Record-breaking attendance: Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con and Official Media Partner Entertainment Weekly joined forces to make the Seventh Annual Comic Con the biggest pop culture convention in L.A.’s history.
Didn’t get to attend Stan Lee’s LA ComiCon this year? Or want a little nostalgic refresher to alleviate the decompression process after the event? Here’s our walk-through of all things fun and fantastic at this year’s LA Comic Con!
Things were as exciting as ever, with a fresh celebrity guest line-up, some brilliant new brands and stores we hadn’t encountered before, and a variety of amazing cosplayers that were particularly on point this year.
Fan-favorite and Guest of Honour, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the Main Stage.
Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, was obviously a hit, being a Guest of Honour at this year’s event. He was there to promote the new Jumanji movie, which, though it may not seem to comic-related, certainly has its place in pop-culture. For those of us that grew up around the 90s, Jumanji probably has its place in memories of childhood and family life. Perhaps I’m just biased, because I genuinely thought it was an awesomely fun and wholesome movie. Also, The Rock (as Stan Lee introduced him) was pretty darn cool, and lived up to his awesome and cheery persona as usual. Check out this Instagram video he shot while there:
The cosplayers were definitely raising the bar this year, with “Eleven” of Stranger Things being a particular favourite, followed by some great Rick and Morty, as well as a particularly brilliant Donnie Darko and Frank duo, and an unexpected Dick Tracy browsing the toy clearance sale. Certainly far fewer Harley Quinns this year, though our personal favourite was an amazing guy rockin’ the Harley outfit like we haven’t seen before (see pic in gallery below – if you see yourself in these pics, please let us know, we'd love to shout you out!).
From Harley Quinn to Donnie Darko, and every Rick and Morty in-between, cosplayers were on full effect at this years Stan Lee's L.A. Comic Con
Melissa Joan Hart on the main stage during the "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Reunion" panel.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch (aka Melissa Joan Hart, and not so teenage anymore) made an appearance too, which was rather unexpected, but nevertheless kinda cool. Once again playing up to the hearts of the 90s kids out there, who were raised on Nickelodeon shows such as Sabrina and Saved By The Bell.
From left: will.i.am, Taboo & apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas.
Of course, we also had the Black Eyed Peas appearing, presenting their new, super-duper interactive (!) comic book, Masters of the Sun, which is absolutely certain to blow your minds – we are certainly entering a new age of comics and story-telling, and this is going to be something that puts the BEP on the map for something other than booty-poppin’ music.
There was definitely an increase in things dark and gothy at this year’s convention, with brands such as Blackcraft popping up, who design apparel as well as weird and wonderful furniture, alongside some favourites from last year, such as the Bottie Vingelo booth, which makes particular amazing fairy-style and goth accessories (we’re big fans of their fairy ear pieces).
The women of WOW are the real deal!
A big shoutout to WOW (Women of Wrestling), who provided some great entertainment and photo-ops, and we’re quite literally the coolest gals at the show – these absolutely not ladies we would want to mess with (unless you’re into that kinda thing…). A few more shout-outs go to the smaller comic book writers, artists, and publishers, such as the Bun Comic, which has a rather mysterious and alluring storyline (I love bunnies, so perhaps I’m biased); Stranger Comics, which has an amazing concept involving multiple characters featured in various comics (including a character based on Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg, aka Rue, which also involved her co-writing the story); and No'madd: The City of Empty Towers, which has already seen some great reviews on Goodreads – it’s always amazing to new and indie authors make it!
Darrell May creator of Niobe, one of the stand-out titles at this year's Stan Lee's L.A. Comic Con.
We interestingly/awkwardly had some seemingly culty Christians on the exhibition floor as well, specifically the movement that goes by the name of, Christ Is A Woman. I’m neither pro nor anti-Christianity, and if someone has a legitimate argument to put forward about Christ being a woman, then I’m all ears – however, I certainly didn’t like their demeanor or approach to things. It was obvious that they were more than just a little out of place at a comic/pop-culture convention, and their website displays a video of a woman that looks scarily brain-dead and brainwashed, Hollywood-white teeth and all. Comic Con, who let this one slide?
Overall, we would love to see LA’s Comic Con grow a little more. Some vendors that we particularly like and tend to look out for weren’t there this year, implying that past years were perhaps not as hot as expected. Organisation was also a little off, seeing a particularly long line to get into the center on Saturday morning, with about a 45 minute delay, causing the Saturday schedule to be off by 30-60 minutes all day long.
Preacher wars!!! Two opposing churches were present on Saturday, each claiming the other was false. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We also had the standard crazy Christians outside the convention center (again, I’d like to clarify, I certainly don’t mean that all Christians are crazy…these ones just portrayed themselves as such) – this time, however, they turned it up a notch, because there were at least TWO separate Christians parties/denominations in action! Microphones, loudspeakers, and all. And ooooh, you know what that means! Christian Preacher Wars! Seriously though, it was ridiculously funny to see Christian preachers so caught up in shouting at each other (“No, don’t listen to him, WE are the teaching the TRUE Gospel!), that they totally missed the point of what they were actually intending to do – which was, unfortunately, to berate little kids for dressing up, and tell nerds and cosplayers that they’re going to hell. Whatever.
We absolutely love Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con, and we always enjoy it, but I guess our conclusion for this year is: Let’s Step It Up.
The Colourful Sights of Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic Con 2017
