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| The façade of the Comic-Con Museum and surrounding outdoor spaces will become canvases for communicating the sense of adventure, enterprise and imagination that define Comic-Con. Major renovations to the exterior of the 85-year-old building are planned for completion by 2024. |
San Diego’s beloved Comic-Con (San Diego Comic Convention) is adding a museum in Balboa Park in addition to its annual gathering. The non-profit pop culture experience is set for opening summer 2021 in a Mayan designed building that was part of the City’s 1935 Exposition.
The new museum will include two art galleries, theatre, rotating exhibits, outdoor seating, gift shop, café, and education center.
From the beginning, the founders of Comic-Con set out to include not only the comic books they loved, but also other aspects of the popular arts that they enjoyed and felt deserved wider recognition, including films and science fiction/fantasy literature.
After one more name change (San Diego’s West Coast Comic Convention, in 1972), the show officially became the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) in 1973 with the fourth annual event. In 1995, the non-profit event changed its name to Comic-Con International: San Diego (CCI).
The show's main home in the 1970s was the fondly remembered El Cortez Hotel in downtown San Diego. In 1979, Comic-Con moved to the Convention and Performing Arts Center (CPAC), and stayed there until 1991, when the new San Diego Convention Center opened. Comic-Con has been at home in that facility for over two decades.
With attendance topping 130,000 in recent years—in a convention center facility that has maxed out in space—the event has grown to include satellite locations, including local hotels and outdoor parks. Programming events, games, anime, the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival, and the Eisner Awards all take place outside of the Convention Center, creating a campus-type feel for the convention in downtown San Diego.
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| With four flexible galleries, the Museum’s Main Level will feature a continually refreshed year-round schedule of top-quality exhibits, panels, art shows, multimedia installations, experiential cinema and more. Renovation of the Atrium is planned for completion by the Museum's grand opening in 2021. |
Over the years, Comic-Con has become the focal point for the world of comics conventions. The event continues to offer the complete convention experience: a giant Exhibit Hall (topping over 460,000 square feet in its current incarnation); a massive programming schedule (close to 700 separate events in 2014), featuring comics and all aspects of the popular arts, including hands-on workshops and educational and academic programming such as the Comics Arts Conference; anime and film screenings (including a separate film festival); games; the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the “Oscars” of the comics industry; a Masquerade costume competition with prizes and trophies; an Autograph Area; an Art Show; and Portfolio Reviews, bringing together aspiring artists with major companies.
Comic-Con has presented literally thousands of special guests at its conventions over the years, bringing comics creators, science fiction and fantasy authors, film and television directors, producers, and writers, and creators from all aspects of the popular arts together with their fans for a fun and often times candid discussion of various art forms.
The pre-pandemic event has seen an amazing array of comics and book publishers in its Exhibit Hall over the years. Over it’s four-and-a-half decade-plus history, Comic-Con International has continually presented comic books and comic art to a growing audience. That love of the comics medium continues to be its guiding factor as the event moves toward its second half-century as the premier comic book and popular arts style convention in the world.
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