Age of Heroes

Suzanne and I will once again be representing the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund at Heroes this coming weekend. Shelton has nicely provided us a space in Artists Alley. I think the guest list is longer than ever before this year, despite several no-shows by some folks I was hoping to see (ahem—Todd, Nick, Rod, Leeane, Scott—ahem). There wasn't any space to spare so we'll be squeezed in between the folks from Jeff Parker's studio and our good buddy Craig Rousseau who have graciously agreed to give up some of their space so we can set up. I can't thank them all enough. We're going to keep it mean and lean this year and try to take up as little space as possible.

Unfortunately, that will be easier than we'd planned. Suzanne and I had ordered some fancy new buttons to hand out this year. Suzanne couldn't remember where she ordered the last batch so I took a chance on these useless so-and-so's who not only took two weeks to complete the order, but they then sent us some other poor sucker's buttons. This has left us high and dry since we're completely out of the white 'Ringo buttons. Needless to say, I won't be using them again and I highly recommend you don't either. The steam is still coming out of my ears.

Still, I'm trying to stay positive because we are there for a good cause and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the folks we only get to see at Heroes including some of you who are nice enough to post in the comments here. We're also so grateful for everyone who has been so generous and patient with us. Despite tough economic times and a declining comics market, the fund has continued to grow and it's all because of you folks out there who loved Mike and his work and because of great folks like Shelton Drum at Heroes, Marc and Shelley at Baltimore and Brett Carreras at Virginia Comicon who continue to go out of their way to support us.

We'll be making a very short announcement regarding the fund before the Art Auction. In case you can't make it, though, it's nothing major. Just announcing how much this year's award is (It's gone up!) and the fact that it's staying with our favorite Sequential Art major, Rae Rochelle. I believe she's scheduled to graduate next year so, hopefully, we'll be announcing a new winner at next year's Heroes.

Okay, unless your name fell between the "ahems" up above or unless you happen to be my good buddy, Christian Leaf, who also is not coming, I'll look for you to stop by the table this weekend. See you then.

And sorry about the buttons.