Held this past February 20th and 21st, the Long Beach Comic Expo was held at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, CA. It was, well, it wasn’t Wondercon or Anime Expo, that’s for sure. It was a smaller convention so it was more inline with Comikaze than the bigger shows. Unfortunately, for me, it had the same problems Comikaze had: seven-tenths vendors, two-tenths artist’s alley, and one-tenth everything else with everything else consisting of various clubs and signings and photo ops, the bigger names being Chris Claremont and Alan Tudyk. The vendors are also pretty much the same vendors you’ll see at every other Southern California convention.
FanboyNation was also at the convention, not just in personnel checking the convention out, but also promoting the movie, Gods of Egypt, giving away posters, shirts and free passes to an early screening. FanboyNation Managing Editor, Chad Osuna, sat down to do a one on two interview with Peter Shinkoda and Tommy Walker (who were also there doing autographs and photo ops) from Netflix’s Daredevil series which you see here.
Also at the convention was the charity Geeks 4 Kourageous Kids which connects cosplayers with kids in need to help brighten their day and put a smile on their faces. Geeks 4 Kourageous Kids was there raising money for the Orange County Ronald McDonald House charity. The Ronald McDonald House helps families with shouldering the burdens associated with a child who is being treated at a nearby hospital by providing a place for the families to stay while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital for a low or at no cost to the family.
What sits Long Beach Comic Expo apart from Comikaze and bigger conventions is the lack of big exhibitors. It is more geared towards smaller/local companies and artists than big companies. The biggest difference between Long Beach Comic Expo and Comikaze, however, is that there are less people. Instead of being super crowded and shoulder to shoulder with people, you are more easily able to roam the aisles to check out the different club tables, vendors and artists. The only downside to that is that you finish roaming the hall more quickly.
The Verdict
Not the greatest convention, but taking it for what it is, a smaller convention for indie artists and for people who would rather not traverse the shoulder to shoulder crowds of the larger conventions, the low cost of admission definitely makes this something to check out.
