Matthews, NC
Back at our hotel after a busy day. After grabbing a hotel breakfast, Mindy found a farmers' market close by, and we finally tracked down a parking spot that was supposed to be reserved for a hardware store (which somehow was only open Wed-Fri). We walked around for a bit--it was interesting, and we night have bought a few things if we were locals.
We then headed downtown to the convention center and #heroescon. We thought we had timed it correctly--we had 3 day tickets, and interpreted instructions that we would get in early. Turned out we only got in BEFORE one-day ticket holders, and there was a huge line of three-day holders. So, we took a quick tour around downtown, finding public artwork, before strolling into the show 20 minutes later.
You missed a âKâ.
HeroesCon is, as I've said, a REAL comic book convention, truly focusing on comics and away from overall media. This is now a rarity in the industry. There's publishers (just indies), dozens of dealers with rows and rows of "longboxes", comic-centric companies (software, auctions, etc), and "artist's alley".
The latter is what it sounds like--a lineup of comic artists who will sell and sign their work, draw custom requests during the show, or just have a chat. There were some majors (Chris Claremont, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter), but most are self-publishers or work with small publishers. There's two in particular we were interested in--Yale Stewart (JL8) and Thom Zahler (Love & Capes). Mindy has supported their Kickstarter/Patreon campaigns for years. We purchased prints from both of them.
We also invested in a few other indies--we love Ahoy Comics, and we picked up the second volume of Billionaire Island (we missed the first issue of the original issues, but picked up the rest) and Captain Ginger, a cat-based comic. Then there's Afterglow and Destiny, NY from Space Between Entertainment. Finally, we selected The Weather Man, an Image book by Jody LeHeup. Mindy picked these because they appear to have multiple volumes, which means she can continue on if and when she wants.
Our haul from the con.
One of the main things I wanted to do at the con was research. I recently spent some time reorganizing my comic collection, in anticipation of selling part of it off--I'm literally running out of room. I've got some info (thanks to collectorz.com and covrprice.com) on potential values, and selected a few theoretically valuable comics from my collection. I had hoped to talk to the "slabbers" (companies that take your comics, grade them, and seal them in acrylic cases, supposedly guaranteeing their value to buyers). But what I found were self-service kiosks, plus the idea that I have to pay to join their systems, then pay again to use their service. More research is needed.
Cons also have conference sessions--we sat in on one that featured Don Simpson, a longtime artist who had a minor role in an Image project known as "1963"--an Alan Moore joint. Moore has become well known for being very cranky, to the point that he has taken his name off of his old projects. His foul humor has held up the conclusion of 1963, which was originally offered as an annual--and never came out. Now, Simpson is publishing an unofficial, unapproved "annual" using his own and some parody characters to complete the job. It wan't the most organized presentation (they never are), but quite enjoyable. I picked up a related book at Simpson's booth.
We were about done for the day, so after driving by some roadsideamerica.com sites--
This was a handy statue.
We nearly missed this oneâtoo bad a mechanism which moves the big head was down.
we got some barbecue at Midwood Smokehouse--Burnt Ends (aka Food of the Gods) and Grilled Cheese with Pulled Pork. Sides were both unique and excellent.
That's enough for one day. Tomorrow, finishing up Charlotte and onto Virginia.