We here at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find couldn’t wait to let you know who is coming to HeroesCon 2011 so we are updating our guest list one more time this week! There isn’t much I can say about these creators that hasn’t already been said before. They are the cream of the crop, the best of the best and their reputations precede them so I will keep their bios short and sweet.

Guy Davis first made a name for himself with his work on his creator-owned Baker Street. He continued to solidify his place in the industry with his work on Sandman Mystery Theatre and The Marquis, but he is probably best known as artist on BPRD.

Todd Dezago is renowned for his work with Mike Wieringo on The Sensational Spider-Man and Tellos. Currently, he is pleasing audiences with Marvel Super Hero Squad and The Perhapanauts.

Steve Epting continues to astound and amaze, especially with his current work on Fantastic Four. His career spans nearly 20 years and he has worked on some of the best books around including Avengers, Captain America and The Marvels Project.

Just when you think that Matt Fraction’s name can’t get any bigger he goes out and writes Thor. He first came into prominence with  Casanova, which is currently being re-colored, re-lettered and reprinted through Marvel’s creator owned imprint, Icon. He is also writing Invincible Iron Man and Uncanny X-Men. Fraction was just announced as the winner of the 2010 PEN USA Literary Award for Graphic Literature. To top it all off, he is a former employee of Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find!

Jonathan Hickman first broke into comics only a few years ago with Nightly News but quickly established himself as a premiere wordsmith by writing such acclaimed books as SHIELD, Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four and Pax Romana. With an already impressive catalog, I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Mike Mignola got his start on superhero books like Cosmic Odyssey and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, but Hellboy is where his art and writing style found a home. He will soon return to doing art on Hellboy after the current epic storyline is completed. He is also currently writing Baltimore: The Plague Ships which is a mini-series based off of characters in his novel Baltimore.

Don Rosa is THE Uncle Scrooge artist (next to Carl Barks of course). His humor comes through as he breathes life into the character. Uncle Scrooge is over sixty years old yet when you read a story by Rosa the character feels fresh and new. His stories are classic and timeless.

Craig Rousseau is the co-creator and artist of The Perhapanauts, along with previously announced Todd Dezago. He has also worked with Dezago on Impulse and Tellos. His recent work includes Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Iron Man & The Armor Wars and Her-oes.

Richard Thompson writes Cul de Sac which is one of my favorite comic strips. I am not alone in saying that it rivals Calvin & Hobbes in quality. Simply put, it chronicles the foibles of a suburban family. He also does Richard’s Poor Almanac which appears in the Washington Post.

Bernie Wrightson began his career working on horror anthologies like House of Mystery and House of Secrets and he has continued scaring readers with his distinct style. Some of his past work includes co-creating Swamp Thing with Len Wein and illustrating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. More recently he has been teaming up with Steve Niles on such popular titles as Dead She Said and The Ghoul.

Quite frankly if these were the only guests coming to HeroesCon 2011 I would be thrilled to be there and meet these incredibly talented creators. With eight more months to go and already a guest list is this huge, I can’t wait to see what other tricks we have up our sleeves!

Welcome Cliff Chiang to the HeroesCon 2011 guest list! Chiang is an awesome artist whose recent credits include Brave and the Bold #33, Birds of Prey #3, cover artist for Justice League: Generation Lost and Neil Young’s Greendale. He made his mark in the industry with his work on Human Target and  Green Arrow/Black Canary. Earlier this year he did some Star Wars posters for Acme Archives which were amazing! Also, I was super excited to hear that he will be doing the art on Zatanna #8!

Artist Francesco Francavilla is blowing up these days so you better stop by his table early to get on his commission list! He will be doing the Jim Gordon co-feature starting in Detective Comics #871. And recently announced he will be doing the art for Black Panther: The Man Without Fear where Black Panther will take over for Daredevil following the events of Shadowland. Francavilla also maintains several blogs which are definitely worth checking out. His Pulp Sunday blog is currently running Halloween-themed posts based on classic horror movies. He also has a sketch blog that he updates regularly with concept art and illustrations. He is also a regular contributor to the Comic Twart blog. This leaves me wondering, when does he have time to sleep?

