We're Counting Down To Heroes Convention!
The very latest on the upcoming event ... Comic Related coverage begins tomorrow!
June 19th, 2008 UPDATE FROM THE COORDINATORS OF HEROES CONVENTION
TOMORROW: HEROESCON 2008!
After all the waiting, planning, and anticipation, it's almost here! This year's HeroesCon looks like it's going to be our biggest ever! There's not a square inch of space available in the Charlotte Convention Center--the hall will be crammed wall to wall with professionals and exhibitors from all over the country, all waiting to meet YOU!
Before we go any further, let's get the number one question we'll be getting all day today out of the way: When Does The Convention Start On Friday? Here's a quick rundown of the show hours, as well as some other helpful info regarding the show:
LOCATION:
Charlotte Convention Center
501 S. College St
Charlotte, NC 28202
704.339.6000
ADMISSION:
1-day Pass: $10 per person
3-day Pass: $20 per person
Kids 12 & Under get in FREE!
SHOW DATE & HOURS
Open to the Public:
Friday, June 20, 2008 : 11.00 am - 7.00 pm
Saturday, June 21, 2008 : 10.00 am - 6.00 pm
Sunday, June 22, 2008 : 11.00 am - 6.00 pm
Pre-Registration Booth Open:
Thursday: 12.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Friday: 8.00 am - 7.00 pm
Saturday: 8.00 am - 6.00 pm
Sunday: 10.00 am - 6.00 pm
Exhibitors & Pro's Admitted:
Thursday (setup): 12.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Friday: 7.00 am - 7.30 pm
Saturday: 9.00 am - 6.30 pm
Sunday: 10.00 am - 8.00 pm
Now that that's out of the way, a few announcements. Each year once we finally get our massive Program Book put to bed, there are invariably a number of last minute changes or updates that happen after that point. So below we'll include those things that have a) changed, or b) are new since the publication of the program book:
GUEST UPDATE
The following are new guests, not listed in the Program Book:
Nathan Edmondson | AA-401 | Brothers Gemini
Mark McHaley | AA-214 | Rittenhouse Archives, Topps card artist
Andrew Robinson | AA-407 | Dusty Star
In addition to these guys, both Guy Davis and Josh Cotter have informed us that they'll only be able to attend Friday and Saturday, and Steve Epting will only be here Saturday.
And in addition to that the following people have been forced to cancel their appearances altogether: Hector Casanova, Paty Cockrum, Chris Dibari, Mike Manley, JD Mettler, Jason Pearson, Brian Smith. Bummer!
LOCATIONS UPDATE
You can click on the links below to find locations for pretty much anybody. Note that the locations listed on the website may have changed since the publication of the program book. The most notable instance of this is the Klingon Assault Group and 501st Legion have moved to new booth locations, available on the Exhibitor page.
LOCATIONS FOR GUESTS (includes Small Press listed underneath)
LOCATIONS FOR EXHIBITORS
SCHEDULE UPDATE
We've added a couple of new panels in the last week or so, and changed some rooms around on some others. The current listing on our Event Schedule page is the correct one, and will be available at our Info Booth as well. Consult that list, but here are some notable changes/additions:
The TORI AMOS COMIC BOOK TATTOO panel has moved to 12pm on Saturday, in Room 213BCD.
The IMAGE COMICS SHOW panel has moved from Room 217BCD to Room 213BCD. It will still take place at 4pm on Friday.
The AVENGERS ASSEMBLED! panel has moved to 3pm on Saturday, in Room 213A.
The X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY panel which we previously took off of the schedule due to Ed Brubaker's cancellation is back on, with Brubaker beaming in via magical iPhone to team up with Matt Fraction for this panel. That will take place at 12pm on Sunday in Room 217BCD.
Okay, that was a bunch of dry info--now for something a little more spicy:
Oh, snap! You are going to LOVE giving us ten dollars for this signed and numbered, limited to 100 print that we did featuring the awesome art of Scott Campbell. And this print is so cool that we are going to LOVE taking your money, which is usually quite painful for us. It's a win-win!
