Sunday was the final day of Comikaze. The three day nerd show defined Halloween for greater Los Angeles’ geek community. With three days of nerdom and fandom celebrated, the show was still on an all time high. There were more panels to check out and still stuff to buy in the dealers hall. For cosplayers, dressing up as characters is a year round practice. The Scarlet Rhapsody crew represented Simpsons fandom by dressing up as Lard Lad and Talking Malibu Stacy sans the yellow paint. We hopped on the highway and made it in time

West Hall: Dealers Hall by Eri Kagami
West Hall is a brand new addition to Comikaze. This is where the dealers hall was housed. If you are into collecting golden and silver age comics, there were many booths selling single issue comics. However, if you're like me, booths that sold trades paperbacks were very few and far between. While I did appreciate a few booths selling discounted trades, most of the books sold were either Marvel or DC and very much hero focused. I would have loved to seen more booths carry other companies and genres of comics. There were also booths selling fashion accessories. Fluff sold pinup style accessories. Pipstar Pop sold Lolita, steampunk, etc jewelry. There was even a booth that sold loose leaf tea's - you don't see that every day at geek events (at least in California). There was so much variety of goods, I ended up doing most of my Christmas shopping here. The most surprising part of the dealers hall was the opportunity to meet Tommy Wiseau of The Room fame. Not only Comikaze was showing The Room, Tommy Wiseau was selling his brand and signing autographs and blessing fans. If you are coming to Comikaze, bring some spending money. This is the best place to get some holiday shopping out of the way - this dealers hall has plenty of unique gifts and deals!

West Hall: Artist Alley by Eri Kagami
West Hall also housed the arist alley. To the left of the main entrance were a series of rows of tables that had artists selling fandom related goods. Some of the artists have previously worked on comics while others sold goods inspired by fandom. I was able to meet Sara Richard from the My Little Pony franchise again. She was selling prints from the IDW Jem run. Comic book artist were selling prints, exclusive custom sketches, and variant single issues where they provided the cover art. If you have a favorite artist in mind, this is the place to chit chat with them. Other goods sold included Steven Universe inspired bracelets, custom scented soaps, My Little Pony themed mousepads, hair accessories, and more. Much like the dealers section, this was a great place to buy geek related goods for onself or as gifts. The best part? You're supporting artists!

How To Become An Author by Jared
This was a great way to hear a number of authors talk about how they broke into the market and give advice to hopeful writers on how to move forward in their own careers. You could tell that several of the people on the panel knew each other as they tended to joke around with each other and playfully rip on each other as well. While this may not have been the most informative panel it was really fun hearing writers make jokes about their careers and tell stories about the difficult path that all writers must take.

How Not To Get Published by Jared
This was easily the best writing panel of the entire convention. This panel had a couple writers and editors talk about all the mistakes they have made and seen throughout the years. It was a funny way to learn about all the missteps that all writers make. While this panel did feature funny stories it was also very informative and is something that all aspiring writers should attend because it reinforces the fact that all writers make take different paths, but everyone’s journey has similar bumps. In addition to that, you can learn how to avoid future mistakes and learn better methods of moving forward in your career. There should be more panels like this as it is a great way for new writers to learn about the publishing process.

Comikaze was coming to an end. People were slowly leaving the Los Angeles Convention Center around 4PM. West Hall was slowly shutting down. People were making last minute purchases even at the closing announcement. Comikaze is a great event for those who can't afford the rising San Diego Comic Con price, but also enjoy a geek-centric event in the middle of the Halloween holidays. There's plenty of people to get autographs from and plenty of booths for shopping. You never know what surprise might be around the corner (oh hi Tommy Wiseau). Here's to another Comikaze and excelsior!

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