San Diego International Comic Con

Downtown stops being an office district and becomes a place where a stranger in full armor holds the crosswalk button for a family with strollers, and nobody finds it remarkable. That is the part people who have never gone do not understand — this is not a trade show. It is the week when the thing you love in private becomes the default language on the street. Comics are still the spine of it, but the floor spilled long ago into movies, television, gaming, and interactive work that did not have a name when this started. The convention center downtown holds the official version; the sidewalks, the hotel lobbies and the lines hold the rest, and the lines are where people actually meet each other. Go with the person you have been explaining your favorite series to for years, and let them find out there are thousands more.