Heroes Con the Final Report

Just got back from heroes Con 2006 and seeing Superman, more on my thought on that film later. I have to say I had a great time at Heroes Con. The City of Charlotte and the fans, Shelton all made it a really great 5 day stay for both Echo and myself. This is a con for the fans, specifically the superhero fan. It's the show of sketches and sketches.




The crowd was a hopping to get in. I like the layout of the convention center.

It really is like an old-time show, lots of fans wanting sketches of superheroes. This is a superheroe show, a show about the hobby of collecting comics, not hollywood, although Rosario dawson was there to promote her comic. I did more sketches at this show than any I have done in recent memory, in fact I had to turn some away.

One of the many sketches I did, this one of Flash and Dale

Darkhawk and the Dazzler. Man, I had so many people coming up all weekend saying how much they loved DH!

A sketch of Cap...

Saturday was healthy crowd wise but Sunday was pretty quite after noon-ish. It seems the fans here want autographs and sketches, no big spenders buying pages, at least that was what I heard from most artists I talked to. I sold a few books, but not a lot, mostly just sketches and signing books, cards, etc. Shelton is a good egg and desreves all the kudos and support for this show and the rumor is Wizard is going up against him again next year with Philly, well F them I say. Sometimes this business is so dumb....


Eric and his wife Donna man the twomorrow's booth.

Mike Wieringo looks up from his busy sketching...

Mike could have used this guy for a model...

Rick remnder shows us his "magic hands"...

A Klingon...


Echo cooked her first waffle...

After the show Echo finished reading Black Hole by Charles Burns

Neil Vokes sketches away...

Echo did caricatures for several kids...

My publisher and pal John Morrow



Erik Larsen draws at the Image booth...

Chang, Leon and Edwards had a group booth and cool group sketchbook...

Colleen Doran draws and signs...


Godzilla shusi rolls...




The fans here are really nice and polite, super polite, everyone was always saying "thankyou", "have a nice day". If I come next year, which I am inclined to do I won't bring any pages to sell, but more sketches and i hope more of my own comics, which people kept asking me about. "when will there be more Monsterman, Girl Patrol?". I have to say Charlotte seems really nice, it's beautiful. Echo and strolled around a bit snapped some neat pics and i thin k i ate the best porkchop I've ever eat'n in my like there.

I had a blast with John Beatty, Alberto, sat next to the always affable Neil Vokes all weekend and had a good time, got a sketch by Xamie Hernandez and yacked with him and many other pros, had fun with that crazy kid Remender. Good times.

Boy, what a guy has to do to keep his regular Draw! columnists happy!



After a great sushi dinner Alberto charmed the ladies with his great dancing to the bongo beats of Rick Remender's hollow chest. Greg Thompson looks on in amazement...



I will say there was less women at this show than many I have attended recently, even Philly, and only a few costumes from what I saw.





I wonder if cons like this were more the norm, if the hobby and as a result the industry grow again? Do companies, or rather the big 2 even care? I will be interested to read reports on how the Indy Island artists did. There was definitely more of the superjock bend here, less animae and as a result probably less girls. Can we have a mid-region show that manages to combine the old and the new and the indy and have a good blend? It seems to me that an industry this small should be better coordinated in this reguard. It's just plain dumb to have Wizard tring to go up against other cons, instead there should be a n=meeting of the minds, like the gangsters do and carve up the time and territory so everyone makes some $$$, this make the industry healthier and in the end everyone prospers. but comics is a fucked up business when it comes to things like this.


The Beats Heidi McDonald sporting some cool shoes...

Shelton also got another thimng right, giving pros free tables...this is important as we are the draw for the fan. this used to be common place, but now it's the exception.

So to sum it up, I feel the fans are there, the industry has the spotlight on it with the films etc., the question is can we as a busines sreach out and both tend the tree, harvest the good fruit, snip the bad limbs and also grow new crops of readers. many kids here don't read marvels or Dc's but love Narruto. How can we as an industry overcome such a shortfall? You know the aging fanboys are now fan-gramps, the greying of our fanbase should be a clear sign we must as an industry unite to grow or grey-out.