What do you think?
Rate this book
The Long Con #2
The Long Con Vol. 2
The action and hilarity continue in the second volume of this comic convention apocalypse adventure series!
Journalist Victor Lai and his comics publicist friend Dez Delaney have clawed, crawled, and occasionally golf-carted their way across a crowded post-apocalyptic convention floor in search of a way out. Along the way they've discovered a fledgling resistance movement of cosplaying superheroes led by Dez’s former boss, Helvetica Caslon. She's got one last assignment: find the Special Guest and liberate the con. All that's in the way is a labyrinth of surreal panel rooms, literal personality cults, at least two warring fandom factions, and a totally biased gatekeeping system run by pedantic internet trolls. Can Dez and Victor convince the Special Guest to give up the utopia he’s created? Or are the pros of this con on a crash course to doomsday?
Journalist Victor Lai and his comics publicist friend Dez Delaney have clawed, crawled, and occasionally golf-carted their way across a crowded post-apocalyptic convention floor in search of a way out. Along the way they've discovered a fledgling resistance movement of cosplaying superheroes led by Dez’s former boss, Helvetica Caslon. She's got one last assignment: find the Special Guest and liberate the con. All that's in the way is a labyrinth of surreal panel rooms, literal personality cults, at least two warring fandom factions, and a totally biased gatekeeping system run by pedantic internet trolls. Can Dez and Victor convince the Special Guest to give up the utopia he’s created? Or are the pros of this con on a crash course to doomsday?
136 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2019
10 people want to read
About the author
Dylan Meconis
38 books137 followersDylan Meconis is a cartoonist and writer. She was raised in Seattle, Washington, but now lives in Portland, Oregon.
She is a member of Helioscope, the largest studio of freelance comics creators in North America.
She is married to her wife Katie, and they have a dog named President Teddy Roosevelt.
She is a member of Helioscope, the largest studio of freelance comics creators in North America.
She is married to her wife Katie, and they have a dog named President Teddy Roosevelt.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 30, 2019
I didn't really enjoy the second and final volume in this series. The original idea was good but in this graphic novel I think the main storyine got a bit lost and the focus was on other things that didn't really interest me. I felt like there were a lot of mini adventures that in the end were quite unrelated to the main story.
May 29, 2020
Yes! The second book in this two-part series did not fail to please. (There is a minor spoiler at the end of this review so read with care.)
ln my review of part one, I mentioned I've never been to San Diego, but rather have been an attendee at Phoenix Comic Con which is now known as Phoenix Comic Fest. Of course, with the pandemic on, this year's Comic whatever here in Phoenix has been delayed and so I bought book 2 to help me console myself for the loss.
To me, Vol 2 was a great finale and followed the setups from book 1 to the hilarious conclusions that pop culture can lend itself to in the most satisfying ways. Of course as you know, the premise is that for some years, the con has been isolated from the outside world by something known only vaguely as the Incident and it has evolved into a free for all culture, divided by all the clashes one sees in geek culture.
Enjoyed the buddy relationship between male and female protagonists, only slightly marred by some of the back matter that suggested a sexual tension between them. I like it better with the buddy theme as they learned to work together to get through the gauntlet of the wildy-evolved con culture's brutality and chaos, that also served to highlight the issues in current geek culture so well. Also enjoyed the intern's arc. She might be able to carry a future comic on her own.
The art continued to delight and the colorist was masterful. The ending was perfect.
My favorite part may have been the covers portraying the two protagonists in various costumes, which I would like as posters, and one panel near the end in particular hit me as hilarious on a personal level. It may not be your most hilarious panel, because there are a lot of hilarious panels that send up everything both good, venal, and awful about Cons and geek culture in general, so if you don't like my favorite panel as much as I do, do not let it keep you from reading this very fun set of graphics novels, which I will reread again soon!
To describe this there will be minor spoilers - so if you are going to read the book, let not your eye fall below the line:
***----****----****----***
In a panel with the intern, and the female protagonist Dez are fighting off the burgundy clad guards, the high priest is confronting our male protagonist Victor in the back. As Victor clutches the high priests robes in his fisted hands, the HP declares "You'll never work in this event center again!" whilst Victor growls "MY CAREER ASPIRATIONS WERE ALWAYS LITERARY!"
ahahahahahaha
ln my review of part one, I mentioned I've never been to San Diego, but rather have been an attendee at Phoenix Comic Con which is now known as Phoenix Comic Fest. Of course, with the pandemic on, this year's Comic whatever here in Phoenix has been delayed and so I bought book 2 to help me console myself for the loss.
To me, Vol 2 was a great finale and followed the setups from book 1 to the hilarious conclusions that pop culture can lend itself to in the most satisfying ways. Of course as you know, the premise is that for some years, the con has been isolated from the outside world by something known only vaguely as the Incident and it has evolved into a free for all culture, divided by all the clashes one sees in geek culture.
Enjoyed the buddy relationship between male and female protagonists, only slightly marred by some of the back matter that suggested a sexual tension between them. I like it better with the buddy theme as they learned to work together to get through the gauntlet of the wildy-evolved con culture's brutality and chaos, that also served to highlight the issues in current geek culture so well. Also enjoyed the intern's arc. She might be able to carry a future comic on her own.
The art continued to delight and the colorist was masterful. The ending was perfect.
My favorite part may have been the covers portraying the two protagonists in various costumes, which I would like as posters, and one panel near the end in particular hit me as hilarious on a personal level. It may not be your most hilarious panel, because there are a lot of hilarious panels that send up everything both good, venal, and awful about Cons and geek culture in general, so if you don't like my favorite panel as much as I do, do not let it keep you from reading this very fun set of graphics novels, which I will reread again soon!
To describe this there will be minor spoilers - so if you are going to read the book, let not your eye fall below the line:
***----****----****----***
In a panel with the intern, and the female protagonist Dez are fighting off the burgundy clad guards, the high priest is confronting our male protagonist Victor in the back. As Victor clutches the high priests robes in his fisted hands, the HP declares "You'll never work in this event center again!" whilst Victor growls "MY CAREER ASPIRATIONS WERE ALWAYS LITERARY!"
ahahahahahaha
August 12, 2019
Well, it's a wrap. I frankly enjoyed this series. Yes, it's not elaborate comics but a mix of post-apo and making fun of conventions still have its perks. The visual looks like young teenagers stuff (not a surprise with Oni) but that's fitting the comedy tone of the comics. I appreciate the story concludes with the tenth issue (and yes, it could be shorter) and not outdone its potential. Overall - nice theme, generic "young readers" art, I had my fun but I'll forget the details in days and the whole thing in a month. It's just "lightweight" reading, I didn't expect more.
May 29, 2021
are the Happenstance books based on a specific series because I would read the hell out of them
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews