Exhibit Hall by Eri Kagami
Long Beach Comic Expo’s main hub is the exhibit hall. This is where your wallet goes. If you weren’t at a panel or a cosplay meet up, chances are, you would find yourself wandering around here. This is where you could meet e-famous cosplayers at Cosplayer Corner. This is where you could also bring the kids to play laser tag and build lego’s. The autographs were pushed in the back; it was hard to find since it was covered by several major exhibits. NASA also had their section for cosmic travel. If you had kids with you, there were a ton of interactive sections of the exhibit hall. NASA also had a section where you can build and launch your homemade rockets. Perhaps my biggest critique of the exhibit hall is I felt there was a lack of trade paperback dealers. While I could name one or two (aside from major comic book exhibitors), it was very different from previous Long Beach Comic events. There used to be a handful of booths that sold trades from various genres; not just the super hero books. Otherwise, the dealers hall had your standard fare of toys, collectables, funko pop figures, and silver age single issues.

Artist Alley by Eri Kagami
Artist Alley was merged with the exhibit hall. I feel that artist alley needs a separate section because this, in my opinion, has always been the heart of all comic cons. Without the artists, there are no comics. This year, Long Beach Comic Expo had Chris Claremont, Tony Fleecs, and others present at the artist alley. Long Beach Comic Expo has always had a long list of artists present. Living in Los Angeles gives many of these artists an advantage to stop by for the weekend to sign prints and meet fans. In addition to comic artists, you also had jewelry and accessory artists selling wares. I brought home some necklaces that had pendants of classic book covers, earrings that were pairings of famous OTP’s, and some Lolita style brooches. There was something for everyone!

Star Cars by Jared
Once again the Star Cars were at the convention showing off some great modified cars from movies and TV. This year they had the Jurassic Park trucks, a Pizza Planet delivery truck, KITT from Knight Rider, a Gotham PD car, and several more iconic vehicles. The big surprise this year was that they had an uncensored ‘General Lee’ from The Dukes of Hazard. It was great to see that they were not going to buckle to the pressure from the political correct police. This is always a highlight of the convention because it gives people the chance to see and take photos of nostalgic cars from their favorite movies and TV shows.

Marvel Talent Talks Comics vs Movies by Jared
This panel featured several guests who have had experience working with Marvel both recently and in years past. This line up included: Chris Claremont, Paul Jenkins, Frank Tieri, Len Wein, and Scott Lobdell and the discussion ranged from movie adaptations to the creative difference between the Bronze Age and now. The comic creators were mostly happy with the quality of current Marvel productions and jokes were made about some of the times they have had cameos in the movies. It was an interesting panel that got a little derailed when the audience asked questions. Despite some hiccups, this was a great way to hear classic Marvel creators tell stories and share insight into the industry.

The Video Games 2.0 by Jared
While cosplay events aren’t a big thing out West, there are some groups that put on their own shows and The Video Games is one of those shows. A crossover of The Hunger Games with popular video game characters this stunt shows has the various heroes battle each other for glory and survival. The most exciting part of the show is that audience participation is encouraged and people can vote via Twitter and cheer for favored characters to alter the direction of the show. Due to that, each show is different even if some of the same characters return. If there is any ‘must see’ event at the Long Beach cons it is this show.

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