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For West Coasters, the premiere event this weekend is the new Long Beach Comic-Con, running today through Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center. Although a new show on the scene, it’s run by a veteran crew led by Martha Donato, and features a stellar guest list led by Stan Lee, Jim Lee and Berkeley Breathed. Media guests include Thomas Jane, Seth Green, and George Lazenby. The whole list is here. Programming is here, in pdf form, but we’ve included a write-up in the jump. Exhibitors include BOOM!, Top Cow, Archaia, Aspen, and Com.x. The show kicks off with a ribbon cutting today at noon with Lees Stan and Jim.

The Long Beach Post has a preview:

Instead, the show will boast more than 150 guests, from Stan Lee to Jim Lee, with Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed making his first-ever convention appearance. Exhibitors like Nintendo and Aspen Comics will take their place alongside local shops like Pulp Fiction and Amazing Comics, and Marvel and DC have both dispatched editors to host panels with fans, and talent wranglers to evaluate portfolios. In other words, it’s an impressive array for a first year convention—in fact, as we were putting this story together, Donato called back to announce that Anthony Michael Hall and Elizabeth Rohm will join the ranks of the con’s entertainment guests, a list which already included Thomas Jane and Seth Green.

We have fond memories of past shows at the Long Beach Convention Center, and it’s a great spot for a show, with ocean breezes, a fine facility and lots of food nearby. If our schedule weren’t so jammed, we might have made the trip, but as it stands, we hope everyone has a blast.

Folks who blogged about their plans:
Top Cow
Corinna Bechko
Mach 1 Wrestling
Marvel
David Malki
Drew Rausch
Josh Fialkov
Archaia
Gabriel Hardman
Titanium Rain
BOOM! Studios
Whilce Portacio
Nick Simmons
Hero Initiative
…and LOTS more. Feel free to post links in the comments.

ALSO: PARTIES
Friday night:
Lbccparty-Flyer

Saturday it’s the BOOM! Drink up:

Markwaid Meet Up Lbcc Front.1

Once again, we’re bummed we can’t be there, but please send us any reports, scoops and linkage.

Long Beach Comic Con programming is official.  With no shortage of premieres, comic panels, guests and exhibitors, the inaugural convention kicks off Friday, October 2 with a Stan Lee hosted ribbon cutting ceremony, which is sure to be a crowd pleaser.  Long Beach Comic Con is October 2-4 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California.

Scheduled throughout the weekend are four movie screening events: Trick R’ Treat, a Warner Brothers celebration of Halloween starring Anna Paquin and Brian Cox, screens Saturday, October 3rd at 3:00pm.  Writer/Director Michael Dougherty will host the screening and host a Q&A session. Sony Pictures Dark Country in 3-D, which marks Thomas Jane’s directorial debut, and stars Jane and Ron Perlman, screens Friday, the 2nd at 7:00pm.   

The 3-D projection is being provided by Stereoscopic Projection courtesy of the 3D Movie Division of the Stereo Club of Southern California (la3dclub.com).  Raw Entertainment’s, Give ’Em Hell Malone, an action flick starring Thomas Jane and Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible, Surrogates, Pulp Fiction) is Saturday, October 3rd at 6:00pm.  On Sunday, October 4th at 1:00pm Anime fans will have a chance to check out Dixie Dynamite, a classic kung fu myth with redneck style!

On Saturday and Sunday, attendees can look for a DC Nation panel hosted by Bob Wayne, Jim Lee and Ian Sattler, and a Robot Chicken panel with its creative team including Seth Green.  On the independent front, Archaia is hosting a panel about the New York Times bestselling Mouse Guard book with special guest David Peterson.  IDW, in support of Bloom County: Volume 1, will be hosting a special panel with a rare convention appearance by the strip creator, Berkeley Breathed.  A Boom! Studio panel featuring Mark Waid will let fans know what Boom! has planned for the future.  Marvel will be conducting Portfolio Reviews on Saturday and Sunday with Editor Mark Paniccia, along with panel discussions throughout the weekend.

Saturday night at 8:00pm Kirby Krackle, the comic book rock band from Seattle will perform their brand new song, “Going Home” for the first time ever live at a concert, with proceeds going to the Hero Initiative.

1 COMMENT

  1. Sounds like this is a Con going strong and handled well. :)

    Seems like such a nice place, comfy and beachy, not all city-like, in the Wizard LA thing. If I was in CA I’d probably enjoy this more too.

  2. Thomas Jane was just (tonight) on Attack of the Show and he said he had a blast and was still a huge comic book fan and all! :)