This week we welcome back three guests to HeroesCon, the Guest List of which is swelling on a twice to thrice-weekly basis–Lord knows where we’re going to seat everybody. Maybe double-decker chairs? We’ve already got our engineers working on it, never-you-mind.

While Atomic Robo‘s Scott Wegener only attended his first HeroesCon last year, he must have had a good time because here he is again, giggling like a schoolgirl. When he’s not working on the Eisner-nominated Atomic Robo, he finds time to squeeze credits like Killer of Demons and the Marvel 70th Anniversary: Human Torch special onto his resume. Clever Scott.

Also joining up this week is our old chum Bob Almond, who among being a longtime industry inker on books from the fan-favorite Black Panther up to more recently Star Trek: The Last Generation and Annihilation: Conquest, is also one of the founders of the Inkwell Awards, which spotlight some of comics best brush-wielders! The Inkwell Awards will also be set up at the convention, so you can find out more and how you can help out there!

Rounding out this update, like bananas and milk on your oatmeal, is writer Dan Johnson,  a North Carolinian who writes Herc and Thor from Antarctic Press. He’s also written comics adaptations of classics including Robinson Crusoe and Oliver Twist; plus scores of articles for magazines like Back Issue, Alter Ego, Scary Monsters, and more!

Welcome back to all three of these guys–more to come tomorrow!

Man, GET A LOAD of this picture of Don Rosa. Is this not the coolest thing you ever did see? I love this guy, he’s like if Uncle Scrooge were really tall and not a duck. I’ve never seen him make this face, but look at all that stuff in the background! That is just nuts, NUTS!

Don joins us today on the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List, which is super great. He’s a sweet dude and a great guest, and an inspiration to a whole generation of cartoonists for his work on Uncle Scrooge since the 1980’s, most notably on his much-lauded The Life And Times of Scrooge McDuck–I have lost count of how many indie cartoonists I have introduced him to over the last few years at HeroesCon. “Oh man there he is, oh man I’m nervous now”.. he’s like Michael Jackson to them! Awesome, I love it!

Also new this week are fellow returning guests George Broderick Jr. (Popeye the Sailor, Simpsons Super Spectacular) and Chris DiBari (The Warriors, Warhammer 40K: Exterminatus). What a trio! I will let you guys know if either George or Chris send me photos of themselves of the same quality as Don’s. Gonna be tough though guys, tough.

Oh man it’s an all-star indie comics revue today, very exciting for Indie Island! Attending his first ever HeroesCon will be Mome contributor and Covered blogger-in-chief Robert Goodin. Many of you thrilled to his book The Man Who Loved Breasts last year from Top Shelf, and his religiously-tinged historical comics in Mome are some of my very favorites. Man, I sure do love Mome. Monsieur Goodin is coming all the way from sunny Pasadena for HeroesCon, so be sure and make him feel welcome!

Also traveling from the West, although in this case the Mid-West, is returning Indie Island champeen Matt Kindt, whose book Superspy was a huge hit for him a few years ago. Matt followed that up with 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, and this year will see the publication of Revolver and The Tooth. Whew! Matt always has a ton of little geegaws and gimcracks for sale at conventions, and does primo sketches, often in watercolor!

Hailing from much closer are Drew Weing and Joey Weiser, who will be driving up again this year from Athens, Georgia for HeroesCon. Drew is the cartoonist behind the GORGEOUS “Set To Sea“, which Fantagraphics will be publishing this summer. He’s also known for him minicomics and his many many strips in Nick Magazine and Disney Adventures.

Joey is the author of The Ride Home and Tales of Unusual Circumstance, and has been making waves lately in comics circles for his unique way of funding his next graphic novel, Cavemen In Space. Love to see the Southern cartoonists mixing it up on the world stage, it warms my heart it does.

Man, Indie Island is looking RIDIC for this year (short for ridiculous)!! RIDIC!

Dudes! Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List this week is none other than Mr Mark Bagley. It’s hard to imagine a more prolific creator working today than Mark, who followed up his 100 issue run on Ultimate Spider-Man with 52 issues of Trinity, then Batman, and now JLA–fortunately Mark was engineered by NASA scientists to not need sleep or food. Once a day he just gurgles down a bottle of 10-W-30 and a couple of D batteries and he’s good to go! We’re excited to have him back and have already stocked up on oil and Duracells!

