I Survived San Diego Comic-Con 2026!

This is Brandi, back with another con recap! SDCC edition! San Diego Comic-Con 2026 has wrapped up, and the post-con crash hit hard, but I’m excited to share what I experienced and explain how I survived another year of Comic-Con chaos. I attended panels, explored the show floor, chatted with vendors, attended a fashion show, saw incredible cosplays, and stepped out of my comfort zone with something entirely new this year!

Jittery with excitement and a tidbit of anxiety, I arrived in downtown San Diego on opening day, Thursday, July 23. With a pep in my step and a backpack of snacks and other convention essentials, I approached the San Diego Convention Center. Despite the average foot traffic of Comic-Con, I managed to get into the convention relatively smoothly. Once I got my badge and my souvenir bag, I raced off for my first panel, “Creature Craft: Visionaries of Horror Comics Share Their Secret.”

The panelists, diverse horror comic creators, delved into what inspired their comics and drew them to the horror genre. As a horror fan and history nut, I loved how the creators investigated local lore and urban legends to inspire their comics and created new narratives. They also touched on the psychology of fear and what draws us to consuming horror, despite its ability to scare and disturb; how simplicity can be scariest at times; and explored how horror and hope are linked. After the “Creature Craft” panel, I opted to explore the SDCC Exhibit Hall and see what 2026 vendors had to offer this year.

Per usual, I wrote down a checklist before the show started, listing the exhibitors I wanted to meet in person, buy from, and check out during my time at Comic-Con. With so much to do and see at Comic-Con, I try to narrow down must-dos that’ll make me happy and try to be steered less by FOMO. And among my must-dos would be visiting comic creators, artists, and authors whom I admire, show my support as a fan, and get something signed if I’m lucky.

For example, I visited the booth of Jeff Pina, a comic writer and illustrator I follow online. Along with stickers and his graphic novels, he was selling original art of iconic characters in a loony style that makes me smile. Initially caught between multiple pieces, I settled on his hand-drawn original of the iconic, and not so harmless, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the Ghostbusters franchise. I love Ghostbusters; I loved how Stay Puft looked in Jeff’s style, and I was so psyched to claim a framed piece of his art as my first purchase!

The Jazwares booth, for instance, displayed figures and plushies of jaw-dropping quality. This year, the booth offered exclusives from Pokémon, Marvel, Hello Kitty, KPop Demon Hunters, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and more. As a longtime Pokémon fan, I was especially excited to see their life-sized statues of Mewtwo and Mew, and their 16-inch SDCC 2026 exclusive Blasting Off Again! Meowth Balloon Plush! Being a big fan of the Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth, I loved seeing this plush modeled after Team Rocket’s classic Meowth hot air balloon and was pleased with the careful attention to detail it displayed. As anticipated, the plush sold out fast, and I couldn’t get my hands on one, but knowing stuff like that exists is good enough.

After further exploration, I headed to the Manchester Grand Hyatt, where the highly anticipated and high-energy Her Universe Fashion Show was set to take place. I checked in, and, while waiting for the show to start, I sat with two of the women behind the multimedia platform Con Culture, and we chatted about mistaken cosplays. With many variants of Deadpool, Loki, and Spider-Man and so many other costumed characters waltzing downtown San Diego, I suppose it makes sense for some costumes to be misidentified, but it never stops being funny.

Presented this year by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products and celebrating the DC Universe, the 12th annual Her Universe Fashion Show hosted twenty incredibly talented designers, with original geek couture inspired by DC heroes and villains. Like previous years, the looks that hit the runway were breathtaking, and the audience’s excitement was contagious. With designs inspired by iconic DC characters such as Harley Quinn, Batman, Blue Beetle, and the Teen Titans, live performances, and fun banter between co-hosts Ashley Eckstein and Michael James Scott, the 2026 Her Universe Fashion Show was one to be remembered!

