Over the past few years, I’ve become really disheartened by the quality of the comic book conventions in our area (central Florida). The Tampa Bay Comic Con has become a TV and movie celebrity con, and the MegaCon in Orlando has morphed into an anime con with a huge helping of media guests. That becomes problematic when you just want to go buy comics and meet some comic creators. The pure comic vendors are fewer, and the comic guests are very much secondary. And the crowds…oh, the mass of humanity waiting for an autograph from a Walking Dead actor…no, thank you. Now, don’t get me wrong – I’ve done my share of autograph-hounding…
And I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to meet his or her favorite anime voice actor or TV personality. But recently, my focus has narrowed to buying comics, original comic art and art commissions, and getting autographs on comics. So, when Kerry and I visited a comic book shop in Alabama while on vacation last summer, and were given a hard pitch on the annual HeroesCon in Charlotte, we really paid attention.
Flash forward to this past winter, when I mentioned to Kerry that I wanted to start saving to attend the 2016 HeroesCon. She supported the plan, but in April, she said, “Why don’t we go THIS year?” We looked at out bank account, sold some plasma, bought our 3-day tickets and booked our hotel. And I can safely say that we will NEVER go to any comic convention other than HeroesCon from here on out.
Overall, we could not have been more pleased with our experience. HeroesCon is truly a creator’s convention. Between the household-name creators and the independent artists, there were well over 300 talents in attendance over the course of three days, signing autographs and selling comics, art prints and original art. Toss in the wide variety of comic dealers and toy vendors, and you have everything a comic fan could want in a con. If you are thinking about going, bring money…and plan to spend it all. I did find some of the comic pricing to be a bit high, but we eventually found deals. Like any good con, you shouldn’t buy much on Day One; prices almost always fall on Day Two, then again on Day Three. Patience!
Our hotel was six blocks from the Charlotte Convention Center – an easy walk, considering I was dragging along a cart with a short box of comics I intended to have autographed. And even though the weather app on my phone reported the temp in the mid-90s, the shade of the towering buildings and the breezes flowing through the downtown canyons made it most comfortable. When we arrived at the convention center Friday morning, we got in line for our advance-sales wristbands. It’s important to note that the line was completely contained INSIDE the air-conditioned hall. In Tampa, it’s common to wait for hours outside the convention center in stifling August heat while the lines slowly funnel to the ticket booths inside. Everyone we met as we entered HeroesCon – event staff, volunteers, ticketing staff – were extremely polite and upbeat, setting a great tone for the event itself.
Once inside the HeroesCon hall proper…well, I got a little giddy. The room was massive, but it was clear that there was good spacing between the booths I could see from our vantage point; narrow aisles were a big issue at other cons we attended in the past. Kerry and I made a beeline for the back of the hall, as Artists’ Alley was located behind all the dealers. The early bird gets on the commission list of its favorite artists, so we started locating the artists that were on our (not-so) short list of commission hopefuls. As expected, some of these artists were already booked, but Kevin Wada, our first stop, advised us to stop by first thing Saturday morning to get on that day’s list. He kindly signed the She-Hulk books I brought, and we went on our way. Most of Friday went this way. As we visited each creator, they were willing to sign any books we had, but were already booked for commissions for the day or weren’t drawing at all. Despite this, we found virtually every creator to be incredibly hospitable, in a great mood and ready to visit with fans. Being a Friday, the crowd seemed a little light, which meant the lines for most creators were short, or even non-existent, which allowed some great conversations. We got to talk to Babs Tarr about the recent Batgirl controversy and to Ming Doyle about how much she missed drawing the lead character in Mara.
As Friday wound down, we stopped by to see Ryan Stegman (artist of The Superior Spider-Man, one of the freshest takes on Spidey in a long time). As he signed books for me, I saw a sign that said, “5-Minute Sketches: $60.” I asked if he has time to work me into his schedule, and he replied that he drew them as they were requested! So for the next five (more like six or seven) minutes, we all chatted as he drew our first sketch of the con: Medusalith Amaquelin, also known as Medusa!
Before we left the HeroesCon hall for the evening, we stopped by the tables of Francesco Francavilla (uber-popular cover artist, and interior artist of Afterlife with Archie) and Richard Case (artist of Doctor Strange, Doom Patrol, and more) to see if I could drop off my commission sketchbooks. Both said they could work on them that evening so I could pick them up in the morning. After some discussion about the subject matter for each, we agreed, I paid, and we left HeroesCon for dinner.
Saturday morning saw a MUCH longer line for entry into HeroesCon, but still all in air-conditioned comfort. We chatted with some other fans while we waited, including a super-excited ‘tween who was about to visit his first con! Again, no pushing or shoving, no crush of bodies. Just an organized, single-file line with plenty of room around us. Being three-day passholders, we were allowed into the hall 20 minutes early (YESSS!), so we could again head straight to Artists’ Alley to pick up the sketchbooks, then get on more commission lists for the day. First up was Francavilla, who captured my vision perfectly:
You see, I’m a “Betty.” I much prefer Archie Comics’ Betty over Veronica, so I figured, why not get rid of the competition? This piece absolutely blew me away! Kerry and I gushed appropriately, then walked away, floating on air. Next, we stopped back by Richard Case’s table to see if he had finished my request, and boy, had he EVER…
Dr. Strange is my #1 guy, and Richard admitted to having a soft spot for Dagger. While I pondered which to get, he (like any good salesman) said, “Why not get both?” This is the result, and we were FLOORED. It’s a beautiful piece. While we all chatted, I ended up buying an original Batgirl that he has in his portfolio…
…and we found out that he was a Tampa Bay Bucs fan, which started a whole new conversation!
Eventually, we made our way to June Brigman’s table. She was the original artist of Power Pack, one of my guilty pleasure comics. It’s just FUN. She immediately dug into drawing head shots of all four members, plus Franklin Richards, and gave us this amazing piece:
While we talked with June’s husband (and inker) Roy Richardson, we ended up buying this amazing Wonder Woman print and the original pencil art from it:
And five pages of original art from the FF series, featuring Power Pack:
Needless to say, we thought we were done with art purchases…until we got onto Kevin Wada’s commission list! For those that don’t know, Kevin provided amazing covers to the recent She-Hulk series and they were sensational! Kerry made the call on this one – we had to have a Shulkie piece! A few hours later, he texted(!) me to tell me it was done. We were done too, as I spent the time while he drew digging through back issue boxes of comics. When we got to his table, he said something like, “I hope you guys like it…”
Ummm…YEAH. WE LIKE IT FINE. I’m pretty sure I made one of those “OOOOH!” sounds someone makes when Xhibit unveils their new pimped out ride. Finally, it was Kerry’s turn to geek out with a creator. She admitted she’d followed Kevin on Tumblr “forever,” and how much of a huge fan she was. We gave our thanks, said our goodbyes and left the venue.
To sum up (an already long-winded post), HeroesCon 2015 was amazing, and we’d definitely recommend it. If you plan on commissioning any original art, taking two sketchbooks is highly encouraged; since artists tend to hold on to them for a few hours (and sometimes overnight) it gives you more opportunities for sketches. One last point: nearly every creator we met said that HeroesCon was their favorite con on the year. It showed in their demeanor and in their interactions with fans. They actually enjoyed being there all weekend! And so did we.
Have you been to HeroesCon? What do you look for in a Con (and do you have any dealbreakers)? Let us know in the comments!
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