FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find has become famous across the country for throwing one of the most rip-roaringest, rootin-tootinest, BIGGEST Free Comic Book Day bashes anywhere! And this year we’re really going nuts!

FIRST: From 10-9 on Saturday, May 1st, we’ll  be giving away copies of select comic books! I don’t mean a few either–it’s around 2 dozen different titles! There’s no catch either–just show up to get your copies, while supplies last! We won’t be mad if you spend some money though, and we’ll have plenty to spend it on, with special stocks of dollar books on hand, sale items throughout the store, deals on books and toys and statues and whatever else Shelton has been collecting on his travels!

SECOND: From 1-5 pm we’ll be hosting all these guys, who’ll be participating in a MEGA signing, not to mention doing FREE sketches:

MARK BROOKS (Amazing Spider-Man)
CHRIS BRUNNER (Legends of the Dark Knight, Loose Ends)
NATHAN EDMONDSON (The Light, Olympus)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic the Hedgehog)
SANFORD GREENE (Wonder Girl, Method Man)
CULLY HAMNER (Detective Comics, Red)
ADAM HUGHES (Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider)
JASON LATOUR (Loose Ends, The Expatriate)
TOM LYLE (Amazing Spider-Man)
BUDD ROOT (Cavewoman)
ANDY SMITH (Nevermore, Superman Confidential)
ALLISON SOHN (Lord of the Rings: Evolution)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (Batman, The Ride)

Good gravy! NOTE that free sketches are at the discretion of the artists, and are in no way guaranteed. Many thanks to everyone for donating their time so kindly, but there will be A LOT of people there and they can’t do sketches for everyone. Some may choose to accept donations for different charities, so please respect that as well–I know Sanford collects for a charity on Free Comic Book Day, so don’t be shy about ponying up a little scratch for him.

And, if that wasn’t enough, THIRD we have an amazing POST-Free Comic Book Day celebration! We’ll be heading up the street to one of the coolest new night-spots in Charlotte, TWENTY-TWO, a gallery and wine bar that is s-w-w-w-wank! Besides the fact that the owners Rodney and Lise are friends of ours, they’re also hosting THIS:

SUPER! The Fine Art Of Comics is a month long art exhibit featuring original art from some of the biggest names at HeroesCons past and present, as well as some choice pieces from Shelton Drum‘s personal collection! Saturday night we’ll have the opening exhibition at Twenty-Two, and then the exhibit will run throughout the month of May, with the closing party scheduled for Friday, June 4–right after day one of HeroesCon! Just a few of the names who will have art hanging–Adam Hughes, Tony Harris, Brian Stelfreeze, Joe Jusko… the list goes on and on. This will be a perfect capper to an awesome day–hope to see you there!

New to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List! Ben McCool, co-creator of the hit series Choker with fellow guest Ben Templesmith! Ben (McC, not T-smith) has been to HeroesCon before just to have fun, but this will be his first time as a full-on guest! He’s racking up a ton of credits lately too–besides Choker, he’s got the upcoming Memoir, and I think has a couple more secret announcements saved up as well! He’ll be accompanied by his bride-to-be, our buddy Heidi MacDonald, editor-in-chief of The Beat. Heidi’s always a welcome site around the convention center, rapping with people, sittting on panels, slapping playa-haytaz in the face, what-have-you. She’s good people!

Also new this week is first-time guest David Wohl, who’s worked for Marvel Comics, been President at Top Cow Productions, and is now Editor-In-Chief at Radical Publishing. His credits  include Executive Assistant: Iris, Witchblade, Aphrodite IX, and tons and TONS more–super awesome to have him!

Mike Lilly is also making his HeroesCon debut this year–artist on Black Terror, as well as a past artist on Vampirella, Quasar, Nightwing, and more. I BET he’d love to draw in your sketchbook at the show, all you sketchbook hounds. He’s joined on the list by Tsunami Studios members Jason Walker and Garry McKee, who between them have worked on numerous illustrations for trading card sets including the new Iron Man 2 series, and for gaming companies like White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, and more!

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which ones she is most excited about!

1) Invincible Iron Man #25

This issue introduces Iron Man’s new costume!

2) Wilson HC

This is Daniel Clowes‘s first original graphic novel. The story is told through a series of one page “strips” using different artistic styles. Wilson is about a man’s journey of self discovery as he tries to reconnect with his family.

