The sorrow from the first cancelled San Diego Comic-Con is starting to set in for fans of the annual event. With SDCC originally set to take place at the San Diego Convention Center throughout the majority of this week, fans have started to build a makeshift shrine in tribute to what could have been. Located across the street from the convention center where the event typically takes place, the shrine was formed in part by Chris Morrow, a Comic-Con official who says fans are able to drop off anything they so choose to memorialize the event. The shrine is expected to remain at the location through July 27th.
“Residents from San Diego County got together to show love and respect to Comic-Con,” Morrow says. “The popular arts convention is online this year and residents wanted to let everyone know San Diego Comic-con is not forgotten and we will see them back in person 2021 in San Diego.”
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With San Diego @Comic_Con fans missing the convention in-person this year, some have left an #SDCC tribute across the street ahead of the virtual event (📸: @morrowchris) https://t.co/9VMQnIvqbS
— 10News (@10News) July 20, 2020
In place of the physical event, organizers with Comic-Con International have since opted to form Comic-Con@Home, a virtual event that will include pre-recorded panels with many of the studios and properties that originally planned to have a presence at the convention in the first place.
“I don’t think we’ve really thought of it in terms of a replacement for the show,” Comic-Con exec David Glanzer told THR earlier this year. “It is an iteration that we hope will convey some of the excitement of Comic-Con in whatever format we and our stakeholders can create. We are reaching out to various entities who are usually involved in the physical show to see if, and how best, we can incorporate them into an online version.”
He added, “There are several different ideas floating about [concerning the format and timing of the event], but we are still in the nuts-and-bolts planning phase, which is why our tease about Comic-Con@Home was deliberately void of any specifics. But there are certainly a great many options from which to choose.”
As it stands now, just one major convention is still on the table for this year — ReedPOP’s New York Comic-Con that’s scheduled for later this fall. With coronavirus numbers spiking around the country, it’s anticipated that convention will also be postponed, though an official decision has yet to be made.
Comic-Con@Home takes place through various platforms every day this weekend.
What panel are you looking forward to most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
