Search Results for: HEROES CON

Heroes Con or Bust!

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If all went well, Doralya, Mike, Erin and I should arrive at Heroes Con in Charlotte, just before it opens this morning.  I’m really looking forward to the show.  It’s always a blast, with something for everyone.  Look at the guest list and schedule of events and you can see I’m not kidding. 

It’s been a few years since Mike has attended the show, so he and I will hang out at the con while our ladies play tourists around Charlotte.  Then we’ll all come together for the Drink & Draw Session at Fuel on Friday and the annual Heroes Con Art Auction on Saturday.   The rest of the time will be spent roaming the convention floor looking for fun. 

Hope to see you there, but if you can’t make the show, don’t worry, I’ll post a full report later in the week.

[And Chris, if you’re reading this, remember: No parties!  Be sure to feed Bruiser and Jack!]

Mike Zeck @ Heroes Con!

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My buddy, Mike Zeck stopped going to comic conventions years ago.  So it was a huge surprise when Mike announced that he will be at Heroes Con next weekend as part of their 30th anniversary celebration. 

Mike will join a panel featuring the guests of the first Heroes Con, and he’ll also be set up signing autographs, selling his sketchbook as well as the crime graphic novel, Damned, that he did with Steven Grant [writer], Denis Rodier [inker] and Kurt Goldzung [colorist].  If you enjoy crime comics, I highly recommend you give Damned a look.  Mike’s sketchbook is also well worth the price of admission.

If you’ve never met Mike Zeck and want to, plan to swing by and see him at Heroes next weekend.  Odds are if you miss him, your next shot will be at Heroes’ 50th anniversary celebration.


Heroes Con Report – Saturday

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Saturday

Saturday is usually the busiest day at most shows and this was going to be no exception.  My goal was to get all of my sketches by the end of the day so that Doralya and I could head back home [a 7 – 8 hour drive] at a decent time on Sunday.  So I spent the morning setting up sketches with Billy Fowler, Rob Holstein, Chris Schweizer, and Evan Bryce.  That freed me up to circulate the con floor and con art auction area.  So here are some con photos and comments…

One of the great things about Heroes Con is that on Saturday night there is always an art auction.  During the day it’s not uncommon to see artists in a special area working on the pieces that they’ll donate to the show.  Above is Adam Hughes just starting on his painting which went for an all-time Heroes Con record of 12 grand!

That’s Billy Fowler and his lady. Last year I met Billy and got his really cool take on Sly as Jack Carter.  I wanted to get another piece from Billy and he agreed and gave me his on-point take of Sly as Rocky.

Although I’d never met Chris Schweizer, I’d discovered his art through a link for Heroes Con.  I really liked his style and was delighted to discover that Chris was a very approachable and enthusiastic artist.  He really took his time interacting with folks who stopped by his table.  I picked up his art book and he threw in his take on Sly as Freddy from “Cop Land.”

Robin Holstein was another artist that I discovered from a link for Heroes Con.  I really liked Robin’s pen and ink work.  He agreed to do a sketch of Sly as Rambo.  When I saw the results, I immediately asked if he had room on his sketchlist to do another Stallone.  He did and did an equally cool riff on Sly as Jack Carter.  LittleJohn saw what Robin had done for me and immediately signed up to get Robin’s take on Little John from Robin Hood.

LittleJohn, Patricia and I ended up at the Inkwell Awards Panel.  Dan Panosian kicked off the panel and then Tim Townsend [pictured above] served as the host.  It was cool seeing Kevin Nolan there and getting some well-deserved recognition.  It was also a kick to see that my best friend, John Beatty, was nominated for an award.

That’s a shot of David Williams aka Brohawk working on his Spider-Man painting which ended up being won by Adam Hughes at the auction.   Andrew Robinson is working on his barbarian painting which turned out to be my favorite piece in the auction.  Brian Stelfreeze did a really sweet painting of Scooby-Doo and Daphne to support the show.  Eric Canate worked up this really cool Avengers piece.  Phil Noto checked in with his take on Supergirl.  Tommy Lee Edwards turned his brush towards the Rocketeer.  Not all pieces that make it into the auction are paintings.  Some very cool pen and ink art also made the cut.

