Desert Wind Comics, Exclusive Facilitator of Stan Lee Autographs Presents Autograph Tickets and Fast Pass Opportunities!

Although our VIP packages have sold out, everyone who attends HeroesCon 2012 will have an opportunity to meet Stan Lee! A LIMITED NUMBER of tickets will be offered exclusively through Desert Wind Comics are available now! The price for this special opportunity is $55.00 USD per autograph (which includes processing and handling fees). You must supply the item to be signed. Also offered by Desert Wind is the Stan Lee Fast Pass. The Fast Pass allows you to get into a special express line during a DWC Stan Lee signing. The express line is the first line to be signed after the VIP line. Please click the image of Stan or right here for full details. Depending on availability, on-site tickets may also be sold at the Desert Wind Comics booth beginning Friday, June 22nd. There is no guarantee that on-site tickets will even be available. Check with the Desert Wind Comics booth for details.

Neither of these tickets grants admission to HeroesCon. PLEASE READ the ticket desciptions at the link and if you still have questions contact DWC at [email protected] .

Get your 3-day passes for $30 here!

Thanks to the great response we received from you guys, we are going to have our first HeroesCon Fun Run this year! Join us Saturday morning on June 23rd for exercise, friends, and fun! We’ll be meeting outside The Westin, Stonewall St side  at 7:00 AM. We’ll be accepting donations (after we cover printing costs) on behalf of the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation to fund research into the causes, diagnoses, and treatment of hairy cell leukemia, the disease that took the life of the great Dave Stevens. For your donation you will receive a HeroesCon Fun Run shirt with art by Eric Canete! Eric has even offered to do portfolio reviews for any aspiring artists willing to run, details here!

You don’t need to make a donation to run, but we sure would appreciate it and so would the foundation. You also don’t need to run to donate or get the shirt! Shirts will be available for pre-order for a VERY limited time (we need to get them to press!) So get your orders now! We will do a very small overprint of a few sizes to have the day of the run. We will not be shipping shirts, they will only be available the morning of the run! Thank you! Your generosity is appreciated!

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

HeroesCon is exactly one month away and we’re still adding guests. This isn’t even the last guest list update before the show! We’re bursting at the seams! Get your tickets today!

Jeffrey Brown had a recent hit with Darth Vader and Son, and is well known for other comics like The Incredible Change-Bots, Little Things, Clumsy, Unlikely and many more.

Tom Bancroft is a veteran artist in animation, storyboards and comics.  He’s done design work for lots of big Disney films like Aladdin, Lion King and Mulan, and illustrated books like Opposite Forces and the art instruction book Creating Characters With Personality.

June Brigman and Roy Richardson are the married creators behind the past fifteen years of Brenda Starr.  June is also known for her work on titles like Power Pack, Supergirl and an adaptation of the novel Black Beauty with Roy.

Dennis Calero has been a go-to artist for many companies over the years.  In addition to work on popular properties like 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, Calero’s also illustrated books like X-men: Noir, X-factor and Cowboys & Aliens.

Michael Dolce is a comics writer who has worked on books like Grimm Fairy Tales, Descendant and Sire.

Star Wars drawing by Zealand "Steve" Jones

Zealand “Steve” Jones has been a character designer on animated shows such as Batman: Brave and The Bold, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, Superman, and the New Adventures of Batman. He also worked on Teen Titans, Legion of Superheroes, JL: The New Frontier DTV, JL: Crisis on 2 Earths DTV, Men In Black and G I Joe: Renegades. Currently , he is working on the new CG TMNT cartoon at Nickelodeon Studios. His pals Dan Panosian

Power Girl & Huntress by Ethan Van Sciver

and Tim Townsend told him HeroesCon was a great show so he decided to make his first trip to the Queen City to check it out!

Drew Moss is currently drawing a story for Outlaw Territory Volume 3. He has also worked on Zombies VS Robots and The Baku.

Ethan Van Sciver has been a mainstay at DC for years now.  He’s illustrated titles like Green Lantern, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Flash: Rebirth and most recently the new 52 title Fury of Firestorm.

David Antoine Williams made quite an impression last year at his first ever appearance at HeroesCon! See the image below for one of the reasons why! David has been keeping busy with covers for G.I. Joe, Cobra and tons of other stuff since we saw him last. Don’t miss this chance to meet and chat with the one and only “Brohawk”!

