This past weekend saw the Long Beach Comic Convention, a single-A or double-A event when compared to the majors, like the NY Comic Convention, or, the big bad grand-daddy of them all, now known by the simple title, Comic Con, the oldest convention, held in San Diego.
Comic Con has become about more popular culture and less about comics; about video games and movies and toys, while comics still have a place at the table (I'm speculating).
The Long Beach Comic Convention was held out our Convention Center (go figure), and before you even made it inside there were nerdly prizes.
The DeLorean from Back to the Future...
A working chatter-box Kitt Trans-Am...
Magnum's Ferrari...
And the A-Team van...
Inside there were creators who were signing things and stands set up as sellers from all over the Southland tried to unload their back issues at discounted prices.
For some reason there was a plethora of Silver Age comics there. Maybe because of the Avengers film interest in the Silver Age books has begun to surge...I mean, that's the only explanation I cab think of.
The Silver Age in comic books, for those who don't know and/or don't care took place, more or less, from late 1959 on until 1985 or 86, depending on your source. Pockets changed at different times as well, but the bulk would be the sixties and seventies, when he great Marvel titles were coming into their own and actually taking a bite out of the more staid DC market control. The great team-ups really grabbed a hold during this time, and that's why maybe the interest has been rekindled: the success of the Avengers film.
I'm not really interested in the Silver Age myself. In fact, I don't really collect comics like I used to. I was going to say that I don't collect them anymore, which is probably just as accurate as it sounds, but I'll still buy the random thing, or help out the random indie publisher, or one of my favorite artists has something new. Since I don't follow the business anymore, I couldn't tell you if my favorite guys are producing anything new, so, it's just when I enter a store after a few years years that I try to piece together the last few trends through what's there in the store.
It was kinda neat seeing vast arrays like this one, a table full of titles I've mostly heard of, but in guises too new for me to understand.
As in any Nerd-Fest like this one there will be your brave folks who get dressed up as characters. I took this picture only because these two were posing for a different photographer and I had my camera out. It looks like Daredevil (the Ben Affleck version) and Catwoman.
I appreciate those brave folks' dedication to the cause, and their love of whatever character they dress as. There were plenty of Storm Troopers, a few Vaders, a few well designed characters I didn't recognize, one Princess Leia from the Jabba the Hutt scene (a very brave young lass with a little junk in the trunk, but not that you'd have anything bad to say about), and one of the other three barely dressed young ladies was a version of Mila Jovovich from The Fifth Element.
The third young lady who wore the least amount of clothing was stationed at a booth that was selling Roller Derby gear. She had on tiny little satiny bottoms, a tight t-shirt, and skates. It was almost amusing how she was both ogled and given the silent treatment at the same time.
I did make some purchases at the convention, and they'll show up in other blogs I run.
Long Beach is gearing up for our second biggest annual event: the Gay Pride Festival.
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