The Long Beach Comic and Horror Convention started off as a huge success on Saturday. Thousands of patrons, dressed in various costumes, lined up to get their tickets to access the huge exhibit hall and exciting panels that were planned for the day. However, that was not the case for Sunday.
Throughout Saturday, light saber demonstrations were held on a stage in the back of the exhibit hall. A wrestling match ended the day with a bang; spectators cheered and others jeered at wrestlers who fought each other while dressed up as superheroes.
Although Saturday's con began with huge momentum, it was disappointing when Sunday's event crashed to a full stop. The exhibit hall was exceedingly smaller and emptier. Artists packed up early, fewer panels were offered and there were fewer attendees in general. While it's understandable that there would be less to see on the last day of a convention, there was still the hope that the excitement from Saturday would still be there.
A service dog, dressed as Krypto the Superdog, roamed around the convention but that was still not as popular as the R2-D2 that was at Saturday's con. Fans had the opportunity to take a picture of Krypto and Superman when they coincidentally met up.
The Robot Chicken panel on Saturday previewed upcoming shorts including Superman and Lois Lane and a trailer for "RC/DC Tour," where the show will parody DC Comics. Audience members had a chance to ask the creators questions. Whenever there was a person in costume, the panelists wasted no opportunity to poke fun at their fans. It was absolutely hilarious as the creators explained the process behind the work and discussed the shenanigans that went on in the studio as well.
"I like Long Beach. It wasn't as crazy this year," said actor Seth Green about the convention.
Storyboard artist Abe Aunish attracted attendees to his table with candy, then surprised them with the fact that he worked on Futurama. Storyboard artist Peter Paul had a table across from Aunish, and was promoting the upcoming "How to Train Your Dragon" television series.
Cal State Long Beach professor Nhora Serrano and Cal State Dominguez Hills professor Mike Buckley spoke at a panel called "The Art of Storytelling in Graphic Novels." They discussed five key points of storytelling and examples that successfully utilized the tools of art and prose to create unique experiences within the works.
CSULB KBEACH Global Radio assistant general manager Dominic Paramo dressed up as Peter Parker from Spiderman, as he was a huge fan of the character.
"It was great," Paramo said. "I learned a lot from the pros, saw some really talented artist and writers. Also, the costumes there are nuts."
Joanne Yuan, a CSULB sophomore, said. "I only went on Sunday and it was less crowded. There was also fewer merchandise than last year."
Various artists and writers from DC artist Dustin Nguyen to "I, Vampire" writer, Joshua Hale Fialkov, said they would all return to LBCC next year. Peter V. Nguyen, known for his artwork on "Gotham City Sirens," called the local fans "eccentric and very friendly."
"Long Beach [the convention] is a welcome vacation from all the craziness that larger conventions have," Peter V. Nguyen said. "The artist core is in the middle and the tables for us are really huge, where the ones in San Diego are almost half the size of these tables for two artists. [Long Beach] is really nice to us and I love that. I would definitely come back next year."
For more information about LBCC, visit longbeachcomiccon.com.
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