Want to know what exactly happened the night of the show? Fear not! I’ll be going into further detail in a follow-up article. But for now, I can confidently say that the Her Universe Fashion Show remains one of my favorite highlights of San Diego Comic-Con! What a way to kick off the con!

On Friday, July 24, I started my second day of Comic-Con by attending the “Love in Every Universe: The Great Romance Trope Debate” panel, with representatives from online storytelling platforms and sister companies WEBTOON and Wattpad as panelists. With WEBTOON creator ROSEOAK, Wattpad Head of Content Alessandra Ferreri, Wattpad author E.M. Wilson, and Meet Cute Bookshop founder Becca Title as panelists, the “Love in Every Universe” panel offered a fun, chaotic environment for friendly debate. Tropes and subjects of debate included Enemies to Lovers vs. Friends to Lovers, and Fated Mates vs. Forbidden Love, and we quickly learned where each of the panelists stood on those subjects and more in a hilarious fashion. 

E.M. Wilson, for example, says she’ll “happily burn s’mores over a burning bridge” when it comes to the Enemies to Lovers trope, and Alessandra Ferreri sees falling in love with your best friend as an ultimate relationship goal. ROSEOAK made it very clear she dislikes the Fake Dating trope. And while the panelists’ opinions varied for most of the proposed tropes, all panelists agreed that Grumpy Sunshine was a must-keep in romance.

With the lively energy and engagement between the panelists and the audience, the “Love in Every Universe” debate panel was a lot of fun to attend and participate in. Each panelist had three sign options to raise when a trope was proposed. Keep it. Burn It. Mixed Feelings. Each panelist gave their reasons, and it was an overall enjoyable panel that I would love to see back at Comic-Con in future years. With many die-hard fans roaming Comic-Con, there can be tons of conflicting interests, and it was great to sit down for an open, friendly debate panel brimming with laughter and cringe. After the “Love in Every Universe” panel, I sat down with Alessandra and E.M. off-site to discuss their careers with Wattpad, so stay tuned! I’ll be sharing my interviews with them soon enough! 

Following my sit-downs with Wattpad, I returned to the convention center to attend the “Bringing Fantasy High to WEBTOON” panel with comic and webtoon writer Derek V. Song, best known for his work on WEBTOON Originals The Last Bloodline, Paranoid Mage, The Primal Hunter, and Fantasy High. During the panel, Song discusses his creative career adapting webnovels into webcomics and how to pursue creative writing. For example, Song emphasizes the importance of writing with intention, practicing self-reflection and confidence, and utilizing short-term goals. Overall, it was an insightful panel that shared writing tips and highlighted how existing works can be honored and adapted to a new format and appeal to a broader audience.

After the “Bringing Fantasy High to WEBTOON” panel, I returned to the show floor to explore more. Browsing the books at Mysterious Galaxy, Prism Comics, and other bookseller booths was especially a highlight for me. As a fiction lover, I loved being introduced to new titles and chatting with the booksellers. With Mysterious Galaxy being an indie bookstore and Prism Comics being a non-profit, I always add them to my convention checklist and make it my point to buy books from them when I can.

When I wasn’t browsing books, I was admiring the toys, costumes, and collectibles on display as I would in a museum. I especially loved the setup at the Mighty Jaxx booth, where a giant XXRay of Monkey D. Luffy stood. As a premium toy designer and collectibles company, Mighty Jaxx was selling convention exclusives and first-to-market blind box collectibles featuring iconic characters from One Piece, Hello Kitty and Friends, The Powerpuff Girls, and Adventure Time. As a 2000s kid who loved Cartoon Network, I was especially excited to see their Adventure Time: Fighting for Fun series and scored Princess Bubblegum and Ice King before their stock sold out for the weekend. 

In recent years, I have tried to hold off on mystery and blind boxes, but since I loved all the options in this Fighting for Fun series, I opted for a few boxes. And the quality of their collectibles was even better up close. Available for pre-order and set to release mid-August, I highly recommend this series for any Adventure Time superfans.

