SDCC 2026 Report

Click here to go directly to the photogallery for the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con.

Now that I’ve returned home, unpacked and begun to catch up, here’s my report on this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. In addition to arriving a day early, as I’ve done the past couple of years, I stayed an extra day and drove home Monday morning, rather than Sunday evening after a long final day exhibiting.

This year’s Comic-Con turned out to be a happy surprise. After a slow start Thursday and Friday, sales came roaring back on Saturday and Sunday—in fact, I ended with one of my strongest shows ever! On Sunday, people all of a sudden seemed ready to buy. Sales were boosted by relatively big ticket deals that proved to be popular, particularly the five trade paperbacks for $40 deal and all 27 issues of Rob Hanes Adventures for $50 offer! (Deals, I should add, that are also currently available at my webstore!) Sales of original art—sketches and especially cover art—have also boosted the bottom line in recent years.

I’m grateful to everyone who stopped by—as always, I had a great mix of longtime fans and new people discovering the series for the first time.

I took part in more after hours activities than usual. As mentioned in earlier posts, I had a late dinner with friends on Wednesday after Preview Night. On Friday, I took part in a nice dinner organized by Margaux Pepoy, where we were joined by Ted Sikora, Blake David Lucarelli, and John Lustig (I regret not taking a photo of our group!) Following dinner, I popped into the Eisner Awards. Afterwards, I planned to walk back to my hotel from the Hilton San Diego Bayfront afterwards via the marina behind the convention center to check out the overnight lines and activities for Hall H and other activities, but forgot lol. I did bump into Don Ngyun on the walk back though and talked a bit with him.

On Saturday night, my wife got us tickets to see Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman’s Hollywood Babble-On show at a comedy store in the Gaslamp, the American Comedy Co. My wife is a big fan of the show and we’ve seen the duo’s show about five or six times in the past, where they primarily spout about pop culture news in a hilarious and inappropriate manner, cleverly riffing off each other. Ever the geek, Smith gave a fascinating first hand account of being backstage at Hall H during the Marvel panel, admitting he lingered to see all the stars.

And in keeping with the theme this year of unexpected encounters, when the line for the show was let into the club, as I told my brother about how Garman was a big fan of the Batman tv show and became friends with Adam West and responsible for getting him his star on the walk of fame, someone bellowed behind me, “Yes, he did!” The voice sounded familiar, and when I turned, there was Smith walking behind me! He smiled as walked past us to go to the front of the club—we later found out he ran late because he had just run over from Hall H (which explains why the club was a little late in letting people in!) I quickly thought of asking for a selfie with him, but it happened so quickly, the best I managed was to pat him on the shoulder lol.

Speaking of unexpected encounters, as I mentioned in earlier posts, Marc Maron walked by my booth during the show, as did Thomas Lennon, who stopped to chat, as I had met him last year (and then bumped into him a month later in L.A. at an outdoor play where we chatted again!)

On Saturday of the show, I spotted Sir Richard Taylor, founder of Weta Workshop and special effects wizard as he walked past my booth. I called out his name and he turned to wave—I had an opportunity to gush and tell him how much his work on the Lord of the Rings films meant to me as a lifelong Tolkien fan, mentioning how I always follow a watch of the Special Edition LoTR films with the extras (that total more than nine hours!) I’m sure he’d heard it all before, but he was incredibly kind and appreciative.

Also, as I stopped by the hotel’s grab and go market before going to the convention center on Sunday morning, I bumped into Jenny Blake Isabella! Jenny has been a huge supporter of my work over the years, so I had a chance to congratulate her on the Bill Finger Award she received at the Eisner Awards. (As I mentioned, I went to the awards after dinner, but had missed her presentation.)

Anyway, it was another memorable and successful San Diego Comic-Con. Next up is Long Beach Comic-Con in September!

To see the full photogallery, click here.