It was the non-Comic-Con Comic-Con. November instead of July. Cosplayers crowding the San Diego Convention Center instead of consuming the Gaslamp District.
No celebrity sightings. Or debut movie fanfare. Much less ambient noise and density.
And everyone wearing a mask of some sort — mandated by organizers — as Black Friday gift-hunting dominated the cavernous exhibit hall on Day 1 of the abbreviated popular arts fest.
Lines to hear the 2 p.m. opening panels were much shorter than traditional, but queues with thousands waited to enter — proof of a vaccination or negative COVID test.
Many of the masks were comical — big grins and the like.
Ending Sunday, the San Diego Comic Convention returned after a pandemic break, during which work ended on a Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park, whose ribbon cutting drew dozens.
A sampling of the scene:
Day 1 of Comic-Con Special Edition. Photo by Chris Stone