3) Neil Gaiman’s Instructions HC

Gaiman gives us instructions on what to do if we are in a fairy tale world. It is beautifully illustrated by Charles Vess. Definitely worth a look!

4) Fraggle Rock #1

Some of you may remember Jim Henson‘s series Fraggle Rock. Being a Henson/Muppet uber-fan I know I remember! And I own them all on DVD, but I digress. This first issue contains three short stories. The last story is written and drawn by Jeffery Brown (so is the Uncle Traveling Matt cover). Check out the FCBD Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock flip book for a taste of this new series!

5) Garrison #1

Jeff Marriotte and Francesco Francavilla bring us a creator owned book from Wildstorm. This is the first issue of a six-issue miniseries about a killer. The only question is: Is he good or is he bad. I am really glad that Wildstorm does this and I really hope that they continue to support creator owned endeavors!

Oh man. Such a massive update today to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List. I wish I had more time to really go IN-DEPTH talking excitements about all these sweet peeps, but Free Comic Book Day is right around the corner! So I hope they and you will forgive me for hitting each one really quick so I can get back to the other six piles of work on my desk! Okay here goes:

REBECCA BUCHMAN is an inker with (I believe) Studio Revolver in Atlanta, who’s worked on Green Lantern Corps, Thunderbolts, Avengers: the Initiative, JSA and a bunch more.

RICH FABER is the inker and editor on the all-ages hit Buzzboy, as well as the creator of Roboy Red and others. He also has inked books including Green Lantern, Adventures of Superman, and more.

JANET LEE is making her HeroesCon debut this year, as the artist of Return of the Dapper Men from Archaia Studio Press. She’s also making her debut to comics, so make her feel welcome to both!

JAMES “DOODLE” LYLE is a HeroesCon mainstay who’s worked on a ton of books including the new Dark Candle, The PLUS, Turok, and more.

JIM MCCANN writes the ongoing Hawkeye & Mockingbird series, as well as writing and co-creating Return of the Dapper Men.

TOM RANEY (who did the pencils above) has penciled most everything, most recently Dark Reign: Hawkeye and Black Widow: Deadly Origin. And before that Thor, X-Men, Warlock & The Infinity Watch–like I said, tons of stuff.

CRAIG ROUSSEAU. Love this dude. Studly artist of The Perhapanauts, you might also have espied Craig on Iron Man: Armor Wars, the new Marvel Free Comic Book Day book, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, and more. You ask him yourself, why don’t you?

ROD WHIGHAM has most recently worked on GI Joe from IDW, although he’s still the artist on the syndicated Gil Thorp newspaper strip. He’s also known for work on The Punisher, The Shadow, and Justice League!

Okay! More to come, but that’s plenty for now, am I right?

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find has become famous across the country for throwing one of the most rip-roaringest, rootin-tootinest, BIGGEST Free Comic Book Day bashes anywhere! And this year we’re really going nuts!

FIRST: From 10-9 on Saturday, May 1st, we’ll  be giving away copies of select comic books! I don’t mean a few either–it’s around 2 dozen different titles! There’s no catch either–just show up to get your copies, while supplies last! We won’t be mad if you spend some money though, and we’ll have plenty to spend it on, with special stocks of dollar books on hand, sale items throughout the store, deals on books and toys and statues and whatever else Shelton has been collecting on his travels!

SECOND: From 1-5 pm we’ll be hosting all these guys, who’ll be participating in a MEGA signing, not to mention doing FREE sketches:

MARK BROOKS (Amazing Spider-Man)
CHRIS BRUNNER (Legends of the Dark Knight, Loose Ends)
NATHAN EDMONDSON (The Light, Olympus)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic the Hedgehog)
SANFORD GREENE (Wonder Girl, Method Man)
CULLY HAMNER (Detective Comics, Red)
ADAM HUGHES (Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider)
JASON LATOUR (Loose Ends, The Expatriate)
BUDD ROOT (Cavewoman)
TOM LYLE (Amazing Spider-Man)
ANDY SMITH (Nevermore, Superman Confidential)
ALLISON SOHN (Lord of the Rings: Evolution)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (Batman, The Ride)

Good gravy! NOTE that free sketches are at the discretion of the artists, and are in no way guaranteed. Many thanks to everyone for donating their time so kindly, but there will be A LOT of people there and they can’t do sketches for everyone. Some may choose to accept donations for different charities, so please respect that as well–I know Sanford collects for a charity on Free Comic Book Day, so don’t be shy about ponying up a little scratch for him.

