Long Beach Comic Con and Horror Fest October 29 & 30

[nearmint]

Crazy. If you prepaid, the line to get in has several hundred people. If you're buying your pass here, there are 10 people in line.

[BustedFlush]

BustedFlush will be there with books in tow to show the boardies.

BustedFlush will be a poor Lookie-Lou due to shortness of capital.

BustedFlush will only write in the third-person narrative.

BustedFlush will be there by this afternoon.

[nearmint]

Just saw Seth Green checking out an AF #15.

[cujobyte]

Just saw Seth Green checking out an AF #15.

 

Sweet! I'm surprised he's not looking for Buffy comics though

[Hexenmeister-migration]

Crazy. If you prepaid, the line to get in has several hundred people. If you're buying your pass here, there are 10 people in line.

 

 

 

Eventually the majority of people are going to catch on to this. Chicago has been the same way for like 3 years now. I stopped buying the prepaid pass after waiting in line that first year. They used to send your admittance pass in the mail after prepaying. When they changed to wristbands the lines started. I asked an employee about this and they justified it with "you save $5.00 by waiting in the line".

[Joel Elad]

Today went pretty good. We got a lot of books signed over the day, including several John Carpenter books, a lot of Kevin Eastman TMNT books, and Whilce signed a lot of those Hulk #1 Golden Apple variants. Some great sketch covers are coming in too from folks, with more ready for pickup tomorrow. Probably our most popular submissions today were books signed by David Finch, Kevin Eastman, and Gerry Conway. (Both Finch and Eastman were pretty tirelessly sketching away, they were some of the LAST people to leave when the show closed.)

 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time for pics. Obviously, lots of cosplay on the floor since it's a comic show on Halloween weekend. Seth Green definitely spent a lot of time on the floor and posed for a ton of pics. Darwyn Cooke is having fun with those Parker prints and the Martini edition, and Thomas Jane is still fun to talk to.

 

I'm curious to see what sketch covers come in tomorrow. G'nite!

[inconceivable]

Crazy. If you prepaid, the line to get in has several hundred people. If you're buying your pass here, there are 10 people in line.

 

 

 

Eventually the majority of people are going to catch on to this. Chicago has been the same way for like 3 years now. I stopped buying the prepaid pass after waiting in line that first year. They used to send your admittance pass in the mail after prepaying. When they changed to wristbands the lines started. I asked an employee about this and they justified it with "you save $5.00 by waiting in the line".

 

I certainly learned my lesson. 45 min extra wait for what? At least the guy in back of me was there for the first time at any convention. He got so excited when he saw people dressed up as the Ghostbusters. My friend was able to show pictures of the ambulance in San Diego. Hopefully the guy had a good time and comes back.

 

Dan

[B767293]

Promise a couple of boardees here some stuff, but I failed them. I've been into many cons, including SDCC, but this is my first time in LBCC. I was told they weren't expecting that many people to show up. Even J. Scott Campbell said the same to me, who was professional enough to finish the line for his signatures before he starts on sketches. He had 10 on his list not even half-way to the day. I guess I wasn't expecting that many people in this event as well. I totally acted like a noob and missed out on a lot of goodies, including a Portacio personlized sketch that his wife bargained me with.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

After thinking I wasn't going I got there late with my daughter as she wanted to look for some Manga books. While there aren't too many dealers there were enough books to look at to occupy a couple of hours.

 

Just when we were leaving I thought I would look at a Mummy's Ring at Terry's Booth only to discover he had an original owner Duck collection in his boxes and I scored one of my last three remaining Duck Four Colors, "Ghost of the Grotto!" I'll post in the duck thread. Thanks Terry.

 

Just goes to show you never know what you might find. Made my day!

 

Dinner with Busted Flush and my daughter at the Greek place on Pine and they gave us patio seating on the sidewalk and we got to watch the parade of Zombies! Looks like Long Beach Con is starting to take root, need more comic dealers though.

[JohnnyDeLicious]

Anyone still there? I just found out that Parker Martini Edition has a show variant that I'd love to get two of.

[BeachBum]

They need to move the show away from Halloween.

 

It's a big mistake right now, attendance is steadily dropping if you ask me from the inaugural show two years ago.

 

Image and Boom (local) were not even present at the show this year.

 

But it's a great show for me since I'm local and a couple of dealers always bring some of the harder to find high rato variants for me to fill customer 9.8 orders with.

 

I think I must have bought every 9.8 raw copy of the new DC 1 in 200 Sketch covers at the show, except for one that SOT grabbed while we were shopping together at a booth.

 

I wish they would figure it out because the first year was packed.

 

[nearmint]

I don't know. I think most of those folks were there BECAUSE of Halloween.

[El Toro Rojo]

I've been all three (?) years and this just may be my last one, despite my being local.

 

I really didn't appreciate having to stand in a line for just under an hour because I was stupid enough to purchase a two-day pass in advance. If I had known I could have gotten a discounted ticket via LivingSocial and just waltzed right on in, while suckers like me waited, I definitely would have done that. I politely asked an organizer why they felt the need to penalize their best customers and got a blank stare and an "I'm sorry."

