How San Diego Comic-Con Assembled Its Make-Or-Break Return to a Live (and Masked) Convention

variety.com:

Comic-Con is finally returning for its first full-on, in-person con in three years. The team behind the biggest fan convention in North America says it’s “burning the midnight oil” to get ready for Comic-Con, which begins with its traditional “preview night” at the San Diego Convention Center on Wednesday and runs through Sunday.On Friday, Amazon Prime Video will continue its year-long marketing effort with a panel for its upcoming fantasy epic series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” Not to be outdone, on Saturday, HBO will debut its first look at the “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon.” Paramount+ will have a panel for three of its “Star Trek” series: “Strange New Worlds,” “Lower Decks,” and “Picard.” And to cap off things late Saturday afternoon, Marvel Studios is expected to make another blockbuster presentation of its upcoming slate, including expected first looks at “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

3.” “It’s an emotional experience, but it is a pleasantly emotional one,” David Glanzer, chief communications officer and strategy officer at Comic-Con Intl., told Variety. “We can’t wait to see people face-to-face.”Deciding how and when to bring those faces back together is something Comic-Con execs has been discussing for years now, since SDCC was called off for the first time in the event’s then 50-year history in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The choice to hold Comic-Con 2022 in person was finally made this spring, following the December decision to bring back Anaheim sister show WonderCon in April, which went off as planned.“We saw surges and we saw different cities having different kinds of COVID criteria by which to follow,” Glanzer said. “So we really.