Holy Cow, tons of new names for the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today, including a bunch of old friends. David Mack is of course the bajillion-time Eisner-nominated and New York Times bestselling painter, writer, and cartoonist behind Kabuki, The Shy Creatures, numerous Daredevil arcs, and much more. He’s also one of our favorite guests–not only is he a WORKHORSE, showing up before the show opens and usually one of the last to leave each day, but he’s immensely popular with fans. Even if you’re not interested in meeting David in person, just hanging out near his table and watching him do somersaults and stand on tables and just generally act out is pretty funny.

No less talented, but much more understated, is Stephen King’s The Talisman artist Tony Shasteen. Tony is a sweet dude and impeccably coiffed, the guy is like a Paul Mitchell commercial. Many HeroesCon attendees probably met Tony in 2006 and 2007 when Rosario Dawson was a guest at the show, promoting Occult Crimes Taskforce, which Tony did the art for. Remember Tony? Guys? Well he’s still cool even without Rosario Dawson sitting next to him, trust me.

But that’s not all! Also new today is a laundry list of guests, just check out all these names:

Will Allred is the writer behind Bloodfire Studios Diary of Night. Greg Baldwin and Dave Guertin work together as CreatureBox Studios on books including Thoughts, Scribbles + Madness and Palindrome Robot Supply. Danny Donovan is one of the creators behind the Kogoshii comic from Zuda Comics, as well as the Honor Brigade comic among others. Micah Harris is the writer of Lorna, Relic Wrangler and the Heaven’s War graphic novel.

Cat Staggs is a prolific trading card artist who’s worked on like every trading card set ever, including Star Wars Galaxy and the new Iron Man II sets. And last but not least is colorist Matt Webb, who worked on John Byrne’s Next Men and Danger Unlimited back in the day, and these days often collaborates with fellow guest Joe Staton! Phew! So many great additions to the list!

Brand new today is an IDW-tacular update to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List! Returning to HeroesCon this summer is our main man Steve Niles, who’s probably best known for 30 Days of Night, which he created with fellow guest Ben Templesmith back in the early days of now-major publisher IDW. Besides spawning a whole line of 30 Days Of Night comics, the original comic was adapted into a major motion picture, with the sequel Dark Days coming soon! Steve has also worked extensively for pretty much every major publisher, on books including Batman: Gotham County Line, Simon Dark, Freaks of the Heartland, and a ton more.

Joining Steve will be first-time guest Bob Schreck, one of the most influential and recognized editors in comics. Bob is probably best known recently for conceiving and overseeing the “All Star” line at DC, but he’s been a major figure in comics for over 20 years. From working at Comico in its heyday, to Dark Horse, then co-founding Oni Comics, then DC… whew!  These days Bob is Senior Editor at IDW Publishing, and is writing his very first comic there, the forthcoming Jurassic Park! Bob is sure to be a popular guest, not just with fans but with pros. Also returning this year is fellow IDW-er Jeff Webber, the director of the company’s e-publishing line. Jeff is a sweet dude and runs a mean panel–be sure and check out what IDW has planned for e-publishing–with the advent of the iPad this year, this is sure to be a huge new sector in comics!

Lastly but not leastly this week, our old chum Sarah Wilkinson returns to HeroesCon this year. Besides being a prolific illustrator and trading card artist for properties like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Spider-Man, Sarah is mondo popular as a convention guest and sketch destination. Be sure to get on her list early or you’ll cry salty tears all weekend!

Okay, more guests on the way tomorrow–we’re swamped this week getting our Free Comic Book Day announcements and advertising squared away, but there’s tons churning behind the scenes!

New today to the HeroesCon 2010 Indie Island list: my super homey Paul Maybury, artist on the uber-acclaimed Aqua Leung and the forthcoming Act-I-Vate strip-turned-book Party Bear. Paul might do the best con sketches ever, they’re pretty nuts. I mean NUTS. I wish I had more money, I swear I do, because I would give it to Paul.

Also new is first-timer Ed Brisson, proprietor-in-chief of New Reliable Press, and publisher of the awesome You Ain’t No Dancer anthology, as well as Jan’s Atomic Heart and the brand new Horribleville, by fellow HeroesCon guest KC Green. Very excited that Ed is making the trip all the way from Vancouver for the show this year–be sure to stop by his table and make it worth the trip for him!

More updates coming tomorrow and Friday, including a fan-favorite all-ages artist AND  fan-favorite cover artist! Stay tuned!

