I finally went to the Comic-Con Museum

For the last 15 years, Comic-Con has grown from the pinnacle of pop culture conventions into something larger - a sprawling juggernaut that has become a celebration synonymous with comic books and pop culture in general. The folks at Comic-Con International, looking to expand the event's influence with a permanent, year-round location, announced the creation of the Comic-Con Museum a few years ago. I became a member in 2018, and in 2019, the newly repurposed building in Balboa Park opened for a preview of sorts during the '19 convention, ahead of its grand opening a year later.

The grand opening, of course, did not happen as planned, and it's fair to wonder, after two years of not having a regular convention and all of the revenue that streams from that, what the resulting limbo has done to both budgets and plans. In a lot of ways, it seemed that 2020 was going to be the pinnacle of Comic-Con, where it would really flex its muscles and become something more than a week-long experience and start having even more of an influence on San Diego with its permanent residence. Now, who knows? I'll be interested to see how the 2022 show handles what would otherwise be 150,000 people in close quarters with one another.

I didn't make it to the 2019 museum offsite, which featured a lot of Batman memorabilia, while it was open. I never made the time to break away from the convention center to travel the 15-or-so miles to Balboa Park, where the Comic-Con museum sits among other sites of interest. It's never easy to get to offsite events during the show, and the idea of taking an hour away from the convention just for traveling was too much for me at the time. Hindsight being what it is, I wish that I had started or finished a day at the museum back then.

2021 was different, though. After the Special Edition show ended on Sunday, I knew what I'd be doing at 10:00 on Monday, and I traveled to the museum to finally check it out. I arrived about 15 minutes after the museum opened, and I was one of the only visitors for much of my time there. It was a little weird to get the museum almost all to myself, but I was able to talk with some of the staff as I wandered the three floors, which certainly added to the experience.

One of the first things I saw upon entering was the cardboard sculpture display, which showed off these amazing creations, mostly built by children, using cardboard boxes.

Most of the sculptures were labeled with the names and ages of the creators. It was really something to see a beautifully designed, life size figure that ended up being made by a 10 or 11-year-old kid. It was all really impressive!

This Hulkbuster Iron Man was the biggest sculpture on display.

Just check out Black Manta's weapon. Sheesh!

 

At the very end of the display was this Comic-Con Museum logo. There was a lot of stuff that I loved seeing here, but the cardboard display was probably what impressed me most.

Also in a prominent location were these, and other costumes, which I soon learned were from the Comic-Con Masquerade events from years past. This means that these costumes were also fan-made, and given to the museum to display.

At least thematically, I think this worked really well. Rather than just being a museum for pop culture stuff, they're obviously trying to make it something that feels like Comic-Con and includes some of the best parts of the convention.

Years ago, when Comic-Con had a gallery at the San Diego Public Library (which was pretty clearly a lead up to the museum and its permanent display place), I remember seeing a display of Comic-Con program cover art. I wish that that display had a permanent place here at the museum. I'm sure they've got it around somewhere, and I know that there's never enough space for everything, but having a permanent display of Comic-Con history is something I think they should have.

After seeing the costumes, I checked out the Archie Comics display. Beyond just artwork and collectibles, this wing had a 1950s Archie motif to it.

This display felt a little more random to me than some of the others, without a clear purpose, but there were still a lot of great pieces or art to see.

There was also a small section dedicated to the real-life Archies musical group.

The Gene Roddenberry exhibit was what I was most excited to see, and it inhabited the most prominent location on the museum floor. The display was created so it looks like you're entering the ship through a corridor. On the floor you'll see multicolored lined. Each of these lines included events from Roddenberry's life on them, and you could follow them throughout the exhibit.

I don't know if these costume props are the originals (there was nothing indicating that they were), but they were still great to see.

The Gorn! 

The uniforms, though, were labeled as originals from the various shows. Here we have a Next Generation uniform with Discovery uniforms on the bookends.

Why was this chair roped off? Why wouldn't they let me sit in it? Outrageous!

I believe the Talosian in the middle is from an episode of Discovery, not the pilot episode "The Cage" from the '60s.

After making my way through all of the Star Trek items, I walked upstairs to the Creator's Lab that doubles as a classroom space. I'm sure that those at the museum are itching to use this space more fully, and hopefully they'll get a chance soon. 

