Relive Comic & Superhero Events

123 comic & superhero events the community showed up for — relive the night, then catch the next one.

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San Diego Comic Art Summit 2026 — SDCC Week Collectors Event

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San Diego Comic Art Summit 2026 — SDCC Week Collectors Event

Jul 23, 2026 Harbor Club, 100 East Harbor Drive…

San Diego Comic-Con has panels, activations, and a floor the size of a small city. The Comic Art Summit has two hundred people in a room at the Harbor Club. Heritage Auctions representatives will be there. The first eighty attendees receive signed prints in their gift bags. The conversations are about original pages, cover art, who made what, what it trades for. People collecting for decades sit at the same bar as those who just realized this is the conversation they wanted. Complimentary food and drinks included. Limited to 200 guests. $100 per ticket. July 23, 2026 | 6-10 PM | Harbor Club, San Diego. SDCC badge not required.

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San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Thursday

Jul 23, 2026 From $65 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

The people in those seats on Thursday morning have been planning this exact day since last year's badges sold out, and the studios know it — which is why the reveals land the way they do, into a room that is fully awake and fully invested. Thursday is the underrated day. The weekend crush has not arrived, Friday's floor pace is still a day off, and the panels that run now set the tone for everything after. Exhibit hall lines exist, but they are lines you can actually stand in. If you are going a single day and want both hall access and real time on the floor, this is the answer: all of the access, a fraction of the Saturday density. The week starts in earnest the moment that first panel ends and the floor opens. San Diego Convention Center, July 24th, badges from $65. Go with the person who will let you drag them to a panel about something they have never heard of.

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Indigi-Con 2026 — Indigenous Comics and Storytelling, SDCC Week

Jul 23, 2026 UC San Diego Park and Market, 1100…

Comic-Con week is mostly parties, and then there's one afternoon where the work actually matters -- Indigenous artists and writers in a room built for their storytelling instead of the queue for Hall H. Indigi-Con is a half-day of panels, conversations, and art from Indigenous comics artists and writers, presented by the Indigenous Futures Institute, focused on how Indigenous storytelling traditions meet the contemporary comics form. Its own programming day, its own curatorial voice, its own reason to be downtown during SDCC week. No badge required, free admission. Bring the friend who reads the small-press table before the main floor. The community here is not the one lining up for the big panels, and that is precisely the point. UC San Diego Park and Market, 1100 Market Street, East Village. July 23, 2026, 3:30 to 8 PM.

Petco Park Interactive Zone — Free SDCC Offsite Experience 2026

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Petco Park Interactive Zone — Free SDCC Offsite Experience 2026

Jul 23, 2026 Lexus Premier Lot, 100 Park Blvd, …

You do not need a badge to feel like Comic-Con found you. The Interactive Zone at Petco Park is the largest free Comic-Con experience in San Diego — a sprawling lot of brand activations, pop-up shops, food vendors, and cosplay photo ops that turns the Lexus Premier Lot into a theme park for anyone who has ever loved a fictional world more than they can explain. This year's lineup includes MaruMart, an immersive walk-through of a Japanese convenience store from Maruchan with SDCC-exclusive merchandise and surprise giveaways. The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck rolls in with macarons, madeleines, and custom quarter-zips. KAYOU's Walls of Fandom celebrates trading card culture with large-format displays. The Labu'Tique Farmers Market brings Labubus, Squishy Toys, Jelly Cats, and Needohs — the kind of plush haul your inner child has been waiting for. Open Thursday July 23 through Sunday July 26, 10am to 5pm daily (4pm on Sunday). Located in the Lexus Premier Lot next to Petco Park, just across the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge from the convention center. Free entry. No badge required. Bring the kids, bring the cosplay, bring the energy.

