Challengers Comics Art Show, Chicago!

November 13-15, the mighty Challengers Comics in the equally mighty Chicago will be holding an art show and sale, with a portion of sale proceeds going to Hero Initiative! Be there!

Lotta stuff for sale, a few pieces just for show. What constitutes "lotta"? Glad you asked…

For Sale:
ORIGINAL COMIC PAGES
Brian Michael Bendis - Fire #1, page 1
Bryan Lee O'Malley - Scott Pilgrim Volume 2, page ?
Cameron Stewart – Seaguy #1, page 12
Chris Burnham – Marvel Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special, page 6
Christopher Mitten – Wasteland #8, page 12
Cliff Chiang – Beware The Creeper #1, page 2
Dustin Nguyen – Detective Comics #850, page 28
Evan Dorkin - Generation Ecch spot illo/chapter heading
Fred Hembeck – Ambush Bug #3, page 7
Greg Land - Black Canary/Oracle #1, page 9
Gregory Titus – Syn #2, page 10
Gregory Titus – Wings of Anansi, pages 32 & 33 (double-page spread)
Howard Porter - JLA #16, page 1
J. Adam Walters – Marvel Comics Presents #86, page 30
Jamal Igle – Nightwing #131, page 6
Jeff Moy – Legionnaires #30, page 12
JG Jones – Wonder Woman Hiketeia page 63
Keith Giffen – Son of Ambush Bug #4, page 26
Kerry Callen – Halo & Sprocket #2, page 2
Kerry Callen – Halo & Sprocket #4, page 30
Kerry Callen - Halo & Sprocket #?, page 13
Marcelo Frusin - Hellblazer #180, page 20
Mark Bagley – Ultimate Spider-Man #102, page 11
Michael Gaydos – The Pulse #14, page 11
Michael Lark – Captain America #2 page 3
Michael Lark – Gotham Central #15, page 13 (pencils only)
Mike Norton – Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #20, page 22
Mike Weiringo – Sensational Spider-Man #8, page 12
N. Steven Harris – Aztek the Ultimate Man #4, page 15
N. Steven Harris – Aztek the Ultimate Man #6, page 21
N. Steven Harris – Aztek the Ultimate Man #8, page 11
N. Steven Harris - Aztek the Ultimate Man #8, page 17
Nate Bellegarde – Atom Eve #1, page 11
Nate Bellegarde – Atom Eve #1, page 14
Nate Bellegarde – Atom Eve #1, page 17
Nate Bellegarde – Atom Eve #1, page 18
Norm Breyfogle – Prime/Captain America, page 11
Olivier Coipel – Avengers #65, page 16
Phil Hester - Foot Soldiers #5, page 22
Phil Moy - Legionnaires #29, page 11
Pete Woods - Robin #87, page 20
Pete Woods - Robin #88, page 5
Rafael Albuquerque - Superman Batman #51, page 11
Pop Mhan - Spyboy/Young Justice #2, page 6
Pop Mahn - Spyboy/Young Justice #3, page 12
Rafael Albuquerque - Superman Batman #51, page 11
Steve Dillon - Preacher #59, page 17
Steve Epting – Captain America #25, page 29
Steve McNiven – Amazing Amazing Spider-Man #546, page 23
Takeshi Miyazawa – Mary Jane #1 page 8
Tim Seeley – GI Joe #19, page 2
Timothy Green II – Starlord #3, page 13
Tony Akins – Jack of Fables #2, page 3

SKETCHES
Alex Maleev – Captain America
Brian Michael Bendis - Spunky Todd head (with Goldfish)
Dan DeCarlo – Betty Cooper
David Lapham - Amy Racecar head(-ish)
David Mack – Kabuki
Evan Dorkin - Manny, Moe and Jack (Hectic Planet) full-color
Evan Dorkin - Halby & Blue (Hectic Planet)
Frank Kurtz - Creepsville
John McCrea – Hitman
Larry Welz – Cherry
Matt Feazell - Zot 10 1/2
Mike Parobeck & Rich Burchet – Batman
Mike Wieringo - Spiderboy head
Neil Vokes - Jonny Demon head (with song lyrics by Kurt Busiek)
Paul Guinan - Heartbreakers Queenie head
Phil Hester - The Wrestch
Phil Moy - Triad (Legionnaires) head
Richard Case - Robotman
Rob Schrab - Scud
Sarah Dyer - Action Girl head
Steve Remen - Him (Lethargic Comics)
Terry Moore – Francine & Katchoo
Zander Cannon - Replacement God head
Zander Cannon - Thiudmir (Replacement God) head

For Show:
Alex Ross - Justice page
Bill Sienkiewcz - 30 Days of Night page
Glenn Fabry - Hellblazer #82, cover painting
Lee Bermejo - Hellblazer #136, cover painting
Tim Bradstreet - Hellblazer #238, cover
Simone Bianchi - Astonishing X-Men page

Jim McLauchlin

Oh, we forgot to show you these?

Alphabetically, that's Adams, Arthur; and Adams, Neal.

The whole sheebang will shown via Marvel.com and a few other Websites in a few days. Auctions to start via eBay.com probable last week in October/first week in November.

