Jimmy O'Hair

Back to SDCC

San Diego Comic Con turns 50 this year! What once started out as a niche event to attract comic book fans and creators in a single location has morphed into one of the biggest conventions on the planet. As someone who has been attending the event for much of the last decade, I can tell you that it is an incredible experience … but you have to like crowds! There are 125,000 people (the number keeps going up) that flock to the San Diego Convention Center and the surrounding Gaslamp District for the event. In its 50th year, SDCC has evolved from its origins and “gone Hollywood”, with movie studios and film companies advertising their films and TV shows. Creating some “buzz” at Comic Con can help to market a film or TV show by getting bloggers, vloggers, and fans excited about upcoming Hollywood projects, especially with TV and movie stars in attendance to tout their vehicles and attend key events. Highly anticipated panels in Hall H, such as HBO’s Game of Thrones or Marvel’s upcoming film slate, will attract the headlines, but there are many other TV show panels, artist seminars, exhibition areas, autograph stands, etc. throughout the convention center and surrounding neighborhood. Part of the fun of Comic Con has also been the rise of “cosplay” where people dress up as characters from movies, TV shows and video games (and the subject of today’s Jimmy O’Hair comic strip). Wherever you go around the city during Comic Con, you will see people dressed up in costume like it is Halloween in July. Some of the costumes are traditional (like Spider-Man or Wonder Woman), but some of the more creative costumes stand out (particularly this one I have seen of a “Chef” Darth Vader with the head of Jar Jar Binks on a platter – dark humor, I know). Of course there are still the comic book creators and fans, and at this 50th anniversary, let’s not forget how they helped to launch the event that has made many people all of the world excited to attend the event. So yes, over the next few days of the conference you will probably hear complaints about the crowds, the long lines, the difficulty in getting a hotel room or a restaurant reservation, the lotteries for certain events or items, etc. Yet, if you ask most of the people attending SDCC, they’ll say it is tons of fun and they can’t wait to go again next year … like me! Happy Anniversary, SDCC!