HeroesCon 2023 Recap: Artist Interactions, Convention Hauls, and Tips For Saving and Spending Money At A Comic Convention

The Short Box Podcast - Ep. 394: HeroesCon 2023 Recap: Artist Interactions, Convention Hauls, and Tips For Saving and Spending Money At A Comic Convention

[00:00:00] Intro music plays

[00:00:21] Badr: Okay, uh uh, uh uh and a one and a two and a three. Yo short box patrons. Short Box Nation. All right. Short Box Nation in general, welcome to a special bonus episode that we are calling the post show Show, right? The Post Heroes Con Show Show. Uh, normally we record these. I'm mean, I mean, if we're going historical sakes, we've recorded these episodes after day one of the, uh, convention, but we had so much fun on day one that we're doing it on day two last day.

[00:00:58] Badr: We've had two days to process it and compare. So I think this is gonna be a good conversation. But regardless, I wanna welcome you to the Yeah, the Post Heroes Con show. It's your boy Badr. On the mic. On mic number two. I got my partner in crime, Andrew Torres. Oh, hey, Mr.

[00:01:14] Drew: Torres. I've never been called that before, but, uh, nice, nice to be back.

[00:01:18] Drew: It's been a year

[00:01:19] Badr: already? Yes, a year since we've recorded from here. It's been a year since we've recorded from Charlotte. You're right about that. And joining me and Drew. Is, I don't think this is his first appearance, cuz technically he's, uh, we, matter of fact, I think two or three heroes con ago, he made his short box debut.

[00:01:37] Badr: Yeah, we did

[00:01:37] Drew: it in the lady's house. In the lady's house on the second floor. I think you

[00:01:40] Badr: need to add more context to that. Okay. Sorry. At an

[00:01:43] Drew: Airbnb that belonged to a lady that we went upstairs.

[00:01:46] Badr: Yes. So making his second ever short box debut is our damn good friend, Mr. Blake Simone, who's getting this first ever round applause right there.

[00:01:58] Blake: I'm, I'm used to the applause. This is everywhere I go.

[00:02:02] Drew: I can't believe we just bring that whole audience with us. Yeah. Would

[00:02:05] this

[00:02:05] Blake: technically be my third? What

[00:02:07] Badr: was the second C? That's right. You did record that episode of Cesar when we did the call-in show. Yeah. Damn. Okay, veteran. Jeez Louise. Why'd I even give you the, the, the pep talk?

[00:02:19] Badr: Yes. I

[00:02:19] Blake: just, you know, I needed to make you feel down a peg.

[00:02:25] Badr: Blake, you're rocking that short box shirt pretty nicely. I do. It looks natural. One, it's funny,

[00:02:29] Blake: people wanted to talk to me this year and I

[00:02:31] Badr: wonder why. Oh, hey, look at that. Associate with the Showbox. Get friends. That's her, that's her new logo.

[00:02:37] Badr: That's our new motto right there. You don't just get good, uh, podcast content. You actually make friends. Jets. How are we feeling? Uh, after two days, two full days of heroes con our knees.

[00:02:47] Drew: Yeah, our knees are feeling, how's our knees

[00:02:49] Badr: feeling? Boy, not nearly as bad as I thought they'd be. I've only had to take one to leave this whole trip.

[00:02:54] Badr: I feel like the, our

[00:02:54] Drew: first, the first day was like very much like a tough, we were walking a lot. I feel like today, like we got a little bit more, well, I have to just say like, we got a late start, but like Yeah, I think yesterday was just go, go, go, go,

[00:03:05] Badr: go. I think what's been surprising both these days is how fast time has gone by.

[00:03:09] Badr: I mean, today we basically stayed until they closed the floor till 6:00 PM yesterday. We were there, I mean, the whole day. I mean that's like what, more than it was like till seven, like

[00:03:19] Drew: a solid eight, 10 hours. Right. Then we came home and relax for a little bit, and then when we came back for the art auction, uh, the drinking and draw the drink and draw, it was already like 11 o'clock.

[00:03:28] Drew: Yeah.

[00:03:29] Badr: Yeah. These are full ass days, and I think that's what I, I mentioned this yesterday. This is what I like about HEROs Con is that there's a nightlife aspect to it. Like, there's stuff to do after the convention. It brings people out, people engaged, drink and draw.

[00:03:42] Drew: Yeah. Comics after done.

[00:03:47] Drew: That's where trouble happens. Here's the thing, the trouble starts after the convention. You're right. You're right.

[00:03:51] Blake: It's like the great Gil, uh, Gilbert Godfrey TV show

[00:03:55] Badr: up all night. So, I mean the, the events after night are a nice touch cuz now there's that community aspect to it. There's that like nightlife party aspect to it.

[00:04:05] Badr: And if you're a comic, I mean obviously if you're here, you, you gotta be a comic fan. But I think it's cool too that you have the opportunity to rub elbows and maybe have a drink or meet like, you know, a comic creator on your level, like on, on a mutual level. You know, you're both there. You know, whatever the hotel bar, grabbing a drink and maybe catching up, you know what I'm saying?

[00:04:26] Badr: It's like, it's not that, not, I'm sorry. It's pretty accessible for like the everyday person. Like Eli was telling us yesterday meeting that, that one, uh, that one colorist. Um, and then I'm, even when we, when we were there, I think last year, we ran as like Z chun and got to hang out with him and whatnot.

[00:04:41] Badr: Yeah. So it's like, I, I think there's that, that aspect of like, Hey, we really are bringing the community, the, the community together, both the industry and the fans in one place. Mm-hmm. What words come to mind when you think about. This year's Hero's Con Expensive. Yeah, as

[00:04:58] Blake: I said, it expensive. Why Wise words of Trent Resner.

[00:05:02] Blake: I hurt myself today and that was

[00:05:04] Badr: my wallet. Blake, you were walking around like Johnny Cash the all day. I hurt my self today. I man went broke. Broke today, drew, you said expensive was the first word that comes to mind. Why? Dude, like

[00:05:18] Drew: anything we were looking for back issue wise for amazing Spider-Man was at least more than $5.

[00:05:24] Drew: Mm-hmm. Like $8, $10. And this dude has 900 issues. So if you wanna collect Spider-Man, you

[00:05:30] Badr: better start now. I think what Drew's trying to say is that inflation has finally caught up to hero. Oh my God. Expensive is a good word. It's expensive because Heroes Con will really test your willpower. And I, I made a joke about it earlier being like, You see so much cool shit at Heroes Con.

[00:05:49] Badr: By the time you're done with Heroes Con, you're kind of tired of cool stuff. You're like, I have been inundated with cool stuff, cool comics, cool stickers, cool design, cool graphic. You know, like everything that you want to see at in a comic book convention, people cosplay, comic book statues. Yeah. You're like, I'm tired of seeing all this cool shit.

[00:06:09] Badr: Wolverines walking around. Yeah. I'm tired of being tempted by all this cool shit. Especially. There's so much cool

[00:06:13] Blake: shit. Someone got me to. Spend what? $30 on three stickers?

[00:06:18] Badr: Stickers are, you know what, this is where I felt the inflation was stickers. I was like, damn, stickers used be a dollar. You know, five of the most brothers are asking for 10 and 20.

