Tag: Comic-Con

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 9, 20268:24 pm

Decisions, Decisions

Eleven years ago today, I stomped about San Diego Convention Center shooting photos of Comic-Con 2015. Next week, I return for two days—Thursday and Sunday—marking my first attendance since (gasp) 2017. Oh, I tried but failed to secure passes.

During 2015 Con, I purchased the Fujifilm X-T1, bundled with two lenses, from Best Buy and made good use of the kit during most of the four full days. I used the X-T1 and XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS lens to capture the Featured Image. Vitals: f/4, ISO 2500, 1/60 sec, 18mm; 4:31 p.m. PDT, July 9, 2015.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 8, 20269:57 pm

I Want That One

Let’s play memories like Facebook or your favorite photo app might do by presenting posts or pics from that day over the years. On July 9, 2015, San Diego Comic-Con commenced with Preview Night, and I was there.

In no way could I guess that the year would be my last with full attendance to the event over the full four days and evening. I did possess an entire Con pass for 2016, but I underwent cataract surgery that limited going to Saturday and Sunday; handicapped, I made no meaningful pictorial record.

Living by Joe WilcoxJun 23, 20264:29 pm

They’re Here, But Where’s the Lanyard?

The mailman, whose last day delivering to my street is tomorrow, delivered not one but two golden tickets: Thursday and Sunday passes to San Diego Comic-Con 2026. The annual pulp media pilgrimage starts one month from today, July 23, and runs through the 26th. Additionally, the lucky—or the chosen—can attend Preview Night on the 22nd.

Thursday is official first day. Friday tends to be busier. Saturday often is busiest because of the masquerade ball that evening. You will see more cosplayers strutting about than on any other day. I call Sunday “family day”; locals predominantly fill the convention center. Meanwhile, the majority of celebrities have gone. (Should I say good riddance?)

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 15, 20259:43 pm

Comic-Con: The Return

On Oct. 14, 2025, Comic-Con International sent email that Open Registration for the 2026 San Diego event would commence today, at 9 a.m. PST. It’s a wickedly wet day here in Southern California, which put me uncharacteristically inside. So, I pulled out the laptop, meandered over to the badge sale webpage, and joined the queue—where I was warned my wait would be more than an hour.

I puttered about my office, while waiting to see if maybe my chance for a Golden Ticket would come. The passes sell out fast, and I haven’t attended the Con since 2017, I did secure a pass for San Diego Comic-Can Special Edition during Thanksgiving 2021. But I couldn’t attend, for not meeting SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 requirements. Seriously?

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 18, 202410:26 pm

When Comic-Con was Fun

San Diego Comic-Con is still six months away (July 25-28). Late last year, I missed the first chance for a 2024 pass and skipped the second opportunity. My attendance days long ago ended when the convention chose not to renew my press credentials (and when I was still a working journalist). Subsequently, I wasn’t (supposedly) randomly chosen to purchase a pass.

On this fine Thursday evening, for no particular reason, let’s peek at what was SDCC before the culturally woke put to sleep my interests in participating. The Con is gone, or at least as I remember it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 20239:47 pm

Exit Strategy

For lack of people posts, let’s have one with a big crowd—mass of Comic-Con attendees leaving the San Diego Convention Center at the event’s close on Sunday, July 27, 2014. What luck this year that Hollywood is on strike.

The Featured Image is memorable for camera: Nokia Lumia Icon Windows Phone. Microsoft may have fumbled the mobile market and let Android and Apple make winning touchdowns, but the shooting hardware was best of class.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 29, 20239:30 pm

Don’t Be Angry

San Diego Comic-Con commences with Preview Night, on July 19, 2023. Early buzz isn’t so much about what attendees will see but what they won’t. The Writer’s Guild of America is on strike and could be joined by SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors, as early as tomorrow.

In the midst of the mayhem, Hollywood studios suddenly are pulling presence from this year’s Con. The infamous Hall H, where some of the best panels and previews take place, is suddenly an unpopular presentation venue. Pick any number of reasons, among them: Nobody to be on stage for fans to gawk at; picketers parading placards outside the convention center.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 20, 20228:58 pm

Spidey Steaks

As I write, Preview Night is coming to a close at San Diego Comic-Con, which returns for a full festival following a two-year hiatus in response to SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19. The virus overshadows the show nevertheless. Attendees must wear face masks or other protective covering and provide proof of vaccination or negative Coronavirus test within 72 hours.

Interestingly, the popular culture event implemented those rules before recent rise in COVID-19 infections mainly caused by the BA.5 variant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts SD County in a high-risk category, although deaths aren’t dramatically rising nor are hospitals overwhelmed. Case fatality rate is 0.64 percent, while most people infected show slight to no symptoms. Hey, just saying.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 30, 20229:59 pm

Comic-Con’s Crazy COVID Conniption

To close out the month, and first half of the year, we connect the somewhat distant past with the not-so-far-off future. San Diego Comic Con returns July 21-24, 2022 with Preview Night on the 20th. The show floor, or break-out sessions, will look nothing like the Featured Image, taken seven years ago.

SDCC apparently didn’t get the memo that SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 is endemic and no longer pandemic. Locally, people move freely about without being required to wear masks, be tested, or verify vax status. Based on the official tally, the cumulative-calculated case fatality rate in San Diego County is 0.64 percent. Meaning: Your chance of surviving Coronavirus is better than 99 percent, while more than 85 percent of those infected likely show no symptoms.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 20, 20229:29 pm

Swept Away

I can’t even guess what prompted me to take the Featured Image on July 22, 2017 in the Gaslamp Quarter during San Diego Comic-Con. The evening marked one of my first forays street shooting with Leica Q, which I had owned for only about six weeks. Vitals, aperture and shutter speed manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 6:05 p.m. PDT.

The broom and rake joined other cleaning gear in an untended cart. Surely the attendant was close by, although I don’t recall seeing him or her. The 99-percent crop draws out the big blurry menacing man in the background. Reason for the posture is unknown.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 10, 20218:12 pm

The Omicron Variant

This post’s title, which also names the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2) strain currently causing a global healthcare scare, would be better for a thriller-genre book or film about viral terrorism.

Cue the movie trailer: Six survivors. Keanu Reeves. Daniel Craig. Angelina Jolie. Regé-Jean Page. Kelly Marie Tran. And the esteemed Charlton Heston (appearing as a 3-D hologram). The Omicron Variant. The premise is so frightening that the screenwriters have each gotten three COVID-19 booster shots. You, too, will never think the same way about vaccines—and who gets them when supplies are lacking and the HAZMAT-suited stack body bags in front of your house. Oh, did we forget to mention that they’re empty and waiting to be filled—when your, ah, quarantine is over. The Omicron Variant. Who will survive viral armageddon?

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 25, 20219:51 pm

I Got the Golden Ticket

My wife and I cannot find an escape destination from SoCal. The SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 pandemic proved to be massive interference—from “stay-at-home” shutdowns to insanely rising house prices as newfound work-from-homers fled the cities for more affordable areas that we also considered. Perhaps we were too compliant Californians and locked down when getting ahead of the escaping herd would have made more sense. But we still search, with hopes of vamoosing this year.

That raises question: Will I be around for San Diego Comic-Con Special Edition, which is scheduled for Thanksgiving Weekend? I ask because—oh my fraking luck—the SDCC overlords blessed me (“praise be“, as they say on Handmaid’s Tale) with opportunity to buy a pass during open registration today. How could I refuse?