2015)

Star Wars Celebration 2015 was held in Anaheim at the Convention Center from April 16-19. This four day event was the first Star Wars Celebration held in the city and the follow-up to the one held back in 2012 in Germany.

With the new Star Wars movie due out later this year and the past event two years ago in Europe, you bet that the event was crowded and packed to the gills. Parking at the convention was made worse with the front parking lot off Katella Ave. roped off due to construction with many attendees being directed to the Anaheim Angels baseball stadium for parking.

On Thursday the beginning of the Celebration kicked off with a panel of the director and major stars of the movie along with the reveal of the second trailer for the movie which caused many a fans to camp out overnight to be able to attend the main hall event with the stars.

Those of us that were not able to fit into the main hall were moved into other meeting rooms to watch both the panel and trailer on the screens. After the trailer was shown, it was replayed one more time and then attendees were given a limited edition Force Awakens poster.

The exhibit hall was packed with mainly vendors and a small artist alley. There were many backdrops from the Star Wars universe attendants could take pictures with as well as a good amount of cosplayers at the event.

Actors from the film were not available in the exhibit hall and could only be met via purchase of photo op or signing tickets, which of course caused people at the event to mainly line up for exclusives or the booths that had interactivity attached to them; which of course caused major lines for every booth there.

If you did not want to mainly walk the floor, you could also attend panels for which got filled up fast and if you did not make it to the panel by the time the doors closed you would not be admitted in.

With the lack of guests to interact with and booths at the event mainly relegated to selling Star Wars trinkets that you could buy online or at your local store, the lines for freebies or booths such as the Battlefront, Star Wars XD sections and booths selling exclusives such as Funko, Hot Wheels, were hours long.

There were some odd choices for the event such as an alley just for onsite tattoos. The artist alley was very small with no more than 20 artists inside a closed off area.

I was able to walk the main floor and see a majority of the vendors all within a few hours. With the lack of novelty freebies or the lines for them so long, I was dissuaded from staying any longer than necessary.

Passes to the event sold out for the 4-day pass as well as Saturday’s event. Tickets were not cheap, with Saturday being $85 and other days around $65.

Overall it was an amusing event, but the long lines and lack of significant items and people to meet from the Star Wars universe hampered the fun of the event.

Comic Convention Report: WonderCon 2015 Review (Los Angeles, CA, (4/3-4/5/2015)

WonderCon Anaheim 2015

WonderCon returned to Anaheim for 2015, again during the Easter weekend which probably impacted the number of attendees and guests that could bypass events and work holidays to participate in the fourth WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Attendance for 2015 was decent and comparable to previous years though the amount of “wow” factor special guest, exhibitors and events decreased significantly. At the very first WonderCon held in Anaheim back in 2012 exhibitors such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and movie studios appeared. But for 2015, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse were missing and only Boom Studios, Lion Forge and Image had a publisher presence on the floor.

Statue displays

The set-up of the floorplan was changed significantly with the artist alley space moved to the Hall A section instead of the previous year’s Hall D and the badge pick-up also kept next to Hall A instead of the bottom basement hall for pick-up. Publisher booths were kept near the doors and the special guest signing table was moved to the mid-hall location. Some of the bigger tier artists were placed near each other causing some major line congestion and blockages that caused some exhibitors to pitch a fit and request some artists or signing lines to be moved.

Jae Lee sketching

Artists such as Babs Tarr (Batgirl), Phil Noto (Black Widow), Jae Lee (Batman/Superman), and Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier) had significant lines throughout the con with Babs’ line being the longest all 3-days of the event.

Phil Noto sketching

Other guests such as Dan Jurgens, Kevin McGuire, Ken Lashley, Steve Epting, Ron Lim had more manageable lines and commissions could still be acquired on the second day of the convention. It always eludes me when convention organizers do not place big name talent at table corners where lines can be more controlled instead of placing them smack dab in the middle of artist alley where lines just clog up the walk way and block other exhibitors.

Rob Van Dam

Tempo and excitement for WonderCon 2015 was lower in expectation and turnout when I asked other attendees of the event. The lack of many more higher-profile guests, media guests and the Big 2 publishers significantly loosened the “wow” factor in this event and SDCC-lite it was.

With the 2016 event for WonderCon moving to the Los Angeles Convention Center the change in venue will either make or break the event. The LACC significantly lacks the foot-traffic and restaurant and Disney location of the Anaheim Convention Center but hopefully the closer star power location will bring in more guests and “wow” missing this year.

