I had never attended the Long Beach Comic Con prior to this last weekend, so I was pleasantly surprised when, leaving the event at the end of the day, I promised myself to return next year. It was an extremely fun comic con to attend and I don’t know why it took me this long to check it out. The Long Beach Convention Center is an amazing venue with lots of square footage for exhibitors, not to mention a cafe that serves decent convention food which is, unfortunately, a rarity in Southern California. The event filled up the convention hall with a large assortment of vendors, artists, celebrity guests, and pavilions to explore and I was thrilled to see Storm King Comics being among them. Storm King Comics is the comic publisher created by John Carpenter and his wife, Sandy King Carpenter. That might sound familiar as Ripper71 recently reviewed their new horror/sci-fi book series for us!
Their celebrity appearances were also impressive, with William Shatner having a signing and appearance session on Saturday of the event, and Sherilyn Fenn being there for Sunday. Also there was Noel Gugliemi, an actor with over 160 credits to his name whom you have certainly seen – even if you don’t realize it!
Of course, they had a wide variety of panels to attend, such as one on costume creation given by the 501st Legion and one on the science and technology of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory! So random, yet so, so very good. Also at the LBCC was the Geekfest Film Festival, which showcased a number of short films from a variety of genres. What I appreciated about this film fest was that they broke the films up in blocks of particular genres then scheduled those throughout the day. If science fiction is your thing, go in at noon – if horror is your bag, go in at 3pm. The event’s schedule of programs, panels, screenings, and more was very easy to navigate.
Of course, cosplay has become a huge part of pop culture conventions these days, and the Long Beach Comic Con was no exception. There were so many cosplayers on-site, I was stunned! It felt like all of the San Diego Comic-Con cosplayers just crammed into the Long Beach Convention Center. I got the chance to see some really incredible costumes and thought it made the entire experience that much better.
I had a fantastic time at the Long Beach Comic Con and will definitely be returning in 2018. You can find out more details on the event over at its official website.