Doralya and I joined LittleJohn312 and Patricia at the auction.  I brought Rico his bigger-than-life-size Mr. T and Rocky Balboa standees. Rico seemed truly happy to get them.  This year the auction moved at a much quicker pace, but after a few hours, Doralya and I were beat and knew we had a long drive waiting for us in the morning.  We said our good-byes and headed to the Westin.

This was one of the best Heroes Cons ever.  I know I say that every year, but it’s true.  Doralya had a blast enjoying the city while I was at the con and then meeting up with LittleJohn, his wife and others for meals and special events.  Doralya is already making plans to go next year.  Truth be told, so am I.

Heroes Con Report – Thursday & Friday

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Thursday

Doralya [my wife] and I left Port Orange in the Jack Carter mobile headed for Charlotte at approximately 11:30am on the day before the show.  I had a free night at the Westin and so we decided to make a long weekend of it.  My IPOD was full of enough music to get us there and back and we even had a little cooler of Diet Cokes, water and snacks.  Life was good.  My Garmin didn’t let me down and the weather was perfect.  Once we arrived in Charlotte, Doralya dropped me off at the convention center so I could pick up my con pass and then we got our room.

After a bit of unpacking and freshening up, we decided to walk down to Mert’s Heart and Soul for dinner.  If you like Soul food, then this is the place to go.  Doralya had the fried catfish and I went with the traditional fried chicken.  We both had cornbread [as good as cake], mac and cheese and I also had some greens.  Doralya opted for lemonade and I had sweet tea.  We were full of great food so I was thankful for a beautiful evening as we walked back to the Westin.

Friday

That’s Dan Panosian and Jeff Johnson, two of the founding members of Drink and Draw.  I had a Jack Carter sketch commission set up with Dan.  So his table was my first stop.  Dan said that he’d sketched out a piece on the plane, but wasn’t happy with it.  The way he described it was pretty cool, Carter holding a hand gun up and facing the viewer at an angle.  Dan said he might just go ahead and give me the rough if he went with another idea.  I was definitely cool with that.  ; )

I asked Jeff to sketch in my Drink and Draw, Volume II sketchbook. Jeff put an awesome Viking warrior on the inside front cover to go with Dan’s equally cool Red Sonja and Dave Johnson’s creepy guy.  I asked Jeff if he’d be interested in doing a Stallone sketch.  Jeff agreed and did a very cool and on-point sketch of Sly as Cobra.

After setting up the sketch with Jeff, I decided to walk the con floor and see where everybody was.  I’d also set up some sketches before the show with artists so picking them up was also on the list of things to do.  Mike Torrance was at the show, but not set up at a table.  He had some sketch cards for me: Rocky Balboa, Jack Carter, Barney Ross from The Expendables and Sly as John Spartan aka Demolition Man.  I also had Mike do a Rawhide Kid card for my buddy, LittleJohn312.   I had set up a Rocky sketch with Chris Brunner, who went above and beyond by giving me a piece with Rocky and Adrian! Chris is one of the good guys and his comic series with Jason LaTour and Rico Renzi, Loose Ends is gonna kill.

I also had set up two pieces with Robbi Rodriguez.  The first piece I asked for was an iconic shot of Sly as Jack Carter.  Robbi knew exactly what I was talking about and created a piece that just floored me.  I liked it so much that I asked Robbi if he was up for another Stallone.  He said he was and I told him to do what he wanted.  Robbi decided to do Sly as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo from Death Race 2000.    Robbi drew Machine Gun Joe standing on his car with a smoking machine gun and threw in the female co-pilot to boot.  Robbi is the man!  LittleJohn saw the sketches that Robbi was doing and jumped on board for a Snake Plissken.

LittleJohn312, his wife Patricia and my wife met for lunch in the convention center.  The company was better than the food, and the food was a step up from most meals available at conventions.  After lunch, LittleJohn312, Patricia and I made our way to the Comic Twart panel and Doralya decided to go out and enjoy Charlotte.  Chris Sims moderated the Twart panel which consisted of Ron Salas, Dan Panosian, Dave Johnson, Declan Shalvey and Tom Fowler.  The panel was a lot of fun as the artists all worked on Black Widow sketches as they took questions and shared anecdotes with the audience.   The sketches were all later put in the Heroes Con auction.  It’s cool that the Twartists took their show on the road.  If you ever get a chance to see one, don’t miss it.

