Results tagged “Long Beach Comic Con” from Modern Mythology

And so the Long Beach Comic Con has come and gone leaving more than a few good impressions from attendees and industry professionals alike. 

BOOM! Studios editor Mark Waid ("The Incredibles," "Irredeemable"), Jimmy Palmiotti ("Jonah Hex") and small press veteran Dale Wilson (DWAP Productions) were just a few of the pros who said they were pleased that a comic con returned to Long Beach.

"It's a friendly city to be in to have a show and we jumped right on it," Wilson said.  "And it's turned out to be a great show. We're pretty happy with everybody that's here." 

When my co-workers ---  who have never really been to a comic convention --- asked me this weekend if L.B. Con is anything like San Diego Comic-Con International, I first have to explain the obvious difference in size. It's similar in many ways but the style of the Long Beach Comic Con is different from the one in San Diego.

It all depends on what kind of comic convention experience you're interested in.  I have a friend you'd have to kidnap before you get him back to another San Diego Comic-Con -- yet  he showed up in Long Beach Sunday.

Other people I know want to see a spectacle, so San Diego would probably blow them away.

I'll be gone for a bit on vacation and will be back in action next week.  Modern Mythology still has more to share on the Con so check back with us over the next few days.

Modern is more than a year and a month old, and I want to thank every reader and every contributor who visited and lent their ideas, creativity and time.  I've got a few new ideas, so now it's time to take this blog and make it better. 

Are you ready for another year?

The image above is from Picture is Unrelated -- but in my case it seems appropriate.


 

 

Famed "Bloom County" and "Opus" comic strip creator Berkeley Breathed kept his audience laughing Saturday at the Long Beach Comic Con as he revealed the origins of some of his most well-known characters, discussed the increasingly conservative attitude of newspapers that led him to stop creating comic strips, and gave a peak into his upcoming books and movies. It was a rare opportunity, as Breathed rarely makes public appearances.

When Breathed created "Bloom County" in 1980, he didn't really know what the cartoon was going to be about, he said. He had a contract with the Washington Post to create a daily national comic strip, but he only later figured out what characters would live within this new comic world. One thing he knew he wanted -- a cartoon animal.

"I was desperate for an animal in the strip," Breathed said Saturday. "I was desperate for a focus in the strip."

Opus, the iconic penguin of "Bloom County" that later went on to have his own comic strip, was inspired from one of Breathed's favorite childhood movies, "Mary Poppins." In that film, there is a scene of dancing cartoon penguins, which led to the creation of Opus. Another Bloom County character, and perhaps my favorite, was Bill the Cat. He was inspired by cartoon cat Garfield, who seemed ubiquitous at the height of his popularity in the early 1980s. Of course, Bill the Cat was the anti-Garfield in every way -- he smoked, drank, womanized, and regularly vomited.

Still, times have changed, Breathed said Saturday. While his editors and the public didn't always get the comic strip's theme, and sometimes Breathed pushed it to far, he admitted, at least he was still able to publish them. His social commentary on the medical industrial complex, politics and cosmetic surgery weren't always well received and were often "greeted with dead silence," he said. He pushed the envelope in another way as wel, he said.

"I was not only mocking public figures, I was mocking other cartoon strips, which was completely forbidden," Breathed said.

He recounted a story of when he placed a picture of then-First Lady Nancy Reagan hanging on an office wall in one comic strip, but which had nothing to do with the story, and he actually received a phone call from President Ronald Reagan telling him how much the president loved it.

Since then, Breathed's experiences with his most recent strip, "Opus," weren't what he had hoped for, he said. Newspapers have become more conservative and less willing to take risks, especially, he learned, when it comes to religion. When a female character from "Opus" became a muslim, Breathed's editors were extremely cautious, he said, even going so far as to tell him not to have a piece of unkempt hair hanging out from under her head scarf because it would reflect badly on muslim women.

Now, Breathed is focusing on writing children's books, which like some of his comic strip story lines, are largely inspired by real life. At Comic Con, the audience got to mean the inspiration for "Mars Needs Moms!", a cartoon story book that is going to be made into an animated movie starring Seth Green and Joan Cusack. That inspiration was Breathed's own son, Milo, which is the name of the main character of the book as well.

The audience also got a glimpse into upcoming movie "Opus: The Last Christmas," with a few test clips that involved Opus hoping for a kiss from Nicole Kidman but battling with a killer whale, and a touching moment involving the death of a mayfly after her short three-day lifespan ends.

