While we’re still at the beginning of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, many live fan events were hoping the second half of 2021 would mean a return to large crowd gatherings.
While some companies such as Reed Pop have moved their events, others such as E3 have decided to cancel their 2021. Today , Comic-Con International announced the summer San Diego Comic-Con would not be happening in person this year. A statement on the company’s website made the official announcement:
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
Those who rolled over their 2021 tickets will automatically have them rolled over to 2022 dates. You can also request a refund through their website if you wish to cancel. Vendors/exhibitors will receive a separate email with their options and instructions. The website also mentions “You may also choose to transfer your 2021 badge to our reimagined in-person show, in November at the San Diego Convention Center.” No details on what that show will be have been announced and likely will not be made public until sometime this summer.
