If you’re looking to take pictures with comic book fans dressed as “Stars Wars” characters or a fat Batman, head to Comic-Con International in San Diego. If you want to find the latest in cutting-edge personal technology, check out the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But if you’re searching for the latest and greatest smartphone and tablet app, you might find yourself going to the L.A. AppShow this week.

Of course, the L.A. AppShow has a way to go to match the breadth of the other shows. It will showcase 10 new iPhone, iPad and Android apps from local developers to a live and Web audience of at least 150 app enthusiasts in an hourlong presentation.

This year it will be held Jan. 31 at the Santa Monica offices of car-buying guide Edmunds.com Inc. This is the fourth time it’s been held in Los Angeles, although other cities have hosted AppShows, too.

Featured L.A. apps will include children’s art archiving app Artkive, dining discount app TableCard and a photo-sharing competition app called Snapcious.

Apps launched at previous shows include Fox Digital Entertainment’s “Glee” app and Angry Birds Rio app.

The L.A. event grew out of the original San Francisco AppShow in 2009, founded by tech entrepreneur Seth Socolow, who was searching for a way to market his own apps.

“When studios launch a film, the actors do the talk show circuit,” he said. “We need the same platform for app developers.”

The world of apps has exploded since that first show: In 2009, there were only 50,000 apps in the Apple Inc. iTunes store. Today, there are nearly 1 million.

For folks like Snapcious developer Mack Reed in Silver Lake, the show is a way to stand out among the competition.

“We want people to start playing it,” he said. “This is a way to get it out there and give people a taste of what the app is.”

– Jacquelyn Ryan