Heroes Con
 

I have attended annually since 2005 and met both creators of TMNT, Robin and Joker's creator, artistic legends like Dick Giordano, Neal Adams, Nick Cardy,and writers like Keith Giffen and Paul Levitz, and Eric Talbot and Mike Dooney are regulars for all you Mirage fans. No one stands out of the list, but that does not mean any last minute happy surprises could be added. It is the largest pure comic convention in the states and the closest one to me as luck would have it. Anyone else going this year?
http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/guests/
http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/schedule/

None for me this year. It's a good time, though.

I want to make it down there so badly. These days I can only make one big con trip, and this year it's SDCC.

Bring us back stories!

I go every year. I'm so pumped up about this year because I spoke with a vendor the other day and he's bringing me some vintage stuff for my collection. I bought some stuff from him last year too that was in immaculate shape. Also Don Rosa is coming back this year. Admittedly, he's not a very nice guy but his Scrooge McDuck art is phenomenal. I got to have a chat with Scott Snyder right as he was taking off a few years ago and he was a super nice guy. Heroescon is what SDCC ought to be. It's definitely for comic book fans. I honestly think the San Diego show should be called San Diego "Comic" Con. Seems like it's mostly just for bandwagon movie only fans now. I remember a few years ago they had more crap about those stupid emo Twilight movies than anything else.

I think Pop Culture Convention would suit San Deigo's event best.

I am going Friday morning. Are you going for just a day trip or the whole three day event? Anyone you are hoping to meet or item you are looking for?

I'm only going for one day. I will be there for the Saturday. It takes me and my buddy about 4 and half hours to get there and then we just drive back when it's over. We always go eat pizza at that Fuel place too. I love their pizza. I think Cullen Bunn is the one that I'm looking the most forward to seeing because I can't think of anyone else that's really new for this year. One of my favorite things about it is meeting the indie artists who draw cool sketches from all my favorite shows from when I was a kid. I've got some cool TMNT, Ducktales, and Real Ghostbusters art that I have bought from there over the years. The year Stan Lee came I didn't even bother with trying to see him because his line was a mad house and they had him in his own personal room. Then Kevin Eastman came and I didn't get to see him because he only came on Saturday and I had to go on Friday that year. I was super bummed. Did you get to meet him that year? I'm sure his line would have been insane too though really. As far as what I'm looking for, I will be looking for carded vintage figures and playsets. I know for a fact I'm at LEAST getting a complete Technodrome and Napoleon Bonafrog that's unpunched. I will probably be getting a whole lot more than that though. I will also be looking for the old Hasbro WWF toys and I even buy those loose but would prefer carded.

Yo, Fuel's pizza is mad good, word. Prolly the only pizza I've had down south that can compare with NY pizza. Hell, going to that joint after the con is part of it's appeal! :tlol:

Yes, I did meet Kevin in '14. I stood in line for 4 hours and 10 minutes to see him, get an autograph, picture, and e minufes of conversation. It was worth it. I was lurking on this site while I waited and introduced the guy ahead of me to this TMNT community. That was the only year I went down on a Saturday instead of Friday so I could accomodate Kevin's appearance.

I met Pster Laird and Dan Berger in 2008, the only year the Mirage Group made it down.

Mike Dooney has come back solo ever since anx Eric Talbot starting last year.

I skipped out on Stan Lee too. It was not the wait obviously but the 100 plus price tag a college student like me could not afford at the time. I may regret in when Stan dies in a few years though as he is winding down his appearances. I got to meet both Nik Cardy and Dick Giordano at their final 3ver convention appearances.

I went there in 2008 after I met up with a childhood friend who moved down there with his family. I introduced him to Peter Laird so he thought it only proper he in turn introduce me to the south's best pizza.

This is the most beautiful story.
For serious, thank you!

Yeah I'm always salivating for that pizza by the time I get there. We go in and walk around for a few hours and then go eat. I savor every moment of it. LOL!

I didn't even realize it cost extra to meet Stan. Dang that's pretty steep dude. I figured the line to Eastman would be insane too. If I were going to try and meet him I would just do the 2day thing so I could experience the rest of the con and then take one day to spend waiting in line if that's what it took to meet him. That's a LONG time to wait on someone. I saw a vid the other day of people waiting to meet Frank Miller and it looked like hundreds and hundreds of people were in his line. What's funny is that when I met Scott Snyder it was just me, him, and my buddy standing there talking. Now he doesn't even come to Heroescon anymore because he's too "big" for it or whatever. I think the only reason Matt Fraction comes is because he's from Charlotte and is still friends with the people that put it on. Pretty cool of him though. I remember a few years ago when he told me he was gonna start doing Hawkeye I was really pumped and then that run shot him in to the stratosphere.

