San Diego Comic-Con International is a non-profit annual convention held in San Diego, California. It began life as a small comic book convention but now spans multi-genre entertainment as well. Since 2002 the event has taken place in mid to late July and runs for four days from Thursday to Sunday, plus a preview evening on Wednesday.

Comic-Con’s Origins

Photo by Alan Light via comic-conventionmemories.com

The convention was originally founded back in 1970 by a group of San Diego citizens, including Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Kruger and Mike Towry. It began with Dorf, a Michigan-born comic book fan who had previously started the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the very first comic fan conventions. After moving to San Diego in 1970 he organized a one-day convention called Golden State Comic-Minicon.

He followed this up with a three day convention, the Golden State Comic-Con, which was held at the U.S Grand Hotel for a crowd of 300 people.

Over the following years the convention moved around the city, before settling in the San Diego Convention Center in 1991, where it has been ever since.

Alf, who became chairman in 1971, suggests that the convention’s growth was down to networking with other fandoms, such as the mythopoeic society. Meanwhile Krueger, who handled business matters, pushed to establish a non-profit to run the annual event.

These days that non-profit employs a panel of 13 board members, 16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers and around 80 volunteers. They work together to organize not just San Diego Comic-Con but also the Alternative Press Expo and Wondercon.

Comic-Con’s Growth

via vox.com

Since its inception, Comic-Con has maintained a pattern of mostly steady growth, which you can see some of in the chart above. From its humble beginnings of just a few hundred attendees, it has grown over time to an enormous 130,000+ visitors.

The process has been mostly steady, with a likely factor for growth being the convention's good reputation. Expanding beyond just comic books was also a huge boost for the event. The growth of other pop culture conventions, as shown above, also proves a growing desire for these events which spans far beyond just San Diego.

Comic-Con includes panels, seminars, and workshops as well as previews of upcoming films. Alongside these there are also portfolio review sessions with gaming and comic book companies. Some studios even recruit from the event.

via wired.com

There’s also a large space for exhibitors. This includes movie studios, TV Networks, and gaming companies as well as collectible and comic book merchants. Comic-Con also includes autograph opportunities and an artists alley.

As the demand has grown so has the amount of space taken up by the convention. It now spans not just the Convention Centre, which it has fully occupied since 2004, but also neighboring hotels, the Hilton Bayfront and the Marriot Marquis & Marina.

This makes it one of the largest conventions in the world, although it is no longer the largest. Back in 2013 New York Comic Con hit a record 151,000 attendees, beating San Diego’s 130,000.

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Why Is SDCC So Important?

In recent years we’ve seen a huge rise in the popularity of many aspects of geek culture, including comic books, movies based on comic books, table top gaming, and video gaming. As it becomes more acceptable to embrace your geekiness and cosplay in public, events such as Comic-Con help feed that love of what is now considered pop culture.

One of the most important things that helps San Diego Comic-Con stand out is its long history. The convention has been a stable event in the calendars of comic lovers everywhere since before geek was chic. Over the years the events have not just grown but also evolved, to ensure the experiences are as positive as possible.

It’s popularity really rocketed in the early 2000’s. As the first big wave of blockbuster superhero movies hit cinemas the San Diego Convention Centre expanded, creating a perfect storm for growth. More people wanted to learn about the comics behind the heroes and Comic-Con could provide the answers. When Hollywood started sending people to showcase at the event its success was sealed.

Comic-Con’s solid history of successful events also means it can get a high calibre of panelists and exhibitors, which in turn feeds into the event’s future success. Being one of the earliest and most long-running conventions also means that the event itself is now ingrained into pop culture, further increasing its prestige.

San Diego Comic-Con is often mentioned in various TV shows, movies, and more. It’s become a symbol of geek culture and a must see event for fans of gaming, movies, anime and comic books.

The 50th Anniversary

This year’s convention marks the 50th in its history.  While the celebrations are low key, there are a few panels over the weekend which will gather past guests and attendees to discuss how things have changed over the last 50 years.

There’s also an opening night fundraising event for the Comic-Con museum, which is still raising money in order to fully complete the project. The opening night will include the introduction of Batman as the inaugural member of the Character Hall of Fame.

Over the years the convention has been boosted by the amazing camaraderie of its attendees. This is reflected in things like the HallHLine Twitter account, which posts updates for attendees on where and when to queue to get into the most popular panels.

The Influence of Comic-Con

Comic-Con's influence is now felt throughout the world. Not only are there numerous large pop culture conventions across the globe but even small towns are getting in on the act. As geek culture continues to become ever more popular the humble comic-con can now be found in not just cities but even towns across different countries.

Comic-Con’s influence has spread far and wide over the last 50 years and geek culture looks set to stay.

This article was inspired by Quora. You can read the original question here.

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