Every year The Beat’s reporters give you their takes on what worked and didn’t at San Diego Comic-Con. Here’s their scorecard for 2024! Contributors: Ricardo Serrano Denis, Heidi MacDonald, Taimur Dar, Gabriel Neeb, Nancy Powell, Beau Q., Victor van Scoit, Gemilee Memije, Deb Aoki, and Kelas Lloyd. 

LOSER:  Whoever chose to play a classical version of Gangnam Style by Psy at the Eisners as the winners made their way to the podium – I have nothing against Psy or Gangnam Style, but it wasn’t what I expected to hear as the recipient of the Humanitarian award made their way to the stage. Was it offensive? No. Was it unintentionally funny? Yes. Yes it was. -RS

WINNER: AEW – With a new comic announced to be published by DC Comics and a three-match card on Day 1 versus characters from the Adult Swim universe, AEW came out swinging and made a strong case as to why it should continue giving con-goers a show along with its yearly panel. Oh, and Mercedes Moné crashed the panel to rile Britt Baker up, leading Tony Khan to officially announce their title match at All Out on Wembley Stadium. A treat for wrestling fans. -RS

LOSER: No art exhibit like the Junji Ito one from last year – SDCC is a very interactive and vibrant experience if you like activations and studio gimmicks, but those looking for a comics and art experience first are left without much to do. That changed last year with Viz’s Junji Ito art experience, in which original pages from a vast selection of the artist’s work were on display. It was special and gave the convention an arts-first alternative that was one-of-a-kind. This convention had no such thing. You were there to either make long lines for panels or long lines for collectibles. It robbed the show of a lot of energy. -RS

WINNER: The “Forgotten Creators: Ladies Behind the Monster” panel – For years, women have had to fight for recognition and credit for their work in movies as creature and puppet designers. This panel did excellent work in furthering that with a spotlight on creators such as Tonya Ridenour Nelson, Wendy Polutanovich, Terri Fluker, and R.E. Nelson (who hosted the panel as well). Their fingerprints are all over classic works such as It, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pet Sematary, and Mortal Kombat. It felt important, necessary, and essential to the world of pop culture the con represents. From stories about the rampant sexism still afflicting the industry today to tips and advice on pursuing practical effects and creature design work, “Forgotten Creators” reminded those in attendance that conventions are also places where long overdue recognition can be afforded with an eye for continuity in these endeavors. It was a beautifully constructed panel. -RS

LOSER:  The Programming – With the absence of Hollywood at the con due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, last year’s panel and events programming felt more varied and diverse than this year’s. Entertainment panels took up most of the space this time, and the more off-the-beaten-path panels (that are usually great) were nowhere to be seen. No “The JFK Assissination in comics” panels here. As a result, lines were longer and more obtrusive, creating a lot of traffic. Saturday in particular was lacking, over relying on panels that have been making the rounds for years without new twists to keep them interesting. Maybe we should start thinking of Hollywood-free days at the con to bring it back to comics. -RS

WINNER: DC Studios. In the leadup to SDCC, part of me was really hoping that James Gunn and DC Studios would have time in their schedule to showcase the new Superman film in Hall H. Understandably, he and everyone are still in the midst of production and couldn’t devote the time. Despite not having a physical presence, DC Studios definitely left a mark thanks to unveiling the new DC Studios logo and the first trailer for Creature Commandos. Likewise, the shirts featuring the new Superman insignia sold out in no time flat. The sheer excitement for what Gunn and everyone at DC Studios is practically palpable. More than I can say than the Marvel Studios Hall H fan reaction.-TD

LOSER:  Deadpool & Wolverine Hall H ticket holders. Marvel Studios tried something unique and different this year bringing a screening of the much hyped Deadpool & Wolverine film. For the first time, SDCC cleared Hall H admitting only those who won a ticket through a lottery system. However, word is that many ticket holders were denied entrance while non-ticket holders were able to sneak in. Call it another case of poor planning. Let’s hope the organizers get their act together by next year because it looks like Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to also debut during SDCC weekend in 2025. I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts that Marvel Studios is planning yet another Hall H movie screening. -TD

WINNER: COVID. In the midst of one of the largest surges of COVID, more than a few people have reported contracting it during the show. Next year, masks should probably be required. (GN)