Guess who’s coming to HeroesCon this summer–

Well no, not him exactly, but pretty close. Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy and artist on books like Batman: Gotham By Gaslight and Cosmic Odyssey, will be returning to HeroesCon this summer! Mike is one of the most respected and influential creators in comics, Hellboy is consistently one of the best and most critically acclaimed comics on the rack. While there are many Mike Mignola duplicators, there’s only one original, and you can meet him in Charlotte this June!

Oh man, I just realized–with Guy Davis sitting right next to him, we may need to reinforce the concrete in Artists Alley to make sure the floor can withstand the weight of all those fans. Super exciting news–Shelton’s been working on this for a while; I know he’s extra excited about having Mike back in Charlotte!

The second of three updates to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List this week, holy cow! And a big one at that–new to the Guest List today is uber-fan-favorite artist Kevin Maguire, whose work on titles like Justice League International, Formerly Known As The Justice League, Metal Men, and many more has cemented his reputation as the go-to artist for rubber-faced comedy. Pretty sure this guy is going to have a ridiculous line and sketch list at the show, if he’s doing sketches. I’m presuming he will, but we’ll leave that up to him.

Also new this week is Jose Marzan, Jr., the inker on super-popular Y: the Last Man, Jack of Fables, House of Mystery, and a bunch of others.  Jose has inked over just about everyone over his 24-year career, including Adam Hughes, Mike Wieringo, and John Romita Sr.! I believe this is his first appearance at HeroesCon, and he too can most likely expect a healthy line–I think Y: the Last Man is one of the most popular series Vertigo has published in years, second only to Fables!

The only line new guest Jeff Parker can expect is probably one composed of parole officers and mimes, but if you can fight your way through them you can meet Jeff, who’s one of our very favorite people in the world, and a former North Carolinian. Jeff writes Agents of Atlas, the just-finished Underground, Mysterius the Unfathomable, and a ton of others. He’s left NC behind to be a member of the world-famous Periscope Studios in Portland, but we’re happy to have him back all the same, even if it’s just for a visit.

Okay! Still another update to go this week, and it’s a doozy!

Yes! New to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today is one of our faves and an old friend, Ron Garney! Ron has been the very definition of “fan favorite” artist for years and years, with popular runs on series like Captain America, X-Men, Hulk, and many more. More recently he’s been on titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Skaar: Son of Hulk, and Wolverine: Weapon X, plus working on movies including I Am Legend. Busy busy! We’re super-stoked that Ron has the time to make it back to HeroesCon this summer.

Another old chum who’ll be returning this year is NC-native Chris Kemple, who first gained exposure in the 90’s as part of North Carolina’s Artamus Studios, which also included Rich Case, Mike Wieringo, and Jeff Parker. Chris’s work has seen print in Fallout, Negative Burn, and more–these days he’s writing and drawing his own Red Vengeance graphic novel.

You may have heard about a little comic book called Amazing Spider-Man #583, which featured President Barack Obama on its cover and was one of the best selling comics of the last decade. If you were one of the bajillion people who bought one of the 5 or 6 printings of the comic, you can get it signed this year by artist Todd Nauck, who will also be a guest at HeroesCon! Heck, feel free to bring your other Nauck books, which include Spider-Man Clone Saga, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Young Justice, and Teen Titans Go, among others!

Alright! More announcements on the way this week, so stay tuned!

Oh wow.

This summer, one of the biggest names in comics will be appearing at HeroesCon 2010—Rob Liefeld! From hot X-artist to Image co-founder to Internet comics-community darling/firebrand, Rob’s done pretty much everything in his career in comics. His credits are sort of insane, with X-Force, Youngblood, New Mutants, Cable, and the upcoming Prelude to Deadpool Corps just the tip of the iceberg. His art style is much discussed online, and whether you’re a fan or a not-fan, pretty much everyone who’s ever met Rob personally will agree that he’s one of the most affable, friendly guys in comics, not to mention hard-working.

Good thing too–he’s sure to have some wicked long lines, which we’re already figuring out how to handle. Most likely similar to how we handled the Bendis/Brubaker/Fraction/Claremont lines last year.

And get this–remember how last week I was talking about a “big announcement” for this week? Believe it or not this wasn’t it–Shelton sprung this one on me yesterday in a staff meeting. But we were so excited about it we decided to go ahead and announce it today, while we double-dot our i’s and triple-cross our t’s for the other big announcement. Next week yo!

