Gallery & Recap: Stan Lee’s Comikaze 2014

This was Hall H‘s first time at Stan Lee’s Comikaze and it did not disappoint (c’mon…it’s Stan Lee…nuff said). Though we could only attend on Saturday, we had an ample amount of time to get a solid introduction to Comikaze’s 4th Expo.

Being based in San Diego, we didn’t have to traverse too far. While we encountered some rain (and a cool double rainbow) along the way, the whole trip took about 2 hours and we arrived at 9am, when the doors opened. We were thoroughly surprised to find so much underground parking available.

Being accustomed to the cramped aisles at San Diego Comic-Con, we were dumbstruck with the amount of space allotted for the aisles at the Los Angeles Convention Center (South Exhibit Hall to be exact). You could have probably parked an Avengers quinjet inside any one of the aisles. Even later in the day, when it got busier, there was still room to walk around and do the Ickey Shuffle if you wanted to.

At San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, we were bummed that we weren’t able to attend Tony Kim‘s “Battle for Multicultural Heroes” panel. We were so glad when we found out that Comikaze had decided to put it on the schedule. Besides Tony, Tamara Brooks (Writer for MisfitsOfScifi.com) and Crystal Clark (Writer for GeekPinata.com) also participated in a lively discussion that ranged from the lack of Asian male heroes / lead roles (let’s see…Bruce Lee, George Takei, John Cho…Bruce Lee…doh!) to the controversies surrounding the replacing of traditionally white male superheroes (Captain America, Thor, Spiderman) with a minority or female. If you didn’t get a chance to see it at Comikaze (or at another Con or Expo) here is video from WonderCon 2014 earlier this year.

We also had a chance to attend Meghan Camarena‘s (Strawburry17) panel, “Broadcast Your Nerdiness.” Funny and witty, the Amazing Race alum provided some helpful insights on how to take your nerd hobby to the next level.

Hall H is passionate about supporting and promoting artists. It was refreshing to see Artist Alley have a large presence at Comikaze. We came across a few that we will definitely start to keep track of (you should too) such as Bamboota, Irene Flores, Livio Ramondelli, Jessica Gaona and Melissa Pagluicia to name a few (what are you waiting for…go check them out!).

The Game of Thrones interview was hosted by Adrianne Curry (who showcased a well rounded knowledge of the show and books) and featured show stars, Gwendoline Christie, Alfie Allen and Esme Bianco. The repartee between host, stars and fans provided a good time for all.

Howie Mandel also dropped by and broke some news about Bobby’s World  – check out the  video of it. Did you know he was the voice of Gizmo on the classic 80’s movie, The Gremlins?

Perhaps the best part of the day – and the most endearing, was The Man himself, spending a few minutes with us to talk about some new projects, like The Zodiac Legacy. He even shared a few little known stories about his time with the U.S. Army, during WWII  – here is a video of it.

Excelsior!

Photos courtesy of Aaron Nabus