[00:06:27] Badr: Yeah, for real. Now, granted, drew has the best sticker of the weekend this dude got, and I, I think I might have posted on the Instagram, but. Drew bought this, uh, it has to be like half a foot, half a, like six inch sticker of venom, eight inch, nine

[00:06:41] Drew: inch sticker. There's no way that's fitting on a whole

[00:06:43] Badr: water bottle.

[00:06:43] Badr: It's a badass. Ve Yeah, you gotta put that on a, like a window or a blanket that goes on a quilt or something. You gotta find a way to sew it on the entire laptop. But the artist was, uh, I believe his last name's Gideon, but Juan Gideon, the artist Juan Gideon artist for um, drastically. Super nice guy, by the way, like had some cool designs.

[00:07:00] Badr: I got the chat with him about, um, Marvel versus Capcom, and I mentioned BEUs and his eyes lit up. He was like, yo, that is my shit. And I was like, dude, I'd love to talk to you about this. He was like, the fact that you know about Marvis, Capcom, whatever you need. So I'm kind of excited to like talk to him.

[00:07:16] Badr: All right, bet. Because his art reminds me of like, You know, it, it reminds me of like a kuber, it reminds me of like, uh, Marvel versus Capcom. It's got like a video game, manga style and his colors are cool. So he was really awesome. You probably do a really dope, dope

[00:07:29] Blake: bottle, find important port. Um, I remember him saying specifically, I don't really like doing podcasts, but we like the same shit.

[00:07:37] Badr: Yeah, that's pretty cool. That was pretty cool. It's cool to connect. I will say if you're a podcaster, YouTuber or whatever, heroes Con is nice to just be able to converse and actually connect with people. And potential guys before you even ask the question. Um, so I feel pretty confident about like some of these, um, interviews that got lined up, but Blake, what, what's a word that comes to mind when you think about, um, this weekend

[00:07:58] Blake: we're as busy and fast.

[00:08:00] Blake: As time went, it was still, it was still. That southern relaxation there. Hmm. It wasn't fast paced. There wasn't people hustling, bustling, getting you outta spots. Yeah, you could look, you could really, you could really browse through stuff and nobody was really making you feel like, ah, I gotta be quick looking through this box.

[00:08:18] Blake: So I'm, as he heroes, gets busy, but it's chill. That's what I like

[00:08:22] Badr: about it. Well said. I co-signed that and I think it goes back to what we were talking about with Daniel Warren Johnson. Yeah. He's always got a line, but he doesn't have like, His lines do get long, but they're not obnoxious. And you know it's worth it when you get up to him because he actually, the reason why his lines are long is cause he spends time talking to people.

[00:08:40] Badr: Yeah. And you feel like, oh, I'm having a good conversation with someone. It doesn't feel like it's an in and out transaction only. It's like, yeah, we're, we're, we're gonna be here all weekend. Let's just like, you know, well, let's just have a good time. I do feel like I have not had one negative interaction.

[00:08:55] Badr: At all in these two days at the convention? Yeah. Outside the convention, we've got our own story that'll live, that'll live outside this podcast. But convention wise, I think I've had nothing but pleasant experiences from like running into people I know shout outs to Eli, to running into new folks like Maria and and Juan, and even like some of the vendors.

[00:09:15] Badr: Have all been seriously nice, accommodating, like, you know, I'm asking them for, Hey, do you have combo man? And they're like kind of trying, you know, it's like, I know they don't have it, but at least they're trying. Can you guys echo the same thing? You guys feel like it's been pretty positive? Oh yeah. I

[00:09:29] Blake: had, I had vendors and artists be like, I remember you from last year.

[00:09:32] Blake: And you're like, yeah, right. And then they bring up what you like talked about. Or what you were looking for and you're like, oh, I

[00:09:37] Badr: guess you do remember. Yeah. Well, yeah, like, like Tony. Like Oh yeah. Saying that he remembered you and even offered to like hold your stuff. And I'm like, damn, that's like, that's like rare gold at conventions to have like a little spot for people to put their stuff in.

[00:09:50] Badr: It's the girlfriend you want if they stay. Where Drew, what would you say, uh, was your most memorable, um, interaction artist or someone? What was your most memorable interaction?

[00:10:02] Drew: There was like this lady that was just basically doing and, and I apologize, I don't know her name. She was just like this little older lady that like you could just tell she was out of place and she had just a table full of like all these tiny little watercolor paintings.

[00:10:17] Drew: And they were just so fun to look at. Like, I was like, what do you do? She's like, oh, I like to just take five minutes and just paint whatever. Oh, that's, and she had like, she painted, like, she just paints, um, scenes. She only paint trees or flowers, but she uses a lot of watercolors and they're tiny. Like we're talking like teeny tiny little photos.

[00:10:34] Drew: They're like three by two

[00:10:35] Blake: pieces of paper she was

[00:10:36] Drew: doing on my, yeah, they're just watercolor things. And I was like, This lady just had a good time. This is her first con. That's cool. She was super nice and like I like I bought a couple things from her, so that was like, that was really, really dope. Cause I was like, oh man.

[00:10:49] Drew: For her, this is like an art showing. Yeah. You know, people that, there's like, people like that are literally going there from an art standpoint, cuz I keep thinking it's just like all comic books and like, like that's what it is. It's just a big comic book convent. But it's like, oh no. It's definitely like a just big art auction as well as an art gallery.

[00:11:06] Drew: There's like so many people with so much cool stuff. The

[00:11:08] Badr: emphasis of, of appreciating art is strong here. Yes. You know, it feels like more than just buying comic books, but like the, the artist alley is so robust. And to Drew's point and to Drew's point, you can walk through artist alley and you get such a good mix of like, yeah, you're, you clearly are into comics, this is your thing, but you.

[00:11:33] Badr: You're just a talented artist, period. And you're pushing like your wares. That doesn't necessarily like, you know, that isn't necessarily comics, but because it's like art, it's well, it's well done. Like, you know, you're accepted. I

[00:11:46] Blake: have noticed, yes, there's writers there, but it's not as heavy as the artist.

[00:11:51] Blake: Yeah. And even a lot of those writers are also the artists themselves too. Like, I mean, you got like a guy like Matt Kent who does some art too. Yep, yep. And he's a writer. I mean, yeah. I, I feel like I saw more artists than I

[00:12:02] Badr: saw writer. Well said Blake. Uh, we've complimented you all weekend that your, uh, knack for striking up conversation with anyone is admirable and, and really cool to like watch.

[00:12:15] Badr: Who's been the most memorable interaction with you? Because you've, you've met a lot of new people this weekend.

[00:12:21] Blake: That's a tough one. Um, actually, I think my, my favorite talking was probably, What was his name? Kevin? What's his last name?

[00:12:29] Badr: Oh, uh, ke uh, Kevin Canelli. I believe that's what you're saying. Yeah.

[00:12:33] Badr: Yeah. I think, I think Space Nights and uh, co you could kinda

[00:12:35] Blake: level on some of the same nerd stuff. As soon as the Gudy Tarkowski stuff came up, it was kind of like, well, there goes the conversation cuz we could be on this for a while.

[00:12:44] Badr: Yeah. Getting to meet Kevin who, Eli. Like was trying to tell me from the get-go, like, Hey man, this new artist, I got him like, you know, I'm helping publish his work.

[00:12:54] Badr: He's really cool. You'll like it. Lemme send you some stuff. When he sent me the Space Night stuff, it was like, oh wow, this is really cool comic. But to be able to meet him and like how positive he was, how nice he was like, I, you know, also a fan of the show. It was like, man, I wanna see you win. And I think that's what's so cool about Heroes Khan, is that you can have these interactions with these artists.

