Comic Con: Cosplay, Comics, and Tattoos
Every year, the Los Angeles (LA) Convention Center hosts more than 125,000 people for one of the city’s largest pop culture conventions: LA Comic Con. This year’s event made full use of the many meeting halls that the venue contains; with the most expansive hall containing the main stage along with numerous vendors and experiences.
The stage featured guest celebrities, voice actors, and hosted the convention's annual Cosplay National Championships (CNC). Some of the most notable guests being Elizabeth Olsen and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Despite the convention itself being massive, the sheer volume of people made it impossible to not feel overwhelmed. The first day of the convention began on Friday, Sept. 26, with doors opening at 1 p.m.
This day seemed to be the calmest out of the entire weekend. Most attendees tend to buy Saturday and Sunday passes due to the amount of panels and guest appearances on these days.
Comic Con features over 800 artists and vendors each year, the majority being in the main hall. Attendees can expect to peruse stalls containing anything from local crystal businesses to limited-edition Batman comics. The Stan Lee experience in particular garnered quite the crowd.
“The goal is just to bring Stan in some way or form to Comic Con,” said Hazel Homer-Wambeam who works for Cartoon Studios,“to talk to his fans, and of course do it in the most effective way possible.”
Friday’s curious mood eventually led us to work up quite an appetite.
If you know anything about these types of conventions, you know that the consequence of skipping breakfast beforehand eventually comes with having to shell out the last $40 in your wallet for a Diet Coke and the average cafeteria chicken and fries combo. After shamefully scarfing down our meals, and peeking into the “Horror Hall”, we decided it would be for the best to call it a day.
Saturday had a completely different atmosphere compared to the almost melancholic pacing of the day before. With a promising start, I decided to cosplay as Cat Woman this day in order to further immerse myself. Having attended conventions and cosplayed before, I knew that part of the shift was due to the fact that I had dressed up.
A key part of Comic Con’s success, and similar conventions, is that adults and children alike can dress up as their favorite characters in a fun, nonjudgmental space. Families, friends, and couples often take the time to coordinate group costumes for the event.
The nation's top cosplayers venture from all over to compete in the CNC at LA Comic Con. Each of the numerous conventions in Southern California host their own championships, with contestants competing for the chance to win $25,000 in cash prizes across three separate divisions. The three categories consist of Novice, Journeyman, and Masters, with “Best In Show” winning the highest cash prize.
Producer and curator Chrissy Lynn of the CNC at LA Comic Con for the past 15 years said, “The prize money, which no one ever knows until the day of… “Best in Show” gets to take home $10,000.”
The criteria for participating and being successful in the CNC is, “I look for head-to-toe… we want every single bit of you made by you.. At least 75%,”said Jacqueline Goehner, the lead judge for the competition. The finals took place on the main stage at 6 p.m. on Saturday, each finalist given a chance to show off their work.
A generalization often made about those who attend events like these is that most attendees are introverted and are most likely to be the quiet, rule-following type. Despite that, the beauty of a convention in this caliber is that people from vastly different walks of life, occupations, and states have the chance to come together with shared interests.
For example, a convention-goer might tell their mom, “Mom, it’s just Comic Con, what kind of trouble could I possibly get into there?” Permanent body modification, to start.
Located in Aisle 600, sat the No Name Tattoo & Art Collective’s booth, a studio offering fandom and non-fandom related flash tattoos to those both willing and financially stable.
Although I am regrettably not the latter, as you may have already guessed, I went ahead and laid down for a lifelong reminder of just how disappointed my Ecuadorian mother will be. Lucky for me, the basic necessities needed for any functioning pop-up tattoo shop were in abundance and it was not long until @solrugama on Instagram was finished with my ‘ink’, and I was free to leave with a slightly sore arm.
While the author of this piece does not promote impulsive decisions regarding permanent and potentially dangerous body modifications, I can not say that I regret mine (sorry, Mom).
Forget about Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) or Knotts Scary Farm, visit LA Comic Con to get chased by IT the Clown. As if my anxiety was not high enough following my impromptu tattoo appointment, we decided to brave our way through the “Horror Hall”. The space had been transformed into what can only be described as a miniature, Comic Con-style version of a visit to HHN.
The hall featured fog machines, a free spooky carnival complete with a maze, and vendors catered towards those with affinities for all things bloody and bone-chilling.
We waited in a brief line at the carnival tent before spending approximately 45 seconds running for our lives in a makeshift maze. The scare actors seemed determined to get at least one of us to pass out- or seriously consider investing in adult diapers.
Completely unrelated to this, we happened to leave shortly after.
After a trip to the laundromat and a good night's rest, we faced our final day at Comic Con with renewed energy. Sunday, Sept. 27, brought lesser crowds similar to those of Friday’s, another stark contrast to Saturday’s crowd.
It was on this last day that we got to speak with the Gaming, Animation and Visual Effects (GAX) club secretary at SMC, Westin Meme. Westin has attended the past three LA Comic Con’s and planned to vlog his weekend for his personal YouTube channel, @westin.meme.
“It’s been pretty fantastic," Westin said, when asked how his experience at the convention center has been thus far. “I’ve also been buying a lot of comics, maybe too much!”
The GAX Club meets on Mondays and Fridays at 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at the Center for Media and Design Campus (CMD). Westin himself majors in 2D animation, and says to “look out” for his upcoming LA Comic Con vlog. “I’m also working on my own comic book which is a big reason I was inspired and drawn to go to the event,” he said.
The convention wound down around 6 p.m., and it was around this time that exhibitors slowly, and somewhat hesitantly, made their way out of the venue. It was clear no one wanted to leave, many stopping just a few feet from the door to take “one last group photo.”
With aching feet, a drained social battery and a fresh tattoo (again, really sorry, Mom) I ended the amazingly chaotic weekend with one thing in mind:
This is what makes LA Comic Con so popular.
Despite recent tragedies in our city, Los Angeles remains steadfast as a melting pot of cultures and creatives. Tourists, native Angelenos and tattooed comic book nerds alike came together this weekend to appreciate everything Los Angeles Comic Con 2025 had to offer.
More information about Comic Con can be found at https://www.comicconla.com/