Comic Related - Life in Four Colors

ife In Four Colors: Special Edition #3

Heroes Convention 2008, Charlotte N.C.

By Bill Gladman

Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find. A phrase more than just a phrase. It’s a name of a comic shop…that started an annual event in the beautiful city of Charlotte North Carolina. That event being Heroes Convention, one of the most talked about conventions out there. I started to hear how great this convention was waaaaay back in March of this year. I was at S.P.A.C.E. Con 2008 in Columbus and a gentleman I had the pleasure to meet a few months before at Mid-Ohio Con 2007…..Mr. Jonathan Hodges…..stopped by the table that I was at with my former business affiliate. Jon had mentioned he was planning to attend this coming Heroes Convention in Charlotte. He had been hearing good things about it for years and he asked if we planned to attend it.

Charlotte?

As in Charlotte, North Carolina? Four states away….North Carolina?

I told him I would love to, but there was no way I’d be able to go. One day. Maybe.

Fast forward just three short months….a measly 90 days…..and guess where not only myself, but my ever-faithful comic convention partner in crime (that being my daughter , Raichal )found ourselves this past weekend?

Charlotte…..four freakin’ states away North Carolina. One day had arrived a lot quicker than I ever thought it could have.

To say a lot a can change in 90 measly days is putting it rather lightly. My life has been like a roller coaster ride ….with all kinds of ups and downs these last few months…A lot a good mixed with a little bad…..and changes I never saw coming.

Including being part of Comic Related….having an opportunity to express my opinions, viewpoints, and thoughts in general to a true comic book based fan following. And unexpected things as incredible as taking a trip to Heroes Convention 2008. A trip that would involve driving a total of fifteen hours over the course of two days, over bridges, up and down mountains (even through mountains at times via two incredible tunnels), driving through the heart of “Moth Man” country (Point Pleasant West Virginia….a very unexpected bonus seeing how both my daughter and I are die hard Moth Man junkies), four intense thunderstorms, and even a cloud or two.

And it was worth every minute of it.

It was strange how this all fell together. I’m the type of guy that has to have every thing figured out and planned three weeks in advance. And I can tell you right now Heroes Con was not on the agenda three weeks ago. But for once in my life…..I got spontaneous. It started Friday night when Chuck started covering the con via the Podcasts here at the site. (Check them out…along with the photos he took….awesome!!!!). He got the gears turning….we talked about it briefly a couple times via e-mail….and I was floored when my wife weighed everything over for a few short minutes and said… let’s do it. Let’s meet him down there.

That was about 7:30 Saturday morning….by 1:00 p.m we were on the road. I had never been through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina before and the trip down and back up was wonderful. Beautiful country side….pictures galore all the way down and back home. Not only did we pass through Point Pleasant but we also passed a huge pet cemetery by a very busy highway that instantly stirred up memories of the classic Stephen King novel (I was originally supposed to go on a ghost hunt Saturday night which I would find out later would be cancelled due to severe weather back in the Buckeye State) and these two incidents helped curb the lingering thoughts of the supernatural I was missing out on.

Later we would pass Marshall University…..another place full of it’s own history and inspirational legacy to us all. I was already having a great time and we were still hundred miles away from downtown Charlotte. And several hours to go.

Eventually both the miles and long hours (which really didn’t seem that long) gave away and we pulled into the city in question during our second brief thunderstorm….which Chuck mentions in his Saturday coverage podcast here at the site.

We make it to our room, (what a gorgeous hotel….), order a pizza (quickest pizza delivery time ever!), and turned on the big screen…and appropiatly enough Peter Parker with his makeshift costume was just climbing into the ring with Bonesaw and was just minutes away from learning that with great power comes great responsibility. And Raichal and I were just ten hours or so away from Heroes Convention 2008.

The next morning my wife (Ellie) and my step-daughter (Bridget) would drop the two comic book geeks amongst the group off in front of a certain building on College Street. After we stopped to help a gentleman that had an entire long box of comics fall apart on him gather up his wares, we made our way into the Convention Center….and preceded down the escalator….into Hall C. Without anybody asking us to pay for admission or asking for press credentials. We were early….it was 10:00 and the con didn’t open until 11:00. But not really wanting to be the victims of bad karma we notified the young lady at the information booth we hadn’t paid and asked where did we go to do so. She couldn’t believe nobody stopped us on the way in. And the gentleman in the booth gave us both a pack of free (“honesty potato chips”…which tasted a lot like Lays potato chips….) before pointing us in the right direction.

After finally paying for the event….we ran into a couple of “old friends”, the before mentioned Jon Hodges (I love this guy’s name because I have a character in my Jack the Rabbit story named John Hidges…..life imitating art.) and illustrator extraordinaire, Jay Fife…who had done the cover to a magazine I had worked on in the recent past.