[00:13:14] Badr: And like you can any creator really, not just an artist, but like you can make solid connections with people. And like you said, when you come back next year, you know you've already built a foundation. So now it's like, you know, you can build something a little more meaningful. Well, another good

[00:13:27] Blake: conversation was, uh, gene from Short Box.

[00:13:30] Blake: Oh yeah. Because it was actually the first time I really got to meet him. Okay. So we got, we got talking around and that was cool. I mean, he was telling how we need to all go out to Short Box live.

[00:13:39] Badr: Dude, I, um, trust me, I'm, I'm, I wanna make that happen next year. I was really happy to see them, uh, do their first event.

[00:13:45] Badr: I'm gonna say, uh, most memorable is probably that dude, I believe his name's Matthew Allison, the guy that created the Kor comic book I was telling you about. That was a case of me just walking by seeing something cool, and I won't lie, at first I was a little hesitant, like, man, I. I'm kind of like my social, my social battery's kind of low.

[00:14:05] Badr: I don't know if I wanna just strike up small combo and be like, cuz you know, sometimes like that small conversation, you end up liking the artist or the person behind the booth and you're like, I should probably buy something I wanna support. And I don't know if I wanted to feel that like, pressure, but it was too cool to pass up and just being able to like hear, like ask him like, hey, what, what inspired this?

[00:14:24] Badr: And hear his story and all that was really cool. Um, so like, and I, I mean it was like, you know, a case of like, I saw your work. It looked cool. I got to meet you. You sold me on it and I bought some stuff. Now I'm gonna go ahead and give you a follow, so probably Matthew Allison. Nice. Drew, what was the coolest thing you bought?

[00:14:42] Badr: The coolest thing I bought. What do you think was the best? What was the, the, the crown jewel of your halls from this weekend? Because you were what Pretty Spider-Man focused this weekend, right?

[00:14:52] Drew: Yeah. I just wanted to get like a couple Spider-Man Damn Fry.

[00:14:55] Badr: Think back like is this safe to say that across the Spider Verse movie has you and your Spider-Man bag lately?

[00:14:59] Badr: Oh, I been like in a choke hold. Like you're like, dang. But specifically you're looking, you've been looking for anything of black suit suit, Spiderman, Symbio, Spiderman, spider-Man.

[00:15:06] Drew: Yeah. Yeah. Because those John Burn covers, like all those covers to me are so iconic that I'm like, dang. And now that I'm like dumb, like not dumpster diamond, like going through the boxes, I'm seeing covers and I'm like, Oh, these are crazy.

[00:15:19] Drew: So, um, what's, what was one, um, the, the new one? The new Robert Kirtman book. I think that one's probably my favorite purchase. Oh, Boyd Robert Boyd. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that was really cool cuz like, you know, it's one of those, like, after the show you're reading comic books. You're a sleep upstairs, so you like, we're just down here.

[00:15:34] Drew: But it's funny cause you're not asleep. It's a sleepover. It's a sleepover. It's sleepover. A sleeper. And the funny thing is the plot twists is you weren't asleep. So you're just hearing me basically fucking spoil the whole book

[00:15:44] Badr: for you. Yeah. So some context listeners, uh, when we, when we got to this Airbnb and met up with Blake, Blake was asking us if we had read Void Rifles, which at the time of this recording that this book came out.

[00:15:57] Badr: This, this we, or, uh, Wednesday, this Wednesday. I know Mac, you're listening. Mac had reached out to me I think on Thursday and Friday and was like, have you read Avoid Rivals? I was like, no, but I've seen on Twitter, some people I follow saying it's fucking awesome. He was like, whatever. I think he was like, I don't care if you're on the road, turn back around, go to your comic shop and go buy this issue.

[00:16:16] Badr: So when, when we saw Blake, that was one of the first questions Blake asked us was, Hey, did y'all read Void Rivals? He was like, I'm not gonna spoil it. Just know. It's like it's pretty big. It's a big deal. You gotta check it out. Drew ends up reading the book after day, the nighttime after day one. I, no, no.

[00:16:34] Badr: We got back and I was taking a nap. Yeah. But I couldn't really sleep. And you know, this Airbnb is like, you know, it was really quiet and all I hear downstairs is Drew apparently reading void rivals, and he gets through the fucking cliffhanger or the big reveal and he's like, oh my God. Blake, you were right.

[00:16:52] Badr: This is the girl. Oh my dude. Did you remember? All I'm hearing is this muffled, like I wanted to scream, spoiling, warning with the love My God spoil. Drew is downstairs. Spoiling the hell outta this series, but regardless, I'm still gonna read it cuz it sounds interesting. Uh, Blake, what about you? What was your crown jewel from your hall this weekend?

[00:17:11] Badr: Well

[00:17:12] Blake: at first, cuz that was real quick. It was probably the Space USA stuff cuz I haven't been seeing that a lot.

[00:17:17] Badr: What is the deal with the space usi? Like a series?

[00:17:20] Blake: It's O Jimbo in space.

[00:17:22] Badr: Like Stan Zaka was like, how else do I print more money? You know what, let me put, I'm, I'm at the first time did the Samurai Rabbit in

[00:17:30] Blake: Space.

[00:17:30] Blake: First time he did it was Fano Graphics and then he did it early on at Dark Horse. Um, so I found the three issues from Darkhorse, and then I found the last issue from Fano Graphics. So anybody listening. If you have any, any idea. Middle one in two, uh, but then the Marvel Legends, um, oh yeah. Build Galactus.

[00:17:53] Blake: That was probably like, I, I've been wanting that thing for years now.

[00:17:56] Badr: And listeners, if you've never seen this, build a figure. Galactus, lemme just tell you how big this is, how big this figure is. Blake was able to carry this figure like a small child. We almost walked into a grocery store and they were gonna give that child a free sampler.

[00:18:11] Drew: This is the Titanic like Blake was getting on that boat. Oh, I like

[00:18:14] Blake: this figure. Are you here for Comic Con? Is that your son? Uh, here have little something but real, real quick. Yeah. Hit it. I got a shout out. Um, Bob and I were pretty blown away by just kind of walking past and being like, this looks cool to stop.

[00:18:27] Blake: And, uh, that

[00:18:28] Badr: raid press. Oh man. Yeah. Raid press from can uh, their station. Oh, where are they? They were right outside Toronto. Toronto, Canada. They apparently popped up during, I wanna say during the pandemic. And they produce these really well, uh, high quality, um, anthology comic series. I, I guess they've got like a cabal of, um, like writers and artists and they're the like publishing arm.

[00:18:52] Badr: And they have three Anth, three volumes of this anthology series called Just Raid One. So just like their, uh, uh, company name and they collected them in these, so you could buy them single. They're like soft cover trades, kind of like, not treasury edition size, but, but oversized.

[00:19:06] Blake: They, they were kind of almost European, like thick

[00:19:08] Badr: European style size.

[00:19:10] Badr: So, so they collected all of 'em to this like nice box set. And then they're starting a new trio of anthology or, uh, a new anthology trio. And it's, uh, fan, uh, so

[00:19:20] Blake: like hydrogen for fans of. Um, evil Dead, you'll get it. So the title of it is CL two, which is LEC two, ADA nto, which is in, uh, army of Darkness. So he was talking about that, but um, a lot of it's gonna be dealing with sci-fi.

