San Diego Comic Con, if you’ve been following me since the beginning (or at least read through some of my older blogs) you’ll have figured out that I’m really into this. Considering how big a nerd I am it’s essentially my version of heaven, and it’s no surprise that I was really bummed when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Comic Con International to cancel San Diego Comic Con for 2020 and 2021. Luckily, rather than risk going through the hellacious crap shoot of a lottery system that they use to sell tickets, Comic Con International offered ticketholders the option of a refund or rolling tickets over to the following year’s con.

Looking back at San Diego Comic Con 2022, I hate to say this especially since it’s only my third year attending but I thought it was so so-in fact I wasn’t the only one. I remember walking around and I heard a few other attendees saying past years were better. You would think that after being cancelled 2 years in a row due to COVID, the first event back would be super crazy and bigger and better than any of the past events-but it just wasn’t. Most of the convention merchandise was unimpressive, and while there were a few cool activations and displays, overall they were whatever. I’m not surprised though that San Diego Comic Con turned out this way, I blame the COVID-19-or more specifically I blame what COVID-19 did to the global economy.

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the massive global recession—hell, I got to experience it first-hand when I got laid off from my previous job. Anyway, the last 2 years have been a wild roller coaster with its ups and downs and I’m not surprised if most companies are reluctant to be throwing money around so blindly as they were pre-pandemic for fear that there might be another COVID-surge or some other disaster they would need cash for.

While Comic Con might not have been as impressive as past years, it might have actually been beneficial for me because it made it easier to find things that really stood out to me or seemed noteworthy. All in all I only took about 650 photos which is significantly less than the 1000 or so I took back in 2019, after going through them I feel it’s still enough to get just as many posts out of.

Anyway here’s the first of about 13 posts from San Diego Comic Con 2022.

Here’s a view of the Comic Con banners hanging in the atrium that I took while I was on my way up to the Sails Pavilion to get my lanyard and bag. I remember every year before I was able to go to Comic Con I would see pics of these pop up on social media or on some blog and just be filled with so much FOMO.

One thing that always caught my eye when I went to San Diego was all the giant building wraps.

Here’s one promoting Dan Harmon’s new series Krapopolis which is supposed to premiere in November.

Some wraps promoting Amazon Prime’s Ring of Power which they had running along Fifth Street through the Gas Lamp District.

A giant ass wrap from Paramount promoting all the Star Trek shows on Paramount+.

An extremely creepy wrap on the Hilton promoting season 2 of American Horror Stories.

A wrap with Nathan Fillion on it promoting on Hulu that was on Petco Park. I’m like 99% sure this was on here back in 2019, and it makes me wonder if they just put the same wrap up or just never took it down.

For some reason I was really drawn to Baby Tattoo’s Carnival of Astounding art for some reason really drew me to their booth. For those who aren’t familiar with them, Baby Tattoo is art publishing house and event production company that publishes visual books by contemporary artists as well as hosts art and magic events where their artists can showcase their work.

I’m not sure if it was because of their super swole baby statue.

Or maybe it was just this Pumpkinhead/Jack O’Lantern statue which for some reason gave me vibes of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series that Skottie Young did for Marvel Comics a few years back.

For this event Funko’s had their booth themed after a ’50s-style diner and theater.

Like in 2019, the bulk of the Star Wars booth was dedicated to displaying costumes. In this case the costumes on display were meant to promote some of the Disney+ series.

Here’s the Boba Fett costume from Book of Boba Fett.

The Mandalorian/Din Djarin.

Bo-Katan Kryze from The Mandalorian.

Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi’s robes.

Darth Vader suit. I just realized the codpiece on this looks like it’s made out of a soft leather while in some of the older materials it was like a hard plastic plate. Now the soft leather is what they used in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series which makes me wonder why they didn’t keep the plastic plate.

Mon Montha, the human who gave the speech about taking down the Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

Cassian Andor’s cowboy-looking ensemble.

The B2EMO droid which I’m surprised I didn’t see rolling around the convention, although I won’t be surprised if I see them at LA Comic Con in December now.

Aside from the costumes the Star Wars booth also had pinball machines setup for people to play.

The Neco booth had a pretty nice display of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles displays/figures based on the 1987 animated series.

Here’s a city-scape setup showing off the various villains as well as a few supporting characters.

A diorama representing the Turtles’ lair featuring Donatello, human-Splinter, Usagi Yojimbo, and the baby version of the turtles. I really love the detail they put into this. From the Mousers and Roadkill Rodney on the table, to the interdimensional portal in the corner. They really did a good job recreating the look and feel of the ’80s cartoon lair.

Three of the Punk Frogs hanging out in the lair with Rat Splinter. Judging by the shirts we have Attila the Frog, Napoleon Bonafrog, and Rasputin the Mad Frog. I’m pretty sure that figure in the corner is supposed to be Mondo Gecko.

Collect PCS had some pretty cool statues on display.

Here’s Mileena and Jade as they looked in Mortal Kombat 3/Trilogy.

Apollo Creed as he looked in Rocky IV with the American flag trunks and Uncle Sam hat.

Ivan Drago.

Apollo Creed as he looked in Rocky II.

Rocky in his black trunks from Rocky II.

Black Panther/T’Challa on the throne of Wakanda.

A really cool statue of Mega Man X in this assembly pod thing.

And a big ass bust of Chun-Li.

I’m going to stop right here. I know this post seems a bit short, especially compared to some of my past works, but like I said earlier, after going through and segmenting my photos out into themed posts, I have enough content for at least another 10 more posts so stay tuned for those.