Whoa whoa WHOA! Joining the Indie Island Guest List today are two more super-duper high profile greats of the webcomics scene, joining what is already a pretty web-tastic list. I mean, Kate Beaton, Anthony Clark, Danielle Corsetto, KC Green, Chris Hastings, Ryan North… who else is there?

Well, Meredith Gran for one, the creator of the hit Octopus Pie comic–Octopus Pie is one of the few comics that gets mentioned to me by my non-comics friends, I even had buddies asking me to bring them back her cool pint glasses from SPX, where I met her last year. Besides her acclaimed comic, she’s also the source of a treasure-trove of merchandise, like most of the webcomics success stories of the last few years. And while she’s published several books on her own, she’s recently signed her first official book deal, although I can’t remember if the publisher is secret or not. Probably not, but I’d better not say just in case, plus I can’t remember if I’m even remembering it right. Anyway, it’s a pretty massive publisher, I was kinda shocked when I heard. This is why I’m not a journalist.

BUT, as if that weren’t enough for one day, we also today added fellow web luminary R Stevens, who does the crazy popular Diesel Sweeties strip, which updates an insane 12 times a week?? Mr Stevens is also the head of his own internet empire; and like Meredith isn’t content with just t-shirts. He’s got his own line of “Pixel Socks” and “Pixel Ties”, although I’m not sure that they match, or should be worn together at all. I know you’re not supposed to combine plaid and stripes, but I’m not sure what the rules are on pixel art. Truly we live in an ever-changing landscape.

Okay! Pretty exciting stuff, guys. More updates next week, both for Indie Island and good ole “Original” HeroesCon!

OMG! Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today is rising-star wunderkind Sean Gordon Murphy, whose Joe the Barbarian book with Grant Morrison is already one of the most talked-about books of the coming year! Holy cow this guy can draw too–I wasn’t that familiar with him myself, but after Dustin Nguyen pointed his work out to me, I was pretty floored. Holy mackerel. Besides a collaboration with Morrison–nothing to sneeze at, for sure, it hasn’t hurt Ethan Van Sciver or Phil Jimenez‘s career too much (although what ever happened to occasional New X-Men fill-in artist Igor Kordey?)–Sean’s art has also graced Teen Titans, Batman/Scarecrow: Year One, and a whole slue of unpublished Hellblazer pages. I’m not sure why they aren’t published yet, but if you check out Sean’s Deviant Art site, you can see those badboys–whoa.

Also attending HeroesCon for the very first time this year will be wife-husband team Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin. The two have worked both separately and together on a number of Marvel titles, including the upcoming Girl Comics, X-Men First Class, and Power Pack by Colleen; and the just-announced Spider-Man: Marvel Adventures, Spider-Man & The Secret Wars, and Black Widow & The Marvel Girls by Paul. Colleen is also the creator of the Banana Sunday series some of you may remember from the indie side of the store a few years ago.

The three luminaries are joined on the list this week by returning greats Thomas Boatwright (Cemetery Blues, Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo), Jeremy Dale (GI Joe, Popgun), and Nate Lovett (Xombie: Reanimated). Oh! And one last first-timer, and a fellow North-Carolinian to boot: Chris Stevens will be attending his first HeroesCon this year–he’s worked extensively with Udon Studios and on books including Exalted and Dungeon Magazine! Although he’s buddies with both Tim Townsend and Casey Jones, which frankly doesn’t say much for his character, BELIEVE ME. Here’s hoping he’s just fallen in with rough crowd!

Okay, one more Joe the Barbarian image, this one swiped from Sean Murphy’s Deviant Art page:

Oh man you guys. You guys you guys, whoa. Indie Island is shaping up to be basso profundo this year for sure, I’m really excited about it. REALLY excited, and that’s saying something.

So, adding to last week’s initial Indie Island list announcement, including some sweet HeroesCon stalwarts and some brand new titans of the webcomics world, this week we add another stalwart and two more webtitans (I just made up “webtitans,” fyi, just so you know). Check them out:

RYAN NORTH, a snippet of whose Dinosaur Comics web comic you see above, is one of the earliest and most successful of the webcomics practitioners. He’s also like 40 feet tall, so he’ll be easy to pick out in Indie Island, towering 40 feet in the air with a bunch of people around his table buying books and t-shirts and all the other bajillion things he sells, smiling all the while like a red-headed towering Buddha.