[00:19:35] Blake: And then this one, I think Sci-fi fantasy. Next one they said sci-fi horror. And then I think like the third one was gonna be, yeah. Something else, but Oh, that's cool. That's

[00:19:42] that's

[00:19:43] Badr: super cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a good one. I'm gonna say, uh, just, uh, crowning achievements for me. Uh, this combo man, Ash can comic, which is just fantastic.

[00:19:52] Badr: Look more

[00:19:53] Drew: surprising when you whipped it out and showed us,

[00:19:57] Badr: whoa. There it is. I whipped out the combo man on him Baba bow, and as she said,

[00:20:02] Blake: I thought it'd be bigger.

[00:20:05] Badr: So yeah, I, I've been looking for this combo, man, comic because, uh, someone, oh, big shout us to, uh, help me out here Gonzo. Oh, it was Enzo, Enzo Enzo, uh, Garza, I think.

[00:20:16] Badr: Yes. I think Enzo Garza the creator of Ghost Gut Comics. Yo, solid the guy.

[00:20:22] Blake: Yeah. Solid

[00:20:22] Badr: guy. Yeah. Super solid guy. But, um, he recently got me into combo, man. Uh, I won't, I thought you were gonna say he recently got me in combo books. Yeah. I won't, I, I won't give the whole diatribe about combo man. But just know he's a obscure nineties.

[00:20:35] Badr: Promotion between Marvel and the snack combos. And he's composed of like 20 heroes slash villains. Uh, the only thing that exists for them is a small eight page ash can comic, uh, t-shirt, uh, that you all had to do mail, mail and stuff. But anyways, I didn't think I was gonna find this ash can, but I did.

[00:20:54] Badr: That's my crowning jewel. And I might also have to say that dial in for monkey. Sketch from, uh, Kevin Cantanelli. That

[00:21:02] Drew: was, that. That broke the whole, that broke the

[00:21:04] Badr: internet. That was

[00:21:04] Blake: amazing, dude. What, what was the un crackable crunk that he did for me? That was incredible. And

[00:21:08] Badr: then the mojo, Jojo. Yeah. This whole, the theme for this weekend was Gudy Tar Garske.

[00:21:15] Drew: He kept looking over you like, are you gonna hit for jump in and save? Yeah, please save for me.

[00:21:20] Badr: Also, real quick, I picked up a Hellboy sketch from Matt Liske. Oh yeah. Which is beautiful, man. Matt Liske is a talented. Talented illustrator that dude draws so well and what he's doing with like proportions and perception lately is been freaking great.

[00:21:35] Blake: Speaking of Hellboy, I can't wait for you to get Enzo on the show so everyone can hear his Mineola story. I I will save that for when he's on so

[00:21:43] Badr: he can tell it. Yeah, for sure. Also, I'm gonna add the, I'm gonna add this name to the list of, um, uh, memorable or pleasurable interactions. And that is, uh, Wes, Craig.

[00:21:53] Badr: Oh yeah,

[00:21:53] Blake: west Craig was a, a pleasant

[00:21:54] Badr: human being. West Craig was awesome. Uh, Blake had a, a Kaya Ashcan comic and obviously I had to go ahead and get my own. He introduced me to West Craig. That dude is super pleasant, super humble. And it was funny when he was talking about, um, how parents will come up to his table with like little kids and they see Deadly Class and they're like, oh, is this a, can my son read this?

[00:22:18] Badr: And he's like, no, not at all. Lady, do it.

[00:22:20] Blake: Yeah. Maybe when you're a little older and you can read and explain it to him. Yeah, that's what he said.

[00:22:26] Badr: All right. Let's see, what else can we talk about? Um, how do, what'd you guys think about the, the panel? I feel like it, it went pretty well. Ron Garney. Matt Kent.

[00:22:34] Badr: Super nice people. Yeah. What'd you guys

[00:22:35] Blake: think? I thought you handled it well. I thought you were on, on top of your game on that one.

[00:22:39] Drew: Fucking professional. Fuck, legendary, mate. No, it was really good. It was really good. I,

[00:22:46] Blake: man, I like to call you the maestro.

[00:22:48] Badr: Oh, that's better. That's a better nickname than Combo Man.

[00:22:51] Badr: No, combo Man's good. Doesn't That is a great nickname. I like that. Yeah, you're your boy. Got the nickname Combo man this weekend cuz I was one of two people looking for combo man comics. All right, well, uh, how about this. Give me one thing you learned from the panel about the berserk or comic book or Keanu Reeves or any, what's one thing you learned from that panel from Matt Kent, Ron Garney.

[00:23:13] Badr: That truly was a

[00:23:14] Blake: collaboration between all three of them.

[00:23:16] Badr: Yes. I think that was

[00:23:17] Blake: because, I mean, when that was announced, it was like, oh, Keanu Reeves is doing a comic. And I was like, I know you

[00:23:21] Badr: gotta do it. Air Coach, you're like, Keanu Reeves is doing the comic

[00:23:23] Blake: book. Yeah. Yeah. I know that guy's a dork, um, in his own way and he like stuff like that.

[00:23:28] Blake: And like, I got my own Keanu story. I'll share between you guys not on the podcast. Oh, okay. Yeah. But um, I was kind of, all right. All right. I get it. You know, he is on the Hi of John Wick. That's like, like, is it boom, reaching out and like, Hey, do you

[00:23:41] Badr: want do a story or it feel, the timing did feel like, Okay.

[00:23:44] Badr: This is almost like too perfect. John Wick Ford is killing it in the box office and we're got a Keanu Re comic that kind of is, looks like John Wick. Yeah. So it was

[00:23:53] Blake: kind of one of those like,

[00:23:54] Drew: wait

[00:23:54] Blake: a minute. Yeah. But then, but then hearing those guys kind of like, even like, I mean, in the beginning in, people will hear it when they hear the recording, but those guys kind of be like, mm, yeah.

[00:24:05] Badr: Their, their own hesitance. Like it is this really gonna be a comic book. I'm not gonna, I like the fact that they both have like enough, um, I guess like respect or integrity to like also be weary. Yeah. Because think about like how many people, like, like they were saying towards the end, like Berserker is, I.

[00:24:22] Badr: Um, berserker is now a kind of felt like phenomenon and they were both like, we're in it, we're like the way they said, it was like, we're in it for the ride. Whether we liked it or not, we weren't expecting it to become this thing, but now it could be like, dude, this new phenomenon. And I, and I got me thinking, I was like, oh shit.

[00:24:42] Badr: Boom Studios is like creator owned stuff. So technically, like I wonder if they own this with Keanu Reeves equally, or maybe not equally, but maybe some parts of it. I wonder if they have what that deal is in place. Cuz if, if we're talking a possible, not even possible, they have an already announced, a Berserker live adaptation and an anime, you know, it's like mm-hmm.

[00:25:04] Badr: Because they both were like, well, we're in it, we're involved. We gotta, you know, we're gonna be involved with it. It's like,

[00:25:09] Blake: damn, my, my guess is the top two is gonna be Matt, Kent, Keres and that, cuz they even said Garney was like the second choice and he kind of came in after the first

[00:25:18] Badr: artist. Like if you look at, if you find any of the announcement articles, when that series, when they announced Berserker, it's a different artist and I don't have the name of the artist and I was gonna bring it up.