After the panel I made the rounds of the convention floor to see old pals, meet new artists and set up some sketches.  Although Dave Wachter’s sketch list [photo above taken after he’d done my sketch] filled up quickly on Friday [and again on Saturday], he felt he could get me in on Saturday.  He did and I got one of his best Stallone sketches yet.  I spent the next couple of hours walking and chatting with Michael Golden, Andy Smith, Gene Gonzales [hiding behind his lil’ Punisher sketch below], Joe Pekar, Pat Broderick, Chris DiBari, Dustin Harbin, Casey Jones, Bob McLeod, Chris Moreno, Eric Skillman and others.

At 4pm, LittleJohn312, Patricia and I headed over to the Kickstarter panel.  Dustin Harbin, Jay Potts and Jeremy Bastian answered audience questions and explained why their Kickstarter projects were successful.  At 6pm I made sure I was at the Drink & Draw Social Club Panel.  Dan Panosian, Dave Johnson and Jeff Johnson entertained the crowd and gave us a preview of what to expect at the Drink & Draw scheduled for that evening at Fuel.

That evening Doralya and I met up with LittleJohn312 and Patricia who’d saved us a table outside at Fuel.  The place filled up inside and out with folks there to eat and participate in the Drink & Draw Social.  Specially created Drink & Draw coaster and paper had been created for the event.  Artists would draw whatever struck their fancy and then place it on a centrally located table where folks could buy the art for a donation.  Chris Flick of Capes and Babes and Thomas Zahler of Love and Capes joined us at our table.  I’d never met these guys before [they’re friends of LittleJohn] but they were a blast.  Chris had my wife cracking up with his humor and enthusiasm for art.  Thomas entertained us with a professional level William Shatner imitation.  Not only could Thomas improv as Captain Kirk, he had enough material that he could literally take his act on the road.  Before the evening was over, Chris and Thomas drew Stallone sketches after LittleJohn tipped them to my collection.  Naturally I purchased both with donations to the cause.  LittleJohn ended up with several pieces from the session.  It was growing late, so we called it a night, with the knowledge that Saturday would be a busy day at the show…

Tune in tomorrow for more from Heroes Con 2011.

A Preview of my Heroes Con Report

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I spent this past weekend at HeroesCon and had a blast.  I will do a proper con report later in the week with some photos and more details.  Each year Heroes is a lot of fun, but this year was especially so.  I attended panels, got several new sketches for my Stallone theme collection, discovered some amazing new [at least to me] artists, got to visit with old friends, attended a Drink & Draw session hosted by Urbanbarbarian Dan Panosian, Rev. Dave Johnson and Jeff Johnson [the talents who created D&D], hung out with my wife, LittleJohn and his bride, got the inside scoop on a long-running joke played on Mr. Mean Green Jeans himself, and so much more.

If you’re at all interested in Heroes tune in this weekend!

Heroes Con 2010, Part 7

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That’s Otis Frampton getting ready for his close-up.  Most regular ZONErs know Otis from my many posts about his 7-7 Sundays.

That’s Sean Gordon Murphy holding up the Rocky & Butkus sketch that he did for me at the convention.  I was really excited to get on Sean’s sketch list and even happier when I saw the end result.  You know that I’ll post a scan of it in the coming weeks.

Here we have Wayne Osborne and Uko Smith.  I’d never met either of these guys before.  They were set up almost directly across from Big Beatty’s table.  I noticed that Uko was the artist and Wayne just seemed to be hanging out at the table… sort of like I do with Beatty.  Then I noticed that Wayne looked a bit like me (or is it that I look a bit like him?).

So I told Beatty, “that artist brought his own Zablo“.  Beatty looked across and did a double take.  He got to chuckling.  That’s when he noticed that Wayne saw him looking and laughing.  So Wayne mouthed something that I won’t repeat.  Now Beatty didn’t know what to do.  He’d been caught making fun of a stranger, or at least it seemed that way.  That’s when Big John realized who it was. John had met Wayne before years ago.  Wayne didn’t think Beatty was talking about him, he was just being silly to get John’s attention.  At any rate, it was pretty funny if you were there.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll post some photos of some of the art that made it to the auction.  Hope you’ll be back.

