Heroes Convention
| Heroes Convention | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | comic book |
| Venue | Charlotte Convention Center (1995–present) |
| Location(s) | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Country | USA |
| Inaugurated | 1982 |
| Attendance | 12,000 (2008) |
| Organized by | Shelton Drum/Heroes Aren't Hard To Find |
| Filing status | for profit |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Heroes Convention, or HeroesCon, is a comic book convention that takes place in June (often over Father's Day weekend) in Charlotte, North Carolina. The convention has been held since 1982 and is one of the oldest and largest independent comic book conventions in the United States. The convention has a history of charitable work, donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Charlotte Firefighters Burned Children's Fund. HeroesCon is organized by Shelton Drum, owner of Heroes Aren't Hard To Find, a comic book retailer just southeast of downtown Charlotte.
HeroesCon focuses primarily on comic books, almost to the exclusion of TV, movies, and video games seen at most other major so-called comic book conventions. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, HeroesCon features hours of other programming on all aspects of comic books and pop culture. HeroesCon features a large floorspace for exhibitors including comic-book dealers and collectibles merchants. Like most comics conventions, the show includes an autograph area, as well as areas where comics artists sign autographs and sell or do free sketches.
Annual events include the "Quickdraw Contest," in which artists create drawings on the spot for prizes; and an art auction.
Shelton Drum had been running an event called the Charlotte Mini-Con, a one-day event held at Eastland Mall (near his comic book store), since 1977, but in 1982 decided to expand the event and rename it the Heroes Convention. (Drum opened his first retail location in 1980.) The show grew from being a very small trade-show environment (held in a Holiday Inn ballroom) to being a true convention, with special guests at the 1982 show including Mike Zeck, Butch Guice, and New Teen Titans creators George Pérez, Marv Wolfman, and Romeo Tanghal.
...
Wikipedia