A Tad Late Album Of This Year's Visit To The San Diego Comic-Con International

   I attended the San Diego Comic-Con International this year, the first time I've attended since the 1987 San Diego Comic-Con. 

   In 1987 it was still known simply as the San Diego Comic-Con, and it was much, much smaller, though it did use two different venues, the (old) S.D. Convention Center and the Embarcadero Holiday Inn, to host the dealer's room and all the panels and events.

   We (RLT, EA, & BA and myself) went to breakfast at a place in the Gaslamp Quarter two hours before the doors would be open, and there were quite a few people already milling about. By the time we finished breakfast, the initial crowd had probably quadrupled. 

   Even though I was with old friends who had attended the past thirty or so cons and they had pretty much prepared me for the mass of humanity that would be there, I was still unprepared for the number of people who had begun to line up hours before the doors opened. The best comparison I can make is to major sporting events such as the World Series or Superbowl, or maybe the Great American Beer Fest in it's heyday. 

   It was a whole lotta people. 

    Me, EA, RLT, & BA at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con International, just shy of fifty years after RLT & I attended our first SDCC together when it was held at the El Cortez

   The sign above was posted prominently on all entrances to the Con, which made me a bit sad for the kids. I wasn't yet 12 when I attended my first Con, all by my lonesome. Took the bus to Harbor Island and spent the afternoon wandering through what I thought of as heaven, bothering nobody (I think) and nobody bothering me. Times (and levels of paranoia) have changed since then.

                                       Literally, just twenty minutes after the doors opened.

   The diversity of the crowd was wonderful, especially the number of families that were in attendance. Impossible for me to imagine the parents of any children attending the Con back in the day - it just wasn't much of a family affair. Very happy to see it has become so.

    About two hours after doors open and the upstairs lounge has become a crowded refuge...from the crowds.

These pics are just the tip of the proverbial ice berg. I'll throw up a lot more pics on a few more posts that show what compelled all these people to spend at least one day in downtown San Diego.