Read more about Breathed's bio and his work here.

Above: Berkeley Breathed creator of "Bloom County" made his first comic convention appearance and signed autographs at the Long Beach Comic Con.
Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram

I have looked through the first wave of Long Beach Comic Con YouTube videos and most of them are a pretty cool but I like the one above.

If I am not mistaken, photographer Jeff Gritchen and I ran into these two young ladies right after the Stan Lee ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.

This video covers a few things but check out these three:
1.  It's cool to be a "pimp Boba Fett."
2.  Anthony Michael Hall is the man.
3.  Be a "cool nerd" not an "awkward one" (and definitely don't be a drunk one).

What category of nerd do I fall into?  I guess that just depends on who you ask.

Check out Jeff's photo on the right.  To see more Comic Con photos or to buy reprints click here.

We will have a report from the "Robot Chicken" panel, but I couldn't resist sharing a little something I recorded in the press room of the Long Beach Comic Con after the panel. 

Seth Green and Kevin Shinick (writer, co-creative director) of "Robot Chicken" remind us not to let our ladies go to a  comic convention alone -- all in good fun, of course.

Frances Delgado and her boyfriend Jose are really good sports.

Just like many visiting the LB Con this weekend I'm going to seek out a few of my favorite comic creators and Amanda Conner is one of them.

I only asked her a few questions on camera: How's the action-packed and humorous "Power Girl" comics series?  And some reaction from being the first woman artist to break into the Wizard Magazine Top Ten.

We even get a visual cameo from "Jonah Hex" writer Jimmy Palmiotti.

BOOM Studios is having a "Drink Up."

As the press release from BOOM! Studios says: "a 'Drink Up' is just like a 'Meet Up' but with people drinking."

This gathering is similar to what Editor-In-Chief Mark Waid and the BOOM! crew put on during the San Diego Comic-Con.  There's no need for tickets and it's an open event for fans and creators to meet and talk.

It starts 6 p.m. at The Auld Dubliner across the street (Pine Avenue) from the Convention Center.

Wait!  I forgot the occasion... BOOM! is announcing their new series "Incorruptible" and it takes off on the concept of Waid's other series "Irredeemable."  He tells you a little more in the video clip above.  I also asked the BOOM! editor about the moves they are making with digital comics.

Before this evening event Waid will participate in "50 Questions in 50 Minutes with Mark Waid" at the LB CON at 1 p.m. this afternoon.  Bring your questions to Room B and make 'em good ones.

It was a particularly good day to be a comics legend.

Stan Lee, mighty co-creator of a bevy of popular Marvel characters you already know and love (Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, etc...) graciously and hilariously received two proclamations.  Today, Oct. 2, 2009 is Stan Lee Day in the city of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The proclamations were presented this afternoon by writer-producer Jeph Loeb ("Heroes," "Ultimatum") representing the County of Los Angeles and Long Beach 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia for the L.B. of course.

"Not only am I a councilmember represeting downtown, I am also a lifelong comic book fan and self proclaimed comic book nerd," Garcia said. "And so I love Stan Lee very much."

Martha Donato, Long Beach Comic Con event boss, said they petitioned for Lee's Long Beach proclamation and The Hero Initiative did the same for Los Angeles and both came through.  We've mentioned The Hero Initiative before -- a non-profit organization that raises funds to support comic creators who are down on their luck.

Check out the video for highlights and some words from Stan "The Man" Lee.

Not much from me today, I have been collecting some interviews with comics creators and will grab some more tomorrow to post for you.  My head cold has slowed me down a little bit, but I am still in the game.

Reporter Phillip Zonkel and photographer Jeff Gritchen ran into Boba Phat, A.K.A. David James from Costa Mesa, who occasionally acts like he is drunken and cranky but he really is the fun version of the notorious Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett (see the video below I took at San Diego Comic-Con 2008.)  And pictured with Boba Phat is the "Tuscan Raver."  See the opening day LB Comic Con photo gallery.

Expect some panel coverage from the team tomorrow.

An extremely well-cropped image By Jeff Gritchen/The Press-Telegram

 

It's certainly no secret (now!) that 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia is a huge fan of comics and other popular arts.  And those of you who read Dave Wielenga's piece in The District are aware of Garcia's affinity for Superman.

When I spoke with Garcia last week he candidly broke down his attachment to the famous DC Comics character.

"I grew up reading Superman," he said. "And I just really always liked the character and think that in a lot of ways he was a kind of role model for me growing up as a kid."