David Antoine Williams and his Spider-Man painting from HeroesCon 2011

Last week we announced that Stan Lee would be attending HeroesCon 2012, June 22-24, 2012. Please note that anyone who attends the show will be able to meet Stan and purchase an autograph or a photograph with Stan the Man. Stan will also be featured on a panel one of the days that he is here which all convention guests are welcome to attend. But, if you want to guarantee you get an autograph, photo and more from Stan and you don’t want to wait in what we’re sure will be long lines for this living legend we are making two levels of VIP access available to you!

You can purchase “True Believer” and “Excelsior” passes now by clicking here.

• The “True Believer” pass will allow the holder to one photo with Stan, one certified autograph, express lane for photos and autographs and priority seating at Stan’s panel.

• The “Excelsior!” pass will provide all of the above as well as admission to an intimate “meet and greet” cocktail party with Stan Lee.

• In addition to the guaranteed access, one lucky “True Believer” or”EXCELSIOR” pass holder will be chosen at random to be in Stan’s entourage all day Saturday. That lucky winner will be with Mr. Lee all day as he signs autographs, poses with fans for photos, walks with Stan to his panel discussion and will be included in a very exclusive lunch with Stan on Saturday!

We’re so excited Stan Lee is coming back to Charlotte to help us celebrate our 30th Anniversary and we know you are too! Don’t miss your opportunity to meet this legendary creator!

Please note: There are 2 different versions of the Stan Lee ticket on the site. One pair is an upgrade if you already have already purchased your 3-day pass and the others include 3-day admission plus the Stan related upgrades!

Heroes Convention 2012 Welcomes Stan Lee!

Shelton Drum is honored and excited to welcome comics legend Stan Lee back to Charlotte as a featured guest of Heroes Convention’s 30th anniversary. Stan last attended HeroesCon in 1984 and his return this summer will be the crown jewel in the show’s 30th Anniversary celebrations.
Stan will be on hand signing autographs and posing for photographs during HeroesCon. He will also be featured on a panel discussion. All attendees of the convention will be welcomed to Stan’s panel, photo opportunities and autograph sessions. Details of our VIP ticket packages will be announced next Friday, May 10th! Sign up for our mailing list to get the news first!

Stan Lee is known to millions as the man whose superheroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, Stan’s co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, IronMan, as well as hundreds of others. He introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that became the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips and has appeared in more than 500 newspapers worldwide.Stan currently remains Chairman Emeritus of Marvel, as well as a member ofthe Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. Stan is currently the Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of POW!

“Stan Lee has been the face and the voice of Marvel Comics since the debut of The Fantastic Four in 1961 and has in recent years become the same for comics and superheroes in general to most fans. I’m very excited and proud that Stan will be helping Heroes celebrate HeroesCon’s 30th anniversary!” said convention organizer and comics retailer Shelton Drum.

This year’s Heroes Convention takes place June 22-24, 2012 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

It’s a Mega-Monday HeroesCon Guest List Update! Here are some of the recent additions to our ever-growing list of guests who will join us for our 30th Anniversary!

Roger Langridge has been an anchor of Indie Island for years now, and we’re happy he’ll be back again with us this year!  Roger’s probably best known for his work on books like The Muppet Show and Fred the Clown, but he’s also garnered acclaim for his writing on the all ages Thor: The Mighty Avenger and John Carter: A Princess of Mars, Marvel’s adaptation of the classic novel.  Currently, he’s writing and illustrating the popular all ages title, Snarked, and is writing IDW’s brand new Popeye series.  Make sure to stop by and welcome back one of our industry’s nicest folks.

We’re also happy to have the entire creative team from IDW’s brand new magic-based title, Smoke and Mirrors!  Co-writer Jon Armstrong brings a bevy of magic experience to the book, as he’s a respected magician and a consulting imagineer for Disney.  Stay tuned to the Heroes Blog as we get closer to HeroesCon.  Mr. Armstrong may indeed be a part of a magic panel at the show!  Co-creator/artist Ryan Browne will also be with us this year.  In addition to Smoke and Mirrors, you might’ve seen Browne’s work on other titles like Image’s Monstro-City, and God Hates Astronauts and Blast Furnace, both of which he wrote and illustrated.  Rounding out our Smoke and Mirrors attendees is co-creator/co-writer Mike Costa.  Along with work on Monstro-City, Mike’s also been working on high profile books like G.I. Joe, Blackhawks and Transformers.

