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San Diego Comic-Con will be virtual in 2021, with a twist

By Sarabeth Pollock

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 22: (L-R) Cosplayers Christopher Canole as Dude Vader, Faeren Adams as Dr. Strange, Derek Shackelton as Moon Knight, and Todd Felton as a TIE Pilot pose in front of Hall H at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2020 in San Diego, California. 2020 Comic-Con International will occur as a virtual event, Comic-Con@Home, due to the coronavirus epidemic. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 22: (L-R) Cosplayers Christopher Canole as Dude Vader, Faeren Adams as Dr. Strange, Derek Shackelton as Moon Knight, and Todd Felton as a TIE Pilot pose in front of Hall H at San Diego Convention Center on July 22, 2020 in San Diego, California. 2020 Comic-Con International will occur as a virtual event, Comic-Con@Home, due to the coronavirus epidemic. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images) /
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San Diego Comic-Con will be virtual in 2021, but this time there’s a twist to the announcement. The main event will follow 2020’s template and take place virtually July 23-25, but organizers add that there will be an in-person event in November as well.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, event organizers don’t see a safe path to hosting the mega convention in San Diego in 2021, so they’re moving forward with plans to host another virtual event after the success of the SDCC At Home event in 2020. “The past several months have taken a great toll on both families and friends, and we hope this effort is a small move toward a return to gathering as a community to not only celebrate popular art, but also friendship, education, and the enduring spirit of the fandom that is so much a part of Comic-Con,” they said in a statement.

San Diego Comic-Con announcement isn’t surprising, but it is telling

After a year of dealing with the pandemic, life is slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy but it will take a while before things get back to the way they were.

In the case of big pop culture conventions like San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic-Con, it’s hard to imagine when we’ll see a convention space packed with over a hundred thousand people again. Even if these big shows operated at 25% capacity, that would still be too many people in one indoor location with little air filtration.

With the vaccine rollout facing challenges in the U.S. it could be early 2022 before everyone has a chance to receive a vaccination. SDCC and NYCC are both events that attract fans from all over the world and there are many countries still struggling with COVID-19 who have yet to start a full vaccination program. For now, it’s safer to err on the side of caution and postpone in-person events until 2022.

There were several upsides to the virtual conventions. The panels were released on YouTube and remained available so that fans never had to choose one over the other, something that happens during in-person conventions. Fans were given opportunities to ask questions in advance and there were no long pauses for applause.

All eyes will now turn to New York Comic-Con to see whether they make an announcement on their 2021 event, but it seems all but certain that NYCC will follow SDCC and use the same virtual format.

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