[00:25:27] Badr: But I also was like, eh, it sounds like that was probably, that something went on

[00:25:31] Blake: there. I mean, even they were like, that's something, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:25:34] Badr: That we're not gonna talk about. But Drew, what about you, man? What, what was something you, uh, knew you learned from Matt Kent, Ron Garney. Oh, from Matt Kent,

[00:25:40] Drew: Ron Garney, or this trip?

[00:25:42] Badr: From the, you know, what, from the trip. Give, give us high level.

[00:25:44] Drew: Oh, the best strip clubs are in, um,

[00:25:50] Drew: in Maryland? No, no, no,

[00:25:53] Blake: no. Massachusetts,

[00:25:54] Drew: that Springfield, Massachusetts has the best strip clubs in Vegas. Yeah. And Vegas. I was surprised

[00:25:59] Badr: at first when that, when that Uber driver told us that. My

[00:26:02] Drew: favorite is the assumption like, you know, we're having a good time. This guy's like, so you guys going to the strip club?

[00:26:06] Drew: I was like, this only happens in movies and taxi cab confessions. Shout,

[00:26:11] Blake: shout out to Roland for making me not regret my decision to upgrade on that. Look flag.

[00:26:17] Drew: A hundred percent. That $6 upgrade. $6 upgrade. Got some advice. We got some really

[00:26:21] Badr: good advice. Long story short, listeners, we had a, uh, Uber driver assume that made a strong assumption that three grown men.

[00:26:30] Badr: Weird hanging out on a Saturday night. We're going to a strip club afterwards. Tail. You're like, get outta here. Yeah, dude. We're just going home. Go pod

[00:26:36] Blake: man. Yeah, you make an ass of you and me.

[00:26:39] Drew: That's what, after he tells us this epic story of these Australian bros. Just basically making a ruckus. Sir, we're American.

[00:26:47] Drew: We're

[00:26:47] Badr: tired. Yeah, we're tired, sir. You see the wristband? We've been on a convention floor all day. All right. We're sweaty nerds. We're we're tired. All right. What was the biggest lesson

[00:26:58] Drew: I learned? Oh, with Matt Canton. Think, well, Ron Garney is the fact that there is a Jeff Darrow, a John Wick poster that exists out there.

[00:27:06] Drew: That is way too vi. And your joke, your joke was top tier. You're like, wait a minute. Jeff Darrow made a five a comic book. Too violent. Oh yeah. For John

[00:27:15] Blake: Wick. Yeah. That was incredible. They're like, oh yeah. Like met me like, oh, Jeff Darrow did this, this awesome. What was it supposed to be a variant like poster for the movie, right?

[00:27:24] Blake: Yeah. Is that what you're saying? Said, yeah.

[00:27:25] Badr: Uh uh, Jeff Darrow was commissioned to do a variant poster for the first John Wick, and they never put it out because it was too violent and the only. Image that exists of this poster is a grainy jpeg that Jeff Darrow still had shared it with Matt Kent. And Matt, I, it sounded like Matt Kent couldn't make it out, but he, he knew it was violent.

[00:27:49] Blake: Yeah. And, and the thing he said was, the first thing I thought was, oh, now I know why I didn't put this out. And he is like, it is like John Wick slitting throats and like, but you know, it's like Jeff Darrow

[00:27:58] Badr: style at this point. He's done way worse. I guess. It's like, I think I found it. Oh, you did? Oh

[00:28:03] Drew: yeah, yeah.

[00:28:04] Drew: Oh yeah. It's right here. Oh, it's not even colored, bro. Let me see this. And he's talking about how, remember he's like, you John Wick sliding somebody's throat. Oh my

[00:28:11] Blake: God. It's not even just that he's slitting the guy's throat and blowing his like eyeball

[00:28:15] Badr: out. I kind of, because it's Jeff Darro, so you know, it's like every muscle

[00:28:20] Drew: out a little bit, you're like, what is going on?

[00:28:21] Drew: They didn't even color it. They just did it in black

[00:28:23] Blake: and white. Whoa. This you got screenshot? This is,

[00:28:25] Badr: send that to me. Okay. Is that confetti coming outta that dude's eyes. All right, let's, I wanna go back to, um, Drew's word expensive, cuz that is, that is a topic that me and Blake have talked about all weekend is, you know, the spending that, that I need to buy that.

[00:28:41] Badr: Um, am I not buying enough? Like, am I missing out? Like, just that sense of like, do I need to buy this? I, I, I need to buy this now cuz it looks cool. I might miss it. This is probably the better deal. Um, and that's usually not the case. We've talked a lot about, you know, having a solid plan going into the convention is the best move.

[00:29:00] Badr: Like, understanding how much you wanna spend, like also realizing that. And preparing yourself that you're going to see a lot of cool stuff. Yeah. But you don't need to own all the cool stuff you see, you know, you gotta have a little bit of willpower or else you can't, or else you won't even get past the first booth.

[00:29:17] Badr: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. There is so much cool stuff to see. And I felt like I was finding new booths every single turn. I was like, oh, I haven't seen this. This looks cool. Let me try to remember what they got here. And

[00:29:30] Drew: then sometimes when you walk by, there's like, Five or six people that are hu huddled in there.

[00:29:35] Drew: Mm-hmm. And then you're like, well, I can't just wait. I gotta keep moving. Yeah.

[00:29:38] Badr: You gotta have a, a little bit of, you know, that to too, like time management and like patience too because you, it'll, it's so easy to be distracted and like, okay. Next booth. Next booth. Next booth. Based on, you know, our weekend, uh, this go round and maybe just an overall collective, um, you know, convention going experience.

[00:29:55] Badr: What are some tips that you would give someone going to a convention maybe for the first time that's like worried about like, you know, spending too much? What are some of your two tips to be smart about be financially, spark going into a convention?

[00:30:09] Blake: Definitely for sure bring cash. Keep the cards that you know you would use at home or wherever you're staying, because that way, you know, you've got a strict budget and it makes you think about the whole, like, like I said about that common writer, which I probably would've enjoyed buying it, but I I looked at you and said, if this is here later, yeah.

[00:30:28] Blake: It's meant to be walk past, it wasn't there anymore. You just kinda, you kind of set yourself on what you know you want and what your collection needs. And then kind of look for that and you're gonna see tons of stuff. You'll be, oh yeah, that's cool. I'll buy this, I'll buy this. But you kind of just need to like sit back and just go.

[00:30:44] Blake: But

[00:30:44] Badr: do I? Yeah. I like what you said about bringing cash, cuz now it's like you got a physical representation of your limits. Yeah. And cash just works way better in these, like, I, I I think about how many situations where I could have maybe got it a little cheaper. Yeah, I was say if I had cash instead, like, guys, guys will

[00:31:01] Blake: deal with you if you got cash.

[00:31:02] Blake: Yeah. Cuz it's like, oh, you got cash on hand Where? All right, I'll, I'll do this. I would've done this for 50, but I'll do it for 35.

[00:31:08] Badr: Yeah. If you got cash. I feel like with cash you can at least always get five bucks knocked off and five bucks here. Five bucks there usually saves up a, a lot. Drew, what about you man?

[00:31:17] Badr: What, what tips are you giving? Uh, a new con goers just like the same.

