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Today, San Diego Comic-Con International is the largest comic book convention that brings together thousands of people from around the world in one place each year to share their hobbies, meet new people and see celebrities. As the name implies, this event is held in San Diego, California.
Comic-Con was founded in 1970 by ordinary fans of comics and the culture associated with them. These people were Shel Dorf, Ken Krueger, Richard Alf, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, and Bob Sourk. Although this idea seemed rather strange at first, in fact, even then, they had a clear goal - to create an event where fans of comics, sci-fi, and other different genres could find people with the same hobbies, and most importantly, had a chance to meet the authors of comic books. By the way, the first such artists were Forrest James Ackerman and Mike Royer.
The first Mini-Con didn't get the attention that Dorf had hoped for. As a result, less than 100 people attended, but this mini-event raised enough funds to soon hold the first Golden State Comic-Con, which took place from 1 to 3 August 1970. They chose the U.S. Grand Hotel as a place, and among the invited guests were Jack Kirby, Ray Bradbury, Forrest James Ackerman, and Alfred Elton van Vogt. This time about 300 people attended. Of course, this number was not bad for the first convention, but Dorf and others knew that they could develop this idea much better.
In 1973, the first official San Diego Comic-Con took place. The guests were June Foray, Neal Adams, Mike Friedrich, D.C. Fontana, and Carmine Infantino. This time they managed to gather more than 1,000 people, which was a serious breakthrough and attracted enough attention. Ken Krueger, at the time, played a significant role as a businessman, as he was one of those who helped fund the event with non-profit organizations.
Over the years, Comic-Con grew in size, and its popularity began to spread beyond the United States. Already in the late 1980s, the number of people who visited Comic-Con each year increased to 10,000. Of course, the number of invited guests also increased. Until then, the convention was attended by such world stars as Stan Lee, Mark Hamill, George R.R. Martin, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, and many others.
Since then, the popularity of Comic-Con began to evolve exponentially. In 10 years, the number of people attending the convention has increased almost fivefold, and by the end of 2000, it was nearly 50,000. The annual number of famous guests began to reach 15-20, and the event itself became more and more large-scale and fascinating.
The next few years were truly incredible. In the early 2000s, the popularity of comics, their adaptations for movies and cartoons began to grow rapidly. The audience was delighted with these films, which in turn prompted them to dive even deeper into this culture. Already in 2005, the number of visitors to the convention exceeded 100,000. Of course, now everything was not limited to comics and also spread to video games, anime and manga, fantasy novels, toys, horror, CCG (collectible card games), and more. It also became a platform for directors and actors, which gave the opportunity to gather fans from around the world and meet them in person. It's not uncommon to see that the Comic-Con studio is exhibiting new trailers and show plans for the development of such cinematic universes as Marvel or DC.
One of the largest Comic-Con to date took place in 2015. It had attendance for about 167 thousand people. Stan Lee, Jim Lee, Humberto Ramos, Joseph Michal Straczynski, Jhonen Vasquez, and Skottie Young were among the invited stars. One of the reasons for such popularity this year could be the opening of Anime rooms.
Of course, 2020 also became a somewhat historic year for Comic-Con because it was the first time we had to miss the convention. This was due to the pandemic, which made large crowds gather impossible social distancing. In 2021 planned to hold Comic-Con Special Edition. Of course, the safety of every fan of the convention comes first, so it was decided to have a virtual online event, with a possible small in-person event in the fall.
Over the years, Comic-Con has become more than just a convention for pop culture lovers. It has become an event that hundreds of thousands of people look forward to every year. Today, various variations of this convention are held around the world and bring together thousands of people. Maybe at first, no one hoped that Comic-Con would grow into something so big, but today everything is visible at first glance. Comics, their film adaptations, and cartoons gather millions of people every year around the world.
Of course, we should not forget about the events that attract the attention of millions of people around the world. Of course, we are talking about cosplay competitions. Thousands of people embody just fantastic images of their favorite characters. Sometimes these appearances are so impressive that they are simply breathtaking. Also, most of Comic-Con holds exhibitors on a variety of topics, such as games, comics, art, film and TV, and others. Thanks to such exhibitions, many large companies have become profitable to show their products there. Such companies include Disney, Lego, Cartoon Network, Blizzard Entertainment, and Nickelodeon.