San Diego Comic-Con International 2026

San Diego Comic-Con International lists July 23–26, 2026 at the San Diego Convention Center (111 West Harbor Drive), with Preview Night on Wednesday, July 22. The organization bills panels, screenings, Exhibit Hall floor space, and comics-to-screen programming across the downtown campus. Attendee badges for Comic-Con 2026 are sold out; badge pick-up at the convention center starts Tuesday, July 21. Badge sales for 2027 are expected in fall 2026.

Comic-Con is not an Asian culture festival, but it is the event that reorganizes San Diego's July calendar for Goldscene readers anyway. Anime and manga publishers, K-pop-adjacent panels, Asian American creators, and studio previews for East Asian co-productions still land on the programming grid even when the headline news is Marvel or Netflix. Off-site activations spill into the Gaslamp Quarter and Harbor Drive, which means you can feel Comic-Con energy without a badge if you accept lines and security cordons.

Hotels and restaurant demand run absurdly high that week. Treat Gaslamp and Little Italy as full-cost add-ons. Parking downtown is garage roulette; many locals park at a trolley station and ride in. The Convention Center sits on the bay loop the same GASD uses for Navratri in fall, so returning visitors already know the garage rhythm.

For SoCal readers stacking Asian events, the same late-July window hits temple Obon from Vista through West LA and San Diego Obon on August 1. Comic-Con visitors who extend a trip can stack convention hall days with county Obon without another flight.

Who this is for: badge holders, industry press, and pop-culture tourists. Off-site hunters need patience for lines and no guarantee of panel rooms. Asian entertainment fans should scan the daily schedule for anime and creator panels rather than assuming a single dedicated track.

Gaslamp pop-up lines for studio activations can run two hours without a hall badge; factor that into any evening plans with Vista Obon or Natsu Nights the same week.

Our take: if you missed 2026 badges, plan 2027 sales in fall and use August cottage programming for diaspora culture instead. If you are in town with a badge, leave one afternoon for Vista or BTSD Obon while the county is already festival-minded.

When: July 23–26, 2026 (Preview Night July 22)
Where: San Diego Convention Center, 111 W Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101