San Diego Comic-Con 2023: What to expect at this year’s convention

Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo will be there. Daryl Dixon, John Wick, and Captain Kirk, too.

All those guys in fedoras flicking bullwhips? Meet the Indiana Joneses. There’ll be Spider-men and Sailor Moons, too, Moon Knights and Harley Quinns, Star Trek red shirts and armor-clad Mandolorians.

San Diego Comic-Con 2023 opens Wednesday, July 19, for preview night, and then runs Thursday, July 20 through Sunday, July 23.

Are things back to normal at the Con? Somewhat. The COVID-19 rules that required proof of vaccination and masking in 2022 are now voluntary. But the Hollywood studios that regularly put on the biggest, most eagerly awaited panels and presentations?

They’re mostly taking this year off.

Still, there’s never a shortage of cool things to see and do, people to meet, photographs to take at Comic-Con. We dug deep to find the best bets for fun inside the San Diego Convention Center or on the grounds and streets around it.

Here’s what we saw that we liked best:

H is (still) for Hollywood

It’s true that turmoil in Hollywood this year will greatly affect the programming in Hall H, the largest room at Comic-Con, and the place where the Next Big Things are typically unveiled for thousands of fans via star-studded panels.

Many of the big studios decided to skip the Con this year for a combination of business reasons, which include the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild and the possibility that the Screen Actors Guild might go on strike any day now, too.

But that doesn’t mean Hall H, which can hold more than 6,000 people, will go dark this year – though it will on Sunday. The preceding days aren’t as nearly packed with programs as in past years, either.

Paramount Pictures’ upcoming animated film “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” opens Hall H at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and should draw a typically big crowd. “The Walking Dead Universe” panel should be a highlight on Friday as the franchise delivers news about its many existing or upcoming shows, including “Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” in which the fan-favorite character somehow ends up in France.

Saturday in Hall H is mostly for the Trekkies, with a “Star Trek Universe” panel to talk about all of the franchise’s shows present and future, followed by a William Shatner panel in which Captain Kirk will talk about “You Can Call Me Bill,” a new documentary on his life, his recent trip to actual space, and more.

TV party tonight!

Television still has a fairly large presence at Comic-Con, though it remains unclear who will represent the shows at panels if writers and actors don’t show up in San Diego this year. The emphasis on animated shows this year might be one workaround for that problem.

Warner Bros. Television will premiere the upcoming “Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake” animated series on Wednesday night. That series is also included in the Max Original Animation panel on Thursday alongside the new “Young Love” series and a preview of the upcoming fourth season of “Harley Quinn.”

Snoopy gets an Apple TV+ panel on Saturday to update fans on all the Peanuts-related programs in the work at the streaming channel, including a sneak peek at “Camp Snoopy,” a new series coming in 2024. That same day the much-anticipated reboot of “Futurama” also gets a panel in Ballroom 20, after Hall H the largest of the usual Con rooms.

There are non-animated shows, of course, elsewhere on the schedule. The Peacock streaming service has a Thursday panel on the upcoming series “Twisted Metal,” an adaptation of the video game that stars Anthony Mackie, Will Arnett and Stephanie Beatriz.

Friday offers panels and early glimpses of two more new series: Peacock’s “The Continental,” a prequel to the John Wick film franchise, and “Gen V,” a spinoff of Prime Video’s twisted superhero series “The Boys,” which focuses on a college for young superheroes.

Go outside and play!

At Comic-Con, the good stuff isn’t only inside the convention center. Activations, the term for interactive things you can experience at cons, typically fill the grounds around the convention center, the surrounding hotels, and even parking lots throughout the neighboring Gaslamp Quarter.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the “Roseanne” TV series, Cozi TV is throwing a Lanford Days celebration Thursday and Friday at the corner of Sixth Avenue and E Street in the Gaslamp Quarter. It includes a pop-up Lanford Lunch Box, the restaurant where Roseanne and her sister Jackie waitressed. There you can sample such Lanford favorites including the, um, “loose meat” sandwich. (Honestly, loose meat has to be more tasteful than that time Roseanne sang the National Anthem in San Diego, yeah?)

Petco Interactive Zone returns to the parking lot just across the train tracks from the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The Hello Kitty Cafe will be back again this year. New there this year is a Marvel collaboration with GNC to introduce supplements with names like Captain America Birthday Cake, Iron Man S’Mores, and Black Panther Caramel Cookie. (Superheroes use supplements? Discuss.)

The Hulu Animayhem activation takes over the parking lot behind the Convention Center with characters from Hulu animation and anime shows including “Family Guy,” “Futurama,” and “Bob’s Burgers.”

There are more offsite experiences than we can list here, but you should not miss Step Into Jurassic Park in the Gaslamp Quarter, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of “Jurassic Park” with photo ops including that scene when the sleazy lawyer meets a hungry T. Rex while sitting on the toilet.

Fancy dress up

Inside the convention or out on the street, people-watching reigns supreme. As the universes expand – Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Disney and DC among the largest – expect to see more variations on a theme as cosplayers put their creativity to work.

For the most talented and ambitious, Comic-Con always offers a pair of competitions. The Her Universe Fashion Show takes place Thursday evening. This year, it celebrates the 100th anniversary of Disney. Twenty-five amateur fashion designers will compete with Disney-inspired couture, with two winners chosen to create a fashion line with Her Universe.

The 2023 Comic-Con International Masquerade, meanwhile, takes place Saturday night in Ballroom 20 with the wildest, most creative, and imaginative cosplay around.

On the exhibition floor

It’s possible, easy even, to spend almost all your time at Comic-Con on the exhibition floor, wandering from booth to booth, shopping, talking with fellow fans, collecting autographs and free swag.

There might not be the big Hollywood signings of years past, but both Marvel and DC plan to have large swathes of turf for their artists and creators to meet and greet fans. Independent and smaller niche comic companies will also be back with their own creative teams.

Don’t overlook the book publishers, either. There are usually a few long rows of publishers from the big houses in New York City as well as smaller imprints from around the country, and many of them feature meet-and-greets with authors, and the opportunity for autographs or to snag an upcoming book for free before its publication date.

The market for toys and collectibles might be even larger this year. It certainly will be for Funko, which makes a vast line of collectible pop culture figures. The company has announced its Funkoville will take up twice the space it did last year and that was a jam-packed spectacle throughout the Con.