San Diego Comic Con 2015 Report: Part 1

Another San Diego Comic Con has come and gone and while the convention keeps getting bigger and bigger, this year’s comic-centered events seemed a bit more low-key (if that’s possible at SDCC) that previous years. Possibly due to Marvel not bringing in a movie-themed property to their booth or DC only bringing in their Batman v. Superman cast for one appearance, the excitement to meet comic creators didn’t wow or go as big as even SDCC 2014. 

It’s still an overwhelming event and one that is set to dull the senses, Comic Con was a fun event to attend and experience even though SDCC 2015 wouldn’t be ranked among my highlights of all comic conventions this year.

Preview Night

Badge pick-up was smooth with a quick line up and then the corralling into the Sails Pavilion in order to get to the main hall. For a 3-hour day that opens at 6pm, people were lined up already around 1pm.

As usual the herds of people and scalpers marching into the convention hall on preview night meant the hot exclusives would be gone even before we made it onto the floor. Exhibitors are well grounded on getting to the lines of retailers first, even swapping out their exhibitor badges with general passes in order to circumvent some of the line rules.

An infuriating item for me this year as the DC Comics Jim Lee Batman sketch exclusive figure which  was set to retail for $300 but DC decided to dived the 150 figures to floor retailers for some reason meaning by the time the doors first opened they were already marked up to $1,000!

Due to the inevitable long lines for all the SDCC exclusives this was the first year we did not line up to buy any of the con exclusive items.

Google Nexus 5 not detected by computer help!

After a recent Windows update, trying to connect my Google Nexus 5 phone did not work. Simply connecting the device brought a message that Windows did not recognize the device and the device was now recognized as an "Unknow Device".

After first trying a different USB cable, and then checking to update the driver the MTP/PTP settings was the culprit. After finding the thread at the link below, changing the setting from the Nexus 5 from MTP to PTP and then plugging the device back to my computer work. The computer finally recognized the Nexus 5 as a Portable Device!

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23914469/google-nexus-5-is-not-being-detected-by-computer-doesnt-appear-in-device-manage

Comic Convention Report: Star Wars Celebration 2015 Review (Los Angeles, CA, (4/16-4/19/2015)

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.

Comic Convention Report: COMIKAZE EXPO Review (Los Angeles, CA, (10/31-11/1/2014)

Comic Convention Report: COMIKAZE EXPO Review (Los Angeles, CA, (10/31-11/1/2014) 

The fourth annual Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center has just passed and it continues to get bigger and smoother as the years move on. Held on the busy week of Halloween weekend on Oct. 31st through Nov. 1st, it is So. California's only third 3-day comic convention, just trailing the SDCC-backed Wonder Con in Anaheim as well as the ubiquitous San Diego Comic Con.

The big guests this year included the usual celeb names such as Stan Lee, Elvira, James Hong, a cast of Power Rangers, the Batman '66 actors, a myriad of cosplayers, as well as comic big shots as John Romita Jr., Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld and Jason Scott Campbell.

Clearing up previous admission issues, the ticket buying booths, press booths, general admission lines have been spread out and having the ability to pick up tickets the Thursday before the convention started helped previous crowd-line traffic to a minimum. Arriving just an hour before the start of the convention there were minimal lines at pick-up and the ability to wait in line at the main hall or the front doors helped alleviate crowd standing issues from the past.

Big banners hanging from the ceiling also helped direct traffic to specific aisles that attendees were looking for. The lines within the show were especially long for hot artists such as J. Scott Campbell, Jim Lee and John Romita Jr., with 1-2 hour line waits not unexpected. Having their lines at the back of the convention center helped with not blocking aisle space for vendors, but when the lines started stretching longer and longer, having additional volunteers to keep crowds from veering off and getting unwieldy which happened at the Romita Saturday signing.

The comic publishers attending the show included Aspen Comics, Top Cow, Boom Studios and Nickelodeon. The Hot Topic booth had an adequate line for their exclusive items as well as a spin-the-wheel promotion where you can win fun items such as a Stan Lee Garbage Pail kid sticker card.

Guests writers and artists such as Peter David, Agnes Garbowska, Joe Jusko, Livio Ramiodelli, eBas, Joel Gomez, Joe Benitez and others kept the comic crowd event in check. Portions of the show floor had arcade games to play as well as set-ups and displays of comic art, movie/tv costumes and a main stage where guest were interviewed throughout the day.

Overall the Comikaze 2014 event was a big hit, with easy ticketing, wide floor space, actual comic guest and a fun crowd and atmosphere. Looking forward to an even bigger and star-studded 2015 event.

Long Beach Comic Con 2014 Review & Photos

Well another Long Beach Comic Con has come and gone. This past Sept. 27th and 28th, 2014 was the most recent iteration of the successful comic convention event which continually draws top-tier comic talent and focuses mainly on comic book and artist/writer related material.

The crowd was evident with the lines on Saturday waiting to get into the event, with pre-registered attendants getting in an hour earlier than same-day ticket purchasers.

 

Creator talents included the perennial Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn, Power Girl), along with additional special guests such James O'Barr (The Crow), Dan Brereton (The Nocturnals), and Laura & Mike Allred (Madman, Silver Surfer, X-Force).

The artist alley was smack dab in the middle like a true comic convention should be, with multiple rows of noted professional talent such as Dustin Nguyen (Batman), Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Bunker) along with a mix of amateur and up and coming creators such as Babs Tarr, artist on the upcoming Batgirl series.

The CW Series "The Flash" also had a trailer from the show appearing where attendees could test their speed. Along the back of the hall was a laser tag area, Lego playing area for the kids as well as a Chevy dealer sign-up booth.

A large area covered the convention comprised of actual comic book dealers such as Pulp Fiction, Jay Company Comics, Comics Wise, Phat Collectibles, along with a myriad of toy sellers and independent booths.

The Sunday event was slight in traffic compared to Saturday in the a.m., but parking under the convention was already full by the opening time and foot traffic was steady throughout the day on both days.

Lines for creators was small or non-existent compared to larger conventions such as the recent San Diego Comic con or the close-by Wonder Con in Anaheim. The only booths that had significant long wait times included the Allreds and Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti booths which had stretches of fans waiting for their signatures. Word to the wise to LBCC staff, please separate out your top talent guests so they are not back-to-back to each other since the lines begin to merge and other booths/guest artists get drowned out by the fans of the other creators.

Overall the event was enjoyable and very stress-free compared to San Diego Comic Con and even the ever-growing popularity of Wonder Con-Anaheim. Heres hoping for the LBCC staff in bringing in more top-tier comic talent that does not routinely attend Southern California conventions to appear at this nice local and friendly convention.