New to the guest list but not new to HeroesCon is Buddy Prince! He is a long time friend of the store and a super great guy! He is probably best known for his work on Night published through Jester Press Comics. Recently he has been busy as a Marvel Sketch Card artist, specifically on the Marvel 70th Anniversary and Marvel Heroes and Villains lines. He is also a Moonstone Maximum Sketch Card artist.

We are proud to add the talented Chris Roberson to our guest list! He is the writer for iZombie, the fabulous new series he created with artist Mike Allred. He wrote Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love and it was just announced that he will write the sequel, Cinderella: Fables are Forever. He developed and is the writer for the new ongoing series Starborn for Boom! Studios which he co-created with Stan Lee. He is also the writer of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust the prequel to Philip K. Dick‘s novel. In addition to all of his comic work, he is a prolific science fiction novelist and the publisher of MonkeyBrain Books along with his wife, Allison Baker.

I have the pleasure of adding several guests to the HeroesCon 2011 Indie Island guest list today! First up is Tyson Hesse who is a webcomic artist and Savanna College of Art and Design graduate. Both of which are having an increasing presence at HeroesCon. Hesse is the force behind the digital-animation-infused webcomic Boxer Hockey which updates every Sunday and Wednesday. He also has a new book out called Diesel which follows the futuristic adventures of a young girl as she travels on an airship garage.

I am pleased as punch to announce Roger Langridge as a guest to HeroesCon 2011! It is no secret that he is one of my favorite cartoonists and with his work on The Muppet Show Comic Book, Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Fred the Clown I know I am not alone! The Muppet Show Comic Book recently won a Harvey Award for Best Publication for Young Readers. Welcome him to the show by stopping by his table and checking out some of his mini-comics especially Mugwhump the Great and Frankenstein Meets Shirley Temple!

Next up is Ed Piskor who first made a name for himself with his collaboration on American Splendor: Our Movie Year with Harvey Pekar. He also worked with Pekar on Macedonia and The Beats: A Graphic History. Piskor is currently working on his webcomic, Wizzywig, which he has self-published into three volumes, so far. It is about Kevin “Boingthump” Phenicle who is a phone phreaker and computer hacker. He two updates his site twice a week on Sunday and Wednesday.

Newcomer Mitch Rogers is the writer and artist of the mini-series The Boger. Currently he is working on a new book called Raw Nerve which will debut around the time of HeroesCon. He has been steadily publishing new material since the release of The Boger #1 and I am excited to see what he will bring to the table with Raw Nerve!

It has been a few years now since Rich Tommaso was a guest at HeroesCon and we are happy to welcome him back! He has been in the industry for over 15 years and his recent work on Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow with James Sturm garnered him much acclaim. You may know him from his other work like 8 1/2 Ghosts, The Horror of Collier County or Clover Honey. His website is full of some amazing artwork so I can’t wait to see what he brings to HeroesCon!

We have great news for those of you who like to plan for HeroesCon months in advance. Shelton has worked his magic and the special HeroesCon rate at the Westin is live and ready for you to reserve your room! We are stunned at just how super early we are making this announcement!

Reservations at the Westin Charlotte are now open at the special HeroesCon rate of $115 per night! That group rate will be available until May 13, 2011 but we strongly suggest that you reserve your room early rather than late. We fully expect an early sellout of rooms. So don’t miss out on the Westin’s comfy beds, warm showers and close proximity to the Charlotte Convention Center.

Check out our Hotels page for the complete list of area hotels that we recommend, including the Westin; or go straight to the reservation page. If you have any problems please let us know and we will do our best to fix it right away. They group the rooms in blocks so sometimes the computers say the rate is sold-out but Shelton just needs to release another block and, presto, problem solved!