The space held costuming materials as well as these models - I don't know who will be able to use this space when it's more widely open, but what I did see was very impressive!

On the drawing board, figuratively and literally, is Captain Carter, Marvel's new What If...? character.

Around the walkway along the third floor, I saw a number of original drawings from Addams Family creator Charles Addams. 

Most of the art dealt with subjects other than the Addams Family. This was my favorite of the dozens of framed pieces on display.

But there was, of course, plenty of Addams Family artwork, too.

I saved the Pac Man exhibit for last. This display felt secreted away in its own cubbyhole, the all-black background from ceiling to floor making it seem apart from everything else. It kind of looks like an arcade from the outside.

There was a lot of memorabilia to see. I think these items were under glass to keep onlookers from getting Pac Man Fever.

The exhibit itself felt a little bit light on content, but these design documents looked pretty cool.

Tucked away in one corner was this really awesome Pac Man pinball machine! I had never played this game before and spent a few minutes with it. The machine was set to free play, and since I was the only one there, I might have played more than my share. It was a lot of fun.

I absolutely loved getting to finally see this museum. There's a lot of potential for exhibits, programming and other types of outreach at this place. It feels like a grab bag of Comic-Con which is exactly what I was looking for, even after leaving the truncated convention just a day earlier. I would love to make it back here the next time I'm in town.

This trip to San Diego allowed me to see a number of things that I normally wouldn't be able to, and I'm really happy to have not only had the chance to get back to this town, but to also explore some things a little more. Before I left, I made one last stop - to the Cat Café in downtown. The cats had moved across the street since the last time I was there.

But they still had cats. I think this guy got adopted just a couple days after I was there.

As I was leaving my parking space, I saw the Peacemaker banner coming down from the outside of the hotel. It's a Comic-Con tradition! I don't know what 2022 will bring for Comic-Con. I know that the organizers are planning on having a show in July. No matter what happens, I was really glad to be able to see the city, the convention, and some of the surrounding area again for the first time in what felt like a very long time. Here's hoping for better days ahead.

pictures from the 2021 Comic-Con Special Edition, part 1

Having Comic-Con return in November was a big deal for me. The timing - the weekend after Thanksgiving - was criticized by a number of people, and I get why, especially considering the large circumstances surrounding COVID and the holidays. But as soon as the convention was announced, I knew that I was going to try and be there, so on Thanksgiving day, I got on a plane for the first time since 2019 and flew to San Diego. The next day I went to Comic-Con Special Edition, and here are some pictures from that weekend! 

For the first time, I took the trolley into San Diego. In previous years, I had always rented a car, mostly because I was transporting others and so I could use it as a place to dump all of my many convention purchases while at the show. This time, I went by myself and I knew I wouldn't be buying as much, so I decided to give public transportation a try. It went pretty smoothly! And the train is a common sight around Comic-Con, so it was about time that I took a ride myself. I'm glad that I did.

I realize that the convention center is just a big concrete multipurpose structure, but I love its distinct look. It was great to see this place again.

Unlike most previous years, I attended this show as a professional and not an exhibitor, so I had no early access or special privileges. A few hours before the show floor opened, I made my way to the convention center, where I had to get a wristband that signified that I had been vaccinated. This was a very easy process, after which I went to pick up my show badge.

There were quite a few people walking the sidewalk in front of the convention center, but the number was vastly smaller than in recent years, where the closed-off street in front of the building would be swarming with people.

I picked up my badge in Hall H. I had never actually been in Hall H before! This was also the first show in a long while where people could just walk up and buy badges and enter on the same day. 

Here we are in Hall H. I followed the blue line on the floor to pick up my badge. Look at all of this space! It was incredible to see.

They pulled the Comic-Con photo background out of storage, I see.

I got in line about two hours before the show opened on Friday. There were probably a few hundred people in front of me, and soon the lines grew to the point where the hall was filled. This is the view behind me at around 11:30, a half hour before the show began.

Once the doors opened, I did my best brisk walk (no running!) through the aisles. It was markedly calm.

It probably took over an hour before it started to feel at all similar to Comic-Con. No one was in a rush to enter on Friday. The whole thing reminded my of my first year attending, in 2006. If you wanted to go somewhere and see something, you could do it without a crush of humanity standing between you and your destination.