Today, the Long Beach Comic Con makes its inaugural launch and the master of "true-believers," Stan Lee will be there for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that should happen around 3 p.m.  Garcia said he will be there as well and that he expects this show to be the first of many.

"I think Long Beach has rolled out the red carpet and we're happy to have them and we certainly want them to stay as long as they want to be here; which is, hopefully, a very long time," he said.

UPDATE: In addition to Garcia and Lee, Geoff Johns, writer of "Green Lantern," "The Flash" and "Superman: Secret Origin," will be at the ribbon-cutting along with our own local superhero The Knolls Ranger.

The Long Beach Comic Con Friday hours are from 3 to 7 p.m. today in Exhibit Hall B of the Convention Center.  There will be updates on the convention here at Modern Mythology and on the Press-Telegram Web site this weekend with regular contributor Ryan Riley, myself and reporter Paul Eakins.

Maybe I'll see you at the show.

Above right: One of the covers from "Power Girl" #2 by artist Amanda Conner courtesy DC Comics.  Conner and "Power Girl" writer Jimmy Palmiotti will be guest panelists this evening on the ComicsonComics.com live-show 5- to 6:45 p.m at the Long Beach Comic Con. Left: The cover to "Superman: Secret Origin #2." 

Fans who are excited about writer Derek Fridolfs and artist Dustin Nguyen's recently announced "Lil' Gotham" project should thank Nguyen's kids - seriously.

"(I'm) drawing murder mysteries all day and I have kids. So they're like, 'Can you draw me Batman and Robin, but fun?'" Nguyen said.

The project re-interprets many of the familiar Gotham hero and villain characters into these squat, "mite"-like caricatures who will be featured in stories suitable for readers of any age. "Lil' Gotham" will run as separate backup chapters in the upcoming "Batman Annual #27" and then "Detective Comics Annual," both due in October.

"Basically, they're like these super-deformed versions of the book I work on -- Batman. I just draw them in this cute little kids style," he said. "It's not very serious, it's just something I do at the end of the day."

The "Batman: Streets of Gotham" artist added that if the response to the short "Lil' Gotham" chapters are good then he and Fridolfs are ready with a story big enough to fill a hefty volume.

At the Long Beach Comic Con this weekend, Nguyen will team with other artists (Mike Choi, Philip Tan, Joe Benitez and Ale Garza) this Saturday at 4 p.m. on the "Drawing Comics" panel to talk about working as a professional artist.

For more on Dustin Nguyen and his artwork check out his blog: http://duss005.blogspot.com/ and for information on other creators appearing at the Long Beach Comic Con go to http://longbeachcomiccon.com/.

And as for convention coverage this weekend, you don't even have to ask -- Modern Mythology will be in the house.

The top image is kids-friendly and the side one from "Streets of Gotham" #4, not so much.  But the artwork on both is impressive.

Comic book artist and former Long Beach resident Dustin Nguyen, who is the artist of "Batman: Streets of Gotham," is a featured panelist at the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con, opening Friday. Nguyen says the convention's prominent "artist alley" will be a draw for comic book fans. (Diandra Jay, Staff Photographer)

Inaugural show serves up a heroic display of industry insiders


After four years without a major comic book convention in Long Beach, it would take more than a magic word or a bite from a radioactive spider to bring one back.

For Martha Donato, president of MAD Event Management, it took experience, tenacity and some help from an enthusiastic comics community to bring about the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con, set to debut Friday.

"I worked in Long Beach previously when I did work with Wizard (Entertainment) and we had such a great show," she said. "We had such a great turnout and people were so excited to have a show of their own."

The Long Beach Comic Con, which runs Oct. 2-4, boasts more than 150 notables, ranging from "All Star Batman and Robin" artist Jim Lee and "Green Lantern" writer Geoff Johns to film and television stars like "Robot Chicken's" Seth Green and Thomas Jane of the HBO series "Hung." (Jane will be promoting his new films, "Dark Country" and "Give 'Em Hell Malone.")

The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday will feature pop culture icon Stan Lee, who created many of Marvel Comics' most popular characters, including Spider-Man, the X-Men and Iron Man.

Show guests will have the chance to purchase graphic novels, catch a screening of unreleased films or peruse the latest products from electronic game companies such as Nintendo.

For aspiring artists, Marvel representatives will conduct portfolio reviews.

In addition to gathering from across the entertainment media, show organizers wanted to promote fan and creator interaction.

