According to reports we have all read this week, latex cosplay accessories, a packed crowd of rabid attendees, and tons of toys and comics are all setting a strong and ready presence at Comic-Con 2023. Yes, a unionized Hollywood writer and actors’ strike is happening presently, resulting in Marvel, DC, and Sony (among others) passing on panel presentations at this year’s granddaddy fantastic media event. And who knows what stars will leave the picket line to come down a little further south of L.A. for the weekend? But as it does every year in San Diego, Comic-Con is on in full force!
Tweets and posts from just the past few opening days indicate that fans attending 2023 Comic-Con are enjoying the feeling that this year’s event is back to being more about comics and merch. With major studios stepping back, per union bylaws, not taking part in this weekend (for instance, Marvel has bowed out of the panels for like “Agatha: Coven of Chaos,” and Deadpool 3,”), it might just be that the comic in Comic Con does take precedence and overall perspective shifts this year.
Still, spotted on the convention floor this year; Adam Warlock’s GOTG3 costume, Aquaman’s New DCEU duds to be featured in his “Lost Kingdom,” from Star Wars Outlaws’ Kay Vess’s bike, and Lego using the type face and color of the old Blockbuster movie rental chain at their booth that featured both toys and DVD’s.
This report from the Orange County Register, right from the heart of Southern California, speaks even further to the point above. “Comic-Con purists,” as they are called in the piece, admit how they are excited to spend time with independent artists and independent cartoonists who don’t usually get as much attention in San Diego when major stars are mingling among the crowds for selfies or the major studios are filling ballrooms with their trailers and panels.
A change of perspective or not, as ever, San Diego’s Comic-Con 2023 is sold out, and scalped tickets are going for more than a thousand dollars on the secondary market.
Comic-Con lives.
