Event Recap: L.A. Comic Con 2018 - Nightmarish Conjurings

The L.A. Comic Con, formerly known as Stan Lee’s Comic Con, is a 3-day event held downtown at the Los Angeles Convention Center, from October 26 to October 28, 2018.

They had 100,000 attendees in 2017, with over 700 artists, vendors, toys, comics, art, and cosplay. The gala-event hosts several genres and sub-interests, such as: horror, sci-fi, anime, comics, gaming, wrestling, television, film, and pop culture. The con in 2018 was teaming with nerds, weirdos, goths, goons, geeks, normies, families, horror fans, and a throng of talented cosplay artists in full make-up and gear.

The cosplay was on fire, there were so many horror icons and favorites on display: Michael Myers, Jason, Barrel, harlequins, demons, dia de los Muertos dolls, a sassy Regan from The Exorcist, and the Nun from The Conjuring universe. I think I saw Jack White, but in retrospect, it could have been Jack Skellington without his mask. Everyone was so incredibly polite! I asked many of them for a photo and each person graciously stopped and posed for one, I was humbled by how sincere and dedicated each of them were to their particular fandom. Cosplay rules!

There was a Hot Topic booth with a long line for exclusives: Marvel Glow-in-the-Dark Doctor Strange Ghost Rider, an X-Men Chrome X-Force Colossus, and a Hot Topic Girl Pop! Vinyl, but when I arrived they were sold out, except for the Hot Topic Girl. I found the Suicide Girls booth straight away, but it was covered with photographers, so I couldn’t ask them any questions, like: Do you miss the 90’s? Can I be a Homicide Girl? or Do those baby bangs hurt?

So, I headed straight to my favorite place, the Horror section, of course, presented by Fangoria, which featured booths with pins, posters, and T-shirts, but I didn’t buy anything because I already own fifty or so, black, horror T-shirts, and the only poster I’m dying to have anymore, is a French 1986 original Manhunter poster, which I’ve tracked down on Ebay, although I haven’t sprung for it yet. But I still like to browse, because you never know what you may find.

I found a cool poster of Vampira in an almost empty lot, which made me blue, thinking of lost history. In the 80’s, there was a battle between the horror ladies, and Vampira (Maila Nurmi) accused Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) of stealing her look, which admittedly, is somewhat true or coincidental, considering that the original Vampira aired in the late 50’s, way before Elvira. But I love them both and I don’t want to take sides. It makes me sad to think how Vampira has been forgotten, more or less, when she was one of the original horror goddesses, but…Elvira is so naturally funny! At any rate, I love Vampira, so I snagged a photo of her for posterity. There can be two horror goddesses, not just one.

The con was packed with panels from early morning to late afternoon, it was impossible to visit them all, though they had an impressive selection for horror fans, such as: GeekFest Presents: Women of Horror, Crypt TV’s Monsters in the Woods, and the Blumhouse Fear Initiative, a weekly, horror role-playing game podcast.

There was even a panel called, “Buffy Kills Edward: The Web Series,” a musical about an hypothetical crossover between Buffy and the Twilight universe; since I’m a raving Edward Cullen fan, I was excited to know that it even existed, but I was sidetracked by a Spider-Man dance-fight on the main floor that ended in a draw.

Tommy Wiseau was there for The Room: Q&A with Cult Classic Director and Actor, Tommy Wiseau, which marks L.A. Comic Con as a swank festival in my eyes, I love Tommy Wiseau’s unbreakable spirit. After eating a cup of freshly cut fruit and cucumber sold by vendors outside, I headed back in to check out the Prospect: Q&A with the Cast and Crew of the Gripping New Sci Fi Movie.

The Prospect film panel featured Jay Duplass, Sophie Thatcher, and the writers and directors of the film, Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl. Prospect is a sci-film film about a teenage girl who travels to an alien moon to make money with her father, but things go wrong, they go very wrong, indeed.

The panel glossed over the philosophical meaning of the film or the production design of the world, and dove into how the project was initiated. Duplass signed on after he saw Thatcher’s tape, because she possessed an otherworldly quality, rare in L.A. ingenues. Pedro Pascal, who played Oberyn in Game of Thrones, is also in the film, and he may very well be playing a bad guy. I love the baddies!

Duplass said he was eager to work with the writer-directors after seeing a sci-fi short they made on low-budget. He also said that he picks projects based on vibes, which is good to know, so don’t be annoying or self-obsessed. Good advice for social dynamics. Either way, it was an inspiring panel for aspiring independent sci-fi writers and directors out there, hoping to break into the industry.

(L-R) Jay Duplass, Sophie Thatcher, Christopher Caldwell, Zeek Earl

Prospect opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on November 2nd, and nationwide starting November 8th from Gunpowder & Sky sci-fi label, DUST. For more information on the The L.A. Comic Con festival, please check out the website: https://www.comicconla.com.