Left to right…..the quasi-talented and all around nice
guy Jay Fife, publisher and writer Jon Hodges…..and me.

Jon and Jay didn’t recognize us at first, due to the fact this was the first time Raichal and I had been to a con in the last two years without wearing apparel with the logo of the old website embroidered upon it…but they quickly remembered us as we drew closer. We talked for a good while and we promised to drop by their booth, I needed to pick up one of the books Jon was involved with anyway….I was a little low on funds the last time I saw him at S.P.A.C.E.

It wasn’t long after that we ran into Mr. Chuck Moore himself. I introduced Chuck to my daughter and the three of us had almost an hour long conversation about….what else….comics. This was only the fourth time I met Chuck in person (Saturday and Sunday at S.P.A.C.E. Con and the one day Gem City Comic Con in Dayton Ohio). While at the Gem City Con Chuck and I had engaged in a couple of lengthy conversations and I was completely impressed by this man’s passion for what he does….and his ability to focus on the task at hand….or as is the case most of the time…..give several different tasks going on at the same time the attention and priority each needs to become a completed task done in a quality manner.

I don’t think either of us thought we would be meeting again anytime soon and actually working together. I’ve got to say…..for my part. I feel very fortunate.

After Chuck realized that if he continued to hang with us he was going have to go back to the end of a very lonnnnngggg line now forming at the main doors of the convention center, he politely excused himself and promised to catch up with us again inside. While in line Raichal and I decided we would have lunch about 1:00 at Fuel Pizza directly across the street. The place came highly recommended by the gentleman behind us in line (and unknown to us was the host site of the Mike Wieringo Memorial the night before…and home of quite possibly the best pizza I ever ate).

The line started to move and in no time flat….we were back inside Hall C (this time legal like).

Chuck has been mentioning in his podcasts covering the con that this con had a different feel to it than some of the others he had attended. Both Raichal and I quickly agreed. I mean there was the most obvious thing that kept getting my attention. Most of the cons I have been to in the past have been somewhat local events. While there I would occasionally run into somebody from out of state who had a slight accent. A gentleman I was in line with at last years Mid-Ohio Con waiting to meet Herb Trimpe and talking about some of our favorite Hulk stories drawn by him comes to mind. He was from New York…and although I haven’t spoken in person to a lot of New Yorkers….he sounded to me…at least…like what a guy from New York should sound like.

Everybody here pretty much sounded like what people from Charlotte North Carolina should sound like, and we I’m sure sounded like what people expected us to sound like when they learned we had driven here from Ohio.

Other noticeable differences included the fact that there wasn’t that many comic book fans dressed in full costume…..we saw maybe five….perhaps there was more the first two days….but Ohio Cons usually have somebody dressed up like Batman, Darth Vader, Hellboy…you name it …..basically every time you turn around. Maybe it’s a Northern Thing?

Another thing that both of us noticed….the people were nice here. Chuck had been hammering that fact in the e-mails and podcasts and he wasn’t blowing smoke. I’m not trying to knock the hometown cons….I love them all…..but people up north seemed more stressed out at these things. Some are even down right rude and don’t mind a little push here or an elbow nudge there to get to the long boxes. Raichal literally almost got trampled five years ago the very first time she attended Mid-Ohio. You have to guard the books you pull out of boxes and other personal belongings with your life. That wasn’t the case here.

Last….the comic selection here was different. A lot of collected books in packages, $5.00 trade paperbacks and graphic novels everywhere you looked. I picked up two volumes of the Marvel Essentials for a total of just ten bucks and the second Jim Steranko Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. trade paperback. I did manage to find a key issue of Captain America I was missing and a Werewolf By Night I needed as well but that was about it on back issue stuff. Almost everything else I picked up was independent stuff. (other than the Mike Wieringo What If Tribute book which benefited the Hero Initiative.)

I also picked up more original artwork here than I usually do at shows.

One of the first things I wanted to do….after learning from the very impressive program book that Ron Wilson was there, was to get a picture of this true legend in the field. We had met Ron at Mid-Ohio last year, but somehow when I was downloading the pictures for the story I did that covered that con…I lost Ron’s. I was determined to correct that slip up and we stopped by his table and caught him in the act.

Ron Wilson….perhaps the one guy that comes closest to
drawing the Thing as much as Jack “The King” Kirby….hard at work…..

…and he wasn’t the only one. Check out independent artist, Stacy Flemming, as
he got busy with a mind blowing rendition of the Macabre Man-Thing! One of my
all time favorite comic book characters.