LOSER:  Everyone who contracted COVID, including me! (GN)

LOSER:  The Winchester. More than a few of us thought they could go to the Winchester, have a pint, and wait for the whole thing to blow over. Except no one behind the bar from Shaun of the Dead thought to get a liquor license and they still ran out of glasses and beer by Friday. (GN)

WINNER: Everyone at the Alien: Romulus panel. We got new pets! In fact, here’s a picture of my niece with her new cousin! (GN) 

 

WINNER: Godzilla! Every panel related to Godzilla had to turn people away because, thanks to an Oscar winning movie, people were Godzilla crazy! (GN)

 

LOSER:  Whoever provided the badge art. Paramount has access to numerous, popular properties like Spongebob, Star Trek, and TMNT, and the art they provided was… the Paramount logo? Which, in light of the Skydance merger, might be replaced anyways? Really hope the Committee has a long talk with whoever buys the rights to badge art next year. (GN)

WINNER: Thien Pham. A literal winner with the Eisner for Family Style, Pham was a champ when it came to uplifting panel participants. He cheered and clapped the loudest for his fellow panelists while showing humility and humbleness for his successes. Pham was a consummate gentleman and the life of the party. Plus, the guy has a legitimate shot at being a comedian someday  alongside pals Gene Luen Yang and Briana Loewinsohn. How great would it be to see the trio open a Comic Con? (NP)

Photo © Heidi MacDonald

WINNER: The Eisner Awards. If last year’s comics output was nature healing, then this was the night of joy. With a row of legendary speeches with quotes like “I feel God in this Chili’s tonight” and “[my publisher] is the best in the world sorry everyone else,” celebrating comics creatives got to get a little something off their chest to a roomful of their peers. In this quite lonely and quiet existence as a comics creator, it was so endearing to hear validation and solidarity for the hard work and effort of our collective industry. Congratulations, y’all! –BQ

LOSER:  Marvel Comics. For a comics convention marked by Marvel Studios lighting up the sky on Thursday and twisting the plot Saturday night, Marvel’s publishing arm announced several comics projects over the week to absolute crickets. While announcing the Viz Media/Marvel Comics collaboration, the entire room stared at their phones, and waited for anything other than Spider-Man comics. The consummate Viz panelists had to throw out their playbook when attendees knew little and cared less for what was being shilled their direction. Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski had a sit-down with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to promote how both side of Marvel influence one another constantly, but what was meant as a way to reinvest MCU interest into book sales (and vice versa) was met with a room of MCU fans clamoring for news prior to Saturday night. Even still, when moving from the Cebulski/Feige sit-down to Marvel’s annual Next Big Thing panel, nearly the entire room up and left. I hope after a fairly polarizing week the message is clear: while there may be MCU fans, that does not make them Marvel Comics customers. –BQ

LOSER:  San Diegans. San Diego is my hometown, but I’ve also moved away partly because of their aggressively regressive stance towards the housing crisis and homeless population that dots Downtown SD’s streets…or used to. With more exclusivity than ever at SDCC, it’s left the vibrant multicultural coastal community gentrified and peeking inwards at their own city. From few stores taking cash or SNAP/food stamps in Downtown SD to foot access cut off for non-attendees, there existed a visible, quantifiable perimeter behind which the privileged were allowed to exist. Beyond that, there was consistent disregard for essential workers tirelessly working every level of hospitality downtown. It very much felt like basic human decency was at a premium this SDCC and passive aggression was treated as bare minimum kindness. With rumors swirling of Comic-Con rethinking San Diego as a host, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issuing an executive order that requires agencies to remove homeless encampments across the state on SDCC’s Thursday, and Friday’s Brazilian steakhouse fire in Downtown SD, the homies of San Diego are feeling left out of their own sanctuary. –BQ

WINNER: DSTLRY. Three excellent artists and founding creators assembled from the indie publisher on Sunday, Joëlle Jones, Jock, and Mirka Andolfo, and each did an impressive live draw, while DSTLRY founding editor Will Dennis capably kept the artists chatting about their processes. It felt like old school Comic Con, going back to the roots of the craft. It was also a thoughtful, subtle intro to DSTLRY. Excited to see what the publisher has in store as a number of familiar creators have signed on.  –KV

