Con is the Comic Book convention put on
every year in Charlotte, NC by the good people at Heroes Aren't
Hard to Find, a comic book shop in Charlotte that seems to move
from one obscure location to another on a fairly regular basis. If you
want more detail than that, you'll have to check out
their website for
yourself.
HeroesCon has been a regular outing for us for the last few years and
we have a blast every time we go. Brian and I and some of our friends
started going to the con in 2000 (The year of Gorilla Comics). We stayed
at Brian's in-laws' house and played Playstation games into the night...
We went to all the forums and Danny was accosted by Sailor Moon. It was
magic. For some reason, fate conspired to keep us all busy on Heroes
weekend 2001, but 2002 and 2003 saw our little troupe expand and return
to Charlotte with a vengeance. Check out the Timeline to the right for
some highlights.
2004
was the year of JackRabbit Stewdios - where we moved from visitor status
to actual participants. We got a booth in the artist's alley and
introduced GravyBoy to the comic world at large.
It was a great experience - though a little odd to be on the other
side of the table. It was truly surreal to have people come up to us and
ask for autographs - either on the comic book, on the programs or on
their HeroesCon T-shirts.
Brian sat at the table most of the time doing commissions for a
variety of people and working on some layouts for GravyBoy.
I, taking my
cue from every other writer I've met at the conventions, spent a large
portion of my time wandering aimlessly around and
spending a great deal of money. Not to be seen as shirking my duties, I
also shrewdly spent my time mingling and interfacing with several
important contacts in the biz.
Our time at the booth was
exciting, though. We met quite a few characters (literally) and made a
few friends throughout the weekend.
One highlight of the
convention for us was getting to meet a group from the
Comic Book
Resources Board, a forum that I post on fairly regularly. It
was great to meet some of the people in person that I've gotten to know
online. Many of them stopped by the booth throughout the day and a group
of us met at the GravyBoy Booth at 1:00 on Saturday for a quick
get-together and some photos.
We got to know a couple of
the folks (Ronald - 3rd from the left in the white T-shirt, and Jade -
second from the right with the do-rag) really well and they hung out with
us for a good part of the day on Saturday. They even watched the booth
for me while I ran out to get some food. They hung out for a good part
of the day and went out to dinner with us.
Jade agreed to be the
official GravyBoy booth babe, but was unable to return on Sunday,
leaving the job to Ronald (AKA RonLad) and Chris (AKA Little Bunny
Kill-Kill).
Sales were surprisingly
slow on Sunday (despite Chris' masterful promotional campaign).
The Westin hotel is right
across the street from the convention center and is within walking
distance to just about everything in downtown Charlotte. One of the best
parts of staying in the Westin (apart from the aforementioned Hulk
sightings) is that a huge number of fans, creators and others from the
convention can frequently be found hanging out in the lobby/bar
after
the convention is over.
Essentially, staying in
the Westin makes the convention a 24-hour a day experience. There's a
sense of
camaraderie that comes from being in a room full of people
sketching, reading and playing card games - bound together by nothing
except for a love of comic books.
There's also a sense of
adventure that can only be experienced when you stick a bunch of hyped
up comic-book folks in a room with a few "normals" and add alcohol.
It's even more fun when
you're the sober ones.
We were pleasantly
surprised on a walkthrough Saturday night to come across someone in the
crowd inking (drum roll) GravyBoy!
We had talked to a few
potential inkers on Friday and Saturday and had provided a few of them
with pencils to show us what they've got. We had some really great leads
from the convention and should be able to pass off the inking duties to
someone else soon so Brian can concentrate on churning out pages.
I won't go into details
about the rest of Saturday night, but we were unleashed on the streets
of downtown Charlotte - resulting in some interesting moments.
All this and
sobriety, too.
On Sunday, everyone
started packing up for the long road home. It was a slow day, but it
gave Brian and I a chance to look around the convention and meet a few
of the other folks who had been stuck behind their tables all weekend.
It was an incredible experience, all told.
We'll definitely be back
next year.
For those who have never
been to HeroesCon, GO! It is an experience not to be missed.
For those who have been to HeroesCon, have you met Chuck?
2000
- Our first Con. I meet my comic book idol, Mark Waid. His work
on the Flash and Kingdom Come made me see comic books as
more than just a place to show off pretty pictures.
After weeks of prepping on how to sell yourself and what to do and not
to do at a con, I wait for my moment. When no one else is around, I walk
boldly to Mark's table, thrust out my copies of the first and last books of
his run on the Flash for his autograph and (barely) manage to
stammer (Gilbert-Grape-style) "I like what you did with this."
