SDCC 2026
By Derek Vigeant
When you’re sitting down to write a wrap up piece covering arguably the biggest pop culture convention in the country, you have to pause and realize rambling on about four (and a half) days of activations, panels, and an exhibit floor with dozens of dealers selling multitudes of Fanboy goodness to make your heart happy and not put the reader to sleep with an overabundance of unnecessary filler is exactly what you want to avoid!
Oh wait. This is off to a bad start. Let’s keep it simple.
The Good
So much TV! Being that I am a massive fan of the small screen, there’s no contest that television shows dominated the panel rooms over film. We had the heavyweights like Lanterns (HBO Max), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount), The Walking Dead: Dead City/ The Vampire Lestat (AMC), and what felt like Apple TV bringing the entire Apple cart with Silo/Widow’s Bay/Dark Matter. The animated veterans that have been coming for years, such as Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, and Family Guy, also found their way back again.
But if TV isn’t your thing, Comic-Con was rich in variety all across the rooms with Anime, cartoon voice actors, toys and action figures, wrestling, and of course—Comic Books! I saw so many comic book-themed panels in the schedule, whether it was the staples of Image/Marvel/DC or smaller presses, but there was plenty of representation every day. The days of people thinking Comic-Con has lost its roots might have had something five years ago, but the pages have definitely turned on their demise.
Two panels that I personally enjoyed were Actors Turned Comic Book Writers with Aimee Garcia & AJ Mendez (Day of the Dead Girl), Hannah Rose May (The Exorcism at 1600 Penn), and Patton Oswalt (Minor Threats). Not only talented on screen but also funny and lively personalities that had the room constantly laughing. And the second was Image Comic Legends with Kirkman, McFarlane, Liefeld, Silvestri, and Stephenson. Hearing all their stories from them working together over the years and then the way they poke fun at each other like the best of friends made the panel live up to the title perfectly.
Lastly, I have to mention the exhibit hall floor because I spent a large amount of time there. While I didn’t even have time to participate in half of the booths’ activities, I thought there were some really great-looking ones that I wish I could’ve. The Nickelodeon slime time, the Masters of the Universe Castle Grayskull, Marvel’s Wolverine Photo Op, and the Paramount “Press Play” arcade. That’s just a few! I was constantly running around either getting autographs from the dozens of artists on the floor or shopping at so many booths for all the shirts, books, and art I don’t need but have to have! If you’re reading this, I’m sure you understand.
The Bad
Where were all the activations?! The lawn behind the convention center was practically empty except for Adult Swim still holding it down. There was no FX representation except a small ice cream pop-up for AHS S13, and Abbott Elementary skipped the con entirely without an activation or a panel. Hulu did bring King of the Hill, but not only did they move over by the Hilton in the Gaslamp, but they also cut the square footage to half the size as in previous years. That activation used to take a good chunk of time just to get through it. Apple TV brought Silo and Widow’s Bay activations, but they were very small and just offered photo ops.
So, the only standout off-sites were Resident Evil, Lanterns, Paramount Lodge, and Stuart Saves the Universe. But three of those four required a pre-obtained time slot online, and if you didn’t have that, you were at the mercy of standby lines that were going from 2-4 hours. Did I also mention at any point it’s July and it’s not exactly cool outside?! The problem seemed to be that there were so few activations that everyone who was interested in doing them flocked in full force and made it very difficult to try and actually get in. I heard that the Lanterns one had people lining up so early that they were saying they were at capacity after 7 am. For the entire day! I’m sure there are those reading this that aren’t interested in activations anyway, but my point is if you take the activations out of SDCC, it’s just like every other con in America.
And also, where were the movies? Yes, I said previously I prefer TV, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want some big tentpole films! There was nothing from DC Comics or Legendary and not much from Warner Bros. (Acme vs. Coyote?) and Disney. We all know that the big franchise films bring out the most popular celebrities that everyone wants to see. The studios have been cutting back in recent years, but I feel it hit an all-time low in 2026.
The Ugly
Times are tough these days with inflation, tariffs, etc., and maybe that’s what has contributed to the lack of swag. Everyone loves going to Comic-Con and getting free stuff! But there was very little to be had this year. Gone were the tables with posters, pins, bags, and whatever random keepsake booths came up with. I’m sure someone on here is going to mention ONE booth that was giving out lots of swag, but after four days my Dark Horse bag was barely half full. The FOX booth, which was famous for countless years over their sought-after poster tubes, was absent from the show floor entirely. I can’t remember in my several decades of going to this show the last time FOX was not in attendance. And it wasn’t just in the exhibit hall because many of the activations gave out little as well. Remember that awesome backpack from Hulu or the personalized umbrella from FX? While many people were going fanatical for the ring from the Lanterns activation, or I heard there was a good gift bag from Resident Evil, the fruit of the Comic-Con trees was not plentiful.