My favorite costume at Comic Con

Here is my favorite costume from the Long Beach Comic Con- Lela from Futurama. It was simple and fun. She could actually see out of her one eye. As a bonus she had a cartoon ray gun and power wrist band. Funny, she was wearing a Yoda backpack too. Thanks whoever you are- you had a good ‘eye’ for detail! Click here for the rest of the costumes.

A review of the Long Beach Comic Con

This past weekend, Jeff and I had a chance to visit the 1st Annual Long Beach Comic Con. Considering it was the first year, I thought it was great. It was a much simpler version of its big brother the San Diego Comic Con- and as much as we tried, it’s hard not to compare. There were plenty of ‘cons’ but I had a lot of grace considering it was their first outing. Some of the pros and cons to consider when deciding your con schedule for next year:

• To say it was less crowded would be the understatement of the century. Very little lines, wide open aisles, and easy parking.
• The focus was actually on comic books! Most of the panels centered around the craft of writing, marketing, illustration, and character developement of comics. I went to a comics writing panel that I would have never have gone to at the SDCC and loved it.
• The Artist Alley (emerging artist display their works) was the center piece of the showroom floor. At SDCC the Artist Alley is off to the side where there is less traffic and less value.
• Although there were less ’stars’, they were more accessible. If you wanted to, you could approach and have conversations with the industry professionals.
• Prices for merchandise seemed a little more reasonable.
• Glad to see costumes were out. It wasn’t as much but I’m sure it will come stronger next year.
• The convention center is right across the street from all kinds of restaurants. We weren’t forced to eat con food! 
• There was more space and time to sit down and meet some people.
• I valet parked across the street for $10 bucks! Unlike self parking for $20 across town at SDCC.

• You could definitely tell there was less money to go around. The floor was not very inspirational and displays were pretty ordinary. There was really nothing of interest on the floor to take pictures of. I want to be able to brag to my friends about what I saw- which was almost nothing.
• Only three rooms were in circulation for panels so the options were very limited. Next year, they need two or three times more options in order to handle the expected crowds.
• The ’star’ power was pretty weak. With the exception of Stan Lee, Seth Green, and Jim Lee, there was really no one else of notoriety.
• Not sure this is a con, but there was very little swag given out. I usually don’t care about that stuff but some do.

To see some pics from the day, check them out here. Overall, we had a great time and will plan on returning next year. It’s actually a good experience for a ‘con virgin’ since it’s much less overwhelming and stressful then SDCC. My prediction is that it will take the route of SDCC with all of the pop culture influences. I would rather it emerge as its own personality and with a unique flavor but I’m sure where the money is, the con will follow. It might blow up to be the next SDCC. If so, BabbleOn can say were were there! 

I give it 3 Babbles out of 5.

The costumes of the Long Beach Comic Con 09

This may have been a smaller event than San Diego, but the nerds represented in style. Here are my costume pics part one:

 

 

 

 

LB Comic Con show room

Here is the showroom floor for the Long Beach Comic Con. It’s about the 1/4 the size of San Diego but considering its the first year- it’s not bad. It’s got a long way to go but I am glad I wa here to experience it.

In talking with new friends and new San Diego Comic Con fans, their comparison on today:

“It’s got potential. It’s a good start and looking forward to what it will become next year” by Griffin

“It needs bigger star power and it seems like a half effort by the sponsor, but still I will be back” by Darrin

I think I would agree. Stay tuned for more pics.

Stan Lee opens the LBCC!

The Godfather of Comic books, Stan Lee, cuts the ribbon to open Comic Con at the Long Beach Convention Center on October 2. Perhaps this blessing from ‘Stan the man’ will ensure a long and fruitful life of the LBCC. Check back tomorrow for more reports.

1st Annual Long Beach Comic Con is here!

A few of the Babblers will be visiting the First Annual Long Beach Comic Con. We are always excited to see new events birth in the pop cultural arts. This looks to be a pretty modest event focusing on primarily comic books unlike the juggernaut grandfather, San Diego Comic Con. While there will be significantly less options, the simplicity and limitations does have it’s appeal too. While small it will still have a few big names attending like Stan Lee, Seth Green, Jim Lee, and Jeph Loeb.

You never know, the SDCC launched with a few hundred 40 years ago and now it has over 100,000 flocking to Mecca annually. This could be the next nerd phenomenon. Plus something local (20 mins away for us) for only $25 is pretty cool too.

BabbleOn 5 will be officially covering the event so check back with us tomorrow and follow us on Twitter

For more information about LBCC check out the website.

Babbleon5 First Podcast of Comic Con 09

This is a temporary hosting site for our first podcast- we’ll roll out  a more permanent solution for the future. We will soon post on iTunes as well. Enjoy this 1 hour podcast of our Comic Con experience!

Click below:

babbleon5 Comic Con Podcast

ComicCon 2009: A Few Thoughts

I’ve had a week to think about ComicCon 2009 and what I enjoyed about it. Here are a few thoughts.

At the top of the list of things I enjoyed is Flynn’s Arcade, an off-site exhibit promoting Tron Legacy. This is due in no small part to the fact that Tron is one of my favorite movies and anything related to the subjects of light cycles and information discs makes me giddy. Rabid fandom aside, Flynn’s Arcade was my favorite part of ComicCon because it was incredibly well executed. The OG (Original Game-sta) arcade cabinets, air hockey tables, and 80’s music blaring from the sound system captured the essence of an old-school arcade, much like the ones I remember from my youth. Add to that the concept art and life-sized recreation of the new lightcycle (spectacular!) and it’s clear why Flynn’s was such an incredible experience.

Close behind Flynn’s Arcade, however, are the lines. Yes, I enjoyed them! Well, one in particular, anyway. If that sounds unbelievable, let me explain. Usually, I don’t like lines; I am not alone in my dislike of them. Lines to purchase movie tickets, lines at the DMV, lines for the bathroom… these are lines that irritate. They get in the way. Most lines are like this, but every now and then something happens.

“Where does he get such wonderful toys?…”

BabbleOn powers activate! Form of...nerds!

Here is my final entry and review of Comic Con 09. This time, I wanted to focus on the plethora of wonderful toys, models, and displays on the main exhibition floor. There is so much that it could literally take you days to see it all.

The Lords of the Titanic

On my recent trip to the San Diego Comic Con, one of my favorite panels was called “Visionary Directors with Peter Jackson and James Cameron“. The purpose of the panel was the discuss their current views on filmaking and the future direction of their craft. It was an awesome experience to hear from two of the greatest directors in history. Peter Jackson did the impossible by bringing Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy to life. James Cameron set new standards in filmmaking with Aliens, Terminator 2, and Titanic. Both directors have numerous awards including many Oscars.

The Comic-con Awesomitude

I decided to start my Comic-con commentary by inventing a word: awesomitude (an attitude of awesomeness).  So there you go, feel free to use it…no patents are pending.  It’s freeware.

Comic-con definitely had awesomitude this year.  Seeing as a picture is worth a thousand words (or so they tell me), I’m going to add a lot of photos with a little commentary.  So here we go:

Dollhouse, 24 and Coraline, Oh My!

Comic-con the largest gathering of nerds and virgins (nergins) on the face of the earth has come and gone again and yours truly with his fellow Babblonians was there to report on it. Storm troopers, Predators, Super Hero’s, Villains, anime character, the always present slave girl Princess Leia’s and any number of costumes that left you scratching your head, where there in full array.

Rather than go into too much detail about anyone particular thing (there is so much to see and do) I have decided to make some quick hits listing highlights and lowlights. So without further delay here we go.