[00:31:21] Drew: Same thing over and over again. Like if you see it at a booth, chances are the guy around the corner has it for cheaper. $2. Yeah, $3. Don't buy it the first time you've seen it. Unless you know that that is like the rarest thing ever and you haven't seen it, you don't need it.

[00:31:37] Drew: Walk down and see if it's down there because there's so, like the amazing spidermans that we're buying that book. On average was staying 10, 10 to $12, $8 depending on like if it was a new standard, regular, but I didn't give a shit. I just wanted to read it. But then we found the, the $4 bin. Mm-hmm. The guy sold it for $4.

[00:31:57] Drew: I was like, bet. I was like, this is what, like, I was like, I will pay $4 for this because this to me is a $4 convo.

[00:32:02] Badr: I feel like Heroes Con is also a, a, um, an exercise in prioritizing either time or, or like I, I guess time and convenience in money. There was a couple of booths that had super cheap comics, 50 cents, you know, six for, uh, $5, you know, that type of thing.

[00:32:21] Badr: I'll pay you to take this. Yeah. But none of them were organized. Yeah. You're dumpster diving at that point. Yeah. And it's like, do I wanna spend my time digging through books? Do I wanna spend my time and money? Yeah. Do I wanna spend my time digging through cheap books in the off chance that I come across something I'm looking for?

[00:32:38] Badr: That's, that's rare. Yeah, you might come across those, but you're going to be like doing some digging. Or do I want to go to the guy that's got the alphabetized uh, back issues Sometimes they ha I love whenever they have like the, um, the, uh, the dividers, but they're decorated. Oh yeah.

[00:32:54] Drew: You know what I'm saying?

[00:32:55] Drew: The comic book had a die for arts and crafts. Can we talk about like how I, like, the one thing I find so annoying when it comes to the going to the comic books is when you get a box of just shit. Bags and boards, and it's all dusty. It's all dusty and greeny. And then you're like, as soon as you're like, what

[00:33:13] Badr: the fuck?

[00:33:14] Badr: Yeah. Your fingertips are like, look like you've been rubbing coal. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, why do you

[00:33:19] Drew: have so many copies of this one particular comic book,

[00:33:24] Badr: bro? What's the coolest thing you saw that you weren't gonna buy, or you couldn't afford it, or you just weren't gonna buy it based on principles, but like what's the coolest thing you've seen that you didn't pick up?

[00:33:34] Badr: Like are

[00:33:34] Drew: you talking about like a person. You're the coolest costume of mine in, I can't Afford You purse. I would put you

[00:33:40] Badr: in my purse right now. No, I'm saying like product, like comic wise, toy wise. You know what's like the coolest thing you

[00:33:46] Drew: saw? I'll let Blake take that cuz he probably saw way more cooler shit

[00:33:49] Blake: than I did.

[00:33:50] Blake: I actually gotta think about it. What was it all? I'll go when we were to get Yeah,

[00:33:54] Badr: you go. Cause there was a few things I got. I got

[00:33:55] Drew: one that comes to to mind. Are you saying the cool, like the thing that you walked away from, like a bad

[00:33:59] Badr: relationship? No, no. The thing that you walked away from that was like, Ooh, if I had, oh my god, yo so million dollars and money.

[00:34:07] Badr: If money wasn't a, a priority,

[00:34:09] Drew: um, it was this 12 inch ninja turtles. Those rise. Oh yeah. Those

[00:34:14] Badr: rise to the teenage mini turtles. You gotta show me them tomorrow.

[00:34:16] Drew: I haven't there. There's only one left. There's only one left. And it's Raphael. And I'm probably gonna grab it cuz it's Raphael. And that's my dude.

[00:34:21] Drew: Okay. On eBay you can hardly find them. In their packages and when you buy them used, they don't come with any of the accessories. This lady had all three of them, except for Donald Ello complete, like never, like for $15. Mind you. Hmm. Oh, I could've got the whole set for $45, but I'm like, no, I don't like, it's just so bulky.

[00:34:43] Drew: Like it's just these big figures and I'm like, I don't need them. Didn't you see like a $1,200 statue get sold?

[00:34:49] Blake: Yeah. Some dude bought the, uh, the Hulk Buster Armor. It was like a bust for like $1,200. It was huge. It, it was when you were looking through a spec Spiderman. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I actually saw a couple really awesome.

[00:35:02] Blake: There was a, there's the 1989 Godzilla statue, that thing that was like, probably like 25 inches. And I was like, oh man. But like I would do one like 800 bucks and I was like, well, If I won the Mega Millions, maybe I'd buy that. Yeah, yeah. Also, I'm flying, so where do I put that? But yeah, that the other thing, man, look dude, that black and white Hulk, grand Design, Jim Rughead, that that poster.

[00:35:26] Blake: Oh poster. That big poster. If, if I wasn't flying, I would probably would've been like,

[00:35:30] Badr: alright, actually, my bad. You just reminded me. The coolest thing I saw, uh, I've seen this trip. Jim Steranko had a bunch of, I don't think they're black light. The more I think about it. We had a bunch of unused Marvel Arts.

[00:35:42] Badr: For, I think Kirby's name was attached to it, so I don't know if he inked over Kirby or uh, some relation, I don't know what the Kirby relation was, but it was unused Marvel art. He had a Spider-Man one where Spider-Man on the wall of Green Goblin and Doc Ock, and then a Silver Surfer and gala. This one. I think that one might be closer to Kirby for some reason, but those posters look rad.

[00:36:04] Badr: They look like they are from like that era. Yeah, like that. Thank you. From that area, that seventies era. He probably has had these in storage for a minute. Jim Starko kind of comes off to me as someone that he sells, like his personal stuff for sure.

[00:36:17] Drew: Oh yeah. He's definitely one of those like. He has a house in Vegas just full of memorabilia and stuff.

[00:36:21] Drew: For sure. And

[00:36:22] Badr: I feel like the, the more I walk by his table, the more I'm like, damn, this dude has done a lot of, not just comic work, but I like the fact that he's done like, like just graphic art. Graphic art, like just art for covers, for things that like promotional art advertising. And I, because I think he comes from an advertising background, but I might be mixing.

[00:36:42] Badr: No, I think he does, but he, no, he is advertising. He's got like all this art for. That's still Marvel, but it's like for a graphic novel for a, uh, you know, collected edition. Like, it, it's really astounding that dude's career.

[00:36:56] Drew: And this guy does not draw

[00:36:57] Badr: anymore. No, he still does. Does he?

[00:37:00] Drew: Yeah. Like is he drawing like he used to?

[00:37:02] Drew: Like, is he like,

[00:37:03] Badr: dude, if, if, if that Nick Fury, uh, print that he showed me last year, if I'm, if I remember the story right, if I remember hearing him right, it was like he just drew it. Blake, you've heard the, the Jim Durango story, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Word. Um, but yeah, he showed me a Nick Fury drum that he led me to believe.

[00:37:20] Badr: He just did it. And it blew my mind, like not only are you technically good, but you're still like thinking like, you know Yeah. Several chess moves. Yeah. You're talking

[00:37:30] Blake: about chess moves. And I remember that story. He was impressed by you by being back still in shape and not being one of us regulars

[00:37:40] Badr: still one of my face. Swear. I'm tempted to go back, uh, to go stand in line tomorrow just to ask him. You remember me?

[00:37:47] Blake: Do, do you think Durangos sits around in his like lounge in his, no. Vegas home with his, who's his buddy? Tom Jones. Hey Tom. Uh, you think I should sell this to some nerds?

