Long Beach Comic Expo brings out the creativity

The City of Long Beach hosted the annual Long Beach Comic Expo on Feb. 16-17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center.

Cosplayers, exhibitors, artists, and former LBCC students attended the two day event.

Former LBCC students, Eric Coffman and Shannon Howe, attended the event as members of the 501st Legion, an organization that raises money to support charities such as Make A Wish, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, and walk events that support research funds for diseases such as autism and alzheimer’s.

“We go to the hospital to see them (the children) when they are sick and can’t come outside. They just wanna see a superhero you know. We go in there in our nerd suits and we are crying on the inside of the buckets but on the outside you know the kids are loving us,” Howe said.

According to their website, 501st.com, the organization has raised a total of $800,800 for charities.

While attending LBCC, Howe majored in costuming and uses the skills she learned for the school in her job as a seamstress.

Golden Apple Comics attended the event and brought new comic books to intrigue a younger audience.

Rey Wilde who works for Golden Apple Comics understands how important it is bringing in more people, after Meltdown Comics, the biggest comic book store in the West Coast closed last year.

Cosplayer Jesse Olivia, who attended LBCC for one semester as a film major dropped out due to financial issues.

“I had to get a job, which was easy, but it was incredibly boring, and so I’ve always liked cosplayers, and a few years ago I decided to go for it at Los Angeles Comic Con,” Olivia said.

Former liberal arts major Eleana Diaz, attended comic con to promote the upcoming Marvel movie Captain Marvel.

Diaz and her coworkers, Josh Petersen and Paul Diaz,work with a third party company called Allied, the company was contracted by Marvel Studios to promote their movie.

“People here are very very excited about Captain Marvel and this new movie in this universe and this new character in this universe that hasn’t been introduced yet and the excitement really helps to get me more excited to work,” Petersen said

The company has worked to promote other movies such as Teen Titans, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Mary Poppins.

“We just do promotion events for different movies and different events. It is really cool to come out here to promote different Marvel and Disney movies. It is pretty cool, pretty unique opportunities,”  said Petersen.

James Mathis III also attended the event, Mathis is the recurring voice of Black Panther on Marvel animated shows and video games.

“I love doing the voice of King T’Challa and I’ve been doing him before he came out in the movies and when the movie did come out it’s even more awesome when I tell someone I’m the voice of Black Panther,” Mathis said.

Artist, vendors, voice actors, and cosplayers, will have the opportunity to come back to the Long Beach Convention Center on Aug. 31 – Sept. 1, for the semi annual Long Beach Comic Con.

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