HeroesCon 2009 - Day The First

Hil and I checked in over at the convention center, and took our place in line. This year, the convention actually had two lines: one for attendees who purchased advance tickets, and another for those who didn't. The trick is, that those of us who bought tickets before June 14th were allowed onto the floor half an hour early.

However, the advance-ticket line itself was formidable to say the least. Looping around the interior of the convention center, there were still a good number of people entering. With that in mind, we headed straight over to the table where Ed Brubaker would be signing. I was saddened when he had to cancel from last year's convention, and I had a heavy load including my Captain America Omnibus.

There was a bit of confusion as to whose line we first got in, since Brubaker was seated next to his collaborator on Captain America, Steve Epting. This year, a few of the most popular signers actually have a queue to direct the line. I had a few moments to speak to him as he signed mybooks, and he pointed out something in the script to Captain America #25 (re-printed in the Omnibus). At the end of the script, a block of text is blacked out, and labed as 'Censored', and Brubaker told us that this block of text ties back to the revelations in Captain America #600. A small line was also forming for Brian Michael Bendis, who hadn't yet arrived. And while I was tempted to try to get Bendis' autograph quickly as well, we decided an early lunch was called for.

I returned to the convention a short while later to do a bit of shopping while Hilary retired to take a short nap. I attended the Pint of C.B. panel, where Marvel made a few announcements. Afterwards, I headed down to the convention floor where I discovered not only quarter-bins... but dime bins as well, with some help by Adam Murdough of Comic GeekSpeak. While wandering the floor, I also met Thom Zahler of Love and Capes and Shawn Pryor of PKD Media (and writer of Mercury And The Murd) and bought some of their wares.

All told, in that stretch I bought nearly a hundred comics, and most of them for little more than a song. So after carrying my bounty back to the room, Hilary and I returned to the convention floor, hoping to get signatures from Jeff Smith and Matt Fraction. Unfortunately, the line at the Cartoon Books both was capped. My copies of RASL 1-4 remain unsigned. For now. We decided to wait on seeing Matt Fraction until tomorrow. Instead we found our way to the booth shared by Adam Withers and Comfort Loves, co-writers and co-artists of the independent comic The Uniques.

The Uniques is truly worth mention for a few important reasons. For starters, there isn't a publisher. It's created and published by Adam Withers and Comfort Love, a couple from Michigan. The couple write and draw the book themselves, publishing it on the internet. If you want a physical copy, you can order one on their website via a print-by-order service. The art is gorgeous, and after two issues the story looks like it's got a lot of potential. I bought the first trade from them, as well as handing over my new sketchbook. Hilary provided a theme idea for my sketchbook that I love. It'll be a book of sketches of me... as different comic book characters. I think Adam and Comfort are starting it out with me as Hercules. I look forward to sharing the sketch.

The first day was fun, and I'm a little frightened at the diminishing stack of bills in my wallet, but there's plenty of con left. I'm off to bed to finish recovering for tomorrow.