It’s another year, so time for another Stan Lee’s Comikaze. The ever-growing comic convention took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center for its 5th year. There was plenty to do over the 3 day span of the event, that it may be impossible to do everything! Perusing the convention floor alone can take up the whole weekend. Let’s take a look at what I was able to do for the weekend.

On Friday, I made sure to make a few rounds at the plentiful booths that sell comics. If you’ve seen that picture set with convention goers, I’m definitely the guy who goes to these and still buys comics. I went to the many comic book stands, searching for the ones with the “50% off Trade Paperbacks” signs. The good thing about this con, is that there are plenty of stands with signs like this. I spent a good part of my first day rummaging through a stand with lots of long boxes filled with various books. I’ve made my biggest discovery at a con to date. I found a bigger TPB that I’ve been looking for, forever! Not only that, I found it in a 50% off bin! The book in question is Matt Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist vol. 1. What a find!

After digging through all of the longboxes at that booth, I proceeded on to take advantage of the smaller Friday crowd and continued shopping. I found another good booth, this time with $1 Marvel Secret Wars Tie-ins/variants/misc. recent books. I probably picked up 20 issues from this booth over the course of the weekend. I even found a final issue of Deadpool sitting in there, MSRP $9!

With a bag filled with books, I noticed that celebrities and cosplayers were nowhere to be found, in the West Hall that is. Unknown to my knowledge, the convention opened up to two halls this year. These missing booths were actually located in the South Hall, so I went that direction. I wanted to see what was happening on the Hot Topic Main Stage, and at the time, there was a fashion show in progress. There were cosplay designers showing off their collections on various cosplayers. After watching for a bit, I decided to see what else was in the South Hall.

The South Hall housed all of the creative company’s, cosplayers, celebrities, with a little retail sprinkled in. Wandering around, I got to see a couple of familiar cosplayers like Vampybitme, Riddle, and Stella Chu. On the other end of the hall, you’ll find a line up of replica vehicles like the Delorean, Jurassic Park Jeep, and the Flinstone Mobile. After covering some things from the South Hall, I attended a panel and the first day was already done.

Saturday was the big day for everything. For 3-day cons, it’s usually the most densely populated in terms of attendees and activities to do. When I first arrived, I went straight to the Hot Topic Mainstage to capture some footage of one of the featured guests, Summer Glau. She offered the audience an insight into her work on Firefly and Terminator. In addition to more well-noted celebrities at the con, there were a lot more cosplayers showing off their work.

I roamed the halls and lobby to capture some of the cosplayers as their characters. Throughout the day, I saw a wide variety of costumes. From video games, television shows, comics, and movies, you can probably spot your favorite character at the convention. Later in the day, the convention held their annual cosplay contests.

First up was the junior/youth division. There was plenty of talent there for their ages. Some even went above and beyond and brought a vehicle to accompany their costume. In addition to their costumes, they sold their characters by acting them out. Shortly after winners were picked, it was time for the adult division.

Because this is a national competition, some of the best were present to show of their work. The emcee himself was dressed up as a believable Mugatu from Zoolander. Everyone brought their A-game. There were detailed dresses, armor sets, and even huge costumes like the Hulk-buster and Warhammer Marine. After seeing all of the contestants, I decided to go do a little more shopping.

Aside from a few more comics, I wanted to get a few toys for my sister and my self. Coming from the Cosplay contest, I only had about 15 minutes to conduct my search. I mainly ran to a few of the stands that dealt Pop! Funko to add some to my collection. I ended up at this large stand that took card (because I ran out of money for the day), and started to look around. I got some of the cool looking ones with visors (i.e. Antman and X-wing Luke) and added Boba Fett, because who doesn’t like him. After seeing the owner restocking Hulkbuster Ironmans, I had to get one for my sister. These things were only to be found in Marvel’s monthly box, but this stand had them, and for cheap. Toys in hand, I went to grab more cosplayer footage and left the convention for the day.

I didn’t plan on going for the last day, but daylight savings convinced me to go. I met more cosplayers and bought more merch. I spent most of the day going up and down artist alley. There was a lot to choose from, the hardest part is finding and choosing what you liked. I ended up picking up some vinyl stickers, buttons, and more stickers. When I free up room at my house, I’ll finally be able to partaken artist prints and illustrations. It’s always nice to support independent artists by buying their work/wares. As Sunday came to a close, so did the convention.

I had a great time this weekend, even if I didn’t go with any friends this time around. There is plenty to do and never enough time to see it all! If you’re new to comics, or a veteran collector, or simply curious, there’s something for everyone here. The same goes for if you’ve gone to all the conventions, or new to them, Stan Lee’s Comikaze is for anyone. The convention grows every year, so you should check it out next time it comes around.