KC GREEN is someone whose comics I only twigged to in the last 6 months or so, mainly through Twitter, but man those things have grown on me. As usual, I’m the last to discover anything. KC is only like 22 or 23 or 15 or something, but the second book collection of his comic Gunshow is coming out this year, and I love it. You are going to love it as well, if you don’t already. Get ready for Love!

LIZ BAILLIE is a dynamo, a comics making dynamo, festooned in her bright pink tie and her vest. A fancy little dynamo. She’s a self-made star of the minicomics scene, originally through her strip My Brain Hurts, and currently with her new comic Freewheel. I’m working on getting her Punchbuggy Tour compatriots MK Reed and Gabby Schulz to come with her; if it works, HeroesCon 2010 will be the last ever stop on the tour! Or so I’m told. So basically it would be totally historicals.

BUT GUYS WAIT LISTEN: I have STILL ANOTHER “webtitan” (remember I made that word up, it’s mine) lying in wait for announcing next week, and possibly another several after that. Plus some sweet

Brand new to our HeroesCon 2010 Guest List this week is Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich, who has been a popular guest over the last couple of years. Gary was tied to practically every Marvel title at some point in the 70’s, most notably on Ghost Rider, X-Men, and Iron Man among many many others. Gary’s joined by another person famliar with Iron Man and 70’s Marvel properties–Austin Janowsky worked on Iron Man: The End and Red Sonja to name just two, as well as art on Stanley the Snowman.

Today we’re also adding a couple of prominent all-ages comics creators, including NASCAR Heroes writer and Kids Love Comics co-founder John Gallagher. His creator-owned book Buzzboy is super popular, and he’s currently at work on a new GN entitled “Zoey & Ketchup.” He’s joined by artist Dan Parent, whose worked all over the industry, but probably most famously on Archie titles like Betty & Veronica, Archie & Friends, and a bunch of others. Not to mention Barbie for you Barbie-holics out there (Seth).

Last but certainly not least today is our good buddy Jim Scancarelli, the writer and artist behind the Gasoline Alley newspaper strip, the longest running comic strip… ever, I think. Pretty sure. Anyway, Jim’s a super classy guy and always a lot of fun to talk to, whether at HeroesCon or just hanging out in the store. He’s got more stories than the Brothers Grimm, except his stories end happier and feature guys like Charles Schulz and Milt Caniff.

Whoa-ho! Joining us for his first ever HeroesCon in 2010 is star penciller Mike McKone, veteran of a ton of high-profile titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, Exiles, and tons more. It’s almost easier to list what this guy hasn’t worked on, his list of credits is pretty ridiculous. This dude is a WORKHORSE, and a much-requested guest, so we’re glad to have next summer.

ALSO new to the Guest List today is a guy with the coolest first name in comics, and the second-coolest person to wear that name: Dustin Nguyen is the artist on Batman: Streets of Gotham, and has also worked on Detective Comics and Superman Batman, as well as outside of Gotham City on books like WildC.A.T.S. It may just be that sweet first name, but I lovvvvve Dustin’s art, especially his amazing watercolor covers. Plus he’s a crackup in person, as we learned last summer when he attended HeroesCon for the first time. He told me he was taken aback by the quality of the art people were doing for our art auction, and promised to really dial it up this year. What??? If you were here for our 2009 Art Auction, Dustin donated 3 pieces, one of which he did onstage and was just incredible. Maybe he’s going to sculpt something next year? I can’t imagine how he’ll top himself.. but that’s one of those good problems I think. Check out this piece he did onstage:

Okay guys! Have a great weekend, and those of you, well pretty much anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard, enjoy the snow! Next week will see the first iteration of our Indie Island guest list, and I’ve got some really amazing names to announce, so get excited!

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of Ben Templesmith‘s addition to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List, today we’ve got a massive addition of returning guests!

Returning to HeroesCon in 2010 will be industry legend Michael Golden (The Nam, Micronauts) and Mark Texeira (Wolverine, Ghost Rider). These guys have become favorites at the show over the years–Mark’s 11th hour donations at the Art Auction, usually held aloft by volunteers blowing on still wet paint, always make a splash, and Michael is as big a draw among other artists as he is among fans!

