LongBeach Comic Con

The very first Long Beach Comic Con was October 2-4, 2009 at the wonderful Long Beach Convention Center. I love that area because the convention center is very nice and there are plenty of restaurants or other places to visit while you are down there.

After checking in, it was apparent right away that this was a more casual, kickback event than other comic cons. At first panic set in because I like being extremely organized with my interview schedule. By the time I took the picture above, I realized that Long Beach Comic Con was going to be a more relaxed, convention and to just go with the flo. Unfortunately, I could not go every day of the con because last weekend was a huge weekend for events (IndieCade).

The showroom floor wasn’t tremendous but it was well organized. Another positive about the show floor was the placement of Artist Alley. I love that the Artist Alley was one of the largest sections allowing artists to sell prints and fans a chance to converse with their favorite artists. If only I had money, I saw several great prints.

The schedule had a good variety of events throughout the conference. I only went on Friday and missed the Star Wars uncut panel which I think would have been fun. Thomas Jane was about and debuting two movies over the convention and Stan Lee kicked things off at the opening ceremonies.

The only gaming company in attendance was Nintendo. I found it a little sad that they were the only gaming company with demos on the floor but no one else seemed to notice. Their booth was FULL the whole time with families enjoying themselves with new Wii Fit Plus games and the New Super Mario Bros. Wii title. I saw a young girl fighting her father in Punch-Out and included the pic of my own fiance playing the title.

The only sad part of the con was the actor’s alley. It was mostly B-list and that’s not a problem because sometimes you get time to meet some cool people, but it just looked sad. Pretty depressing in contrast to the rest of the con but perhaps it was busier during the other days of the con.

In conclusion, Long Beach Comic Con is definitely a great start in the right direction for bringing a comic book convention back to Southern California. It needs more support from more comic book companies, but in the end it showed what was important to the con guests…comics. I had a great time and can’t wait until next year. Some of my pictures are below and here is the official statement from the con confirming that they will be there next year!

Thank you for making the Inaugural Long Beach Comic Con an overwhelming success – needless to say, we could not have done it without you.

We’re still smiling at the memory of all of you from last weekend in Long Beach. We started off the weekend on Friday, with Stan Lee and Councilmember Garcia cutting the ribbon to open the show — and from that moment on, the convention hall came alive. There was a real sense of excitement; an electric vibe in the air… and that enthusiasm carried us throughout a spectacular, fun-filled weekend.

Check out some of the pics from the convention, taken by our staff at the LBCC Flickr Page!

And, we’ve started a Flickr group so that YOU can upload YOUR pictures, as well! We’d love to see them!

Again, thanks so much to each and every one of you who attended. It was an incredibly fun time. All of us at Long Beach Comic Con send our appreciation for your support and hope that we’ll see you again next year. There WILL be a next year — stay tuned for details.

Until then, keep smiling!

Warmly,
Martha Donato
Director
Long Beach Comic Con

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