THIRD: We just undated our New Releases page with the titles that will be available here on Free Comic Book Day. And remember it is first come first serve, so get here early if you want to have the best selection. Here is the list of the titles:

ARCHIES SUMMER SPLASH
ARTIFACTS FIRST LOOK
ATOMIC ROBO AND FRIENDS
BONGO COMICS FREE FOR ALL
DC KIDS MEGA SAMPLER 2010 EDITION
DEL REY SHOWCASE
DOCTOR SOLAR MAGNUS ROBOT HUNTER
FEARLESS DAWN ASYLUM PRESS SAMPLER
FRACTURED FABLES
GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #155 1/2
GREEN HORNET
IRON MAN SUPVERNOVA
IRON MAN THOR
IRREDEEMABLE #1
KIZOIC SHREK & PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR
LIBRARY OF AMERICAN COMICS #0
LOVE & CAPES #13
MOUSE GUARD FRAGGLE ROCK FLIP BOOK
ONI PRESS FREE FOR ALL
OVERSTREET GUIDE TO COLLECTING COMICS
OWLY & FRIENDS
RADICAL BIGGER BOOKS BIGGER VALUE
S E HINTON FAME #1
SIXTH GUN #1
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG HIDE SEEK DESTROY #1
STORM LION
STUFF OF LEGEND & MORTAL INSTRUMENTS
TICK #1 SPECIAL EDITION
TOY STORY
WAR OF THE SUPERMEN #0
WEATHERCRAFT
WORLDS OF ASPEN
YOW THE JOHN STANLEY LIBRARY

See you at Free Comic Book Day!

Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness, new additions to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List, including these guys:

Have you ever met Richard Thompson? Holy crap what a sweetie-pants. He was a guest back in 2008 and blew my mind he was so nice, just insanely a sweet guy. Although he’s a quiet talker, so you have to lean close. And he’s not a big guy, so you have to stoop down. I KID, I KID! Richard can afford a little smack-talk from lil ole me, because he gets nothing but accolades from anywhere else–besides being the creator of the incredibly well-loved Cul de Sac newspaper strip, he also has done the Washington Post’s “Richard’s Poor Almanack” column for years, and has done illustration for the Post, the New York Times, the New Yorker–whoever. You name it.

And he’s been nominated for the Reuben award more than once, including this year–next to the Pulitzer, the Reuben is about as big as it gets for a cartoonist. Imagine the Eisners but if there was a “The One Ring” Eisner called THE Eisner.” That’s THE Reuben. Just so you know (super proud of Richard) (did you guys get the Lord of the Rings reference?).

But enough about that guy–how about this:

Erika Moen is one of the most popular web cartoonists working today–she just wrapped up her long long LONGGGG-running diary strip “Dar,” in order (I think) to pursue new projects. Surely like a book or something right? Pretty sure that must be it. When she’s not publishing an insanely popular strip, she’s a member of Portland’s Periscope Studios, along with fellow guests Jeff Parker, Steve Lieber, and a bajillion others. Man that place, whoa. This will be Erika’s first trip to Charlotte, so I hope you guys will make her feel welcome!

But wait that’s not all! Also new to the guest list today are our buddies Pat Bollin, who besides his work on Oni’s Resurrection comic has some new secret unannounced graphic novel coming out next year that he can’t talk about.

Unlike Chris Giarrusso, who LOVES to talk about his G-Man creation, a popular series of all-ages friendly superhero digests. And you might know him as the writer and artists of the Mini Marvels, those round-headed versions of Marvel’s heroes!

Tariq Hassan is another of our chums–guys, we know like everybody–and a member of Georgia’s Studio Revolver. His work includes The Guild, Wizards of the Coasts books, and working as an artist on the Archer animated series on FX!

Harold Sipe is the writer of Screamland, as well as the writer of the new Garters & Ghouls series from IDW, an adaptation of the popular game–AND Harold is an old buddy of ours AND a North Carolinian AND a former customer in the store! No offense, but when customers make it into comics we are always super proud. If you were not a customer of ours, there is still time to buy something and rectify this.

