Category: Cons

April 21 / / Cons

The Shortboxed crew was able to check out the last Big Wow Comicfest in San Jose, California, before the reins are bestowed onto Stan Lee and Steve Wozniak next year. We weren’t able to go for both days, but Saturday showcased an awesome variety of cosplayers, including one of our own, Jeremy Dizon, and his twin brother, Kevin, Kevin’s wife, Stephanie, their best friend, Jason, and their little Shortboxers, Ethan, Mason, and Aiden! Enjoy the professional pics taken by Shortboxed friend, Jason Tong. Let us know which ones are your favorites in the comments below or on twitter!

April 9 / / Cons

If there was one comic book convention that you have to visit to boost your nerd street cred, then that’s easily San Diego Comic-Con or SDCC, for short. Most people will comment how crowded this convention is and how difficult it is to obtain tickets to the show. But what most people don’t understand is the commitment that countless nerds go through each year to ensure they walk the convention floor or sit in the elusive Hall H. I’m going to give a short run down on my journey back to SDCC 2015 after a year away, caring for my nerd-in-training baby boy, Aiden.

Boromir-Meme

As a fan of this convention, there’s sort of an insanity that comes with trying to go to the show every year. If you were lucky enough to go to the show the previous year, SDCC started a Pre-Registration period where those guests can attempt to get badges for the following year. The caveat is you are required to keep last year’s badge and input your unique ID into the system. This is the first chance guests have to get the 4-day plus Preview Night badges that almost always sells out first. Now, the entire stock of tickets aren’t sold during this period because they need to allocate supply for the Open Registration period which allows anyone try for badges as well as both the Creative and Trade Professional registration periods.

April 2 / / Cons

We were lucky enough to make the trip up from San Francisco to the Pacific Northwest to attend Emerald City Comicon for the first time – and it was definitely worth it. Considered part of the “Big 3” of comic book conventions among San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con, it drew over 80,000 attendees from all over the country (and even overseas). It’s not just comic books, however, but all things comic book and pop culture related – dealers, panels, celebrities, gaming, creators, cosplay and more. We managed to soak all of it up, and had a blast!

We wanted to attend ECCC for several reasons, but mainly because we’ve never been before and we’ve been to nearly every California convention already. While our main focus is comic books (obviously), we still like to attend panels, meet celebrities, do some gaming and sometimes cosplay ourselves. If comic book conventions are buffets, we like to sample a bit of every dish.

In this recap and review, we touch on different aspects of the show:

April 1 / / Cons
March 10 / / Cons

This long-running toys and collectibles show in San Jose, CA is all about the toys, but it’s not without comics. There’s something telling about their website that contains no css – if you think about it, it’s very fitting. It says, “We are old school, we are vintage, we are pre-1995 and we’re keeping it that way.” At least we don’t have to mail in cash or checks to pre-order our tickets!

February 9 / / Cons

Back before people camped out overnight to watch a panel with the cast of Twilight, people used to go to comic book conventions to buy comic books. Crazy, right?

Cal Comic Con is an event for comic book collectors, by comic book collectors. It’s an old school style con in every sense – there are no movie trailers, celebrity panels, video game demos, exclusive toys or cosplayers, just lots and lots of comic books.

V__E374

The Shortboxed crew decided to take a little road trip and drive down from San Francisco, CA to Orange County, CA to check out this show for ourselves, and it was everything we imagined it would be.

Hosted for one day in the Yorba Linda Community Center, it’s very unassuming and bare bones. It’s technically more of an expo (dealer showroom) than a full blown convention – over 30 dealers filled up 2 rooms and an outdoor patio. Some of the largest and most well-known dealers on the West Coast attend this show, and for good reason – all the attendees are hardcore comic book collectors looking for hard-to-find books or to fill gaps in their collection. This is the best show to buy comic books.

January 28 / / Cons

logo_lbce_large

It’s easy to forget that, in the comic industry (and everywhere else, for that matter), we still need to fight for diversity. We’ve featured a few different creators that keep diversity top of mind, and we wanted to highlight an event where you can go to hear about diversity in the comic industry. If you’re going to Long Beach Comic Expo, this one’s for you.

November 26 / / Cons