In 1970, the first Comic Con was held in San Diego, and since then nerds have been flocking to these safe havens for geek culture and for decades. Not all cons are created equal though. The big ones like San Diego or New York have huge panels of different companies selling  different types of things, from toys to games to statues. The only problem with these larger cons is the amount of people. There is thousands and thousands of people all condensed into a very small area. One smaller con that took place recently is the Long Beach Comic Con.

Unlike the larger cons, which are more company focused, Long Beach seemed to be more artist focused. About half of the floor was dedicated to individual artists. There was mostly a lot of prints of original art, paintings and business cards that actually looked really nice. Some that really stood out though were the wood burner and the blacksmith. The wood burner was a guy who burned designs into wood and stained the outside and the blacksmith sold custom blades and armor. They were both a tad pricy, especially the blacksmith, but they were really impressive.

Comic cons have in a way becomes synonymous with very heavy nerd culture, and in ways that’s somewhat true, but it is becoming more accessible to people that aren’t super heavy into everything that goes on there. If you have any interest in movies, games, and pop culture, you’ll find something you’d love at comic con. The smaller ones aren’t expensive too. For a single ticket for a day it was only $30, which isn’t bad compared to other larger cons. If you’re looking for a con to start off with this one is perfect for you.