LA Comic Con Could Draw Thousands For In-Person Event In December

LOS ANGELES, CA — Organizers for the LA Comic Con have booked the entire 800,000 square foot Los Angeles Convention Center for an in-person event that is likely to draw thousands in December. Tickets go on sale Tuesday as organizers have decided to host the indoor event, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event, running Dec. 11 through Dec. 13, will look similar to past events; however, organizers have urged that they are making safety a priority by requiring masks, implementing one-way aisles, deeply sanitizing between sessions, reducing capacity and requiring space between attendees.

"After planning over the last six months, working with the LA Convention Center and taking guidance from the State, LA County Health and the Mayor’s Office – we believe our new plans and procedures allow us to do so safely, with full CV-19 safety precautions in place," organizers announced on their website Sunday.

Despite warnings last week from the California Public Health Department not to gather indoors for Halloween celebrations, the convention will allow thousands to gather indoors in December. The convention will also offer outdoor space to manage lines and long wait times with enforced social distancing.

But county health officials could reevaluate later whether the event should be postponed, organizers said.

"If at any time LA County Health or the Mayor's Office determine we can't have a safe show, we'll postpone and reschedule. And all tickets bought will have a 100 percent rollover/refund guarantee," organizers wrote Sunday.

Those entering the convention will need to keep a minimum of 6 feet between guests at all times, organizers said.

In limiting capacity, at least 12,000 tickets for each individual session go on sale, which organizers said is a huge decrease from last year's event which drew around 42,000 people per session. There are six different sessions this year, running five hours each, twice per day.

Attendees will be able to roam the 800,000 square-foot convention center, with the main stage relocated to span across the entire West Hall A with over 145,000 square-feet for guests to spread out in.

The annual celebration, hosting a myriad of costumed comic lovers and pop culture panels, will also draw fewer celebrities this year, organizers said.

With fewer people allowed to cram into panel rooms and the main stage area, less people will be able to watch celebrities speak onstage in-person. But all stages will be broadcasted via livestream. Digital-only access passes will be sold to fans who cannot or choose not to attend a live show.

The lineup for the event is yet to be announced and three-session and VIP early bird passes will go on sale Tuesday on LA Comic Con's website.

San Diego's Comic-Con, the largest comic con in the state, held its event online this year, after cancelling the planned in-person celebration normally held at the San Diego Comic Convention for the first time in its 50-year history.

Even in years long before the COVID-19 pandemic, science fiction and comic conventions are notorious for spreading illness. Regular convention goers have even coined the term "Con Crud" to describe the flu, common cold or other respiratory illnesses often spread at the large events.

Hundreds took to Twitter Monday to condemn the potentially massive gathering, with some comic artists jumping in to vocalize concern.

I... can't believe they're seriously gonna try and have a comic con in LA in December.

Everyone comes home sick from conventions in NON-pandemic years.
— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) September 28, 2020