Man, oh, man! Heroes Con was a BLAST! There was so much going on and so many things happened that it’s hard to remember them all, much less, write about them. Let me touch on a couple of things, though.
The Out of Step Arts Panel Discussion
I’m not sure whose idea it was for us to do a panel, but I sure was flattered. That feeling was immediately followed by anxiety, night sweats and visions of empty rooms and awkward silences. But, all of that worry was unnecessary. We had a good size crowd show up, there was lots of discussion with some great comments from the OOSA artists, and there were some good questions from the audience. I talked to several of the people who came and they said they found it informative and were able to take something away from the talk. Hey, that’s what it’s all about, right? The coolest thing is that Brandon Clarke (the behind-the-scenes guy from Brand New Nostalgia) caught it on tape, so if you missed it, you can now watch it in the comfort of your own home.
The Heroes Con Fun Run
The Heroes Con Fun Run was probably my favorite thing from the whole weekend. This was the first year for the run as an official Heroes Con event, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Again, the sleepless night before the run thinking about logistics and worst-case scenarios was totally unwarranted. I’d say we had at least 50 people show up at 7:00 in the morning!! That’s pretty impressive considering all of the socializing opportunities that were available the night before. There were kids, parents of con-goers, people dressed in costumes, art students, comic pros, and running and comics enthusiasts alike. The best thing was that there were several people who had never run in an organized event like this before. People were actually inspired and trained just so they could run in the Heroes Con Fun Run. That’s so great!
For the rest of the convention, I had people swinging by the OOSA booths to pick up their free prints who all talked about what a good time they had and asked if there will be another run next year. With the 
overwhelming success of this year’s run, I would say it’s a definite YES. Other artists even offered to help Eric Canete out with the portfolio reviews for the SCAD students who participate next year. It’s a good thing, because Eric was totally booked on Sunday with 10 – 12 30-minute reviews to do. Way to show up SCAD students!!
A special thanks to Eric Canete for the art donation and the portfolio review offer, Shelton Drum for letting us do this as part of the convention, Rico Renzi for the shirts and the pictures at the run, and all of the other Heroes Con staff and volunteers who woke up early to help give out shirts and water bottles and generally make things go smoothly.
Everything Else
Having (most) all of the OOSA artists together over the weekend was really nice. I got to meet Logan Faerber in person for the first time and I got to know everyone a lot better. I feel that Out of Step Arts was really well received and the show was, overall, a great experience for the artists with some sales, some commissions, and lots of opportunities to network and socialize. One thing that I thought was really special this year (and I hate that neither of us got to see the presentation) was that the Heroes Con Staff all pitched in to get Toby Cypress to paint a picture of Shelton’s car as a gift for him celebrating 30 years of putting on the show. What an honor.
As is the case with Heroes Con every year, I met lots of great new folks and got to see several people who I typically only get to catch up with once a year. Good times were had. Thanks so much to everyone at Heroes Con for a great weekend. I will definitely see you next year.
