Guest Comikaze Expo Report By Andrew Nguyen

Above, Andrew takes control in the Enterprise's captain's chair at Comikaze Expo.

Last month, I participated in a panel on Pacific Rim and Godzilla at the 2013 Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Kaiju fan Andrew Nguyen attended the show and panel and he has written a report on his experience. I am happy to post it here for your enjoyment along with some of his photographs.

Text and Photos by Andrew Nguyen

On Friday, November 1, 2013, the annual Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  Starting up in November 2011 as Comikaze, the expo earned notoriety the next year when it entered into a partnership with Stan Lee, which resulted in the name change of the expo to its present state.  It has also entered into partnership with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. It focuses on a wide variety of science fiction entertainment with guests from legacy series to the newest science fiction and horror shows as well as artists, writers, and people who work behind the scenes.

Above, a giant robot greets attendees in the L.A. Convention Center lobby.

Arriving around 12:30 pm, I made my way into the LA Convention Center where small groups of people were already arriving along with impressive equipment, particularly props from Stan Winston Studios. After getting my ticket, I headed up to the main exhibit hall where they had already started letting people inside as the festivities commenced. Among the companies present at the expo was IDW publishing, which had invited several people who worked on their Godzilla comics to the convention.

Above, Edward James Olmos and Andrew.

Although I had looked through some of the booths in the exhibit hall, I quickly made my way to the autograph section where booths had already been set up for the main guests to meet with the fans. Two of them were at the top of my list, Edward James Olmos and Michael Hogan. Both were main stars on the re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA television series and Mr. Olmos had further experience with sci-fi courtesy of working on BLADE RUNNER and VIRUS (復活の日 Fukkatsu no hi), a film directed by Kinji Fukusaku.

Above, Comikaze Expo is given two thumbs up by Michael Hogan and Andrew.

I looked around the rest of the area including playing several old games before I headed to the panels. Along the way, I met Armand Vaquer who was the author of the book “The Monster Movie Fan’s Guide to Japan” as well as one of the many I’ve known who worked with G-fan magazine for nine years, including working with tours in Japan that G-fan hosted as well as other Godzilla related events. He had participated in panels at previous Comikaze’s and was doing so again, this time in a panel titled: "From Robots to Monsters: A look into Pacific Rim and Godzilla."

Above, a packed room for the "Godzilla" and "Pacific Rim" panel.

Hosting the panel was Jessica Tseang who was the host of “The Kaiju Kingdom Podcast” and the author of the books “The Comic Book Girl” and “Girl on Geek”. The other panelists included Tom Franck, Chris Eason, Bill Janczenwski, Scott Zillman, and Frank Woodward, all of which were involved in matters dealing with movie monsters.  In addition to the seven hosts present, there were supposed to be two more people participating, Max Borenstein and Robert Scott Field. Max Borenstein is the scriptwriter for the new Godzilla film while Robert Scott Field who was an actor living in Japan and had worked on GODZILLA vs. KING GHIDORAH as the android M-11. Unfortunately, technical difficulties developed that prevented Robert Scott from participating while Mr. Borenstein did participate although in a limited capacity. For the panel, the audience took up the entire provided room space and some stood in the back of the room.

The summary of the panel dealt with details about PACIFIC RIM, its performance while in theaters and the possibilities of a sequel and its chances of success should it get made. A few of the panelists compared the performance of PACIFIC RIM to the first AUSTIN POWERS movie along with the belief that it would have more success on DVD and television. All got their chance to voice their own reactions to when they first saw PACIFIC RIM, which was mostly positive but voiced some complaints on the movie. The conversation then turned to monster movies in general and the hope although a long shot one that they can be a success again.

Eventually as Godzilla was one of the premier giant movie monsters, the conversation of the panelists turned to the influence Godzilla had on all of them to which they all agreed the monster had a very importance influence on them. The panelists then gave their own answers when asked what they hope for the new film to which Miss Tseang would pass on to Mr. Borenstein. While all expressed hope that the film would be good, a few interesting answers included an eventually PACIFIC RIM crossover and to (perhaps a very long shot) make the new Godzilla movie like the Batman movie THE DARK KNIGHT. A unanimous answer was the hope that it would be nothing like the 1998 Godzilla. The panel then wrapped things up with the panelists informing the audience where to find them at the convention along with gifts they handed out and two Q and A.

Above, a "Godzilla vs. Wolfman" poster.

After the panel finished, I talked with the panelists about what I discussed earlier with them. While leaving, I ran into Mark Jaramillio as he gave out several posters of the fan film GODZILLA VS. WOLFMAN. I talked with him about the prospects of the film seeing the light of day considering Toho Studios’s legendary capricious reputation in lawsuits relating to intellectual property. While handing out posters to Mr. Vaquer as well as Miss Tseang, he did mention that the people working on bringing the film out had help from several individuals that had worked at Toho Studios in a high-level capacity.

After saying my goodbyes to Armand, I headed back to the exhibit hall to take a look around a bit more. Alongside that, I talked a bit more with Mr. Olmos and Mr. Hogan about the works I’ve seen them on, particularly of course BATTLESTAR GALACTICA as well as with Mr. Olmos about his time on VIRUS, noting the scenes that he was in during the movie. Besides that, I toured exhibit hall where I encountered fellow AX and PMX officials as well as listening in as AMC talked about recent movie news with the gist of it being the reaction to the news about Ben Affleck becoming the new Batman in the planned Batman/Superman film.

Above, Darth Vader patrols the aisles making sure people are well-behaved.

Before leaving, I surprisingly ran into Mr. Richard Anderson, who people know from the “SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN” but I knew him from “TORA, TORA, TORA” and to a lesser extent “GETTYSBURG”.  I ran into him a few years ago at an autograph signing and had no idea about him being present at this expo. As before, the discussions turned to “TORA, TORA, TORA” and of his scenes in the film.

Overall, it was an interesting experience and perhaps if I plan to do a return visit, I should make plans for a longer stay.