Third Annual East Bay Comic Con!

​After a long, busy holiday season, it’s good to start of the 2016 con year with a homey, little convention like East Bay Comic Con! The Third Annual East Bay Comic Con was held last Sunday on January 31st at the Concord Hilton. A sister con to bigger, well-known shows like Silicon Valley Comic Con and Sac Con, East Bay Comic Con packed quite a punch for such a little convention!

Hotel/Shuttle:
​Because EBCC was only a single day con, no shuttle service was provided by the convention itself. The Hilton did provide con rate for guests interested in making a weekend out of the experience. 

Registration:
​ Probably the best part of East Bay Comic Con was its registration price! A mere $6 at the door for a full day of panels to check out, two separate rooms of dealers and artists to roam, and a multitude of guests to meet, it’d be silly not to come check out the sites. Advanced registration was not available before the day of the con. The con itself opened at 10, however, I didn’t arrive until a little bit past noon. The line was short and speedy as staff members at the doors processed guests. 

EBCC brought out the Bay Area Ghostbusters!

Convention Space:
​As one would expect of a one day con with an entrance price at $6, the space was small and compact. The main room consisted of a combined artist alley and dealers hall. A unique aspect of EBCC’s artist selection were a few youth artists! One of EBCC’s special guests this year was Ethan Castillo, a prodigious 11 year old artist with an affinity for Spider Man. It was incredibly refreshing to see some younger children selling their art, with the encouraging support of their parents.

Outside the dealers room were tables for EBCC’s guests of honor, which made it incredibly easy to meet and speak with guests! Featured guests of EBCC included PJ Soles, known for her roles in Halloween and Rock ’n Roll High School, and Richard Herd of CSI; Miami, and Star Trek: Voyager.

Like most conventions with relatively tiny floor space, everything felt a little bit crowded; at times, the dealers room aisles would get a little congested, making it difficult for congoers with large costumes to get around. The hotel hallways were also quite narrow, with very little room for con goers to sit down or even stand in case guests wanted pictures. The outdoor center courtyard of the hotel became an unofficial gathering area for cosplay photos; in the middle of winter, it’s cold, cold cold! 

Cosplay:
​For a tiny convention, EBCC cosplayers still managed to have a good time. With the quick approaching release of the new Deadpool movie, Deadpool cosplayers of all genders and sizes roamed the halls all throughout the convention. Likewise, with the growing hype for Suicide Squad’s release, we saw lots of renditions of classic Batman villains, from Suicide Squad mains Joker and Harley Quinn, to other favorites like The Riddler and Poison Ivy. And of course, no convention this year would be complete without Star Wars cosplay (including Matt The Radar Technician, who is DEFINITELY not Kylo Ren). Check out the EBCC photo gallery to see more of the cosplays from the event!

"Have you had your muffin yet?" -Matt the Radar Technician, definitely NOT Kylo Ren

Final Thoughts:
​For $6, EBCC definitely gave me more than I bargained for! A great little homey convention for comic fans of all kinds to gather and have a good time, EBCC gave us that and more. While a little congested at times, I had a fun, relaxing day at EBCC, and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us for their 4th year!

-kasuutan