I feel honored and privileged to be able to announce today that Dustin Harbin (sometimes known as Dustin K. Harbin) will be appearing in Indie Island at HeroesCon 2011. All of us at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find are proud to have him on our guest list! He keeps churning out some great work. He does a (somewhat) daily web strip, the first six months were published through Koyama Press as Diary Comics #1 and is currently available at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find. Or if you are headed to SPX this weekend you can pick one up directly from him! And in addition to that he is the letterer for Casanova. He is a busy, busy man! You should definitely check out his awesome work on his website and his Flickr page. While his new work is incredible, I think my favorite strip of his is still the three-part What Would Dharbin Do? The Skating Kazoo. Beautiful! Please stop by and welcome him to the other side of the table. I’m sure it will be a surreal experience to go from organizer to guest, so be sure and help make his transition a little easier!

That is a tough act to follow, but I think Mike Maihack has the chops! Maihack currently does a weekly webcomic called Cleopatra in Space. He is also the man responsible for Cow & Buffalo, which is another weekly webcomic but it is temporarily on hiatus. He is a super sweet guy and his commissions and convention sketches are fantastic! He has a great style and a wonderful sense of color. Just check out that print he did for this past HeroesCon! Wow! And it is for sale on his website! Go check that out and I’m sure you will get pumped for his appearance in Indie Island at HeroesCon 2011. Be sure you stop by his table and say hi! And maybe pick up a copy of Cleopatra in Space #1!

We have several new additions to the HeroesCon 2011 Guest List to announce today! The first is John Beatty! He has been a regular guest at HeroesCon since the second one! That is an impressive feat! Almost as impressive as his work as an inker. He has worked on some of the best comics around, like Captain American, Batman, JLA, Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos, Secret Wars and tons more. Beatty currently works for the DC Licensing Department creating style guide art that is used in DC licensed products.

Also new to the guest list is Marc Deering. His most recent work includes inking for Supergirl, Adventure Comics and Spike: The Devil You Know. He has also worked on Forgotten Realms and Grimm Fairy Tales. He is an incredibly talented artist (just check out the Joker piece that he posted on his deviantART page) and we are happy to have him back for another year!

And we have yet another inker to announce! Eisner Award winning Jose Marzan, Jr. is probably best known for his work on Y: The Last Man and The Flash but he has worked on about a billion other titles. He is quite a prolific artist and has been in the industry for over 25 years! His most recent work includes Jack of Fables, House of Mystery and Army of Two.

And now for a change of pace we have a penciller! Koi Turnbull‘s recent work includes titles for Marvel and DC like New Warriors and Terror, Inc. But he really made a name for himself with his work at Aspen Comics particularly on Fathom and Aspen Seasons. Currently he is a member of the Atlanta based HeadHunta’ Studios.

That concludes our Guest List additions for today, but stay tuned shortly for a couple Indie Island Guest List additions. AND keep checking back with us over the next couples weeks because we have some more announcements to make!

It is official! The HeroesCon 2011 Guest List is up! With OVER 50 guests already confirmed HeroesCon 2011 is going to be crazy awesome. While the Guest List is pretty impressive now you just wait for what we have in store. It is bound to be a gigantically long list by the time Spring of 2011 rolls around.

The initial guest list is chock full of some of the best the comics industry has to offer. Trust me on that. When I updated the website I checked all the links to the creator’s websites and I came across some of the most incredible comic art out there today. Just look at some of the names we’ve got, Mike Perkins, Steve Niles, Sean Chen, Phil Noto, Adam Hughes, Allison Sohn, Brian Stelfreeze, Stephane Roux, Tim Townsend, Jonboy Meyers, Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, Jason Latour, Chris Brunner, Andy Smith, Budd Root, Tony Harris, Bernard Chang, Eric Canete, Dave Johnson, Steve Scott, Dexter Vines, and Cully Hamner! Go check out the full list to see just how awesome it is. And while you are there click on some of the links to our guests’ websites and you too can marvel at how talented these creators are!

Plus, we are very excited to announce Butch Guice‘s return to HeroesCon! He is a North Carolina native and a HeroesCon alum from way back to the very first one in 1982. The last time time he was at the show was when he helped kill off Superman! We sure are glad he has decided to join us for next year’s show!