[00:37:57] Drew: He definitely has a smoker jacket.

[00:37:59] Drew: He gets home and puts an eye patch on him. He's like, I am Nick.

[00:38:04] Badr: Okay. I got, I got another, um, got another question for you guys and, and I, I think back, uh, last year, something that, um, uh, our homeboy Austin had said, cuz he went there and it was his first Hero's Con and he left. And I remember him telling me like he felt really inspired to like, go create comics to, he wanted to make a zine and, you know, he just felt really, um, inspired.

[00:38:26] Badr: And I remember thinking like, yeah, like, I, I think that's a feeling. I, I do feel leaving these and I just never maybe. Put words to it. But this one, this weekend, I just kind of spending, I guess, coming right off of Duval Comic Magazine Fest last weekend. Then coming here I do have a, like a, a sense of like inspiration to maybe.

[00:38:49] Badr: Whether it be Draw more, but the idea of making a zine just continues to become more attractive to me because I'm thinking about how this whole weekend we've been talking about Dexter's Laboratory, the Justice Friends, you know, like all these cartoons from our childhood, like combo man, like these very obscure things that don't have homes anymore but are cool that we still think is cool.

[00:39:10] Badr: And it's like, man, I wish they would do more of him. And it's like, well, I guess I could do more with him. You know, like I could make a zine. You know, whether it be like an informational zine telling you about Combo Man or doing my own story. Do you guys feel, I guess, like artistically inspired leaving an event like this?

[00:39:28] Badr: Yes,

[00:39:29] Blake: and also I, I will say I paid more attention to the, the zine size or ashcan size stuff because of Austin. Oh, cool. Cause last year, all that, all that stuff he showed us, I was like, man, I wish I was paying more attention to that stuff. Yeah. And this year I kind of walked around and paid attention to that.

[00:39:44] Blake: I found some really

[00:39:45] Badr: cool stuff. I think one of the coolest mini comics li literally mini comics you bought was that, that looks like a, a, a pack of matches that unfolds and tells a story. I can't

[00:39:58] Blake: remember her name. It's CB something, but, uh, it's enzos. Girlfriend. Oh, cool. That has power cover Actually one of, one of the, actually the other smaller ones was like their, like first date.

[00:40:08] Blake: I think it was like she retold the story.

[00:40:10] Badr: That's cool. Drew, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pay you props and in this regard, cuz it's kind of related, you do a really solid job of finding. Like traditional artists and illustrators, like you always seem to find like a painter, uh, someone that there, that just like likes to draw.

[00:40:26] Badr: Um, and, and kind of watching you diving into the world of sketching and, and, you know, up in your art game, like, do you leave these conventions? Like, do, are you leaving this one feeling like artistically inspired or or do you want to do something specifically?

[00:40:39] Drew: Oh yeah, a hundred percent. Like, cuz after we did that drinking and draw and like just the, the inking and shadowing, like, I try to like make a, the black suit Spider-Man.

[00:40:47] Drew: It's like you can't just do a whole black suit. You gotta get highlights and everything. Yeah. Yeah. Think about lighting. Yeah. That was really fun to like kinda like work through it and see, and then like, honestly working and seeing, like seeing where the artist puts the light and where they put the shading and like, like, all right, this is a highlight here.

[00:41:04] Drew: It's always interesting cuz it's never like, it's never the same. Anybody's always telling me, like, when you're drawing, they're like, why? Well, which way the light's coming out and which way is this? And I'm like, man, I'm not fucking ever thinking about that shit. I'm just trying to like get all the shapes out.

[00:41:17] Drew: And then later on I'm trying to think about that. But to answer your question, yeah, it's very, very much motivating. The, the most thing that's motivating is like there's so much medium that people delve in there. There's so much shit there. Mm-hmm. Is

[00:41:28] Badr: he like outside of just

[00:41:29] Drew: paper and pencil? Yeah. You got people that are doing skateboards.

[00:41:32] Drew: You got dudes that are like doing like, um, 3d, like fishbowl, like terrariums of, of like things that are dope. You got this one guy that made candles and he just put his dope print artwork on the, like he did one of those, like, holy mm-hmm. I saw those holy candles. He's like, no, I'm just gonna do my own version.

[00:41:51] Drew: You're like, damn, I've never seen anybody sell candles and you're selling candles. Did you see the

[00:41:55] Badr: anime? I don't think it's stained glass, but it looked like glass. I think it's just like, it's got like a light background. It's like a light box. Like a light box.

[00:42:03] Blake: Yeah. I, I just see them and then they're the ones that had kinda like the neon ones too, right?

[00:42:07] Badr: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. To Drew's point, it is, yeah. It is interesting to see like the different mediums of, of uh, uh, artistic expression being sold and like being put out there. Yeah. There's so many people doing so much shit and you bringing up drink and draw. Last night's drink and draw made me realize the whole like, you know, after hour events and all that, but specifically like it really is heroes Con really is just a celebration of art.

[00:42:33] Badr: Not just comics, but like art and drawing specifically the fact that like they have an event where even if you're not a good artist like me, You just go and you kind of just like have fun and do it. And like that whole aspect of like turning in your art to potentially be sold and you know, to go to charity.

[00:42:50] Badr: Yeah. I've never done that. Right. It's like, it's pretty cool. It's interesting.

[00:42:53] Drew: That was such a tease for us. Yeah. That was such a tease. We waited so long.

[00:42:58] Badr: We wait, we gotta, we gotta give some context.

[00:43:00] Drew: Hell no. Let them figure it out. That's funny. There you got, listen you guys watch uh, Christopher Nolan movies.

[00:43:06] Drew: Figure it out.

[00:43:09] Badr: But no, the drink and draw this one. Made me kind of appreciate like just, you know, using drawing as a, um, collaborative and community hangout thing. Yeah. You know, that's pretty fun. Definitely.

[00:43:19] Drew: Like, once everybody got in their zone, like we didn't, like, there was a part where we were all. On the same table drawing and nobody was talking.

[00:43:26] Drew: Everybody was

[00:43:27] Badr: just vibing. Yeah, we was in the zone. That's what I'm saying. We was making art baby there. There

[00:43:30] Blake: was a point when I was sitting there and I'm like, these guys are watching me color, and I'm let them

[00:43:33] Badr: know. I know. Okay. I forgot. All right. One of my crowning jewels in my halls this week, speaking of drinking draw is, uh, so, so listeners that haven't been to Heroes Con for Drink and Draw, they give you blank coasters to draw on and they give you pens and markers.

[00:43:52] Badr: And it's such a, and I think that's a, to Drew's to further Drew's point, they're having you draw on coasters, right? Like the, the, the variety of mediums and, and doing art, um, uh, is, is celebrated widely, but you can fit on there. Exactly. So for drink and draw, not only can you. Draw and turn in your art to be auctioned off.

[00:44:10] Badr: But you can also buy other people's art and that's cool to like tra. You're not really trading, but you know the money's going towards charity. Yeah. So it's whatever. But I came across an amazing Spider-Man sketch. Colored Spider-Man sketch of Spider-Man hanging upside down, snapping a picture with a camera.

