I immediately Googled "comic book + convention + Charlotte" though. Sure enough! HeroesCon was in Charlotte! A real comic book convention. I'd heard about Comic-Con and WizardCon, but they were usually in cities like Chicago and San Diego. I'd always wanted to go to one of them, but the opportunity just never came up.
Well, I got the chance last Saturday and I took full advantage.
I went to the Charlotte Convention Center, descended the escalator and walked onto the red carpet that was set up in front of me. At the end of the walkway, there was a large portrait of the Charlotte skyline.
Immediately I saw, perhaps, the best part of my day: a giant Hulk -- painted green and everything. He was standing next to another Hulk, posing for the crowd.
Two Hulks! How could I get so lucky?!
I knew these were my kind of people. I was donning my simple (yet totally rad) Batman t-shirt. I saw a bunch of people wearing super-hero t-shirts, baseball caps and hoodies while standing in line for my ticket, but nobody in a full-out costume, so this was a pleasant surprise.
There were literally tens of thousands of comics there -- some selling for obscene amounts of money and others for a very reasonable $0.25.
I picked up a comic of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (one of my favorite 80s cartoons).
It was fairly crowded because Stan Lee was making an appearance for an autograph signing later in the evening. A regular convention-goer told me it wasn't usually so busy. I also found out that they do this convention every year in Charlotte. This year happened to be the 30th Anniversary.
I only stayed about three hours before heading into work, but I saw loads of people, dressed up as all kinds of heroes. I'll definitely have to go next year. I'll have to get a little more creative in my ensemble though.
There's some stiff competition out there. Take a look:
HeroesCon 2012 Photos