Heroes Con 2010, Part 6

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A fun part of conventions is the fans who dress up in amazing costumes.  Heroes Con always has a large number of fans who do just that and this year was no different.

The photo above is of Gene Gonzales and Joe Pekar.  Contrary to what you might think, those aren’t costumes.

Andrew Chairpar made a surprise appearance at the show.  I was fortunate enough to get not one, but two pieces from Andrew.  He worked up Sly from The Expendables and Sly from Spy Kids 3-D.  I’ll of course post scans in the coming weeks.

Luckily it won’t be weeks until my next batch of Heroes Con photos.  Until tomorrow…

Heroes Con 2010, Part 5

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I can’t think of a better way to jump start Part 5 of my 2010 Heroes Con report than with a photo of Dave Wachter holding a commission of Sly from The Expendables that he did for me at the show.  I first met Dave at Heroes Con 2009 and got a head sketch from him.  Since then I’ve been back for several other sketches.  As you can imagine, I hope that the one pictured won’t be my last.  You can bet I’ll post a scan of it soon so you can see it in all it’s glory.

Mick Foley was a guest at Heroes Con this year.  I took along my copy Have a Good Day so that I could get Mick to autograph it.  Mick was only going to be at the show on Saturday.  Since he’d never been at any convention I’d ever attended, I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd he’d draw.

Saturday rolled around and still no buzz about Mick being at the show.  Perhaps getting his autograph would be a piece of cake.  I went by the booth where Mick was going to sign and asked when he could be expected.  They said he had just arrived in town, was getting lunch and should be at the booth around 1:30.  They said if I showed up then, I’d be right on time.  I checked my watch and saw that I had time to run across the street, grab a bite and still be back before 1:30.

So that’s what I did.  In fact I got back about 1:25.  I headed over to get in line and was surprised to find Mick already signing.  I started back tracking the line which wrapped around a corner and then down a long aisle and then out of sight.  Before I had taken 3 steps I was stopped by a young lady working at the show.  She said, “If you’re wanting to get in line for Mick Foley, you’re too late.  The line has been capped.”

I was stunned.  She repeated herself.  I explained that I had checked at the booth and was told if I returned by 1:30 I would be okay.  She said the demand for Mick was more than anyone anticipated and the line was capped.  I thought about arguing my case, but realized it would do no good and it wasn’t her fault.  The line was huge, by far the biggest I’d seen at any show for any guest.

I hought, “Good for Mick Foley.”  I was happy that so many people wanted to meet him and get a photo or autograph.  Perhaps I’d meet him at another show.  How could I complain?  The day before I had gotten the most amazing sketch from Brian Stelfreeze for my Stallone art collection.  I’d also received a call from my boss saying that I was getting a promotion!  Heck, maybe I really would get a chance for Mick Foley’s autograph at another show… little did I know that my good luck wasn’t over (and I’ll tell you about that in another post soon)!

I wish I knew more about this piece.  It was donated to the HEROES CON art auction.  I don’t know the artist or who won the art, but I did think it was a pretty cool piece.  Hope you like it as well.

Heroes Con 2010, Part 4

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Today we start off Part 4 of my 2010 Heroes Con report with a shot of Adam Hughes.  Most times when I post a photo of an artist it is because i got something from him/her at the show [sketchbook, sketch, autograph, etc.).  That’s not the case this time.

So you’re probably wondering, “Why the photo of Adam Hughes?”  I posted it because the show ran for three full days and the shot above lasted less than a minute and i just happened to be there!  There for what you ask?  (And I’m glad you did!)  That photo proves that Adam didn’t have a line of fans in front of him the entire show.  Now I’m sure that some folks are going to say that the crowd was photoshopped out and that there is NO WAY that Adam had even a second when he wasn’t 3 deep in a crowd of fans.  All I can say is, I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it myself.

