With Covid-19 still taking a huge toll on America, sadly San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) could not take place as it usually has for the past 50 years.  While they have made provisions to provide everybody a free virtual experience, it just isn’t the same for many who have taken refuge and comfort in a place that they were able to express themselves with others fully in ways they can’t find anywhere else.  Despite the necessity for this cancellation, this SDCC-less weekend is a little dismal for pop culture fans everywhere, so I wanted to take a look back at what Comic-Con means to me and why it has had such an impact on so many.

In 2012, I found out about San Diego Comic-Con and became obsessed with the idea of getting to go one day.  By the following year, my mom and I scored a one day badge and a plane ticket to California and at 14 years old, I lived what I thought was the best day of my life at the time.  I cosplayed and got to meet so many different people from all parts of the world who could talk to me about “Doctor Who” and “Game of Thrones”  (my obsessions at the time) as well as be in the same room as the cast and crew from those shows.  Being there made me feel like I belonged in a time of my life where it was difficult to exist outside of the bubble I had no choice but to live in as a child with fascinations that others did not share.

Every year after, I continued to go and make memories that some would probably not believe if it wasn’t caught on camera.  Dylan O’Brien gave me his name tag during a “Teen Wolf” panel, I got into multiple legendary Marvel panels, but most importantly I made friends along the way that I’ve cherished for many years.  When I first went to SDCC, I witnessed huge groups of friends sleeping in line together and saw old friends bump into each other.  I dreamed of being able to walk around the convention and be able to know so many people that I’d have to bump into somebody I knew even with there being hundreds of thousands of people there.  Just a few years later and I had my wish, I met up with the same friends over and over again and joined line groups myself.  Comic-Con became everything I ever dreamed of and more.  It started as a sanctuary for me to escape my everyday life and evolved into something that impacted me more than just one weekend of the year.

Flash forward to college when I realized for the first time in my life that I actually didn’t want to pursue a career in the medical field and instead I wanted to pursue something that had to do with film and pop culture.  As I looked to my left and right in the back of a half-filled “The X Files” revival panel I walked into, I noticed someone on their laptop next to me, typing everything that was happening in the panel as it was happening.  It occurred to me that people actually got paid to go to Comic-Con and attend all the best panels and events as press— what a dream!  It also so happened to occur to me that writing was something I was passionate about,  I had just never considered its possible career opportunities.  So, I changed my major to journalism and started a new career path.  Last year in 2020, I achieved my goal and attended SDCC with a press pass for the first year in many more to come.

SDCC became more than just a convention for me, it became my motivation for being true to myself and my second home.  I really can’t imagine me being the person I am today without it; it led me to so many opportunities, friendships and overall self-discovery.  Having so much passion for pop culture can be fun, but also lonely and Comic-Con helps me and so many others feel a lot less lonely.  There’s something for everyone at Comic-Con and that’s why it’s so powerful.