Comic-Con International is coming up in only two weeks. Now’s a great time to review your plans and check out Speed Force’s tips to make the most of your trip to San Diego, built up from years of personal experience.
Category Archives: Fandom
Speed Reading: Art Round-Up
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Almost caught up with the linkblogging! Here’s some professional and fan art featuring the Flash and related characters.
- Francis Manapul’s uncolored cover for Flash #1
- Impulse by Humberto Ramos (via FFA)
- Flash Heroes and Flash Villains by Mbecks14 (via TRKA)
- Golden Glider by Allen Belk (via TRKA)
- Heat Wave by Howard Porter (TRKA)
- The War of Light, Silver-Age style. Who would have thought of tying the a villain who uses an emotional spectrum, to a multi-colored lantern corps powered by…an emotional spectrum? (Remember, Geoff Johns killed off the Rainbow Raider because he couldn’t think of anything to do with him.)
- Young Justice featuring Kid Flash by Andolov (FFA)
- Flash Lineup at Illegal Aliens.
- JLA: Knights of the Round Table by ~TheComicFan on deviantART
Southern California Comic Cons – 2011
After last year’s five-con blowout, I’ve backed off a bit from Comic-Cons this year. In 2010 I attended at least one day at WonderCon, Anaheim Comic Con, Long Beach Comic Con, the general sci-fi/fantasy convention Westercon, and a full week of Comic-Con International in San Diego. (Those links go to my writeups and photos.)
This year I missed WonderCon (we weren’t sure about traveling with a baby), Anaheim (I’d rather catch Long Beach), and the one-day Long Beach Comic Expo (a busy month after moving, the new place desperately needed a no-plans weekend for some unpacking).
The second half of the year looks better.
Comic-Con International (July). I’m only going one day this year — new job, new baby and plans to move all conspired to keep things uncertain back at the time that tickets went on sale. So I’ll be a lot more focused on experiencing the day that I have than trying to report from the floor, but I’ll post my usual photos and writeups afterward.
Long Beach Comic Con (October). I’m still kicking myself for missing their April event, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. During its first two years, Long Beach has been a fun regional con focused on the actual comic part of Comic Con, and while I couldn’t make it to WonderCon this year, I really have no excuse to miss this one.
(Wizard World) Los Angeles Comic Con (September). Just announced a month ago. I sort of figure this is a second chance to catch Anaheim in case I change my mind, since Wizard has been really big on standardizing their shows lately. Also, I suspect they’re trying to crowd Long Beach out of the market, which is a big reason for me not to go.
Comikaze Expo (November). I only just heard about this one today, through the press release on Newsarama. It looks like they’re trying to out-Wizard the Wizard cons, judging by the heavy emphasis on TV/movie celebrities in the guest list, and maybe throw in elements of Anime Expo and GenCon to boot. It bothers me that they’re trying to hype it as the first con of its type in LA, ignoring the history of the Wizard cons and nearby conventions that aren’t within the Los Angeles city limits, but are close enough to be considered LA. I might drop in out of curiosity, assuming I’m not conventioned-out from Long Beach the week before.
So, current plans: San Diego and Long Beach. Maybe one of the two LA cons.
Wizard World Los Angeles Is Back – But Why?
So, Wizard has just announced the return of Wizard World Los Angeles Comic Con in September, stating that they’re filling “a real need for a Fall event that encompasses all the best that pop culture has to offer.”
The thing is, we’ve already got a Wizard con in the area (Anaheim Comic Con, running this weekend), and we’ve already got a fall convention of about the same size (Long Beach Comic Con in October). The three convention centers are all within 30 miles of each other, so they’re going to draw from the same pool of attendees, and the same pool of comics guests. And since Wizard is big on trying to present a uniform experience for all of their cons, we can expect Anaheim and Los Angeles to be basically the same.
I can only think of two reasons for Wizard to add Los Angeles at this time:
- They’re planning to move back to the more well-known location after moving out to Anaheim last year. Is anyone here at Anaheim right now? Can you tell me whether they’ve announced dates for next year?
- In keeping with past Wizard convention behavior, they’re trying to muscle out Long Beach for daring to step in and put together a successful convention from scratch (and one that actually focuses on the “Comic” part of “Comic Con”) when Wizard canceled WWLA 2009.
Toronto Comicon (Fan Appreciation 2011) Photos
On April 9, I attended the first day of the free “Fan Appreciation” show in Toronto. This is the first year it’s been held for the entire weekend, but unfortunately real life got in the way and the spouse and I were only able to go for one day.
It was a pretty good show, with some great guests (including Flash artists Francis Manapul and Ethan Van Sciver) and quite a few vendors selling comics and action figures. I managed to get a couple of Professor Zoom figures and a Flash figurine, and commissioned Red Robin artist Marcus To for a drawing of Captain Boomerang.
The woman waiting in line behind me for Marcus To got this Impulse sketch from him, which she let me photograph.
Here’s Francis Manapul working on a Wonder Woman picture for a fan. I also saw him drawing several Flash pieces, and he drew the Flash on a t-shirt which was later given away in a contest. I didn’t take any photos of the shirt, but the gentleman who won it did!
Alas, we ran out of money quickly (part of that real-life thing I mentioned earlier), and eventually left the show early. After leaving the convention, we went for lunch and wandered around some of the nearby streets before heading back to the car. And stumbled across this: the dressing rooms, washrooms, and hair/makeup trailers for the television show Flashpoint! The series is filmed in Toronto, of course. It was fun to see it given the name of DC’s imminent crossover.
And then we walked by Piper Street, so I had to take photos of that too.
All in all, it was a pretty good day for a Flash fan!
Flash Costume Photos From Wondercon, C2E2 (2011)
All reports are that this year’s WonderCon was a great convention, and a lot of fun, though crowds are beginning to become an issue. I had to miss it this year, but one of the great things about the Internet and social media is that you can still capture some of the experience of going to a con without leaving your home.
So, here’s a round-up of the Flash-related costume/cosplay photos I’ve found on Flickr from WonderCon and C2E2.
Flash & GL
Psykitten Pow as the Flash and Mia Ballistic as Green Lantern at WonderCon (previously seen in this costume at San Diego 2010), photo by LynxPics. They were part of a much bigger group, which is up next after the cut.