We kept our word and dropped by the Bad Place Productions booth where Jon and Jay hung out. Jon was intrigued by some of the things brought up in our conversation before the convention doors opened. He didn’t know I had such a strong interest in the paranormal and the supernatural. He did as well and we talked a little about ghost-hunting. Even Mr. Fife admitted to going on a ghost hunt or two in the past. Jon assured me that two of the books on the table would be right up my alley so to speak…

Woodboy….written and illustrated by Dave Watt and The Invisible World, written by Jon himself and illustrated by Woodboy artist Dave Watt. (Thanks Jon for signing issue #1). I haven’t had the chance to read anything I brought home from the convention just yet but these two books are going to be two of the first to be read. I promised Jon that I would do a full review of both books here at Comic Related afterwards and he said he wanted to be kept informed about a collection of horror stories I’m putting together in one book loosely based on my ghost hunting experiences. The book is called True Horror Stories at Midnight and I hope to have it out around Halloween.

Never a guy to be out shined, Mr. Jay Fife hooked me up with a signed copy of the third volume of his sketchbook series and gave Raichal an incredible deal on several of his prints. Jay then blew my mind by stating that we would be very interested in working with me again in the future, perhaps doing cover work for my Book of Noheim project or even the Jack the Rabbit books.

Just the thought of Jay’s work possibly gracing the cover of my stories had me literally walking on air, so much so….I barely noticed Chuck had caught up with us once again. Sorry about that sir. As we were walking away I noticed that Chuck was now caught in the wonderful web of wonder these two master craftsmen spin.

If you haven’t seen Jay Fife’s work…..you need to do so. Phenomenal stuff. Nuff said. See for yourself. www.jayfife.com

We ran into Chuck for the third and final time of the day shortly afterwards. We both commented we would have to do this again in the near future when I had more time to dedicate to what was going on…..but he perfectly understood our time restrictions and was very glad to see we came down for the show.

With time quickly running out…Raichal and I darted off to grad a veggie pizza on whole wheat crust…. On our way across the street we found this guy hanging out at the front entrance…

After a very quick but very satisfying lunch…..we darted back into the convention center once more for the final leg of our whirlwind tour of Heroes Convention 2008. We split up briefly to cover more ground. Raichal wanted to go back to a booth in “Indie Island” that had caught her eye.

Once there she ran into writer and artist team Andy Horner and Kyle T. Webster who were debuting there graphic novel Light Children: The Invalid. Book One.

A brief conversation with this two guys and she was sold. And so was another (signed) copy of a book that seems to be generating quite a bit of a buzz. Seven friends…with mysterious powers…in an alternate universe…I’m telling you right now, if I didn’t know better I’d swear these two dudes wrote this thing with her in mind. At the time I am typing this, she’s already read the book and claims it was one of the best she has ever read. Made better by a web experience you can check out on your own after you read the story on one of the most interesting websites that you’ll ever come across. I hope I can convince her to do a review on the book and I can’t wait until she’s sleeping and I can pry it from her greedy little mitts and check it out myself.

While Raichal was hanging with the children of elsewhere I was trying to find a dead guy.

Two or three Mid-Ohio Cons ago a guy I know picked up the first issue of a book called The Damned: Three Days Dead by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurrt. He read it, fell in love with the thing and insisted I read it as well. Good call. I liked it just as much if not more than he did. A few months later I spotted issue #2 of the series on the shelves at the Bookery Fantasy, one of the best comic shops in our area, and I had them add it to …this guy I know…own personal file. He picked up his comic fix a few weeks later and after he had read issue #2 let me check it out as well. Man this was getting good!

And that was all she wrote.

We could never find the rest of the story.

That is until this past Sunday when I “thought” I caught a glimpse of a The Damned collected trade paperback during the initial walk through of the con. Turns out I was right.

Brain Hurtt artist and co-plotter of The Damned was indeed at the show promoting the collected five issues of the first series in Trade Paperback form. Awesome!!! Wait…it gets better. After he signed the trade …he gave me the first two issues of the new limited series…The Damned: Prodigal Sons…which he signed as well. I didn’t even know this series was out!

Brian said the first series did rather well despite some distribution problems like the one I described….and so far the trade paperback had been doing real well also .

Pick up a copy for yourself if you like….living dead guys, gangsters, and demons. How can you go wrong with a combination like that? I plan to do a full review of the trade as soon as I finish up the story. Watch for it , True Believer.

Raichal and I met up again at Michael Golden’s table which he shared with comic artist Mark Texeira most notably of Ghost Rider fame. Michael has always been one of my favorite artists and I never dreamed I would meet the guy. Let alone three times. I had seen Mike at Gem City and later Mid-Ohio and each time I ran into him was better than the time before.

Michael Golden signing issue #7 of my beloved Micronauts series (the famous Man-Thing issue)
and issue #12…..which was the last issue he did the interior art for.

