As expected, HeroesCon 2014 was a lot of fun. I saw some old friends, I made some new ones, ate a bunch of food, slept terribly, drew a lot, bought some comics, and I left wanting to work a bunch of new projects.
On Friday Rich Tommaso, Joey Weiser, Scott Dryman and I left Athens at 7:30AM and got to the show right at noon. We set up our tables and for a Friday, it was pretty busy. Some of the people I had done advance commissions for came by and picked up their drawings. With the show over at 7:00, we ate dinner, came back to the hotel, relaxed, and then I went to the Drink & Draw a block over. This event, hosted by HeroesCon and Team Cul de Sac, is a fundraiser for Parkinson's research. Richard Thompson, the creator of the comic strip Cul de Sac, was diagnosed with Parkinson's awhile back, so Friday night a mess of cartoonists knock out drawings in a hotel bar and auction them off. I drew about seven of them before midnight, when Robert Newsome came in, having driven all the way from Atlanta after a week in Las Vegas on a business trip. He said he'd never been happier to step off a plane.
First off, I have to admit that I was lousy at taking photos this time around. I took photos of the sketches I did at the show, but forgot to take pictures of actual people. I took three. Pathetic, right? Here are some of the sketches I did throughout the weekend.
This large Fantastic Four drawing was done for Sunday's silent auction. I pencilled it Friday night in the hotel room and inked it Saturday afternoon behind my table in Indie Island.
This is the second large drawing I did for Sunday's silent auction. It took a little more than half and hour and a bunch of red watercolors.
This is Rich Tommaso of Recoil Comics. He had a bunch of his crime/horror/suspense comics for sale at the show, including the debut of my horror/crime comic Cold Crew he published under his Recoil imprint. The Recoil Books sold pretty well at the show, so I'm glad he didn't think he threw a bunch of money away publishing my comic!
Sam Spina at the very end of the show. Seriously, he looked a lot chipper throughout the weekend, but this photo was taken right as everyone was packing up Sunday evening.
Robert Newsome is taking a photo of me taking a photo of him.
As busy as I was, I didn't venture far from my table very often. I did pick these two Atlas Era Marvel Masterworks up for $15 each. The Menace volume is full of pre-code horror comics with Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, and Bill Everett artwork. The Venus book is a fantasy/romance comic that reads like a Jamie Hernandez comic, complete with insane magazine editors, bearded peeping-tom gods, and horned demons being arrested.
On the left is some artwork I traded with Shannon Smith for. On the right is the best dollar spent that weekend; a 1937 weather almanac.
Dan Rhett made a comic masterpiece called Irvingtome. I flipped though it at the show and I cannot wait to read it. Also, he made a card game to go along with it!
Comics by Ryan H. (two at the top), Ashely Raburn & Nathan Simmons (bottom left), and fellow UGA graphic design major Scott Sosebee.
Lil' Sonja, autographed by Joel Carroll (my daughter loves this comic), and Sam Spina's The Frantastic Four.
Two wonderful untitled autobio comics: Miz K's comic (she came all the way from Switerland!) and Josh Bowron's.
I traded a drawing for one of Wes Brooks's t-shirts. This is my new favorite item of clothing.
The other best dollar I spent that weekend; a collection of Arnold Roth's sports comics.
Like a schmuck, I looked over what I'd posted and realized I was missing some comics I had packed away in a box at the beginning of the show; Shannon Smith's five new mini-comics überbällöön, AND Hula-Hoop Girl, a feature-length comic by his daughter Kassidy.
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