Last week, Comic-Con International returned to the San Diego Convention Center for the first time since Covid-19 took over our lives. Last year, we gathered around our computers, tablets and phones to watch the virtual panels. This year, I caught glimpses of the event from my friends’ social media posts and the press emails flooding my inbox.

In all honesty, it was depressing to be watching from afar when just a few short years ago, I was running around the convention center (and 5th Avenue) dressed as American Cinematographer girl, passing out magazines and working my ass off to get new subscribers. I went through the same depression cycle at the end of May when I had to skip Star Wars Celebration Anaheim because airfares were astronomical.

I loved working conventions — it was my cardio. The best part of my job was being out there, finding a new audience for our magazine. A social butterfly — like myself — thrives on the energy of a convention and I attended as many as I could. WonderCon, Star Wars Celebration, Comic-Con, Stan Lee’s Comikaze (now Los Angeles Comic Con), ScareLA, MidSummer Scream, Monsterpalooza, Son of Monsterpalooza, TFCon, Astronomicon, etc. — places where I felt at home, where I was accepted, where I felt I belonged. Now I watch from my phone or computer, missing my friends and all the networking opportunities that could have happened.

Being immunocompromised sucks!! Having survived Covid — twice — and finally getting to a place where the health issues caused by Covid are manageable, I am beyond ready to get my life back.

I will start by sifting through all of the press releases and start posting again. Obviously, there will be no breaking news moments here since we are now in the post comic-con period. Not all convention coverage has to revolve around the big studio reveals — though the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer did spark a lot of emotion. So stay tuned…

Side Note: This upcoming weekend is MidSummer Scream in Long Beach!! This is actually my favorite convention — all about horror and Halloween. If you are attending, check out my friend Lynne Lugosi-Sparks participating in the original monster kids panel on July 30th at 4:30pm PST.