SAN DIEGO — Comic-Con International is back in person after a two-year hiatus and while a lot of it looks familiar, it isn’t exactly the same pop culture event you remember.
There will still be massive crowds descending on downtown San Diego with 135,000 confirmed ticket holders starting Thursday, but efforts are in place to slow the spread of COVID-19: The convention has instituted a strict mask policy and attendees must show proof of vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours.
The convention itself feels like a contradiction: On one hand, some of the large companies that traditionally take up space on the big exhibit floor will be absent this year. Yet there will also be some of the biggest panels in years — even predating the time before the pandemic — with DC, Marvel Studios, Netflix and other entertainment companies doing an all-out push for their latest movies and TV shows.