Mark is joined in this here update by the FCHS team of Vito Delsante and Rachel Freire–the book’s preview was a big hit at last year’s HeroesCon, and Rachel’s amazing art was a surprise hit at the Art Auction. But after getting kicked in the stomach by Diamond’s order minimums last year, the book was cancelled. Never fear, Vito and Rachel are self-publishing it themselves, so you should be able to check out FCHS this June at HeroesCon!

Last up this week are two Missourans who are always big hits at cons for their sketches, which means they’ll be doubly–or even triply–welcome at HeroesCon, where doing sweet con sketches is like printing money. Oh wait I got so excited I almost forgot to mention their names–Brian Hurtt is the artist and co-creator of The Damned, and did the art on the upcoming Cowboys from the Vertigo Crime imprint, not to mention The Sixth Gun, coming this spring from Oni. And his buddy Chris Samnee is all over the place lately, on Siege: Embedded most recently, not to mention X-Men Vs Agents of Atlas and DC’s The Mighty.

More updates in store this week–stay tuned all y’alls!

Yes yes, oh my yes please! Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today are 2 old buddies and one brand new one–the new one is none other than Mysterius The Unfathomable artist Tom Fowler! Tom comes to us through the good offices of his Mysterius collaborator, Jeff Parker, who is also coming I do believe, although hasn’t seen fit to reply to my email yet. Probably *sniff* technical issues or something. Anyway, Tom is not only the studly Mysterius artist, but also has a ton of work in Mad Magazine and elsewhere–looking through his site is a real treat, believe you me!

Also a “real treat” is “Big” John Beatty, who returns triumphant to HeroesCon this year after several years of absence. We love John, he’s an inker’s inker and a studbolt and a sweet dude besides. He got his start at the age of–18? 19? anyway it was super young–inking Mike Zeck on Punisher. He worked on some of the biggest books of the 80’s, including Zeck’s Captain America run, Secret Wars, and a ton more. These days he’s in-demand working on DC style guides and a ton of sketch cards.

Also returning this year is another old chum, and a local comics star to boot, Mr. Al Bigley. Besides credits including Tao Boy, Sonic the Hedgehog, and a bajillion trading card illustrations, Al also wrote Draw Comics Like A Pro, a comics how-to published by Watson Guptill!

Brand new to the HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today are some old buddies and at least one brand new buddy! Jamal Igle will be no stranger to most HeroesCon attendees–the fan-favorite penciller who’s currently working on World’s Finest is also famous for his runs on Supergirl, Nightwing, and Firestorm. He’s a sweet dude too, so if you somehow haven’t met him yet, then I foresee good times in your future for sure.

Jamal is joined by fellow return guest and buddy Nathan Edmondson, who you may have met at our big Holiday Sale or at last year’s HeroesCon. Now that Nathan’s done with his acclaimed book Olympus, he’s setting his sights on the upcoming The Light, drawn by Surrogates co-creator Brett Weldele! Yes, yes I know what you’re thinking, I’ll get right on it; but for now, let’s just reflect on good ole Nathan. All done reflecting? Okay.

Because also new this week is first time guest Gabriel Hardman, who comes to us through the good offices of our friend and his collaborator Jeff Parker. Jeff and Gabriel have worked together on numerous Agents of Atlas projects, including the recent Avengers Vs. Agents of Atlas miniseries. Gabe’s also the artist of the Image/Shadowline graphic novel Heathentown, and has worked on a ton of movies including a few little indie productions like Spider-Man 3, Superman Returns, and Tropic Thunder. But hopefully one day he’ll get to work on one of the BIG movies, here’s hoping on that.

Oh but wait! Before I release your Internet-roaming eyes, leave me not forget two more artist returning to HeroesCon this summer: Charlie Kirchoff is the colorist of a bajillion different IDW books, including the Doctor Who ongoing series, the recolored Doctor Who Classics, and Angel: Aftermath. He also colored the Zombies That Ate The World miniseries over Guy Davis‘s sweet pencils. S.L. Gallant is another IDW rising star, working mainly lately on GI Joe books, including the main series, GI Joe Origins, and the GI Joe movie prequels. You may have also seen him on Marvel Adventures: The Avengers and more!

