San Diego Comic-Con will go virtual once again in 2021

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The writing was on the wall, but now it's official: San Diego Comic-Con 2021 will not be held in-person this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will instead go virtual once again from July 23-25th.

"It is the policy of the organization to continue to closely monitor information from local and national healthcare officials as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic," SDCC organizers said in a statement. "Never could we have imagined what the world experienced in 2020 and continues to experience today. While we are buoyed by the rollout of the vaccine and the growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in-person event of the magnitude of Comic-Con." Unfortunately, the postponement of these large events have left Comic-Con International with "limited financial resources" this year, which is why the Comic-Con@Home experience will only be a three-day event.

The past several months have taken a great toll on both families and friends, and we hope this effort is a small move toward a return to gathering as a community to not only celebrate popular art, but also friendship, education, and the enduring spirit of the fandom that is so much a part of Comic-Con. We thank you all for your continued and unwavering support during these most challenging times.

It's not all bad news however, as Comic-Con International have also announced their intention to present a three-day in-person convention in San Diego this November, but that they're still working on attendance capacity, cost, and so on. For those of you who had purchased badges that were rolled over to 2021 when the in-person convention was postponed last year, those badges will once again be automatically transferred to the 2022 event unless a refund is requested. They're also working on an option for folks to "transfer their badge or exhibitor deposits/payments as full or partial payment towards our 2021 November event." You can read the rest of Comic-Con International's statement on SDCC right here.