I have a dream. And no, my dream is nothing like Martin Luther King Jr.’s magnanimous one about judging people by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin, because I am a selfish bastard. My dream is to just go to San Diego Comic-Con one day. And this year, I can. We all can. Right from our homes. Yay! No sleeping on the pavement for 3-days bundled in my own geek-stink just to get into Hall H!
It was officially announced last month that Comic-Con, the world’s biggest and most prestigious annual comic and geek culture convention, would be cancelled for the first time in its 50-year history thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a crowd of around 130 000 attendees every year, there to see the major players in the comics, movie, and TV industries make big announcements and reveals, that was a lot of bummed out geeks. However, over the weekend the official Comic-Con Twitter account revealed that a Comic-Con@Home event is being planned.
As the tweet states drolly, this event comes with free parking, comfy chairs, personalised snacks, no lines, pets are welcome, and not only does everybody get a badge but a front-row seat as well! Huzzah! There are no further details yet, so we don’t know if all the big players will be participating, but the event is scheduled for the US summer, which would put it around June or July, right when the normal Comic-Con would have taken place.
Large portions of Comic-Con are usually streamed live on various channels, with most geek culture publications having an online presence there as well. However, things like the massive Hall H announcements or movie footage reveals done by studios like Marvel or Warner Bros. is usually restricted to just those in attendance. Tight security measures are put in place, even though the last few years have seen shaky cellphone footage of “exclusive” trailers leaked online within moments, forcing studios to release official footage online anyway. Well, now that won’t be a problem as there’s no point in leaking footage if everybody gets to see it.
This is something that many have called for for ages, as the exclusivity of Comic-Con – flights and accommodation are crazy expensive – is an impossible hurdle to overcome for many non-US based fans around the world. If this Comic-Con@Home event is a success, maybe this will be just another major aspect of our geek lives that will see itself transformed in a post-COVID-19 world.
Last Updated: May 11, 2020
