is the week before HeroesCon 2011 and we still have lots of guests to announce! Let’s not waste any more time and get right to it!

Farel Dalrymple: creator of Pop Gun War,  Meathaus & Strange Tales II contributor, artist on Omega the Unknown.

Kelly Sue DeConnick: writer of Osborn, Supergirl, CBGB, and Yo Gabba Gabba!

Paul Azaceta: artist of Amazing Spider-man, B.P.R.D.: 1946, and Daredevil.

Derec Donovan: artist of Youngblood, Robin, Connor Hawke.

Will Sliney: Farscape artist.

Georges Jeanty: artist of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Deadpool, Gambit, Weapon X.

Marsha Cooke: co-writer of Teenage Satan.

John Workman: legendary letterer of titles for just about every major publisher, including DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse.

John Francis Moore: writer of X-factor, Superboy, and X-men: 2099.

Rebekah Isaacs: artist of DV8: Gods and Monsters, DMZ, Drafted.

Danny Donovan: writer for Alternative Comics and Platinum Studios.

Ryan Bodenheim: artist of Halcyon, Red Mass for Mars.

Clay and Susan Griffith: co-writers of Allan Quatermain and the Lord of Locusts, Political Power.

Charles Paul Wilson III: artist of Stuff of Legend.

Jackie Lewis: Upcoming Play Ball from Oni

Bob Schreck and Greg Tumbarello: Schreck is the editor-in-chief of Legendary Pictures new line of comics aptly titled Legendary Comics. Tumbarello is the assistant editor for this new comic venture.  Both will be on hand to talk about their new company as well as offering portfolio reviews.

We’re only a few short weeks away from HeroesCon ’11 but we still have some exciting guests to announce!  We’ll start today’s update with Ethan Van Sciver, whose work on Green Lantern, Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth have made him one of DC’s go-to artists.  He’s also illustrated popular runs on titles like Impulse, Superman/Batman, and New X-men.

Al Bigley’s worked on everything from Sonic the Hedgehog to Archie and Disney Adventures.  He’s also written instructional books on comics art, done storyboards for animation and television, and worked on merchandising for everything from NASCAR to Batman action figures.

Comic strip fans rejoice!  Gasoline Alley’s own Jim Scancarelli will be making another HeroesCon appearance this year.  Not only has Jim been working on the legendary strip since the eighties, but he’s also a respected bluegrass musician. Jim’s also a really nice guy, so make sure you stop by and welcome him back to HeroesCon!

Dennis the Menace’s own Marcus Hamilton also returns to HeroesCon this year.  Before landing the job of illustrating the Dennis dailies, Marcus worked in freelance illustration, providing covers for books, magazines, and various advertisements.  Marcus and Jim both live in the Charlotte area and we’re proud to have two talented locals continuing to produce high quality comic strips.

Ed McGuinness is leading the charge on today’s guest list update! Ed’s Capcom-influenced art style has helped blur the lines between Eastern and Western interpretations of Marvel and DC’s iconic superheroes. With great runs on Deadpool, Superman, Superman/Batman, and The Hulk, Ed has made an indelible mark on mainstream American comic books. On top of all that, Ed is a great guy and we are very happy to have him back at HeroesCon.

Also joining us this year is Ed’s former editor at DC Comics, Eddie Berganza. Eddie is the executive editor of the DC Universe line. A 19-year veteran of DC, Berganza oversees high-profile events like Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night and their latest crossover event, Flashpoint.