WWT: The Aftermath

The Hero Foundry would like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth at Wizard World Texas. We raised a lot more money than we ever thought possible thanks to the generosity of a lot of people who believe in our mission. We would also like to thank our volunteers Brandi, Shannon, and Andre. These three worked tirelessly at our booth doing just about anything we needed of them whether it was going out to get some food, making grab bags, or greeting people at our booth.

Brian Denham and Kelly were kind enough to spend all weekend with us talking up Brian's upcoming Iron Man book and also telling fans about The Hero Foundry. We would also like to extend our thanks to James Ross at Wizard World who was kind enough to supply us with our great booth. Finally we would like to thank Rebecca, Jeremy, Ethan and the other fine folks at Titan Comics, Zeus Comics, Speeding Bullet, The Madness, 3-D Comics, Live N Loud, Stumblebum Studios, Brian K. Vaughn, Anna and Brian of Half Price Books, Billy Tan, Taki Soma, Kody Chamberlain, Chris Moreno, Billy Tucci, David Finch, Tone Rodriguez, Mark Wolf, Bill Sienkewicz, Greg Horn, Mitch Breitweiser, Jeff Amano, Talent Caldwell, Buzz, Angel Medina, and Paul Milligan. Everyone contributed to a great convention and we hope to see many of you again next year.

Click Here to view some pictures taken at Wizard World Texas.

Brian Denham and Local Stores Support
The Hero Foundry at Wizard World Texas!

Brian Denham will be appearing at Wizard World Texas courtesy of The Hero Foundry over Veterans Day weekend. In addition, several drawings will be held over the weekend to raise funds for The Hero Foundry with items donated by numerous local comic stores. Dallas, Texas, November 7, 2006 -- Iron Man’s latest artist Brian Denham (Iron Man: Hypervelocity) will be joining The Hero Foundry at booth 408, signing all three days at this weekends Wizard World Texas. In addition there will also be three drawings a day with prizes including artwork, graphic novels, and statues. "I am very excited that Brian has agreed to appear at our booth. We’ve all seen pages for the upcoming Iron Man mini, and they are phenomenal," Edward Priddy, Treasurer, adding "This book is going to be huge we are thrilled that Brian was kind enough to help us promote The Hero Foundry." Brian Denham has been active in comics for numerous years. He started his career at Extreme Comics working with Alan Moore on Badrock vs. the Violator. After leaving Extreme he continued working on titles such as Witchblade, Darkness, Elsinore, Killbox, and now Iron Man: Hypervelocity. The Hero Foundry will also be holding three drawings a day with all the money raised helping to put comic books into schools, libraries, and hospitals that cannot afford them. These drawings will include statues, artwork, graphic novels and more. All of these items were donated especially for this event. "The Hero Foundry continues to be amazed by the show of support from our local comic book stores, and we couldn’t be happier with the astonishing amount of items we were donated," exclaimed Brian Warthen, The Hero Foundry President. Numerous stores were incredibly generous donating hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise for these drawings. The Hero Foundry would like to take a moment to thank: 3-D Comics of Arlington, TX, Live N Loud of Dallas, TX, Madness of Plano, TX, Speeding Bullet of Norman, OK, Titan Comics of Dallas, TX, and Zeus Comics of Dallas, TX for their donations. Tickets for the drawing as well as The Hero Foundry Buttons and Grab Bags will be a $1.00 donation each. The Hero Foundry is a Non Profit Organization founded in 2006 in order to assist libraries, schools, hospitals, and other organizations that lack the financial resources in building a library of comic books, graphic novels, and similar literature. Their intentions are to increase literacy, inspire creativity, and most importantly, to provide positive role models and moral guidance to today’s youth through the comic book medium. Donations to The Hero Foundry are accepted in the form of monetary contributions through their PayPal account (thefuture@theherofoundry.org), mailing a check to the address below, or by stopping by their booth at one of their upcoming comic convention appearances. Additionally, comic books, graphic novels and other materials will be accepted. These materials will either be donated to beneficiaries of The Hero Foundry, or will be sold to finance The Foundry’s mission.

Thank You!

The Hero Foundry would like to take a moment to thank Madness Games & Comics of Plano, Texas. Madness donated 6 items that will be included in a drawing at our booth over the weekend of November 10-12 at Wizard World Texas. You can visit their website by clicking the image above, or here. The team at Madness Games and Comics truly are heroes!