The shakey cell phone photo above shows two of the nicest (and most talented) artists you’d ever want to meet.  The fellow on the left is Sean Gordon Murphy and the gent on the right is Casey Jones.  I was very fortunate to get a wonderful sketch of Rocky Balboa and Butkus by Sean.  And, as you guessed, I will post it in the not to distant future.

You’re probably wondering why the photos suddenly got better.  No, it’s not just because of the subjects.  The photos up to this point had been taken using my cell phone.  We’re done with them.  From here on out it’ll be digital camera work.  This one was taken by my buddy John Beatty.  He was kind enough to allow me to post it here instead of his site.

Tomorrow starts Heroes Con 2010, Part 5.  I hope you’ll join me.  At least the photos will look better.

Heroes Con 2010, Part 3

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Can you believe it’s already time for Part 3 of my report on HEROES CON 2010?  So today we kick off with a photo of Andy Kuhn.  Andy’s blog is a daily stop on my internet travels.  I love his bold sense of design and unique art style.  I was fortunate to get a sketch from Andy at Heroes — he riffed on Sly as Jack Carter and I plan to post it soon.

I first met Chris Stevens at a con last year.  Chris was there as a fan although his work had been making a big splash over at Deviant Art.  When I heard that Chris was going to debut his first sketchbook at Heroes this year, I knew I had to get one.  I pre-ordered and Chris even included a headsketch of Sly as Jack Carter.  [As you probably guessed, I’ll post it in the near future.]

You’re probably wondering why Laura Martin, the best colorist in the business, is in such a great mood.  You would be too, if you were so good at your job that if someone looked up what you do, there’d be a picture of you.  Don’t believe me?  Click on this link: Best Colorist in Comics.

What’d I tell you?

Heroes Con 2010, Part 2

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Okay, here we are with Part 2 of my report on HEROES CON 2010.  No, that’s not Lois Lane posing with Superman.  It’s actually John Beatty’s wife, Bella. You gotta give her credit since she made the drive up with John and me.  Surviving THAT trip would take superhuman effort on the part of anyone.

That’s Bella posing with The Black Panther and Captain America.  Or maybe it’s them posing with her.  You can make that call.

Take a close look at the photo above.  Why does Ron Salas have the surprised look of someone who just sat in something?  Now swing your sights over to Joel Carrol.  Why does Joel have the satisfied smile of a man thinking “mission accomplished”?

Again, you make the call.

Heroes Con 2010, Part I

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It’s hard to believe that HEROES CON 2010 was three weeks ago.  Usually within the week following HEROES, I post my con report and photos.  Of course, most years, the con is held later in the year and so when I return home I still have at least a week of vacation left.  This year HEROES was held earlier in the month and I didn’t have the luxury of vacation when I returned home.

Enough with the excuses.  In an effort to get my con report and photos up before next year’s HEROES CON, I will post three pictures a day along with some comments.

That’s Chris DiBari.  He’s worked on some pretty neat comics including adaptations of The Warriors and The Crazies (especially cool since Chris is a big movie buff).  Currently Chris is working on the very well received western comic Pale Horse.  Chris is also a Stallone fan and he did a cool take on Sly from Nighthawks which I will post in the near future.

That’s Jay Potts, the creator of the very hip blaxplotation web comic World of Hurt.  As you can see from the photo above, Jay rocked a Jack Carter sketch for me.  I’ll post a scan soon.

Heroes Con Countdown

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In just about exactly 72 hours, I’ll swing by and pick up my best bud, John Beatty, and we’ll be off to Heroes Con.  John will be a guest there, sketching and signing autographs for his fans.  Although I’ll hang out at his table and help keep the good times running, I’ll also spend time on the other side of the aisle as a fan, visiting other artists to get books signed and some new sketches for my collection.

Heroes is always a blast.  I can’t even begin to imagine how much fun it will be this year.  The guest list has never been bigger.  In addition to all of the regular comic superstars that always attend, this year we’ll also get to see folks like Tim Sale and Mike Mignola for the first time.  As LittleJohn312 said today, “The guest list keeps growing, but my budget doesn’t.”   Amen to that.  My plan this year is the same as last: get the most bang for my [limited] buck.  So I’ll be looking for sketchbooks with head sketches and avoiding the superstars.

