north carolina

#TimeShared - Day 3 / June 27, 2023 by Mark

Ashland, VA
Latitude 37.45 degrees
Longitude 77.28 degrees

Reporting from a new state. We started back in Charlotte, when we decided not to go back to the comic convention--we saw all we were going to see, and we had all the fun. So, we moved onto Sunday brunch at Vicious Biscuit. Wow, that was a LOT of food. We shared beignets, I had a "Fat Boy" (fried chicken biscuit with pimento cheese), and Mindy had the "Vicious Benny" (Eggs Benedict in biscuit form). It was great, but we had to continue with food comas.

Our next stops involved giant furniture--Thomasville, a quiet town that used to crank out furniture, has a giant chair that Presidents have sat in:

High Point, a surprisingly large town with tons of design shops, has a giant chest of drawers (which has a bureau inside it--there's a whole saga at roadsideamerica.com):

And Jamestown has a giant highboy inside a gate for a complex of furniture stores:

Meanwhile, Greensboro has a downtown square devoted to O. Henry:

Crossing into Virginia, there's an old shoe factory that is now a hotel. Bring in the giant heels!

We decided to shoot for the Richmond area tonight, so we're ready for tomorrow--a state house, and the reason this is called #timeshared. We finished the day with serviceable Mexican food--nothing to write home about.

#TimeShared - Day 2 / June 26, 2023 by Mark

Matthews, NC

Back at our hotel after a busy day. After grabbing a hotel breakfast, Mindy found a farmers' market close by, and we finally tracked down a parking spot that was supposed to be reserved for a hardware store (which somehow was only open Wed-Fri). We walked around for a bit--it was interesting, and we night have bought a few things if we were locals.

We then headed downtown to the convention center and #heroescon. We thought we had timed it correctly--we had 3 day tickets, and interpreted instructions that we would get in early. Turned out we only got in BEFORE one-day ticket holders, and there was a huge line of three-day holders. So, we took a quick tour around downtown, finding public artwork, before strolling into the show 20 minutes later.

HeroesCon is, as I've said, a REAL comic book convention, truly focusing on comics and away from overall media. This is now a rarity in the industry. There's publishers (just indies), dozens of dealers with rows and rows of "longboxes", comic-centric companies (software, auctions, etc), and "artist's alley".

The latter is what it sounds like--a lineup of comic artists who will sell and sign their work, draw custom requests during the show, or just have a chat. There were some majors (Chris Claremont, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter), but most are self-publishers or work with small publishers. There's two in particular we were interested in--Yale Stewart (JL8) and Thom Zahler (Love & Capes). Mindy has supported their Kickstarter/Patreon campaigns for years. We purchased prints from both of them.

We also invested in a few other indies--we love Ahoy Comics, and we picked up the second volume of Billionaire Island (we missed the first issue of the original issues, but picked up the rest) and Captain Ginger, a cat-based comic. Then there's Afterglow and Destiny, NY from Space Between Entertainment. Finally, we selected The Weather Man, an Image book by Jody LeHeup. Mindy picked these because they appear to have multiple volumes, which means she can continue on if and when she wants.

One of the main things I wanted to do at the con was research. I recently spent some time reorganizing my comic collection, in anticipation of selling part of it off--I'm literally running out of room. I've got some info (thanks to collectorz.com and covrprice.com) on potential values, and selected a few theoretically valuable comics from my collection. I had hoped to talk to the "slabbers" (companies that take your comics, grade them, and seal them in acrylic cases, supposedly guaranteeing their value to buyers). But what I found were self-service kiosks, plus the idea that I have to pay to join their systems, then pay again to use their service. More research is needed.

Cons also have conference sessions--we sat in on one that featured Don Simpson, a longtime artist who had a minor role in an Image project known as "1963"--an Alan Moore joint. Moore has become well known for being very cranky, to the point that he has taken his name off of his old projects. His foul humor has held up the conclusion of 1963, which was originally offered as an annual--and never came out. Now, Simpson is publishing an unofficial, unapproved "annual" using his own and some parody characters to complete the job. It wan't the most organized presentation (they never are), but quite enjoyable. I picked up a related book at Simpson's booth.

