New rule: Dressing up should not be restricted to comic conventions that happen over multiple days. At Saturday's Long Beach Comic Expo, a statuesque blond woman behind me somberly scanned the Convention Center's crowded Promenade Ballroom. While observing a handful of colorful costume players among the guests, she playfully pouted.
"I didn't dress up because this is a one-day show," she said in an aw-shucks-I-had-an-awesome-costume-idea kind of way.
And it's true, smaller shows don't usually generate costume-level excitement. But the LB Expo's estimated 1,500 guests provided a good audience to Spider-Man, Batman, Darth Vader, Harley Quinn, Captain America and others.
It's the first time show planners have put on a one-day Long Beach Comic Expo and already it's changing the game.
Show runner Martha Donato told me she was pleased with the turnout and her concerns about guests mistaking this show for the next Long Beach Comic Con were alleviated.
"It's really jammed in there because it's so small, so no one's mixing it up," she said.
Prior to Saturday's event, ticket packages were offered that included a pass to the Expo and a discounted weekend pass to the 3-day LB Comic Con 2010 set for Oct. 29-31.
"The whole point is to see what we could do for the three-day show here," Donato said. "It's been serving its purpose and we're happy."
Asked if there might be another Expo if this one works out, Donato said that all depends on the vendors.
One of those vendors, Dale Wilson of the independent comics collective, The Antidote Trust, said the attendance surprised him.
"It's much better traffic than I thought it would be," said Wilson. "And (Long Beach) is more indy friendly than I thought."
I kept to the edges of the ballroom, but I managed to slip over to the booths of some Modern Mythology regulars to say hello. Mike Wellman of The Comic Bug, Geoffrey Patterson Jr. of Geoffrey's Comics and Mike Lerner of Pulp Fiction among them.
I ended up chatting with Joshua Hale Fialkov ("Tumor," "The Crazies") during his signing time at the Top Cow booth. I was on a mission to meet this talented writer and talk digital comics with him. I expect to share that with you soon.
For more coverage of the Long Beach Comic Expo, including brief interviews with comic pros Barbara Kesel, Tim Bradstreet and Dustin Nguyen, check out the Press-Telegram story by Sarah Peters. And for more pics, see the gallery by photographer Steven Georges.
Above: Two fans as Spider-Man and Captain America show their Comic Expo spirit. (Photo By Steven Georges / Press-Telegram)
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