San Diego Comic Con Cancelled: The Future Of Comic-Cons In The Wake Of COVID-19

For the first time in 50 years, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) has been cancelled.

On Friday, April 17th, 2020, SDCC announced that their 2020 convention was going to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The event was supposed to begin operations on July 23rd, 2020, which is still a few months away but SDCC spokesman David Glanzer said this was the safest decision.

Luckily for guests who were supposed to attend SDCC 2020, they are given two options: refunds for their badges or the ability to transfer their badges to next year’s SDCC, running from July 22nd to July 25th, 2021.

I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming. After comic-cons all across the country have been getting cancelled, SDCC was only going to suffer the same fate. One may argue that it’s too early to tell if things will still be bad by late July. While this is true, it’s also easy to argue that events like comic-cons should not take place anyway even if our current situation improves.

Comic-cons are tight spaces full of people brushing shoulders. It’s impossible to stay 6 feet apart from one another. Even if there is a large decline in cases of COVID-19 by the time SDCC was supposed to come around, that doesn’t mean the virus is completely gone. It’s been shown to spread easily in crowded placed, putting everyone at the convention in danger.

The truth is, things aren’t going back to normal any time soon, at least for big events. When it’s time to start reopening the world, it will happen slowly. First the parks and outdoor public spaces, then some stores, then some more stores, restaurants, and after seeing if there’s an increase in cases after all of that, maybe the big events can start taking place.

So what does this mean for comic-cons in the future? I predict that for at least most of 2020, there just won’t be any. New York Comic Con (NYCC) is supposed to be taking place from October 8th to October 11th, 2020. Tickets for this event haven’t gone on sale yet but they may never go on sale. Yes, October is many months out but at this rate, I’m not sure that it will be safe for this convention to occur.

On the off chance that NYCC takes place, it will not run like every other NYCC has in the past. I predict that all guests will be required to wear gloves, face masks, or face shields inside of the comic-con. There may not be any celebrity guests in order to protect actors and actresses who spend a majority of their time on planes and traveling with large groups. Beyond that, panels may only permit a certain number of people in the panel room where guests cannot sit next to each other.

And now the question is, is it worth it?

Do we take the risk of bringing on a second wave of this pandemic just for comic-con? Honestly, I don’t think so. As much as I love attending conventions, I am not willing to put myself and others at risk. Yes, I’m a healthy 21 year old woman but I can still get sick, just like everyone else can.

In my opinion, I think it is safer to close down the conventions for this year. It will be a bland, sad year in this case but there are still ways we can make this situation bearable. We can form online conventions where we watch panels remotely and listen to movie announcements from the comfort of our homes. We can support all of the artists featured at conventions by purchasing their art, sharing their shops, and ensuring that these independent creators are able to support themselves during this rough time. Lastly, we can stay safe now and hold out hopes for bigger and better conventions next year.

This is going to be a rough year without comic-cons. Personally, NYCC was the biggest thing I was looking forward to this year and I’m not sure if it’s even going to happen. However, we are going to get through this and when 2021 rolls around, we can pick up where we left off and celebrate our comic-con culture together in person once again.