Oh man, this is super exciting for me, I’m such a fan:

Sammy Harkham is one of the most influential cartoonists of his generation, maybe the most influential. That’s a crazy statement to make maybe, but heckfire, I have made it. Besides his very famous editing of the seminal Kramer’s Ergot anthology, the last iteration of which was a massive 16″ x 21″, and his more recent guest-editing of Bart Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror (itself a sort of Kramer’s reunion); my very favorite of Sammy’s work is his own Crickets. Crickets is a throwback of sorts to the great 80’s one-man anthologies like Yummy Fur, Love & Rockets (okay, 3-man in that case), etc. A recent casualty of the squeeze on indie publishers due to Diamond’s change in their minimum orders for small press books, a lot of people thought Crickets was dead. BUT #3 is due this summer, and I cannot tell  you how excited I am to tell you you can buy one from Sammy right smack in the middle of Indie Island. Sweet!

But listen, Sammy’s not the only person doing 1-man anthologies (1-manthologies?)–he’ll be joined at HeroesCon this summer by cohort and friend John Pham. John is the proprietor of Sublife, which I think will see a third issue this year as well. He’s also been in another great anthology, Mome. I think I first twigged to his work when Chris Staros hand-sold me a copy of Epoxy, which maybe he was distributing for John back in 2000 or so? Chris also sold me my first copy of Kramer’s Ergot (#3). Which I hated. Hey listen, people change, I never promised you a rose garden.

Oh! But there’s more good news! Returning to HeroesCon this year will be mighty Tom Scioli, co-creator of Godland and the creator of The Myth of Opus-8. Tom is a sweet dude and extraordinarily knowledgeable about comics. Most recently he did the art for the Freedom Force comic, as well as writing and drawing the “Space Smith” stories in Image’s The Next Issue Project.

Man, those are three quality dudes. But there’s more to come this week, so stay tuned!

Whoa! Have you guys ever heard of Tim Sale? I know Shelton has; Tim’s one of Shelton’s favorite creators (he has a lot, admittedly), so I know he’s excited to be able to welcome Tim back to HeroesCon this summer. Besides extraordinarily popular books like Batman: The Long Halloween, Spider-Man: Blue, and Captain America: White, Tim also did the paintings (with Dave Stewart) for the Isaac character on a little show you might have heard of called… Heroes? I could be wrong but I think the last time Tim was here was back in 2006 or 7, so it will be interesting to see how his already-massive lines are affected by his increased fame since then. Either way, I’m pretty sure he’s still a sweet dude. Pret-ty sure, guys.

Oh! And also returning to the HeroesCon Guest List is inker Mark Morales, who has turned into one of the foremost inkers in the comics industry, most recently working on enormous event books like Siege and Secret Invasion, and over smaller but acclaimed books like Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine and Young Avengers. Smoooooth style he’s got, especially over smooth guys like Olivier Coipel and Jim Cheung. I love it.

And! Stepping back into the ring again this summer is Stephanie Gladden. Stephanie’s worked on pretty much every major cartoon license, including The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Looney Tunes, Powerpuff Girls and more. She’s also a character artist for Cartoon Network, working on shows like Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends and Chowder (my favorite!). BUT she’s probably most excited about her new creator-owned project, Girls of Monster Paradise!

Still more to come next week, I’ve got updates stacked up, including someone who hasn’t been to HeroesCon in at least ten years, and today is one of the biggest names in the industry–no lie!

Holy moley! Returning to the HeroesCon Guest List this week are three of the best! You almost certainly know Sean “Cheeks” Galloway from his epic turn in Wednesday Comics, not to mention his Teen Titans Go! work, his bajillion sketch cards for Upper Deck and other trading card publishers, and more. He’s also a lead character designer for the Spectacular Spider-Man and Hellboy cartoons–check out that Hellboy up there, it’s GORGEOUS. I swiped it from Cheeks’ blog, which is just an embarassment of drawing riches.

Joining Cheeks is his buddy and fellow mack-daddy talent Jonboy Meyers. While Jonboy’s work has been in a bunch of comics like She-Hulk, GeNext, and JLA, he’s enormously prolific as a sketch and commission artist. His commissions are like full-on covers, they’re kind of amazing. I don’t know how much he charges but I bet his sketch list fills up lickety-split at the con, so better wear your running shoes and show up early.

Also returning this year is our buddy Mike Choi, whose pencils on Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, and Witchblade (among others) have made him a darling of the original art scene. He’s got a smooth style that’s mm-mm good like Campbell’s Soup, and that’s no lie!

That’s not all–we’ve got another big announcement set for tomorrow, and then a couple of HUGE announcements next week–we’re getting close to the show now; it’s only going to get more exciting from here on in.