Writer/artist Colleen Coover also returns to HeroesCon this year!  With work on titles like Tails of the Pet Avengers, X-men: First Class, Power Pack and Jim Henson’s Storyteller, she has become one of the industry’s best when it comes to all ages books.  She’s also done work on books like Creepy Quarterly and Gingerbread Girl, the latter of which was co-created by fellow guest Paul Tobin.  Paul has also garnered attention for his writing on numerous Marvel Adventures titles, as well as Spider-man & the Secret Wars, Spider-girl, and the recent Bionic Woman series.

In addition to being our guest at Free Comic Book Day this year, writer/artist Jay Potts will also be with us for HeroesCon!  Jay’s the creative force behind World of Hurt, the internet’s #1 blaxploitation webcomic.  World of Hurt is a really great webcomic, and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t already.  Jay’s a spot-on writer and a really talented illustrator, too.  Make sure to stop by and see him at FCBD and HeroesCon!

If you’re a regular customer at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find, you probably know Bridgit Scheide as one of our retail staffers.  In addition to that, she’s also been gaining a lot of attention in recent years for her comics!  Along with earlier works like Kindle, Bridgit is the writer/artist of Brother Nash, and a contributer to anthologies like Death Curse.   She’s also provided design work for some upcoming Atomic Robo stories.

Matthew Southworth is probably best known the artist of the popular crime noir series Stumptown, but he also illustrated the popular Spider-Man: The Grim Hunt storyline, along with books like Thunderbolts, Spider-girl and Infinity, Inc.  It’s Matthew’s first time coming to HeroesCon, so make sure to welcome him this year.

Indie Island regular Shannon Smith also makes a return to HeroesCon this year.  He’s the creator of books like #RockingSoHard, mini comics like Brush & Pen, Small Bible and Spaghetti Junktion.  Shannon’s just one of our many great Indie Island guests this year, and we’ll have more guests to announce soon, so keep checking the Heroes Blog for weekly updates!

DISCOUNTED 3-DAY PASSES ON SALE HERE!

At last year’s HeroesCon, a small group of people got together and organized a little Saturday morning 3 mile “fun run”. It was just a word-of-mouth thing, but it was open to anyone who wanted to participate. It ended up being a group of about 15 people. Some were comic pros, some were comic enthusiasts. Everyone went at their own pace and just had a good time.

We wanted to open it up to everyone this year and see if anyone would be interested in doing it as an official Heroes Con activity. It’s not a race. There are no prizes. It’ll just be a bunch of people running and walking for the fun of it.  If there are enough people who say they are interested, we might even look at doing a special t-shirt for the participants featuring art by some of the top comic artists coming to Heroes Con this year.

So what do you say? Would you want to sign up for a Heroes Con fun run? Let us know in the comments section, on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the word!

Ben Caldwell has performed his uniquely graceful style of cartooning on Justice League Unlimited covers, Wonder Woman children’s books, and Star Wars: Clone Wars comic books. Ben also did a bang-up job on Wednesday Comics: Wonder Woman and his creator-owned comic Dare Detectives. I recommend his Action! Cartooning series of ‘how-to’ books all the time! Please make sure you give this first-time HeroesCon guest a warm welcome!

Newcomer James Harren is making quite a splash with his work on B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Long Death. I’d try to get on his sketch list early and often!

Steve Niles is family around here and we’re happy to announce he’ll be back this year. Along with his new project with Bernie Wrightson, Frankenstein Alive, look for other new books like Creator-Owned Heroes.

No stranger to anyone who has been to HeroesCon, Tony Shasteen is returning in 2012. His work has been featured in the prestigious annual, Spectrum, The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art. Check out his work on titles like Burn Notice, Netherworld, Deathstroke and the recently optioned Occult Crimes Taskforce from 12 Gauge Comics

Dexter Vines is one of the most sought-after inkers in the industry, often working on high-profile “event” comics like Civil War and the recent white-hot Wolverine “Old Man Logan” story. He’s probably most closely associated with penciller Ed McGuinness, especially for their work on Superman/Batman and The Hulk.

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.

Also new this week is Derec Donovan. Derec has worked all over the place, including on Image’s Youngblood, Marvel’s Jubilee, and DC’s Robin and Connor Hawke series!

Next up we have Chrissie Zullo! Since her breakout success with Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love she has been gaining more fame and notoriety. Check out her contribution in the massive Kickstarter success story Womanthology.

