Well, actually, it’s Monday now, but Sunday at the con started off busy (for a Sunday anyway) but slowed to the usual trickle by the end of the day. All in all, though, I saw some OK sales Sunday—and a number of other artists seemed to be doing lots of business. Rob Ullman, who was seated next to me in Indie Island, was selling sketches and original art pretty steadily all day Sunday. His secret: Cheesecake and plenty of it!

My overall impression of this year’s event was that it wasn’t nearly the zoo I expected it to be–which is good—and the show still maintained the low-key, well organized Heroes vibe that it’s known for. My sales were the best of any show I can recall, and anecdotally this seems to be the same for a number of other Indie Island folks. There was a noticable increase in the number of women attending this year—also a good sign. Although, it must be said that there was enough of a preponderance of “Lady Death”-style imagery around to have made my wife—not a P.C. easily-offended type by any stretch of the imagination—somewhat ill at ease during her one venture out of Indie Island and into mainstream comics land. Heroes is known for trying to maintain a kid-friendly atmosphere with kids getting in free, cautions to panelists about foul language, etc. I wonder if a similar girl-friendly effort to maybe tone down all the in-your-face fantasy/superhero boobs and crotch artwork might be something to consider?

The organization and professionalism of the convention staff was, as usual, excellent. Even the poor begraggled employees of the convention center Starbucks seemed to be in good spirits throughout the weeked.

The only sour note to the whole thing was the conspicuous absense of integral Indie Island figure J. Chris Campbell, who had to stay home because of an injury. Get well, JCC!

(Click for larger image)

On my right was Dash Shaw, seen here with a fan. His new book, The Mother’s Mouth, is in Previews right now, so be sure to bug your local retailer for it (published by Alternative Comics).

(Click for larger image)

And on my left was Rob Ullman, seen here drawing a dragonfly on some random woman… a shapely, sexy, Bruce Timm-esque dragonfly.

 Saturday at Heroes Con was a day everyone expected to be a real zoo—and to a certain extent it was.  But it certainly never reached a point where it was uncomfortable or difficult to move around the floor, as in San Diego.  Most important, the “Heroes atmosphere” seems to be in tact, with most folks—mainstream even pros—reasonably approachable, and even in the midst of a busy day a low key feel about things.

 I found sales of my books to be reasonably good, and probably better on the bottom line than last year at day two.  Last year was the first year of “Indie Island” and the majority of my sales last year were minicomics and the like.  This year, the second for Indie Island, though I’m finding that the bulk of my sales are my Slave Labor Graphics books.  Even more curious, the higher priced and much older Farewell, Georgia is selling about the same number of copies as my new release Midnight Sun.  Oddball items like, $1.00 “filmstrip” minicomics, and my mincomics sampler in a Chinese takeout box have been going nowhere fast.

Generating the most “buzz” is the presence of Warren Ellis, who was lurking around in the hotel bar on and off last night.  A friend of mine had something signed by him and remarked that he looked like he’d spent a lot of time underground.  I asked, “You mean in hiding?”  “No,” he said, “like as in living in a damp hole underneath the earth.”

My favorite overheard quote (reported to me by the friend mentioned above) was the following:  A disapointed child complains to his father, “You said there’d be superheroes here, but there’s just comic books!”

I thought I was really on the ball for remembering to bring my camera to this event, but aparently not, since I forgot to bring the USB cable that allows me to hook the thing to my laptop and actually do something with the pictures.  Fridays are never super busy at Heroes (or really any other) convention, but as Fridays go, this one has actually been pretty good business-wise.

Severel memebers of the CCCG were present today including Adam, Terra, and Jordan (with whom I got a ride down here from WS), as well as Mandy and Johnnie who came down for the afternoon.

The Hernandez Brothers are intermittently appearing about 10 yards to my left, and the same with Peter Bagge on my right.  I had hoped to pester Bagge for a sketch of Thomas Payne (in the ass) today, but he appears to have flown the coop a few hours early.

So here’s the roundup for any interested parties:

Who: Me… and a pretty dang amazing lineup of cartoonists.

What: Heroes Con ’06, the South’s biggest comics event!

When: Like it says in the banner above, Friday June 30th (tomorrow) until Sunday July 2nd.  Barring a couple of panels (see below) and occasional trips out for food, I should be there pretty much the whole weekend.  That’s 11am – 7pm Friday, 10am – 6pm Saturday, and 11am – 6pm Sunday.

Where: The Charlotte Convention Center, in lovely downtown (or is it “uptown” again now?  I can’t keep track) Charlotte, North Cackalacky.  Specifically, I’ll be in Indie Island, booth ii611. You can click here for a list of all the artists and where they’ll be, along with a PDF of the convention floor layout.  I’ll be right between Richmonders (Richmondites? Richmondians?) Rob Ullman and Dash Shaw.

Panels:

I’ll be participating in two panel events.

• Friday at 3:00 pm in room 216 – “How To Get Ahead In The World Of Indie Comics, Part One: Minicomics” (along with Andy Mansell, Jeffrey Brown, J Chris Campbell, Jim Mahfood, Andy Runton, and Rob Ullman)
• Saturday at Noon in room 216 – “How To Get Ahead In The World Of Indie Comics, Part Two: Anthologies and Other Avenues” (along with Jordan Crane of Mome, Chris Pitzer of Project Superior, and moderator Andy Mansell)

I’ve also helped organize and will attend—but not participate in:

• Friday at 5:00 pm in room 216 – “How To Get Ahead In The World Of Indie Comics, Part One-and-a-Half: Webcomics” (Panelists: Danielle Corsetto, Jennie Breeden, Marty Blevins, Joe Lomenda, Matt Wood, and Stephanie Freese, with moderator Paul “Onionhead” Friedrich)

Swag:

Well… as you can see in the post previous to this one, I’ll have available pretty much my whole back catalog of minicomics, on my fancy new spinner rack.

I’ll once again be offering the ever-popular Sizzling Minicomics Worbar:

Also, for the first time available for sale, (Almost) One Hundred Demons.

And, of course, debuting at Heroes Con: the first issue of my new series, Midnight Sun—Not available in stores until Wednesday, but you can get em at the Con!

Come by and say Hi if you’re at Heroes Con this weekend!

(I’ve got wifi in my hotel room and, time permitting, will hopefully be able to check in via blog)

Getting loaded up for Heroes Con this weekend… and check out my fancy new spinner rack I got off Ebay:

That’ll hopefully clear up some precious table space at good old Indy Island booth ii611 where I’ll be for pretty much the whole weekend.  Note other comics geek items in picture: cardboard boxes of “real” comics in the back from Quebecor (printers), and the scale model of the Italia I built for drawing reference for Midnight Sun.