Who is Nick Pietra? There is sketch of Bebop with his name. Also, Freddie Williams II will be there. I might have hom sogn by TMNT/ Batman #1. Should I get Neal Adams to sign my copy of his variant cover? I had him sign my copy of Batman#232 back in 2012. I dont want to have lug it around worry about messing up its condition and I may not park as closevas the 2012 encounter.

Nick has done some variant covers for IDW, starting with, I think, the Bebop & Rocksteady micro, & most recently, their mini series.

Dude I have an EPIC Neil Adams story! A few years ago when Batman Odyssey was going on I personally liked it and it was getting panned EVERYWHERE and I mean BADLY! So when I met him I told him I didn't care what the critics were saying but I thought the book was cool. Well then he signs my Odyssey #1 and I just told him that I thought the book was meant to show the history of the character and things like that and dude he goes on this EPIC RANT about how people didn't "get it" and lost his mind! He talked to me for like 30 minutes straight explaining his intent behind everything in the book. He would ask me questions and I would be able to answer them and he would be like "So do you see now?!" and I was like ".......yeah....." and then he would just go off again. The book, at that point, had been put on hiatus from the critical panning it had taken. So he proceeds to LITERALLY TELL ME EVERY SINGLE THING THAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN IN THE STORY! So then DC decides to let the book finish and sure enough...It ALL happened EXACTLY like he said! LOL!!! So every year that he comes back my buddy is like "Maybe you can tick off Neil Adams again" even though I TOTALLY didn't mean to! LOL!!! I don't think he was necessarily shouting "at" me but just sorta "in general" but it made it "seem" like it was at me since I was the only one standing there except for my buddy and this guy that he had just signed for. It was a surreal experience to say the least.

I met Scott back when he did the Detective Comics run that featured Dick Grayson as Batman. That was the last time he was there. That was in 2011 I believe just before the New 52 went down. I showed him a Detective Comics issue from 1973 that had his name and home state in the letters page. A little weird and ironic.

When my childhood friend and I met Peter and Dan it was just us. No line at all and it was Peter's only trip down there. It was the same with Kevin, but he did not bring the Mirage posse with him. Just his wife. Yet they were there for 3 days to Kevin's 1. There hundreds of people and despite many threats of cutting off the line he requested the con officials let every last person see him. I can guess Kevin is more popular too. He even beats Stan's line for the longest line at least since I started going.

That is a good story. He gave me the background for what inspired Ra's al Ghul. He also spoke of Giordano, who Neal credits for his own success more than anyone.

He is my favorite artist. The ones I want to met the most are 1. Denny O'Neil 2. Steve Englehart 3. Jose Garcia Lopez.

Man I would KILL to meet Steve Englehart. I would like to let him sign my Strange Apparitions. He's one of my favorite old school writers as well. Remember that "Vote For Me Or I'll Kill You" story about 10 years ago? It was great.

Have you ever talked to Bryan Glass before? He does like a Mouse Guard type book. I can't think of what it's called but a few years ago he talked to me for a really long time about the writing process. I also asked him what it was like working for Bendis because at that time Bendis could do no wrong. I personally think Marvel oversaturated the market with him now though. But he just raved about what a great guy Bendis was and how pleasant it was. He's a REALLY nice guy. Arthur Sydam is too.

It was pretty good. I wish DC would let him and Terry Austin finish the follow up mini to honor Marshall Rogers who was in the middle of drawing it when he unexpectedly died. The Laughing Fish,revamping both Deadshot and Hugo Strange,creating a favorite of mine in Dr. Phosphorus. I wish the comics made more use of Rupert Thorne like Batman:TAS did. He did a stellar arc in JL of A vol.1 too! The Batgirl vs Dr. Phosphorus issue in Batman too. Like Denny he got an elite artist to work with.

Yeah The Laughing Fish was legendary. Grant Morrison could do some really cool stuff with Dr Phosphorous. Any of those off the wall characters like that are right up his alley. As a matter of fact, didn't he try and use him in a story once? Maybe he didn't but I was thinking he did once. Maybe during his arc where he used Professor Pyg or something?

