Didn’t make Comi-Con in San Diego this last summer? Head on over to the LA Convention Center today, Sunday, for the first annual Comikaze. It’s easier than driving three hours to my hometown. From Pasadena, you just have to hop on the Gold Line and transfer over or walk to the LA Convention Center.

This is, according to my husband, just like these conventions used to be–small, with plenty of technical glitches and a bit untidy about getting you the info you want and getting where you want.

Don’t park in the West Hall. I know Comikaze is in the West Hall, but it’s better to park at the South Hall.

Go early, but go with a friend.

Ask questions. By this I mean don’t be a sheeple and stand in just any line. On Saturday morning there was a long line that made a loop around the lobby. It was one of two lines that led to the will-call. The line for buying tickets for the day was much shorter. Maybe it will be different on Sunday. Who knows. By going to the front of the line (and leaving my husband in line), I found out that one of the ticket sales lines became a will-call line. That cut our wait considerably.

Then there was a line that was supposedly to get into the convention itself. That didn’t make sense either. By following the line, I learned that most of these people were standing in the wrong line and by going down the steps to Kentia Hall, we got in a very short and fast-moving line into the actual Comikaze.

We saw a trailer and an extended preview for a movie called “Shadows” with Cary Elwes and William Hurt. Neither Hurt nor Elwes were there, but the director/writer John Penney was. The “room” wasn’t well marked and was only a space partitioned off with curtains. There was no way of darkening the lights, so the images weren’t easy to see and the dialogue was hard to hear over the din of the rest of the convention. On the up side, you got to ask questions and speak with Penney.

The lines to the artists were short. Ian got more art than he originally thought he would (three as opposed to one). He also spoke with some celebrities such as Bobby Clark who played Gorn in the original Star Trek TV series and Virgina Hey who played Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan in the Australian-American TV series “Farscape.”

Also appearing at this first Comikaze were Erik Estrada (“CHiP’s”), Morgan Fairchild (“Falcon Crest” and “Friends”), Tippi Hendren (“Birds”), Tim Russ, Robert Beltran and Jennifer Lien (“Star Trek: Voyager”). For most things there wasn’t such a line except if you wanted to get something signed by Stan Lee. There was also a moderate line for Elvira.

Steampunk fashions were full steam ahead. I even got a lovely purple corset (long underbust if you must know) from Damsel in this Dress, a San Francisco-based company. They have an incredible selection of sizes.

A woman who attends Victorian balls, steampunk affairs and comic book conventions really does need a corset, or a lot of spandex. There were some very cool costumes, go anywhere costumes (Captain Jack Sparrow seems to pop up at Disney conventions, Star Wars conventions and even comic book conventions), Otaku costumes, I-want-to-be-my-own-superhero/animation/anyone-but-me costumes, and half-hearted costumes (kitty or other animal ears).

We visited the League of STEAM, a group we would love to join. They were curiously close to PETA2. If you don’t know, League of STEAM has a real love of leather.

Besides Steampunk, there’s a great love for zombies, more so than for vampires.

We brought out own food and water to avoid eating expensive fast food and waiting in even more lines.

One question we weren’t able to answer is why the octopus? Wouldn’t you expect some reference to the wind or those fatalistic pilots?

Comikaze continues on Sunday.