Answering the loud and often petulant requests of our entire staff and pretty much all of our customers, this week we’re super excited to announce the addition of Darwyn Cooke to our already vast HeroesCon 08 Guest List! Darwyn is probably the most requested guest by fans of HeroesCon, and this summer we aim to slake your thirst! I can’t imagine that people aren’t aware of this guys’ work, but recent highlights include DC: The New Frontier, the JLA New Frontier special of a few weeks ago, and of course the new movie that just came out, called coincidentally “…The New Frontier.” This is not even mentioning his multiple Eisner-award winning run with J. Bone on The Spirit relaunch, and older favorites like Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score, Batman: Ego, his issue of Solo, and so forth. Whew!

I’ve seen Darwyn in action at last year’s excellent Toronto Comics Art Festival, and I can tell you that he was SUPER approachable, loved to chat, and was a big hit not only with whoever he was talking to, but people in his line seemed to have a great time just listening to him talk. In short, a perfect HeroesCon guest!

But wait, there’s more! Also brand new to our guest list today is our friend Laura Martin, the colorists’ colorist whose work graces pretty much all the biggest books–Astonishing X-Men, Ultimates, Authority, Planetary, etc. Laura’s also super-nice, and at last year’s HeroesCon she had a complete coloring workstation set up with a second monitor turned out so fans could see what she was doing as she worked. Amazing!

Laura is joined by returning guests Kevin Sharpe (Legion of Superheroes, Marvel Adventures: Avengers), and Sean Shaw (Shi, Lady Death), as well as Alter Ego editor and former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel, Roy Thomas! Roy will only be able to attend the Saturday of the show (June 21), but we’re always happy to have him.

Holy crap, that was a big update–stars galore! How are we ever going to fit all of you in the convention center?

I’m going to make this a lot faster than these creators deserve, but I should already be home and I’m worried I might be getting sick, which SUCKS because I made it through the entire staff getting the flu one after the other, remaining unscathed. Oh well.

But that’s not what I called you all here to announce! Let us forget the waves of ersatz sympathy you are no doubt flooded with currently–forget them! We shall focus instead on a super-awesome group of additions to our Indie Island guest list: just added are Liz Baillie, the SVA grad behind My Brain Hurts and up-and-comer on the indie scene; Mike Dawson, whose book Freddie and Me (upcoming) describes what it’s like to grow up as a huge Queen fan (I have to assume it’s awesome, right?); and most of the Partyka group of artists. These guys not only put out some really WICKED (nice!) minicomics, but they’re regularly getting exposure in big-name venues like Giant Robot. Partyka members attending HeroesCon include Shawn Cheng (The Would-Be Bridegrooms, The Monkey & The Crab, AND the awesome image above I stole from his site); Matt Wiegle (No Fear Shakespeare Illustrated, Elfworld), and guest Partyker John Mejias, who also does the sweet Paping zine.

While I love all my Indie Island guests the same, I’m particularly excited about this group of names, not because they’re all giant “draws” or anything, but because they all add a really sweet diversity to the party–Indie Island is going to be less like a little indie section this year, and more like a bazaar, which all sorts of different stuff going on. I’m really looking forward to using my 3 days of influence and sway to score a bunch of free stuff off of all these peeps. You hear me, peeps?

UPDATE!
First of all, I’m not sick, for those of you who are worried. I bought some pomegranate/blueberry juice on special at the grocery store, and it was so thick and nasty that it scared any sickness away. But enough about me! I was so wrapped in self-pity when I posted yesterday that I forgot to mention Jason Horn, the up-and-comer behind the webstrip Ninjasaur, who is also brand new to the Indie Island list. Jason’s been to the convention plenty of times over the years, but this will be his very first OFFICIAL appearance as a guest! Welcome, brother!

We’re putting more effort into building an amazing schedule this year than ever before–by the time of the show, there are going to be so many must-see events that the schedule will end up being as much of an attraction as the guests and exhibitors!