Jim McLauchlin

Stan Lee Day in L.A.!

The Hero Initiative arranged with our friends in county government to have Friday, Oct. 2 declared "Stan Lee Day" in Los Angeles County. This certificate the County presented Stan is just too cool for words.

Big ups, as the kids might say, to the mighty Harlan Wenig, who knows how to make the wheels of government turn.

Jim McLauchlin

All your Wolvies, one convenient place!

It's been a labor of love and shipping, but we have at long last assembled our 100 original Wolverine: Weapon X #1 covers and invite you to…The Danger Room at the Long Beach Comic Con!

The fest kicks off Friday, Oct. 2 at 5 PM at the con, room 204. Admission is a mere $5, $3 if you come in an X-Men costume, FREE if you show up dressed as the ol' Canuckelhead himself. Admission gets you one free raffle ticket to win a KICKASS (but empty!) wine bottle crafted by the amazing Karlton Hahn at Xena Etched Graphics. You can increase your chances by buying more raffle tickets on site.

And our friends from The Comic Bug will be on hand as well to spoil you with coupons and stuff.

This will be your ONLY chance to see all 100+ covers in living color and all their glory. ’Til the book comes out in November, that is.

And when will the covers be up for auction? Check eBay.com, late October!

Jim McLauchlin

Meet Stan Lee in the LBC!

Long Beach Comic Con. And slide a nickel or two to Hero while you're at it, huh?

Jim McLauchlin

J. Scott Campbell print at Long Beach!

Eat it up like candy, kids. Limited edition, only 100 made, and available at Long Beach Comic Con. Price is $20. And J. Scott Campbell and Christina Strain will be at the Hero Initiative booth to sign ’em Saturday, Oct. 3 from 11 AM to 12 noon.

Jim McLauchlin

Welcome to Week 5 Stan books!

Eat ’em up like candy, kids!

Hero's eBay page.
Jim McLauchlin

Mid-Ohio Tix = Hero dough!

And the hits just keep on comin'! The fine folks at the Mid-Ohio Con are also letting you slide a few nickels Hero's way when you buy tickets!

Just buy your tickets via Hero's Website. Start there, click on the Mid-Ohio logo top center, and buy your tickets. Remember: your path to purchase MUST start at Hero for us to get a cut of that ticket sale. So do it! And enjoy a fine, fine con experience.

Jim McLauchlin

Long Beach tix = Hero dough!

The good folks at the Long Beach Comic Con are making it bone-simple for you to slide a few nickels Hero's way in a couple of different ways!

For starters, we HIGHLY recommend that if you're gonna buy tickets to the fest, you do so via Hero's Website. Start there, click on the LBCC logo top center, and buy your tickets. If your path to purchase STARTS at Hero, we get a cut of that ticket sale. So do it!

And regardless of where you start, there's an opportunity for you to make a $1 or $3 donation to Hero when you check out with your Long Beach Comic Con tickets purchase. So feel free to slide us some moolah there as well!

Jim McLauchlin

Buy bologna, help Hero!

It’s that time o’ year again. On September 1, they wiped ’em clean, we need to build back from Ground Zero!

The Ralphs Rewards card is your standard grocery store “club card” that gets you discounts and whatnot. But you can ALSO register it with a Ralphs-approved charity, and EVERY time you shop and use the card, Ralphs will kick in a small percentage to the charity of your choice. It costs you, the consumer, NOTHING. It’s just Ralphs kicking in a couple bucks to good causes.

And yes, The Hero Initiative is one of those Ralphs-approved charities, and yes, we need YOU to re-register your card for Hero, which is easy as pie (tho’ not quite as tasty):


1) Sign in to Ralphs.com with your email and password
1a) If you have not created an account, create one now! Takes about 60 seconds!

2) Go to:
https://customer.ralphs.com/ManageCommunityRewardsStep1.aspx

3) Complete the three-step process; When signing up, our NPO # (non-profit organization #) is: 80680, and we're under our corporate name, "A Commitment To Our Roots." Don't let it throw ya!

4) Now go get a pie.

Seriously, folks, if you do this once, we get a few nickels every time you shop, and multiplied by a San Diego Comic-Con full of people, it’s the best, easiest way we’ve found to raise funds. Totally painless. And hot dammit, you need bologna and Q-Tips anyway!

This applies to Ralphs, Foods Co. and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California, Nevada, Illinois, and Indiana. So if you’re in those necks of those woods, hop to it. I thank you kindly.

Jim McLauchlin

Stan Lee, Round three

Get thee to Hero's page on eBay, and the next 10 Stan Lee-signed books generously donated by New Dimension Comics! Hop to it, Clyde!

Jim McLauchlin

DragonCon Peanut Butter and Sketch Jam!

Well you will have to bring your own peanut butter if you want it with your sketch but at least show up for the sketch jam session to help raise money for the Hero Initiative thanks to the folks at the DragonCon show who have helped organize this.

The location will be in the Hyatt Regency V from 8:30-10:00 P.M. on Friday the 4th.

Now on to the good stuff.

