San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, since 1970. The event's official name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego, but is more commonly known as Comic-Con, the San Diego Comic-Con, or the abbreviation SDCC.
Convention crowd outside of Golden Hall in 1982
The San Diego Convention Center during Comic-Con in 2013
Comic Con crowds in 2011 as seen from a helicopter
Comic-Con crowd inside the second floor of the convention center in 2011 waiting for the exhibition hall to open
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
Phoenix Fan Fusion's 2017 convention in Phoenix, Arizona
During panels at comic book conventions, the audience is sometimes invited to line up and ask questions using a dedicated microphone.
A Fallout Cosplayer photographed at a Comic Con in a Fallout Themed area
