Well, it looks like we’re the next hot date on the con circuit: now that NYCC’s all done, people are writing and calling left and right to get on this year’s Heroes Convention 2008 Guest List! I’m looking at a long list of announcements I’ll be making throughout next week, but FIRST we want to welcome some old friends and some new ones to the list!

It wouldn’t be HeroesCon without our old friends Nick Cardy and Irwin Hasen! These are two of our very favorite people, and we’re really excited to welcome them back this year. Although introductions are hardly necessary for these two living legends, for those of you unfamiliar with their work: Nick Cardy got his start at the famed Eisner/Iger Studio, but came into his own working on iconic titles in the 50’s and 60’s like Aquaman and Teen Titans. Irwin Hasen’s career stretches all the way back to the Golden Age of comics, on titles like Green Lantern and All Star Comics. He’s probably best known as the co-creator of Wildcat, as well as the long-time writer/artist of the Dondi newspaper strip.

Another friend returning to HeroesCon this summer is Colleen Doran, the creator of the acclaimed space opera A Distant Soil, as well as the artist of books including Orbiter (with Warren Ellis) and Book of Lost Souls (with J. Michael Straczynski). This is like a tenth of her list of credits, though–she’s had a pretty rich and varied career.

But wait there’s more! Also returning to this year’s HeroesCon are artists Roy Richardson (Captain America, Iron Man) and June Brigman (Power Pack, Supergirl). Roy and June last attended in 2005, I think, so we’re excited to have them back this year!

And lastly in this first-of-many Guest List update, we’re welcoming to brand nubes to the show: Dennis Hopeless and Kevin Mellon, who are respectively the writer and artist behind the GearHead series from Arcana, as well as the upcoming Cupid graphic novel from AIT/PlanetLar. Dennis is also co-writing Stormchaser with Phil Hester, and Kevin is the artist of Thirteen Steps. Welcome to your first HeroesCon, guys!

More updates are pending–a TON of them!

by Mike Mignola with John Byrne
reviewed by Shawn Reynolds

I love oversized hardcovers. The art envelops you in a way trades or a single issue comic just can’t. You can easily fall into the story and become a part of the action. It is analogous to seeing a movie in a theater versus seeing it at home (at least this is true for those of us who don’t have a fancy widescreen plasma TV). Last week volume one of the Hellboy Library Edition came out and I took notice.

As shocking as it may be, I have never read any Hellboy or for that matter anything by Mike Mignola. That’s not to say that I haven’t drooled over his books. I love his art style, but for whatever reason I just never picked up Hellboy. But I could not resist a fancy new hardcover that contains not one story, but two (volume one includes “Seed of Destruction” and “Wake the Devil”). There is also a section of sketches in the back with commentary by Mignola.

So far I’ve only had a chance to read “Seed of Destruction”. The story is basically about the mystery surrounding the Cavendish family. You are introduced to an unusual cast of characters: Hellboy, Elizabeth Sherman and Abe Sapien. The more you find out about them, the more you want to find out about them. Anytime one of your questions is answered it brings to light even more questions. It is the perfect first story arc. It has a balanced mix of history and fantasy. I’ve always enjoyed stories about World War II. I think that is one of the reasons I enjoy Indiana Jones.

The art in the book is beautiful. It is somber and dark which fits the mood of the story perfectly. I love Mignola’s line work. It is rough and elegant at the same time. It feels immediate yet intentional. The colors (done by Mark Chiarello) pop, especially against the black page.

I look forward to delving even farther into the world of Hellboy. The previews for Hellboy II: The Golden Army look awesome. And Dark Horse is putting out a Hellboy book for Free Comic Book Day, which is May 3rd in case you haven’t heard us mention it. FCBD is going to tons of fun!

Alright! I told you we were going to have a ridiculous list of special guests for this year’s Free Comic Book Day, and I’m here to back that up. In case you can’t see the sweet flyer I just finished above, the list of special guests signing autographs and doing FREE sketches from 1-5pm on Saturday, May 3rd will include:

SHAWN CRYSTAL (BloodRed)
IAN FLYNN (Sonic the Hedgehog)
SANFORD GREENE (Method Man GN)
CULLY HAMNER (Blue Beetle)
JASON LATOUR (The Expatriate)
CHRIS SCHWEIZER (Crogan’s Vengeance)
TONY SHASTEEN (O.C.T.)
BRIAN STELFREEZE (The Ride: Die Valkyrie)
ETHAN VAN SCIVER (Justice League of America)
DOUG WAGNER (The Ride)
and MATT BRADY of Newsarama.com!