Not that I recall. I know Dr. Phosphorous has been used in the New 52 a couple of times and has a daughter. It could have been when you are referencing. I have not followed Batman specifically in the New 52 run. As for what Morrison could do with the New 52 I don't know. My other favorite off the wall character he did use just to kill him off to give his cred,The Spook who actually is a threat during his decade heyday. You mention Grant pulling the lame out of obscurity and making it cool, the other one that did that was Len Wein in his all too brief of a run on the main Batman title from '78 to '81.

Yeah I bet the New 52 thing was it. So you didn't read Batman Eternal and all that? It started out good but man it just becomes a little much at some point when you have all these titles just blitzing the shelves like crazy.

Attended the last 3 years, I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to comics, but its a really fun con in a great down town area. Unfortunately not going to make it this year. :(

I read Batman'66 and the Morrison pre-52 continuity wrap up Leviathan Strikes! . New 52 was not my cup of tea. The renumbering ticked me off and throwing away history and relationships. I also refer Dick Grayson as Robin or Batman not into Nightwing's directionless take.

Sorry to hear you can't make it. We'll hold down the fort for you though! Anything specific you'd be looking for if you had gotten to go?

For those of you who have gone to other comic cons how do they compare in experience?

Just left the convention. Picked up 4 comics and got Neal Adams to sign my copy of Batman/TMNT#1 variant that he did. Also, got a couple more RAK graphics and the last of the Essential Spider-Man volumes I needed.

I will post about my conversation with Neal Adams later.

I had a great time and got a great haul. I got 4 Don Rosa sketches personalized and I got 7 new TMNT MIB figures! Shredder and Leo 10 backs (which now gives me 2 Leo 10 backs), Space Cadet Raph, Panda Khan, Walkabout, Pizza Face, Chrome Dome, AND had a new MIB Ray Fillet waiting on me from the post office when I got home AND still have my Undercover Donnie on the way as well! WOO HOO!

How many figures do you have MIB?

There were a few dealers that had TMNT figures. I bought Brave and the Bold#85 at a place that had the undercovers and 89 and 90 basic line. He called me over because of my TMNT (1987) shirt but I was not looking for what he thought. He had the best deal on the B&B issue by 20 dollars to complete my Brave and the Bold run.

Did you guys seriously not go to any of the many TMNT artists in attendance?

Does Neal Adams count? I did see Mike Dooney as well. That is it. I mainly go to fill holes in my comic book runs.

I have 32 vintage toys MIB.

Casey
Baxter
Scumbug
Usagi
Mikey
Don
Leo(x2)
Raph
Wingnut
Metalhead(Pop up Display)
Rat King
Leatherhead
Rocksteady
Super Shredder
Foot Soldier
April
Splinter
Mutagen Man
Muckman
Mondo Gecko
Traag
Ray Fillet
Undercover Don
Walkabout
Pizza Face
Slash
Space Cadet Raph
Chrome Dome
Panda Khan

All are from their first waves and MIB. I also have the 2003 4 Turtles, Shredder, Splinter, and Usagi and they are all MIB. From the Nick line I have every single thing that has been released MIB and the original Nick Sewer Set as well. I also collect He-Man and Ghostbusters.

I saw some of them yeah. I'm more in to the figures than I am the comics though but I saw another Dromer there named Indy Finn and we were buying some toys at the same time and he's a REALLY nice guy. He was telling me that one of the artists that was there had actually created some original artwork for the vintage toy line but I never could find the guy. I love the artwork on the boxes. It's one of the things that makes them so fun to collect. Artwork in general was great on most toys from my generation. I'm 34 and so have experienced the Turtle phenomenon since its inception. I met some more big TMNT fans and it's always fun to be around others that share your same enthusiasm and passion for collecting.

2018's edition of Heroes Con is upon. I will go as I do every year. This time I will likely see Jose Garcia Lopez again and meet Keith Giffen. TMNT peopel there will be Mike Dooney as usual. Moreo ften than not Erik Talbot is, but not this year. David Petersen who has don cover work for IDW's TMNT will be there. Adam Guzowski is there for fans of the Image version. Ian Flynn of Archie's Sonic did a storyarc in Universe will also be in attendance.

https://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon/guests/

My main goal will be to find Detective Comics#411 for my classic Detective Comics run. Along with that a five issue extension to Brave and the Bold volume one to extend it from #79 to the end of the series run.

It's that 3 day weekend again this year, Heroes Con 2019! Anyone else going?