Is San Diego Comic-Con Still the Best Con in the Country?

San Diego has been my absolute favorite con since I first attended four years ago. Con Culture received press access, which gave me my first opportunity to fulfill a dream of mine: attending Comic-Con. From the very first year I attended, it was everything I hoped for and more.

But this year felt different. Something shifted at Comic-Con in 2026... and once I noticed it, I couldn't unsee it.

What Makes Comic-Con Special

San Diego Comic-Con is on a scale most conventions can only dream of. It is not confined to the massive convention center that hosts it. Comic-Con swallows up both the Gaslamp Quarter downtown and the Bay behind the convention center. Buildings get wrapped promoting the newest movies, shows, and games. Even the trolleys get wrapped for Comic-Con. It seems as if the whole city turns out for this massive event.

That's what makes Comic-Con so special. You need a badge to get into the convention center, but everything going on around it is free and open to the public, and the public shows up for it. That's why I fell in love with Comic-Con: the biggest studios putting on themed activations and giving away tons of free promotional items to build hype.

At least, that was the case in years prior.

Comic-Con Is a Recession Indicator

This year, Comic-Con felt notably different. The Bay, which just the year before was filled with activations, was now almost completely empty. The places that gave out great freebies were barely handing anything out. Lines that would take hours to get through suddenly only took minutes, with some having no wait at all. Comic-Con this year seemed like it was on a budget compared to years past.

Despite Marvel Studios coming to Hall H and taking over the Gaslamp, there were noticeable signs of cost-cutting everywhere. Even the show floor, where in years prior there were so many giveaways and lines that seemed to go on forever, now had waits of just a few minutes.

What happened? A few things, stacked on top of each other:

• The economy and inflation had a real impact. People had less income to spend on items, which made lines shorter and easier to get through.

• Companies didn't even bother shipping certain items to the show. They only had displays with signs that said "order online." And these aren't small companies — these are billion-dollar toy companies, obviously pinching pennies while trying to still make a splash.

• Scammers cut the line at Hall H, allegedly using fake wristbands, leaving many fans waiting for hours only to never get in.

• Funko had a similar issue with fake wristbands, leaving them sold out of inventory before the people who'd legitimately earned their spot ever got the chance to buy.

So you've got a public with less buying power due to brutal inflation, and brands with supply chain issues who are also trying to spend as little as possible due to instability. Put those together and you get Comic-Con 2026: noticeably deflated from years prior.

Still the Best?

Despite all the issues this year's Comic-Con had, it still operates on a scale that no other con in the country has been able to touch. Anime Expo keeps growing and might catch up someday, but Comic-Con has an amazing community of attendees, access to huge industry insiders in the panel halls and at their booths, and breaking news and debuts happening daily. The cosplay is insane, and it feels like your FYP is just walking around the con in person. The amount of media attention is unrivaled by any other event, and the expo hall is still the most massive of any convention — so massive you genuinely can't experience it in a single day.

For all this, and more, despite being lackluster compared to years prior: San Diego Comic-Con is still the best convention I have ever been to.

What are your favorite conventions?