That, plus a hushed "thank you" is all I managed. True artistry with
words - that's what makes a great writer. What's that they say about
never getting a second chance to make a first impression? (sigh)
Actually, it turned out okay. I caught him out on the floor a little
later and managed to actually express in human terms what I had
expressed so badly in fanboy-ese. He's a really approachable guy, all in
all. He took some copies of my writer 'portfolio' (a really badly formed
pitch for a Flash-related book and a couple of mini manuscripts that I
had written for Brian). He actually gave me his e-mail address, but
after re-reading what I gave him, I never got up the nerve to e-mail
anything else to him.
Still, it was very cool.
The Cast: Brian, Marty, Danny, and Chris
On the tube: Video Games - and lots of them.
2002
- Chris, so upset by the news of Stan Lee's upcoming project
Striperella, in a QA session with Joe Quesada, Mark Waid and Mike
Wieringo, raises his hand and begins this dialogue:
Joe:
{pointing to Chris} Yeah?
Chris:
Why doesn't someone STOP Stan Lee...
[Pause]
[Pause]
[Inordinately Long
Pause as the entire room turns to look at Chris and Joe Quesada
looks more and more like he's swallowed a fly]
Chris:
... from doing Striperella?
If I was a betting man, I'd bet that that's the true underlying
reason that Quesada cancelled the following year... as did Mark Waid.
In that same session, Chris had asked him "Do people ever ask you to
sign books that aren't yours?" Promptly after the session Chris produced
a copy of "Captain Canuck" and asked Mark to sign it. Ahhh, the joy
friendship.
The Cast: Brian, Marty, Danny Chris, Andy, Jay
On the tube: Serial Killer Bob (a ridiculously awful
'independent film' about a man who comes home and "promptly" goes insane
after finding his wife cheating on him - the rest is just running
through the woods and Photoshop blood: Click
here for a review) and Niki Rose (a rock 'demo tape'
that honestly must be seen to be believed).
2003 -
This was the first year we stayed at a hotel rather than with Brian's
in-laws. We stayed at the Westin. It was great to be that close to the
convention center - especially since Brian had a leg brace that rendered
him a VERY slow walker. It was also interesting walking out into the lobby
and running into creators and other comic book personalities. One
instance, I was riding the elevator down and when the doors opened, my
exit was blocked by Lou Ferrigno. He's shorter than I'd imagined, but much
more bulky. His body mass blocked off the whole elevator door. My brain,
without warning, said "Hey Ferrigno, quit hulking the door" and I
had to frantically try to keep it from coming out of my mouth.
Click for
Pictures from 2003 - Including Brian's
evil twin. Chris had a cold, so almost every picture of him shows him
blowing his nose.
We spent some time talking to a waitress who was very friendly. . .
she told us several stories of the many guys with whom she had made out (one
of them, apparently in drag). It was a fun experiment in TMI.
Everyone in our party was, at some point, accosted by a man in the
Small Press area who said to every one of us, word-for-word:
"Have you met Chuck? Chuck the Ugly American? Chuck hates
everything. Except for one thing."
None of us were able to work up the nerve to ask what that "one
thing" was, but I have a theory it's not puppies.
We found out that
Cully Hamner would be doing a session called
"Inside the Artist's Studio," wherein he would be interviewing
Mike Wieringo. To help Cully out, we bought some blue index cards and
wrote out some questions for him to ask Mike, including the following
gems:
In the words of the inimitable Mr. Schwartzenegger, "Who is your
daddy and what does he do?"
In your artwork, your pencils are really tight. Tell me, is your
pantry alphabetized?
We came up with dozens of them. Most of which I can't remember and
none of which were used (sigh). It was fun, though.
The Cast: Brian, Marty, Danny Chris, Andy
On the tube: Hmmmm... Not much. Though bootleg copies of every
popular movie were to be found in the booths at the con itself. Right
across from the Marvel booth was a booth selling bootleg copies of SpiderMan. That's some chutzpah.
2004 -
The year of the GravyBoy. It was really cool. We met a lot of cool folks
and reconnected with some others. We sold some books and even garnered a
booth babe! But that's all back in the main section.
Danny was accosted by a
man in the small press booth who said to him:
"Have you met Chuck?"
To which, Danny replied, "Yeah, I met him
last year."
and kept walking.
The Cast: Brian, Marty, Danny Chris, Andy
On the tube: Lord of the Rings - Return of the King ("Shaaaaare
the Loooaaadddd") and Species 2 (what were they thinking?)