If you’re going to be at Heroes, you can usually find me hanging out at John Beatty’s table [#721 in artist’s alley].  If I’m not there, I’ll be the guy looking to score some Stallone sketches.  Either way, I’m not too hard to find.

Heroes Con 2009 Report

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Heroes Con 2009 was an amazing show. There’s just something about the friendly, laid back atmosphere that runs through the Heroes convention that makes it so appealing. That and the guest list… and the panels… and the auction… and the costumes… and the…

What follows is a long, but abbreviated con report [as if THAT makes any sense].  If you just want to see the photos, then click here.  Otherwise, read on, Leon…

I drove up to Charlotte the day before the show with a brief stop in Jacksonville to meet up with “The James”, Matt “Pecker” and “Sweet” Will. We took two cars [in order to accommodate “The James” protein shakes, vitamin pills, yogurt, cheese, water and other supplements — the dude has gone hard core after losing nearly 100 pounds in the past year]. The 6 plus hour ride went by quickly as we rotated who was in each car.

We stayed at the Hilton directly across the street from the convention center. Hal, who had reserved the room, was already there. After the normal amount of visiting, blowing up air mattresses [and popping one – don’t ask], we decided it was time for lights out.  Of course we didn’t go to sleep and instead got on the topic of strange sketch requests — which led to a long riff about a mythical guy who wanted “Granny Goodness” drawn the way he likes her.  Yes, it was all silly and we’d been up for far too many hours, but I can’t remember when I’ve laughed so hard. The laughter would die down and then someone would start up with “I want ya to draw Granny Goodness…” and then we’d all be howling again. Guess you had to be there.

Friday at the show I was able to pick up sketchbooks [with head sketches] from Francesco Francavilla and Gene Gonzales. I also picked up a model sheet that Dick Giordano had drawn prior to working on the Demolition Man comic adaptation. I saw Craig Rousseau and dropped off reference for a sketchbook sketch. I visited with Evan Bryce and gave him reference for a sketch. I met Chris Samnee for the first time and entered his Heroes Initiative Charity Raffle. I got autographs from: Eric Powell in my Goon: Chinatown hardcover, Ed Brubaker in my Sleeper trade and Ivan Brandon signed my Viking #1. I talked a bit with Steve Niles, but he’d already signed my novels. I also made it a point to stop by and say hello to all of the guests that I knew. It’s always great to see them again. Everyone said that they were having a great show.

“Superman” Dave set up dinner for us at the Fox and Hound. I’d never eaten there, but enjoyed the food and company. In addition to “Superman” Dave, there was “The James”, “Sweet” Will, Matt “Pecker”, Zack and his soon-to-be-wife, Gary McKee, Jason Walker, Matt Haloub, Tom Fleming and at least 8 or ten others that I didn’t know. On the walk back to the hotel, we ran into Evan Bryce. He had his IPhone and showed me a photo of the sketch that he’d done for me. Whoa! Evan is a really talented artist, and I was expecting good things, but he went beyond my expectations.  I’m saving the scan of Evan’s Stallone sketch for a separate post soon to come.

On Saturday I set up sketch commissions with Robbi Rodriguez, Andy Kuhn, and Jeff Wamester. I picked up my Craig Rousseau sketchbook/sketch, and Evan Bryce sketch. “The James” was impressed with Evan’s piece and so I introduced him to Evan. “The James” being the sketch master that he is, set up a watercolor commission with Evan. I bought Jason Walker’s sketchbook and he threw in a Demolition Man headsketch.  When I wasn’t visiting with artists around the convention floor and taking photos, I hung out with Jason and Gary as they worked on their commissions. By accident I ran into Mike and Sandy who put on the Florida SuperCon. They were there supporting Heroes and talking to artists about a possible appearance at the next FSC.

Dinner was going to be at a Mexican joint across from the convention center. Unfortunately it was full and the place was hot.   Since some of us wanted to hit the auction, we decided to split up. I ate at Fuel [a Heroes Con tradition] along with Matt Haloub, Zack & his better half, and Tom Fleming. Tom is into MMA and we had a great discussion during dinner. He’s really a funny and cool guy. I was glad I got to get to know him a bit better at this show.