And for the first time in my history with TGON, I connected with cosplayer, Funko Funatic, and all-time ally of TGON, Andy Parola. Andy scored us tickets to the offsite annual fan celebration, Funko Fundays, and I was excited and nervous to try something new. Despite owning a dozen figures and Funko Pops, I was very new to the collecting frenzy, and Funko Fundays 2026 marked my first Funko Funatic experience.

Funko Fundays 2026 was themed after the sunken city of Atlantis, with event staff and attendees dressed in fun, ocean-inspired outfits. For example, I recognized attendees dressed as characters from SpongeBob SquarePants and Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was a fun setup, and each ticket holder got a Box of Fun and a fortune cookie with the potential to win a proto, rare pre-production samples of Funko Pop figures that are unavailable in stores and highly sought by collectors.

Granted some bizarre beginner’s luck, I won a proto of Kristin from the POP! Wicked Magical Wise Women 2-Pack, and scored big time when opening my Box of Fun! With live performances, games, giveaways, product reveals, and opportunities to trade Funko Pops, Funko Fundays showed me separate sides of the Funko collecting community. It was fun to see attendees show off their Pops, trade, and chat, but not so fun and honestly overwhelming when it came to visiting what I dubbed the reseller’s section. If you are confident and comfortable with impromptu deals, this section and side of the collecting community may be for you. But for me, I like seeing my favorite characters in Funko form.

Saturday, July 26, marked the conclusion of my Comic-Con 2026 adventure, and it was incredible! I started my third and final day by attending the “What’s Next from WEBTOON Entertainment” panel, where global storytelling platform WEBTOON made major announcements and had top creators as panelists. As a longtime WEBTOON fan and graphic novel enthusiast, I was super excited to learn about returning series, adaptations, and WEBTOON Unscrolled titles soon to be released. After the “What’s Next from WEBTOON Entertainment” panel, I sat down with WEBTOON Original creators Punko and ROSEOAK to discuss their creative journeys and latest passion projects. And after the interviews, I was free to wander more of the show floor, revisit booths, and chat with authors, vendors, and creators of all kinds.

For example, meeting comic creator, graphic designer, and illustrator M. Victoria Robado, who is responsible for the WEBTOON Original, #Blessed, was amazing! As a romantic fantasy, #Blessed follows an office worker being pursued by a pantheon of gods and goddesses competing for her hand. If you want a comic with bright colors, comedy, and elements of a dating sim, you might wanna read #Blessed! I remember #Blessed being one of the first series I was introduced to when I first found WEBTOON, and I have been following Victoria’s creative journey ever since, so I was psyched to get a signed physical copy of #Blessed Vol. 1 and original artwork from her!

Lastly, I revisited the Her Universe booth with a goal. For the first time in its history, Her Universe was awarding a third winner to be chosen by SDCC badge holders. Anyone who swung by the Her Universe booth was shown photos of the final designs and presented the opportunity to vote for their favorite, to crown the first-ever HU Fashion Show Fan Spotlight Winner. I revisited the Her Universe booth, placed my vote, and who do I meet? Spoiler alert. The HU Fashion Audience Winner and cosplayer, Ren Wilkinson! We chatted about the fashion show and her epic on-stage transformation, and it turned into one of my favorite attendee interactions. What a way to wrap up my SDCC 2026 experience!

Each day, I went home with original artwork, graphic novels, and new memories to look back on. Despite only scratching the surface of what this year’s show had to offer and ending my tour completely exhausted, mentally and physically, I survived three days of Comic-Con chaos, and I left satisfied and with high hopes for next year! With San Diego Comic-Con 2026 officially wrapped up, Comic-Con International has already announced that its flagship event will return to the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2027! Badge sales will take place later this fall! Best of luck scoring your ticket!