Salutations friends!

Ben and I got to wander about the Long Beach Convention Center this Halloween weekend at the ever-flavorful Long Beach Comic Convention (LBCCon)!  In its sophomore year, this youthful con has come a long way over the last year and boasts a bigger space, more exhibitors and a much wider variety of people.  If you want the short review, here it is: Long Beach Comic Con is awesomesauce poured over a plate of yummy respect for comics, slow roasted with sprinkles of informative and a side dish good times with a sparse serving of mediocre attendance.

For those who like their reviews with a bit more information, read forth.

The space inside of the Long Beach Convention Center is ideal for the needs of comic book gathering — 35% bigger than last year.  Aisles inside are clean and easy to navigate, with publishers up front, just in front of the entrance, and copious aisles for the two artist alleys (which here, should be called the artist stages, as they seem to take center stage and highlight the talent as opposed to various other conventions), surrounded by various retailer booths in between and along the outsides.

Talent at the LBCCon is impressive, pulling out some of the finest in the area.  This year the convention stars include (bold indicates particular favorites of mine): Tim Bradstreet (who struck up a conversation with Ben and I at the beginning of the convention and is quite a pleasant gentleman), Max Brooks, J Scott Campbell, Amanda Conner, Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Mike Mignola, Dustin Nyugen, Steve Niles, Jimmy Palmiotti, Whilce Portacio, Tim Sale, Mark Waid, Bernie Wrightson, Joe Benitez, Joel Gomez, Eddi Nunez, Lord Mesa, John Narcomey Jr, Ruben Martinez, Dave Johnson, Thomas Jane, Michael Jonathon, Kit and Emma Steinkellner and Louis Leterrier.

Publishers were a much stronger presence than last year.  Aspen and BOOM! made a return, but they brought some industry associates like Arcana, IDW, Image and Top Cow.  We’d be remiss not to mention one of our favorite retailers 4 Color Fantasies (manned by owner Chris Brady) as well.

Oh, and Pitof.  The guy who made the Catwoman movie with Halle Berry.  Dirty Pitof…

The only part of the convention noticeably less impressive than 2009 was the programming.  It wasn’t the quality of programming that left me feeling a bit “meh,” but the distance I had to hike to get there.  Am I lazy?  Yes.  But it was a pain in the ass to have to leave the convention, walk down to street level, then up a block, down another block to the right and back towards the parking garage where a group of rooms completely detached from the Convention Center awaited with panelly goodness.  After talking to some of the LBCCon employees I learned that this douchery was the result of another Convention Center renter annexing all use of the convenient rooms because they didn’t want our geeky germs all over the place (or something like that).  Unfair, to be certain, but unexecusably annoying.

The programming itself, however, was fantastic.  I went to a few including:  Comic Book Writing 101 — Comic Book Sunday!, Listen to Jimmy Palmiotti — Amanda Conner Spotlight, Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics, Exclusive Premiere! Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam,  Webcomic Advocates Get-Together, 50 Questions in 50 Minutes with Mark Waid, Mike Mignola Spotight, Top Cow: We Create…Competition, and Getting Your IP Recognized with Jimmy Palmiotti.  Unfortunately there were several other panels I wanted to attend (especially the one with Louis Leterrier and Pitof the Destroyer) but time constraints and a small bladder kept me from listening in on all the goodness.

For some reason, despite all of this potential goodness, LBCCon wasn’t able to pull the crowds everyone hoped for.  It could be because the convention falls on Halloween weekend and most folks were out getting their ghoulish freak on.  Or perhaps a few fine fellows and gals got lost traveling from the con to the panels, never to be heard from again.  More than likely, the lackluster turnout could be a result of a second year convention feeling the empty pangs of growth.  Whatever the cause, it needs to get fixed.

Many of the presenters, exhibitors and professionals I spoke to were underwhelmed at attendance and disappointed at dismal sales.  Hopefully next year brings more fans to support our comic-labor of love because Long Beach Comic Con has the potential to be more than great -> It could be the greatest comic books convention in Southern California.

Check out the pics below (and a personal thanks to Zatanna, Ms. Marvel and the Invisible Woman — you were the bust best.)

Peace.

James

Greetings all!  Ben and I are writing you now from a rather ghetto Starbucks flanked by a Rite Aid and an Albertson’s in the center of Long Beach, California!