408!

408 is the booth number that The Hero Foundry will be occupying at Wizard World Texas from November 10-12. This is the first convention appearance for The Foundry, and Wizard was gracious enough to provide a booth so we can be out in full force. In the next few days and weeks we will be announcing some of our plans for the weekend, so please stay tuned.

We look forward to seeing those of you that will be attending.

Edward Priddy
10-23-06

24 Hour Comic Day

On Friday, October 6, 2006 President Brian Warthen and Treasurer Edward Priddy will be taking part in 24 Hour Comic Day. Beginning at 8 pm, at Titan Comics in Dallas, Edward and Brian will each create a 24 page comic book. This is the third year for the annual event, and both are proud, anxious and nervous to be taking part in it. Brian and Edward are hoping to draw some attention to the activities of The Hero Foundry during this 24 hour period by taking pledges for every page drawn. Anyone interested in pledging can email us at edwardpriddy@theherofoundry.org or brianwarthen@theherofoundry.org. Donations are still being accepted by clicking on the Paypal button to the left.

Thanks,

Edward Priddy
10-02-06

The Endowment

Friday, September 22, 2006 President Brian Warthen and Treasurer Edward Priddy, along with volunteers Brandi Priddy and Shannon Priddy, made the journey to Marietta Oklahoma to award The Hero Foundry's first endowment. They arrived at 11 am and were greeted by not only Librarian Niki Powell, but also her director, local librarians, and members of The Friends of The Love County Library. Brian presented Niki with a certificate recognizing the library as the recipient of the endowment, then joined Edward in informing the audience of the need the organization fills. The crowd was very excited to sort through the 50 graphic novels as well as the four, 12 month subscriptions. Additionally, The Hero Foundry also left the library with over 100 dollars worth of single issue comics to use as they see fit. All together the library received over 700 dollars worth of comic books. This event was only the first, as The Hero Foundry looks forward to being able to further provide comic books, graphic novels and similar literature to children through libraries, schools, hospitals, and other organizations that lack the financial resources to supply these materials.

Additional photos can be found here.

Press Release:

Heroes descend upon the Love County Library

On Friday, September 22, 2006 at 11:00 am The Hero Foundry will be awarding its first endowment to the Love County Library. This endowment will provide over $600 worth of comics and graphic novels to the local community.

Dallas, Texas, September 18, 2006 -- The Hero Foundry will be awarding over $600 worth of comic books and graphic novels to the Love County Library in Marietta Oklahoma. These comics and graphic novels will help to increase literacy, inspire creativity and most importantly provide positive role models and moral guidance to today’s youth.

This endowment is the first given away by The Hero Foundry rewarding many months of hard work by its three founders and a host of volunteers. This gift will come in the form of over 30 graphic novels and trade paperbacks and four, 12 month subscriptions.

Love County Librarian Niki Powell was pleased to be chosen as the first endowment awarded adding "Love County Library is honored by the generosity of The Hero Foundry Organization."

Since April 2006 The Hero Foundry has been working to secure donations through convention appearances, online auctions of donated materials, and their website (www.theherofoundry.org) in order to provide comic books and graphic novels to libraries, schools, and hospitals.

"Comics not only show imaginary worlds full of superheroes and strange powers but they also have the power to be gateways into the worlds of literature and art," said President Brian Warthen.

Comic books used to be a staple of grocery and drug stores, however changes within the industry have all but relegated comic books to specialty stores which are hard to find outside of larger metropolitan areas.

"Many people’s first experience reading is through some form of comic whether in the newspaper or a comic book," stated Vice President Lance Shankles. "Our aim is to make comic books more accessible to those who don’t have regular access to a comic book specialty store."

The Hero Foundry is a Non Profit Organization founded in 2006 in order to assist libraries, schools, hospitals, and other organizations that lack the financial resources in building a library of comic books, graphic novels, and similar literature. Their intentions are to increase literacy, inspire creativity, and most importantly, to provide positive role models and moral guidance to today’s youth through the comic book medium.

Donations to The Hero Foundry are accepted in the form of monetary contributions through their PayPal account (thefuture@theherofoundry.org), mailing a check to the address below, or by stopping by their booth at one of their upcoming comic convention appearances. Additionally, comic books, graphic novels and other materials will be accepted. These materials will either be donated to beneficiaries of The Hero Foundry, or will be sold to finance The Foundry’s mission.