Heroes Convention

Infobox Convention
name = Heroes Convention


caption =
status = Active
genre = comic book
venue =
location = Charlotte, North Carolina
country = USA
first = 1982
last = Present
organizer = Shelton Drum
filing = For Profit
attendance =
website = http://www.heroesonline.com/con-update.htm

Heroes Convention, or HeroesCon, is a comic book convention that takes place in late June in Charlotte, North Carolina. The convention has been held since 1982, and it is one of the largest independent comic book conventions in the United States, as well as being the oldest event still taking place. The convention is organized by Shelton Drum, owner of Heroes Aren't Hard To Find, a comic book store near the center of Charlotte.

History

Shelton Drum had been running an event called the Charlotte Mini-Con, a one day event held in a mall near his comic book store, since 1980, but in 1982 decided to expand this and rename it the Heroes Convention. The scope of the event expanded from being a very small trade show environment to being a true convention with special guests including George Pérez, Marv Wolfman, and Romeo Tanghal. The 1984 convention had Stan Lee as its guest of honour, and since then each year of the convention has had an array of famous guests. Joe Quesada has appeared at the convention frequently since 1992, first as an artist, then as Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics. The convention has a history of charitable work, donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Charlotte Firefighters Burned Children's Fund.

Since 1994, the convention has taken place at the Charlotte Convention Center.

HeroesCon and Wizard World Atlanta

In 2005, Wizard Entertainment announced that they would be holding a comic book convention in Atlanta from June 30th to July 2nd 2006. These were the same dates on which HeroesCon was scheduled to take place. This caused an outcry amongst the comic book community, as Atlanta is only 3 hours drive from Charlotte, and several comic book creators including Matt Fraction voiced concerns about this being an attempt by a large group within the comic book industry to force out independent comic book conventions in favour of larger, more corporate events. As a result of this outcry, many comic book creators including Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch, Greg Rucka, Tony Harris, Scott Kurtz, Gaijin Studios and Art Adams signed up to appear at HeroesCon 2006. In mid-August 2005, Wizard announced that they would be pushing back their Atlanta convention until 2007.

Upcoming Events

According to the back of the 2008 Heroes Con booklet, the 2009 convention will take place June 19-21, and will feature guests such as Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Steve McNiven, and Jeff Smith.

External links

* [http://www.heroesonline.com/con-update.htm Heroes Convention website]
* [http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=004054 Comic-Con story from 7/22/2005 "HEROES CON & WIZ ATLANTA, DRUM'S NOT CHANGING DATES"]
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=5635 Matt Fraction on HeroesCon/Wizard World]