Wuxtry, wuxtry! Brand new on the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today are husband-and-wife writing team Christos Gage and Ruth Fletcher Gage! You probably recognize Christos’ name from comics like WildC.A.T.S., Avengers: The Initiative, and his forthcoming Vertigo Crime novel Area Ten, scheduled for spring of next year. When he’s not writing comics, he’s a fancy Hollywood dan, writing for shows like Law & Order: SVU and Numbers.

Ruth Fletcher Gage is somewhat newer to the comics world, but is collaborating with Christos on the upcoming Lion of Rora GN from Oni. She has also written for Law & Order SVU and Numbers, as well as The Breed and Paradox.  AND, for you other North Caroliniophiles (like me), she worked for Governor Jim Hunt back in the… wait when was he governor? The 90’s, as I recall.

ALSO joining the Guest List today are two lions of the trading card/painting world: Mark McHaley has become a favorite in Artists Alley, and has worked on a bajillion trading card sets for companies like Marvel, DC, Lucasfilm, and many more! Joe Pekar is a painter who’s worked on card sets including Spider-Man Archives and Marvel Masterpieces, as well as in comic books like Hexed, Grimm Fairy Tales, and more!

Huzzah! Joining our star-studded roster of star studs (and at least one studette, not to mention Shawn and Shelley) for our annual Holiday Sale and signing are Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love cover artist Chrissie Zullo and Cavewoman creator Budd Root! They join Olympus writer Nathan Edmondson and Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein artist Andy Smith in a store signing going on December 12 from 2 to 5pm, all a part of our big 2-day holiday sale that weekend (Saturday-Sunday)!

Our holiday sale has become legend in the area over the years, as not only a place to get ridiculous deals on back issue comics–especially with Seth building a brand-new, never touched by mortal man (Seth is immortal, natch) stock of $1 books–but a great place to pick up presents for that hard-to-shop-for friend or family member! Why, heavens knows we’ve got comics, graphic novels, mangas, back issues, statues, toys… all sorts of stuff. Plus Shelton will have a ton of trade paperbacks and hardcovers he’s been piling up for some good ole deep discounting. Why, it sounds like a downright jamboree to me! Heck, if you still can’t find a gift for that special (or let’s face it, not-that-special) someone, you can always buy them a 3-day pass to HeroesCon 2010! We’ve even got a fancy little voucher you can give them! Truly, we have thought of everything this year. See you there!

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!

Well Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! While this humble blogger WILL be enjoying some delicious turkey and other things that go with turkey later, along with the rest of his massive and very noisy extended family, he wanted to share this sweet HeroesCon 2010 Guest List update with you.

Brand new names you should be thankful for INCLUDE: studly inker Marc Deering (Blackest Night: Wonder Woman), Gene Gonzales (Cavewoman), Dwight L. MacPherson (Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo), and Michael Watkins (Sonic the Hedgehog). AND attending HeroesCon for the first time next year will be Mike Norton, artist on Green Arrow/Black Canary, Blue Beetle, and past artist on books like Queen & Country, Teen Titans Go!, Runaways and more! Super exciting to be welcoming new bros to the fold next year–I am so thankful! Until then, enjoy your holiday! WE are thankful for all YOU guys!

Well, I sort of gave it away in the post title, didn’t I? Okay, pretend you’re surprised: just added to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List are returning champs Guy Davis (B.P.R.D) and Roger Langridge (Muppet Show)! These are two of the sweetest dudes in comics, I think I’m going to sit them next to each other this year and watch them fight to see who’s sweeter. Oh oh and today’s Guy’s birthday! I think for his birthday I’ll name him Sweetest for the day. Don’t worry Roger–your day will come.

But wait there’s more! Attending their very first HeroesCon this year are husband and wife team Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier, co-writers of the X-Men: Misfits manga from Del Rey and Marvel Comics! You may also know them from Raina’s hit Babysitter’s Club series and Dave’s series Astronaut Elementary and long stint as comics editor at Nickelodeon Magazine. I met these guys at SPX and they are both really amazing people, so wear your good clothes when you meet them next summer!

With the digital ink hardly dry from our big HeroesCon 2010 Guest List announcement on Wednesday, today we’ve added even more names already to what promises to be a monolithic list by the time of the convention itself, next June 4-6, 2010!

Joining up today are our new buddy Eric Canete (The End League), and our old buddies Keron Grant (Iron Man), Sanford Greene (Method Man GN), Tony Harris (Ex Machina), and Dexter Vines (Wolverine). Not to mention two returning buddies, the influential Rick Leonardi (Spider-Man) and the painter/cartoonist extraordinaire Jill Thompson. Jill’s new book Beasts of Burden, with co-writer Evan Dorkin, has been a big hit and we’re excited to welcome Jill back for her first HeroesCon since… hmmm. I think it was the second Trilogy Tour maybe? 98 or 99? Shelton has a better memory than I do for this stuff. ANYway, her and Rick will be returning to Charlotte in 2010, along with a ton of others!

Now up on our site is the initial guest list for HeroesCon 2010! Those of you who are familiar with how we do things will know this is just the barest fraction of the eventual guest list, but we think this is a pretty impressive start!

From our friends at Gaijin Studios and BLVD Studios, to lone wolves like Phil Noto and Brandon Peterson and Cliff Chiang, not to mention good ol’ Adam Hughes and Allison Sohn… super nice beginning, no? And some newer “family” members like Frank Cho and Stephane Roux… delicious!

But I personally am maybe most excited about the triumphant return to HeroesCon of “Shifty” Tim Townsend, who has missed the last several years! We love Tim, and it’s exciting to see he has finally gotten his life back on track and will be here in June! Tim is one of the last great brush inkers in mainstream comics, and he makes it look good too!

Okay! We’ll be adding tons of names to this list over the coming weeks, as I try to mow through the backlog of emails I have in my inbox, not to mention Shelton’s! In the meantime, enjoy your Wednesday and buy some comics!

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 TOMORROW is is the very first in a whole series of signings and appearances we’re planning to take place at Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find throughout the fall, winter, and spring!

Tomorrow, November 7, from 1-3 pm, we’ll be hosting a special signing appearance by The Fillbach Brothers! These are the guys behind the insanely popular Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures digests’ art. They also created the Maxwell Strangewell graphic novel, Werewolves On The Moon (with Dave Land), and many more. They’ll be signing and sketching for just two hours–from all accounts they’re super friendly guys, and are big country music and Nascar fans, so they’ll probably have as many questions for us Southerners as we have for them!

Don’t miss the chance to come out and meet these talented creators! Especially if you or your kids are fans of Clone Wars –you know they are!

Hey for those of you who were scratching your head wondering if you’d have to pay $700 to get any space at HeroesCon, that’s been fixed. Prices for Small Press Tables are $300, like last year. I’ve combined the Exhibitor and Small Press pages into one page, and it contains links to the appropriate forms. Sorry for any confusion!