Heroes Con 2006: The Saturday Night Auction

Posted: Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Posted By: J.D. Lombardi

One of the “must see” events this past weekend at the Charlotte, NC Heroes Con was Saturday night’s auction. Held inside one of the Westin Hotel’s spacious ballrooms, the auction drew bidders, simple onlookers and comic talent alike. Benefiting the Heroes Con Hospitality Fund, the festivities were set to begin when the con was over for the day – roughly 6 p.m. – but with a slight “push pin” delay everything started a little closer to 7:15. Pre-show announcer Allison Sohn assured the standing room only crowd that bidding would begin as soon as all the art was properly hung and everyone had a good chance to view them. A rough estimate would put the contribution total at or around 100 or so pieces ranging from original art pages, re-marked prints, canvas paintings and even hardcover comic book collections.

During the first two days of the comic con, fans were able to watch artists atop two small stages drawing and painting works to donate. It made the rear of the convention floor a nice spot to take a break and catch one’s breath. People could be seen photographing their favorite artists and various stages of a particular work all through both days. Notable people atop the stage were Dave Dorman, Tony Harris, Brian Stelfreeze, Phil Noto, Jonathan and Joshua Luna, Don Rosa and Mark Texeira. Many of these creators were also on hand for the auction to see what their pieces would end up selling for.

The auction’s hosts arrived just about 7 p.m. when many of the bidders and fans had finished viewing the pieces. Artist Gus Vazquez and actress Rosario Dawson, both first-time auctioneers, stepped onto the stage with rousing applause from the audience and things were underway.

Gus did his job admirably, joking and charming his way over small bumbles in final auction prices and who created what piece. Rosario helped out on the mic in getting the fanboys to contribute a little more dough here and there when a select few auctions weren’t getting opening bid prices. She even won three auction items herself! When the staff needed time to catch up on closed auctions, Gus even took to singing along with a rival ballroom’s music in a mock foreign tongue.

Some of the pieces up for bidding were particularly of interest. Travis Charest’s donation was a chunk of the table cloth that covered his Artist’s Alley table. Among the characters drawn on it were Batman and Wonder Woman. Arthur Adams’ contribution was a fully inked Supergirl image on what looked to be 8x10 sized paper. There was even a piece of art that was auctioned off from an anonymous party. The item that received the most laughs (though $1,050 is no laughing matter) was Adam Hughes’ “certificate for a guaranteed sketch.” Known on the convention circuit as being one of the most in demand sketch/commission artists, Adam’s “certificate” was good for the very next day to the winning bidder. They need only get over to him and request their commission. Gus mentioned how desirable this particular auction was since it is also known that Adam will not allow convention dealers or other fellow artists onto his vaunted list. This auction was open to all who wanted to bid and that closing cost only proved the cover artist’s respect/demand.

Everyone did his or her best to make the auction entertaining. From Gus’s singing, to Rosario’s stories about Clive Owen and some of the Sin City cast to even the bidders' frantic bids - Phil Noto’s Superman and Lois Lane piece was fought over by two heated bidders until it hit the $4,400 level – this auction was anything but dull! Check out the “highlight” list below of some of the pieces' bid results and images from not only of the auction itself, but of some of the artists shot at various stages of their donation work.

Jonathan Luna’s Spider Woman: $425
Joshua Luna’s Ultra: $300
Tony Harris’ Captain America: $700
Phil Noto’s Superman and Lois Lane: $4,400
Dave Dorman’s Batman: $400
Mark Texiera’s Ghost Rider: $1,800
Don Rosa’s “Uncle Scrooge”: $1,000
Chris Moreno’s Red Skull: $250
Andy Lee’s Golden Age Sandman: $150
Jim Mahfood’s double-sided jam piece: $250
Brian Stelfreeze’s Batgirl & Supergirl: $1,100
Art Adams’ “Supergirl”: $1,550
Adam Hughes’ “certificate for a guaranteed sketch”: $1,050
Allison Sohn’s “Poison Ivy”: $550
Buzz’s “White Queen”: $350
Travis Charest’s table cloth jam piece: $550
Tom Raney’s Phoenix: $250

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