As 2011 comes to a close we are gearing up for the 30th Anniversary of Heroes Convention! Thank you guys for a great year! We appreciate all of our customers and every single person who comes to HeroesCon and the Charlotte MiniCon. Without further adieu, our last guest list update for 2011.

• JEREMY BASTIAN – Cursed Pirate Girl, Mouse Gaurd
• CHRIS BRUNNER – Loose Ends, Boondock Saints, Batman: LOTDK
• STEPHANIE BUSCEMA – Something Monstrous, Womanthology
• CLAYTON CRAIN – Carnage U.S.A., Ghost Rider
• KELLY SUE DECONNICK – Osbourne, Supergirl
• MARC DEERING – Supergirl, Adventure Comics, Resident Evil
• TODD DEZAGO – Tellos, Perhapanauts, Casper
• MICHAEL DOONEY – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gizmo
• MATT FRACTION – Casanova, Iron Man, Fear Itself
• CHRISTOS GAGE – Avengers Academy, X-Men Legacy
• PAUL LEVITZ – Legion of Superheroes, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking
• RON MARZ – Witchblade, Shinku, Artifacts
• DAVID PETERSEN – Mouse Guard, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• CRAIG ROUSSEAU – Perhapanauts, Batman Beyond, Impulse
• TIM SALE – Hulk: Grey, Batman: The Long Halloween
• WAYNE VANSANT – The ‘NAM
• JARRETT WILLIAMS – Super Pro KO, Yo Gabba Gabba!

Our full guest list is here, check back for more updates soon!

Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find is seeking to raise $10,000 for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund by sponsoring its Fall Comics Grab Bag! Debuting this weekend at New York Comic-Con, the CBLDF Fall Comics Grab Bag includes 10 comics for a $20 donation, with rare and signed comics guaranteed in every bag!

We have contributed a vast array of rare comics from the Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age to support the Fund. Comics guaranteed to be included in the Fall Comics Grab Bag include Avengers #57 (1st Appearance of the Vision), X-Men #46, X-Men #48, Batman #185, Luke Cage #1, Nick Fury: Agent of Shield #3, Sub-Mariner #5, and dozens more. Signed comics were contributed directly from their artists, including Amanda Conner, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Jill Thompson, Gail Simone, and many more!

“We’re extremely grateful to Shelton and the HeroesCon team for supporting the CBLDF with this fundraiser,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “On top of being a great fundraiser, this grab bag is a little taste of what HeroesCon is like, with a fun diversity of great comics from across the decades, autographs from incredible creators, and a pile of great stories you want to take home and read. We’re glad to reward our donors with this cool new item.”

HeroesCon 2012 30th Anniversary show will be June 22 – 24.  A coupon for $10 off a 3-day pass to the show is available in the CBLDF Fall Comics Grab Bag and can be redeemed at Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find’s NYCC booth, #1369.

Get your CBLDF Fall Comics Grab Bag and check out the huge range of donation incentives available from the CBLDF’s Booth #1158 at New York Comic-Con! See you there!

Now available for your perusal is the initial guest list for HeroesCon 2012! It’s our 30th Anniversay and this is just the tippity-top of the iceberg when it comes to the amazing guests we will be bringing to the Charlotte Convention Center next June.  So stop guessing and head on over to our guest list page!

Flashback with us to June 3-5 and HeroesCon 2011. John Carter and Carolina Camera take a stroll through opening day of our convention with head honcho, Shelton Drum. You’re sure to see some familiar faces! Our segment starts at the 8 minute mark but the opener is a doozy, featuring Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Enjoy!

We hope you’re having a great holiday! To celebrate, Heroes is opening our shiny new web store for you, our loyal blog readers. Click the image above to visit the store now. Today we are offering items that were previously only available at HeroesCon 2011! Why not purchase a Fighting American T-Shirt for yourself or a friend to celebrate our nation’s independence? Check it out, let us know what you think, and please let us know if there are other items you’d like to see in the web store. Have a good one and don’t blow your fingers off people!

Our friends over at The Dollar Bin not only provided us with great sound and technical support on all of our panels at HeroesCon 2011, they have started posting recordings of some of that coverage on their website. Head on over to The Dollar Bin to check them out or follow the direct links below. Thanks guys!

• Historical Comics
• Teaching Comics
• Fear Itself with Matt Fraction
• FF: Retooling the Flagship with Jonathan Hickman & Steve Epting
• Green Lantern
• Family Friendly Comics

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!

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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