Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

After missing last year's convention due to a wedding, I was able to get back to Charlotte Saturday for day 2 of this year's.

I managed to get there a little earlier this year and the extra time actually let me walk every asile of the convention floor, which is massive, and I was definitely feeling it in my feet and in my bag-laden arms by the time the floor closed at 6:00.

In the event I picked up a number of things I would have bought on general principles, and another number of things I had never heard of from creators who were also good salesmen. There is a certain danger in making eye contact going up and down the asiles, but by the same token that's one reason for going to a big show: To get something you had no idea existed, but yet which someone is passionate about.

This young lady is "Poderosa" one of the heroines of Pittsburgh based "Heroineburgh" comics which I was enthusiastically given to understand is a sort of pinup based comic series similar to AC Comics "Femforce" which also produces campy live-action episodes at https://www.heroineburgh.com. I left with several autographed issues, an autographed picture of Ms Poderosa and this proof that it happened.

This group of cosplayers had kind of a Shrek thing going on with also some Marvel & DC representation.

I was glad to see that the creators of Elfquest, a comic I liked a lot back in the 80s are still rolling along.

These were a couple of more sales made by a stoked creator. Apparently the hero here is a tiger in a Zootopia type city of animals who holds down a day job as a teacher and works the nights as a Batman type vigilante with a strong focus on anti-bullying in both roles.

Indie space opera -- I don't know anything else about it yet.

Comic tie-in to the above.

Reportedly a humorous story about a knight in love with a dragon and all the mayhem that would cause.

The Heroineburgh comics plus assorted associated swag.

An issue of Hogan's Alley, an ongoing comics' history magazine.

More indie space opera, there are several novellas in this volume, but that's all I know!

You can't go wrong with Pogo!

I just fininished Volume 72: Luffy & the crew are split into several groups in the mysterious country of Dressrosa where toys are alive, and Luffy must fight in the arena to keep the power of his late brother Ace from falling into the wrong hands.

I had a nice conversation with comic writer Mike Baron towards the end of the day. He had a long run on "The Flash" for DC, but is probably best known for the space-opera superhero series Nexus and the Wisconsin gonzo series The Badger ("Put on a costume and fight crime? You'd have to be crazy..."). Recently he and Nexus co-creator, artist Steve Rude, parted ways and they are now doing separate Nexus projects. Baron was fairly philosophical about it and indicated that at least they could actually do that because they owned the character. It turns out that Baron actually has no ownership of The Badger, so getting new Badger projects going is more difficult. I picked up Baron's latest Nexus graphic novel Scourge (done now with artist Kelsey Shannon), an issue of his Florida Man which I hope has some of that Badger gonzo spirit. His police thriller Thin Blue Line (he admitted that coming out as a pro-police conservative has hurt him some in the industry), and his take on Sherlock Holmes.

All in all, an interesting day, and I left pleasantly footsore and laden to fight the I-77 traffic.

Looking at the Alphabetical Closings, I see I did not do a post for the 2022 Heroes Convention, though I'm sure I went, as I did last month.

The older I get, the harder it is to get up to Charlotte at a reasonable time, so by the time I got to the convention center, I really only had time to walk the convention floor without attending any panels or events. In fact, I didn't really have time to do the whole floor as well as I wanted to. I tried to make a plan to sweep back and forth and hit every booth, but as I got to the final stages, they called time on the day's session.

My impression is that it was not as crowded as it has been in some past years (not counting the Holiday Inn on Woodlawn years!), and there were somewhat fewer elaborate cosplay attendees.

I'm pretty disconnected from the current era of comics, but I always make it a point to pick up something from the writers & artists who put themselves out there. I got a YA indie novel for my niece, which she won't read, I'm sure, and the below swag which hopefully I will.

Coming off of I-77 and heading downtown on Saturday gave a really stunning view of Charlotte's downtown. The sky was dotted with puffy clouds and the skyscrapers were laid out almost artistically. I really wish I could have pulled over and gotten a shot.

I was headed to the Convention Center for this years iteration of Charlotte's Heroes Convention which I have been checking out out over the years as often as I could since the days when it was a few meeting rooms at the old Holiday Inn on Woodlawn.

This year, I didn't attend any of the panels as it took all of my time just to completely canvas the main show floor. My impression is that Guardians Of The Galaxy is a new hit with costumers, though there was no single theme for the majority of costumes. I think I did notice a bit of fall-off in the Frozen costumes since Amelia Con. Stan Lee was there for photo-shoots, but the line was so long that I didn't attempt to see him. There were plenty of other creators there as well, and I bought a number of indie books for myself and my nieces, more than I've scanned below.

Anyway, it's not a bad drive (I-77 seemed a little less pot-holed this time) and there's a reasonable nearby lot, so if you get the chance next year, I recommend you check it out.