Ready Party One: The Final Level — 2026 SDCC Kick-Off Party

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Ready Party One: The Final Level — 2026 SDCC Kick-Off Party

Jul 22 – Jul 23, 2026 Parq Nightclub, 615 Broadway, San …

The week of San Diego Comic-Con starts before you ever enter the convention center. Ready Party One: The Final Level is how it begins right. Parq Nightclub hosts the SDCC Kick-Off Party on Wednesday July 22 — the night before badge pickup begins, when the city is already filling with fans who flew in from everywhere. Neon-lit gaming and arcade atmosphere, DJs across two floors, a live cosplay showcase, and a set from The Flux Capacitors, one of the most committed Back to the Future tribute acts in the country. No SDCC badge required. Parq is a short walk from the convention center on Broadway. VIP tables and elevated tiers available. Price: $33.85-$321.96. Organized by Experience Level Entertainment. July 22, 2026 | 8 PM - 2 AM.

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Ready Party One: The Final Level

Jul 22 – Jul 23, 2026 $30–$75 615 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101

Someone decided years ago that the night before the badges go live shouldn't be spent packing a bag in a hotel room. They believed the people who fly in early — the cosplayers, the arcade diehards, the friends who only see each other once a year on this one downtown block — needed a room of their own before the show floor ever opened. So they built one, and they've rebuilt it every summer since 2018. This year it's a neon-lit digital battlefield: arcade legends and fighting-game champions, console warriors, the golden age of gaming rendered in light and bass. There's an 80s tribute band that has been part of this since the beginning, a 90s band, DJs scratching records, and a few thousand people who all got the same text from the same friend that said "this is us, we're going." It is the unofficial opening ceremony of the week — the moment the city stops being a place you visit and starts being a place you belong to. Logistics: Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM at Parq Nightclub, 615 Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101 (Preview Night, the night before Comic-Con officially opens). General admission and VIP tickets available through XLE Productions on Tixr.

San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Preview Night

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San Diego Comic-Con 2026 — Preview Night

Jul 22, 2026 Preview Night badge San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

There is one evening when the whole thing belongs to almost nobody. The exhibitors are still tightening their displays, the signs are up, and the floor is walkable in a way it will not be again until it is over. Preview Night is that evening, and the people holding the badge know exactly what it is worth. The buying is different — the limited exclusives that will be gone by Saturday morning are sitting right there, and everyone around you knows it too. But the real gift is the pace. You can cross the exhibit hall. You can talk to the people who built the booths. You can take a photo that is not mostly the backs of strangers' heads. It is the most anticipated event in the world caught in its last quiet breath before the weekend swallows it whole. San Diego Convention Center, 111 W Harbor Dr. Preview Night badges go through comic-con.org, and they go early. The harbor is out the window and the doors are about to open. It is the right way to begin.

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Paramount+ The Lodge — Free Immersive SDCC Experience 2026

Jul 22, 2026 Happy Does Bar, 340 Fifth Ave, San…

The Lodge is what happens when a streaming service decides to stop showing you trailers and start putting you inside the show. Paramount+ returns to San Diego Comic-Con with a free 50-minute immersive experience that drops you into the worlds of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, South Park, and UFC — not as a viewer, but as someone who was always supposed to be there. Each room is a different universe. You will scan a starship bridge console, dodge Cartman's commentary, bend alongside Aang, and step into the cage atmosphere of a UFC event. The interactive moments are paired with exclusive photo ops and free swag that changes daily. This is not a booth. This is a choose-your-own-adventure through Paramount's catalog that rewards the fans who showed up. Advance reservations are available through Fever, but standby lines run all day for walk-ups. Open July 22 through July 26 at Happy Does Bar, 340 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. Thursday through Sunday, 9am to 7pm. Free admission. The approximately 50-minute experience moves at your pace — linger where it grabs you.

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PAWmicon 2026 — Comic-Con Pet Cosplay at Balboa Park

Jul 21, 2026 Presidents Way Lawn, Balboa Park, …

Somewhere in your house there is an animal who has been waiting for this. Not for the walk, not for the treat jar — for the moment someone finally sees what you have always known: that your dog was born to be a superhero. PAWmicon is Helen Woodward Animal Center's annual pre-Comic-Con costume contest, and it turns the Presidents Way Lawn at Balboa Park into the most wholesome red carpet San Diego will see all week. Three categories — Flying Solo, Duos and Trios, and Fantastic Floats (for pets with a ride) — and every entry gets a crowd that screams like it is Hall H. The difference is that here, nobody is pretending to be excited. The golden retriever in the Spider-Man suit genuinely believes he is saving the city, and honestly, he might be right. The event is free to watch. Entry is $20 in advance, $30 at the door. It launches on Tuesday, July 21 at 4 PM, two days before Comic-Con opens — which means it is the first cosplay competition of the week, and the only one where the contestants will love you unconditionally afterward. Presidents Way Lawn, Balboa Park, near the Air and Space Museum. Bring a blanket. Bring your phone. Bring the dog who has been rehearsing.

