Comic Con International

The SAN DIEGO COMIC CONVENTION (Comic-Con International) is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized for charitable purposes and dedicated to creating the general public’s awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, including participation in and support of public presentations, conventions, exhibits, museums and other public outreach activities which celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture. Comic-Con International: Started as a one-day “minicon” in 1970. The success of the minicon led to the first full-fledged, three-day San Diego Comic-Con (called San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con) at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Over 300 attendees packed into the hotel’s basement for that groundbreaking event, which featured a dealers’ room, programs and panels, film screenings, and more: essentially, the model for every comic book convention to follow. The show's main home in the 1970s was the El Cortez Hotel. In 1979, Comic-Con moved to the Convention and Performing Arts Center, staying there until 1991, when the San Diego Convention Center opened. With attendance topping 130,000 in recent years, the event has grown to include satellite locations, hotels, and outdoor parks. Programming events, games, anime, Independent Film Festival, and the Eisner Awards all take place outside of the Convention Center, creating a campus-type feel for the convention throughout downtown San Diego. WonderCon: Aspects of that show, including comics, movies, TV, animation, the Masquerade, and more. The event has grown in all aspects over the years: more attendees, more exhibitors, more programming, and more fun. WonderCon was started in 1987 in Oakland. Comic-Con International took over the show in 2002 moving it from Oakland to San Francisco in 2003. After 15 years as a Bay Area event, WonderCon was forced to move to Anaheim in 2012 (construction at the Moscone Center) and has been held in southern California since.