Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming

As I mentioned in my previous post, Heroes Con 2013 took place this past weekend June 7-June 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina.  James and I rode down Friday with fellow B&D employees Margaret and Brian, and their daughter Zoe.  We only spent one day at the con, but I'm ready to go back next year and spend the entire weekend.  We had a blast meeting some of our favorite creators and purchasing more art... in fact we only purchased one indie comic and one toy/action figure (we take them out of the box, which makes them toys in this house).  Everything else was art.

Of course we saw Beck from last week's Artist's Block Interview. She set herself up to work on con sketches throughout the weekend.

Hi, Beck!

And we met fellow crafter, Jennifer from Handmade Stuffs.  If you have only seen her stuff online, or never seen her stuff before, all I can really say is it is even cuter in person.  I felt compelled to bring Fionna home with me because she was so cute and cuddly and the details are perfect!

 There were some awesome cosplayers, like this Batgirl.

I overheard Batgirl giving advice to a Green Lantern Cosplayer. Paraphrased, she said not to worry about what your costume looks like this year because you will only get better.  In a few years you'll look back at older pictures and wonder what you were thinking.  But as long as you have fun and enjoy what you're doing that's all that really matters.

A few of our favorite cosplayers included:

We also saw an incredible Rick and the Governor Cosplay that I wish I had photographed, Jasmine and Jafar, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, and so many more.

And now, let's get to the really awesome stuff.  The stuff where I feel like I'm Walking on Sunshine and in a dream.  First, I met Kelly Sue Deconnick.  You know, the woman who currently writes Captain Marvel.  The woman responsible for promoting Miss Marvel to Captain and changing her uniform from a swimsuit and thigh high boots to a one piece uniform.  Yeah, I met that Kelly Sue.  

She was incredibly nice and I gave her one of the Captain Marvel inspired totes that I made a while back. She was so nice and appreciative and turned around and grabbed her laptop and slid her laptop into the bag.  I'm still a little flabbergasted, and she pictured it on her tumbler along with other gifts she received at the con.  So of course I had to get a picture.

We also got a personalized signature on the Captain Marvel #1 Variant cover we had and were offered a sneak peak look at some of the pages for Pretty Deadly.  It was already on our list of books to keep an eye out for, but now it's on our pull list for whenever it is ready to come out!

We also met Andy Price, artist for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  I gave him a Sweetie Belle themed parasprite, which he loved.  And so did his wife (at least I assume that's who was at the table with him!).  Then I talked to her about crochet and such, but somehow I didn't even think to ask for a picture!  But, I did leave one of my cards with them.  And it was really cool because Neil happened to be around the table at the same time with the Right Hand of Doom Bag that I made for him so Andy Price got to see (and seemed to admire) that piece of craftsmanship as well!  I have sent him a little note asking if he might possibly send me a picture of himself with the parasprite, but only if it isn't any trouble.  So if I receive that then I'll post the picture here as well!

Then we met Dave Johnson who, among other things, drew the art for Superman: Red Son.  

Red Son happens to be one of our favorite Superman stories in this house and explores what the world might be like if Superman landed in Soviet Russia rather than small town America.  It is wonderful!  And a while back I designed a cross stitch pattern based on the Red Son Logo.  I hope to finish the pattern file and offer it on Etsy in the near future, but for now I must be content that I gave the first finished piece to the artist who inspired the pattern.  And let me tell you what, he didn't even know what to say.  I'm not sure anyone has given him something quite of that nature before.  So I got a picture of him with it, and then he set it up on the table next to him and among his prints.  So that was really cool to see my piece mixed in with his whenever I passed by his table.

That was all the art I brought with me to share with the creators who have inspired my own work.  I mean, they gave us so much creativity it only feels right to give a little something back to them.

We were excited to see awesome sauce artists like Jamal Igle who drew the art for the first comic I ever personally owned (Supergirl #50) or Thomas Zahler who wrote and drew the My Little Pony micro for my favorite pony, Twilight Sparkle.

And we got to meet one of our favorite Comic Couples, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. Again, some of the nicest people that you may ever meet.  We chatted for a while with both of them (separately because each was at lunch when we spoke to the other) and they were just wonderful.  We picked up two Amanda Conner prints, even though we already have her art in the house, and of course got signatures on some of our favorite titles.  

I thought it was both interesting and wonderful that Palmiotti didn't bring anything with him to display or sell. He didn't even have a banner.  He was truly there for the sole purpose of meeting and greeting fans... and, you know, spending time with his wife.  They both thanked us for supporting the Sex and Violence Kickstarter and Palmiotti talked to us about the Kickstarter projects he has in the works.  And, I'm telling you, that anything that has Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, or Amanda Conner are things worth taking a look at.  Oh, and I should mention, we handed nine comics to Palmiotti to sign (four also signed by Igle and one also signed by Conner).  All Star Western #1 was probably six comics down in the stack and as he was signing and talking to us, he just starts sketching Jonah Hex on the cover of the book.  He didn't break the conversation or make a big deal about it, but I can assure you it's one of the comics that now hangs in a frame on the wall in the house.

Again, Heroes Con was simply amazing.  The only other thing I can think to mention right now is that if you have a cat you should definitely check out Duae Cat's Etsy shop.  We brought home one of their catnip toys and the cats went crazy over them.  It almost started a fight since we were stupid enough to only bring one home with us!

Harley swiped at me when I tried to take it away from her!  And when I gave it to Trousers she bullied him (a truly funny sight) until she regained control.

But lest you think Duae Cat only sells catnip toys I have to tell you they also offer the most adorable tiny amigurumi items, like this set of My Little Pony cuties.

But that's where I'm going to have to leave this post and return to the real world.  Next year we'll plan and budget out a trip to cover the entire weekend.  I can't even begin to imagine how much more fun we could have!