Also returning in 2010 are the fine lads of North Carolina’s Tsunami Studios, including star penciller Randy Green (Teen Titans) and inker Rick Ketcham (Runaways, Uncanny X-Men), plus Steve Bird (Robin), Brian Shearer (Doctor Who), and John “Waki” Wycough (GI Joe)! I’m sure we’ll be adding more Tsunami names in the near future as well–there are a ton of these guys, I think they’re breeding or cloning or something.

Okay, one more Guest List update for the week tomorrow, then next week we’ll roll out our initial Indie Island guest list, including a bunch of first-time big name indie types! Super exciting!

Oh yes! We’re super excited to announce that Head Aussie-In-Chief Ben Templesmith has signed on to be a guest at HeroesCon 2010! You know him as the artist behind Fell, 30 Days of Night, the writer and artist of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and Welcome to Hoxford. His newest book is the upcoming Choker, with writer Ben McCool.

Ben was one of our early confirmations for our 2009 show, but the vagaries of international residency forced him to cancel at the last minute, so we’re glad to have him back! Ben assures me that he will be in the country all next year, and will be swinging two bats at HeroesCon. We were emailing back and forth about odds and ends, seating and so forth, and I mentioned that I’d probably seat him off kind of semi-by-himself somewhere, to keep his line from blocking a whole section of Artists Alley.

He said, “If I have a huge line I will be severely humbled sir,” which might have just been humility; while I’ve never met Ben face to face, he seems like a pretty sweet guy. But I suspect he is not prepared for the kind of full-on COMICS show HeroesCon is, not to mention all the original art junkies that come each year–he’s gonna be swamped!

ANYWAY. I have a laundry list of people to add still, so you’ll likely see another (and much larger) update tomorrow, but I wanted to get the news out today! Get excited!

We know you’re super excited about this weekend’s big Holiday Sale/Store Signing Jamboree, but we thought we’d redouble your excitement a little bit by announcing today that Bill Willingham has signed on for next summer’s HeroesCon 2010! Shelton will know better than me, but unless I miss my guess, Bill hasn’t been to HeroesCon at least since he was working on Elementals back in the day. If even then! I know he hasn’t been here since HeroesCon ’96 (my first as an employee), so either way, get excited!

For the three of you who aren’t aware of Bill’s work, he’s the writer and creator of the hit Fables series, as well as co-writer of its spinoff Jack of Fables, and more!  What newer comics readers might not know is that Bill is a full-on cartoonist as well as a writer–his series Elementals was pretty hot back in the 90’s. These days he’s written all over the place, including notably on DC’s Day of Judgment, Justice Society of America, and a ton of others.

But it wouldn’t be like us to announce just ONE name, would it? In fact, I’m looking at a long list of a couple dozen names Shelton has given me, enough that I’ll need to break it up into 3 or 4 separate updates! Also officialized this week are some of our favorite Charlotte-area cartoonists, pretty much all of whom are regular shoppers in our store for you Wednesday customers! They include upcoming Loose Ends creative team Chris Brunner and Jason Latour, Night artist Buddy Prince, Cavewoman creator Budd Root, and Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein artist Andy Smith! And of course, you can meet those last two this Saturday at the big 4-person store signing, all part of our Holiday Sale! More details here!

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!

The many of you who inquire about hotel rates for HeroesCon each year are going to LOVE LOVE LOVE this news almost as much as we do. Usually this doesn’t go live until just a month or two before the show, but this year Shelton has flexed his mighty muscles and the contracts are signed, the rate is live and ready for you to reserve your room!

That’s right! Reservations at the Westin Charlotte are now open at the special HeroesCon rate of $109/night! We strongly suggest you reserve your rooms early rather than late, as even though we have access to nearly the entire hotel, we fully expect an early sellout of rooms.  If you’ve ever stayed in the Westin before, you know the rooms are just ridulously nice, it’s a great hotel and I’m not just saying that, friends; it is a GREAT HOTEL.

You can go to our Hotels page to see a complete list of area hotels we can recommend, including the Westin; or just click right here to go right to the reservation page. If you have any problems, or if particular nights are listed as sold-out, please post a comment so we can address that. They group the rooms in blocks so sometimes they’ll show up on the computer as sold-out, but Shelton has a magic wand to wave at that stuff.