"Right from the beginning we decided we wanted to make the focus of the show the talent that drives the comic book industry - the artists, the writers, the animators," Donato said.

In many comic conventions, the "artist alley" is often tucked away in the corner of the show floor. However, Long Beach Comic Con has boosted the profile of its artist alley, designing its layout to place the creative talent in the center of the exhibit hall.

Former Long Beach resident and "Batman: Streets of Gotham" artist Dustin Nguyen - who will be a guest panelist on the craft of being a professional comic artist -- says this style of show is what fans are most receptive to.

"Fans don't come there to buy the book; they can buy the book anywhere," he said. "They come there to meet their creators."

Before forming her own events management company in March, Donato worked on numerous live events for more than 12 years. Much of that experience came during her time as an assistant to Wizard Entertainment chief executive Gareb Shamus. After two years at Wizard, Donato said she was given the reins of her first show in 1996.

The Long Beach Convention Center played host to two Wizard World Los Angeles comic conventions - one in 2004 and the other in 2005 - before the show moved to the Los Angeles Convention Center.

After working for Wizard for nearly 14 years, Donato, who operates out of her Warwick, N.Y., office, said she and her Los Angeles-based business partner Phil Lawrence kept returning to the idea of a comic book convention in Long Beach.

"So he (Phil) and I kept talking about it and talking about it. `Hey, wasn't that fun when we worked in Long Beach and had such a great crowd there?"' she said. "And, you know, one thing led to another and we ended up actually putting together a business plan to do a show there - and it worked."

While marketing Long Beach Comic Con earlier this year, Donato reached out to friends in the industry, local retailers and various publishers to get the word out to prospective attendees and talent.

The feedback surprised her.

"It has been better than I could have hoped for," she said. "We knew it was risky, and we were prepared for a slow start but so far we've had a really phenomenal response."

Local comics publishers BOOM! Studios, IDW, Top Cow and Aspen are among the companies that have enlisted their stable of writers and artists to appear, said Donato.

DC Comics and Marvel Comics will dispatch editors and creators to Long Beach to make panel appearances and meet fans. Also, Marvel Comics will publish a "variant," or special edition issue, of Amazing Spider-Man #606 for guests who purchase a three-day pass for the entire weekend.

Convention officials and show planners don't expect the Long Beach Comic Con to be the size of the massively popular San Diego Comic-Con International, which draws more than 126,000 attendees over five days.

Still, Nguyen said, Long Beach can offer creators and guests a similar atmosphere of excitement.

"I'm looking forward to a really good turnout regardless of if they (fans) come to see my stuff or anyone's stuff," Nguyen said. "I just want it to be a good show. Because if it means it's a good show then they are going to do the show again."

robert.meeks@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1368

Long Beach Comic Con

    * When: Oct. 2-4; 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
    * Where: The Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. 562-436-3661
    * Admission: $25 for single-day pass; $45 for three-day pass; children ages 12 and younger are free.


Related posts:

Artist Dustin Nguyen makes Gotham stories for all ages

Stan Lee to visit Long Beach Comic Con

Have you seen 'Lil Batman Beyond?'

Stan "The Man" Lee, the living legend creator of most of the Marvel Comics characters you know and love, will host a ribbon cutting to start the Long Beach Comic Con, Friday Oct. 2.

Five fans who pre-order their convention tickets will have an opportunity to win a "meet and greet" with Lee on the opening day of the L.B. Comic Con.  Winners will be randomly selected.

Lee joins an ever-expanding cast of guests who are going to appear at the convention in its inaugural launch at the Long Beach Convention Center Oct. 2-4.  Newly added to the list (since I have checked) are Seth Green ("Robot Chicken"), Jeff Scott Campbell ("Danger Girl") and Rob Liefield ("Youngblood").

For more information visit the Long Beach Comic Con Web site.

Event organizers confirmed several guest comic artists, writers and celebrities for the Long Beach Comic Con set for Oct. 2-4 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

Among the guests en route to the L.B. are Green Lantern, Blackest Night's Geoff Johns, the Power Girl duo of Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, animator-artist Mark Dos Santos and Batman: Streets of Gotham artist Dustin Nguyen. 

Also, producer-writer Jeph Loeb, Aspen Comics' artist-colorist Peter Stiegerwald, Soulfire artist Joe Beneitez, comics fan and WWE wrestling champion Rob Van Dam, Uncanny X-Men and Galaxy Quest writer Scott Lobdell and 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles.

Go here for a complete, updated list.  And here's the ticket information.