SAN DIEGO (AP) – The pop culture extravaganza that is Comic-Con International is back to its old extravagance. Stars, cosplayers and hordes of fans are filling the San Diego Convention Center in full force for the first time since 2019. Here’s a look at this year’s version of the four day festival.
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The pandemic necessitated virtual versions of Comic-Con in the summers of 2020 and 2021, and a scaled-back in-person version in November, but none were anything like the usual spectacle, with lovers of all things geeky descending from around the globe and arena-sized panels on films and TV shows that resemble sporting events.
It’s not clear whether the convention will draw the estimated 135,000 people who flooded San Diego before the pandemic.
But thousands of fans came in droves on Thursday for the convention’s first day. As required, nearly all wore masks – the protective kind, not the super-villain kind, though there were plenty of those too – and the excitement amid the crowd was palpable.