Long Beach Comic Expo 2019!

R2 Builders at the Long Beach Comic Expo, photo by the author.

The Long Beach Comic Expo was this weekend, February 16 and 17th, Saturday was a respite from the rain.  The convention was targeted to comic books, but also had the Space Expo.  One convention tip, don’t go all day walking and not eating any meals!  I went immediately to the Artist’s Alley to see talented artist and friend, Chuck Patton, who had Funko Pops! of Vibe, the character he co-created, had prints and comic books from his personal collection.  Sunday, there is the Justice League Detroit: A 35th Anniversary…Celebration? with Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton discussing their run on Justice League of America.  I like the charm of the team and that it brought in new characters, my favorites are Gypsy and Vixen, both of which were brought into the CW superhero shows.  Then, I went to see two of my favorite comic book artists, Kevin Nowlan, who had some incredible art prints and of course donations to Hero Initiative, and Rick Leonardi, he showed his thumbnail sketches and finished art pages and went through his thinking in drawing the comic book!  

Rick Leonardi sketching at Long Beach Comic Expo, photo by the author.

Conventions are a good opportunity to pick up some original art and I got a water color sketch of Wonder Woman from Agnes Grabowska!  Another con tip, my favorite thing to do, is to fill up Hero Initiative books with signatures of all of the artists!  In terms of writers, I saw Gerry Conway, who had a long line of fans, and Ron Marz, with a collection of his work on his table.  There were about ten comic book retailers.  You have check around, but there are some good issues and deals there.  I also spoke with author Benjamin Harper who wrote Obsessed With Star Wars, a trivia quiz book, and had a great conversation with him.  Next, there was the Space Expo, I had a chance to talk with the two members of the Planetary Society, and picked up a poster from the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey.  Space Expo had two panels on Saturday, one on the Insight Mission on Mars, missed it!  There were the R2 Builders with several R2 droids and even a mouse droid rolling around the convention floor!  There were many fan groups at the expo.  Also, cosplayers, there was a Cosplay Contest on Saturday.  It was fun to catch up with Ivy Doomkitty.  I also met Tara Cosplay.  There were numerous cosplayers including one dressed as Catwoman and I passed a cosplayer dressed as Pennywise from IT, @hudsonhawkpritchard, he won the costume contest!, on the way out.  A very fun convention!  

Tara Cosplay as Harley Quinn, Long Beach Comic Expo, photo by the author.

#LongBeachComicExpo, #ChuckPatton, #GerryConway, #SpaceExpo