LOSER:  The convention food. As someone with gluten and dairy issues, in this enlightened age, I’m surprised that I still can’t assemble a full lunch or dinner for myself inside the convention center. It’s a saving grace that SDCC allows outside food, but it would be lovely if there were a few meal options available for those with allergies and differing diets onsite. –KV

WINNER: The Beat‘s 20th anniversary panel. No, seriously, not just saying that because it’s The Beat. Loved the reflections on the last 20 years of comics, predictions that panned out, those that didn’t. Dauntless editor-in-chief Heidi McDonald also brought together two absolute powerhouses of comics, Scott McCloud and Raina Telgemeier, to share their own thoughts about how comics have evolved, their journey, and their upcoming book collaboration… As someone who’s also been an attendee and fan for over two decades of SDCC, I was moved, and reminded of how far comics and the industry have come. The publication anniversary is a testament to the hard work and persistence of McDonald and the Beat team. And it seemed so right that a panel about comics news would also shine a spotlight on superb creators and their next project. Bravo! –KV

WINNER: Panels that celebrated anniversaries and people. There were so many panels that did that this year and it was a delight to attend them almost all of them. Some of them were given awards such as the Inkpot. Also, fans got to celebrate with them! – GM

LOSER:  The comic-con app. The app is always buggy and doesn’t load everything right away. It’s also sometimes hard to read things on the app too. -GM

WINNER: Manga Publishers who returned to the SDCC Exhibit Hall. While stalwarts VIZ Media and Dark Horse maintained their middle-of-the-action spots in the exhibit hall, manga/K-comics publisher Yen Press/Ize Press and Japanese bookstore chain Kinokuniya returned to Comic-Con after several years absence from SDCC, thanks to some last-minute openings in the 200-300 aisles, which was traditionally the “video games” section of the floor. This worked out beautifully, since Udon Entertainment moved to a much bigger booth location in the 100 aisle. All three were next to each other, and benefited from a similar fan/customer base, who nearly cleaned out Yen Press’ selection of hit manga and manhwa on Preview Night, including Elden Ring, Delicious in Dungeon, and Solo Leveling, and left Udon’s shop list for items by guests Kenichi Sonoda (Bubblegum Crisis) and Hitoshi Ariga (Mega Man) covered in red “sold out” signs as early as Thursday morning. -DA

LOSER:  Webtoons, Korean comics and manga programming and exhibits. While WEBTOON celebrated their 10th anniversary with several panels and news of upcoming live action and animated adaptations of Freaking Romance by Snailords and 3-time Eisner Award winner Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, there wasn’t much evidence of the growing popularity of K-comics, scrolling webcomics, and webnovels in the SDCC exhibit hall. Was it because KCON, the festival of K-Pop music, was being held on the same weekend in Los Angeles this year? Or was it because Anime Expo held 2 weeks prior in LA is where fans (and manga/anime companies’ promotional budgets) are focused? Or perhaps because Comic-Con has way more companies that want to exhibit than available booth spaces? Answer: Probably a combination of all of this, plus the expense of traveling and exhibiting at this show. (exhibit A: my $19 receipt for a pretzel and a bottle of water at the convention center) 

Still, with WEBTOON, Tapas, Seven Seas, Square Enix, and many more manga and webtoon publishers absent from the show’s exhibit hall and programming schedule, it’s a shame that Comic-Con International doesn’t live up to the “International” part of its name as much as it used to. – DA

WINNER: The Penguin Iceberg Lounge. This was a very accessible event with story and atmosphere. The expected drinks were there, but it also provided one of the rarest things at Comic-con: food that’s not only free but also very good. The actors were in character, whomever in charge paid attention to the details, and somehow after being briefly evacuated for a nearby fire the activation got right back up to speed and everyone who had gotten tickets had the opportunity to get in. I’ve kinda fallen off Batman stuff in the last decade or so, but you can bet I’ll be checking out The Penguin when it airs in September. -KL

LOSER:  IMDB boat. I do hold their proud inaccessibility and ableism against them, but on top of that, the few people I know who made it on say it wasn’t nearly as good as in past years. “So. Boring.” was what one had to say. It was barely open, the food was hard to find, and it just wasn’t worth the wait in line. -KL