 

Here's an idea - staff up the check-in heavy in the morning, and get those who pre-paid in first. Discounted tickets and last-minute looky loos should be the ones waiting to get in. But that's just me.

 

The number of comics dealers was way down this year. It was good to see Terry and meet Ed, but that was about it, I'm sad to say (keep in mind, I have no time for Moderns, so I'm biased).

 

If I do decide to attend next year, I definitely am just waltzing in and buying a ticket day of. No more of that for me. I was so put off, I didn't even bother going back today, despite buying a weekend pass.

[innocuous]

I went Saturday with three kids in tow. My wife went out with her mom for the day, leaving me to keep track.

 

I've been to all three years. The first year was the best. Last year was dead. So, this year was much better.

 

I got there at 10am. We walked the floor and bought a few kids comics. By 11am, the youngest was starving, so back to the car for an early lunch.

 

Back in a little before noon, I went to CGC to ask for a witness before going to see Darwyn Cooke. No one available, so I took the kids to get some sketches. However, there was a dealer near CGC that had just bought a run of Showcase, from 1-50 or so. He said all the keys were sent to CGC. There was a VG copy of #1 and #2. I was going to make an offer, but one kid had to go to the bathroom. Off we go.

 

I went by the HERO booth to check on Darwyn and they said I better get in line. So I did and I was told I was the lucky last fan. I got the limited edition print which he colored.

 

A few more sketches and one of the kids started feeling bad. Out the door at 1:15.

 

I never did get those Showcases.

[Archon_Turtle]

Had a great time! Didn't have to deal with the nightmare line myself cause they accepted my game industry credentials for a pro badge. Sorry to hear you guys had it so rough.

 

Day 1 was mostly shopping for me, then day 2 was all hanging out with friends. Also had a really special signature series opportunity while I was there. Fantastic time with fantastic friends. This was my first LBCC but my wife and I do SDCC and NYCC almost every year. it was an amazing change of pace. I think I'm kinda over the SDCC crowds.

[robocard]

I got back form the show at 12:45 am after a 6+ hour drive. The show was pretty mixed for me. Met some great people, sold some books, had two $500 books stolen and then returned while I was trying to get my van into the Que for load-out, had a great location at 8:30 Saturday, then a last minute booth went up in front of me and no one could see me anymore (admitted mistake which will hopefully be comped for next time).

 

Off to unload the van and return it, then resort my long boxes that got pretty wrecked. Is it really that hard to return books in the order you pulled them out?

 

Looks like the next Expo will be May 12 and Fall show moves to November 3/4 so no Halloween (should answer whether Halloween is good or bad week-end).

 

Ed Robertson

 

[Baron]

My second time at LBCC and I find it the best comic convention in So. California for me. It wasn't as daunting and jam-packed as SDCC, ticketing & parking was cheaper than Wizard World Anaheim ($45 just walking in if you count buying tix in person & parking), and not tiny as some of the smaller Cons between L.A. & S.D.

 

I didn't really see a line at the booths this year (they separated picking up advanced tickets into two lanes via last name) during entrance on Saturdays. I do think they should have a couple more staffers to get the line to move faster. I got there early so I got my wrist badge and got in line early. The doors didn't open until 10:10 a.m. though since they were making some announcement ceremony, but it was hard to hear over the speakers (and I was just like 10 feet from the guy). The entry line did stretch pretty far once the Con was about to open.

 

I thought there was a good amount of comic dealers, heck it seem more comic-selling booths here than at SDCC in my opinion. Aisles were wide and you could see and meet artists without getting blind-sided by a backpack or rolled up posted. The only elbow-to-elbow areas were David Finch's booth and 50-cent bins.

 

I do like how it is timed before Halloween, I think more people come just to show their outfits, especially on Saturdays since that is when adult Halloween parties are usually thrown. So why the heck not stop by the Con and show your costume especially if you're be heading to a party later that evening? It was fun seeing kids in their get-ups enjoying the show besides sweaty fan-boys grubbing and back issues!

[nearmint]

 

I thought there was a good amount of comic dealers, heck it seem more comic-selling booths here than at SDCC in my opinion.

 

No comparison. There are far more comic dealers in SD, and with far better inventory.

[Baron]

 

I thought there was a good amount of comic dealers, heck it seem more comic-selling booths here than at SDCC in my opinion.

 

No comparison. There are far more comic dealers in SD, and with far better inventory.

 

Rightfully so.

 

But at Long Beach I was able to stop by each comic booth dealer and look around compared to San Diego where after elbowing through the hordes of people, weapons booth, cosplay booths, custom beanie-hat booths, t.v. show booths, video game areas, etc., once I got to an actual comic booth I was wiped-out to look around. Plus I collect moderns and cheap back-issues, so high-end GA/SA inventory isn't on my radar.

 

Disappointed though that there were no original comic art dealers at the show though at all.

 

Anyone attend that Zombie Walk on Pine Ave. Saturday night?

[Hawkman]

went on sunday. got there about 330pm. check out a few of the artists (including kenny keil). walked around. surprised image wasn't there. didn't find detective comics #502, 504.....and didn't see any walking dead books i need. did get a free copy of batman #2 to read (i have #1). small con, but i always enjoy my time at the long beach con. no crowds. no traffic. no hassles. nice area.