Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo 2014 A Newbie’s Overview

This past weekend, I attended Stan Lee’s Comikaze held in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center.  This is a fairly new con with Stan Lee only adding his name to it beginning in 2011.  I had heard about problems with ridiculously long and slow-moving lines for obtaining your con badge upon arrival a few years ago, but that wasn’t a problem this year. I took public transportation to get to the Convention Center because I didn’t want to deal with rush hour traffic AND pay ridiculous parking fees.  I still arrived at around 9am to get my multi-day badge.  Badge distribution was scheduled to begin at 11am with Comikaze officially opening at 1pm. I managed to get my badge by 11:15am and headed out into downtown to get breakfast since I still had almost 2 hours until the con officially opened.

 As the first day of the con was on Halloween, they really pushed their “kids under 12 years old free with paid adult” to encourage attendance.  They also had a kids costume contest and trick-or-treating at the booths on the exhibit floor.  

Stairs leading to exhibit hall floor

I have only been to San Diego Comic-Con twice and WonderCon in Anaheim the past three years and wasn’t sure what to expect.  First, Comikaze is really in it’s infancy, but I believe this is the first year that they had any “big” entertainment names such as Gwendoline Christie and Alfie Allen both from Game of Thrones.  Jewel Staite (Firefly) and John Barrowman (Torchwood, Arrow) were also in attendance for photo opportunities and autographs.  John Barrowman was the only one I saw who had a panel (and he had two).

Me standing in front of the enormous Baymax in the entry pavillion.

I had a friend visiting from Reno on Friday, so we spent the day walking around the exhibit floor as there weren’t any panels I was interested in that day.  First difference from SDCC and WonderCon was the extra wide aisles down the center of the hall (at the end of which was the Hot Topic Main Stage) and all along the walls.  Friday was a school day for most Los Angeles area schools, and the crowds, or lack thereof, reflected it.  

Center Aisle towards Hot Topic Stage – Photo Taken on 11/2

Center Aisle (Hot Topic Stage in background – Photo Taken on 11/2

There were 4 or 5 food trucks parked just outside the entrance to the South Hall on the large concourse, and there were many more food trucks parked across the street in one of the smaller parking lots. I never made it over there so I\’m not sure how many trucks, but it looked like there were at least a dozen trucks in that lot.

Concourse area – Photo Taken on 11/2

Concourse area – Photo Taken on 11/2

There was also a very large area of tables and chairs near the concessions inside the exhibit area.  

Lots of tables and chairs and empty space on the exhibit floor – Photo taken on 11/1

Overall, it’s a very relaxed atmosphere with plenty of staff around (not sure if they were Comikaze or LACC staff) holding up signs to answer your questions.

Here is some of what I saw the 3 days, and I will post recaps of the John and Carol Barrowman panel from Saturday, November 1, and John’s solo panel on Sunday in another post.

Jurassic Park Jeep – Photo taken on 10/31

Photo taken on 10/31

Life-size Thor – Photo Taken 10/31

Life-size Rocket Raccoon, Hulk and Thor – Photo taken 10/31

Life-size Iron Man, Captain America, and Iron Man – Taken on 10/31

Rocket Raccoon!

Spiderman!

Hulk really looked menacing!

The following pictures are from Stan Lee’s Museum (I forgot the actual name of the museum).  Almost all of the props were signed by Stan Lee or others.

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Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet!

The Infinity Gauntlet

Thor\’s helmet

Mjolnir ( Mew, mew!)

Backside of Mew Mew! – Photo Taken 11/1

Loki’s Helmet

Loki’s Helmet – Side View

Iron Man Statuette

Iron Patriot Statuette

Iron Man Statuette

I really loved the Iron Man helmets

Proof Tony Stark has a heart.

The following pictures were taken on Saturday, November 1.

Considering the names on this case, it’s fairly recent. Some of the signatures: Hayley Atwell, MingNa Wen, Joss Whedon, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Emily VanCamp, and I think I see Brett Dalton.

I have no idea if this is the real hulk cake Duff gave to Stan Lee, but it looks like it!