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Comic-Con International: San Diego 2021 has been canceled as an in-person event and will instead be held as a three-day online only event, according to a statement from Comic-Con International.
The statement cites health concerns surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as financial strain as the primary factors in the decision to take its 2021 San Diego convention online.
CCI's decision comes hot on the heels of a similar decision by the organization to move its planned WonderCon 2021 event from an in-person convention to an online only event.
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"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. Never could we have imagined what the world experienced in 2020 and continues to experience today," reads CCI's official statement.
"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," it continues. "For this reason, we have made the challenging decision to postpone Comic-Con 2021 as an in-person gathering until our 2022 dates, and once again hold this year's celebration as the free online Comic-Con@Home."
The statement goes on to explain that, because WonderCon and Comic-Con International: San Diego were both held as online cons in 2020, the organization has reduced its 2021 SDCC plans to just three days.
"Unfortunately, the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources, so this year the online experience will be reduced to a three-day event, spanning July 23-25, 2021," explains the statement.
However, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for con-goers who have patiently awaited their next opportunity to gather, as CCI is also planning a three-day in-person event to take place in November at the San Diego Convention Center.
"While we lament the postponement of the in-person Comic-Con, our commitment to this community of fans and our celebration of comics and the related popular arts endures as an important part of who we are," CCI states. "As the timing and scope of our larger event factored greatly into our decision to postpone, we believe that launching a smaller in-person event at a later time may be a safe alternative.
"For this reason, we are happy to announce that San Diego Comic Convention is planning to present a three-day in-person convention in San Diego in November," the statement explains. "At this time, we are still working on specific details as to attendance capacity, badge cost, and related information, and those details will be forthcoming."
CCI states that con-goers who purchased SDCC 2020 badges which were rolled over for 2021 will have their badges once again rolled over for 2022 unless specifically requesting a refund. No projected dates for SDCC 2022 have been announced.
Stay on top of upcoming comic-related events with our guide to all the comic conventions planned for 2021 and beyond.