We then headed over to the auction. Eric Cante’s auction piece was stunning, but I had a feeling that the Frank Cho painting would break the previous Heroes Con Auction Record of $4,200+. I took several pictures and decided to tweet results of key pieces from the auction floor. The Cho piece ended up going for 5 grand… and so did the Mark Brooks’ Scarlet Witch painting! Evan Bryce came in and we talked for a bit. I stuck around to the end of the auction since I wanted to see if Rico would win the Andrew Robinson painting. I was pulling for him, but unfortunately he didn’t get it. I was happy to learn that Dexter Vines was the winner — it’s always cool when someone you know wins.

Matt Haloub and I headed back to the Hilton. When we entered the room the place was empty. Everyone was still out partying. Matt asked me my plans for the last day of the show. I said, “’The James’ still has a couple of pieces to pick up and that it would depend on when they were ready as to when we left. “The James” is really excited about them.” At that point Hal came out of the bathroom laughing. He had heard us speaking and he thought I was “The James” and couldn’t figure out why he was speaking about himself in third person. Of course that led to each of us speaking in third person.

Soon after “The James” and crew showed up at the room. Matt Haloub called it a night and headed to his hotel. “The James” was feeling pretty woozy and conked out… followed by Will. It seemed like a good idea and so it was lights out. I was expecting some “Granny Goodness” talk, but instead we got on a riff which began… “So You’ve Been Dating This Chick for Six Months…” she would then proceed to provide you with some information about herself and the question was, was the info a deal breaker?  Some were easy [she has a vitamin B deficiency] but most were strange and totally funny.  Again, it was one of those things where you just had to be there.

Sunday, as I was going over my list, I realized that there were two artists that I really wanted to see, but up to this point had missed. Otis Frampton wasn’t there [I later learned that his father had passed away. My condolences to Otis and his family] but Derek Fridolfs was.  I walked over with Hal and “The James” to see if Derek was available for a sketch. He was. I got him to do his take on Cosmo from “Paradise Alley”, “The James” and Matt liked Derek’s work and so they got sketches too! James got a sketchbook and a Batman sketch and Matt got a two figure commission of Zatanna and The Demon. I also set up a sketch with Dave Wachter who said he’d have to finish it and mail it to me. [Dave has already sent me a scan of the piece — he went above and beyond on it since he didn’t have it ready at the show!]

Finally we said our goodbyes and packed out gear. It had been a great show. As I was pulling up to pay for parking [$18 a day times three days] I couldn’t imagine how the weekend could have been any better and that’s when the parking attendant waved us on through with no charge!

I am already looking forward to Heroes Con 2010.

Art from Heroes Con

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I finally got a chance to post up some of the art that I picked up at this year’s Heroes Con. Let’s take a look…Sly Stallone by Rick Remender. I’ve been a fan of Rick’s work for years. He’s that rare talent that can write and draw and he does both very well. Check out his bio and you’ll be amazed at all of the cool things that he’s worked on. Check out his site and you’ll become a fan [if you’re not already]. Now if Rick could just find time to get around to The Last Days of American Crime!

Rambo by Megan Ruiz. Can you believe that Megan just turned 14 and she can already draw like that? Of course her dad is Alberto Ruiz so we know where she gets her talent. Not only can the young lady draw, but she is one of the nicest and most polite people you’ll ever meet. It was a true pleasure to get a drawing from her.

Cosmo Carboni by Robin Mitchell. I discovered Robin through Alberto’s site and Robin’s blog. I dug his art enough to pick up his first art book and was thrilled to get an original sketch from him. Robin has a second art book out and you can get both HERE.

Rocky Balboa by Kyle Baker. Kyle Baker is an amazing talent with a wicked sense of humor, mad drawing skills, storytelling that just sucks you in… let’s simplify life and call him a genius. Check out Kyle’s site and you’ll get a taste of what I’m talking about.

Rocky Balboa by Andrew Robinson. Andrew Robinson is an artist’s artist. When he starts to draw or paint, other artists gather round. I met Andrew years ago through my good buddy John Beatty. It was obvious then how much talent Andrew possessed… and he just keeps getting better and better. Andrew will have an art book coming out soon. Save some coin, because it’s a “must have” item. Until then, here’s a link to his site to hold you over!