There were also more than a few empty booths, where vendors hadn't set up yet. 

As you can see, there was no carpet this year at Comic-Con. I'm sure this was a cost-saving measure.

Before too long, though, more people made their way in, and things started to pick up just a little bit.

This show had more displays than, say, the New York Comic Con from October, though they were often more scaled back. I think I've seen this Iron Man before, but I don't care. It was still fun to see some of the Comic-Con extravagance I'm used to!

Some updated Special Edition banners hung from the ceiling.

These hallways are usually packed with people in costume. 

The Comic-Con lines made a modest return, and I did my best to get in some of them. This one is for autograph tickets and wound around the back of the convention center!

There was a total of one big outside banner this year, for the HBO show The Peacemaker.

Perhaps the most important vendor of all returned for 2021 - THE TACO TRUCK! I was so glad to see this food truck. It was like seeing a friend. I ordered a burrito.

I took a lot of pictures of the signs. I do not apologize.

Friday wasn't a big day for costumes, but there were still some to see. Dr. Strange's floating cloak was well done.

Hall A was the most sparsely populated area of the convention center. To fill up some space, the convention set up these canvases to take pictures in front of.

There were still a number of big, impressive displays on the show floor. I have no idea what this one was for, but still...there it is.

Star Trek actor Brent Spinner had an autograph signing for his new book! I was able to get a ticket by getting in line and then going back through the line three times. Spiner remarked at how stupid he felt getting pictures taken when you couldn't see most of anyone's faces. But this was my first Comic-Con in over two years, so hey - we're taking the picture.

There was a big and impressive Pac Man booth on the show floor, there to promote the upcoming Pac Man Museum video game.

The booth had a few displays, but was mostly set up as a way to let attendees play the new game!

This was a popular booth for the duration of the show, and one of the few booths with long wait times to enter. I did get to play the game for a while at the end of one day.

Are...are these...more Stranger Things "Scoops Ahoy" costumes? After all this time? It's like going home again.

For the first time, I finally found enough time to volunteer at the California Browncoats booth while at the show. They're a constant presence at this convention and they had an enormous booth this time around. It was a lot of fun spending time with these folks.

Here's a vaccinated Rosie the Riveter!

Look. I like taking pictures of these signs.

The Funko booth took up the most space on the show floor without question. They had a big chunk of Hall A to themselves, and they made the most of it, with two big display booths, long lines, a gameshow activity area and a DJ that played really loud music nearly the entire time (you could hear it all the way on the other end of the convention hall). I never tried to get a wristband to get some of the more hard-to-find exclusives, but I did manage to sneak in line on Friday, near the end of the day.

And here's a place where you could...slay...some demons. I think.

There was absolutely more Squid Game paraphernalia at the show than anything else. I can only imagine what it would have been like if this were a more normal year. Maybe there would have been actually Squid Games, with actual murdering.

I went to a few panels this year! This one was a Family Feud game hosted by the San Diego public library. I guess I was sitting behind Wayne and Garth?

Here's a guy who kept his mustache, just as Cesar Romero would have wanted.

The weather this weekend was, as you might expect, lovely. It was in the 70s and mild every day. The big difference from this and the July shows is that it was already dark by the time the show ended on Friday and Saturday.

I took a walk through a much quieter Gaslamp district on both Friday and Saturday. The streets were still blocked off most of the way, and there was a lot more outdoor dining happening, which I believe is a new permanent fixture.

Bait, which had the giant Squid Game display on the show floor, also had an offsite shop open during the convention. In true Comic-Con fashion, the line for this place was outrageous and the main store feature was buying things, so I waked by and didn't attempt to get in.

But I did get a picture of this Batman thing in one of the windows!

One of the few outside exhibits was a promotion for the NBC show "La Brea." It was closed by the time I walked by, but here it is, all lit up. I would get to go through the exhibit on Saturday.

This Klingon looks familiar. Maybe he's part of my house? It's always possible. This noble warrior waited for the train like all of us as the first night of Comic-Con came to an end. It was noticeably smaller than in years prior, but I still had a lot of fun (and bought a bunch of stuff, proving that some things never change). There'll be more pictures to come soon!