Business associates Renee Witterstaetter and Mark Texeira can be seen in the background….unfortunately due to the fact time quickly ran out on us and a crowd came up out of nowhere to gather at Mark’s table we didn’t get a chance to meet him. I would also pick up two of Mike’s prints from his portfolio….a full color print of the cover of Micronauts #12 and a SWEET black and white piece featuring Doctor Strange and his lady love, Clea. Of course he signed both of them as well…

….and he kept that super charged sharpie fired up as he continued to sign the artwork
he produced for a poster specifically for Heroes Convention: 2008. One for both Raichal and I.

Time for one more stop before we hit the road running….and that stop would be over at Todd Dezago’s booth.

Raichal is a big fan of the all the characters that made up the team Young Justice (R.I.P. Superboy, Impulse, Empress….the rest of you hide!!! Dan Didio is right around the corner consulting his Ouija board). Todd wrote several of the Impulse books and Raichal had brought quite a few along with her to have signed.

Todd was thrilled to run across an Impulse fan.

Todd: “Big Impulse fan, hunh?”
Raichal: “Loved Impulse….”
Todd: “So were you upset…when they…you know. Killed the character off?”
Raichal: “Not very happy with a lot of things D.C. has done recently….”
Todd: “You’re not the only one. I think D.C. is starting to realize that they’re making a lot of mistakes and I believe they are going to start to try to correct some of the ones they’ve made recently…including the Impulse thing.”
Raichal: “They didn’t really have a reason to kill him off…”
Todd: “Don’t give up on Bart, yet.”

(A comment also mentioned by Teen Titans writer Sean McKeever at last year’s Mid-Ohio Con.)

One of Todd’s loyal fans volunteered to take this picture of the three of us. Thanks!!!

While Todd and Raichal continued to talk I noticed the books on Todd’s table .Issue #1 and #2 and Annual #1 of his new ongoing series …the Perhapanauts. A series that fellow Comic Related columnist, Russell Burlingame, covers in a regular featured column on the site.

Cover of Perhapanauts #1 by Todd DeZago and Craig Rousseau

“Hey….is this guy a Moth Man?” I asked pointing at a character on the cover of issue #1.

“Sure is….”

“I love the whole Moth Man thing…..”

“Then you should try the book…you both will like it. It’s very Young Justice like. I pretty much put the whole Young Justice thing together for D.C…and at the last minute they wanted to use Peter David on the book…and then it became his thing……”

Robin, Superboy, and Impulse together for the first time and during a time before
D.C. was in “Crisis”. Back when they didn’t have to kill off kids to make
money each summer. I can’t believe I didn’t bring this book to be signed as well.

Todd opened up the cover to one of the Perhapanauts books and referenced the “roll call” art and text on the inside cover…

“….matter of fact a lot of the story ideas I had for Young Justice I end up using in the Perhapanauts. Even some of the characters are based on Young Justice characters. Choopie is our Impulse, Molly is our version of Secret…and MG ….is just MG. You’ll just have to buy the book to find out about him.”

Needless to say….issue #1 and #2 was bought along with Annual #1…all of which Todd gratefully signed.

Can you spot Todd on this cover of Perhapanauts #2?

After he signed each book with a personalized message he handed them to us and advised, “Be sure to read the Annual first. And remember…don’t give up on Bart. He’ll be back. Not the version from the Teen Titans…..our Bart.”
And with what hopes to be prophetic words from Mr. DeZago…..Heroes Convention came to an end for us two wayward travelers as my wife called to say she would soon be pulling up at the front of the building.

As we headed home we had to make a pit stop at a 7-11/gas station just outside of Point Pleasant West Virginia. While there I had to get a Gamma Radiated Slurpee in a 3-D Incredible Hulk cup with a crazy straw and the figure of the Hulk on it. What a way to close out a fabulous weekend and a road trip for of wonders in four colors.

We almost stopped at Point Pleasant to hit up the Mickey Dees, but decided to try to outrace a menacing thunderstorm close on our heels. We lost the race as it finally caught us at the Golden Arches in Chillicothe Ohio.

Thanks to everybody that made this trip so enjoyable. God for keeping us safe there and back. Chuck for putting the wheels in motion and my wife, Ellie who surprisingly enough went along with the nutty idea. Bridget for helping navigate the trip and Raichal for sharing some quality time with her old man and taking most of the pictures you see here.

Chuck took this one.

Special thanks to Jay, Jon, .Michael, Todd, Brian, Kyle, and Andy at the con and my ghost hunting cohorts Dustin and Germ along with my disc golfing pal Doug for understanding my undying passion for all things Comic Related.

See you in the funny papers!