Craig Zablo

Yesterday’s Steranko paperback cover was such a hit that I thought we’d follow up today with one of Steranko’s Shadow covers.

Back in the early 80’s when I was collecting original art, Steranko sold off the detailed pencil drawings he used in creating the Shadow covers. Steranko called them pencil paintings. They were beautiful.

I was still in college and $225 was a ton of money, but I purchased one.  It was the pencil painting to cover #8 shown above.  Sadly, I don’t have a copy of the pencils to share, but looking at the cover, you can imagine Steranko’s beautiful art.

When I was heading into my college senior internship, I decided to sell off my art collection.  I was going to be teaching full time (but with no pay – internship, remember) and the money from the art sale would make things more manageable.

The Steranko piece is one of those that I have missed most over the years.

That’s the self-titled Corduroy Mafia at Heroes Con 2104.  From left to right we have John Nacinovich, Jeff Streeter, me, John Beatty, Brian Jones and Royce Thrower.. How we gave ourselves the name Corduroy Mafia is a tale for another time.  Instead I present my HeroesCon 2014 summary.

The Drive Up:

Doralya and I left Thursday afternoon.  We drove halfway up and spent the night in Savannah at a Fairfield Inn.  We got up early the next morning and finished our trip to Charlotte in plenty of time to get to the show.

The Convention Hotel:

We used to stay at the Weston, but for the last two years (and the foreseeable future) our con hotel is the Hampton Inn Charlotte – Uptown.  What a great hotel!  It’s super-clean with the friendliest staff I’ve ever seen.  Free shuttle service and free breakfast made the stay even better.

Main Sketch Goal of the Show:

My main sketch goal was to meet (for the first time) and get a sketch from Hoyt Silva.  I’m happy to report that Hoyt is as nice as he is talented — yeah, he’s really that friendly!  Hoyt and I discussed a couple of possible Stallone characters and decided on Jack Carter.  Hoyt said he could make that happen and is doing the piece as a take home commission.

Books signed:

• My original Berni Wrightson’s Frankenstein (personalized to Doralya)
• The Package pin-ups by Andrew Maclean and Robert Wilson IV
• Scout: The Four Monsters by Timothy Truman
• Crimeland by Rafael Albuqerque
• Black Beetle: No Way Out by Franchesco Francavilla
• The Goon: Nothin’ But Misery by Eric Powell
• The Fifth Beatle by Andrew Robinson

 

Sketches:

• Jamie Cosley: Rocky (surprise gift from Little John and Patricia)
• Andy Fish: Lords of Flatbush
• Corin Howell: Lords of Flatbush
• Dave Wachter (mini-head sketch): Rhinestone
• Derrick Fish: Expendables
• Drew Moss: Get Carter
• Hoyt Silva: Get Carter
• Joel Carroll: Get Carter
• Kevin Mellon: Get Carter
• Mike Torrance: Jack Carter / Gravedigger plus several sketch cards

Panels, Drink and Draw and HeroesCon Art Auction:

• The Inkwell Awards (and keeping with tradition, LittleJohn312 and Patricia joined Doralya and I — or did we join them?) were fun.  It is always great to see deserving artists receive recognition.
• Doralya, Little John, Patricia and I attended the Drink and Draw.  It’s a tradition that continued again this year!

• For the first time I ever, I missed the HeroesCon Auction.  I had a bad cold/flu bug the week before HeroesCon and was still feeling worn down.  Since we had the rest of our vacation ahead of us, I decided to pace myself at Heroes and sadly missed the auction.

Meals:

The biggest surprise is that we only ate at Fuel once.  It was good to keep that tradition alive, but not over do it.  The best meal we had was at Fujo Bistro — we will definitely hit that place again next year!  Buffalo Wild Wings also got our business.  Sadly we did not make it to Mert’s.

In closing:

HeroesCon this year was huge.  The wider aisles made movement easier.  There were also additional sections this year with chairs and tables for con guests to sit, eat and visit.  The bigger painting area was also a plus.

Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun part of the show.  I won’t try to list them all because invariably I would leave some out.

This year I was able to talk Doralya into coming into the show on Saturday. We walked the floor and met a lot of artists (new and old friends).  Doralya’s highlight was meeting Berni Wrightson!  She has always loved his work and he personalized my copy of Frankenstein to her!

Thanks to Shelton and his crew for another great HeroesCon — see everyone next year!