To that end: just added to our 2008 Event Schedule is “The Nicholas Gurewitch Fellowship“, an interview with the crazy-famous creator of The Perry Bible Fellowship. I had a chance to hang out with Nick a little bit at last year’s SPX, and he was awesome, so put together with my own awesomeness, this promises to be an AWESOME(squared) interview. Oh, I forgot to mention that I’d be doing the interviewing–fortunately, this will be one of the only events that I’m running, leaving the bulk of any thinking and erudition to people much more qualified.

The interview is scheduled for 2.00 pm on Saturday, June 21, but NOTE! all times and locations are subject to change with nearly no notice. You can check out the current up-to-date schedule right here!

That’s right–it’s spring, and people are starting to confirm left and right for this year’s HeroesCon. All signs point to our biggest guest list ever, period, far and away, holy crud what a lot of people! But good gravy, this makes 12 people just this week! Returning to HeroesCon this summer will be Karl Kesel, known not only as a writer but as a prolific inker, and a frequent collaborator with the late great Mike Wieringo, not to mention fellow guests Mark Waid, Todd Dezago–the list goes on. From Fantastic Four to Daredevil to Spider-Man to Superman, there aren’t many characters Karl hasn’t had his inky fingers all over!

Oh yeah! As hinted at previously, we’re pleased to announce the addition to our HeroesCon 08 Guest List of Mirage Studios! Helmed by Peter Laird, the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this will be (I think, Shelton can confirm) the first official appearance at HeroesCon by Mirage. Peter is also the man behind the ENORMOUSLY influential Xeric Foundation, which provides the generous Xeric grants that have started a TON of careers, including guys like Adrian Tomine and Tom Hart, not to mention Sam Hiti, the oft-recommended-by-me author of Tiempos Finales and referee of Fistacuffs.

And Peter’s not coming alone! Mirage is setting up in force with a gang of dudes including Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Dan Berger, Steve Lavigne, and Eric Talbot–good Lord! It’s hard to imagine someone not familiar with the Turtles; people forget that it was TMNT that launched the “black & white explosion” of the 80’s, and explosion that also included already existing books like Love & Rockets, Cerebus, Yummy Fur and a ton of others. In fact, I had a hard time deciding whether or not to seat Mirage in Indie Island, but in the end I decided that they were just too big these days. Ah, the price of success!

A lot of old friends added to the HeroesCon 08 Guest List this week, including two of our oldest and closest friends, Tony Harris and Phil Noto. Casey Jones noticed that they weren’t on the list earlier in the week, and after a flurry of e-mails containing expressions like “What?!” and “Avast!“, the situation has been rectified! We expect a lot of these kinds of additions, as busy writers and artists notice that they haven’t confirmed yet, so there are sure to be a lot of announcements coming up throughout the spring!

Tony Harris is, of course, the highly reconizable artist behind big fan-favorite hits like Ex Machina and Starman, not to mention the current Spider-Man: With Great Power miniseries. Phil Noto is a hugely popular cover artist, not to mention interiors on the current Infinite Horizon, a re-imagining of Homer’s The Odyssey. Phil and Tony both are hugely generous parts of our annual HeroesCon Art Auction, usually doing original paintings on stage throughout the weekend, which then command four figures at the Auction itself.

Also new to the guest list this week is Heidi MacDonald, one of the leading lights of the comics journalism scene, and the writer behind Publisher’s Weekly’s The Beat column. Heidi joins The Comics Reporter‘s Tom Spurgeon and Newsarama‘s Matt Brady on our list; although I just noticed as I typed this that Matt’s not on the list. See what I meant before? I’ll check on that and get back to you next week!

And rounding out this week’s additions to our HeroesCon 08 Guest List are returning friends Kelly Yates (Amber Atoms, Tellos), and Matt Webb (E-Man: Idol, Femme Noir). These guys are no stranger to HeroesCon, and are both popular stops for people collecting sketches and original art!

