HeroesCon 2012 is this weekend in Charlotte, NC. Maybe you should go.

(Image stolen from Shelton Drum's twitter feed.)

Heroes Convention takes place this weekend, June 22 trough 24 in lovely Charlotte, NC.  HeroesCon is like a holiday to me.  One of my favorite weekends of the year.  It is the holiday I spend with my comics family.  It is a great mainstream show with a great small press show stuck in the middle.  (Indie Island).  Great location.  Laid back city.  Good dealers.  Some of the best talent from the past 50 years of the comics industry in one place.  Just good, good, positive, happy comics times.  You should go.

I should go too.  I wanna go.  I need to go.  But I can't go this year.  I am scheduled to be on Indie Island at table AA-448 but I'm not going to be able to make it.  I won't get into the reasons why but I'll just say that health care in America is very expensive.  My heart is broken.  Maybe I'll start walking towards Charlotte after I finish typing this.  Hope to see you guys there next year.

But enough about me.  Here are some things you should look at before you go to HeroesCon:

• Exile On Plain Street has a bunch of great HeroesCon pre-game posts this week including stuff on what to do, where to eat and interviews.  
• Panel Patter has a great Q and A post with a bunch of experienced HeroesCon exhibitors including myself. 
• Atomic Elbow lays out how some important information you need to know about Athens GA dudes going to HeroesCon. 
• You should probably be checking the HeroesCon blog, like, often.
• You probably want to follow HeroesCon founder Shelton Drum on twitter because he is blowing instagram up yo.  You should probably follow Rico Renzi and the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find twudders too. 
• Tom Spurgeon interviews Rico about the show here. 
• Rob Ullman did an Indie Island t-shirt.  It is great.  Go look at it.  Want one.  Buy one. Buy me one.  XL. 
• The Dollar Bin got their pre-HeroesCon podcast on. 
• Full guest list here.
• Full Indie Island list here. 

If I were able to go to HeroesCon this here, these are the things I would do (Translation: I now plug my pal's books and stuff.):

(Pics stolen from Patrick Dean Comics.)

• Patrick Dean has at least two new minicomics that I do not own.  That is unacceptable.  I would go to his table on Indie Island and buy them so hard.  He will also have, like a thousand monster drawings.  I've got some Patrick Dean original art and it's about the best thing I own other than indoor plumbing and a hot water heater. 
• While I'm in that area of Indie Island I'd go say hi to Robert Newsome.  Now, I already own both issues of Atomic Elbow but if you do not, then you need to buy them.  
• Joey Wiser has a bunch of books I'd want to check out plus he has been posting some sneak peeks at some sketches he will be selling at the show.  They look rad.

(Wide Awake Press HeroesCon ad stolen from J. Chris Campbell)

• I'd be spending a lot of time harassing my main bro doggers in the Wide Awake Press section of Indie Island.

(Stolen from Lattaland.)

• Josh Latta will have his new full color Rashy Rabbit book and I know he has been working on his sketch chops so I'd wanna check that out.  He also has some pretty rad prints for ya. 
• J. Chris Campbell probably brings more cool stuff to shows than any other individual in the small press game.  He will have a new full color zine called The Sickness of Fandom.  I have a little four page story in there about the time Barrack Obama stole my Conan The Barbarian comics collection.  (Just kidding, it's really about the time Mitt Romney beat me up and stole my Battlestar Galactica comics.)  (Jokes, people.  Jokes.  It's really about Ashley Holt's hair.)
• If Brad McGinty has just half of the cool t-shirts, prints and stickers he's been posting about lately then you probably just want too go ahead and hand him $100 and take as much as that will get. 
• I think Ashley Holt and Rob Ullman each have at least two new books I do not yet own so I'd want that stuff for sure. 
• I'd swing by the Top Shelf section of Indie Island and see what new goodness they have.  Another thing I would do is get Robert Venditti to autograph my copies of X-O Manowar 1 and 2.  Then, I would go get Cary Nord to autograph them as well.  I'm not really a collector anymore and I'm not much for standing in lines but I super dig that comic and it is rare when you can catch the writer and artist at the same show.

(Image stolen from Henry Eudy.)

• I'd probably go give Henry Eudy a hug and all the Sketch Charlotte folks high fives. 
• Panels man.  Panels.  I've been to busy to even look and see what's going on but I know the great Ben Towle is doing one so you wanna go to that.  You also want to go by Ben's table and check out his books and art.  Last year he had giant Oyster War pages that were a sight to behold. 

(McGintyfest t-shirt pic stolen from teh facebook.)