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Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Jul 17 – Jul 19, 2026 From $15 Major theaters nationwide, USA (+I…

The storms, the scope, the homecoming - all of it built for the room, for a screen size and a sound system the cinematographer assumed when they framed it. A 65-inch television approximates The Odyssey; the real IMAX screen fulfills it. The filmmaker who rebuilt the Batman mythology, turned Dunkirk into a physical experience, and made Oppenheimer the event that reminded the world what theatrical cinema could do is now directing the oldest story in the Western tradition at the largest scale available. IMAX for this - not the regular auditorium, not later at home. Nolan makes films for the room, and this is the one built to exist there. His opening weekends fill fast, and they fill with the audience that wants to see the film correctly - the people who saw Oppenheimer on 70mm, who made the drive to the best screen available. This is the summer film the theatrical experience was built for. Book IMAX before the first weekend. July 17th, 2026, at theaters nationwide including IMAX, from $15.

Anime Impulse Bay Area 2026 — Santa Clara, CA

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🌎 Nation's Best

Anime Impulse Bay Area 2026 — Santa Clara, CA

Jul 18 – Jul 19, 2026 Santa Clara Convention Center, 500…

The floor hits different up here. NorCal's anime crowd is its own thing - tech workers who cosplay, university anime clubs that run their own programming, a vendor hall that skews more independent than the LA circuit - and once a year it fills the Santa Clara Convention Center for one of Northern California's largest anime weekends. The Artist Alley is the real draw: Northern California has a deep well of independent creators whose work rarely reaches Southern California convention markets, so if you collect original prints, this floor rewards the walk. If you are the kind of person who treats convention season as a pilgrimage - who plans the year around AX in July and SDCC in July and fills the weekends with smaller cons that hit differently - Anime Impulse Bay Area is worth the drive or the flight. The production is professional, the crowd skews slightly older than Pomona (early-to-mid 20s median), and the July timing slots cleanly between AX and the August convention season. A few logistics: the Santa Clara Convention Center is BART-adjacent (Convention Center station, Orange Line), which matters if you are flying into SJC or coming from SF. The floor gets crowded Saturday afternoon around 1-3pm. Industry panels and local creator showcases are scheduled to avoid overlap with the main stage, so read the schedule before you arrive. Parking is available but fills by 11am Saturday. Cosplay is everywhere and elaborate builds are the norm, not the exception - the hallway costume game is legitimately competitive. Anime Impulse has become the convention for Northern California's anime community the way Anime Expo defines the Southern California circuit, and it is not trying to be AX; it built its own identity around community access and independent creator support. San Jose and Santa Clara have a dense Japanese-American cultural community that shows up visibly in the Artist Alley and cosplay composition, alongside independent zine publishers, food vendors with Bay Area-specific flavor, and a significant South Asian otaku community - dimensions you do not find at Southern California conventions. Anime Impulse Bay Area 2026 lands at the Santa Clara Convention Center July 18-19, with a guest list built around the current season's most talked-about creators.

Kodansha House L.A. 2026 - Los Angeles, CA

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Kodansha House L.A. 2026 - Los Angeles, CA

