CNN iReport

While San Diego may boast having the largest comic book convention in the western hemisphere, it seems appropriate that the entertainment capital of the world would have one of its own in the Los Angeles area. The 1st annual Long Beach Comic Con sought to fill that void with its inaugural show this past weekend.

With an estimated attendance of 7000, this fledgling event was much smaller than its bigger brother in San Diego, but it still attracted an impressive lineup of industry professionals. Better yet, the cozy nature of the event had the benefit of making the guests surprisingly accessible to all the attendees.

The short video includes some advice from some of the top professionals in the industry to young hopefuls with dreams of making it big. The featured individuals include artist Carlos D'Anda, artist J. Scott Campbell, IDW special projects editor Scott Dunbier, DC Comics VP of sales Bob Wayne, and writer/artist Jimmy Palmiotti. For still images from the event, click here.

For more information, visit LongBeachComicCon.com.

Note: The cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was actually being performed live in the Long Beach Marina during the convention. All of the video was recorded with an iPod Nano 5G.