• A thing called McGintyfest is happening Friday night.  I'd probably go and get a t-shirt or something. 
• And there is also going to be a Drink and Draw Social Club thing going on Friday night.  Drawing?  Eh, I could take it or leave it but drinks are nice. 
• And apparently, some people think running is for fun.  I think running is something you do when things are chasing you. But, giving to charity, that's fun right?  This thing lets you do both.  
• If I had time I'd go through this whole guest list and tell you which ones I'd like to meet.  But the short answer is most of them.  That's one heck of a list. 

I could go on and on about the things I would like to do at HeroesCon but if I did that I would not finish this post before the show was over.  As I said in the Q&A at Panel Patter, you really need to check out all the original art in Indie Island, Artist Alley and the Art Auction.  And buy some of it yo.  Spend that cash.  Beer ain't free and creators need gas money home.  

(Josh Latta, Dazzler and Patrick Dean stolen from teh intronets.)

Even though can't make the show I still plan on posting a con report here at file under other in the next week or so.  If you have your own con report, links or pics please send me links.

Have fun and be safe everyone.  Tell Stan Lee I said something dumb. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

HeroesCon 2010 report.

(Mike Mignola exclusive stolen from the HeroesCon blog.  I would post photos of my own but I forgot batteries for my camera.)

I had a really great time at this year's HeroesCon.   I am still creatively energized but physically exhausted by the show.  I go into these shows with four goals; 1) expand my audience as a cartoonist/writer, 2) expand file under other's audience, 3) expand my network of comics pals and 4) have a good time with my existing comics pals.  I totally exceeded my expectations on three out of four of those goals.

As Shannon Smith cartoonist/writer/self-publisher I had a great weekend.  Possibly my best ever.   My Indie Island table stayed pretty busy.  It was never crazy but it was steady.  I kept expecting a lull during which I would I could leave my table and check out the rest of the show but the lull never came.  It was steady open to close both Friday and Saturday.  I sold a lot of books and did a good amount of sketches.  I'm not saying that I had customers lined up to the back of the room but the folks that did pull out the cash usually bought multiple items.  My Brush & Pen book just keeps on selling.  I need to knock out another one of those suckers immediately.  I had a good amount of repeat customers.  I was worried about that because I missed last year but folks remembered me.  That's very nice.  Thanks comics buying pals!  Hope you liked the books.  I also had a handful of copies of the Shiot Crock book I edited and contributed to on hand.  I did not really promote it or anything.  The copies I had were really just for contributors but I did show it to a lot of folks and the response was really great.  I'll post a more official announcement about the book soon. I also had a one pager in the Dollar Bin's new anthology that debuted at the show.  I was very happy with how it turned out. 

As Shannon Smith file under other critic guy I was very busy.  I had a lot of folks bring by books to submit for review and a lot of folks come by that just wanted to say hi and talk about comics.  Lots and lots of positive feedback about file under other as well as some interesting ideas I may or may not ever have time to look into.

As far as expanding my network of comics pals goes, I should have done a lot better.  I was just too busy.  I had a long list of folks whom I wanted to say hit to but I only managed to scratch off a few names.  It was just too busy.  Several of my favorite cartoonists were sitting right there on the same beach of Indie Island and I did not manage to even look at their books or say hi.  Soooo many guests.  Oh well.  Next year.

As far as hanging out with my pals goes everything was great.  Most of my pals were right there on the same chunk of Indie Island.  Rob Ullman, J. Chris Campbell, Josh Latta and Brad McGinty were nice enough to let me follow them around and even crash in their room.  I had a nice dinner with those fellas along with Ben Towle. Later on we met up with the Dollar Bin gang and a bunch of other folks to watch a bunch of cartoons that Brad had made.  That was a knee slappin' ha ha funny good time.  I also got to hang out with Patrick Dean, Robert Newsome, Sally Bloodbath and a bunch more of my favorite folks I've met through Fluke.   Everything was super laid back and fun.  Everything just took care of itself all weekend.  No stress.  No worries.  The hardest thing I had to do all weekend was show up.  So thanks guys.  I really appreciate it.

Extra super mega thanks to Shelton Drumm, Dustin Harbin and all the HeroesCon gang for having me as a guest.  Everything was so smooth that I really did not need any assistance but every time I did interact with the Heroes Con staff I was treated like a king.  Thanks team HeroesCon!

Random links I found or was sent:

Some thoughts from Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter.  I got to speak with Tom a little as the strolled through Indie Island.  Such a nice guy.  Some of my pals got to hang out with him a bit Saturday night.  I'm totally bummed that I had to leave early and missed that.  Tom gave me and the Shiot Crock book I edited a mention.  Thanks!

The Comics Reporter's collective memory list.

Photos and report from Michael Neno.

Jamie Cosley's mini report.  Jamie was on my list of folks to go say hi to but every time I went by his table he was pretty busy.  Next time.

