San Diego Comic-Con announced there will be no physical, in-person event this summer due to the current state of the pandemic. Instead, SDCC will offer an online event of a slightly smaller scale than last year’s Comic-Con@Home.
The online event is set to run from July 23 until July 25. SDCC is also rolling the 2020 badges that were rolled over to 2021 over to 2022 now for those still looking forward to physical events, though refunds are also being offered to those who’d prefer to not wait and see what 2022 will look like for SDCC.
For those feeling disappointed by the online-only SDCC, a smaller in-person convention in San Diego is being considered for November.
San Diego Comic-Con Cancels In-Person SDCC, Eyes Smaller November Event
San Diego Comic-Con and others have been updating their plans regarding in-person events lately, opting to push them to next year and focusing on virtual events for 2021 instead.
Speaking on the matter, San Diego Comic-Con noted:
“As you may be aware, due to concern for public health and safety, San Diego Comic Convention had to cancel both of its in-person events in 2020 and recently announced that our spring 2021 show, WonderCon in Anaheim, will also be canceled. In its place, WonderCon@Home will once again be held as a free online event on March 26 and 27, 2021.
It is the policy of the organization to continue to closely monitor information from local and national healthcare officials as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic. Never could we have imagined what the world experienced in 2020 and continues to experience today.
While we are buoyed by the rollout of the vaccine and the growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in-person event of the magnitude of Comic-Con. For this reason, we have made the challenging decision to postpone Comic-Con 2021 as an in-person gathering until our 2022 dates, and once again hold this year’s celebration as the free online Comic-Con@Home.
Unfortunately, the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources, so this year the online experience will be reduced to a three-day event, spanning July 23-25, 2021. While we lament the postponement of the in-person Comic-Con, our commitment to this community of fans and our celebration of comics and the related popular arts endures as an important part of who we are.
As the timing and scope of our larger event factored greatly into our decision to postpone, we believe that launching a smaller in-person event at a later time may be a safe alternative. For this reason, we are happy to announce that San Diego Comic Convention is planning to present a three-day in-person convention in San Diego in November.
At this time, we are still working on specific details as to attendance capacity, badge cost, and related information, and those details will be forthcoming. Please continue to visit our website, comic-con.org, for official updated information as it becomes available.”
In the statement about SDCC, the vaccine rollout is mentioned and there have been comments in response that mention this as well. Addressing these, we want to say that it’s true that we have a number of vaccines that are being rolled out right now, all of which have been shown to be remarkably effective.
However, large events like Comic-Con will likely be among the last things to return given how they’re based around swarms of people congregating close together in an indoor setting. Those in charge of events like SDCC would want to be absolutely certain that these events can be held safely in-person, and as of right now, it’s simply not known whether that will be able to happen this summer, fall, winter, or all the way in 2022.
Looking to remain optimistic, they note that a smaller, three-day in-person convention in San Diego is being planned for November. If the vaccine rollout goes well and experts are able to offer updated guidelines regarding events and how they can be held safely as we move forward through 2021, we may see smaller events like the one SDCC is considering and others return towards the end of the year.
Fingers crossed.
With this in mind, it’s important to be patient, stay safe, and get vaccinated when you’re able to. Let’s hold out hope for a wonderful in-person SDCC experience in Summer 2022, and perhaps a smaller SDCC event in November. Until then, be sure to keep an eye out for the virtual SDCC event Comic-Con@Home starting July 23!
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