Las Vegas Comic Expo 2013: Convention Report

Here’s my “photo” report from this September’s inaugural Las Vegas Comic Expo held at the Rivera Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1. The Floor
The convention was held in the distinctly older Riviera casino and the show floor and parking area show it’s age. Thankfully the set-up and floor space were done to allow maximum space between booths and tables so there was no back-up that lasted significantly.

Ticketing pick-up took longer than expected and the lack of volunteers and staff did prolong wait and show information. The overall experience though was successful in that you can readily figure out the location and spots of the booths and artists you were looking for since the space isn’t enormous and the wait times to meet creators didn’t stretch hours like SDCC. The longest wait both Saturday and Sunday was for Jason Scott Campbell who continually had a long line but was significantly faster moving than at other conventions I’ve seen him at (see the line photos below for JSC).

2. Creators- Part 1

(listed clock-wise)

Chrissie Zullo
JG Jones x2
Mark Brooks
Stephane Roux
Len Wein
Eric Basaldua
Adam Hughes

2. Creators- Part 2

(listed clock-wise)

Carlos Pagulayan
Stephen Segovia
Philip Tan
Jay Anacleto
Simon Bisley working on a Venom sketch
Tim Bradstreet

Long Beach Comic & Horror Convention 2012: Convention Report

Here is the report for the 4th Annual Long Beach Comic & Horror Convention held in Long Beach, California 2013.

A fun convention with the ability to interact with the creators in a more personal, less-heavy traffic convention compared to San Diego Comic Con. Attendance seemed a little lower this year than last year with the possibility of the Con being held after Halloween this year and also not being part ofa “Zombie Walk” that Long Beach held last year to try and break a record.

A few non-returning creators such as David Finch, Bob Layton, etc. also meant a few less artists to drive fans on attending both Saturday and Sunday. My eye spotted less buyers as well unless a booth had 50% off trades or the one 50 cent back issue booth which stayed packed.

Purchasing your tickets in advance allowed you to get a free copy of Creator Owned Heroes by Jimmy Palmiotti and Steve Niles with a special Long Beach Con cover by Amanda Conner as well as a 30 minute early admittance to the convention on Saturday.

Photo Report Review! Images are called out clock-wise.

A. The convention and cosplayers.

The line to get in the comic convention which is at the bottom floor at the Long Beach Convention Center with panels on the main floor. There was an indoor garden expo happening that same weekend.

Thundercat’s Cheetarah and Pumyra

Lady Punishers x2

Walking Dead-type Zombie

She-Ra

Baroness and Ms. Marvel

Stilt-Waking Spider-Lady with Dr. Who and Angel Baseball Fan

B. The Artists & Creators

JonBoy Meyers (G.I. Joe, Hulk)
Tim Vigil (Faust)
Bernard Chang (Deadpool, Wonder Woman)
Trent Kaniuga (Creed, Ghost Rider, Twilight Monk)
Amanda Conner (Silk Spectre, Power Girl)
Tommy Yune (Speed Racer, Robotech) being interviewed
Jon Bogdanove (Superman, Power Pack)

Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo 2013: Convention Report

Here’s my quick recap and “photo” report from this past weekend’s “Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo” for 2013.

A lot bigger than last year’s “parking garage” set-up at the LA Convention Center from 2012. More A-list comic creators such as McFarlane, JS Campbell, McKone, Tony Moore, etc. from 2012 which continued this year with Marc Silvestri, J. Scott Campbell, Chris Burnham, Joe Jusko and others as well as the usual mid-tier celebs hawking expensive autographs.

Captions will be listed in semi left-to-right reading order.

1. The lines and entry to the event.

Parking was a lot easier if you got in via the back of the center. Long lines for pre-purchasers, heard almost that it stretched half-way around the convention center outside in one of the hottest days of the Summer in LA.

The security lines got long, but still, the con-goers were cool and didn’t cause any issues with the waiting.

Images of the main stage during the masquerade contest.

2. The comic creators and artists!

1. Jason Scott Campbell. Selling prints and sketch books. Commented on my Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe reprints with his cover that it was the first time he’s seen it out.

2. Amy Mebberson doing some cute Disney art commissions.

3. Marc Silvestri doing an interview. Super-long wait since everyone and their dogs wanted a photo with him. So many statues signed.

4. Joe Benitez getting his Lady Mechanika books ready.

5. An artist doing a really super-fast robot sketches, Megatron.

6. Transformer artist Livio Ramiodelli.