On the Scene: Long Beach Comic and Horror Con 2013 gets bigger

by Pamela Auditore

On its fifth anniversary, the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con continues to grow.  Phil Lawrence, LBCC founder and Sales Director, is emphatic,  “We beat last year’s attendance by a lot!”

With an Artist Alley boasting between 250 – 300 Artists, Lawrence estimates attendance of some 25,000-30,000 fans for the pre-Thanksgiving weekend.

 Centering around the people who do the art and write the books for the comics industry,  its proximity to the Los Angeles talent pool is why so many in the Industry attend LBCC.   “We’ve always tried to focus on the comic book artist, the comic book writer and the comics themselves,” Mr. Lawrence asserts.  It also helps that the main con hotel, the Hyatt, is right next  to the Convention Center.

Advanced Ticket holders were allowed early access Artist Alley in the Dealer’s Room at 9:30 where they could buy art from such   DC and Marvel stalwarts as  Whilce Portacio and Peter Nguyen.

Taking a tour of Artist Alley you find styles as varying as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer artist Georges Jeanty.

and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Ten Grand, Squidder)

Also, a panoply of other artists known and not yet known, showing their wares.

At their table, newlyweds, artist Amanda Connor and writer, Jimmy Palmiotti  were so busy they barely had time for photo requests…yet they did.

and Len Wein (Justice League, Ben 10, Before Watchmen: Ozymandias) could be found in their unnatural habitat of  panels and signing tables.

LBCC is also a convention for horror fiction, and many graphic novels overlap with that genre.  However, for people who prefer their own imaginations to an artists’s,  they could  sate their craving  for horror with authors such as David Forsyth, Sovovereign Spirit Saga, Christopher Rice The Heavens Rise, Nancy Holder Teen Wolf: On Fire,  Thamara Thorne The Sorority  at “The Location, Location, Location in Horror Panel.”  That is despite the odd bangs, noise and rumbles coming from…????…(well actually, whatever was playing in the next room and added on to what sounded like a Street Sweeper outside.)

 

There were movie prop, wardrobe and art auctions each day and some interesting Exhibitions in the Dealer’s Room

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