San Diego Comic-Con 2025: The Good, the Disappointing, and the Awesomness!

As the dust settles on my first San Diego Comic-Con, my legs are beginning to recover, and I don’t want to even look at my credit. Let’s look back at the good, the frustrating, and the absolute awesomeness that was my time in San Diego. 

I have been attempting to go to this event for 10 years, but due to money, timing, and something as simple as not being able to get a ticket, I have never been able to be on site for even one day. This left my wife and me to #couchcon from home, which is in no way the same thing. 

When The Geekiary allowed me to cover the convention for them this year, I jumped at the chance. But first, I thought it was a good idea to move across the country three weeks before the con. Zero stars. Would not recommend.  

I don’t always want to lead with the negative, but I have to discuss it. One of the two major issues for me this year was the fact that my hotel was in Mission Valley, forcing me to take the shuttle back and forth to the convention center. 

I didn’t have an issue with the hotel; it was great. However, I had to make extra plans to travel back and forth. This wouldn’t be an issue for a day or two, but seeing that I needed to write up articles or edit videos each night meant staying up later than I wished to. I had terrible luck with every lottery this year, including the hotels. Hopefully, I will have better luck next year. 

The other major issue was the sheer number of people. This can’t be helped unless Comic-Con International wants to limit the tickets even more than they already do, which isn’t likely. At times, walking around the floor was nearly impossible. Lines for everything, including something as simple as food, were too much. I handle large crowds well, but even I struggled with the masses at times, needing to find a quiet corner to put my headphones on and listen to some music to find my calm center. 

Although these negatives did affect my con experience, it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the event as a whole. So, let’s talk about what I enjoyed the most. 

First, the people! During the five days in and around the Con, I met so many great people. We spend hours talking about our fandoms, what cool things we bought, some of the panels we had seen, and even at times, sharing a drink or two. More than once, I met someone I would never have met if the cosmos hadn’t brought us together at that moment at this event, where all fandoms are welcome. Whether I was in the press room, at a restaurant in the Gaslamp District, or waiting in another line, everyone was happy to be part of this global event. 

There is a panel for everyone. Whether you are in animation, comics, cosplay, movies, or television, you will find it there. As much as I wish I were in Hall H for the Tron: Ares panel or Project Hail Mary, not spending hours in line allowed me to attend several “smaller” panels, like The Toys That Made Us, The Saga Museum, and the Disney Villains panels.

For me, the best panel I saw was the Music of Superheroes panel with the composers of Penguin, Arcane, Andor, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and it was moderated by Michael Giacchino, composer of the Fantastic Four movie. 

Each panelist spoke about their childhood favorite toys and music, their process, and then showed us a scene from each of their shows, with their music. It was fun having each of them speak about their art and how they make it. 

The making of film and television has always interested me as much as the stories on the screen. So, getting this behind-the-scenes look doesn’t take away from the magic onscreen; it makes it better. 

There was some amazing shopping as well. Like I said earlier, I had zero luck winning any lottery spots for Funko, Hasbro, or a couple of comic book creator signings, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the hunt. 

One of the artists I wanted to see the most was an artist by the name of Karen Hallion. Her line was so long at times, the con had to have line monitors to control the area. Here are a couple of things I got from her. 

One of my favorite comics right now is Something Is Killing the Children, from James Tynion. Boom! Studios had a large booth on the floor this year with an array of con exclusives. I purchased a mystery three-pack for Something is Killing the Children, and I got one of the one thousand variant covers from Dan Panosian, who was at the con. So, I got that one signed and graded. 

Also in that pack, I got a 1 in 200 Foil Variant that was only available at the convention. I also set that off to be graded. 

The last comic I’m going to talk about here is a SIKTC #1 I had found at a booth earlier in the week. It was later that I found out the cover artist, Jai Lee, had a table and was doing signings all weekend. 

I went back to the booth where I found the #1, but it was gone. I asked the guys running the booth if it had been sold, and they said no, no one was looking at it, so they had just put it away. Sometimes the universe gives you a win even when you don’t know it. Purchased the book, had it signed, and it’s off to get graded by CGC. 

As a writer for The Geekiary, I was a part of several interviews, which I will be doing full write-ups in the coming weeks. 

I was in the composers’ press room after their panel. They each spent 10 minutes with a round table interview of four or five reporters. They were each engaging and insightful, sharing their process for their art. 

I also interviewed Jim Zub, the current writer of the Conan the Barbarian comic, and his editor, Chris Butera. I asked him one question and he spoke for a straight 10 minutes without taking a breath. His love of writing comics, and especially Conan, was infectious. Enough that I’m going to pick up some of the Conan series to see if it’s something I would be into.

I also spoke to Gene Luen Yang, writer of American Born Chinese graphic novel. When I spoke to him on Sunday, he was coming off winning three Eisner Awards over the weekend and was announced to be the newest writer on a major current run of a comic. You will have to wait for my article to see which one. 

I could go on for pages and pages about everything that I got to experience during the week of San Diego Comic-Con. Each day brought something new to see and do. I’ve been attending conventions of all types and sizes for nearly ten years now. Each one has its ups and downs, its own flavor, or its own feel. Not every event is good, and some are just OK. But this, the atmosphere, the people, the vendors, the panels, the outside of the convention activations, everything, elevates this to the top of my list of events I have had the opportunity to attend. 

I am already working out how my wife and I can attend next year. Next year’s dates were announced in the printed schedule as Thursday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 26th, 2026, with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 22nd. I need to let my legs rest for a couple of days and let my credit catch its breath, but when I tell you I will be going back, I mean it.

I hope you all get the chance to be part of this amazing fan event.

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