Also appearing in artists alley is artist of the forthcoming Holliday OGN from Oni Press, Doug Dabbs.

Will Allred has contributed articles to Blue-Collar Pop Culture: From NASCAR to Jersey Shore (2012), Comics Through Time (forthcoming) and served as a Contributing Editor to Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels (2010).

Get your tickets here!

Making comics is a pretty solitary endeavor so when convention time rolls around you want to make sure you can hang out with your friends without having to leave your table and miss your fans! Today’s update features 3 great groups of artists!

Kiss by Jamal Igle

Scarlet Spider by Ryan Stegman

CADENCE COMIC ART

JAMAL IGLE – Kiss, Supergirl, World’s Finest, Nightwing, Firestorm
ERIK JONES – Unknown, Elric, Witchblade
AARON KUDER – Amory Wars, Legion Lost, Key of Z
ANDY KUHN – Firebreather, TMNT, Marvel Team-up
AMY MEBBERSON – Muppets, Strawberry Shortcake, Richie Rich, Dorothy of Oz, Monsters Inc.
KHARY RANDOLPH – Starborn, Charismagic, Spider-Man, Spawn, New Mutants
JAMES SILVANI – Darkwing Duck, Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers, TMNT, Star Wars, Looney Tunes
RYAN STEGMAN – Scarlet Spider, Amazing Spider-man, She Hulks, X-23

COMIC ART HOUSE

Atomic Robo by Scott Wegener

MATTHEW FLETCHER
DANIEL GOVAR – Azure
NORMAN LEE – X-Men, Namor, New Mutants, DCU Online Legends
MIKE LILLY – Black Terror, Annihilation Conquest: Quasar, Vampirella, Punisher
JACK PURCELL – Batgirl, Gotham Underground, Green Arrow
SARA RICHARD – Zombie Bomb, Marvel’s Dangerous Divas Sketchcards
CHRISTOPHER UMINGA – Living Dead Dolls
SCOTT WEGENER – Atomic Robo, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
CHARLES PAUL WILSON III – Stuff of Legend

Buffy and Faith by Randy Green

ROBERT ATKINS – GI Joe, SnakeEyes, Amazing Spider-man, X-Men Forever
STEVE BIRD – Robin, Blue Beetle, Outsiders, Detective Comics
RANDY GREEN – New X-Men, Emma Frost, Witchblade
RICK KETCHAM – Runaways, Uncanny X-Men, Excalibur, New Mutants
GARY MCKEE – Warhammer 40K, Legends of the Five Rings
BRIAN SHEARER – Dr. Who, Transformers, GI JOE
JASON WALKER – Sword and Scorcery, Scarred Lands and Ravenloft
JOHN WYCOUGH – G.I. Joe, Transformers, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Noble Causes
KELLY YATES – Amber Atoms, Doctor Who, Tales of Tellos, JLA/JSA Secret File

Hey comic book fans, we hope March is treating you well so far. It’s time for another big guest list update!  Looking at the image below you realize comics has a place for huge variety of great creators! Check em all out this June 22-24 at HeroesCon! Click on their names (below the image) to be taken to their websites. We’ll have more announcements coming soon for you guys! Click here to get your 3-day advance passes and all the exclusive goodies that come along with it!

• NATHAN EDMONDSON – The ACTIVITY, Who Is Jake Ellis?, Grifter, The Light
• FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA – The Black Beetle, Captain America & Bucky, Detective Comics, Black Panther
• MITCH GERADS – The ACTIVITY, Doctor WHO, Planet of the Apes
• GENE GONZALES – DC Comics Licensing Artist, Iron Man 2 Cards, Diary of Night
• JEREMY HAUN – The Darkness, The Beauty, Detective Comics, Gotham City Sirens
• JANET LEE – Return of the Dapper Men, Jane Austen’s Emma & Northanger Abbey
• MARK MORALES – Avengers vs X-men, Avengers: Children’s Crusade, The Mighty Thor
• JOE PEKAR – Grimm Fairy Tales, Brandi Bare, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• PAT QUINN – The Phantom, GI Joe: Declassified, Necrotic
• RON SALAS – Existence 2.0/3.0, Dracula: Company of Monsters, Comic Twart
• JILL THOMPSON – Magic Trixie, Beasts of Burden, Scary Godmother
• SHANE WHITE – 1Month2Live, Things Undone, The Overman