More announcements next week, including some really great panels, plus a big addition of a certain big studio to the Guest List. Here’s a hint: the aforementioned Casey Jones shares a name not only with the famous engineer in the Grateful Dead song, but also a certain grim vigilante who hung out with some sewer reptiles…

We’ve been hinting around about this forever, but finally it’s official! Just added to the Indie Island guest list are “power couple” Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley! You may have met Bryan at the store signing he did here last fall, right after Scott Pilgrim 4 came out, but if not, now you’ll be able to meet him with a few thousand other people in the background. This will be Hope’s first time doing anything Heroes-related, except for meeting me a couple of times at different conventions both hither and thither. And she’s still coming! Her star is on the rise like CRAZY lately, not just for her Gray Horses and Salamander Dream books, but also a forthcoming title from Simon & Shuster, and who knows what else after that. Phew!

Regardless, this will be the first HeroesCon for both halves of this husband/wife comics machine–which advances our plan to have all of comics’ famous couples in attendance. Why just off the top of my head I can name Bryan and Hope, Stuart & Kathryn Immonen, Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick, Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer… I know there are a bunch more, but my brain stopped working.

But wait, there’s more! Also attending their very first HeroesCon/Indie Island this summer are indie up-and-comers Matt Bernier and Hilary Florido! We just today got a box full of Matt’s sweet mini- (actually maxi–they’re kind of big for minicomics) comics in the mail, including Out of Water and Potato Autopsy. He’s also had work in the Awesome! Indie Spinner Rack Anthology and Critical Citadel. Hilary’s books include The True Heart, The Girl’s Guide To Stuff, and Ofuro.

Be sure and welcome all four of these guys to their first HeroesCon! Which, fortunately, is going to be the best one ever, which should make a good impression. Another guest list update this Friday!

Man, who is this goober? But boy, those shirts look great! These are the only two we got, just to proof, and I quickly snatched them for myself. It looks like we’ll have them available for sale Thursday or Friday, so mark your calendars! The top shirt is by Jim Mahfood, and the bottom (modeled by me in true “Dre Day” style) is by Alec Longstreth, who I’m sure really loves early 90’s gangsta rap. You’re welcome, Alec!

Both shirts look AMAZING, even better than I thought they would. Hats off to our friends at Contagious Graphics, who really do first-rate work, and were extra helpful throughout the process of getting these set up.

If you’re seeing these for the first time, a quick review: they’re the first two of a planned series of 6 total shirts, each featuring the art of a different Indie Island guest. Once we have them in hand, they’ll sell for $20 apiece, plus $5 if you need it shipped within the continental U.S. These are very limited, so if I were you I’d get yours as soon as possible! If you like, I am keeping a little waiting list for when they show up, so feel free to post that you’d like one, especially if we actually know you, which will give your place on the waiting list a little more weight should fights break out.

What, already? Things aren’t slowing down, and the number of e-mails in my box each morning concerning the show seems to double every week. New today on the HeroesCon 2008 Guest List are returning guests Christian Beranek–co-founder of Silent Devil Studios and writer behind Se7en: Lust and Willow Creek from Zenescope–and Clay & Susan Griffith, the husband-and-wife writing team behind It Came From Beneath The Sea… Again and issues of The Tick.

And attending his very first HeroesCon this summer is Jason Howard, artist behind The Astounding Wolf-Man, written by fellow guest Robert Kirkman! Be sure and make all of these creators welcome this June–and stay tuned for ANOTHER big announcement late this week for Indie Island! I don’t want to go into details yet, but let’s just say that fans of Canada will be excited…

Just added to our HeroesCon 2008 Event Schedule is the Avengers Assembled! panel. Assembled! is the Van Plexico-edited book examing the history and mythos of the Avengers. Rare for a non-Marvel book, the book has received high accolades from Avengers alums including inker Bob Almond and editor Tom Brevoort–it doesn’t hurt that all proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Hero Initiative, the charity devoted to supporting aging comics professionals.

The panel will feature a number of celebrity guests (to be announced) and their discussion of the book, the Avengers themselves, and more. Plus it will culminate in the live presentation of the books’ proceeds to date to the Hero Initiative, which is sure to be exciting. For more info check our Schedule page! Also be sure to check out Van’s Avengers fan site, and of course the Hero Initiative!