Super Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con 2016

That title definitely rolls off the tongue. For posterity, otherwise known as Comikaze, Comikaze Expo, Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, LA Comic Con, and colloquially when explaining, “like SDCC but it’s Stan Lee’s”.

But we’re back after a SLLACC hiatus last year! Speaking of name changes, this is our first public con appearance with the newly minted, no mess with the S (no S = no hope?) Destiny Pizza crew (though technically, it was just Questiny Pizza).

I’ve come to enjoy the elbow room of less crowded cons such as this one (I imagine this is how SDCC used to feel). I enjoy the spacious setup of the area outside the exhibit floor and the outdoor area as both are huge areas for cosplay admiring (way better than SDCC’s mess of an entryway). My mission this year included: attending a panel, getting a free t-shirt, getting free pins, and only spending money on something I absolutely must have (like some super cool D&D dice). At this point, having attended once before, we (I) clearly felt as if we knew what we were doing. Nonetheless, there’s always that feeling of anticipation intermingling with overwhelmedness (I looked it up, this is a real word). It was also Cynthia’s (aka probie) first time, so there’s also secondhand excitement there.

Destiny Pizza #squadgoals

Friday

Friday, essentially preview night, gave us a few hours to explore the convention floor, check out all the booths, and enjoy the ambience. We saw some booths we recognized from last time, and some from SDCC were there as well. But overall, a lot of new and novel vendors/artists there this year. The Riot LA booth got me a free shirt and a free pin, so that’s a win-win already.

This year, they had moved the Hot Topic Main Stage to the far right, switching places with the autograph lines. At first, it seemed odd, as I liked the idea of walking the floor and then going to the Stage when we saw something going on- this way, it seemed more accessible since it was in the middle of the floor. In retrospect, it made a lot more sense in terms of crowd control.

We headed home at close and decided which panels we wanted to see over the weekend. There was so much crossover, we’d definitely not be able to get to everything we wanted.

Final Suicide Squad Harley Quinn count: 20+
Age range: all over the fucking map

Questiny through the Tardis

Saturday

Saturday, in which Brian does not wake up in time and has prior commitments later in the day so he misses it completely, sucked because I wasn’t there was fun and crowded, I assume. Our committed trio got a Stan Lee sighting at the Luke Cage panel and I’m also super jealous of the Candice Patton, Shantel VanSanten, and Danielle Panabaker sightings at the Flash panel. They also attended: The Beginner DM (where they had their hand in the complicated art of D&D DMing), Pinky & the Brain, Kings of Con (for Supernatural stars), Cary Elwes, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, and the Screenwriting for Animation panels.

The Flash panel at the Hot Topic Main Stage

Cary Elwes at the Hot Topic Main Stage

Dhruv also got a couple customized art pieces of his face. I really want a wall of just art of Dhruv from other artists for the studio now.

Day 3: in which you can see my soul is tired af

Sunday

I woke up on time, y’all.

I was super excited to go to a panel today- the most important panel for me: The Race & Diversity [& Inclusion] in Comics & Entertainment panel. Luckily, but also unfortunately, uncrowded and we got to sit front row without waiting. I teared up for sure listening to the panelists while also taking notes (thanks Dhruv for the best idea ever!). With moderator Jordan B. Gorfinkel, panelists included comic writer Brandon Easton, freelance artist Lak Lim, and actors Phil LaMarr, Ritesh Rajan, and Aly Mawji. There was enlightening (at one point, heated) discussion, definitely with some new perspectives; all of it interesting. I guess I could have listened to a panel like this forever, but before we knew it, 1.5 hours had passed.

Race & Diversity in Comics & Entertainment panel

As for the rest of the time, a couple of us made some final purchases before leaving early. At this point, I was dead tired anyway and didn’t see anything I absolutely really truly madly deeply wanted to buy, so I decided no purchases for me this year. We didn’t get to sample any of the food trucks available, but they did look delicious. Parking was interesting, especially when you park off site or there’s a marathon going on blocking a lot of roadways.

Overall (though I wasn’t there Saturday), I can say my experience was a lot more relaxing than last time (or other cons in general). It was nice to be able to just chill out; there wasn’t really any mad rush for things and it wasn’t too crowded for my liking.

There were definitely amazing cosplays this year. I think my favorite cosplay I saw was Terra from Birth by Sleep, with lights and steam and spinning gears. The cosplayer said it took him over a year to complete. It was really cool!

Terra cosplay, cosplayer unknown. Please contact for cosplay credit, click through for picture credit.

Some white dude dressed as another white dude?? jkjk
Tony Stark cosplay, cosplayer unknown. Please contact for cosplay credit.

Another fun Halloween weekend at SLLACC in the books. Thanks for reading, until next time!

Brian Le
brian@destinypizzas.com
Twitter: @btabsays
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