Ben Towle has one, two, three reports.  I  sat a few tables down from Ben.  Love his books and follow his blog so it was really cool to be able to have a nice quick dinner with him and other pals.   I plan on making a request at my local library for them to stock his new Amelia Earhart book.

Comics Worth Reading: Day 1.  Day 2.  Wrap up. Johanna Draper Carlson is another name on my list of folks I would have liked to have said hi to but failed.

The Beat: Part 1.  Part 2. Part 3.  I actually did manage to say hi to Heidi so that was cool.

AdHouse has a Flickr set up and a report.  Chris Pitzer is another name I failed to check off my say-hi-to list but I did get a look at Joey Wieser's new Cavemen in Space book.  Really nice.  Joey came over and say hi all by himself so I did not have to do any work at all to check him off my list.  Hooray.

Second Period's tumblr has some photos.

Pink Kryptonite has field report full of words.

John Kivus has a bunch of good stuff here.

Henry Eudy's report.

Rob Ullman's haul. (I'm jealous of a couple of things there.  I hear those Nathan Sorry books are good.)

Josh Latta has posted a report which contains the best photo of the show.  

Rich Barret has a report up.  I don't know if I met Rich or not but I sure did hear a lot about how good his Nathan Sorry comics are.

Roger Langridge has a post up.  Scroll down below it to see some awesome Muppet/Thor art. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Visit file under other on Indie Island at HeroesCon this weekend. (And bring your comics.)

And by file under other, I mean me, Shannon Smith.  I will be at HeroesCon in Charlotte NC this Friday and Saturday, June 4th and 5th.  I will be on Indie Island table AA-429.  My important announcement as far as file under other readers go is as follows:

ATTN: SMALL PRESS AND MINICOMICS CREATORS-- IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR BOOKS REVIEWED AT FILE UNDER OTHER, PLEASE BRING ME A COPY AT HEROES CON.  EVERY BOOK I AM GIVEN WILL BE REVIEWED EITHER IN A POST-HEROESCON ARTICLE OR IN AN INDIVIDUAL REVIEW. 

I've done this a few times in the past and it usually works out really well.  You, save on the postage of sending out a review copy and I get material to keep file under other rolling for the rest of the year.

Now, I know there are folks out there that will see this and say, "hey you jerk, I sent you stuff a long time ago and you still have not reviewed it".  I know.  I know.  I'm behind.  But I'm going to catch up.  2010- the year I catch up.  Honest.  You just wait.  You'll see.   Your books will be reviewed and you will totally forget the months and months you were up all night wondering when oh when will file under other review your book.  Just wait.  You'll see.  It will be great.

Another file under other related idea I had for HeroesCon was to bring some samples from my huge minicomics collection.  I'm going to bring the Good Minnesotan 4 preview copy with me for folks to check out.  If there are other comics you've seen reviewed here that you might want to see then please use the comments feature below and let me know.  The sooner the better. 

I will also be bringing a hand full of copies of shiot crock sixteen hot off the presses.  (pictured above)  shiot crock is the unofficial anthology of The Comics Journal message board.  It contains a bunch of great cartoonists, several of which will be on Indie Island.  shiot crock is generally a very small exclusive project with a tiny print run so I think this is the first time additional copies will be made public.  I will only have a handful on sale at the show so get there early.  I am the editor/publisher of the book and I also have a few pages of comics in there.  It is a 128 page trade paperback sized book with a fantastic color cover for just $10.  I will not make the official publication announcement about the book until sometime after HeroesCon so consider this an early bird special.

I will also be at the show not as file under other but as just plain old Shannon Smith.  Plain old Shannon Smith is also a cartoonist and I'll have a bunch of my books there.  I'll have Shannon Smith is Addicted to Distraction #1 which I have never had at HeroesCon before.  I'll also have Small Bible, Brush and Pen, Bag of Savages and a bunch of mini minis.  I also have a comic in the new Dollar Bin anthology.  I was in last year's book too.  You should be able to track down the Dollar Bin gang for both of those books.  I plan to have some original comics pages there for sale.  I will do free pencil sketches.  I'll do inked drawings starting at $5.00 depending on how time consuming the request is.

So, if you are going to HeroesCon then please drop by.  Since we are in Charlotte, I'll even talk NASCAR  with ya.  And if you are not going to HeroesCon then what is wrong with you?  It's the last great American comic-con!   You need to go.  If you read this blog then you must like small press and minicomics.  If that is the case then you really need to visit Indie Island and check out all the great folks there.  I wish I had more time to go through the guest list and tell you who I am excited about but it's pretty much the entire Indie Island page.  So, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Hope to see you there.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Linkage:

HeroesCon

Indie Island

Guest list

shiot crock sixteen 

p.s. By the time I get to the show Friday morning I probably will not have slept in a couple of days so, I might be a jerk.  Sorry.

p.p.s  If you are trying to find me, I look exactly like this...