Audrey T. 

Girl Reporter

This year I attended Long Beach Comic Con on September 2nd as a Girl Scout Reporter for San Gorgonio Council. Long Beach Comic Con is a fun filled event, that includes artists, creative cosplay contestants, and a unique comic book authors. In 2016, Long Beach Comic Con was host to over 500 Girl Scouts, from Daisies to Ambassadors! The most well known Comic Con is Comic-Con International in San Diego, which has been around since March 21, 1970 and is held every year while Long Beach Comic Con was first introduced on October 2, 2009. This year, Long Beach Comic Con added an additional awesome feature to Comic Con, a Space Expo exhibit encouraging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) by demonstrating the wonders of engineering.

My first visit was to a comic book booth, which displayed a first edition comic book called Niobe. Niobe is a love story with elements of mystery and murder. The co-author and artist of the comic book, Amandla Stenberg, explained that Niobe features the first female African American central character in a comic book that is nationally distributed. Niobe was inspired by Rue from the Hunger Games, Rue was played by actress Amandla Sternberg. 

Next stop was the cosplay booths. There were so many interesting and detailed costumes all around the event. My personal favorite out of them all was Super Girl. I picked Super Girl because she reminds me of being strong and fearless in life. Something new I learned was that, even kids can do cosplay too. The kids there, mainly cosplayed as mini versions of superheroes and as anime characters.

My last stop was the artist booths. I observed many artists drawing live, some of them using iPads. At one of the artist booths, a professional artist, Hannah Webb, who adds shocking facial expressions to cartoon characters we all love. Her funniest moment as an artist at ComiCon was when a little girl saw one of her drawings, a disfigured Mickey Mouse, and said “That’s cold” and walked away.

Next, I went to a booth where I met the artist Catherine Kim, who had been drawing since High School. I thought it was great to have that much practice and that she still enjoyed her passion. Her favorite part about being an artist is finishing a project and seeing people’s reactions.

Overall, the Long Beach Comic Con was amazing especially for anybody who’s loves comics, art, and cosplay. There was so much to do and see and I am already looking forward to next year! I most enjoyed how Comic Con brings all pop culture fans to one place to share common passions. So if you’re interested in STEM or you just want to buy a few collectible comic books or would love to see some amazing art, then you should definitely go to Long Beach Comic Con for an an amazing experience.