Jul 2 – Jul 12, 2026 Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The manga lives in a building in Little Tokyo for eleven days this summer. The creators are inside. Inside Kodansha House you will find a manga gallery, cafe, reading lounge, and library dedicated to Kodansha's most beloved titles. The confirmed guest lineup alone makes this a must-attend moment for manga fans: Blue Lock creators Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura are appearing, as well as Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Boushi no Atelier) mangaka Kamome Shirahama. These are the artists behind two of the most-followed manga series currently airing in anime — Blue Lock Season 2 and Witch Hat Atelier are both Spring 2026 hits. This year Kodansha House is also hosting the finals of the Blue Lock × Concacaf: Diamonds in the Rough competition — a creative collaboration that launched during the World Cup. The competition bridges Blue Lock's anime fanbase with the actual tournament happening across the US this summer. Winners are announced here at Kodansha House, with additional events at Anime Expo (July 2-5) and the final SDCC announcement at Comic-Con San Diego (July 24-27). If you are making the circuit — AX in LA, then SDCC — Kodansha House is the physical anchor between them. The Kodansha House model debuted in New York City in 2024 and generated significant fan community response — not as a typical convention booth, but as a relaxed space where you can read, sit with the art, and occasionally find yourself in the same room as the people who made it. It is a different register from the convention floor energy at AX. The Little Tokyo location is intentional — the neighborhood already functions as a cultural anchor for the LA anime and manga community. Free public entry. No tickets required — follow Kodansha USA (@kodanshausa) for the confirmed address and any reservation announcements. AX badge holders should check the official Kodansha House page for premium access details. Hours: approximately 11am-6pm daily, July 2-12.

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Anime Expo 2026

Jul 2 – Jul 5, 2026 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Anime Expo runs July 2nd through 5th at the Los Angeles Convention Center — badges at AXS — and the West Hall, South Hall, Petree, and Concourse are all cleared for four days and given over to the largest anime convention in North America. A hundred thousand people. Some in costumes that took six months to build. All in the same building at the same time. The AX floor rewards knowing what you're looking for and punishes aimlessness — the Exhibit Hall has premiere merchandise, Japanese publishers, indie creators, and industry names in a space that takes three hours to cover once at a casual pace. The panels fill the big rooms with standing ovations for announcements that hit the internet seconds later. The Artist Alley is where the convention finds its actual soul: original work, fan work, artists who drove thirteen hours and set up at 6 AM because this is the room where their work finds its people. Outside the hall, the cosplay density on Day 2 turns the Convention Center plaza into its own event. Four days is not enough time. Pick your anchors — panels, signings, morning Exhibit Hall, night events — and let the rest happen around them. Badges sell out. Lock yours in.

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Anime Expo 2026 — Day 4

Jul 5, 2026 From $45 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Anime Expo 2026 — Day 4 closes the convention on Sunday, July 5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in North America, drawing over 100,000 fans to the Los Angeles Convention Center each summer. The 2026 edition runs July 2-5 across all four days, with a massive 340,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall, Artist Alley, J-Pop and ani-song concerts, industry panels, anime premieres, cosplay competitions, autograph sessions, and gaming areas. The convention is organized by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation and runs continuously across all four days. Each day brings different programming, exclusive announcements, and guests from across the anime, manga, and J-Pop industries. Saturday and Sunday draw the largest crowds; Thursday and Friday move at a more manageable pace for exhibit hall access. The Los Angeles Convention Center is located at 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015, steps from the EXPO/Convention Center Metro station. Badge pickup opens before the convention; pick yours up early to avoid lines. Tickets are available at anime-expo.org. Single-day and four-day badges are offered, with four-day badges providing the best value for full-weekend attendees.

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🌎 Nation's Best

Anime Expo 2026 — Los Angeles, CA

Jul 2 – Jul 5, 2026 From $87 (1-day) / $175 (4-day) Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Every July 4th weekend, the Los Angeles Convention Center stops being a convention center and becomes the largest gathering of anime fans in North America. The four-day span draws 100,000 attendees and turns downtown LA into the axis of the anime world for the summer. The scale hits you immediately. The Exhibit Hall spans over 340,000 square feet of merchandise, artist booths, publisher displays, and licensed collectibles. Artist Alley is a separate destination — hundreds of independent creators selling original art, prints, and handmade goods, the kind of work you will not find on any streaming platform or official retail channel. The Industry Panels are where announcements happen: English dub cast reveals, new season confirmations, licensing news that fans will screenshot and share for weeks. Voice actor autograph sessions routinely have lines forming before sunrise. Is Anime Expo worth it? If you are even moderately embedded in anime culture — yes, emphatically. The density of what you can see and do in four days at the LACC is unmatched. There is no equivalent event in North America for scope, for industry access, for the sheer number of people who look exactly as excited about the same things you are. The cosplay alone — tens of thousands of costumes across every franchise — is worth the badge price for someone who has never seen it at this scale. Before you go: buy your badge early; prices increase and popular event tickets (Masquerade, concerts) require separate purchase and sell out fast. The convention floor opens at 9am but autograph lottery lines form before 7. Wear comfortable shoes — you will walk six miles without trying. The 4th of July weekend means Downtown LA is also hosting holiday events; plan transit accordingly. Metro is faster than driving. Bring cash for Artist Alley. Anime Expo earns its Nation's Best position because it is the single largest public expression of a cultural moment that has been building for thirty years and shows no sign of slowing. The mainstream discovered anime. AX is where the culture that built it celebrates on its own terms. Los Angeles Convention Center. July 2–5, 2026. The concert programming — separate ticketed events within AX — brings J-pop and ani-song artists to Los Angeles who rarely perform in North America outside of this weekend. If you follow any Japanese artist, check the concert schedule before finalizing your badge type. These shows sell out independently of the main badge and often represent the single best live music opportunity of any anime fan's year.