Okay! Have a great weekend, everybody!

Is Geoff Johns the only writer at DC who’s capable of churning out incredible comics on a consistent basis? Looking at the company’s output over the last few months, you’d think he was.

I mean, you’ve got the wrap up of the Blackest Night limited series, the first issue of the bi-weekly limited series Brightest Day and then the debut issue of the new Flash ongoing; all three titles were undoubtedly my favorite books recently published by the massive entertainment company.

And, in case you thought Johns was about to start going downhill post-BN, this Wednesday — with the release of Green Lantern No. 53 — he showed that he’s still got a ton of interesting things in store for Hal Jordan and friends.

This latest issue of GL shows Hal catching his breath with supporting cast member Carol Ferris, but the book actually starts out by introducing a brand-new mystery from the earliest days of the Guardians (possibly showing where Parallax went after BN). Johns also peppers this month’s installment with cool cameos from a few multi-colored Lanterns (and a big-time DCU bad guy) and ends with teases to a handful of upcoming comics and story lines.

I’ve written much about Johns over the years, but judging from his current creative offerings, this guy deserves the accolades.

Jiggy-WHA?? That’s right friends and neighbors–Shelton brought back some new additions to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List from his weekend in Chicago, including J. Scott Campbell and Humberto Ramos! These guys are way wayyy up there as far as oft-requested HeroesCon guests, so we will be reinforcing the concrete around their tables to make sure it doesn’t buckle under what is sure to be heavy strain from crowds of people.

If you’re not familiar with these guys, let me help: J. Scott Campbell is the creator of the super-popular Danger Girl series, as Wildsiderz, popular runs on Gen 13 (where he started out) and more. Plus he’s a go-to cover artist, especially on Spider-Man books. Humberto Ramos has worked all over the place, recently on Spectactular Spider-Man, Wolverine, Avengers: The Initiative, Runaways, and tons of others. He gained fame as an early artist on the popular Impulse series, and created the Crimson series at Wildstorm’s Cliffhanger imprint, at the same time as JSC on Danger Girl. Synchronicity!

Whew! Super big news–happy Wednesday!

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which books she is most excited about!

1) Sif #1

Written by Kelly Sue Deconnick with art by Ryan Stegman, Sif tells the story of how she is fitting in with the residents of Broxton, Oklahoma. I am really digging the art! This looks like a fun Asgardian story!

2) Captain America Who Won’t Wield the Shield?

There are some super talented people on this book. I was pretty surprised to flip through and see Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Brendan McCarthy, Joe Quinones and Forbush Man. It looks entertaining if not slightly silly.

3) Brave and the Bold #33

You mean to tell me that J. Michael Straczynski and Cliff Chiang did a Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Batgirl story? Sign me up!

4) MOME vol 18 Spring 2010

MOME is always full of super talented people and this issue is no exception. I love to flip through and see some new (to me at least), up-and-coming names in comics. I particularly like Chocolate Gun Cold Heat Story and Autumn. My only complaint is that there aren’t page numbers. It can make it hard to figure out what is what.

5) Spirit #1

I am a big Spirit fan so I am super excited about this relaunch. It looks darker and gritter than the last series (the black-and-white back-up in particular). Hopefully this series will stay true to the “spirit” of the Spirit and be a light-hearted, fun crime book!

{don’t actually click there for more info, this is just the big version of a smaller banner}

Whoa that sure is yellow! Caught your eye, didn’t it?? Just a brightly-hued reminder of the upcoming exhibit at Charlotte’s Twenty-Two gallery! Rodney & Lise will be featuring a gallery-wide exhibit of some of today’s best comic art, put together with Shelton Drum and the artists of HeroesCon‘s past and present!

The show will run at Twenty-Two throughout the month of May, with an opening reception on Saturday, May 1, right after Free Comic Book Day! Enjoy the art, hobnob with many of the artists and patrons, all in a primo stylish gallery with a classy high-end wine and beer bar! Oh man this is going to be posh for sure–probably wear sneakers instead of flip-flops. Class it up: you deserve it! And of course you can enjoy it all month, then hit it one last time on Friday June 4 for the closing reception, right after Day 1 of HeroesCon!

We’ll be chatting it up more between now and then, but if you’re not already planning on making the scene for Free Comic Book Day, this should cinch it for sure!