In July, I had the pleasure of attending Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center. For those who don’t know, the event, which is officially listed as Comic-Con International: San Diego on its website, is an annual convention that was first established in 1970 and is held for comic book fans (and really fans of anything in pop culture) to come together to share their interests.

This year, it was held July 20-23, and to get into the convention center, participants must either purchase a badge in advance through the group’s website (https://ww.comic-con.org/cci) months in advance or apply for the free badges that are set aside for professionals who work in the comic book or other related industries.

Since the badges that are available to the general public usually sell out, it can be challenging to get into Comic-Con, but if you’re lucky enough to get in, there is a lot to see and do, including hundreds of informative panel discussions, industry parties (although these are usually only available by advance reservation or special invitation), and sneak-peek showing of upcoming movies, shows, games, and toys.

One of the most popular features is the massive exhibitor area where companies like Disney, Blizzard, and Funko host booths where they showcase their latest offerings. There are also a large number of smaller companies and individuals who come to display their handmade art, fandom apparel, and other related merchandise.

Personally, I enjoyed the panels I attended. I went to one about makeup artistry, where Brenda O’Brien, a veteran makeup artist who has worked on the Lion King musical on Broadway, Saturday Night Live, and many other shows, demonstrated how she creates characters and explained how she had to adapt her skills to work in incredibly fast-paced backstage environments.

I also attended the “How to Make a Minicomic from One Sheet of Paper” with veteran comic book creator Zander Cannon, and another panel that celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Studio Ghibli movie My Neighbor Totoro, which was led by the movie’s original production coordinator, Hirokatsu Kihara, and his interpreter. He presented the original drawing Hayao Miyazaki made of the character that became Totoro, as well as many original, hand-painted animation cels used to create the iconic movie. It was amazing to learn from him that the studio considered these cels to be trash once they were used to make the film. Each one was so beautiful, it was stunning to think that anyone could have considered them rubbish.

In addition to the panels, I also got to see many cool booths, such as the Studio Ghibli booth, where my family and I took our photo in a re-created Cat Bus, which is a character from My Neighbor Totoro, the Marvel booth, where we saw costumes worn by the actors in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and an animatronics company’s booth that featured an animatronic Baby Yoda.

Another highlight on the exhibitor floor was an entire area dedicated to books. There were authors showcasing their own books, and booksellers selling all sorts of science fiction and fantasy. I even spotted a Little Golden Book biography of Taylor Swift, which I personally thought was pretty funny.

I also heard there was going to be a cosplay wrestling match, where people who dressed up as various characters from pop culture would wrestle another cosplayer in an actual ring. I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to see that because it sounded super funny.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to buy any books while I was at Comic-Con, but there were many graphic novels and such that caught my eye and I’m hoping to get some or all of them eventually.

If you can, I definitely recommend going to Comic-Con at least once if you are a fan of comics or anything nerdy. There are so many things to do, things to see, and people to meet. It was a wonderful experience, and I hope I’ll be able to go back