We were about done for the day, so after driving by some roadsideamerica.com sites--

We nearly missed this one—too bad a mechanism which moves the big head was down.

we got some barbecue at Midwood Smokehouse--Burnt Ends (aka Food of the Gods) and Grilled Cheese with Pulled Pork. Sides were both unique and excellent.

That's enough for one day. Tomorrow, finishing up Charlotte and onto Virginia.

#TimeShared - Day 1 / June 25, 2023 by Mark

Matthews, NC
Latitude 35.8 degrees
Longitude 80.42 degrees

We started our trip early--was shooting for 8a, but made it by 7:30. After a Sheetz breakfast, we headed south--out of Ohio and onto West Virginia. They made our route into a turnpike, which normally I would okay with--we have an EZPass. The problem--drivers didn't seem to understand how a tollgate works, resulting in a near stoppage a mile long.

Onto Virginia, specifically Wyethsville for three items--a giant pencil...

the birthplace of a First Lady...

...and Skeeter's, a local institution and a hot dog place.

The dogs were excellent, although a little strange. The redness of the wiener is not a visual effect. Not sure if they are smoked or pickled. Also, for a place that has reportedly sold 9M frankfurters, they have yet to work out an efficient operation.

More driving through the mountains, and we made it to Charlotte, NC. We came here for Heroes Con, the first comic book convention we're attending since the "before times".

We came here several years ago, and it's a rare example of a real "comic" show. No pro wrestlers signing autographs, no appearances by "red shirt #3 from episode 43 of Star Trek", no huge displays by media behemoths--just rows of comic dealers, publishers, and artists, along with some craft sellers. We bought a 3 day pass, since we couldn't buy a day pass in advance.

We picked up our passes (once we found the right booth), and took a quick tour around the place. We did stop at the Ahoy Comics booth--an indie that we LOVE, and we've covered on our comics podcast. PIcked up a couple trades there. Tomorrow, we'll hit the floor in earnest, along with some sessions.

Atlanta to the Coast - Day 7 / October 28, 2019 by Mark

Our penultimate tour day began with a cameo by RBG.

Then we were off to our third state house of the trip, and by far our smallest one. The Raleigh capitol is roughly the size of many county courthouses.

We did have a bit of excitement there—someone was filming a production onsite. we saw extras standing in place, waiting to walk through the background.

Across the street was the North Carolina Museum of History—compact but well laid out (and free). It included 2 exhibits tailor-made for us: quilts and classic toys.

On the road to Roanoke, we came upon Shangri-La, a tiny town built in the front yard of it’s creator (who passed away decades ago).

A quick lunch at Gina’s Family Restaurant - a burger and a fish sammich.

We made it to the Roanoke hotel, took a nap, then went down into town. We started with a NY slice.

Did you know Roanoke has a hipster district?

We had read about a giant star up on a mountain, so we drove up a spooky road to find it.

We finished things up with a post-star snack at Blue Cow Ice Cream.

That will do it for today. I just spent 90 minutes getting these loaded up (thanks slow hotel internet!) Tomorrow, a final statehouse, and then home.

Atlanta to the Coast - Day 6 / October 27, 2019 by Mark

An abbreviated post today, as we spent most of the day visiting with friends and family in NC.

After breakfast with an old college friend and his wife, we drove into Raleigh and hit a couple “big things”. First, we dropped by the Daily Planet…

…and then “Big Acorn”, which is “dropped” every New Year’s Eve in Raleigh to celebrate ala Times Square.

The rest of the day was spent with our niece and her family—a lot of fun! Thanks, guys.

Back to the regular schedule tomorrow—another statehouse, then onto Virginia.

Atlanta to the Coast - Day 5 / October 26, 2019 by Mark

After a night in a very comfortable room (thanks hotel points!), we kicked things off at the Edgar Allen Poe branch library at Sullivan's Island. Built originally as a military bunker with 2 feet thick walls and iron doors. Poe was stationed there, hence the name. Inside, a regular library.

This goes under the category of—what the???

One of many bridges we crossed today—there’s a lot of islands here.

Our first major stop—the Charleston Tea Company. It’s the only place in the US where tea is grown and processed (they make tea for Bigelow and Sam’s Club, among others). Here’s shots of the processing center. It takes less than 24 hours from field to tea bags.