Heroes Con ’06 Photo Parade

With a heaping helping of southern hospitality, aided by caffeine infusions at all hours, and only slightly impeded by the terror of BAGWORMS, Heroes Con ’06 was the friendly yet star-studded fest that everyone was expecting. Kudos to Shelton Drum and his crew for pulling it all off. We’re still working on our general remarks, but for now here are a few pics.

Some of the folks at the Image booth — that’s Shawn Crystal in the middle, but we forgot the names of the other two fellows flanked by Jason Latour and Mikey Freiheit.

Pirates were definitely the hot HOT theme at the show, what with PIRATES 2 opening this weekend. ARRR! There be a hidden buccaneer in everyone, it seems.

Ben Dunn sketches at the Antarctic booth.

The broiling sun of Charlotte wasn’t really all that bad.

The lovely ladies of comics convene in the girl’s club.

Intrepid Danielle Corsetto hugs her cactus.

Teen sensation Liz Greenfield came all the way from the Netherlands to sell her mini comics.

Dan Mishkin is back with a bunch of projects from Actionopolis.

Jeffrey Brown and Rob Vendetti mug at the Top Shelf booth. Jeff told us about an exciting new project or two, including THE INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS.

Lamar Waldron! We haven’t seen him in years. His book Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK came out after over a decade of research last year and has served as the basis of a documentary on the History Channel and has earned high praise for being one of the most thorough investigations of the JFK mystery yet. A paperback edition will be out this fall, with added material taken from newly declassified documents.

Jordan Crane and Dash Shaw rap. Shaw’s new book THE MOTHER’S MOUTH looks to be one of the best books of the year.

Sadly, none of The Beat‘s pictures of Rosario Dawson and Uncle Gus Vasquez emcee’ing the action came out very well. The bidding was fast and furious however.

We love nighttime skyscraper photography.

Across the street from the convention center there was an amazing reading-themed park where children gamboled among giant fish. The base of the fountain is decorated with quotes from James Joyce.

Our favorite crossroad.

BAGWORMS! Dear God! They hang on silken threads like scary Christmas ornaments. We were previously unfamiliar with these southern pests, but a pine tree infestation outside the 2nd Street entrance made for a perilous passage.

Charles Vess and one of his amazing paintings.

Colleen Doran and Nick Cardy.

NYC Mech’s Ivan Brandon and Andy MacDonald display Sunday’s drink of choice, preferably served in the largest portions allowable by law.

Funny, saggy Spidey talks to Bernard Chang.

Cully Hamner, Ford Gilmore and Phil Noto.

Uncle Gus had lost his voice by Sunday am. His niece was probably the hit of the show.

Skip Farrell and garrulous Jim Amash.

It’s a little bit hard to see from this angle, but the prices at the convention center were quite reasonable, and a bottle of water was the same price as a wine cooler.

Artist John Lucas and galpal Mindy Breitweiser. Lucas showed us a preview of his book MONSTERHANDS, and it was damned impressive. He was also happy to note that a pin-up of his from DC’s 9/11 tribute book has received wide exposure on the SCIENCE OF SUPERMAN special on the National Geographic Channel the HISTORY OF SUPERHEROES on the E Channel and the SCIENCE OF SUPERHEROES on A&E. Whew!

Image’s Joe Keatinge is rapidly becoing one of the new heartthrobs of comics with his Kent-to-Superman transformation.

Did we mention that Pirates are it? Here original Jolly Roger enthusiast Tony Harris shows his skills on a Jack Sparrow sketch. We were watching him noodle with a marker for a while and Tony can really noodle with a marker like no one’s business. Tony admits that the over-saturation of pirate imagery is a bit of a bummer for those of us who were always into it but we know it will be cool again someday.

We finally met TC Ronin and his Students of the Unusual. It’s kind of hard to explain what exactly it’s all about in a photo caption, but we liked the fact that he decorated his booth with healthy, clean cut children.