For those that don’t know I will be attending HeroesCon this weekend here in Charlotte, NC for my second year as a guest in the Indie Island section. I will be selling and promoting my in-progress graphic novel, Nathan Sorry.

I’m really excited to be moderating a panel at HeroesCon called Designing Comics. I’ve never really done anything like this before and I’m already proud of how it is shaping up. I came up with the idea for this panel over a year ago and have been working with the show organizers to make it happen. I had an ideal wish list of cartoonists and designers to be on the panel and all of them have said yes.

One of the goals of this panel was to appeal to people outside of the general comic reading audience so I hope I can interest some of Charlotte’s local design community to attend. Here are some details about it:

Designing Comics
Room 203A
What is it that draws your wandering eye to one particular book on a shelf that is brimming with loud, look-at-me, multi-colored covers? It is the design of the book that makes that first impression count. Join cartoonist Rich Barrett (Nathan Sorry) as he dissects the art and function of Design with some of the most important and innovative names in the business: Jonathan Hickman (FF, The Nightly News), Chris Pitzer (all things Adhouse) Matt Kindt (Superspy) Drew Weing (Set to Sea), Eric Skillman (Liar’s Kiss) and Jim Rugg (Afrodisiac)

This is a really exciting lineup of panelists. Chris Pitzer and Jim Rugg’s work on Afrodisiac awarded them an AIGA award in 2009 for book design. Eric Skillman, in addition to having a gorgeous new graphic novel out, is a designer for Criterion DVDs. Jonathan Hickman’s The Nightly News is one of the first books people think of when they hear “design in comics”. And Matt Kindt and Drew Weing put an amazing amount of work into their various book designs. It’s going to be a packed hour of design talk.

So, if you’re interested in design and want to hear some really talented guys talk about it please come by the Charlotte Convention Center on Saturday. One day pases are $15 which gets you access to the whole show. Or get a 3 day pass for $30. More info here.