FRIDAY
12.00 PM
COVERING COMICS: Criticism, Reportage, and Gossip | Room 219
The digital age has allowed a deeper understanding of comics criticism and reporting than has ever been possible before. Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter moderates this discussion featuring some of the leading lights on the comics journalism scene, including Heidi MacDonald of The Beat, Tim Hodler of the Comics Comics magazine and blog, Matt Brady of Newsarama, and Johanna Draper-Carlson of Comics Worth Reading. From industry reporting and journalism to criticism and good ole gossip, this is sure to be a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the comics news!
1.30 PM
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY DISCUSSION | Room 207
The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon moderates what's sure to be one of the most fascinating conversations of the weekend, in this roundtable discussion featuring artist and Image publisher Erik Larsen, DC Executive Editor Dan Didio, artist and DRAW! MAGAZINE editor-in-chief Mike Manley, writer/artist Jimmy Palmiotti (COUNTDOWN, JONAH HEX), and writer and Boom! Studios Editor-In-Chief Mark Waid.
3.30 PM
SPOTLIGHT ON RICHARD THOMPSON | Room 219
The first great newspaper comic strip of the 21st Century has arrived, and like Mutts and Calvin & Hobbes before it, Richard Thompson's Cul De Sac has spent its first several months in syndication operating just underneath the pop-cult radar, adding papers steadily, readying to break out into the Next Big Thing. Join Tom Spurgeon for a wide-ranging discussion about art, caricature, and the Otterloop Family with one of the best cartoonists in North America, bar none. It's the panel you'll get to brag about attending in the years ahead, after Thompson conquers the comics world.
5.00 PM
THE CREATIVE HOUSEHOLD | Room 208
There are a surprising number of couples in comics where both partners are working in the industry in some capacity; and most of them are attending this year's HeroesCon! Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter sits down with three of them: Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick, Stuart and Kathryn Immonen, and Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. This discussion of the ins and outs of where work and love meets is bound to be one of the most entertaining panels you'll go to at ANY convention this year, so be sure and add it to your schedule!
SATURDAY
12.30 PM
THE NEW ART COMICS | Room 219A
From critical favorite hits like MAGGOTS and POWR MASTRS, to prominence in influential anthologies like KRAMER'S ERGOT, "art" or "abstract" or "out" comics are pushing the boundaries of the avant garde in comics. Join Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter as he sits down with Picturebox publisher Dan Nadel, KRAMER'S ERGOT editor Sammy Harkham and publisher Alvin Buenaventura for a frank discussion of this leading edge of art in comics!
2.00 PM
COLLABORATION AND STORYTELLING IN TODAY'S COMICS | Room 217BCD
Super panel moderator Tom Spurgeon conducts this chat with a who's who of artists and writers, featuring Darwyn Cooke (DC NEW FRONTIER), Matt Fraction (INVINCIBLE IRON MAN), Jimmy Palmiotti (COUNTDOWN), Cliff Chiang (GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY), and Barry Kitson (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN). From collaboration with other creators, editors, or big company-wide crossovers, it can be tough to get your creative vision out there sometimes. This is sure to be a great discussion by some really entertaining creators!
4.00 PM
CONVERSATIONS: Jaime Hernandez & Evan Dorkin | Room 219
Continuing his series of two man interviews, the Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon focuses on two of the most recognizable names on the comics scene, Jaime Hernandez and Evan Dorkin. Jaime co-created, with his brothers Gilbert and Mario, the now legendary Love & Rockets comic in the early '80s. Today he's one of the most respected and acclaimed cartoonists in the world. Evan Dorkin is best known for his Milk & Cheese creation, but he's also worked extensively throughout the comics and animation industries.
SUNDAY
12.00 pm
WEBCOMICS ROUNDUP | Room 213BCD
Join the Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon for a roundtable discussion on webcomics, from conception and creation to marketing and -- what? -- profitability. With guests Nicholas Gurewitch, David Malki, Julia Wertz, Chris Harding, Danielle Corsetto, and more!
2.30 PM
RELIGION & PHILOSOPHY IN COMICS | Room 219
Can comics go deeper than surface metaphors concerning myth and worship and explore foundational truths? Can comics depict where human experience touches on the unknowable? And if it can, should it? Two of North America's finest young cartoonists, Sammy Harkham (Crickets, The Poor Sailor, Kramer's Ergot) and Kevin Huizenga (Ganges, Curses) explore the question of belief in the comics form in this panel moderated by Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter.
The Only Person That Sent Me A Pre-Con Press Release, Even Though He Called Me The Beat Or Didn't Change That Part Of A Multiple-Recipient Mailing: Jim Rugg
In case you do a Heroes Con promo thing on the Beat, here's my info:
Main stuff:
- new Afrodisiac #1 mini-comic!
- limited sketchbook/drawings mini
- Superior Showcase 3 (new Street Angel short story)
- Cold Heat special 4 (awesome tabloid format! LOVE the format, will be doing something like it again some day I hope)
- some color prints (laser prints, not cool silkscreens or anything)
- Panel on Sunday with Jaime Hernandez and Frank Santoro
3.30 PM
In case you do a Heroes Con promo thing on the Beat, 