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Anime Expo 2026 — Day 3

Jul 4, 2026 From $65 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Day 3 at Anime Expo is when the convention becomes itself. Saturday, July 4, 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center — the highest-attendance day of the largest anime convention in North America. Over 100,000 fans across the floor, programming running in every corner of the building, the cosplay competition at full force. This year, Day 3 carries weight for two fandoms simultaneously. The BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War — The Calamity panel takes place Saturday morning at Crypto.com Arena, with Japanese VA Masakazu Morita and English voice director Johnny Yong Bosch present. And in the afternoon (2:45–4:05 PM, JW Diamond room), Science SARU presents the North American premiere panel for Ghost in the Shell 2026 — the first new entry in the franchise in over a decade, premiering on streaming July 7. This is a rare convergence: two landmark franchise events, one day, one convention. Beyond the main panels: the Artist Alley is at its most densely packed, exclusives sell out by early afternoon, and the spontaneous meetups — people who found each other because of a shared series, a specific cosplay, a niche fandom — run into the night. Plan for crowds at the main entrances by midmorning. General admission and day badges available. The Saturday ticket moves fastest.

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Anime Expo 2026 — Day 2

Jul 3, 2026 From $65 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Anime Expo 2026 — Day 2 continues Friday, July 3 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in North America, drawing over 100,000 fans to the Los Angeles Convention Center each summer. The 2026 edition runs July 2-5 across all four days, with a massive 340,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall, Artist Alley, J-Pop and ani-song concerts, industry panels, anime premieres, cosplay competitions, autograph sessions, and gaming areas. The convention is organized by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation and runs continuously across all four days. Each day brings different programming, exclusive announcements, and guests from across the anime, manga, and J-Pop industries. Saturday and Sunday draw the largest crowds; Thursday and Friday move at a more manageable pace for exhibit hall access. The Los Angeles Convention Center is located at 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015, steps from the EXPO/Convention Center Metro station. Badge pickup opens before the convention; pick yours up early to avoid lines. Tickets are available at anime-expo.org. Single-day and four-day badges are offered, with four-day badges providing the best value for full-weekend attendees.

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Anime Expo 2026 — Day 1

Jul 2, 2026 From $65 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Anime Expo 2026 — Day 1 opens Thursday, July 2 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Anime Expo is the largest anime convention in North America, drawing over 100,000 fans to the Los Angeles Convention Center each summer. The 2026 edition runs July 2-5 across all four days, with a massive 340,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall, Artist Alley, J-Pop and ani-song concerts, industry panels, anime premieres, cosplay competitions, autograph sessions, and gaming areas. The convention is organized by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation and runs continuously across all four days. Each day brings different programming, exclusive announcements, and guests from across the anime, manga, and J-Pop industries. Saturday and Sunday draw the largest crowds; Thursday and Friday move at a more manageable pace for exhibit hall access. The Los Angeles Convention Center is located at 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015, steps from the EXPO/Convention Center Metro station. Badge pickup opens before the convention; pick yours up early to avoid lines. Tickets are available at anime-expo.org. Single-day and four-day badges are offered, with four-day badges providing the best value for full-weekend attendees.

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