More announcements: as has been widely reported elsewhere, Matt Wieringo, the brother of the late Mike Wieringo, is setting up a scholarship fund in commemoration of Mike's life and work. "The Ringo" will be awarded to a deserving student each year, and will include a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design. Mike will have a table set up with Ringo's buddy and frequent collaborator Todd Dezago at HeroesCon, and will be collecting donations for the fund!
But wait, there's more! Speaking of Todd and Ringo, Todd has put together "A TRIBUTE TO RINGO", featuring commemorative pinups and sketches by a who's who of comics artists, many of which are frequent guests at HeroesCon. Just a few of the 21 names: Richard Case (did the gorgeous cover above), Cully Hamner, Walt Simonson, Barry Kitson... the list goes on. Todd has printed 500 of these badboys, and the proceeds from their sale will go to benefit the ASPCA, one of Ringo's favorite charities!
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Don't go yet! This Friday, we'll be having a PARTY to celebrate our friend Ringo's life, at the Fuel Pizza location right across the street from the Convention Center! There'll be some food, drink, and fun, with some special announcements, and the auctioning off of a ton of pages from the What If? book that's debuting at HeroesCon.
What? You don't know what I'm talking about? Why, I mean the book we announced here on our blog, with proceeds going to benefit the Hero Initiative. The book features some of Ringo's last work, embellished and fleshed out by a rogue's gallery of his friends, collaborators, and admirers, including Jeff Parker, Art Adams, Stuart Immonen, Mike Allred, and many many more. Don't miss the party, which is sure to be one to remember--and for more info on the book, stop by the Hero Initiative booth at the show!
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And of course it would hardly be a HeroesCon with our Annual Art Auction, no? This has become one of the most popular events on the comics convention calendar, and this year we're pulling out all the stops.
First of all, we're having it for the first time in Charlotte's coolest uptown club, to give you all a bit of local flavor. This year's Art Auction will take place Saturday at 6.30pm at THE ALLEY CAT, located at 314 N. College St., just five blocks from the convention center. Heckfire, if you're feet are tired, you can take the Light Rail! Feel free to quiz us at the Info Booth on how to get there once you're at the convention.
One of the coolest things about the Alley Cat is that right inside is a miniature version of the famous Penguin burger restaurant--for the first time you can go to the Auction, have a great dinner, and bid on original art all at the same time. Plus there's a full bar and a super-friendly staff on hand, so this should be our most fun Auction yet!
Also new this year is our Silent Auction--because of the HUGE number of donations we get for the Auction, we're going to place most of them in a Silent Auction, to take place throughout the weekend at the front of the convention. Near the end of each day we'll award pieces to the winners, so each day there'll be new works to bid on!
Oh, one more thing--while he's no Rosario Dawson, this year the auction will be emcee'd by our very own Dustin Harbin, who, well--let's just say he's no Rosario Dawson. But it should be a pretty great time for everybody involved. Plus we'll be splitting our art donations this year between the "live" auction and a weekend long Silent Auction, which will have the twin benefit of giving you longer to look at some really amazing art and place bids, AND make the "live" auction a little more streamlined! See you there!
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One last quick shout-out, even though it's 1 in the morning and I have to get up early in the morning and send this out to all of your inboxes. My main man J. Chris Campbell, he of ZIG ZAG and WIDE AWAKE 666 fame, has been running a series on his blog of top 8 reasons to go to HeroesCon, which is pretty great. The inset picture is from today's post, #4: Events. Chris is a great, great guy, and we're lucky to have guys like him plugging away for us, even when our own enthusiasm is buried under the giant bags under our eyes! Thanks, J. Chris!
• Last week we finally revealed the sweet-sweet-double-sweet Darwyn Cooke signed and numbered print we're giving FREE to all our advance ticket buyers. We've got these things in house now, and WHOA, did the printer ever knock this one out of the ballpark! Primo!
• We made two last-minute Guest List additions, the first of Ivan Brandon, and the other of Rick Remender and Tommy Castillo.
• We added what we thought was the last of the additions to our Event Schedule, but of course we were wrong. See above under "Updates" for the new additions.
Each week we've been presenting updates leading up to the show.
You can check out last weeks's update here!
Page last updated on October 12, 2008