What?! Am I kidding you? No, friends–I am not kidding. This is going to be huge. And Todd informs me that we have over TWELVE THOUSAND comics to give away, although we’re going to try and limit it, as in past years, to one of everything per person–depending of course, on whether you’re old enough for some books. We like to give these books away throughout the year, too–it’s just how we roll, dawg. See you next Saturday: doors open at 10am, and the signing/sketching goes from 1-5pm.

EDIT: Belying the fab flyer art, Mark Brooks actually won’t be able to make it to the celebration due to a scheduling conflict–so you’ll have to save your Brooks-ian enthusiasm for HeroesCon! But there’ll still be stars a-plenty, including late addition JASON LATOUR, artist of the acclaimed The Expatriate!

I know I already announced that the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is setting up at their very first HeroesCon this year, but yesterday I was listening to the Indie Spinner Rack podcast, where they mentioned the recipient of the money they’ve been raising for a scholarship.

Let me back up and hit some key points really quick, just so we’re all on the same page: first, Indie Spinner Rack is a great podcast, maybe my favorite one (although those Dollar Bin guys sure are friendly). Last year they published the Awesome Anthology, the proceeds of which they had solemnly vowed to give to a deserving student at CCS. The book itself is sold out from Diamond, although hopefully I can get Charlito and Mr. Phil (the show’s giggling hosts) to sell us some for the store. It’s pretty great, too, with TONS of good work from people you’ve never heard of, and some people you have heard of.

So I’m listening to the new ISR podcast yesterday, and after some very nice words about Indie Island, they get into the meat of the podcast, which is to actually call up the recipient of the award and inform them that they’ve won. Apparently they put together a nominating committee of school faculty and others, and then they all talked about it and chose… Chuck Forsman!

Wait, who?

Which is what reminded me that I forgot to ever announce the addition of three CCS students (including one newly minted scholarship winner) to the Indie Island roster. Ladies and gentlemen, I sincerely hope you’ll warmly welcome Chuck Forsman (Snake Oil, Sundays anthology), Alex Joon Kim (Walled City, The Bird & The Bear), and Sean Ford (Only Skin) to their very first Heroes Convention! They’ll be joining Joseph Lambert on the list, whose minicomics we still have a few of in our little minicomics rack.

CCS is becoming THE premiere school for budding cartoonists of the do-it-yourself self-publishing school. It includes faculty and special guests including James Kochalka, Steve Bissette, James Sturm, and a ton more, and is turning out some of the most accomplished creators publishing new work today. I’m personally really excited to be welcoming these guys to Charlotte, and hope that you are too!

We’ve been talking about it for months now, but just so’s you know: this year’s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY will take place on Saturday, May 3! There’ll be DOZENS of free comics you can pick up, and we’ll have a ton of creators on hand to sign autographs and do FREE sketches! We’ll be announcing a larger list of attending creators next week, but for now I can tell you that SCAD instructors Chris Schweizer–whose upcoming book Crogan’s Vengeance will be published by Oni Press–and Shawn Crystal (of the upcoming BloodRed) will be on hand. Plus we’re sure there’ll be other familiar faces there, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Creators will be signing and sketching from 1pm to 5pm.

And don’t forget the BOOKS! We’ll start giving out free comics as soon as we open at 10pm that Saturday. There’ll be between 20 and 30 different titles, most of which should be suitable for all ages, so bring the whole family!

And if you’ve never been to one of our Free Comic Book Day celebrations before, I’ve coincidentally just put up a whole kit-and-kaboodle of pictures on our Flickr site of past FCBD’s so check it out: crowds and star power galore!

We’re getting a ton–hold on, let me use all caps–a TON of e-mails and phone calls about the Westin being sold out. This is not correct: THE WESTIN IS NOT SOLD OUT. As far as I can tell, it looks like they are telling people on the phone that our block of reserved rooms has sold out–what they’re referring to is a very small group of rooms set aside early, possibly just as a sort of placeholder or courtesy. In fact, the number of rooms we set aside when the contract is finalized will be much larger. Shelton is calling his contact at the Westin numerous times each day to get this thing wrapped up, and with luck everything should be a “go” by next week some time.