Please drop by and if you like grab your favorite artist a drink and donate a set amount in his jar and get yourself a nice sketch for your troubles plus spend a little time talking and having some fun. Down below here is a list of artists that have said they could make it and of course things can change so keep that in mind.

MARK BROOKS
HUMBERTO RAMOS
JIMMY PALMIOTTI
AMANDA CONNERS
JEREMY BASTIAN
STEVE SCOTT
SANFORD GREENE
JOE BENITEZ
PETER STEIGERWALD
NATHAN MASSENGILL
and a late arrival Star Wars artist David Reddick

So drop by and have some fun with us and walk away with a few sketches to boot.
____________________________________________________________________

Also we will be located in artist alley in the Hyatt so drop by Booth# BT13 because we will have george Perez and Paul Jenkins signing and sketching with us all weekend. plus we will have Cully Hamner dropping by to do a few sketches with us on Saturday and Sunday.

Now that's just freakin' cool!

Clayton Crain's "100 Wolverines" cover!

Jim McLauchlin

Stan Lee books, Round 2!

Get thee to Hero's page on eBay, and the next 10 Stan Lee-signed books generously donated by New Dimension Comics! Hop to it, Clyde!

Jim McLauchlin

Hero Comics, still available and crunchy-good!

Folks,
Good news: IDW informed me that within 48 hours of release, they already recieved 1200 reorders on Hero Comics.

Better news: Even after this, we STILL Have thousands of copies available for reorder! The printer, Try Vision Co. of Los Angeles, was VERY generous in printing overs on this. So if Your Local Store is sold out, tell ’em they can grab more!

Hero Comics is published by IDW Publishing, and order code is: JUN090950

For more general info on the book, check this out.

Jim McLauchlin

Please Continue Drooling

J. Scott Campbell's "100 Wolverines" cover.

Jim McLauchlin

Chicago Comic-Con 2009 Has Gone Bye-Bye

Well another Chicago Comic-Con has come and gone along with a lot of good times and some very speedy and sweet smelling events. As seen on another blog we had our speed dating event which seemed to go very well chased by a few libations here and there as seen in the following photo a few brave fellows showed up for maybe a nice girl and possibly wedding bells.

Now we also had George (The Sketching Machine) Perez at the booth and other than stopping to have a bite to eat and drink we couldn't hardly get him to leave the table

Of course George couldn't do it all by himself (even though he did try) but there were a few other guest appearances by artists at the table such as Skottie Young, Chris Samnee, Matt Wagner, Mark Texeira, J.S. Campbell, Bill Rheinhold and Gene Ha all made time to drop by and help out.

Now a special thanks goes out to my wonderful volunteers that really stepped up and made this all happen this because without all of these guys like Mike Fleming taking care of the lottery selling all of those tickets and Wendi, David, Arne, Benjamin, Cullen (Who was actually working on getting married soon) and then there was also Jim and Frank and they all volunteered and worked extremely hard to make it all come together and my thanks to all. Also a special thanks to our fearless leader Jim McLauchlin whom was always not to far away cracking a mean whip.

OOPS! sorry that was the booth next to us.

This is what it's all about helping out and raising money to aid the people that started the business that helps us have these really great weekends. Trust me I would rather be doing this than cleaning out my garage.

Well kudos to everyone on a great and successful weekend for the Hero Initiative.

So I will hopefully see everyone again next year.

Chris Klamer

Speed Dating and Sweet Smells!

And so it came to pass at the Chicago Comic-Con that the Sachs and Violens Speed Dating Party hosted by George Pérez was held! All to launch the kickass Sachs and Violens perfume oil and cologne oil by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab! (Available now, like we even needed to mention that.)
George, as he was called this evening, "The Doctor of Love," was on hand to preside.
Who sez comics is 90% male and 35% body fat? We had an equal number of men and ladies! In yer face, stereotypes!

The Doctor himself walked the floor to make sure all was copacetic.
Annnnnd…team photo time! Best of our knowledge, no marriages nor proposals have come forth as yet, but you never know. Buy some of that wacky perfume oil. Ya might get lucky!

(And all glory and honor to Dangerous Dan Reilly of the mighty Wizard Entertainment, who provided the pics!)

Jim McLauchlin

Commence Drooling…NOW!

David Finch's 100 Wolverines cover.
Words seem superfluous.

Jim McLauchlin

Send Gene Colan your cards and letters!

Gene Colan’s wife Adrienne informs us that Gene was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York early in the morning on Monday, Aug. 10 by ambulance.

All is looking okay, and best guess is that Gene might be laid up in hospital for a few days. In fact, steady improvement could get him home by late Wednesday-early Thursday. He has pneumonia in his right lung behind his heart, and possibility of infection of some fluids. Some Encephalopathy-related difficulties may be going on, too.

As positive vibes are always a nice tonic, cards, letters and well-wishes are deeply appreciated, and can be sent to:
Gene Colan
2240 Burnett Street, #5D
Brooklyn, New York 11229

“Brother Take My Hand,” indeed.

(Psst! Order one here: http://tinyurl.com/4a8blu)

Jim McLauchlin