Okay, that should do it for this week for big con announcements, although there’s some sweet stuff in store next week. For now we’ll spend the rest of the week getting ready for the big Charlotte Minicon on Saturday. See you there!

Yessir! New to the HeroesCon Indie Island Guest List for the first time ever this year is one of my very favorite cartoonists, Ken Dahl–I’m pretty excited to have Ken (or Gabby, as most people know him–Ken Dahl is a pseudonym AS IF YOU COULDN’T TELL) as a guest, and I suspect I’m not the only one. Gabby’s book Monsters was on pretty much every critic’s “best of” list for 2009, so many that it ended up #6 on the “meta-list”, compiled by the guys at the I Love Rob Liefeld comics blog. Gabby’s a pretty amazing cartoonist, and I suspect still with his best work ahead of him–there are worse places to be than there.

Gabby is joined this week by his fellow Punchbuggy Tour member (along with already-guestified Liz Baillie) MK Reed, who self-publishes her own Cross Country books, and has a a book coming out from First Second in 2011. In fact, I am informed that HeroesCon will be the final stop on Gabby, Liz, and MK’s Punchbuggy Tour, and they’ll be doing readings and discussions and all manner of public panel stuff at the show to celebrate.

And they are joined by up-and-comer Sally Bloodbath, who sharp-eyed attendees may recognize from early Indie Island appearances as a talented helper of Liz and MK’s. This year Sally has attained full-blooded Guest status, and we are happy to have her. She co-edits the anthology Always Comix, and does pretty hilarious (and angry) comics of her own.

While not affiliated with these guys or Punchbuggies other than friend-wise, Chris Schweizer is a popular guest each year in Indie Island, almost since the first one back in 2005. This year he returns on the wings of success, in this case the critical success of his all-ages adventure series, the first volume of which (Crogan’s Vengeance) was published last year. Or late 2008? Crap, now I can’t remember. Anyway, it’s great and Chris is better!

Okay, another non-indie update in the next day or so, but these guys kept emailing me to ask if I was ever going to add them, so it was the best way to shut them up!

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, super exciting! Skottie Young is one of the few creators that pretty much the whole staff at Heroes is crazy about–probably most of all Shelton himself, who got so excited when he heard back that Skottie was coming that he emailed and texted me with the news! I think he used up a whole month’s allotment of exclamation points in the text too!

For those of you not as familiar as Shelton or our staff with Skottie, he’s most famous lately for his take (with writer Eric Shanower) on the recent smash hit Wonderful Wizard of Oz comic from Marvel. He’s done plenty of other stuff for Marvel (New Warriors, New X-Men) in his distinctive high-energy style. I love him, I could stare at his drawings for.. well, not for that long, I’m working on deadline here. You guys be sure and make Skottie feel welcome this June!

Also new to our HeroesCon 2010 Guest List today is another distinctive creator, James O’Barr, who’s famous for (among other things) creating, writing and drawing the original Crow graphic novel, as well as writing or contributing to some of its sequels and spinoff series over the years! James has become a fixture at our show over the last few years, and we’re happy to have him back!

But also new today are returning creators Christian Beranek and Tony DiGerolamo. Christian is head of Disney’s Kingdom Comics, along with Ahmet Zappa, and also worked on Outlaw Territory, Starship Troopers, and more–as well as writing the fan-favorite Dracula Vs King Arthur comic. Tony has written for all sorts of funny stuff, including Bart Simpson Comics, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Politically Correct With Bill Maher, and his own Super Frat webcomic! Also returning this year is our old chum GW Fisher, who you may recognize from The Intimidators and other comics in Jim Valentino‘s Shadowline imprint.

And and and these guys will be joined by returning local heroine Chrissie Zullo, returning to HeroesCon this summer after her first official appearance last year, when she could barely even mention her high-profile project it was so secret! Now we all know that Chrissie is the cover artist on Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love, and odds are she’ll have one or two new things to announce by showtime!