If only one word could be used to sum up San Diego Comic-Con 2023, it might just be: Odd.
Thanks to Hollywood’s first double strike in 60 years, neither stars nor studios had any meaningful presence. That made Hall H, normally the site of the convention’s biggest crowds, largely half-empty. It also caused the cancelation of SDCC’s biggest party, the annual star-studded bash EW throws atop the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
But as it turns out, the fans didn’t need famous faces to justify swarming San Diego. If things seemed quieter on the city’s streets, they were anything but inside the convention center itself.