Heroes Con 2025 - Part 4

Heroes Con 2025 - Part 4

Sunday, June 22, 2025

I woke up a little later than I did on Saturday but still with plenty of time to take care of things before heading to the convention center. I had the last of the lamb biryani for breakfast along with a slice of bread. I cleaned up, played games on my phone, and packed my bags. I checked out of the AirBnB around 10:20 and drove to downtown Charlotte.

I was planning to park in the same garage where I parked on Friday and Saturday but that would have been considerably more costly if I had. I didn’t have to pay anything on Friday or Saturday even though the garage was just a couple blocks from the convention center. Today there was a sign in front of the garage reading “Event Parking $30”. I didn’t think twice. I figured there had to be somewhere else I could park that would cost me less.

It was about then that I started to wonder about the traffic. It was much heavier than it was on Saturday and there was at least one road blocked off. It took me a little while to evade the traffic but once I did I headed south, across the freeway, and found a place to park on the street, for free. I had to walk several blocks to get to the convention center but I think it was worth it.

I started my final day at Heroes Con by walking around the convention center for about an hour. I talked to Pierre-Alexandre Comtois. I asked him about Sunder, his latest comic book. He was part of the Heroes Journey panel that I went to yesterday. We talked for maybe five or ten minutes. He mentioned a fantasy film that he said (along with The Dark Crystal) was an influence on his work, but I can’t remember the title now. It was something that I had never heard of. 

I wandered around some more. I looked in some boxes for more stuff to buy but I wasn’t very eager to buy anything else. I looked for prints to buy but I didn’t see anything that caught my eye.

The last table I stopped at was Danielle Corsetto’s. I chatted with her for about five minutes. I asked about what she was currently working on and mentioned that I followed her on Patreon. I looked at the time after I left her table and realized that I needed to get upstairs for the first of two panels that I wanted to attend.

The first panel I went to was at 12:30 PM and was about Page and Panel construction. I recognized two of the panelists, Michel Fiffe and Jess Lonergan. I’ve bought stuff from both of them in the past. The moderator asked some questions. The panelists answered them and traded ideas back and forth about their work but it wasn’t my favorite panel. It felt a little too ethereal to me. I took some notes but after a bit I stopped and just listened.

The second panel I went to was at 1:30 PM and was the Gerry Conway spotlight panel. Andy Kunka interviewed Gerry Conway for the first 35 to 40 minutes and then Gerry answered questions from the audience. I think I learned a little bit at this panel. It wasn’t my favorite panel but it was the only creator spotlight panel that I attended this year at Heroes Con.

I left the convention after the Gerry Conway panel. I walked back to my car. The traffic was much worse by then. I learned while I was at the show that there was a soccer game between two European teams at 3 PM. It was at the stadium where the Carolina Panthers play, which is less than a half mile from the convention center.

My car was in the sun and fairly hot when I got back to it. Someone took my spot as soon as I left it. I drove south and then got on the highway because driving north would have meant driving back into the maelstrom of traffic that I had just walked through.

I made one stop on my way to Lynchburg, at a Sheetz gas station just north of Greensboro. I filled the tank of my car and bought an ice cream sandwich. I would have preferred to have a Twix ice cream bar but they didn’t seem to have any. The ice cream sandwich was good but it was no Twix ice cream bar.

I drove straight through after that. I got to the AirBnB where I am staying tonight around 7:45 PM. I had leftover Basil Fried Rice for dinner tonight. I have a little bit leftover which I will eat tomorrow morning.

I didn’t buy anything at Heroes Con today. I’m okay with that. I didn’t spend a crazy amount of money this year but I felt like I bought enough. I spent $42 on comic books and $23 on magazines from TwoMorrows. There will be more buying opportunities at the Baltimore Comic Con in the fall.

I had a good time at Heroes Con this year. I hope to return next year. Here's my video of the stuff I boughts.