Yesterday was day one of the first ever Long Beach Comic Convention and it was great fun!  The whole thing started off with Ben and I begging our drive at 7:00am, which is the worst time to ever hit the road to go anywhere…  After making our way as far as Orange County, we stopped at Alberto’s in Garden Grove and devoured the best California Burritos either of us has ever had!  Then we meandered up the 22 towards Long Beach…

Long Beach Convention Center

One nice thing about being an “Industry Professional” is that you get to go down to the convention floor three hours before the general public.  We did.  It wasn’t worth it…  With the Convention starting at 3:00pm, there was nothing set up or ready for display at 12:30pm when we got there.  It was a bit of a disappointment, but not one we were willing to let ruin our glorious burrito-aftermath.

Our “Preview” Time…

At three there was a ribbon cutting ceremony with Jeph Loeb, Stan Lee and some politician…  Apparently the county of Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach made yesterday (Oct. 2, 2009), “Stan Lee Day!”  There was a laundry list of accomplishments listed for Stan “changing the face of comics” and his work with The Hero Initiative.  It was a nice start.  Then Stan cut the ribbon and the crowds flooded downstairs…

This guy did something awesome — but we don’t know what.

Jeph Loeb, writer of Batman’s “Long Halloween”

Stan “The Man” Lee

“Excelsior!”

Obviously people had been busy since we last journeyed to the convention floor…  Nintendo had the most impressive area with six wii stations and a very large DS area — not to mention some not-ugly girls walking around putting leis on us…  We got to check out Punch-Out, Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Wii Sports Resort — they were all impressive.

Nintendo — Left

Nintendo — Center

Nintendo — Right

Atomic Comics shared a corner spot with Golden Apple to create the next largest section.  As soon as you walked onto the floor you were greeted by their spokeswoman: Wonder Woman (who was beautiful and gave us a bunch of invites to a party that night…).

Apparently “married” means I get to hold the camera…

While walking around the LBCC one can’t help but over hear people referring to the convention as a “return to comics.”  It’s true.  Even the setup for this convention requires you to walk through the GIGANTIC artist’s alley to get back and forth between the various vendors.  There are no movie studios, toy companies, or people hawking software…  LBCC really does put comic books on a pedestal for the weekend and leaves it at that.  Personally, I can’t help but compare it to the San Diego Comic Con (I’ve been there so many years…), and here’s the best comparison I can give you:  If the San Diego Comic Con is a wild orgy of all things “entertainment” with random people and things touching, feeling and groaning, then the Long Beach Comic Con is a small, candlelight dinner for you and comics.  It’s a softer setting with more intimate opportunities and a much better way to shop, learn and talk with more industry professionals than you could ever try to get at SDCC.  I highly recommend going to both, but for the true aficionado, LBCC is the place to be.

“aficionado” — this guy was soo excited…

So, who did we get to talk to?  Doug Mahnke.  Joe Benitez.  Ruben Martinez.  Joel Gomez.  Lord L Mesa.  R.C. Young.  Brian Haberlin (or at least, the guy at his both who we think was Brian…).  And we literally “bumped” into Thomas Jane, who is much smaller than we thought he’d be, but nonetheless impressive (side note:  go see HUNG now).  I also believe that I offended an talented artist named Oliver Nome.  You see, I don’t know nearly as much about art in comics as Ben.  So, while perusing Oliver’s portfolio, I noticed that one of them had a note reading, “Inked by Rich Friend.”  I asked Oliver why he was advertising his “Wealthy Buddy.”  I think he thought I was making fun of him, when in truth, I had no idea that Richard Friend is a famous inker…  Oops.  Sorry Oliver!

And like all Comic Cons, there were costumes…  Some great.  Some not.  But here are the ones we liked the most (aside from the above featured Wonder Woman):

Shrimps! Shrimps! Shrimps!

HOT Batgirl! …and batman… (and Malcolm X?)

More hot-Batwoman! ..and batman…

SNIKT!

Unenthusiastic Green Lantern

This guy’s awesome! Saw him at SDCC!

Gotham Sirens, minus Catwoman…

After the convention we tried going to the Golden Apple/Atomic Comics party, but it was a bit too loud for us and the drinks were way to expensive ($6.50 for a Heineken), so we made our way to the Auld Dubliner.  It was a great way to end the day and I can guarantee we’ll be there again tonight.  Beer makes everything better…

That’s it from Day One!  We’re on our way now to Day Two, which should prove to be more exciting than the first as it is a Saturday and there are a ton of sessions we’ll be attending.  Until tomorrow morning,

James and Ben