SAN DIEGO — Catwoman boots? Check. Thor hammer? Got it. Bottomless supply of enthusiasm, optimism and patience? Always.
Beginning Wednesday, Comic-Con International is back at the San Diego Convention Center for its first full-strength, in-person appearance since the summer of 2019. Back with star-studded panels (Welcome, Keanu Reeves and Kesha!); sneak peeks (HBO's "House of the Dragon," Prime Video's "The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power"); and the chance to collect memories that could not be made anywhere else.
Whether it was the time you got a selfie with Stan Lee or the magical day you nabbed a seat for 2015's legendary "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" panel, Comic-Con memories are as precious as personal space on the Exhibition Hall floor. In honor of Comic-Con's return to our universe, here are some treasures from the swag-bag of my heart.
Best Gateway Drug: 'Supernatural'
All I was looking for when I ducked into a near-empty room for a preview screening of some new Warner Bros. TV shows was a quiet place to eat my sack lunch and breathe some fresh(ish) air. What I got from my 2005 Comic-Con introduction to "Supernatural" was a front-row seat to the fandom adventure of a lifetime.
Between the classic-rock soundtrack and the merry mix of snark and scares, this underdog series about a pair of ghost-hunting brothers got its meat hooks in me from the start. And I was not alone. By 2008, my little Comic-Con find had gone from scaring up viewers on the ratings-starved WB Network to hosting large, raucous panel sessions and causing autograph-session gridlock on the Exhibition Hall floor. In 2011, the "Supernatural" panel moved to the 6,400-plus seat Hall H, where it hosted epic swoon-fests for the next eight years. The show went off the air in 2020, but for the fans who made it happen, this Comic-Con love story will never, ever die.
Early Bird Special Award: 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1'
It was 2011, and the line outside Hall H began forming at 7 a.m. Wednesday for a "Twilight Saga" panel that started at 11:15 a.m. On Thursday. But while I was chatting up the ecstatic fans who had slept on the grass surrounded by pizza boxes and beauty products, it became clear that the perks of being persistent started long before Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson hit the stage. At the crack of 6:45 a.m. that Thursday, a squad of peppy young people representing the studio showed up with muffins and juice, followed by supporting actors ready to autograph posters, travel mugs and assorted body parts. There was no sleeping through that Comic-Con wake-up call. The snacks were free. The delirious vibe? As priceless as the Hall H air-conditioning.
Best Escape Hatch: The 'Mr. Robot' experience
Less than three years before he was wowing Oscar-voters with his performance as Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody," actor Rami Malek was blowing my virtual mind. In 2016, the ever-expanding Outside Comic-Con universe included a virtual-reality experience devoted to the USA Network's riveting "Mr. Robot."
In a totally transformed Fourth Avenue art gallery, visitors could hang out in an impressively faithful version of the apartment belonging to Elliot, Malik's vigilante hacker character.
And thanks to a 12-minute virtual-reality film written and directed by "Mr. Robot" creator Sam Esmail, you could put on a virtual-reality headset and headphones and find yourself hanging out with Elliot as he/we got very high and had a mind-bending adventure that included an animated dance-party and a ride on a Ferris wheel that should have come with a virtual air-sickness bag. It was an intellectual experiment that was also weirdly intimate, not unlike the show itself. It wasn't real, but it was really trippy.
Superhero for Life: Stan Lee
As he did in the blockbuster movies and TV shows inspired by the indelible characters he helped dream up, the late Marvel Comics wizard Stan Lee lived for a Comic-Con guest appearance. Whether he was chatting with "Xena: Warrior Princess" star Lucy Lawless at a party, signing his millionth autograph or posing for his zillionth fan photo, the supernaturally energetic Lee seemed to be everywhere all the time.
A sighting of the dapper icon parting the Comic-Con waters was always a treat, but my favorite Stan Lee moment came during the 2006 panel for the Syfy Channel reality show "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" Lee had created the series about everyday people and their superhero alter egos, but all the 83-year-old comic-book legend had to do to inspire a standing ovation from the adoring crowd was to stand up. It was a small moment from a giant, and it was plenty.
This one's for you: The fans
There was Ben Townend of North Park, who spent some 1,300 obsessive hours creating the astounding Chewbacca costume that made him the monster hit of 2011's Comic-Con. There was 16-year-old Joelle Kosic of San Diego, who ventured into the Gaslamp without a Comic-Con badge and treated the long line for the 2016 "Suicide Squad" experience at the Hard Rock Hotel like it was a destination unto itself. ("The waits are just part of the experience," she said cheerfully.)
And there was extreme "Lord of the Rings" fan Kevin Cozzoli, who had a very slim chance of getting into the 2012 Hall H panel on "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," despite getting in the endless, snaking line more than eight hours before the panel was supposed to start. But he still had room in his fan heart for the unfortunate souls who were almost certainly not going to make it to the Promised Pop-Culture Land any time soon.
"That is so sad," Cozzoli said, as two latecomers in full furry regalia trudged past him to the end of the line. "I feel sorry for those Hobbits."
Whether they were saving my seat, sharing their pens, or gifting me with smart, funny quotes about everything from the "Lost" polar bear to cosplay costume tips (avoid sticky-back Velcro at all costs), the Comic-Con fans have been unfailingly nice, unstoppably enthusiastic, and the best friend an overwhelmed reporter could ever have.
"I have been coming here since I was 12, and it's just very welcoming," 28-year-old Piper Bloom of Santee told me in 2019, when I interviewed her in the middle of the mobbed Exhibition Hall floor. "Walking in here feels like home."
When Comic-Con comes to town, we're all family.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Columnist Karla Peterson is a longtime San Diegan whose beats at the San Diego Union-Tribune have included TV criticism, pop-culture, Comic-Con and San Diego people and lifestyles.
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