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The Long Beach Comic Expo February 28-March 1st and just announced a great line-up of guests, which you can see below. They also released the cover of the program guide by Travis Hanson, creator of the Eisner nominated story The Bean. It’s a nice mash-up of some creator owned icons.

“What makes Long Beach Comic Con so much fun is it’s dedication to Creator-owned properties as well as mainstream icons,” he told The Beat. “So when asked to create the cover for this years spring show, I felt that I needed to showcase a couple of creator-owned characters, demonstrating that comics cover not just superheroes but fascinating stories of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Horror, and everyday life.  Showing that it is important, like these creators demonstrate that there are still many stories out there that need to be told. I am grateful for the shows out there, like LBCC, that are dedicated to both indy and mainstream storytelling.”

(Incidentally, Hanson’s kickstarter for volume 4 of The Bean was just funded in less than 24 hours.

Long Beach has announced its guest line-up including Guests of Honor Chris Claremont and Ethan van Sciver; Special guests Arthur Adams and Rachel and Terry Dodson, and some other guesty guests:

• Cecil Castellucci, the young adult novelist (TIN STAR) and writer of the influential YA graphic novel THE PLAIN JANES;
• Steve Ellis, the artist of the young adult webcomic THE ONLY LIVING BOY and MAGIC THE GATHERING cards;
• The Four Horsemen Studio, influential toy designers of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, DC Universe Classics and Man of Steel toy lines, among others.
• Stan Sakai, the writer/ artist of the award winning USAGI YOJIMBO graphic novels;
• Greg Weisman, acclaimed animation writer and producer (GARGOYLES; YOUNG JUSTICE) and author of the fan favorite RAIN OF GHOSTS YA novels;
• Brian Wood, writer of the influential graphic novels DEMO and THE NEW YORK FOUR.

And programming, which once again spotlights ALL levels of comics and entertainment, not just the obvious blockbusters.

* One-on-one creator spotlight panels with Chris Claremont, Sandy King Carpenter, Gerry Conway, Katie Cook, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Stan Sakai, Richard Starkings and Ethan Van Sciver hosted by EAT GEEK PLAY.
* Publisher panels hosted by Jesse Snider, including the 40th anniversary of X-men celebration, Lion Forge & IDW Publishing Presents Miami Vice: Remix, and much more.
* Panels for Buffy The Vampire Slayer Comics and Star Wars Rebels: Kanan the Last Padawan comics.
* The Dawn of the Rise of the Devastator: Funny Books for Humans panel, with writers from Cracked, CollegeHumor, Funny or Die, The Meltdown and The Onion.
* #MakeComics workshops where aspiring writers and artists and fans can learn the entire process of making comics from comic book greats all weekend long. Topics include How to Build a Portfolio, Breaking Into Comics, Writing and Marketing.
* The first ever Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity event with keynote speaker Reginald Hudlin.
* Amazing animation panels: DISNEY AFTERNOON, GARGOYLES, GI JOE, and YOUNG JUSTICE, featuring major voice actors.
* Major media panels including Rotten Tomatoes and Screen Junkie’s Honest Trailers & Movie Fights
* A special screening of the upcoming Magnet Releasing film THE DEAD LANDS.
* GeekFest Film Fest films at Long Beach Comic Expo, the only Los Angeles area venue to host the full slate of programming for the world’s 1st traveling film fest of “geek” films.
* The Dollar Baby Film Festival.
* The comic book convention premiere of the SHE MAKES COMICS documentary.
* Publishing panels devoted to YA & crime novelists.
* Kids programming including How To Draw My Little Pony.
* Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, will commence its celebration of 10 years of the groundbreaking Graphix imprint and participate in a panel with acclaimed cartoonists Jennifer L. Holm and James Burks and other creators.
* A Saturday night Cosplay Contest and Cosplay panels.

I’m especially psyched for the winner of the inaugural Dwayne McDuffie Award to be announced because—disclosure—I was on the judging panel.

Long Beach is one of the nicest settings for a friendly, intimate con on the West Coast, and this is shaping up to be a fun one.

IMAGE CREDITS:
Macgregor from HIGH MOON copyright 2007-2015 Bottled Lightning LLC.
Usagi Yojimbo copyright 2015 Stan Sakai.
Herobear copyright 2015 Mike Kunkel.
The Bean copyright 2015 Travis Hanson.
Midnight Tiger copyright 2015 Ray-Anthony Height.
Mary from The Massive copyright 2015 Brian Wood.

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