Comic Con 2020 is Cancelled

For the first time in 51 years, world premier event San Diego Comic Con is cancelled, due to the Viral Apocalypse.

Last year I attended the 50th anniversary of the SD Comic Con, and things were in high swing. Just like it was when I attended the year before, and the year before that. I’m lucky enough to live in San Diego, where the galactically-renowned sci fi event is held each July.

The entire city becomes a geek version of Carnival, Mardi Gras, and the Superbowl — only with Klingons, superheroes, Hobbits, Jedi Knights, wizards, and anime warlords clogging the streets. People take over so thickly you can’t walk around without a Ghostbusters Neutron Pack clearing a path.

There’s singing, dancing, eating, major revelry and minor mayhem in close quarters, in a joyous explosion of counter culture that along the way became mainstream.

Lines to attractions and panels are so long fans sleep in the streets overnight to gain access to seats in the coveted Hall H. Regular bars and hotels are taken over (by aliens?), transformed into pop up genre museums and movie themed pub events. Non-Comic Con activities close down for the duration. Con-goers plan their cosplay months before, and sign up for hotel room lotteries a year in advance. People plan their exhibit navigational strategies using blogs created for just this purpose.

We at RunPee liveTweet SD CC each year, and it’s a completely overwhelming task.

San Diego Comic Con is a big event, if I haven’t made that clear

And it would be understating the case to say it would be completely inappropriate for San Diego to host this mega event right now. With the known world on lockdown, having people jostling elbow-to-elbow is a social distancing disaster.

We knew this was coming, but the hosts of SD CC 2020 hedged their bets as long as possible. In sci-fi shows, cures are usually found last minute, saving both Starship crews and massive party conventions, right?

Sadly, not this time. Reality isn’t as fun as fantasy.

What About an Online Comic Con?

I hoped there would be an online (possibly free) version of the world’s top Comic Con. But since theaters are closed, with blockbusters on indefinite hiatus, there’s no point. Hollywood is at a standstill. Entertainment and movie news is a bust. Marvel, usually the biggest topic at SDCC, has nothing to report but delays.

What would the panels even cover?

No one knows when movies will be a thing again. There’s not much to write home about, outside of theaters hosting watch parties, and online events (like Artemis Fowl going straight to streaming this summer).

I wish I had positive news to report. But we all have to do our part to flatten the curve and keep our loved ones safe. At least we’ll have an extra year to plan our costumes. Assuming there’s a vaccine in time for next year’s con.

So, being hopeful: see you next year, and thanks for all the fish!

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