It’s hard to imagine now, but the nation’s most popular comic book convention — San Diego Comic-Con International — did not have its first sellout until 2007.
The pop culture phenomenon seems almost quaint nowadays when viewing a YouTube video of Marvel Studios in 2006 trying to sell itself to the crowd. Studio chief Kevin Feige was in a small room with a simple cardboard Iron Man poster as a prop. After that year, Marvel and many other major studios changed tactics and blasted onto the stage with polished, bombastic presentations that seemed to get bigger with every return visit.
The growth of Comic-Con into a Hollywood juggernaut happened rapidly, even Steven Spielberg had to show up in 2011, and it seemed like no new TV show or movie — no matter how little it had to do with comic book culture — dared miss the convention. To many, it felt like no expense was spared for two decades as the biggest actors graced panels and had over-the-top promotions.
