...Comikaze 2013...Saturday Pass...

Avenger Props outside the "Mega Museum"

As my second year attending Comikaze, it continues to be refreshing in seeing that it still has that 'small-breeches' feel to this annual comic book convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  Put together by the gregarious Stan Lee, Comikaze is his convention, for sure, but it has a welcome appreciation for the creators of the works, not the corporate feel of San Diego, which only highlights the stars of the medium (along with media that is unabashedly not even comic book based).

Artist sketching at the Topps booth.  Bought a few Wacky
Packages postcards.  Fun111

Comikaze is open.  It's for the fans.  It's for the creators.  It was what Comic Con used to be. I wouldn't go to far as to say a joyous celebration, but it is a celebration for what we enjoy consuming.  If I'm into Attack on Titan right now, be sure that I can get dollar pins with a Titan on it.  Adventure Time is all over the place still.  Star Wars is an open staple, but you can see the tow of Avengers taking root for children and adults alike.

It's almost all here.  The only thing lacking, and I see that with the smaller conventions, is they need a unifying effect to it all.

J-Cool abounds the floor.

They are on the right track.  The MC at the Hot Topic stage, located at a focal point in the main hall, is used well.  It directs the horde to goings on, occasional guests arrive without notice - these play well with it.  What they need is an element of the floor.  They have screens, they have cameras - pump some production into a roaming reporter that can update you from the main stage that the Ghostbusters are over by the Mega Museum, that Weird Al is signing right now.  That, and some music, would make the event much more unified.

I use the old Shriner auditorium monthly comic weekends as an example - it was small, homey, but full of humor and use of what they had.  They were scrappy to the extreme.

Marvel Toys - handsomely displayed.  Bravo!

There are definite signs of finding that groove, but the venue is expansive, which is a problem with many conventions.  This year, the gaming tables were put at the extreme ends, with the signing booths on the opposite pole.  Again, they didn't have enough room, in my opinion, around the main stage, which puts the booths nearest it at a weird disadvantage.  The shops were the heart of the show, as for foot traffic, but they should be interspersed with the artists - it'll draw folks to the tables as they hunt for merch.

The touch here is the O-G TV set: swank!

Where Stan Lee pitches his never ending font of ideas.

A welcome addition this year was the Video Game Historical whatever, that put an Atari VCS near an old couch, on an old tube television.  That was pure genius.  All of the consoles were on display, which were a particular fascination for my boys, who asked questions and saw the fun of retro.  They even bought an old Kirby cart for the original Game Boy.  That 8-bit sound is just too wanting.

I did wait for them to turn around, but alas...

All in all, Comikaze is just a great communal place for geeks to come out and let their inner being come out. For that I'm appreciative - the first cosplay I saw was a Poison Ivy that looked like she painted on her clothes, I mean, wowzers, lady.  Way to commit.

R2 still stays cool, among the people, he is.

Everyone has their spice: these guys over here like Ghostbusters, these guys are R2 D2 hobbyists who love that folks want to touch their creations and take a thousand photos in the day.  Twenty years ago, you would barely see a girl at the Shriners, but, I almost want to say that the geek girls were represented in wild numbers, I felt like it was 50/50.

It really is just a nice, inexpensive way to check out new stuff, bring cash, and go nuts.  The boys and I saw Stan Lee, Edward James Olmos, Louis Anderson, Weird Al Yankovic, Lou Ferrigno, James Hong - all without even having to struggle.  They were just there - smiling and enjoying the smiles around them.

A wallpaper of the Ghostbuster-mobile, Ecto-1.  Enjoy my
geek-peeps.