Heroes are Fairly Easy to Find.

Another wonderful year at the Heroes Convention! With comic books everywhere, artists to chat with, costumed individuals, free swag, and this year catching a glimpse of the legendary Stan Lee, how could you go wrong?  I got to visit with artists like Skottie Young, Mike Mignola, Earl Norem, Stuart Immonen, and Ed McGuinness.  Just being surrounded by fellow comic enthusiasts is a wonderful feeling.  Whether its the creators, klingons, the miticulous collectors, or the family dressed like the Avengers, we all share the love of stories and how those stories come to life through art. Over the past few years, a new branch of the convention has popped up.  This branch is deemed Indie Island, which encompasses unconventional alternative stories and new blossoming artists.  This also invites a completely new group of attendees that may not be interested in super heroes or big names like Marvel, DC, Vertigo, and Image comics.  In this oasis, I found warm, friendly, and talented artists such as Drew Weing, David Mack, Joey Weiser, Ariela Kristantina, Lee Bretschneider, Justin Peterson, Tara Abbamondi, Emily Erdman, Falynn Koch, and Tait Howard.  Some of these indie artists created tiny hand-made books of their drawings that, to me, just feel like the most precious pieces of inspiration.  Monsters, spirit animals, fearful faces, and Amish boys in another dimension can be easy found anywhere on this Island.  I was excited to find that a good chunk of these bright young minds went to SCAD, where I hope to end up.  All and all it was great weekend that made me reflect on being a young child at this convention; wide eyed and filled with wonder over characters like Batman athe X-Men.  Today, my experience is very different.  As a young artist, I get the chance to meet some of my role models as well as new artists blazing their own trails like me.  Cheers Heroes Con! or should I say... Excelsior!

from left to right

Joanne Spataro[freelance writer], this delightful gal got to interview Stan Lee!, my older brother, Fitz, dressed as Storm Trooper on vaca, and little ol me on the end!

Stan Lee, some Storm Troopers, and Ed McGuinness with my younger bro, Jack.

So much swag.

Check out Joanne's awesome article here!

Comic Relief

Love yourself some comic books? Get your fix with some local comic events. There is gallery in Charlotte called Gallery Twenty-Two that has a "Fine Art of Comics" show going on from May 1st to June 4th:
After that, from June 4th through the 6th, is the annual Heroes Convention also in Charlotte at the Convention Center downtown. I recommend if you plan on going more than one day to definitely get an all weekend pass. If you only plan on going one day, most of the costumed people are around on Friday, which is always fun. If you wait until Sunday most of the good stuff is picked over, but you can haggle a little with the prices since the vendors are trying to get rid of stock. There will be tons of artists there for signings and selling their work. Some included; Tim Sale, Mike Mignola, Skottie Young, Bill Willingham, Brian Bolland, and many more!

Hope to see you all there!