Long Beach Comic Expo took place on May 11, 2013 at the Long Beach Convention Center right near the ocean in Long Beach. While this is a smaller event it does provide a good amount of content especially for a one day event. This year had a very similar setup to the previous event so it was very easy to find my way around the convention area.

The registration line was very short, as it usually is, and it was easy to pick up or purchase a badge and get onto the fun of the event. Near the registration area was the artist alley. It had about ten booths set up featuring artists, indie comic creators, and some craft booths. This area also had the booths for several fan groups including Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars. The Star Wars and Star Trek booths were next to each other allowing for a little bit of rivalry. This area also had a King of the Nerds tryout booth and music provided by 100.3FM The Sound. This area could get a little crowded, but it was never too difficult to navigate.

A door near the artist alley led to the dealer room. While not as large as the dealer room used in the Fall event this room still had a good amount of booths. The guest booths were set around the sides of the room and you could easily get autographs and talk with various artists, writers, and actors. There were plenty of single issue booths offering everything from recent stories to gold and silver age books. However, there were not many choices in terms of trade and hardcover books. Still, there were a couple booths with apparel and toys as well as some manga. Finally, the dealer hall did feature a couple booths from smaller comic book labels like Aspen and Top Cow.

There were two panel rooms that offered a variety of different panels including writer panels, fan film panels, and collector panels. This year I hit three panels: the Pink Five screening, Barbara Kesel – Where do ideas come from, and Beyond Clichés – Creating awesome female characters for comics, film, and video games.

The Pink Five Screening panel had a little discussion on the series followed by a screening of every episode of the series including an "almost complete" version of the final episode. The show focuses upon a valley-girl type character in the Star Wars universe interacting with the characters from the original trilogy. If you are a Star Wars fan this is a fun watch. They also had the pink R5 from the series at the panel and convention so people could take pictures with DD after the panel.

The writing panels were also very entertaining and great for networking. Barbara Kesel's panel had her talking about how she keeps inspired and the techniques she uses when she faces difficulties writing. This was followed by questions from the audience. It is great having a more one-on-one panel to allow aspiring writers to learn more about the craft of writing. After Barbara Kesel's panel the Beyond Clichés panel began with the arrival of three other guests including Neo Edmund and Steve Sears. The panel began as a discussion on the practice and difficulties of creating strong female characters. Each person told different anecdotes and the discussion got very lively as it continued. The panelists also discussed the issues with creating strong female characters and how some producers and editors just did not get the concept. At the end of the panel the floor was opened to some audience questions to deal with problems different writers were facing in the creation of strong female heroes.

As I wrapped up the event I again thought that it is surprising to find a small convention that has so much to offer. Long Beach Comic Expo has the advantage of being connected to its big brother Long Beach Horror and Comic Con, but it stands pretty well on its own. The guest line up is made up of several great people from the Southern California area. Even with the one day limitation they still have a good amount of programming. The success of this little event is so apparent that they announced that next year this will be a two day event. It will be great to see how much bigger this event will be next year. There is very little to criticize about this convention as it is one of the best small SoCal comic events I have attended. If you prefer your events huge then you will likely not enjoy this, but if you want to hang out with other nerds, pick up some comics, watch interesting panels, and still have time to catch a movie before bedtime then you cannot go wrong with this event.

With the expansion to this event, it will be interesting to find out if the Fall event will be expanding as well. In the mean time we will continue to look forward to the next Long Beach event that comes our way. Until then I would like to give thanks where thanks are due: Matthias, Vince Hernandez, Barbara Kesel, Matt Hawkins, Kristopher White, The Kilt Troopers, and the Long Beach staff thank you for being so friendly and making this event fun for me. Hopefully next year it will not be so hot.

Long Beach Comic Expo 2013 Gallery

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