San Diego Comic-Con: looking back to the legendary origins of the largest Geekdom event

With San Diego Comic-Con By launching this week, it is the perfect time to revisit the way this Pop Juggernaut culture started and how it grew in the most influential convention in the world.

For me, SDCC is more than a simple agreement: it is an annual pilgrimage. I attended every year since 2006 and 2008, the same year Marvel made everyone explode from the debut Iron Man In the Hall H, we launched Geektyrant. I was there when the Marvel cinema universe was born, and it was a moment that changed the Fandom forever.

But like any epic saga, Sdcc has its history of origin.

The birth of an agreement

In 1969, Sheldon DorfA comic book enthusiast who had worked on a Detroit convention, decided that San Diego needed something similar. He launched the idea to a group of fans of adolescent comics, but they were not sold … until Dorf took the phone and called Jack Kirbythe legendary co-creator of Captain America And countless Marvel icons. That call changed everything.

Dorf, together with Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Bob Sourk, Barry Alfonso, AND Dan StewardEven guided at Kirby’s house in Irvine, California. It is there that Kirby not only agreed to participate in their first event, but gave them a crucial advice: not only to make the comics, to cenultate all the fandoms. This suggestion would become the foundation of the success of the Comic-Con.

The first steps: from a basement that gathers to a cultural phenomenon

The first comic-with was not a huge show, it was a modest gathering at the US Grant Hotel in the center of San Diego in 1970. In reality there were two events that year. The first, in March, was a test of a day called Golden State Comic-Minicon of San Diego To test the waters. It was a success.

Later that August, the team went bigger San Diego Golden State Comic-ConA three -day event with panels, film screenings and retailers. About 300 fans have packed in the hotel basement, united by big names such as Forrest J Ackerman, Ray BradburyKirby himself, Bob StevensAND Ae van vogt. That first vast scale event became the model for any comic convention that followed.

For the next few years, the event operated with the name Comic convention of the western coast of San Diegobefore officially adopting San Diego Comic-Con In 1973. Then in 1995, its non -profit organization was renamed Comic-Con International: San Diegocementing his global status.

As SDCC has become a pop culture power

At the beginning, SDCC focused on comics, science fiction literature and film screenings. But as the culture of the fans grew, the convention also. At the end of the 80s and early 90s, Hollywood realized the power of the Fandom. Studios started using SDCC as a stage to promote successful films, TV programs and subsequent video games.

The turning point came in 2008 when the Marvel Studios took on the Hall H with Iron Man and introduced the world into a small film called Iron Man. That moment made the minds explode and rewritten the regulation for marketing films. From that moment on, Hall H has become legendary, the place where the largest reveals with the panels must participate.

Today, SDCC is the place where studies eliminate exclusive trailers, surprise apparitions of the actors of list A and fans’ theories light up global conversations. It is no longer just about comics, these are everything in the entertainment ecosystem: movies, TV, games, collectible objects, cosplay and beyond.

Because the San Diego comic matters again

In an era when trailers fall online instantly and fans’ events appear everywhere, could you ask you: why is Sdcc still the destination of the fans? The answer is simple: community and experience.

There is something electric in being in San Diego during the Comic-Con. The entire city turns into a playground for Geek. From dirty activations engaging to the panels once in life, SDCC offers experiences that you cannot replicate on a screen. It is here that the fans, creators and giants in the sector converge in a space, United by Passion.

For creators, it is still the place to show their work. For fans, it is the possibility of being part of something bigger, to meet their heroes, make new friends and celebrate the stories that inspire them. Over the years I have become part of a small family of comics.

From the humble beginnings to global domain

What started in 1970 as a 300 fans basement gathering has become a cultural event that attracts over 130,000 participants every year and influences the entire entertainment sector. The San Diego Comic-Con simply changed the functioning of the Fandom, has modeled modern pop culture.

While SDCC gives the way again this week, remember that everything started with a small group of passionate fans, a phone call to Jack Kirby and a dream that continues to become bigger every year.