In the meantime, thank you very extra much for your continued patience, and especially for your support of HeroesCon! We hate that there’s this hiccup in the middle of such a phenomenal runup to what will be our biggest show ever, and are working like gangbusters to get it all sorted out for you.

WHEN THE RATE IS ANNOUNCED: I will send out a special edition of the Heroes Hotline before I announce it anywhere else. If you’re not already getting our weekly newsletter, I strongly suggest that you sign up for it if you want to be notified on this hotel thing. More than likely I’ll announce that rate here on our blog later that day.

Yes yes! There is a metric ton of news in the offing, so I suggest you keep your peepers peeled over the next couple of weeks. Kicking it off today is the announcement that we’ll be consolidating many of our all-ages creators (those who are into the idea, anyway) under the banner of a new special section of HeroesCon, tentatively titled the Kids Love Comics Garage.

Organized around the “Kids Love Comics“group of creators–who travel the country speaking at cons, schools, and libraries, promoting literacy through comic books–the new section will be (at least for now) one of the “islands” that Artists Alley is divided into at the show. I think around 9 tables or so. The Kids Love Comics group is always really popular with kids at shows they do, and we got to see it first hand at last year’s Baltimore Comicon. John Gallagher, one of the cartoonists behind the NASCAR Heroes comic book and Buzzboy, has been working with us to create the new section, and it should be really great, not just for kids, but for families or anyone who likes good all-ages comics.

But who are these mysterious creators? Well, that brings me to the other announcement: today we added a whole slew of all-ages creators to the HeroesCon 08 Guest List, most of whom are part of the Kids Love Comics group, including:

JIMMY GOWNLEY, creator of Amelia Rules, and recent 4-time Eisner nominee. Congratulations, Jimmy!

JOSH ELDER, of TokyoPop’s Mail Order Ninja and Batman Strikes!

JOHN GALLAGHER, artist of Buzzboy and NASCAR Heroes–wait, did I already say that?

RICH FABER, of Buzzboy and Roboy Red fame, and

SCOTT SAVA, of Dreamland Chronicles and The Lab.

ALSO joining this new section will be TIM RICKARD, creator of the hit Brewster Rockit comic, returning to HeroesCon this year! This promises to be a really great way to show off our family-friendliness–we’ve always been big into getting young readers into comics, so we’re pretty excited about this new part of HeroesCon. Hope you are too!

Boola Boola! Saturday I drove down to Athens, Georgia for this year’s FLUKE minicomics festival. Good day: run-ins with cops, some fun cartoonists, 3 Stella Artois and 1 Bass Ale, and a visit to a sloppy-but-fun comic shop, followed by a big dinner. Heck, that’s the whole story! But on the off-chance that you want to know more, I’ve posted a photo report over on our Flickr site. Check it, bruthas and sisters!

Wowee Zowee—what a sale!

From now until our mood changes, take 20% off select trade paperbacks: fully loaded Marvel Essentials and DC Showcase Presents, various and sundry trade paperbacks we ordered to many of! Tens to choose from! We’ve got to make room for next week’s books, so hurry on in, cause with prices like these, they won’t last long! Come on down and see Shawn and the gang—tell ‘em Todd sent you!

Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find, Charlotte . . . BAM!

Not to be used with any other offer. Must take possession from dealer stock. North Carolina sales tax applies.

Set sail, me hearties! I’ll be attending my first ever FLUKE show tomorrow, in scenic Athens, Georgia!

If you’ve never heard of it, FLUKE is a mini-comics festival that takes place in a bar (delicious!), and features a ton of Southeastern minicomic-ers. I’ll be there promoting Indie Island, selling t-shirts, and buying a lot of new minicomics for the store–we keep selling out of the old ones! And I might have a drink… maybe.

The particulars: Fluke 2008 will take place at Tasty World, located at 312 E. Broad St. in Athens. It goes from 11am to 6pm, and the $5 admission fee also includes a table you can sell your wares at, although those are sure to go quick. More info here. And remember, it’s a bar, so feel free to buy me a drink if you see me–Shelton’s got me on a tight budget. Hope to see you there!

OH I ALMOST FORGOT: I’m not the only Heroes staffer on the road this weekend: also travelling Southward will be Shelton, who’ll be attending Wes Tillander’s Atlanta Comic Con this Sunday, April 13! The show will be located at the Marriott Atlanta Century Center–sounds futuristic!–from 11am to 5pm. If you’re in Georgia this weekend, be sure to come see us at one of these events!