And, we are super pumped to add Jeff Lemire to our Indie Island Guest List! Lemire is the creator of the Essex County Trilogy and is currently writing Sweet Tooth and The Atom co-feature in Adventure Comics. If that weren’t enough, in this month’s issue of Previews it was just announced that he will be writing the new ongoing Superboy series.

Speaking of Indie Island, our Indie Island Guest List is up too! We’ve got an awesome guest list already but it is just a grain of sand compared to the beach that it will become! We are proud to announce Indie Island regulars (which is almost the whole list!) Shannon Smith, Chris Schweizer, Jim Rugg, Liz Baillie, Joey Weiser, Joe Lambert, Ben Towle, Andy Runton and Rob Ullman, publishers AdHouse Books and Top Shelf Productions, as well as internet sensation Becky and Frank from Tiny Kitten Teeth! That’s not even the full list! Check out the Indie Island page to view the whole list in all of its glory!

I think the only thing that remains to be said is, have you bought your tickets yet?

 June 3-5, 2011 are the dates you need to block out right now, ‘cause Heroes Convention 2011 is on the calendar! Put in for those vacation days; don’t plan any weddings; graduation NEVER happens first week of June; Memorial Day and all of that NASCAR’s racin’ in Charlotte will be behind us…in other words…HeroesCon is IT! Nothing else can compete!

As some of you may have heard, I am happy to announce that I am the new store manager at Heroes! I’m part of the second generation of Drum’s to work at Heroes and the first to be involved in the management team. I’ve officially been working in the store on and off for about seven years now. I’ve done most jobs associated with the store including warehouse organization, shipping, clerking and updating the website. Most significantly, I’ve run Pre-Registration and check-in for HeroesCon for the past 5 years and I’m excited to move into the next phase of my involvement in the store.

I’ve been interested in doing more with the store for the last few years. Shawn’s move into a new position presented a golden opportunity to join the management team. I will not only be handling weekly ordering for the store but will also be happy to process any special requests our customers may have! I’m confident that my already extensive exposure to and love of comics will be an asset in providing our customers with the kinds of products and service that they expect from Heroes.

Shawn, Seth, and I have already begun to scheme up new and exciting changes for the store and HeroesCon 2011. Shawn and I will be at the San Diego Comic-Con next weekend promoting HeroesCon! Stay tuned for updates on the Heroes Online blog!

As some of you know, I recently got married and moved to Greenville, SC. For a while I thought I was going to have to find a new job in a new town. But my fears were put to rest when Shelton generously offered me a brand new position within Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find. It was impossible to refuse such a wonderful offer. So as of this week I officially became the Events Coordinator for Heroes. I must admit that I am excited! My new job puts me in charge of organizing and promoting events such as HeroesCon, the Charlotte Minicon, Free Comic Book Day and store signings. Basically my job is to sell and promote the best comic book store in the world and the best comic convention of all time. What could be easier?

Shelton hired me in 2006 just two weeks before the convention where I was thrown into the fire but managed to make it through. I quickly worked my way up to store manager and held that position for two years. I was in charge of making sure the store ran on a day-to-day basis as well as organizing special events. Not only that, but I was also responsible for the basic organization of the convention. This past HeroesCon was one of the smoothest conventions I have ever attended and that makes me feel like all of my hard work paid off. I am sad to leave all of that behind but I look forward to all of the opportunities that will come with my new role.

I am eager to work more closely with exhibitors, pros and small press. I have some exciting plans that will only make HeroesCon bigger and better. I want to continue to cultivate Indie Island, discover ways to draw more attention to small press, diversify our exhibitor list, and widen our promotions. I strongly believe that I can do all these things and keep HeroesCon the family-friendly, comics-centric convention that we all know and love. My first big assignment will be to attend Comic-Con in San Diego and drum up excitement and guests for next year’s HeroesCon! My reading list ranges from Afrodisiac to Zatanna (and everything in between) and I intend on using my eclectic tastes and breadth of knowledge to talk to a wide range of creators and get them interested in coming to HeroesCon.

I am always open to suggestions and feedback and I would love to hear from you on how to make Heroes events even more awesome! Email me sometime!