When the first San Diego Comic-Con – called Golden State Comic-Con at the time – was held in 1970, the co-founders of the event had no idea how vast it would grow over the ensuing decades, not only in regards to attendance but scope and prestige as well. Similar pop culture conventions have found success in other cities across the country, but San Diego Comic-Con still remains the granddaddy of them all, a literal Geek Culture “Super Bowl” that attracts over 130,000 attendees annually and celebrates everything from science fiction and fantasy to film and television to go along with the comics so prominently featured in its name.
Despite its notoriety, San Diego Comic-Con is a short affair held over a mere five-day period in mid-July. The team behind the event has often asked themselves if there was a way to expand those five days into a yearlong celebration, and on November 26, 2021, the answer became reality with the soft-opening of the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
“One of the things important to Comic-Con is making sure that we have great content for you,” Eddie Ibrahim, Director of Programming at Comic-Con International, told the crowd at an SDCC Special Edition that same weekend. “But we also realized that pop culture and pop art is not just something that should be experienced five days a year. It’s something that should actually be a museum piece. It’s art, it’s true art, and something that all of us enjoy not only because it’s fun, but we can enjoy because there’s an accomplishment to it. So I think that’s one of the reasons why the museum became such an important part. Not only is it something that can be admired for its art form, but it’s something that can be used for education, it’s something that can be used to bring joy and to create mindsets, and hopefully look towards a better future.”
The journey to that “better future” officially began in March 2017 when the San Diego Hall of Champions – which had been located in Balboa Park since 1961 – announced it was closing its doors. A replacement museum was needed, and San Diego Comic-Con immediately became the logical choice to craft it.
“I know they will create something for the park that is interesting, engaging and relevant both to our tourist base and residents,” Peter Comiskey, Executive Director of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, told the San Diego Union-Tribune at the time. “They’re a very creative organization and have a fantastic opportunity to use that creativity and positively impact Balboa Park.”
Balboa Park was already the home of numerous museums, including the San Diego Natural History Museum, Fleet Science Center, and San Diego Air & Space Museum. Many of the buildings in Balboa Park were built for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition, including the Federal Building at 2131 Pan American Plaza that now houses the Comic-Con Museum. While the outside retains its original design – modeled after the indigenous architecture of the American Southwest – the inside offers 68,000-square-feet for San Diego Comic-Con to reimagine as an extension of its annual affair.
The initial opening of the Comic-Con Museum in November 2021 featured exhibits that showcased the vast scope of Geek Culture. A collection of superhero costumes lined one side of the main hall, for instance, with corresponding cardboard replicas created by two local teenagers lining the other. An “Eight Decades of Archie” exhibit – showcasing the comic book exploits of the Riverdale gang – was nearby, while a Pac-Man Arcade was located closer to the entrance. Original artwork from Charles “Chas” Addams, creator of The Addams’ Family comic strip, was featured on the balcony level.
The highlight of the opening weekend, however, was a homage to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry’s son Rod was instrumental in the creation of the Sci-Fi Visionary exhibit, which wasn’t so much about Star Trek itself but the various influences on Gene Roddenberry’s life that helped shape the iconic science fiction franchise. It also demonstrated that the Comic-Con Museum is intent on finding new ways to explore familiar topics.
“You love the stories, you love the characters, and so getting to tell the story about the people that created these properties as much as showing their pop culture property itself is the exciting thing,” Comic-Con Museum programming consultant Chris Ryall explained at the SDCC Special Edition. “When you get to experience the different things that Gene Rodenberry experienced, the different parts of Gene’s life that led to his creation of Star Trek, and then when you get to see some of these personal memos, these letters and these pieces… it gives you a little sense of Gene as a person and what really led him to create Star Trek.”
While the soft-opening of the Comic-Con Museum in November 2021 was a success, it was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of long-range goals. The Covid-19 pandemic may have altered the original timeline from both a construction and fundraising standpoint, but the endgame remained the same. Cox Communications, for instance, donated $175,000 for the creation of the Cox Innovation Lab as part of the Comic-Con Museum Education Center, which will encompass 6,000-square-feet of classroom space for special presentations and hands-on learning activities.
The Museum likewise has plans for year-round programming, including panels, creator meet-and-greets, experiential cinema, watch parties, eSports, cosplay shows, and concerts. The Comic-Con Museum café, meanwhile, will have a changing menu inspired by current exhibits, and the gift shop will feature comics and graphic novels to go along with such traditional souvenirs as T-shirts, mugs, and collectible pins. As for the 25,000-square-feet of exhibit space, a steady rotation of new offerings will keep the Comic-Con Museum experience fresh while likewise incorporating the vast scope of San Diego Comic-Con into the proceedings as well.
“The spirit of Comic-Con has always extended beyond the conventions and that’s why we are very excited to be able to capture and share this creative energy in a space that is designed to be participatory, educational and, most of all, fun,” David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer for San Diego Comic-Con, said in a September 2020 press release. Thanks to the Comic-Con Museum, that spirit can now be experienced and celebrated throughout the year.
Anthony Letizia