[00:44:28] Badr: And the intricacies and details in this camera were amazing. I loved the color work. The line work was awesome. It looked almost painted, and I bought it for I think, 20 bucks. And the dude that took my payment was like, oh, I know this artist. It's a 14 year old girl, she's here. And I was like, oh man, that's, I dunno, that just like, really, you know, it was like humbling.

[00:44:48] Badr: It was like, wow, I'm buying art from a, like an inspiring artist. Yeah. Li like, I was like, yo, let me meet her. She was the most 14 year old girl I've ever met. I'm like, yeah, this is a teenager, tall, lanky kind of like door, you know, like awkward, very shy. And when I was like, your art was awesome, like I had to buy it.

[00:45:05] Badr: I'm like explaining what I like about it. And she's turning redder than a strawberry, as I'm like, and well, no, she's turned red. When I was like, can I take a picture? You know what I'm saying? It's like, To be able to

[00:45:16] celebrate.

[00:45:16] Drew: You're just trying to hype her out. Be like, you're like, yeah, like, yo, you're killing it.

[00:45:19] Drew: And she's like, okay. And then this chick over there.

[00:45:22] Blake: Oh my God. Oh my God. So when we're all sitting there, it's the, it's the $50 little, you know, little coaster card that's the $50 section. And we're sitting there like, man, like that dude turned in that, that, that spider-man, it was pretty beautiful. And he is like gliding.

[00:45:34] Blake: Yeah, that one was awesome. But right next to it, we're like, man, look at this spider punk man. Who did this? This spider punk is awesome. And then she's just standing and goes, it was me. Oh, yeah, yeah. We're

[00:45:42] Badr: like, that was you. Yeah. She, she didn't just kill one Spider-Man sketch. She drew another, she drew a spider punk that looked amazing.

[00:45:52] Badr: And she was, it was me too. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I had a great time, man. I had a fantastic time. Leading up to Hero's Con. I won't lie. I, I think I think about all the process of, I'm like, uh, six hour drive, you know, I'm spending money on this Airbnb, but by the time we're done with it, I, in the middle of like today, I was like, this is the best convention.

[00:46:12] Badr: Like this is like the best series of comic conventions. This is the vibe. Yeah, it is, man. It was fantastic. Do y'all have any closing remarks? Any last things you want to get off your chest about Heroes Con. My boy Drew, I would've tossed it to Drew, but he's in the middle of a yawn. Blake, what about you, man?

[00:46:29] Badr: Closing remarks. Last minute

[00:46:30] Blake: thoughts. I mean, it's the same thing I was saying before. It's, it's it's book and creator orientated, and that's what I like about it. It's not this, this glamor and glow of, hey, they're celebrities here, come and pay, you know, two, $300 to get a quick two second snapshot with these guys.

[00:46:47] Blake: It's, it's literally you get to walk around, you get to talk to these creators, you get to hear about their stories about why they make this stuff. And I like that Heroes is very active in finding these people and inviting them. Yeah. It's not these people reaching out and being like, Hey, I wanna be on the show.

[00:47:02] Blake: It's a lot of these guys are like, yeah, I, I gotta, I gotta invite. They were like, Hey, could you wanna be a guest? Heroes. And it's

[00:47:08] Badr: like, and the fact that the artists are ex or the creators are excited Yeah. To

[00:47:12] Blake: be here. I, you know, I mean, Kyle Starks told me this is like the only cotton he likes going to.

[00:47:17] Blake: That's dope.

[00:47:18] Badr: Drew, uh, what about you, man? Any last minute remarks? And, and if you don't mind, because, uh, hearing Blake talk about celebrities, big name celebrities at conventions. I know you had, you went to MegaCon. For the last day. How did I, I guess, like, did you feel a difference being at MegaCon and having been able, oh, MegaCon sucked.

[00:47:38] Drew: Hmm. It was

[00:47:39] Badr: just so big. What did it lack that hero? What did it lack? What was like the big differences?

[00:47:43] Drew: Space, like space to get through in and out and stuff like that. It lacked all the things that makes Hero Con awesome. Like there was just no art. It was just literally they're just trying to sell stuff.

[00:47:55] Drew: Um, and then Mega Con is just like a, it's a celebrity photo op. Place. So that's what it is now. It's literally just Diet Sandy or Comic-Con with no announcements. It's like, who are the biggest TV stars and artists that we can get here? All right, cool. So people are just like, Then cosplay. I would say the cosplay and making cons really, really good.

[00:48:16] Drew: Like, yeah, top tier. This one was like, there was some good stuff, but there wasn't like,

[00:48:21] Badr: what's the best cosplay you've seen this weekend? We saw apocalypse. I think I was gonna say, that's the best one I've seen too. That's the guy. I was like,

[00:48:27] Drew: damn,

[00:48:27] Blake: you're fucking huge. That dude was cool and also that you remember when we walked in that guy, that Doc Hawk?

[00:48:32] Blake: Oh

[00:48:32] Badr: yeah. Yeah, that was pretty good. That was a good one. Cuz he had, uh, the arms built out and they were glowing red. He looked just like, um, uh, who, who's he played by? Andrea? Andrea. Alfred Mota. Alfred Mota. Yeah. Alfred Molina. Yeah. All right. Last thing I'll say about Heroes Con, and it actually was something Blake, you said, you said that you were talking to Jean and Kevin at Short Boxed how?

[00:48:54] Badr: This has like been a tradition of ours where we all figure out like, you know, we're going to MegaCon, we'll meet you at MegaCon. And this year we actually decided to all share an Airbnb and they sounded surprised. Like, oh, you planned a convention with friends and you're like, yeah, this is the one to do it.

[00:49:09] Badr: That has kind of been stuck with me because yeah, this is the, this is the convention that you do with friends, cuz you know you're gonna spend time with them. Yep. You know what I'm saying? Like you're going to be, there's so many opportunities to link up later with friends. And I don't know if I've ever, like, honestly, with MegaCon, I've only ever gone with Drew and it is so high.

[00:49:29] Badr: You know, you're getting battered and beard battered the whole, you know, convention experience. You're walking so much and legs hurt, you know, like you just don't, you don't really wanna be around anyone cuz you've just been around hundreds of thousands of people. And what you said about like that southern kind of pace.

[00:49:47] Badr: Yeah. You really feel it at this one. You feel like that sense of community and that sense of like, Hey, take your time. Like, you know, we're here, we're here, so hey, relax

[00:49:55] Blake: buddy. Yeah. It's like the whole thing when I go to C two E two, I'm there and it's like an hour in and that's the whole, I think you should leave skit.

[00:50:01] Blake: And he's like, I, I don't, I don't want to be here anymore. We're like, like here at the show or like in life and you're like, Yeah.

[00:50:09] Badr: Yeah. I guess long story short, listeners, heroes, Conn is fantastic. Another successful. Year, another successful panel, another successful, awesome time. It really felt, I really went into this, uh, one with the mindset of like, I'm on vacation and I happen to be at a comic convention, and it went well.

[00:50:27] Badr: Hopefully this inspires some of you listeners to, you know, make the trek to heroes come. I'm telling you, it's well worth it. Hopefully, uh, next year we'll be doing this episode of someone new with more friends of ours. But besides that, it is almost midnight and these old guys all right, we, we yawning. We ready to call it a night.

[00:50:43] Badr: And plan our last little mini day at Heroes Con. But besides that, man, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Continue to make mine and yours short box. And another big shout out to our guy Blake, for kicking out with us. Thank you for making this heroes con fucking great. All right, peace.