WINNER: Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The panel was packed full, and it was almost entirely for DA since the room practically emptied out afterward. The panelists were great, the signings were equally well-attended, and I was far from the only BioWare fan talking about how glad they were to see stuff from them at the convention again. -KL

LOSER:  FX activation. Last year’s FX activation was impressive, and the regular entertainment in the center area distracted from the long lines. This year the lines were longer, there was no entertainment and there were fewer things to do. The umbrellas were great, but not great enough to redeem what were some of the worst lines at the convention – two of my friends waited a total of 5 hours (two outside, three in the Bear-specific line) to check out the Bear section. -KL

WINNER: Milton Glaser. After more than a decade of fumbling around with various logos that elicited reactions ranging from indifference to mockery, DC Comics finally went back to an update of the gold standard of comics logos, the Milton Glaser designed DC Bullet which will represent both the DCU movies, and the actual comics. The move was allegedly at the behest of DCU head James Gunn, and for this, we thank him. – HM 

WINNER: The ADA line. I know there are always specific issues with certain aspects of the ADA line-ups at Comic-Con, but no other convention spends as much effort in making sure there ARE ADA lines. In addition, as someone who has been going to SDCC for decades, I have a lot of little shortcuts I use, and this year many times as I tried to sneak in somewhere, I was told these entrances were ADA only. While it was a little annoying to have to find new routes, setting aside the shortest routes for those with mobility issues is the right move. – HM

LOSER: The Comic-Con website and app. They are awful. Completely unusable. They must have been designed by someone who hates the con. At the annual talkback panel there were many complaints, and CCi spokespeople said it was being looked at. Thank goodness!  – HM 

LOSER: Our wallets. With all the rampant inflation over the last few years, I knew that it would be more expensive to eat and drink at the show, but paying $22 for a cold bacon wrap was just soul crushing. And yet, I was hungry and I ate it. So many people mentioned the spiraling costs of setting up and attending at the show, I fear it’s going to be an event for only the extremely privileged going forward. Even the biggest studios are beginning to cut back, as regular comi-connies mentioned in this Reddit thread that Comic-Con peaked in 2015-2017, as far as Hall H and media programming was concerned. Giveaways were much less elaborate (a poster???) and activations were scaled back from their 2022 peak. As this thread suggests, Hall H never actually “sold out,” not even for the MCU panel.  – HM

 

WINNER: Jack Kirby. – HM

WINNER: Comics. With every studio cutting back (except Disney/Marvel) the Hollywood spectacle is definitely down from peak years, but comics programming, presence and news was strong, and all the announced (and unannounced) deals and imprints show that the industry is trying different things to evolve. All signs of a healthy industry. – HM

LOSER AND YET A WINNER: Jennifer Garner. She went to her VERY FIRST COMIC-CON and got stuck in an elevator at the Hard Rock for an hour….but won people back by posting about it on social media. – HM

NEW! WINNER: My Hall H panels! The ALIEN: ROMULUS panel was epic just due to the sheer honesty and transparency of the cast and creatives. Then, to see lots of clips plus get a Face Hugger, win! Also, the energy in the Marvel Hall H panel was unmatched. Genuinely top tier, and while the RDJ reveal set the room on fire, we also had the FANTASTIC FOUR car flying above us after a gospel choir performance for DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE! I also can’t forget about THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON-THE BOOK OF CAROL and seeing the incredible trailer for the long-awaited reunion of soulmates Daryl & Carol.– KB

NEW! LOSER: The hotel system! We would love to have a separate hotel system and key hotels set aside since we’re working and almost always need to be as close to the Bayfront as possible! Other significant events block rooms just for press and working professionals to help make our lives easier since we’re often lugging tons of equipment, etc., for work, and that addition to SDCC would be top-tier! – KB

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4 COMMENTS

  3. So anything woke was a ‘winner,’ and anything you guys want to whine about is a ‘loser.’ Got it. And HM, you’re kidding yourself if you think you aren’t the peak of entitlement and privilege. You get to go where us mere mortals cannot in there and then pass judgment anyway.

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